This was the first time since the "reunion" that Lucretia saw such a complex, heavy, and warm expression on her "father's" face.
Before that, her father had also smiled at her and shown many humane actions. But for some reason, she always felt that there was a vague sense of disobedience behind those smiles and words and deeds. She always felt that it was her father's indifference to Inya.
She tried hard to pretend to be "friendly" after losing her memory due to the space. This sense of inconsistency made her always feel uneasy.
However, at this moment, she finally saw some kind of heartfelt emotion on the other person's face - an apology and a regret that was difficult for others to understand.
But she didn't know if this apology was for herself.
"I still don't know enough," the witch lady sighed softly, "I thought I had more or less caught up with you."
"...The Homeless finally fell into the subspace, and you didn't catch up. This is a good thing," Duncan shook his head, then took one last look at the quietly floating "moon", then turned and walked towards the connecting bridge away from the platform.
, "Go back first, Lucy."
Lucretia was a little surprised: "Aren't you going to study it for a while?"
"I am not a scholar, nor do I have professional research methods or equipment," Duncan waved his hand, "I just came here to see it with my own eyes, but how to reveal its secrets depends on professional scholars.
"
Having said this, he paused, and then added: "I will stay in Qingfeng Port during this period, and I will keep an eye on your progress on the 'Moon'. In addition, if something like Taran... happens to other elves,
If you have the same thing as Al, tell me as soon as possible."
"I understand," Lucretia immediately nodded in response, then she hesitated and asked, "About your arrival...can I tell Archon Sarah Mel? Of course, I won't do it casually.
Reveal it to more people…”
"It's up to you," Duncan nodded, "You can tell whoever you want - their reaction to it has nothing to do with me."
Lucretia lowered her head slightly: "Yes."
A moment later, on the Lost Home, which was resting on the sea surface somewhere outside the luminous geometry, a door of rotating and spreading flames suddenly appeared on the front deck.
The door opened with the crackling sound of flames, and Duncan's figure stepped out - Alice, who was holding a big mop next to her and scrubbing the deck with several other mops, immediately ran over happily: "
The captain is back!"
Duncan waved his hand to disperse the flames behind him. Looking at the Gothic doll in front of him with a mop in his hand and a happy smile on his face, he simply nodded: "Well, I'm back."
"Did it go well?" Alice threw the mop aside and looked at the captain happily, "You have been there for a long time. Did you talk a lot with Miss Lucretia? You went to that 'ball'
What does it look like...ah!"
The mop thrown aside by Alice suddenly jumped up, hit the cheerful puppet lady on the head with a wooden pole, and then jumped up and down on the deck to wash herself in the bucket.
Alice covered her head and looked at Duncan confused and aggrieved: "Why did it hit me?! It almost killed me..."
Duncan looked at the doll lady with simple and clear emotions, his smile just now and her troubles at the moment. Unknowingly, the boredom and loss accumulated in his heart quietly dissipated a little.
Alice was still aggrieved.
"...You'd better check to see if that's the mop used to scrub the deck. Maybe it 'works' in the restaurant," Duncan laughed, reached out and pressed Alice's head, and then asked curiously
One sentence, "Also, I've been wanting to ask you - the mop and bucket on this boat can complete the cleaning by itself, why do you insist on washing the deck yourself?"
"Let me help!" Alice puffed up her chest confidently, "They are so tired from wiping by themselves!"
Duncan's eyes trembled, and he silently turned his gaze, looking at the mops and buckets not far away who were cleaning the deck quickly, as if they were afraid that if they were a step too late, some doll would catch them "helping". After a moment of silence, he shook his head:
"As long as you are happy...just be happy."
Alice nodded vaguely, and then she saw Duncan turning around, as if he was preparing to return to the captain's cabin. She couldn't help but said: "Captain, are you going back to rest?"
"...Well, I'm a little tired."
"Captain..." Alice still looked a little worried. She walked over and tugged on Duncan's sleeve, "Are you okay?"
"Why do you ask?" Duncan stopped in confusion and turned to look at the not very smart puppet.
"Because you have been sighing a lot in the past two days, and you have spent more time in the captain's cabin than outside - Miss Nina feels that you have something on your mind, but she is embarrassed to ask you," Alice answered honestly,
"In addition, you looked very bad when you came back just now, as if... you had a lot of things that you were holding back in your heart. But now you look better than before."
Duncan looked at the doll in front of him with some surprise.
