Chapter 271

Chapter 271: From Frostholm

Morris used the letter opener to carefully open the letter that had come from far away.

On the envelope, postmark after postmark, along with the mark that showed it had undergone purification, quietly told him of an extremely long journey.

With the soft sound of paper being unfolded, line after line of neat, beautiful handwriting appeared in front of Morris. It was indeed the handwriting he knew well from his old friend:

“To my friend and partner in scholarship:

“It seems that many years have passed since our last contact. This distance between us really should not have happened. I feel that in these years I have lived in a daze yet stayed busy, as if I have always been doing things that have no meaning. Only recently did I suddenly realize how much time I have wasted…

“…Many strange things have happened lately. Forgive me, but I find it hard to describe in words the changes in my life… Frostholm is an incredible place. It does not only have a cold and long winter. There are also many things here that are worth our careful study…

“Do you still remember the last time we met and talked about those ancient legends from the frozen seas in the far north? Those topics have entered my mind again recently. I suddenly feel that I have grasped some key point, something that can help us sort out many of the questions we could not solve back then, such as whether there were once city?states upon the frozen sea, and the origin of many mysterious local customs here in Frostholm…

“Frostholm truly is an incredible place, my friend. My mind has become clearer and clearer on this point. There are many mysterious past events in this cold sea that are worth our exploration. I plan to visit some well?respected people in the fields of history and folklore. I also have plans to visit Cold Harbor in the near future. But most important of all, I want to invite you to come here as a guest…

“We have not seen each other for many years, Morris. You said you do not like the cold air of the north, but I think you will like the warm fireplace in my home and the fine wine I have collected. Think about it carefully. We can once again sit beside the glowing fire and talk about those fascinating secrets. Believe me, Frostholm really is an incredible place…

“Won’t you come and see it for yourself? Come to this incredible city?state of Frostholm…

“Your most trusted friend and partner in scholarship,
“Brown Scott, 1900-12-2, written at 42 Hearth Street.”

Morris’s gaze quietly moved over the last line. For a long time, he said nothing.

Only after several minutes did he mutter as if to himself: “It is his handwriting. And those things he mentions really are what we discussed.”

“Today is December 17. This letter was sent half a month ago,” his Wife said beside him, her voice filled with a faint uneasiness. “Considering the distance between Frostholm and Pland, that is a normal amount of time.”

“Yes, the time is normal. The postmarks are normal. What is not normal is that the man who wrote it died years ago,” Morris said slowly. “I still remember the day I received the obituary – that was also a letter from Frostholm. It was written by his favorite Student. She wrote that her Teacher fell overboard by accident while sailing to Cold Harbor. They never even recovered the body.”

“…I don’t remember this. It happened during the years when I was muddled,” his Wife came closer and held Morris’s hand. “We should report this to the Church. The content and wording of this letter look normal, but if you dig into it, it is very unsettling.”

Morris squeezed his Wife’s hand back and let out a slow breath: “Of course, we should report it to the Church… but not only to the Church.”

On the Vanished, in the captain’s cabin, Duncan braced both hands on the chart table and stared intently at the mist?shrouded enchanted sea chart and the route slowly spreading across it.

The phantom mark that stood for the Vanished moved slowly at the center of the enchanted sea chart. The dense fog around the Vanished faded little by little as the ship sailed forward. At one end of the route, he could see the city?state of Pland, already left behind for the moment. Outside the route, in the thinner mist, he could faintly see another point of light, glowing very slightly.

Duncan fixed his gaze on that point.

That was the Sea Mist.

After that last battle of mutual fire coverage during “Plague dusk”, the mark of the Sea Mist had appeared on this enchanted sea chart.

In Duncan’s own senses, he could also roughly feel the current heading of the Sea Mist and even its general condition.

This sense was very vague, but it did not seem to fade as the distance between the Vanished and the Sea Mist grew.

Clearly, just like the “Marked” who had once been stained by the flames of spirit form, the Sea Mist, which had taken an artillery shell from the Vanished full in the face, had also formed a connection with him.

But it was only a “connection”, not complete control like he had over the Vanished. So, on the enchanted sea chart, the Sea Mist only showed up as a single point of light and could not clear away the fog covering its sea lanes.

“Are you choosing our next course?” Goathead’s voice suddenly came from the edge of the chart table. “I have about one hundred and forty very useful suggestions. I can…”

“No, you cannot,” Duncan cut him off with skill before he could start rambling. “I don’t need any suggestions. I have my own plan.”

Goathead shook his head, as if he still wanted to say more. But before he could speak, footsteps sounded outside the door, and the door of the captain’s cabin was pulled open from the outside. Alice walked in.

