Deep Sea Embers

Chapter 66 “Good Morning On The Vanished”

“Alice! Take care of your head!” The beautiful morning on the Vanished began with the captain’s angry roar on the deck.

Duncan stood outside the captain’s room, his finger pointing to the head of the doll hanging from a nearby beam. He’s twitching in the eye as he watches the headless doll getting up in a panic to retrieve the hanging head.

With a crisp “click”, Miss Doll reconnected her head back on and promptly trotted over: “Hehe…”

“Don’t hehe me! What are you doing hanging your head above my door in the morning? Don’t tell me you’re acting as the scout. There’s a dove for that.” Duncan stared at this cursed doll, which unfortunately knocked a few years off the captain’s lifespan. Seriously, who wouldn’t be scared silly at having a decapitated head hanging outside their room in the morning?

“I washed my hair in the morning…” Alice shrank her head down and replied meekly, “My hair wasn’t drying fast enough so I wanted to hang it higher so it can catch some wind….”

Duncan: “…”

Alice peeks up after getting no response, “Captain… Are you angry?”

“You… are right.” After holding his breath in, Duncan could only blurt this out while restraining the muscles in his cheeks. He had to admit. From the perspective of Alice’s lifestyle, putting her head up in a higher place like the mast was indeed a good idea. Besides, other items on the ship were doing weird stuff, like taking a nap or the bucket rolling to the back for a sun tan. Nothing was normal on this ship, and it’s about time the man got a bigger heart.

In this respect, Alice had adapted quite well to life on the ship. This would be called “mingling” in if he had to put a word to it….

“Captain, you’re not angry!” Alice immediately laughs because she has a good grasp of the captain’s temperament by this point. She’s still in awe of the man, but she’s no longer afraid of him like on the first day and even dares to bargain for benefits, “Then Captain, can I still hang my head….”

“No, anywhere but outside the captain’s room.” Duncan shot a sideway glance at the doll, “I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find a crewmember’s head welcoming me at first light.”

Alice could only honestly bow her head: “Oh, okay….”

Duncan still looked at her skeptically like he didn’t believe it’s not going to happen again.

“Captain?” Alice grew a little timid by the attention, “Why do you keep staring at me…?”

“I just suddenly thought of a question,” Duncan said as he pondered, “you’re suffering from hair loss, right? So then… do you grow it back?”

Alice was stunned, her expression becoming that of a broken recorder. It took a long while until her eyes suddenly jerked to attention at the captain’s implication, “I… I… I didn’t think about it at all! Captain you…”

The last few words of her sentence were borderline crying. In the end, she couldn’t actually bring herself to say it aloud because “Captain, are you a devil?” would surely warrant a knock on the head. On top of that, she didn’t want the goat head to go on a nagging spree regarding this later.

Duncan didn’t care what Alice forced back down. Instead, his attention was on something else entirely: “You see? Although you can walk and jump like a normal person, but your body is that of a real puppet doll. You don’t eat or drink, and joints can fall off anytime. In this case, wouldn’t your hair be a non-renewable resource? The more you wash, the faster you will become bald…. Wouldn’t combing also worsen the condition?”

Alice was about to really cry, “Captain, why would you think of such a terrible thing…”

Duncan: “Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask you this question after eating that bowl of fish head soup.”

Alice was so taken aback by the soup description that she openly sniffled to pull the snot back: “But I cooked fish soup…”

Duncan puts on a front of truth and justice: “Didn’t you use the fish’s head in the soup? Then why isn’t it fish head soup?”

Alice: “Captain is right….”

Just like that, the beautiful morning on the Vanished began with everyone’s mutual recognition of reasonableness.

Miss Doll left in a trance after the morning exchange. She seemed to suddenly have a lot on her plate about the future and what it foretold. Meanwhile, Duncan’s mood was as giddy as it came because he had just pulled the most devilish prank on the ship. Of course, the guy also partook in his usual breakfast in the mapping room – the chopped cheese and spirit he brought from Pland – which weren’t much but still delicious considering what’s on the Vanished.

“Captain, what happened to Miss Alice? I noticed that she had absent-mindedly returned to her quarters and slammed the door twice on the way in… Is she preoccupied with something?” The goat head asks after sensing the oddity with the doll.

“She’s facing a major life challenge, and I don’t think you’ll have to worry about her fighting the items aboard the ship for a while.” Duncan brought the wine glass up to his face and grinned mischievously, “But I’m curious about one thing…”

“Huh? What are you curious about?”

“Does a cursed doll really become a bald doll once their hair falls out?” Duncan begins an honest discussion with the wood figurine, “Shouldn’t a supernatural item have supernatural powers to ensure its maintenance? Unfortunately, I couldn’t dive further into the topic with Alice when she ran away.”

Goat’s head: “…”

The silence drew an intrigued look from Duncan, “Why aren’t you talking?”

After a period of being at a loss for words, the goat head finally lets loose, “You are truly the most terrifying natural disaster on the Boundless Sea…. Such a question is something I can never ask.”

Duncan shrugged and got up from behind the mapping table.

“I’m going to leave again,” he said to the goat head and snapped his finger to summon a wisp of green flame. Immediately, Ai the dove flew down from the shelf and landed on the man’s shoulder, “As usual, you are in charge of the helm while I’m away.”

“Of course Captain. As your most loyal first mate, I will not disappoint!” The goat head agreed without hesitation and soundly pumped with energy, “But Captain, you’ve been lately… a bit keen on spirit walking. Is there something on land that interests you?”

Duncan didn’t respond immediately but paused to ensure he’s got a good excuse, “I recently discovered after a century of development, the world is more interesting than imagined.”

It won’t expose him for lacking knowledge by going this route, and it gave him ample reasoning to explore the land side more often in the future. If necessary, the excuse could also be used as the reason for returning the Vanished to civilization.

Most importantly, the answer fits with the image of “Captain Duncan”, the infamous ghost captain and the biggest natural disaster on the Boundless Sea.

The goat head didn’t explode like the man expected but instead took the decision for granted. “Oh, you’re absolutely right Captain. After all these years, those city-states should’ve come up with something to intrigue you. I can see why you would want to relieve your boredom…. In this case, should the Vanished be prepared? Which city-state are you planning to invade? Pland? Renza? Or the one further north?”

Originally Duncan was still pleased to hear the support, but as the goat head went on and turned his excuse into a full-blown invasion plan, his heart instantly sank and pulled the break. “When did I say I want to invade a city-state? Something interesting has emerged. Wouldn’t it be a shame to destroy it?”

“Ahh… right, my suggestion is too reckless. “The goat head immediately changed his attitude about the whole thing, “I thought you were going to drive the ship over there in the future… of course, the idea must be voided now since there’s no plan of that. In fact, this way is also very good. No matter what, those city-states do have some strength. Simply driving the ship over there is a bit risky….”

“In the future, don’t mention invading a city-state.” Duncan looked at the goat head and added another layer of insurance, “We have been derailed from the world for over a century, and now I want to regain control of the changes in civilized society, which may involve many long-term changes. Don’t make superfluous plans until I have a clear order.”

“As you command, Captain.”