Chapter 545

Chapter 545: Alice’s New Friend

On the foredeck of the Radiant Star, Shirley clung to the rail at the ship’s side. Her face shone with excitement as she watched the coastline grow clearer on the distant horizon. She shouted happily: “Oh, oh, oh! I see the harbor! I can already see the harbor!”

“Don’t get so excited you fall overboard,” Dog’s voice came from beside her. “And don’t just stand there laughing like a fool. Don’t forget what you promised the captain before we left. Even if you’re going out to play, you still…”

Shirley started waving her hands before he even finished: “Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Dog, you’re so naggy. Why do you sound like some old auntie…”

The Abyssal Hound lying on the deck beside her grew unhappy at once and began a new round of nagging. Not far away, Lucretia watched the scene on the deck with a subtle, complicated look. Her eyes flickered, and no one could tell what she was thinking.

Nina stood beside Lucretia. She watched this “sea witch”, who had an elegant, mysterious air and a beautiful face that still carried a cold, unsettling distance, and spoke in a small, nervous voice: “You don’t think Shirley is too noisy, do you? She’s always like this…”

“No.” Lucretia turned her head a little and answered softly. “This ship is always noisy. My dolls can make a much bigger ruckus than this.”

“Oh…” Nina let out a small “oh”, then smiled a bit shyly. “Um… thank you for letting us ride on this ship.”

“Father asked me to take you all to Lightwind Harbor, so of course I will do it,” Lucretia said. She glanced at Nina. She seemed not very used to dealing with strangers. To others, that unease and awkwardness often looked like coldness and pride, so she worked to adjust her expression and make herself look a bit warmer. “I remember your name is Nina, right?”

“Yes.” Nina nodded at once. A bright smile spread over her face.

“…You call my Father ‘Uncle Duncan’,” Lucretia said, with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. “You… aren’t you afraid?”

“I’m not. Uncle Duncan is very kind,” Nina said with a smile. Then she paused. Her bright smile faded into a gentle one, and she looked into the eyes of this “witch” miss in front of her. “I know what happened. You don’t need to worry… and I think things are very good as they are now.”

“…That’s good, then.” Lucretia quietly looked at Nina for a while and gave a small nod.

But right after that, she heard this girl named Nina ask another curious question: “Lucretia… um… are you and Uncle Duncan not on very good terms?”

“Why do you ask that?”

“I heard someone say so. They said the Radiant Star broke with the Vanished a century ago. And just now, when Uncle Duncan was bringing us over here, I saw you always seemed to avoid his eyes on purpose,” Nina said. Her voice grew softer and softer. “Sorry… Did I say something wrong? That sounded kind of rude…”

“We did walk down different paths in the past,” Lucretia said. She did not seem bothered. She only shook her head. “But that is all old history. As for now, I don’t know if my relationship with Father can be called good or bad. I think… we have just gone too long without seeing each other.”

Nina blinked as she listened. She seemed to hear the faint regret and sadness in the “witch” miss’s voice. After a small hesitation, Nina said: “You’re not like what I imagined at first… Before I met you in person, I was actually very nervous.”

“People always make wild guesses about things they don’t understand, and they never feel responsible for those guesses,” Lucretia said with a small smile. “Also, Nina, you don’t have to use honorifics when you call me. You can just use my name.”

Nina froze for a moment: “But you…”

“My Father is your ‘Uncle Duncan’,” Lucretia said, looking at Nina. At last, there was some real warmth in her smile. “If you keep using honorifics in that situation, I’m going to feel really awkward.”

Nina thought about it and nodded: “Oh, that does make sense…”

The corners of Lucretia’s mouth lifted. She looked at this young lady who was, in essence, a fragment of the Sun, yet in words and actions was just an ordinary girl. Then she turned her head to glance at the “demon summoner” lying over the rail not far away, who could not wait to go exploring in the city.

At the same time, that Grand Scholar Morris was in the cabin, catching up with Taran Ael, whom he had not seen in decades. The two of them seemed to be planning a visit to Lightwind Harbor’s city-state university. The “exiled Inquisitor” named Vanna was midway down the deck, following the rabbit Rabby and curiously touring the ship’s unique “spirit form structure”.

As for the living doll named “Alice”, she was surely still with Father right now. As soon as Father had come aboard, he had said he wanted to introduce her to Lunie and then had left with her.

