Annie looked at the two "guests" in the small house with some bewilderment.

Her gaze shifted between Agatha and Duncan, and after a long time, the girl finally reacted slightly, "Ah, Uncle Duncan, you're going to be the cemetery keeper here?"

"Perhaps," Duncan said, looking at Agatha, who was still surprised. "Is that not feasible? Does the cemetery keeper have to be a veteran of the Guardians?"

Agatha finally reacted and quickly said, "No... Although generally, the cemetery keepers are retired veterans of the Guardians, if I speak up, I can of course arrange a position for you. The problem isn't here, the key is... do you really want to stay in this cemetery and be a keeper?"

"My identity in Pland is still that of an antique dealer."

Duncan said with a smile in his eyes, "The Vanishing Sail doesn't stay in one place, but my incarnation will stay in the city-state. I need to find something to do, I can't just idly drink tea and read newspapers in that big house on Oak Street, can I?"

"This... I really didn't think about this problem," Agatha said, opening her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed. "I completely didn't think about what your incarnation would need to do on a normal day."

"It's normal. Most movies don't mention the protagonists' job changes after the events end. And the reality is that you're now doing the work of two people alone, while Tyrian is drowning in paperwork all month,"

Duncan laughed. "For me, sailing a ghost ship that never docks on shore, wandering on the boundless sea, is also a very boring thing. Living a normal life in the city-state is my way of ensuring I still feel like a 'human.' You can think of it as..."

Agatha immediately interrupted, "I'll arrange it for you right away. You can take office at the cemetery tomorrow!"

Duncan: "...I haven't finished speaking yet."

"I've heard the most important part,"

Agatha said solemnly. "Please rest assured, even if the highest sanctum inquires, I will ensure that you can be a cemetery keeper here in peace."

"It feels like you've overinterpreted what I just said, but it's not a big problem."

Duncan said awkwardly, then really inquired about the "work" situation.

"What does a cemetery keeper normally need to do?"

"Actually, there isn't much work to do. The keeper's task is just to ensure that the cemetery isn't disturbed and to ensure the peace of supernatural forces,"

"In addition, just register the living and the dead who enter and leave the cemetery."

"As for the maintenance of cemetery facilities, that's the responsibility of the nearby church," Agatha explained.

"Given that even the nights in Frost City have become extremely safe, I think not only you, but all the cemetery keepers probably don't need to do anything."

As Agatha said this, her tone was somewhat strange, and her gaze occasionally swept over Duncan, obviously thinking about the relationship between the recent calmness of Frost City's nights and the person in front of her—and she had some things she didn't say out loud.

Even if the nights in the city-state were still as dangerous as before, what would it matter?

With such a 'keeper' in the cemetery, wouldn't there never be any more incidents of supernatural forces acting up?

It was estimated that even if something from the subspace crawled out of a coffin, it would be slapped back by this new keeper. In any case, it was a good thing.

Duncan didn't know what Agatha was thinking. He himself hadn't considered things too complicatedly, because he really just wanted to find something for this body of his to do. And considering the last remaining will in this body, considering his "fate" with this cemetery, he finally chose to stay here and become the new cemetery keeper.

He would continue to watch over Frost City here, taking care of and protecting this city-state, just like he did in Pland. The hot tea in his hand had gradually cooled. Duncan placed the teacup on the low table beside him.

Standing up, he silently looked around the small house. The simple furnishings in the room reflected in his eyes, as if some traces of the old owner still remained. On the wall next to the door, an old hunting rifle that looked very old was quietly hanging on an iron hook. The gun's action was still shining, reflecting the fire in the stove. Duncan looked at the old hunting rifle for a while, gently nodded, pushed the door open, and walked out of the small house. Upbeat and cheerful music came from a street outside the cemetery...

Mixed with the sound of firecrackers, Annie came out of the house behind him, listening to the commotion on the distant street, and happily pulled at the corner of Duncan's clothes, "The new governor's motorcade is going to pass through the cemetery district."

"Many people are still afraid of that new governor."

Duncan lowered his head, a smile in the corner of his eye. "You don't seem scared at all."

