Anne looked at the two "guests" in the cabin with some confusion, her eyes flickering between Agatha and Duncan. After a long time, the girl finally came to her senses: "Ah, Uncle Duncan, you want to stay here."
The cemetery caretaker?”
"Perhaps," Duncan said, looking at the still surprised Agatha, "Isn't that possible? Do the cemetery guards have to be veterans of the Guardians?"
Agatha finally reacted and spoke quickly: "No... although generally speaking, the guards of the cemetery are retired veterans of the guards, but if I come forward, of course I can arrange a position for you, the problem is not here
,The key is...do you really want to stay in this cemetery as a guard?"
"My identity in Pland is still an antique dealer," Duncan said, with a smile in his eyes. "The Homeless Ship will not stop in one place, but my incarnation will stay in the city-state, always looking for something to do.
You can’t just sit around in that big house on Oak Street drinking tea and reading newspapers all day long, can you?”
"This...I really haven't thought about this problem," Agatha opened her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, "I have never thought about what your 'incarnation' needs to do in daily life..."
"Normally, most novels and movies don't mention the protagonists changing jobs after the incident, but the reality is that you now have to do the work of two people, and Tirian is drowned in paperwork all day long," Duncan laughed
He said, "For me, it is very boring to drive a ghost ship that will not dock all day long in the endless sea. Living a normal life in a city-state is a way for me to ensure that I am still like a human being."
'Human' skills, you can think of it as..."
Agatha spoke instantly: "I will make arrangements for you immediately. You can come to the cemetery to 'take office' tomorrow."
Duncan: "...I haven't finished speaking yet."
"I have listened to the most important part," Agatha said solemnly, "Don't worry, even if the highest church intervenes, I will ensure that you can safely serve as a guard in this cemetery."
"...I feel like you over-understood what I just said, but it's not a big problem," Duncan said awkwardly, and then really asked about "work", "What do the cemetery guards need to do on a daily basis?"
"In fact, there is basically not much work - the guard's task is just to ensure that the cemetery is not 'disturbed' and to ensure that the extraordinary power is calm. In addition, it is enough to register the living and the dead who enter and leave the cemetery. As for the cemetery facilities
Things like maintenance are all taken care of by people from nearby churches," Agatha explained. "Given that even the night in Frost City has become an extremely safe environment, I think... not only you, but everyone
The cemetery caretaker shouldn’t have to do anything.”
Agatha said this in a somewhat strange tone, and her eyes glanced at Duncan from time to time, obviously thinking of the relationship between the calmness of the recent frosty night and the existence in front of her.
And she still has some words left unsaid - what does it matter even if the night in the city is still as dangerous as ever? The cemetery has welcomed such a "guardian", I am afraid that there will never be any incidents involving extraordinary power.
Well, I guess even if something from subspace emerges from the coffin, it will be slapped back by the new guard...
Anyway, this is a good thing.
Duncan didn't know what Agatha was thinking, and he didn't think about too complicated things himself, because he really just wanted to find something to do for his body - and considering that the remaining things in this body
With his last will, considering his "fate" with this cemetery, he finally chose to stay here and become the new caretaker of the cemetery.
He will continue to watch the frost here, take care of, and guard this city-state, just like in Purland.
The hot tea in my hand has gradually cooled down.
Duncan placed the teacup on the low table aside, stood up and silently looked around the small house. The simple and simple furnishings in the house came into view, as if there were still some traces of the old owner.
On the wall next to the door, an old shotgun that looked very old was hanging quietly on an iron hook, the bolt still shining brightly, reflecting the fire nearby.
Duncan looked at the old shotgun for a while, nodded slightly, opened the door and walked out of the cabin.
The sound of high-spirited and cheerful music came from a certain street outside the cemetery, mixed with the sound of fireworks.
Anne got out of the small door behind him, listened to the movement on the street in the distance, and happily pulled Duncan's clothes: "The new consul's motorcade is about to pass through the cemetery ring!"
"Many people are still afraid of the new consul," Duncan lowered his head with a smile in his eyes, "You don't look afraid at all?"
"I'm not afraid. Mom said that the new consul is a hero who protects the city." Anne raised her face and squinted her eyes in the sun. "Just like dad, he is a very powerful person."
