Chapter 160 The Most Outstanding Doll Maker

On the *Ship of the Lost*, the brilliant sunlight shone on the freshly scrubbed upper deck, and a spiraling green flame gradually dissipated in the air above. Alice stood beside the open space, dumbfounded at the pile of things that had appeared on the deck.

"This… this… what is this?!"

The doll exclaimed in a voice that was almost a shriek. As her words fell, Duncan's voice came from nearby: "Stuttering like you've lost your head—never seen pots and pans, fruits and vegetables before?"

Alice stiffly turned her head, glanced at Duncan, then at the sudden mountain of supplies on the deck. She pondered for a moment, then planted a hand on her hip with a clear conscience: "Never seen them!"

Duncan: "…?"

"Never seen them," Alice continued righteously. "I've been in a box all these years, where would I have seen these things?"

Duncan was momentarily stunned, then smacked his forehead: "…I forgot. Well, you're right. In some ways, you're even more illiterate than Shirley."

Alice, who was about to go forward and study the pile of things that had suddenly been teleported over by Ayi, turned her head suspiciously at Duncan's words: "Shirley? Who's that?"

"Someone I met in the city-state. Maybe you'll have a chance to meet her someday," Duncan mused. "I think I have a pretty good connection with her."

"Oh." Alice said, quickly dismissing the matter from her mind. Then she came to the pile of supplies on the deck, circling around it.

"So this is flour… This is meat? It's definitely different from the dried meat on the ship… These are vegetable leaves? They feel so fragile, and cold… What's this round thing… Ah, it broke…"

"Don't you mess with the eggs!" Seeing that the ignorant doll was about to cause more trouble, Duncan quickly stepped forward and slapped away the hand that was reaching everywhere. "These are all for me to improve the conditions on the ship."

"Hehe…" Alice gave her trademark laugh, retracting her hand a little awkwardly. "I'm just a little curious—I've only heard of a lot of things."

Duncan helplessly glanced at the doll, but he also understood her somewhat.

Alice's mind (if she really had that organ in her head) contained a lot of "innate knowledge." She knew how to communicate with people, knew about many things that existed in the world, and even accumulated an initial impression of the world by "listening" to the sounds outside the box. But in the end, she had always been sealed. Strictly speaking, she had only really come into contact with the world recently, and the first thing she encountered was the *Ship of the Lost*, an absolutely unsuitable "opening stage" for a newbie.

She lacked too much understanding of the real world.

For a while before, she could only touch things on the *Ship of the Lost*. The limited space and objects on the ship were easy for her to adapt to, but now, Duncan had brought a large number of fresh things from the human city-state to the doll all at once.

Even a piece of green vegetable, a bag of flour, were incredible objects to Alice.

"The human city-state is truly an incredible place…" The doll looked at the pile of things on the deck, at the colorful packaging, and exclaimed sincerely, "It must be much, much bigger than the ship, right?"

"…It's big, but much smaller than the Boundless Sea," Duncan replied casually. He watched Alice's eyes, filled with surprise and anticipation, and once again remembered the promise he had made to her.

He had said he would take Alice to see the city-state.

"I will resolve the trouble in the city-state as soon as possible and figure out the secret of your body," he said very seriously to the doll in front of him. "Just be patient and wait for this period of time."

Alice immediately showed a bright smile: "Okay."

As always, carefree as could be.

But looking at this carefree doll, the anxiety Duncan had accumulated in the city-state of Pland gradually subsided. He gently breathed a sigh of relief, pointing to the things on the deck: "Help me move them all to the kitchen—and send that pile of sundries next to it to the captain's cabin."

"Oh, oh, okay!" Alice immediately agreed, and then said as she stepped forward to help, "Are we going to use them to make dinner tonight?"

Duncan turned back suspiciously: "I can… but can you?"

