Deep Sea Embers

“Actually, I can sleep in the hallway…” Shirley seemed a little embarrassed watching Nina busy preparing for herself, “Or I can sleep on the ground on the first floor…”

“That’s not okay,” Nina said, glancing toward the door. Uncle Duncan had gone back to his room, so it was just her and Shirley, plus Dog who was napping nearby. “How can we let a guest sleep in the corridor, and on the first floor… the first floor, they’re all my uncle’s ‘babies’. He wouldn’t agree anyways.”

“His baby?” Shirley was stunned for a moment, recalling what she had seen on the first floor. Due to how nervous she had been, the gothic girl only assumed those things were piles of rags and garbage used to trick the folks in the neighborhood.

But she quickly realized something again: here, the “Mr. Duncan” was just an ordinary person, and Nina in front of her did not know about her “uncle’s” other face!

Thinking of this, Shirley’s expression became a little strange under the bright light brought by the electric lamp, “Are you really not angry?”

Nina stopped making the bed and raised her eyebrows: “Angry? Why?”

“…… I actually lied to you for a long time,” Shirley whispered. She had rarely been so embarrassed and quiet in her life. “I only approached you at first because of Dog’s reminder, but I didn’t expect you to believe me so easily and become my friend. I even… I assumed you would be a little angry with me if you ever found out.”

“…… No one had spoken to me at school for a long time, and I thought…” Nina muttered but quickly shook her head, “But I’m really not angry. No matter what the reason, at least you actually talked to me, went shopping with me, and went to the museum together.”

Shirley wasn’t accustomed to Nina’s calm reaction, or rather, she had long been accustomed to a colder interpersonal environment, hence the awkwardness. “You are such a strange person.”

“Am I?” Nina tilted her head after making the bed, “I think someone said that to me as well a long time ago… I think their words were, ‘how can this kid be so frank inside’.”

While speaking, she beckoned to Shirley: “Come sit. Why do you keep standing there?”

Shirley froze for a moment, hesitating if she should do as told. But then a strange and bizarre feeling flowed out of the gothic girl’s heart, and that was a sense of warmth.

“The light is so bright…” As if to break the tension, or maybe just to find things to talk about, Shirley whispered after crawling into bed.

“Don’t you have electric lights where you live?” Nina was a little surprised.

“I live in… in an older neighborhood where there are no electric lights,” Shirley blushed, “I still need to use candles when the night falls.”

“Ah…” Nina opened her mouth, feeling a little awkward at not being more aware of the other party’s situation. Stiffly changing the subject, “Do you want to change into pajamas? I still have one from two years ago, so the size should fit.”

“Okay….”

“Sleep early tonight. Tomorrow we can go around the neighborhood and get you some new clothes. Your skirt is already burned.”

“…… I have no money.”

“Then it’s my gift to you.”

“Okay….”

……

Unlike what others would have expected, Duncan hasn’t fallen asleep in his bed yet. Instead, he’s been sitting in front of the windowsill and quietly staring into the distance.

Closing his eyes, Duncan allowed his powers to activate. From where he sat, two clusters of green flames were flickering nearby in his dark field of vision – they’re the marks he left on the girls, one for Shirley and the other for Nina.

He still doesn’t know what the ashes around Nina meant, what secrets are buried in the city, where the veiled curtain came from, or who’s manipulating everything from behind the scenes, but one thing’s certain, he’s getting closer to the truth from eleven years ago. Little by little, he’s going to pry apart the fog.

As to why he’s leaving a “mark” on Nina, that’s insurance on his part. Today was a warning to him. If he hadn’t acted in time, who knows what might’ve happened. He won’t permit another accident like that of the museum to occur.

Opening his eyes again after confirming the marks were secure, Duncan looked down at his hands.

This body is still too weak for my liking. The power transmitted through the connection limits my perception. If Shirley hadn’t come along, I never would’ve known about the ashes around Nina.

Taking a small breath, Duncan shifts his focus back to the ship where the main body lies. Immediately, the ghost captain shot open his eyes and left the captain’s quarter.

“Oh how wonderful Captain! Your most loyal and faithful first mate is here to….” The noisy yapping of the goat head came the second he walked out the door.

“In what direction is the city-state of Pland?” Duncan glanced at the statue and interrupted the other quite skillfully.

“Pl… the city-state of Pland?!” The goat head was caught off guard. Showing a moment of astonishment from the wooden face, the statue suddenly got all excited in his voice: “Pland! A human city-state! Oh the great Captain Duncan is finally willing to embark on a plundering expedition?! Is this your attack target? Are we going to directly hit the port, or are we plundering the merchant ships on the coastlines? Maybe the naval force of Pland will…”

“Shut up, don’t make any extra arrangements.” Duncan went straight to the mapping table and knocked on the table to get his orders through, “I want to know which direction leads to that city-state.”

“Oooh, right, okay, as you wish—” As the goat head’s voice became low and drawn out, the fog-filled map suddenly started to show a flashing dot at the edge of the chart.

“The Pland city-state you’re looking for… It shouldn’t be too far off,” the statue said respectfully. “Ah, it’s a pity that the mapping chart has been asleep for too long. It can only mark the approximate location of Pland right now, and the sea conditions and markers along the way are still shrouded with the unknown…”

“It seems very far away,” Duncan glanced at the bright spot in the fog and judged the journey wouldn’t be a short one, “how long will it take if we go at full speed?”

“Half a month? Maybe a month? In fact, it’s already very fast. We haven’t really reached the boundary of civilization yet,” the goat head confessed. “You can also choose to let the Vanished go at full speed in the spirit world, but that method isn’t very safe. Although the spirit world itself is not a big threat to us, many daring entities of the deep sea may find trouble with us…”

The deep sea…

Duncan subconsciously thought of “Dog”, but quickly shook his head: “Then sail in the real sea first while approaching Pland. Another question, are we able to remain hidden from the city-states?”

He had to be wary of asking this question because it posed a risk to his identity. Nevertheless, Duncan did so anyways since it was a chance for him to test the statue’s limits again.

There was no emotion in the obsidian eyes of the goat head. He just looked at the captain quietly before speaking as usual: “… We can hide in the fog, and if necessary, briefly dive into the reflection of the broken waves. That way, we may be able to come up to fifteen miles of the shore without being detected. But not closer – the eyes of the gods will perceive us, and the cathedrals of the city-state will issue the warning.”

“Your experience is from a century ago,” Duncan said calmly, “does it still work now?”

“Of course,” the goat head said lightly, “a century is nothing to the gods. They wouldn’t have changed much in this duration.”

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief: “Very good, then let the Vanished approach Pland. Be sure to keep us hidden the entire time.”

“May I ask something?” The statue asks again, “Umm… what do you plan to do there?”

“A test,” Duncan thought for a moment, smiling as he formulated his plan, “Let’s see if the wifi will be better.”

Goat head: “… wi… What does that mean?”

“Go and let Ai explain it to you.”

“No! Your most loyal first mate does not need or care of the meaning!”