Chapter 93

Chapter 93: This Is Common Sense

Duncan quickly adjusted his expression and his mood so he would not look like a “foreigner” with scrambled common sense. But his thoughts could no longer calm down. They surged like stormy waves.

It turned out that when you suddenly arrived in a strange and anomalous world, then in those first days—no matter how strong your ability to adapt, no matter how well you acted—at any moment, some ordinary piece of “common sense” could smack you in the face with the local worldview. Ordinary historical knowledge could be learned in a systematic way. Deep, specialized knowledge did not matter much in daily life. But “common sense” was something that only made you yell in shock when you ran right into it.

In this world, there were no stars in the sky. That was common sense.

In this world, the Starry Sky lay in the Deep Sea, at the boundary between the Spirit Realm and the Abyssal Deep Sea. That was also common sense.

As for this second piece of so-called “common sense”, Duncan could only think: [What the hell.]

He had never come into contact with this field and had never gone down to that depth. He had raced the Vanished through the depths of the Spirit Realm. He had seen the chaotic streams of light that leaked in from Subspace in the ship’s lowest deck. But he had never seen that “Starry Sky” between the waters of the Abyssal Deep and the Spirit Realm… and that happened to be a blind spot in his knowledge so far.

As Duncan kept up his side of the conversation with Morris, his mind spun quickly.

Stars… hidden deep in seawater… What kind of strange sight would that be? Was the “Starry Sky” Morris spoke of the same “Starry Sky” Duncan knew about? What was the true shape of the place where the Spirit Realm and the Abyssal Deep met? Was it a stretch of even deeper, darker ocean? Or was it a special spatial structure that was only called a sea?

For some reason, Duncan suddenly thought of that girl named Shirley, and of her inseparable pet and weapon, “Dog”.

Dog was a “Abyssal Hound”. In the terms of this world, that was a kind of demon summoned from a depth of the Abyssal Deep into the Mortal Realm.

Duncan could not imagine what kind of internal structure such a skeletal hound might have. From its appearance, it clearly was not a “marine creature”… so it was not too bold to guess that this so-called “Abyssal Deep Sea” might not really be a “sea” at all.

It might be an extremely vast and strange space, and… it was wrapped in the Starry Sky.

As Duncan sketched a possible spatial model for the Abyssal Deep Sea in his mind, Morris noticed that the antique shopkeeper in front of him suddenly seemed a bit distracted. The old mister looked at Duncan with curiosity and asked: “Do you also study Astrology?”

“I just… have some interest,” Duncan tugged at the corner of his mouth. In his heart, he thought that after he had already accepted the fact that this world had no Starry Sky, hearing the word “Astrology” again all of a sudden felt very strange indeed. “The Starry Sky is hidden so deep… it cannot be easy to explore it.”

“That is, of course, extremely dangerous,” Morris said. “But thankfully, we can also observe projections of the Starry Sky through some indirect scientific methods. For that, we must thank technological progress. After the Spirit Realm lenses appeared, navigators on ocean-going vessels went mad much less often during navigation.”

Morris laughed. He seemed not to have found someone willing to discuss these questions with him for a long time, and he was in high spirits now. “You must know, a century ago, navigator was always the deadliest job on an ocean-going vessel… I have always wanted to collect a set of the earliest Spirit Realm lenses, but I really have no way to get any.”

Duncan blinked. He did not care at all what the old mister said last. He only felt that a question which had bothered him for a long time finally had an answer:

In a world whose sky had no celestial bodies, how did ships on long voyages calibrate their route?

The answer was that they still relied on stargazing—using special scientific instruments to observe projections of the Starry Sky reflected from the depths of the Spirit Realm.

Before New City-State Calendar 1800, navigating ships was even a deadly job.

After all, ordinary ships did not have the Vanished’s “enchanted sea chart”, which updated in real time like satellite positioning. They did not have a reliable goat First Mate either.

“You really are a very learned man,” after they had talked through many issues, Duncan finally could not help saying with real feeling, “Nina is very lucky to have a Teacher like you.”

“I am also very glad to see that she has an Uncle like you,” Morris nodded with reserved politeness. “Now all my doubts are gone. You are not only a responsible guardian, but you also have broad interests and a strong desire to learn. To be honest… it has been a very long time since I last talked so happily with someone.”

