Chapter 1 Aboard the Forsaken Ship

The Forsaken Ship was large, astonishingly so—as a sailing vessel, its scale seemed to Duncan to exceed what was necessary.

Such a large scale meant larger cargo holds, more cannons, a more robust structure, and a more stable posture in the face of wind and waves—all of which meant it was capable of facing the most arduous voyage challenges.

But Duncan currently had no plans for any so-called voyages. This unusually large ghost ship only brought him a sense of loneliness. It would be no bad thing to have another “crew member” on board to talk to.

In any case, this large ship had plenty of vacant “guest rooms.”

Footsteps broke the silence in the corridor. Duncan walked down the wooden stairs with the gothic doll, arriving at the cabins on the lower deck at the stern. This area was located directly below the captain's quarters, and structurally, it should be considered the "upper-class living area" of this large ship. Compared to the darker, more eerie areas on the lower levels, this place was at least somewhat bright and tidy.

Duncan stopped in front of a crew cabin, then casually pushed open the half-open wooden door.

Inside was a single room with simple furnishings.

There were several such single cabins on the ship, but they had been vacant for a long time, and there was no sign that anyone had ever used them.

After initially exploring the upper areas of the Forsaken Ship, Duncan had noticed the existence of these empty rooms, but he hadn't thought much about them at the time. Now that he was personally in charge of this ghost ship and knew the secret of how it could sail on its own, a sense of doubt arose.

Since this ship didn't need a crew at all... then who were these crew cabins on board prepared for?

The single rooms in the upper cabins were clearly prepared for the first mate, second mate, boatswain, and other upper-level sailors, while in the lower areas, there were communal cabins prepared for ordinary crew members. In addition, there were clearly dining rooms and card rooms on board for multiple people to use—unlike those sails and ropes that didn't require manual operation, the existence of these facilities was prepared for "people."

But this ship didn't need a crew at all.

Duncan frowned slightly. He had realized that this ghost ship, which was now sailing alone at sea, must have had a crew at some point in its history.

At least when this ship was first built, it was designed with reasonable crew facilities for sailors to use.

So what exactly happened that led to this ship becoming what it is today? Where did the original crew members of this ship go? Was the real "Captain Duncan" the owner of this ship from beginning to end? And what did that strange goat head know?

"Captain?" A questioning voice suddenly came from behind him.

Duncan's thoughts were interrupted in an instant, and he was startled. Then he realized that it was the voice of the doll. He had actually forgotten about Alice's existence for a moment.

Over the past few days, Duncan had become accustomed to the fact that he was the only living person on this ship, and he had also become accustomed to the voice of the noisy goat head. As a result, he was a little unaccustomed to having Alice suddenly around.

"My name is Duncan. You can call me Captain Duncan—of course, you're free to call me Captain directly," Duncan quickly composed himself, then turned to look at the doll behind him. "This empty room will be yours from now on. Go inside and take a look."

"Ah, okay!" Alice nodded, first craning her neck to peek at the situation in the room over Duncan's shoulder. Then she turned around, grabbed the wooden box that was always floating behind her, hoisted it onto her shoulder, and carefully carried it into the room.

Seeing the "coffin" that Alice always kept with her, Duncan couldn't help but feel the urge to twitch his lips. He watched the doll carefully place the "coffin" next to the bed, and then meticulously check the velvet lining inside the coffin. Only then did she begin to look around at the furnishings in the room, and finally couldn't help but ask, "Are you going to keep carrying this box around?"

"Yes," Alice said matter-of-factly, "Where else would I put it?"

"This box used to be your seal. I thought you would mind that," Duncan frowned. "Now it seems you can't live without it."

"It was those people who sealed me, not the box's fault," Alice sat on the box, patted the lid of the wooden box as she spoke. "Would you like to come in and sit with me?"

Duncan shook his head. "No need. How do you feel about this room?"

"Ah, it's very good." Alice seemed quite happy. She looked around at the simple furnishings in the room, but it was as if she were in a magnificent palace. "Is that a wardrobe? I don't have any clothes to change into, so I probably won't need it... but it's good to have a cabinet. Oh, and there's a table too. I can put things on it in the future, but I don't seem to have anything to put on it... maybe I can use it to put my head on? It would be more convenient when I'm combing my hair..."

"It's good that you're satisfied." It was a very strange sight to see a gothic doll sitting on a coffin planning her life, especially since there were some very suspicious things in this plan, but a slight smile slowly appeared on Duncan's face. Then he took a half step back, his expression returned to normal. "You can rest here for a while and get used to the environment here.

"Apart from the stairs leading to the lower level, you can move freely on this floor and the deck level. The structure here is not complicated. You should be able to quickly grasp the location of all the rooms yourself.

"I'm in the captain's quarters. You can go there to find me if you need anything—if I'm not there, there's a talking goat head on the navigation table. He's my first mate."

Alice was nodding as she listened, but when she heard the last two sentences, her eyes widened. "Goat head?! That dark wooden sculpture?!"

"It seems you've already noticed it."

"I did notice it... but you said it can talk?! And it's your first mate?" Alice looked surprised. "I thought that was just... that's unbelievable!"

"...You're a doll that can talk and walk," Duncan looked at Alice expressionlessly. "And you think a talking goat head is unbelievable?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, then looked down at her hands, as if she had just realized it. She muttered, "Ah... I guess so?"

Duncan shook his head and turned to leave. "That's it. You can rest here. Come find me if you need anything."

Alice's voice came from behind him, "Okay, Captain."

After leaving, Duncan didn't go anywhere else. Instead, he went straight back to his captain's quarters. He came to the wide navigation table and sat down. The wooden sculpture of a goat head on the table immediately moved, creaking as it turned its head towards Duncan:

"Ah! The captain is back! It seems you've settled the lady in—you see, just like I said, she's a gentle and harmless lady, with absolutely no harm to your voyage and can also chat with you to relieve boredom. I see you have decided to keep her on board. Are you planning to arrange some work for her? The Forsaken Ship doesn't need much manpower, the deck will clean the deck, the cannons will scrub the cannons, the water tanks will maintain the water tanks... perhaps she can be responsible for managing the kitchen? You always seem to be dissatisfied with the food on board... Ah, speaking of food, we seem to need to replenish some ingredients first. The salted dried meat and hard cheese in the warehouse may be a bit old. Although rude sailors won't be picky about food at sea, the great Captain Duncan must..."

Duncan felt like his brains were about to boil. At this moment, he was once again certain of one thing: with this noisy goat head around, he really needed a "normal conversational partner" like Alice!

"Shut up," he glared at the goat head, and only after the latter shut up did he continue, "You were very honest when Alice was around. I thought you had finally learned to keep quiet."

"You can't interrupt when the captain is interviewing a new crew member. That's the rule at sea, even if I'm your loyal first mate, second mate, boatswain, and..."

Duncan didn't wait for the goat head to finish speaking (in fact, if he didn't interrupt, the goat head would never finish): "Keep an eye on that doll's movements these days."

"Ah... ah? Keep an eye on that lady? Are you still worried about her? Oh, right, necessary caution is the mark of a captain..."

"She has many secrets and hasn't told them all, perhaps because she really doesn't know them herself, or perhaps... she's deliberately hiding them for some purpose. In any case, she is, after all, a 'cursed doll' and has the name 'Anomaly 099'," Duncan said calmly. "The people on that ship used layers of seals to prevent Alice from leaving that wooden box, but now the sealed doll is strutting around on my ship. I need to take a little time to confirm that Alice is really a harmless doll... even if she's only harmless on the Forsaken Ship."