They were Father’s new “followers”. While countless clever people in the world were exhausting themselves trying to guess the goal behind the Vanished Fleet’s reformation, these people looked as if they were here on vacation.

In one sense, they were indeed very strong. Each of them had their own special skills and was more than worthy of a place in the Vanished Fleet. But in another sense…

They were completely different from what Lucretia had first imagined.

They were not a terrifying, suffocating group of “Subspace retainers”. On the contrary, they were interesting, and it was easy and pleasant to be around them. Father had gathered these people together… and it did not feel like some deep, far-reaching plan. It felt more like he had just happened to gather some traveling companions.

“After we dock, I’ll arrange a place for you to stay,” Lucretia said, drawing in her drifting thoughts. “I have a few bases in Lightwind Harbor, and they are kept fairly clean. Do you have any plans once you go into the city? I can give you some suggestions.”

“Suggestions?” Nina’s eyes lit up at once. “Then do you… I mean, do you know where in Lightwind Harbor there is the most good food? I heard this city-state has the largest variety of food in the whole Boundless Sea, and I came here for that!”

Lucretia’s expression turned odd for a moment: “…The ‘food’ in Lightwind Harbor?”

Nina nodded hard: “Yes!”

“…Father never explained elven food culture to you in detail?”

“No,” Nina said blankly. She seemed to faintly sense something strange in Lucretia’s tone. “Um, did I get something wrong?”

“…You’re not exactly wrong. It’s just something you have to experience for yourself,” Lucretia said after thinking a bit, her face serious. “I’ll take you to the Crown District later.”

Nina looked full of hope: “Is there a lot of good food there?”

“…It’s near the hospital.”

Nina: “…?”

At the same time, in the crew rest area of the Radiant Star, Duncan had found himself a seat. He leaned back to rest while watching an interesting scene not far away.

Two dolls stood there, both looking a bit blank.

Alice studied the stranger in front of her, who looked even more “doll-like” than she did. After thinking for a long time, she suddenly turned her head: “Captain! How do you make friends with strangers?”

“Start by introducing yourself,” Duncan said. No one knew where he had gotten a few fries, but he tossed them toward Ai, who was strolling lazily across a small table nearby. “Begin with your name.”

“Oh.” Alice nodded, then turned back to the doll standing across from her. “Hello, my name is Alice. I’m also called Anomaly 099.”

“Hello, I’m Lunie,” the clockwork doll facing Alice bent at the waist as well and introduced herself with great politeness. “I am Mistress Lucretia’s servant. Are you Old Master’s servant?”

“I’m not. I’m the captain’s doll! On the ship I’m in charge of cooking and cleaning!”

Lunie tilted her head. Somewhere in her body, gears gave a soft scraping sound.

Alice kept looking curiously at her new friend: “You don’t have any strings on your head!”

“Strings? What are those?”

“They’re things everyone has. They float out of their bodies. The captain says only I can see them,” Alice said, waving her hands as she talked. “He says they might be ‘Soul Threads’. I don’t really understand what that means, but whenever I grab one, the person stops moving…”

“It’s hard to understand what you’re saying,” Lunie answered in a slightly stiff tone. “I am a doll. I don’t have a soul… but I do have a spring.”

As she spoke, the clockwork doll turned around and showed Alice the winding handle at her lower back, shaped like a big bow.

“Oh, a spring. I have one too!” Alice said at once, delighted. She turned around as well to show her new friend. “See this spot? There’s also a keyhole under my clothes, but I can’t reach it myself, so the key is in the captain’s hands…”

“Interesting. We have something in common,” Lunie said. A lively series of gear sounds came from inside her, as if she was happy. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone similar to myself. Mistress and Old Master both said you could become my friend. It seems they were right.”

“Right? The captain is amazing!” Alice said joyfully. “And look, our joints are very similar too, even though your arms are a bit stiffer than mine…”

Lunie lowered her head and looked at her own arm. “Yes. We have similar joint structures.”

Alice became even happier. She suddenly cupped her own head in her hands. “Oh, right. Can your head come off? Mine can! Look—”

With a little “pop”, Alice pulled off her own head right in front of Lunie. She held it up in both hands and showed it off: “See, see, see, I can take it off…”

Lunie stared in wonder at this amazing move from her new friend. Then she lifted her own hands, cupped her head, and gave a pull.

Clack.