Chapter 33 Insurance

The second floor of the antique shop wasn't large, with only two rooms besides the kitchen and washroom—one for Duncan, one for Nina. Shirley, staying temporarily, would obviously have to sleep with Nina.

"Actually, I can sleep in the hallway..." Shirley seemed a little uneasy watching Nina busily preparing for her, "Or I could just make a bed on the floor downstairs..."

Duncan-shushu (uncle) had already returned to his own room, and now here...

"That won't do," Nina said, glancing up at the door.

Only she and Shirley were here, along with "Ah-gou" dozing beside them. "How can we let a guest sleep in the hallway? And downstairs... downstairs is full of Uncle's 'treasures', he wouldn't allow it."

"His treasures?" Shirley paused, recalling what she'd seen downstairs—she'd been too nervous to really take a good look, but now that she thought about it, the first floor just seemed like a bunch of messy junk. To call it a collection of some subspace shadow was a bit far-fetched.

But she quickly realized: here, "Mr. Duncan" was just playing the part of an ordinary man, and Nina seemed genuinely unaware that her "uncle" had another face.

Thinking of this, Shirley's expression became strange again. In the bright light of the electric lamp, she quickly glanced at Nina and whispered, "Are you really not angry?"

Nina stopped making the bed, raising an eyebrow. "Angry? Why?"

"...I've been deceiving you for quite a while," Shirley said softly, rarely feeling so awkward and quiet in her life. But since meeting "Mr. Duncan," she was getting more and more used to speaking in hushed tones. "I only approached you because of Ah-gou's prompting, but I didn't expect you to trust me so easily, even... to so easily consider me a 'friend'. I think you should be a little angry."

Nina mumbled something, but quickly shook her head. "But I'm really not angry. No matter the reason, you at least accompanied me to talk, shop, and go to the museum."

Shirley wasn't comfortable with Nina's candid reaction. She was accustomed to a colder interpersonal environment, and felt particularly awkward around Nina, who always seemed to radiate warmth. "You're a strange person."

"Am I?" Nina finished making the bed, sat down, and tilted her head slightly. "Someone else said that to me a long time ago... 'How can this child be so carefree?' I remember them saying something like that."

As she spoke, she waved at Shirley. "Come sit down too, why are you just standing there?"

Shirley pursed her lips, then hesitantly sat next to Nina, feeling very strange.

She never expected things to develop this way.

She was being watched by a subspace shadow, forced to take refuge in its "nest," and sharing a room with that subspace shadow's "familiar." Ah-gou had been shrinking into a ball from some inexplicable fear since earlier. She knew how dangerous, how bizarre, even how close to death the situation was—yet when she opened her eyes, all she saw was the warm light of an electric lamp and a girl with a warm smile.

"The electric light is so bright..." Shirley mumbled, as if to break the tension, or maybe just to fill the silence.

"Don't you have electric lights where you live?" Nina asked, surprised.

"I live in... an older neighborhood, they still use oil lamps there," Shirley said, a little embarrassed.

"..." Nina opened her mouth, feeling a bit awkward, then awkwardly changed the subject. "Do you want to change into pajamas? You can wear mine. I have a pair from two years ago, they should fit you."

"...Okay."

"Let's go to bed early tonight. It's a day off tomorrow, I'll take you around the neighborhood, and buy you a new dress. Yours was burned."

"...I don't have any money."

"Then consider it a gift from me."

"...Okay."

Duncan stood by the bedroom window, quietly watching the direction of Sixth Street, his expression calm.

The two girls had already gone to sleep next door. After so much happened today, he didn't know if Shirley was tired, but Nina certainly was.

He closed his eyes slightly, turning his "gaze" to the side.

In the darkness, two small green flames flickered.

They were in the direction of the next room, two flames that were the "marks" he had left. One came from Shirley, and the other... indicated Nina's location.

Duncan still didn't know what the ashes surrounding Nina meant, nor what secrets were buried in this city-state, nor where that "veil" came from, nor who was manipulating everything behind the scenes.

But he could feel himself getting closer to the truth of eleven years ago, slowly prying open the dense fog of extraordinary elements that covered this city-state.