He didn't expect that Alice, who usually looked careless and confused, would actually observe and notice these things, and he didn't expect that she would just grab him and say all these things -
Maybe it's because she doesn't think about much on a daily basis that she doesn't know how to hesitate and hesitate?
Some obscure associations emerged in Duncan's mind, but looking at the doll in front of him who still looked worried and confused, he didn't know what to say.
After all, even when facing the knowledgeable Lucretia, there were too many things that he could not explain clearly.
"You can't understand it." After a moment of silence, Duncan shook his head. "The matter is very complicated. It's so complicated that it can't be explained to anyone. Not even you, even Morris can't understand it."
But Alice just blinked and said without hesitation: "Then you can tell me."
Duncan couldn't laugh or cry: "Didn't I just say that you can't understand..."
"But I don't understand a lot of things you usually say," Alice said matter-of-factly. "I don't understand a lot of things, but you still tell me - I'm very good at listening to what others say.
Yes, I will listen whether you understand or not..."
Duncan's expression suddenly became a little subtle. Listening to this silly doll's straightforward and even somewhat "proud" magical logic, he couldn't find anything to refute for a while.
Alice was still looking straight at the "captain" in front of her. She didn't feel that it was a shame that she usually didn't understand many things, nor did she feel that there was anything wrong with what she said at the moment - she thought about it, she
She was curious, so she spoke up.
If you have something on your mind, just say it—that's how everything works in Alice's uncomplicated worldview.
She suddenly ran away, ran not far away, picked up a large wooden barrel that was half her height, and placed it on the deck near the guardrail of the ship. Then she picked up another one and placed it next to the large wooden barrel.
She climbed up to the wooden barrel quickly with both hands and feet, smiled and waved to Duncan: "Captain, please sit down too - Miss Vanna said, blow the wind and look at the sea, you will be in a good mood."
Duncan hesitated for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
This doll is working hard, trying to use her limited knowledge and experience to find ways to make the "captain" feel better.
Duncan walked over and sat on the barrel side by side with Alice.
His mood didn't change because of the sea breeze - but his mood did get a little better.
"Alice."
"Um?"
"Let me ask you a question," Duncan thought. At first, he tried hard to think about how to make Alice understand the concepts of "moon" and "starry sky", but now he suddenly realized that he didn't actually have to explain these complicated concepts to her.
Things, "If you live in a place, and there is one thing that is unique to the place where you live - it can never come from anywhere else, and it can never belong to anywhere else. As long as you see this thing, you will know,
It comes from there..."
Alice thought for a while and said curiously: "It's like I'm living on the Lost Home and you are the only captain of the Lost Home?"
Duncan was stunned for a moment and said hesitantly: "Your metaphor is not quite right... but it can be understood in this way."
"Oh, what then?"
"...Then, you left there and couldn't go back," Duncan's tone suddenly became a little lower. "You arrived in a very distant and unfamiliar place. Everything here is different from home. You are here.
You have been living for a while, trying to find your way home, but suddenly, you see that 'thing' - that thing that in theory can only appear in your hometown, and should not be seen in a foreign land anyway..."
Duncan finished speaking, but Alice was still thinking blankly, but after thinking for a while, she suddenly laughed.
"Then I must have returned to the Lost Home!"
"Back to the Lost Home?"
"Well, what you said can be understood this way - you are the only captain of the Lost Home. One day I was sent to a place far away from the Lost Home, and I couldn't find my way back to the ship, but you suddenly appeared again.
In front of me - then I must have gone home! After all, wherever you are, there is the Lost Home Number."
The puppet smiled happily and looked at Duncan with confidence.
"You said that thing can only appear in your 'hometown', and now that it appears in front of you, that means you are at home now!"
Alice completed her theory, then turned around on the big wooden barrel, put her hands on her chin, leaned forward, with a bright smile on her face:
"Captain, is this a brainteaser?"
Duncan was a little dazed.
He stared blankly at the doll lady on the wooden barrel opposite. When the sea breeze blew from the side, Alice's silver-white hair flew up, just like her always bright and cheerful mood.
Then he laughed.
"Yes, this is a brain teaser - now we are all turned around," he jumped down from the barrel and said to Alice with a smile, "there is another thing."
"Um?"
"Your posture is unstable."
Alice, who was still leaning forward and supporting her chin with both hands, was stunned when she heard this: "Huh?"
The next second, she heard a slight click from her neck.
"Bo'er——"
With two gurgles, Alice fell to the ground twice, and then her signature stammering words came from the deck——