Chapter 268

Chapter 268: Alice with the Firm Head

Looking at Alice, who stood there with her neck stuck straight and a very confident pose, Duncan’s mood fell apart all at once. Then he suddenly realized what was wrong with that silly posture. It was not confidence or pride at all. Her neck had simply set in place and could not move anymore.

But the doll herself still did not seem to notice how serious the problem was. She still looked very pleased with herself, grinning as she handed the newspaper to Duncan, clearly overjoyed that she had managed to go shopping alone: “Here you go, the newspaper, and I even remembered the change!”

Duncan finally took the newspaper with a blank face. Two or three seconds passed before he reminded this silly girl: “Alice, try nodding.”

“Eh? Why?” Alice froze for a moment, but still obeyed the captain’s order at once. Her head only gave a tiny wobble in place. A strange sound came from the area of her neck, and then she could not move it at all.

After two seconds of stunned silence, the doll finally reacted and cried out: “Mr. Duncan! I can’t move! Help, help!”

Duncan gave the doll a tired look, then turned and walked toward the antique shop: “Stop yelling out here. We’ll look at it inside.”

Alice hurried after Duncan in a panic, with Nina, who was also a bit confused and at a loss, following behind her. The three of them went through the door of the antique shop. Walking last, Nina turned back, carefully closed the shop door, and did not forget to hang up the “Closed for a Break” wooden sign.

Duncan casually tossed the newly bought newspaper onto the counter. He was just about to check Alice’s condition when his eye suddenly caught a headline on the front page.

His attention was drawn back to the paper at once.

There, in the largest bold letters, was printed:

“The Storm Grand Cathedral Will Arrive at Loyal Pland at Noon Tomorrow – May the Glory of the Storm Ruler Bless Us All”

The Storm Grand Cathedral? The Deep Sea Church’s mysterious “headquarters at sea”? Goddess Gamona’s Envoy was coming to this city… was it because of the recent historical corruption incident? Or because of the Vanished? Or both?

Duncan frowned and picked up the newspaper, his gaze scanning the front-page article.

Alice, meanwhile, circled around anxiously. She had finally realized that pouring glue into her neck joint had not been a wise move. When she saw that the captain had no time to care about her, she turned her plea for help toward Nina: “Miss Nina, help me, save save save save save…”

Nina was flustered too. She stepped up and grabbed Alice’s head, trying to shake it from side to side, and found that the glue had already fully hardened: “This… this won’t come off at all! Just one look and you can tell it’s fast-drying glue!”

“Think of something,” Alice sounded like she was about to cry. She held her head with both hands. “Miss Nina, don’t you study repairing machines and stuff? You know how to fix those complicated steam cores. Fix me.”

“I don’t know how to repair dolls!” Nina was also on the verge of panic. In the end she turned her pleading eyes to Duncan. “Uncle, please think of something. Miss Alice’s head is completely glued in place…”

Duncan finally put down the newspaper and turned to look at the two noisy young ladies beside him. His eyes landed on Alice: “How much glue did you pour in, and what kind was it?”

“One bottle, about this big,” Alice said, holding out her hands to show the size. “I found it in your room, a small brown glass bottle.”

“…You poured in the whole thing?!” Duncan’s eye twitched. “That big a bottle, how did you even manage that?”

“I first took my head off and set it upside down, poured the glue inside and shook it a bit, then just stuck it back on,” Alice said, sounding like she might cry. “Shirley said that would be nice and secure…”

Duncan stared at her, dumbfounded. He could feel the beautiful doll’s deep sorrow, but dolls had no tears. All her sadness could only flow silently inside her hollow heart—very poetic words, if you ignored the detail that “the doll was heartbroken because she had glued her own head in place.”

Duncan sighed, tossed the newspaper aside, stepped up to unfasten the lace around Alice’s neck, and checked the hardened superglue around the joint. After a moment of silent inspection, he turned to Nina: “…Where did Shirley go?”

“She… said an hour ago that her head hurt from memorizing vocabulary, so she went out for some fresh air,” Nina said, shrinking her neck. “Do you think she ran away because she feels guilty?”

“I doubt she thought that far at all. These days the only thing she really thinks about is how to skip class,” Duncan sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s completely dry. It’s been at least half an hour. That’s fast-drying glue. You can’t pull it off by force now.”

“Then what do we do?!” Alice looked at Duncan in panic. “When I comb my hair I have to take my head off. I can’t comb my hair while wearing it.”

