Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Alice’s First Day Out in the World

Duncan felt a little creeped out by the doll’s unblinking stare. After forcing himself to stay calm for a few seconds, he finally couldn’t help frowning and asked: “What are you looking at?”

Alice answered honestly: “Looking at you.”

Duncan stared blankly at her and said: “What’s there to look at about me?”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen you talking in… this look,” Alice said, her face full of disbelief. “Even though you said before that you have another body and identity here, actually seeing it still feels so unbelievable! Captain, you look completely different from how you look on the ship. You’re not as tall, you’re not as gloomy, and… you kind of look like a good person now…”

Duncan’s eyes widened at once, but before he could speak, Alice hurried to add: “Ah, I shouldn’t slander you, Captain…”

“I’ve told you so many times, stop learning nonsense from that Goathead!” Duncan glared at the blockhead in front of him, feeling like his brain was trembling. “Calling someone a good person isn’t slander—that’s called a compliment. Even if you’re saying it about me!

“And did you forget what I told you? In the city-state you can’t call me ‘Captain’. You have to call me Mr. Duncan or Shopkeeper. Remember?”

Alice jerked and shrank her neck. “Ah… ah! Got it, Cap… Shopkeeper!”

“…How about you just call me Mr. Duncan,” Duncan sighed, looking tired. “At least you’re a bit more used to that name, so you’re less likely to get it wrong.”

“Oh, oh, okay, Mr. Duncan.” Alice lowered her head in a hurry as she agreed. She had just bent halfway when Duncan reminded her helplessly: “Don’t lower your head, or it will fall off—if you let your head drop off in front of everyone, your trip to the city-state will be over.”

Alice made a little sound of understanding, then frowned as if thinking of something. “I think I heard AI muttering something like what you just said, but it wasn’t like this… She said, ‘Don’t lower your head, your crown will…’”

“Do you have a crown on your head?!” Duncan glared. “All you’ve got on your head is a wig—and it’s fixed on more firmly than your actual head!”

Alice thought for a moment. “Hehe…”

She was quiet for less than two seconds, then suddenly started staring at Duncan again. This time, before he could speak, she blurted out: “Captain… can I touch your face?”

Duncan looked baffled. “I don’t really mind, but why?”

As soon as she heard “I don’t mind”, Alice’s hands were already on him. It seemed that after leaving Captain Duncan’s imposing “real body”, this doll’s courage had swelled to an unprecedented degree. She stepped forward and pinched the cheeks of Duncan’s current body, her eyes full of wonder. “Amazing! It’s real! On the ship, when I looked at your face, it felt like it was carved from stone!”

Duncan felt extremely awkward. He dodged backward while saying helplessly: “Are you done? That’s enough…”

Before he finished, he heard two light footsteps from the stairwell, followed by Nina’s crisp, cheerful voice: “Uncle, Shirley and I have finished eating! What are you doing down here…”

Duncan turned his head with a blank face. Alice’s hand was still stretched out in midair. Nina stood at the second-floor stairway, staring wide-eyed at the scene by the counter. She stared at the young lady who had somehow appeared in the shop, elegant and beautiful like a noble Miss from the Upper City. Shirley almost ran straight into Nina. “Hey, why did you suddenly stop?”

Alice snapped her hand back at once. She folded both hands on her knees and sat straight and proper in front of the counter.

She was as stiff and upright as a gorgeous doll displayed in the window of the Rose Doll House.

Nina stared for quite a while before she finally reacted. She walked down the stairs, hesitating, and carefully looked at the beautiful lady sitting opposite Duncan. Shirley, following behind her, also saw the situation on the first floor, but what was going on in Shirley’s head was something else entirely—

“Dog, Dog, hurry up and look. What’s that sitting across from Mr. Duncan… is that a person? Can you beat her?”

Dog’s voice came after a long pause, sounding extra cautious: “It’s hard to see clearly through your eyes, but the more I look, the less she looks like a person… I don’t know if I could beat her, but I’m definitely not going to fight her.”

Shirley was stunned. “Why? You can’t even tell what she is, so why are you so scared?”

“Nonsense! She dares to pinch Mr. Duncan’s face!” Dog’s voice sounded weak to death. “Just for that alone, if she wanted to stew me, I’d have to go chop the firewood myself…”

“…Dog, you’re getting more and more pathetic.”

“This is called reading the situation—do you know how many humans spent their whole lives of wisdom just to master this essence of survival?”

Shirley ignored Dog.