Then the doll girl froze for a second. Before Duncan could speak, she hurriedly turned around, closed the door, and knocked on it.

“…There is no need to knock after you come in. Knocking should be done before you open the door,” Duncan looked at her with a blank face. “Is everything on ‘that side’ cleaned up?”

“Mm?mm,” Alice nodded at once. “The shelves on the first floor are tidied up, the counter and the stairs are all wiped, and the kitchen is cleaned too!”

“Mm,” Duncan answered casually. “Where is Ai?”

“She went to the kitchen after dropping me off,” Alice said. “She kept shouting something about Crazy Thursday while she flew away…”

“She really knows how to enjoy herself,” Duncan said with a small laugh and shook his head. Then he suddenly noticed that Alice’s neck still moved a bit stiffly when she nodded. He frowned without thinking. “Why does your neck move so strangely… did you not clean all the glue out of the joint?”

When Alice heard this, she shook her head left and right. Her neck clearly caught and lagged with every movement.

“I guess… it is a bit like that,” the doll girl said, looking a little embarrassed. “It feels kind of… stuck.”

Duncan’s eyelid twitched. He looked helplessly at the doll, while she held her head with both hands. After a long moment, she let out her trademark laugh: “Hehe…”

“Don’t ‘hehe’,” Duncan sighed. “Come here. I’ll clean it for you. If you don’t clear the leftover glue, it will damage the joint even more. And it bothers me to see your head jerk like that every time you nod.”

“Oh.”

Alice walked over at once, very obedient. When she came to Duncan’s side, she reached up, grabbed her own head, twisted it left and right twice, and then “pop” – pulled it off.

The headless doll held her own head in both hands: “C?c?captain, here… here… for you.”

A faint sense of strangeness rose in Duncan’s heart, but he still reached out and took Alice’s head. Then he pulled a scraper, a brush, and a soft cloth from the small drawer under the chart table. With a sigh, he began to examine the joint of this foolish girl.

He could not help feeling a bit emotional.

He had already become able to face such bizarre scenes so calmly and even take part in them as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Human adaptability really was a strange thing.

He picked up the scraper and gently scraped away the pieces of glue left in the joint, which were no longer very firm. Duncan lifted his eyelids and let his gaze sweep over Alice’s face.

Her silver hair spread out over the chart table. The doll blinked and met his eyes.

She really was beautiful – a face so delicate and perfect that, no matter how strange the situation was, it could make people ignore the weirdness for a moment and silently praise that beauty instead.

It was a pity that, in everyday life, this girl’s behavior was ridiculous past a certain limit. So while Duncan admired her pretty looks, he mostly felt regret in his heart that she had a mouth at all…

“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

“N?no, no, no, just a little, little bit itchy, but it is… it is very light,” Alice stammered.

Then she went quiet. Even Goathead beside them fell strangely silent. In the room, only the faint scraping of the tool and the soft sound of waves outside the window remained.

After some unknown time, Alice suddenly opened her mouth again.

She stammered, her tone holding a bit of hesitation and a rare hint of sadness: “C?c?captain, am I… am I very, very stupid?”

Duncan’s hand suddenly stopped.

He was surprised that this doll could even have this kind of self?awareness and thought.

But then he simply shook his head with a blank face: “Why are you suddenly thinking about that?”

“I… I?I can never learn the things you?you teach me, and I al?always mess things up, and I… I?I just waste your… your time.”

Duncan stayed silent for a moment, then lifted the scraper again.

“I don’t think you are wasting my time,” he said calmly. “Also, you are indeed a bit stupid.”

“S?s?so that’s… that’s how it is.”

“But that’s nothing,” Duncan went on. “Everyone has things they are good at and things they are not good at. We are only ‘stupid’ in the parts we are not good at. Maybe you just have a few more parts you are not good at.” He glanced at Alice’s eyes. “Do you care about this a lot?”

“I… I?I don’t know. I didn’t… didn’t think about it before, but I am af?af?afraid this will slow… slow your work…”

“Then put away these useless worries,” Duncan shook his head. “You just need to go on living happily. If you run into something you can’t learn, then study it a few more times.”

“W?w?will you t?t?teach me a f?few more times then?”

“…If I have the time.”

Alice blinked. She seemed to think for a moment, then slowly smiled.

“Hehe…”

Hearing that familiar laugh, Duncan could not help smiling as well. He picked up the brush and the soft cloth and began to clean away the dry flakes of glue he had scraped off.

Just then, a distant yet clear voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

It was the voice of Morris.