Chapter 288 Doll

In the upper deck dining hall, Duncan and Lucretia sat side by side, each wearing a stony expression. The two head-swapping mischief-makers were in the chairs opposite them—Luni looked a little nervous and uneasy, while Alice was as cheerful as ever, even seeming to be not quite done having fun.

After a few seconds of silence, Duncan finally spoke, "Luni, Alice..."

Luni immediately lowered her head nervously and fiddled with her fingers, while Alice nodded happily. "It was fun, Captain! You wouldn't believe it, but our interface sizes are exactly the same..."

Duncan's eye twitched, and then he noticed Luni's fidgeting. He felt a strange sense of familiarity with the gesture, and after a moment of puzzled thought, he looked thoughtfully at the Sea Witch beside him. "Did you used to pick at your fingers when you did something wrong as a kid?"

"Um... that was a long time ago..." Lucretia didn't expect the topic to suddenly turn to her. She was taken aback for a moment, then her expression became slightly odd. "You... you remember that?"

"...I don't remember, but it still feels familiar," Duncan shook his head gently, then coughed twice and refocused on the two dolls. "Who came up with the idea first?"

This time, the two dolls answered in unison, "Shirley!"

Duncan: "..."

A moment later, Duncan and Lucretia were still sitting with stern faces on the dining hall benches, but this time, in addition to the two head-swapping dolls, there was also Shirley.

Auggie was lying on the floor next to Shirley, trying to hold his head with his paws while muttering softly, "Don't look at me, it wasn't my fault, I tried to stop them, I couldn't..."

Duncan glanced at the mumbling Auggie and then at Shirley, remembering her past tricking Alice into pouring super glue down her neck. He couldn't help but sigh—he really needed to keep a close eye on this troublemaker...

"Why did you have to give them such a bad idea?" Duncan sighed, looking helplessly at Shirley. "We're sailing in the spirit world, which is not like the land—what if they really get disoriented and fall into the sea? Are you going to be responsible for fishing them out?"

Shirley had been meekly shrinking her neck, ready to accept criticism, but her eyes lit up when she heard the captain's words. "So, it's okay to do it on land?!"

Duncan: "...Are you even listening to yourself?"

Shirley smiled awkwardly, but then her smile began to change, and she leaned forward with a grin, muttering, "It's not my fault, Captain. Think about it, when you saw the two of them, didn't you have the same thought? Two dolls who can take off their heads, using the same joints, according to the old man... it's exploratory spirit, right? Didn't you want to try...?"

To someone with a strong curiosity, Shirley's words were like a tempting siren call from subspace. Duncan's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch, but just as he was about to speak, he heard a barely audible murmur beside him: "Seems like there's some truth to that..."

Duncan's expression became a bit strange. He turned his head to look at the source of the murmur—Lucretia looked up a little awkwardly, and quickly tried to salvage the situation. "Of course, this kind of behavior is not to be encouraged. Experiments must be based on caution and safety..."

Duncan tried hard to control his expression, maintaining a calm and serious demeanor and pretending to ignore Lucretia's murmur. Then he sighed and looked at the two head-swapping dolls opposite him. "Don't do this again, at least not on the ship—it's not safe. Got it?"

"Aye, we know, Captain!"

"Yes, Old Master."

"You, go back to your room and stay there. If you really don't want to do your homework, read a book, even a picture book," Duncan waved his hand at Shirley. "We're about to leave the spirit world and enter the Eternal Veil. Don't cause any more trouble before then."

Shirley lowered her head and honestly agreed, "Oh, okay, Captain..."

The dining hall finally quieted down. Shirley left with Auggie, while Alice dragged Luni to a corner of the dining hall, muttering about who knows what—at least they each had their own heads back.

Duncan glanced at the directions they left in, shook his head and sighed, but for some reason, he felt a bit of relief and pleasure in his heart.

It seemed like he hadn't been able to breathe so easily in a long time since the Lightwind Harbor incident.

But Lucretia's slightly uneasy voice came from the side, "Are you... angry?"

Duncan didn't turn his head. "Why do you say that?"

"...We're going to the border next to investigate the cultists' sanctuary. This is a dangerous and serious matter, but Luni is causing you trouble..."

