In the dining room on the upper deck, Duncan and Lucretia sat side by side, each with their faces straight, and the two joint overlords, who had just changed their heads, sat in the chairs opposite them—Luni looked a little nervous, and Alice looked as bright as ever, even a little unplayed.

After holding back for a few seconds, Duncan was finally the first to speak: "Is it fun?" ”

Luni suddenly lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers, and Alice immediately nodded happily: "Fun, Captain!" Don't you know, it turns out that our interface size is the same......"

The corners of Duncan's eyes twitched suddenly, and then he noticed Luni's small gesture of fiddling with his fingers, he inexplicably felt that this action was a little familiar, and after a moment of doubt, he looked thoughtfully at the "Witch of the Sea" beside him: "Do you also like to pick your fingers when you did something wrong when you were a child?" ”

"Uh...... That was when I was very young......" Lucrecia didn't expect the topic to suddenly fall on her, she was stunned for a moment, and then her expression was slightly strange, "You...... Do you remember these? ”

“…… I don't remember, but there is still some familiar feeling," Duncan shook his head slightly, then coughed dryly twice, and returned his gaze to the two dolls, "Who came up with the idea first?" ”

This time, the two puppets finally answered in unison: "Shirley! ”

Duncan: "......? ”

A moment later, Duncan and Lucrethea were still sitting on the dining room benches with their faces straight, but this time they were sitting opposite each other, in addition to the two joint overlords, there was also Shirley.

Ah Dog lay on the floor next to Shirley, trying to hold his head while trying to hold his head, and muttered quietly: "Don't look at me, it's none of my business, I persuaded you to come and didn't hold ......"

Duncan glanced at the muttering dog, his eyes fell on Shirley, and he recalled the story of her fooling Alice into pouring superglue into her neck, and couldn't help but sigh in her heart - you really have to watch this guy who is afraid that the world will not be chaotic......

"You said you had nothing to do with them," Duncan sighed and looked at Shirley helplessly, "We're sailing in the spirit realm, and it's no better than land—in case they're really dizzy and fall into the sea?" ”

Shirley was already curling her neck to accept criticism, but her eyes lit up after hearing the captain's words: "So you can play like this on land?!" ”

Duncan: "...... Do you want to listen to what you're saying? ”

Shirley smiled awkwardly, but then her smile began to deteriorate, and she leaned forward with a hippie smile and said, "You can't blame me, Captain, don't you think you didn't have this idea when you saw the two of them, the two dolls that can take their heads off still use the same kind of joint, according to the old man's words...... Just explore the spirit, right, you don't want to try ......? ”

Shirley's words sounded like a very tempting subspace coercion to those who were curious, and Duncan's eyebrows couldn't help jumping, but as soon as he wanted to speak, he heard an inaudible muttering from beside him: "It seems to have some reason......

Duncan's expression suddenly became a little subtle, and he turned his head to look in the direction where the muttering came from - Lucrecia raised her head a little embarrassed, and quickly remedied it after reacting: "Of course, this kind of behavior is not worth advocating, and the experiment must be based on the premise of prudence and safety......"

Duncan finally controlled the expression on his face with great effort, maintaining a calm and serious appearance and pretending to ignore Lucretia's muttering just now, before he sighed, and his eyes fell on the two joint overlords opposite: "Don't play like this in the future, at least don't play like this on the boat - it's not safe." Remember? ”

"Hey, you know, Captain!" "Yes, old master."

"You go back to the house and stay, you really don't want to do your homework and read books, even if you read picture books," Duncan waved at Shirley again, "We're about to leave the spirit world, and then we're going to enter the Veil of Eternity, so don't make a mess until then." ”

Shirley lowered her head and honestly agreed: "Oh, good captain......"

When the dining room finally cleared up, Shirley left with the dog, and Alice dragged Lunny to a corner of the dining room, muttering that she didn't know what she was talking about—each with her own head.

Duncan glanced in the direction they had left, shook his head and sighed, but for some reason, he felt a little relaxed and happy in his heart.

It seemed that he hadn't breathed a sigh of relief like this for a long time since the incident at Breezehaven.

But Lucrecia's slightly uneasy voice came from the side: "You...... Angry? ”

Duncan didn't look back: "Why do you say that?" ”

“…… We're going to the border to investigate the cultists' holy land, which is a dangerous and serious matter, and Lunny is causing trouble for you at this time......"