The old man spoke and gave a slight sigh. “My life now is good in every way—quiet, peaceful, free from many petty matters in the Upper City. The only problem is that most of the time it is hard to find anyone willing to listen to me talk about these dull things… Even the other Teachers I work with often cannot keep up with my train of thought. It is rare to find someone like you, who can listen to me talk this much.”

“I am happy to be your listener,” Duncan grinned at once when he heard that. “I have a special interest in history.”

“I can see that,” Morris, the old mister, smiled in satisfaction. Then he glanced toward the shop window, and only then did he realize how much time had passed. He hurried to his feet. “Oh, by the Goddess, I have already been here the whole afternoon?”

“If you do not mind, you could stay the night,” Duncan said offhandedly. “You can try my cooking.”

“…I should still be able to catch the bus back to the Crossroad District,” Morris looked at the slowly sinking Sun and politely declined Duncan’s kindness. “Thank you for the invitation, but I think I should go home. The city has not been very peaceful lately. If I stayed out all night, my family would worry.”

“That’s true… then I won’t insist,” Duncan thought for a moment and stood up to walk him out. “I’ll call Nina down first.”

Morris had just opened his mouth to speak when Duncan had already turned his head toward the second floor and called: “Nina! Mr. Morris is going home. Come down and see your Teacher off!”

Footsteps came from the stairs. Nina, now in a simple house dress, ran lightly down. She greeted her Teacher first, then glanced at the sky outside and looked at Duncan in surprise: “You two have been talking for this long?!”

“We had a very pleasant talk,” Morris said with a smile. “Your Uncle is a man with broad interests who enjoys learning. We discussed many questions about history.”

Duncan stood beside them with a serious face, nodding silently.

So-called “discussion” really meant that the old mister had talked on his own while Duncan pretended to understand and muddled through as he listened. But since the old mister himself put it that way, Duncan certainly would not say otherwise—and to be fair, he felt he had been a pretty good listener. He had asked questions at the right times so the conversation could keep going. For an old scholar who usually suffered from having no one to listen to his rambling, was that not the best kind of “discussion” there was?

Nina looked suspiciously from her Uncle to the smiling old mister. She wanted to say that her Uncle was not exactly known for broad interests and a love of study, but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back. Then she suddenly grew a little nervous, tugged on Duncan’s sleeve, and whispered: “Did you two talk about me?”

“Just a few little things from school,” Morris said. Though he was getting on in years, his hearing was excellent, and he immediately heard the girl’s whisper. “Your Uncle will tell you. Don’t worry, I did not complain about you.”

As he spoke, the old man picked up the Gatekeeper’s cane he had left by the door when he came in. He also checked the old dagger tucked inside his coat. Only then did he say goodbye to the uncle and niece and slowly walk out the door.

After seeing the old mister off, Duncan looked at the sky outside, then simply hung up the “Closed” sign and locked the shop door. At this hour, he did not expect any more customers.

Besides, he had just earned a large sum. Ordinary “business” did not feel all that important anymore.

Nina watched Duncan bustle about—locking the door, tidying the counter. She felt full of questions. But before she could speak, Duncan suddenly looked up at her with a smile and said: “In a couple of days, I’ll take you to buy a bicycle.”

“Ah?” Nina froze for a second. “Why…?”

“I already got a bonus from City Hall before this, which was enough money,” Duncan said, raising the bank check in his hand. “And just now I made a big sale. I think… we can afford to live a little better. At the very least, a bicycle would be very useful, don’t you think?”

“A big sale…” Nina finally caught up. “Ah, you really sold that dagger to Mr. Morris?”

“I did,” Duncan nodded. “I sold it for more than three thousand sola.”

Nina: “…!?”

The girl, who had a very clear sense of money, was shocked by the number. Then she looked at her Uncle Duncan with a very strange expression.

“Teacher came for a home visit, and you kept him here talking all afternoon,” she said. “Then you sold him something worth more than three thousand sola… What will people think if this gets around later?”

Duncan thought for a moment, then said with a straight face: “Our shop will become famous?”

Nina: “Are you serious?”

Duncan spread his hands. “What else could I do? The old mister liked that piece. I couldn’t just give it to him for free. It’s rare for the shop to have something genuinely valuable.”

Nina put her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffing out. But in the end, the breath she had been holding suddenly turned into a smile.