Duncan thought for a moment, reached out and gently pressed the girl's furry hat.
"Indeed, he will be an excellent consul."
…
On the boundless sea, Duncan walked through the stern deck and returned to the captain's cabin.
The goat head was steering the ship conscientiously. On the navigation table, the thick fog floating on the surface of the large chart was flowing and dissipating little by little.
Duncan stood in front of the chart for a while, scanning the route that had gradually become clear near Hanshuang, and then walked to the corner of the room.
The simple and elegant oval mirror in the captain's cabin is still hanging quietly on the wall. The scene in the room is reflected in the mirror, and in the interplay of sunlight and shadow, the scene looks vague for some reason.
Duncan took a step forward, curled his fingers, and lightly tapped the edge of the mirror.
The next second, layers of hazy light and shadow suddenly floated on the surface of the seemingly ordinary mirror, as if countless fog and smoke were rising from the world in the mirror. Then, the hazy light and shadow appeared.
A figure.
Agatha - the keeper of the mirror - appears before Duncan.
"Good day, Captain," Agatha's slightly magnetic voice came from the mirror, "Nice to meet you."
Duncan nodded and asked casually: "How do you feel? Are you still used to it?"
"It feels... not bad," Agatha said slowly. "When I first 'transferred' to the ship, the huge and empty mirror world here made me a little nervous, but maybe as I gradually adapted to this place
, those empty darkness have gradually faded away... I also tried to communicate with the 'Martha' lady, and she told me many techniques and knowledge as a 'mirror', which are very useful."
Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Oh? You can contact Martha directly here?"
"The Black Oak is wandering in the reflection of the nearby sea. In the mirror world, she and I are 'neighbors'," Agatha laughed. "This is a wonderful experience - the world in the mirror is neither
Continuous but connected everywhere, I can jump from one mirror to another, appear in many mirrors at the same time, or hide in the vast void behind the mirror... It may take many, many years before I can fully understand this.
everything."
Duncan listened with great interest as this "mirror image" told him about the unimaginable "mirror rules" that were beyond ordinary people's knowledge. When the other party finished speaking, he nodded slightly: "It sounds like you are enjoying it.
This process is good."
Agatha was stunned and sighed softly: "...Yes, it's better than I imagined."
The captain's room was quiet for a while. After an unknown amount of time, Duncan suddenly broke the silence: "I want to know, what made you decide to leave Frost and embark on a journey with the Homeless Ship? This will be your life.
In the longest journey, this ship may go to many places, distant city-states, sealed secret realms, the spiritual world, the deep, and even subspace..."
Agatha in the mirror was deep in thought. She considered this issue very seriously. After several minutes, she slowly spoke: "I think it will be when 'we' dive into the deep dark sea together."
Duncan didn't speak, just looked at the person in the mirror, waiting for her to continue.
The voice in the mirror came again——
"I have all the memories and emotions of Agatha. In that memory, I was born in the frost, accompanied by my relatives and friends, I studied and trained, and accepted the test of the church, as well as those streets and those old clock towers.
, all those things that have been in disrepair for a long time...but are very kind, all these things are in my mind, clear and profound, just like...experienced by myself.
"But what we all know is that as of the day of the mirror invasion, there were only three days in my life that truly belonged to me.
"So, when my consciousness returned to the world again, and when I returned to this world in the form of a mirror image, I have been thinking about a question - am I the gatekeeper Agatha, or am I just inheriting someone's memories?
, a...'person' reborn in this world."
She stopped. As a "mirror image", her eyes were bright, and those eyes were now looking seriously at the captain outside the mirror.
"You are right, 'people' cannot live forever as another person's shadow.
"Almost all the memories of my life come from another individual, but even so, there are three days in those memories that belong to me.
"But if I stay in the frost, my three-day 'life' will sooner or later be buried by bigger and deeper memories. I can't cut off the connection between myself and that city, and I can't avoid my human weakness as a mortal -
-I am destined to be a shadow, a shadow full of regrets, trapped in memories, and as time goes by...this regret will sooner or later turn into resentment and resentment.
"I cannot accept this possibility.
"But what you said to me during that 'deep dive' journey with you... made me find new possibilities."