The Lost Country was large, surprisingly large—as a sail-powered ship, it seemed to Duncan to be almost above the necessary limits.

This size means a larger cargo compartment, more artillery, stronger structures, and a more stable posture in the face of wind and waves—all of which means it's more than capable of facing the toughest long-distance challenges.

But Duncan has no plans for the so-called voyage, and this surprisingly large ghost ship brings him only a sense of loneliness, so it would not be a bad thing if there was an extra "crew" on board who could talk.

Anyway, there are idle "guest rooms" on this big ship.

The silence in the corridor was broken by footsteps, and Duncan led the goth figure down the wooden staircase to the cabin on the lower aft deck, which was directly below the captain's quarters.

Duncan stopped in front of a crew cabin, then pushed open the wooden door that was hidden.

Inside is a single room with shabby furnishings.

There are several single cabins like this on the ship, but they have been idle for a long time, and there is absolutely no sign of anyone ever using them.

After an initial exploration of the upper areas of the Lost Country, Duncan noticed the existence of these empty rooms, but at the time he didn't think much of it, but now that he was in charge of the ghost ship himself, and knew the secret of the ship's ability to sail alone, a suspicion arose.

Since the ship does not need a crew at all...... So who are these crew cabins on board for?

The single rooms in the upper cabins are obviously for the first mate, second officer, boatswain and other upper-class seafarers, and in the lower area there are bunked cabins for the general crew, in addition to the dining room and chess room on the ship, which are obviously used by many people - unlike those sails and cables that do not need to be manually controlled, the very existence of these facilities is for "people".

But the ship did not need a crew at all.

Duncan frowned slightly, he had realized that this ghost ship, which was now sailing alone at sea, was at some point in its history...... There should also be a crew.

At least from the beginning of the ship's construction, it was designed with reasonable crew facilities for seafarers.

So what happened to make this ship what it is today? Where did the original crew of this ship go? Was the real "Captain Duncan" the ship's master from start to finish? What does that weird goat's head know about?

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

Duncan's thoughts were interrupted for a moment, and he was startled at the same time, and then he realized that it was the voice of the puppet lady—he had forgotten that Alice was there for a moment.

In the past few days, Duncan had adapted to the fact that there was only one living person on this ship, and he was used to the sound of the noisy goat's head, but at this time, there was suddenly an Alice, and he was a little unaccustomed to it.

"My name is Duncan, you can call me Captain Duncan - of course, it's also your freedom to call Captain directly," Duncan quickly straightened his expression before turning to look at the puppet lady following him, "This empty room will be yours from now on, go in and have a look." ”

"Ah, okay!" Alice nodded, poked her head over Duncan's shoulder to take a look at the room, then turned around and grabbed the wooden box that had been floating behind her, carried it over her shoulder, and carefully carried it into the room.

Seeing Alice's inseparable "coffin", Duncan couldn't help the urge to tremble at the corners of his mouth, he watched Miss Doll carefully place the "coffin" next to the bed, and checked the velvet lining inside the coffin very carefully, and then began to look around the furnishings in the room, and finally couldn't help but speak: "You have to carry this box all the time, don't you?" ”

"yes," Alice said as a matter of course, "where else shall I put it?" ”

"This box was your seal, and I thought you would care about that," Duncan frowned, "and now it seems that you can't live without it." ”

"Those are the ones who sealed me, and it's not the box's fault," Alice said, sitting on the box, patting the lid of the wooden box, "Would you like to come in and sit down?" ”

Duncan shook his head: "No, how do you feel about this room?" ”

"Ah, very good," Alice looked delighted, looking around the room for its rudimentary furnishings, as if she were in a splendid court, "is that a wardrobe?" I don't have any clothes to change into, so I shouldn't need them...... But it's nice to have a cabinet. Oh, and there's a table that I can put things on in the future, but I don't seem to have much to put on it...... Maybe it can be used to put your head down? It's easier to comb your hair......"

"It's good if you're satisfied," It's a strange sight to watch a goth puppet sitting on a coffin planning life, especially when there are some very suspicious things in this plan, but Duncan slowly showed a smile on his face, and then he took a half step back, his expression returning to normal, "You can rest here for a while to get used to the environment here."

"You can move freely on this floor and on the deck, except for the staircase that leads to the lower floor, where the structure is not complicated and you should be able to grasp the location of all the rooms yourself.

"I'm in the captain's quarters, you can go over there and find me if you have something to do - if I'm not there, there's a talking goat's head on the sailing table, and he's my first mate."

Alice was still nodding her head while listening, but when she heard the last two sentences, her eyes widened suddenly: "Goat's head?!" That black wood carving?! ”

"Looks like you've noticed it."

"I noticed...... But you say it can talk?! And it's your first mate? Alice looked surprised, "I thought it was just a ...... It's incredible! ”

“…… You're a talking doll," Duncan looked at Alice with a blank expression, "and you still think a talking goat's head is incredible?" ”

Alice was stunned for a moment, looked down at her hands, and muttered as if she had just reacted: "Ah...... It seems to be too? ”

Duncan shook his head and turned to leave: "That's it, you can rest here, and look for me if you have something." ”

From behind him came Alice's voice: "Okay, Captain. ”

After leaving, Duncan did not go anywhere else, but went straight back to his captain's quarters, and sat down at the large sailing table, where the carved wooden goat's head immediately came to life and turned his head to Duncan with a creak:

"Ahh It's the captain back! It looks like you've settled in with the lady – you see, as I said, a gentle and harmless lady who will be in no way a detriment to your voyage and who can keep you in touch with you. I see you've decided to leave her on board, do you plan to do anything for her? The Lost doesn't need people much, the deck will clean the deck, the guns will scrub the guns, and the water tanks will maintain the water tanks...... Maybe she could take care of the kitchen? You don't seem to be happy with the food on the boat all along...... Ah, speaking of food, it seems that we need to replenish some ingredients first, and the salted jerky and hard cheeses in the warehouse may be a bit old, and while a rude seafarer would not be picky about food at sea, the great Captain Duncan must ......"

Duncan felt his brain boiling, and he was convinced of one thing again: with this noisy goat's head, he really needed a "normal conversation" like Alice!

"Shut up," he glared at the goat's head, before the latter shut up, "you were very honest when Alice was here, and I thought you had learned to be quiet at last." ”

"The captain can't interject when interviewing new crew members, it's the rule at sea, even if I'm your loyal first mate and second mate and boatswain and ......."

Duncan didn't wait for the goathead to finish (in fact, if he hadn't interrupted, the goathead wouldn't have finished speaking): "Keep an eye on that doll these days. ”

"Ah...... Yes? Want to keep an eye on that lady? Are you still worried about her? Oh oh, yes, the necessary caution is to be the captain of the ......"

"She has a lot of secrets, and she doesn't tell them all, maybe because she doesn't really know it, or maybe ...... It's a deliberate concealment for some purpose, anyway, she's a 'cursed doll' after all, and she has the name of 'Anomaly 099'," Duncan said lightly, "The people on that ship used heavy seals to prevent Alice from leaving the wooden box, but now the sealed doll is swaggering around my ship, and I need to take a little time to confirm that Alice is really a harmless doll...... Even if it's just harmless on the Lost Place. ”

(Oh yes!) ）