"I'm not afraid. Mom said the new governor is a hero who protects the city-state." Annie raised her face, squinting in the sunlight. "Like Dad, he's a very powerful person."

Duncan thought for a moment, then reached out and gently pressed the girl's fluffy hat. Indeed, he would be an excellent governor.

On the boundless sea.

Duncan walked across the stern deck and returned to the captain's cabin. The goat head was earnestly steering the ship. On the navigation table, the thick fog floating on the surface of the large sea chart was flowing and dissipating bit by bit. Duncan stood in front of the sea chart for a while, his gaze sweeping over the shipping routes near Frost City, which were gradually becoming clearer. Then he stepped to a corner of the room. The ancient and elegant oval mirror in the captain's cabin was still quietly hanging on the wall.

The mirror reflected the scene in the room, and in the interlacing of sunlight and shadow, the scene seemed somewhat hazy for some reason.

Duncan stepped forward, bent his finger, and gently 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.

It seemed as if countless mists and smoke were rising from the world in the mirror. Then, a figure appeared in the misty light and shadow—Agatha, the gatekeeper in the mirror, appeared before Duncan. "Captain," Agatha's slightly magnetic voice came from the mirror.

"Nice to see you,"

Duncan nodded and casually asked, "How are you feeling? Are you getting used to it?"

"I'm feeling pretty good," Agatha said slowly.

"When I first transferred to the ship, this vast and empty world in the mirror made me a little nervous. But perhaps as I gradually adapted to this place, those vast darknesses have gradually faded..."

"I also tried to communicate with that 'Martha' woman. She told me many techniques and knowledge about being a mirror image, which are very useful."

Duncan raised his eyebrows upon hearing this. "Oh? You can directly contact Martha here?"

"The Black Oak Ship wanders in the reflection of the nearby waters. In the world of mirrors, she and I are neighbors."

Agatha laughed. "It's a wonderful experience—the world in the mirror is both discontinuous and interconnected everywhere. I can jump from one mirror to another, and I can appear in many mirrors at the same time, or hide in the vast nothingness behind the mirrors... Perhaps it will take many, many years for me to fully understand all of this."

Duncan listened with interest as this "mirror image" described to him the unimaginable "mirror rules" that were beyond ordinary people's comprehension.

When she finished speaking, he gently nodded. "It sounds like you're enjoying the process. That's good."

Agatha was stunned for a moment, then said softly, "Yes, it's better than I imagined."

The captain's cabin was silent for a while. After who knows how long, Duncan suddenly broke the silence. "I want to know, what made you decide to leave Frost City and embark on a journey with the Vanishing Sail? This will be the longest journey of your life. This ship may go to many places, distant city-states, sealed mystic realms, the spirit world, the deep abyss, even the subspace..."

"... "

Agatha in the mirror pondered. She was seriously considering this question, and after several minutes, she slowly opened her mouth, "I think it was when 'we' jointly descended into that dark deep sea..."

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 possess all of Agatha's memories and emotions. In that memory, I was born in Frost City, accompanied by relatives and friends. I studied and trained, and accepted the church's trials. And those streets, those old clock towers, those dilapidated... but very familiar things. All of these things are in my mind, clear and profound... just like I experienced them myself."

"But what we both know is that until the day of the mirror invasion, the real 'me' had only three days of life." "So, when my consciousness recovered, when I returned to this world again in the form of a mirror image, I have been thinking about this question—am I the gatekeeper Agatha, or just a 'person' who inherited someone's memories and was reborn in this world?"

She stopped. As a "mirror image," her eyes were bright, and those eyes were now seriously watching the captain outside the mirror.

"You're right, people can't live forever as someone else's shadow."

"Almost all of my past life memories came from another individual, but even so, there were three days in that memory that belonged to me."

"But if I stay in Frost City, those only three days of 'life' will sooner or later be buried by bigger, deeper memories. I can't sever my connection with that city. I can't avoid my human weaknesses as a mortal. I'm 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 hatred..."

"I can't accept this possibility."

"But during that 'deep dive' journey with you, the words you said to me... allowed me to find a new possibility!"