Chapter 52

Chapter 52: The Captain Was Not Home

A single will watched through two viewpoints at the same time, controlling two bodies doing completely different things. For Duncan, this was a very new experience.

It was also an extremely hard challenge.

He felt he no longer counted as an ordinary person, but even so, it was not easy to control two bodies at once without strain. He tried hard to get used to this feeling of splitting his attention. After fussing with it for a long time, he only managed to barely control the body in the antique shop, make it crawl back onto the bed, and lie there like a corpse again.

But judging from the feedback coming from deep inside his consciousness, he believed that sooner or later he could master this skill of using one mind for two bodies. It would just need a very long time to get used to it and to train.

After he settled the body in the antique shop and left a bit of attention there, Duncan finally let out a quiet breath.

Right after finishing his walk in the Spirit Realm, the most important thing was to make sure his link to the “remote body” was still there. This was directly tied to whether the foothold he had finally found in the civilized world could be used for a long time. Once this matter was settled, his mood became much lighter, and he had the energy to focus on other things.

The sound of flapping wings came from beside him. The pigeon AI ran over to Duncan in a few quick steps. The bird puffed out its chest, its eyes and tone full of pride: “teleportation succeeded!”

Duncan’s gaze went past the pigeon and fell on the tabletop behind it.

A pale gold emblem of the Sun and two bottles of strong liquor were lying there quietly.

A smile slowly appeared on Duncan’s face, and then the smile grew brighter and brighter.

It worked! Having this pigeon carry “cargo” while walking the Spirit Realm was workable! And it was not limited to extraordinary items. Even ordinary things could be teleported over!

With a satisfied smile, he stood up and picked up the things on the table. First he checked the emblem of the Sun, making sure there was still a faint power flowing inside this extraordinary item. That power was the might he had taken over and reshaped with the fire of his spirit form. Then he picked up one of the bottles of liquor, took off the cap, and held it under his nose. A strong smell of alcohol rushed out at once.

Duncan lowered his head and glanced at AI, who had already started strutting proudly back and forth on the tabletop.

Efficient, good quality, and free delivery—he was starting to like this mumbling, odd pigeon.

The pigeon also noticed its master’s gaze at once. It rushed to Duncan’s side, tapped the tabletop with its beak, and loudly chattered: “Some fries! Some fries!”

“There are no fries on the ship for now, but I think that won’t be a problem for long,” Duncan said happily, grabbing the pigeon and cupping it in his hands. He stared into its little pea eyes. “I just don’t know how much you can teleport each time, whether you’re limited to dead objects, and whether there will be any ‘packet loss’… We have to run a few more tests…”

The pigeon thought for a moment, then tilted its neck up: “Packet loss? Ah, the page disappeared…”

“…Yes, that’s exactly what I’m worried about. Your name always makes you feel a bit unreliable.” Duncan’s thoughts drifted for a moment. The fact that the pigeon had successfully teleported more things onto the Vanished greatly excited him. It made him think of more practical experiments, not just sending supplies to the ship. But this bird’s floating intelligence and loose logic always stopped him from fully relaxing. After thinking it over, he still felt they needed to do more tests before truly setting up a “supply line” between the Vanished and the shore.

With a rough plan for his next step in mind, Duncan finally rose from the chair. He walked toward the door that led to the enchanted sea chart room, but he stopped after only two steps.

He stood there and rolled his joints, then stretched his legs and arms, feeling the sensations coming from his limbs.

Flexible, strong, with no trace of fatigue or stiffness at all. It was as if he had only been sitting at the desk for a short while.

Yet he knew very well that he had “left” the Vanished for more than a day. While he was walking the Spirit Realm, his body had remained in the captain’s cabin, keeping the posture of sitting at the desk the whole time.

Duncan carefully felt his bones and limbs. With his precise sense of his own body, he could almost be sure that this body had completely kept the state it was in at the moment of entering the Spirit Realm. It was as if… the instant his consciousness left, this body entered some kind of “stasis.”