“…So after your head got glued in place, that was the only thing you worried about?” Duncan glared at Alice, then wearily waved his hand. “Enough, stop looking so miserable. The glue is strong, but it doesn’t stand up to heat or water. Soak it in hot water. It will soften after a while.”

Alice looked as if she had been saved, and Nina, who had been worrying beside her, reacted at once. She rushed forward to grab Alice’s hand: “I’ll take you to the bathroom. I can boil water really fast now!”

The Sun fragment and the doll with the glued head thumped up the stairs together. Duncan could only sigh helplessly and pick up the newspaper he had set aside.

According to the public statement, the Storm Grand Cathedral was docking in Pland for a routine stop and maintenance. Pope Helena would briefly visit the Pland Grand Cathedral during this time and discuss some Church matters with the Archbishop and the Inquisitor. The newspaper did not mention the historical corruption incident or anything related to the Vanished at all.

But even if the paper did not say it, anyone with eyes could guess that the Deep Sea Pope was coming because of those two major events.

Duncan did not care about belief in the Storm Goddess, but he still wondered what kind of effect this would have on him.

Or rather, could he take this chance… to gather some information?

He still remembered that earlier “thank you,” which had most likely come from the Storm Goddess herself. Even without that, he was curious about the deities of this world, and he was interested in that great Storm Grand Cathedral that was said to sail the Boundless Sea all year round.

On the other hand, he was also very curious whether the Storm Goddess’s highest representative, after coming here, would sense something strange about the city-state of Pland—and whether they would discover his “Subspace Shadows” hidden inside it.

Things were getting interesting.

Duncan put down the newspaper and sat beside the counter, rubbing his chin in thought.

The antique shop was very quiet. He could faintly hear the noise from Nina and Alice in the upstairs bathroom. The clearest sounds were Nina’s excited exclamations:

“Wow! These joints are amazing… so pretty!

“Miss Alice, can your wrist really turn three hundred and sixty degrees… it really can?!”

“Miss Alice, there’s a keyhole on your back. Huh? You don’t know what it’s for either?”

“Is it okay if water gets into the keyhole? Oh, then I’m relieved…”

Duncan rubbed his brow, starting to get a headache.

He began to suspect that those two upstairs had already forgotten all about the actual problem.

But soon the sounds upstairs quieted down. Then there was a rush of hurried footsteps thumping toward the stairs, and Nina’s voice followed: “Uncle Duncan! It’s not working! Please come look, it won’t come off at all!”

“…?”

Duncan went upstairs full of confusion. He saw Nina standing in the hallway with a helpless face, then looked past her toward the bathroom at the end of the hall and saw Alice awkwardly peeking out.

Then the doll stepped out, dripping wet, wrapped in a bath towel. Her head was still solidly stuck.

“Captain, it still didn’t work,” Alice said, face long with despair.

“It didn’t loosen at all,” Nina muttered. “We rinsed it with hot water for a long time.”

Duncan looked at Alice, then at Nina, who was nervously twisting the hem of her clothing. After a long moment, he finally sighed.

“Use boiling water.”

“Huh?” Nina jumped in shock. “R-really?! Can Miss Alice handle that…”

“She once deep-fried her own head in oil. She’s not scared of a bit of heat,” Duncan spread his hands. “At this point, hot water isn’t enough. We still have some hope if we cook it in boiling water.”

Nina’s eyes went a little blank. She tried hard to picture the procedure, then said with some hesitation: “Boiling water is easy. I can make it fast. But… we don’t have a pot that big, and we don’t have a tub deep enough to soak her whole body. To get her head fully under water, Miss Alice would at least have to squat in it, right?”

As she spoke she waved her hands around. Even though she always had top grades at school, at this moment Nina still felt her imagination was struggling to keep up with the pace of the Mortal Realm.

But Duncan clearly did not share Nina’s limits in creative thinking. He just glanced at the nearby gothic doll wrapped in a towel and looking pitiful, then turned to Nina and said: “That’s easy. Just find a big basin. Let her go in headfirst… at worst I’ll hold her.”

Nina pictured it. The scene did appear in her mind, but her tone grew extra hesitant: “I still feel Miss Alice seems kind of pitiful like that…”

“Pitiful my ass!” Duncan finally lost his patience and swore for the first time in ages. “She let an illiterate girl talk her into pouring a whole bottle of glue into her neck joint. Let this teach her a lesson!”