Leaving a "mark" on Nina was a form of insurance. It allowed him to immediately sense her state, and act as a locator in emergencies. And if he ever figured out what was going on with the "ashes" around Nina, he could use the power of the mark to intervene immediately, at least to isolate Nina from the harmful extraordinary forces around her.

But one layer of insurance wasn't enough.

Duncan looked at his hands.

This body was still too weak, too far from his main body. The power that the main body could transmit and the power that this body could wield were both limited, and the dangers lurking in this city-state might exceed his expectations.

He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

The next second, Duncan, on the Vanishing Sailboat, opened his eyes and pushed open the door to the captain's quarters.

"Your loyal (remaining text omitted) is calibrating..."

The goat head's noisy voice came almost without delay. "Oh, great Captain Duncan!

"What direction is Pland City-State in?" Duncan glanced at the goat head, interrupting him with practiced ease.

"P-Pland City-State?!" The goat head was caught off guard, a look of bewilderment flashing across its stiff wooden face. But then it reacted, its tone suddenly surprised and excited. "Pland City-State! A human city-state! Is the great Captain Duncan finally launching a campaign of plunder?! Is that your target? Shall we directly attack the port, or plunder merchant ships passing by the city-state? We could also slowly corrode the city-state's coastal waters, gradually blockading its coastline. The city-state's navy might be a problem..."

"Shut up and don't make unnecessary arrangements," Duncan went straight to the navigation table and tapped on the surface. "I'm just asking you, the direction of Pland City-State."

"Oh, oh, yes, yes, as you wish—"

The goat head's tone became low and drawn out. He spoke slowly, and the next second, Duncan noticed a flashing highlight suddenly appearing on the edge of the foggy nautical chart.

"The Pland City-State you're looking for... shouldn't be too far off," the goat head said respectfully. "Ah, unfortunately, the nautical chart has been dormant for too long. It can only mark the approximate location of Pland. The sea conditions and landmarks along the way are still shrouded in the unknown..."

"It looks far," Duncan glanced at the highlight in the mist, then assessed the extent of the Vanishing Sailboat's explored waters, and frowned slightly. "At full speed, how long will it take to approach Pland's coastal waters?"

"Half a month? Maybe a month? It's already fast, we're not really far into the edge of civilization yet," the goat head chattered. "You can choose to have the Vanishing Sailboat advance at full speed in the spirit world, but that's not very safe. Although the spirit world itself doesn't pose much of a threat to us, there are many reckless individuals in the dark deep sea who might cause trouble..."

Dark deep sea...

Duncan subconsciously thought of "Ah-gou", but quickly shook his head. "Then let's navigate in the real sea first, approaching Pland City-State—one last question, is it possible to avoid being detected by the city-state?"

He looked into the goat head's eyes.

As the "captain" of the Vanishing Sailboat, this question was a bit risky.

Because he should have completely mastered this ship, and fully understood its capabilities.

But he asked anyway, he was testing his "first mate" little by little.

The goat head's obsidian carved eyes showed no emotion. He simply stared back at the captain, and after a few seconds of silence, spoke as usual: "...We can hide in the fog, and if necessary, briefly submerge into the broken reflection of the waves. This way, at least fifteen nautical miles from the coast, human city-states and ships will not be able to detect the approach of the Vanishing Sailboat.

"But closer than that is impossible - the gaze of the gods will detect us, and the city-state's cathedral will give a warning."

"Those are all experiences from a century ago," Duncan said calmly. "Are they still useful now?"

"Of course," the goat head said lightly. "A mere century—the gods won't make any progress in a century."

Duncan breathed a sigh of relief. "Very good, then let the Vanishing Sailboat approach Pland City-State, and be careful to conceal itself."

"May I ask something?" the goat head said. "What... exactly are you trying to do?"

"Just want to do a test," Duncan thought for a moment, then showed a smile. "To see if the wi-fi will be better."

Goat Head: "...Wi... what does that mean?"

"I'll have Ai explain it to you later?"

"No! Your loyal (remaining text omitted) doesn't care what that means!"