She was only halfway through her sentence when Duncan suddenly interrupted her, "Is that you when you were a kid?"

Lucretia didn't react for a moment. "...Huh?"

"Luni," Duncan raised his hand and pointed to the clockwork doll in the distance who was whispering with Alice, occasionally showing a happy smile. "Your appearance when you were a kid? I mean, in terms of personality."

Lucretia didn't speak for a moment, she just pursed her lips. After a long while, she whispered, "...I created Luni..."

"So Luni usually looks calm and reliable, but when she's with Alice, she becomes lively?"

"...Yes. It seems this causes her to make mistakes—at least it increases the chances of making mistakes."

Duncan turned his head and looked at Lucretia. "Is that level of mistake a problem?"

Lucretia was silent for a few seconds, then answered softly, "At the border, making mistakes can easily lead to death."

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, just thoughtfully watching the two dolls chatting happily in the distance. After a while, he said in a calm tone, "You can make mistakes when you're by my side."

Lucretia seemed a little stunned for a moment. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but in the end, she didn't say anything. She just followed her father's gaze:

Alice seemed to be introducing Luni to some of the interesting things on the ship, at least things that she considered interesting, and Luni was listening with great interest—Alice rarely chatted so enthusiastically with anyone other than the captain, and Luni... as the first mate of the *Glorious Star* and the Sea Witch's servant, had probably never met anyone like Alice with whom she could communicate so easily.

The two dolls seemed to be getting along very well.

Just then, Duncan seemed to suddenly remember something. "Oh right, there's something I've been putting off..."

As he spoke, he casually waved his hand in the air. Ayi, who was devouring french fries at a table not far away, instantly disappeared from her spot. The next second, a rotating ring of ghostly green fire appeared beside Duncan. He reached into the fire ring and pulled out an object, placing it on the table in front of him.

Lucretia looked at the object with some surprise—it was a delicate wooden box about seventy centimeters long. Besides being beautifully and simply crafted, it didn't seem to have anything special about it.

But gradually, she felt a long-lost... familiarity and warmth from the wooden box.

"This is Niru," Duncan opened the wooden box, and an exquisite, one-third scale doll appeared before Lucretia. "I said I was going to give it to you a long time ago, but I've been too busy lately, so I put it off. Now that I see Alice and Luni together... take it, it'll be like letting the sisters reunite."

Lucretia's expression seemed a little strange. She took the wooden box and carefully took the one-third scale doll named Niru out of the box. She placed her on the table, leaning her against the wooden box, her thoughts seeming to drift away—

On that distant afternoon, accompanied by the clear sound of wind chimes, she and her brother walked hand-in-hand into that doll shop. Luni and Niru sat quietly in the display window, the warm sunlight shining on their delicate hair and dresses, like a layer of hazy gauze.

At the time, she could only take one of them home.

...But that was one of the few remaining warm memories of her childhood—and in those warm days, the sun was still something that was destined to...

The witch was slightly dazed, and in her daze, the little doll sitting on the table leaning against the wooden box slowly turned her head and gave her a hollow smile.

Lucretia woke up from her daze and saw that the little doll was still sitting quietly on the table, her head tilted obediently to one side, the soulless shell empty.

She reached out and touched the doll's forehead with her finger. "Go back to sleep."

The doll's body suddenly shook, as if it had been injected with a moment of life. Then she stiffly climbed up, stumbled into the delicate wooden box, and grabbed the wooden box lid, trying to close it.

But she was too weak.

Duncan casually pushed the lid from the side, helping the doll close the box.

"Thank you." A tiny voice sounded from the box, then it was quiet again.

"Very strange," Duncan looked up, and said to Lucretia with some surprise.

"We're entering the border. Many things are becoming active," Lucretia said. "Injecting souls into some things in advance can prevent certain uninvited guests from sneaking in—many years ago, Luni was like this..."

"...It's also time to surface for some air," Duncan nodded, as he slowly rose from behind the table.

With his movements, the *Lost Country* began to gradually surface from the depths of the spirit world. Outside the dining hall portholes, the sky was gradually brightening.

The shadows entrenched in the spirit world were gradually receding from all sides.