She was just halfway through her speech when Duncan suddenly interrupted her: "Is that when you were a child?" ”

Lucrecia didn't react at once: "...... Well? ”

"Lunie," Duncan said, raising his hand, gesturing to the clockwork figure in the distance who was muttering to Alice and smiling happily from time to time, "what were you like when you were a child?" I mean personality-wise. ”

Lucrecia didn't speak for a while, just pursed her lips, and after a long while, she whispered, "...... Luni was the first doll I made, and I ...... Sealed some parts of my soul that could easily lead me to make mistakes. Although most of the time these sealed souls do not affect her functioning, occasionally, they will make her behave strangely. ”

"So most of the time Luni seems calm and reliable, but when she's with Alice, she's lively?"

“…… Yes, it seems that this will cause her to make mistakes – or at least increase the odds of making mistakes. ”

Duncan glanced back at Lucrecia: "Is this level of 'making mistakes' also a problem?" ”

Lucrecia was silent for a few seconds before replying softly, "At the border, it's easy to die if you make a mistake. ”

Duncan didn't speak for a moment, just stared thoughtfully at the two dolls in the distance who were happily chatting about something, and after a while, he said in a calm tone, "When you're around me, you can make mistakes." ”

Lucrecia seemed to be a little stunned for a while, she opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she didn't say anything, just looked in the direction of her father's gaze:

Alice seemed to be telling Luni about some interesting things about the ship, or at least what she knew was interesting, and Luni listened with relish - Alice rarely talked so speculatively to anyone other than the captain, and Luni ...... As the "first mate" and the servant of the "sea witch" on the Bright Star, he has probably never met a person of the same kind who can communicate like Alice.

The two dolls seem to get along very well.

And at this moment, Duncan seemed to suddenly remember something: "By the way, there is something I have been delaying......"

As he spoke, he casually waved in mid-air, and Aye, who was munching on French fries on a table not far away, disappeared in an instant, and the next second, a rotating green ring of fire appeared next to Duncan, who reached out and poked through the ring of fire, and then felt something from it and put it on the table in front of him.

Lucrecia looked at the thing with some surprise—it was a delicate wooden box about seventy centimeters long, and it didn't seem to have anything special other than a beautiful workmanship.

But gradually, she felt a long-lost ...... from this wooden box Familiar and friendly.

"This is Nilou," Duncan opened the wooden box, and a delicate three-point doll appeared in front of Lucrecia's eyes, "I said I wanted to give it to you a long time ago, but there were too many things in this time, so it was delayed, and now I just happened to see Alice and Luni together...... Accept it, it can be regarded as reuniting their 'sisters'. ”

Lucrecia's expression seemed a little strange, she took the wooden box, carefully took the three-point doll named "Nilou" out of the box, put her on the table, and let her sit down against the wooden box, but her thoughts seemed to drift away-

On that distant afternoon, with the crisp sound of wind chimes, she and her brother walked hand in hand into the puppet shop, where Luni and Nilouan sat quietly in the window, the warm sunlight shining on their delicate hair and dresses like a hazy veil.

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

But it was one of the few warm memories of her childhood—and on those warm days, the "sun" was something that was destined to rise into the sky the next day.

The "witch" was in a slight trance, and in a trance, the little puppet sitting on the table leaning against the wooden box slowly turned its head and showed her an empty smile.

Lucretia awoke from her trance to see the doll still sitting quietly on the table, its head tilted to the side, its soulless shell empty.

She reached out and put her finger on the puppet's forehead: "Go back to sleep." ”

The doll's body shook suddenly, as if injected with life for a moment, and then she stiffened to her feet, stumbling into the delicate wooden box, grabbing the lid of the wooden box on the side, trying to close it.

But her strength was too small.

Duncan casually pushed it next to him and helped the doll close the lid.

"Thank you." A small voice rang out from the box, then fell silent again.

"It's amazing." Duncan looked up and said to Lucrecia in some surprise.

"We're entering the border, and a lot of things are coming alive," Lucrecia said, "and injecting soul into something ahead of time will prevent some uninvited guests from 'smuggling' – that's how Luni first 'woke up' many years ago." ”

“…… It's also time to float up and breathe. Duncan nodded, and as he spoke, he slowly got up from behind the table.

With his movements, the Lost Homeland began to gradually rise from the depths of the spirit realm, and beyond the porthole of the restaurant, the sky was gradually brightening.

The shadows entrenched in the spirit realm gradually faded from all directions.

(End of chapter)