"No!" Alice said matter-of-factly. "But I can ask Mr. Goat Head for advice. He says he's an amazing chef and has mastered more than ninety percent of the world's cooking secrets…"

"He dares to say that, and you dare to believe it!" Duncan immediately glared. "You better not mess up the ingredients I finally managed to get. I'll make dinner. If you really want to learn how to make edible food, watch how I do it. Don't learn from that goat head—he doesn't even have a digestive tract."

"Oh…" Alice nodded, then glanced at Ayi, who was pacing on the deck next to her, and her eyes darted around, "Is Ayi going to 'the other side' later?"

"Of course. I still have things for it to send later."

"Are you still buying things?" Alice asked curiously. "What else are you going to buy?"

Duncan turned his head, gazed into the doll's eyes, and after a moment, a faint smile appeared on his face.

"I'm buying things for you."

Alice: "…?"

…

City-state of Pland, inside the "Rose Dollhouse."

Duncan felt that the amiable old elf lady might have misunderstood him a little, but he had no intention of explaining.

Mainly because there was no way to explain—how could he tell people? That he really had a doll with a soul and emotions at home, and that this doll was recently troubled by the problem of her hair becoming increasingly sparse? Saying that would optimistically lead to the old lady reporting him to the church…

And in the eyes of the owner of the "Rose Dollhouse," Duncan had already become a "soulmate" who truly loved dolls and was willing to put a lot of effort into them—in Pland's upper class, many people bought dolls, and quite a few were truly passionate about collecting them, but few would express such heartfelt concern for dolls as this gentleman did today. It gave her the feeling that when the other party mentioned his "doll," he was not talking about an "item," but a living person, or even a "friend" that this gentleman cared about very much.

Many doll makers didn't necessarily have such an attitude.

The two talked happily, and Duncan finally heard a lot of knowledge about dolls from a professional (although he didn't know how much of this knowledge could be used on Alice), and the owner of the dollhouse had obviously not met such a congenial customer for a long time. After a pleasant conversation, the old lady couldn't help but smile and sigh: "I have lived in this city for three or four hundred years, and I have outlived seventeen governors, and I have met countless humans—but almost no one can truly understand 'dolls'… Alas, you may not like to hear me say this, but in my opinion, humans are indeed a much colder species than elves."

"I don't know much about elf society," Duncan said, taking the opportunity to guide the other party to say more about elves. "But I heard that… in the elf city-state of Lightwind Port, the most outstanding craftsmen in the world gather? The unique craftsmanship of elf handicrafts is world-renowned…"

"Elves are indeed good at exquisite handicrafts. We are naturally a race that is very sensitive to mathematics and art—so most of the famous doll makers in the world are also elves," the old woman said frankly, with a kind of taken-for-granted pride in her tone. But then she changed the subject, "But when it comes to the doll maker industry, many colleagues from other races actually have a prejudice against elves… People often say that elves don't actually have such superb craft talents. The reason why so many doll masters can emerge from us is entirely because we have long enough lifespans to 'grind' it out bit by bit…"

Duncan suddenly didn't know how to continue the topic: "This… well, rivals in the same trade are enemies, it seems to be the same everywhere. What do you think of these comments?"

The old woman laughed: "Me? I think they're right!"

Duncan: "…?"

"I think they're right," the old woman emphasized again, with a happy smile on her face. "Anyway, every year during the Festival of the Dead, I have to say hello to the graves of several old colleagues and tell them, 'You're right'—come and beat me if you have the ability!"

Duncan: "…"

Are all the elves in this world like this?! Why does he feel that something is wrong with this style?!

"Alas… just kidding," the old woman shook her head, probably noticing the expression on Duncan's face. "Actually, there aren't that many enemies. Everyone is just a fellow traveler for such a short period of time. And if you really want to talk about the doll maker industry… I feel that the most outstanding doll maker in the world is definitely not some 'master' among the elves, but a human."

"A human?" Duncan asked casually.

"Yes, ordinary humans probably don't know this name anymore…" the old woman said slowly, with a touch of emotion. "Her name is Lucrezia Abnormal, the daughter of the famous 'Captain Duncan'. She was the most outstanding doll maker I have ever seen…"

Duncan: "?!"