While they were talking, she and Nina had already reached the first floor. She saw Nina walk over to Duncan and that beautiful young lady, and she heard their voices as they started talking.

“Uncle, who is this lady?”

Nina asked curiously, while unconsciously sneaking glances at Alice, full of surprise and guesses. She had never seen such a beautiful lady, and she had never seen any young lady have such a close gesture with her uncle as just now. Her strong curiosity made her eyes shine.

“Ah, let me introduce you,” Duncan said, clearing his throat twice to ease the awkwardness. He calmly pointed at Alice. “Her name is Alice. Remember I said before I was going to hire another pair of hands for the shop? That’s her.”

Then he pointed at Nina and Shirley. “This is my niece, Nina. And this is Shirley, who is staying here for now.”

“Hello.” Alice greeted them at once. This time she kept Duncan’s instructions firmly in mind. She sat perfectly straight, nodded just the right amount, and held back her usual bounce, greeting them in the most polite way.

But maybe some unique “texture” of a doll could not be erased. In Nina and Shirley’s eyes, Alice’s restrained posture turned into an indescribable elegance and manners, along with a certain mysterious, reserved air.

At their first meeting, two girls and one silly doll reached an epic-level misunderstanding.

“H-hello,” Nina said, swallowing nervously. Afraid of leaving a bad impression, she nodded to Alice. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Shirley also hurried to greet her. She was nervous too, but her nerves came more from what Dog had just said. “Hello, I’m also… very glad.”

Then the whole scene froze. Both sides kept their faces tense, and no one spoke.

Shirley and Nina simply did not know how to continue. The beautiful, elegant lady in front of them looked like someone who would almost never appear in the Lower City. The two girls felt that no matter what they said, this Miss Alice would probably find it displeasing.

Alice was even simpler—her head was empty most of the time.

And the rest of the time it was stuffed full of mush.

Luckily Duncan had already expected this. When he saw both sides fall silent at the same time, he knew what was going on and quickly cleared his throat to break the silence: “Ahem, Shirley, how are your injuries?”

“Injuries… oh! I’m completely healed!” Shirley froze for a moment before reacting. She straightened up at once, answering his question like she was giving a report. “And I just ate a lot, so I’m not hungry at all now!”

“I didn’t ask that… but I’m glad you liked today’s food,” Duncan said with a smile, nodding. “You should take a couple of days to build yourself back up. I’ll make some nutritious things to restore your strength. Nina, what plans do you have today?”

“I was just planning to take Shirley to the shops on the next street,” Nina said at once. “I’ll buy her two sets of new clothes and new shoes—her clothes are all really old.”

As she spoke, she turned to look at Shirley and stressed, before Shirley could speak: “This is a welcome gift for you moving here. It would be rude not to accept it.”

“I…” Shirley opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. In the end she could only nod. “All right then. Thank you… and thank you, Mr. Duncan.”

Duncan nodded, a slight smile on his face. “Don’t go too far then. Be back before evening—and Shirley, you have to protect Nina.”

Shirley straightened up at once. Her voice was so loud it startled Nina: “Yes, Mr. Duncan!”

Then the two girls said goodbye to Duncan and Alice and walked together toward the door. As they went, Nina kept muttering: “Why did you suddenly shout like that just now? You scared me… My uncle? My uncle isn’t scary.”

“I… I was being polite. I’ve been learning manners lately…”

Hearing the two girls’ muttering grow more distant, Duncan couldn’t help showing a slight smile. Then he turned back and saw Alice staring at him again with that fixed gaze.

“What are you staring at me for this time?”

“Mr. Duncan… you’re really different here than you are on the ship,” Alice said seriously, giving him another once-over. “You’re a lot friendlier here than on the ship!”

“All right, enough with the meaningless sighing,” Duncan said with a helpless smile. He of course knew why Alice felt that way—even he knew he was always tense on the ship. Even though he had relaxed a little recently, it was still nothing like how at ease he felt in the city-state. But he did not waste more words on that and quickly turned the topic elsewhere. “Let’s talk about you first. You don’t have a legal identity, so you’d better not go to the Upper City and draw attention. For now, you’ll help out here in the antique shop. On one hand, you’ll get used to the environment, and on the other hand you can help me with a few things. Usually, when I go out, you’ll stay here at the counter. When a guest comes in, you just… wait, I suddenly thought of a question!”

He suddenly stopped, staring at the doll in front of him with a strange expression. After several seconds he finally asked, a bit hesitantly: “Do you… know what money is?”

Alice looked completely curious. “What is money?”

Duncan was speechless.