Was this also one of “Captain Duncan’s” special powers? Or… because his true nature now was half a ghost, he was like a ghost and never grew tired?

He wondered about it curiously, but had no clue at all.

He had already started learning the history of this world and the rise and fall of the Civilized City-States, but he still could not solve the mystery of his own body.

Still, no matter what, this did not seem like a bad thing. This body did not need much “maintenance.” That meant he could feel safer about putting part of his attention into other things.

Duncan was good at taking things lightly. Or rather, he was good at putting puzzles that had no answer yet off to one side. Once he talked himself through it, he walked to the door and pushed open the way into the enchanted sea chart room.

Captain Duncan had returned.

The oak door let out a soft creak, breaking the silence in the enchanted sea chart room. The next second, the wooden carving of Goathead at the edge of the chart table suddenly started clacking. The block of wood quickly turned its head toward the sound. Under its hollow gaze, it slowly spoke: “Name?”

“Duncan Abnomar,” Duncan said, glancing at Goathead. “I’m back.”

“Ah! The great Captain Duncan has returned to his loyal Vanished! My apologies, Captain. Your walk in the Spirit Realm was rather long this time. I need to make an extra check… After all, that is the rule you set. How do you feel? How is your mood? How is your body? What did you gain from this long walk in the Spirit Realm? Did you find something interesting? Would you be willing to share this journey with your loyal First Mate and the rest, details omitted? Did you notice I just said ‘details omitted’? Miss Alice said that makes speech more concise. You might like this kind of concise—”

“Shut up. All the words you saved got paid back in the nonsense after that,” Duncan said, giving this noisy thing a look. “While I was gone, did anything happen on the ship?”

“Ah, Captain Duncan’s strictness and humor are as always. Your lesson is correct—everything on the ship was normal. Your loyal ‘details omitted’ perfectly carried out the steering duty you gave me. Also, Miss Alice came by twice, but nothing serious. Once she was fighting with the cables, once she was fighting with the anchor chain…”

Duncan had been about to walk through the enchanted sea chart room to go check the deck, but he stopped at once when he heard Goathead’s words. He stared, full of question marks: “Why was she fighting with the cables and the anchor chain?”

While he was walking the Spirit Realm, he could sense what happened on the Vanished, but he had not spared much attention to watch closely. He had only vaguely felt Alice wandering all over the ship to “explore”… How had she managed to turn the ship into such a lively place while he was away?

“Oh, Miss Alice was actually trying to be helpful,” Goathead answered at once. “She thought it was bad to do nothing on the ship, so she wanted to find some work. She went to sort the cables and maintain the winches—but I forgot to tell her the cables are ticklish and the anchor chain needs a nap…”

Duncan: “…”

“Captain, are you angry?” Duncan’s sudden silence made Goathead nervous at once. It shook its wooden head back and forth. “It really wasn’t anything big. Besides, a new crew member on a ship always needs time to fit in before they get along with the old sailors—now they’ve already reached the ‘hitting’ stage. That means Miss Alice is blending into the group very fast. In fact, she is quite popular on the ship. Most of the Vanished’s—”

Goathead had only gotten halfway through its chatter when hurried footsteps suddenly rang out from the deck outside. The door to the captain’s cabin was yanked open. Alice rushed in, flustered: “Mr. Goathead, why are the cannonballs in the magazine rolling around and not letting me—”

Duncan silently looked at Alice.

Alice also saw Duncan standing by the chart table. Her whole body went stiff as she stared at him awkwardly.

“Well, this makes the third time,” Goathead on the chart table let out a sigh. “Now she’s fighting with the cannonballs… I admit Miss Alice’s ‘fitting in’ process on the ship may be just a tiny bit too lively…”

Alice shrank her neck (maybe tightening her joints), nervously watching Duncan’s blank face: “Captain, you’re back, huh…”

“Mm.” Duncan nodded, calm and mild. “Looks like you had a very good time on the ship while I was away?”

Alice: “…”