Chapter 6

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

With the hasty bell rings, the sailors’ hurried footsteps could be heard. Laurence and the second mate had already helped the priest, who was still breathing unevenly into the bridge.

The old captain looked out the window and onto the ocean. The White Oak was still deep inside the Spirit World. Anything outside the ship was just thick fog, and the water was still dyed in black. However, the storm had already calmed down while the terrifying Lost Home was now nowhere to be seen. Seeing gave off a misconception that the storm and the collapsing of reality were caused by the ghost ship. It was as if once the Lost Home was gone, the disasters also left the White Oak alone.

Laurence thought of all the terrifying legends about the Lost Home and its captain Duncan Abenormmal. It reminded him of the stories of the fleet that was swallowed by the edge of reality a century ago and the rest of the ships that sunk after running into the Lost Home. It made him realize that all the stories could have been true.

However, what was important now was that the Lost Home had left, and the surrounding had calmed down for the time being. Although they were still deep inside the dangerous Spirit World, at least he and his crew had the chance to rest a little.

Captain Laurence knew what he had to do next. He had to make sure if the Lost Home had taken anything from his ship or if it had left anything with them.

And he knew he had to do it as fast as possible.

He couldn’t risk getting his ship back into the real world unless he had gotten rid of all the potential troubles. The reason was that things from the Spirit World would contaminate reality. However, if they remained in the Spirit World for too long, he and his crew would be affected by symptoms that couldn’t be reversed.

With the commotion on the deck, Laurence suddenly raised his head from his deep thought and looked at the priest in front of the incense cauldron, who was now looking better. With a serious expression, he asked, “Mr. Ron, what’s our stability looking like?”

The priest coughed a couple of times before reaching into his chest pocket to take out an elegant small compass with many oceanic and holy symbols carved on it. He opened the metallic cover with a click, and the compass needle quickly spun, eventually stopping in a specific direction.

“We are now hovering in the outer layer of the Spirit World that’s slightly closer to reality. The influence of the Silent Deep Sea on us is… minimal.” The priest looked confused as he read the condition of the compass. “That’s weird. We’re completely stabilized here. We are even barely sinking with the holy item shut off… Cough…”

“Could it be that ‘collision’ with the Lost Home pushed us back onto the safe course?” Laurence bitterly laughed as he shook his head and made a joke to calm people down a little. “I’ve heard there exists a balanced point inside the Spirit World that prevents the things from reality getting ‘pulled’ by the deeper part of the Spirit World…”

“Captain, this is not the time to joke around,” the priest said before coughing again. Although he had stabilized his breathing, he wasn’t in good condition yet. “No matter what happens, I’ll have to report this back to the church… The appearance of the Lost Home is not something we can joke with. There are a lot of reports on encounters with the Lost Home, but those were all proven to be lies made up by the crew or illusions caused by supernatural phenomena. However, today, we witnessed it… Oh, Goddess… Captain, you must be mentally prepared to be grounded for a while once we get back to Pland.”

“I understand. Whether it’s the church or the government, they won’t let a warship that has just encountered a supernatural phenomenon embark. This is for the safety of the crew. The church and the government aren’t the only organizations I have to report this too, but the Explorer’s Association and… Ehem… my scary wife…” Laurence rubbed his temple, trying to soothe his headache. After a long sigh, he waved his arm and said, “Let’s leave this for another time. You need your rest now. We’ll still need the goddess’s protection until we return to Pland.”

The priest gently nodded. Not long after that, the first mate who had left for a while had returned.

“Captain, no one is missing, and we didn’t get new members either!” The first mate did not wait for the captain to ask and started reporting. “I personally checked all the sailors that had gathered on the deck and even went to check the mechanics that remained in the steam engine room. They can all accurately call out the name of their gods. I have confirmed that they are all alive.”

“Not a single one is missing?” Laurence’s eyes turned wide immediately. It should be good news, but he couldn’t believe the first mate’s report. “How about the Holy Compass?”

“The holy item is normal as well.” The first mate nodded. “The members have already prepared the incense and the spirit oil. They are now waiting for your order to reactivate it.”

Confusion was written all over the captain’s face. He couldn’t help but mumble to himself once again. “Did… he really let us go?”

“I believe luck is on our side, captain.” The first mate shrugged. “We didn’t lose anything in the end. Maybe the scary ghost captain passed by and accidentally ran into us?”

“Do you really believe that?” Laurence glared at his first mate in the eyes. “If luck is on our side, we would never have run into…”

Before the captain could even finish his sentence, hurried footsteps could be heard from out the door. A second later, someone pushed the entrance to the bridge open, and the boatswain, who was covered in sweat, entered. Fear was written all over the tall and muscular man’s face.

“Captain! Abnormality 099 is missing!”

The bridge immediately became silent. Everyone looked at each other without saying anything. Unable to explain the reason, Laurence was shocked for a second but quickly let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank God,” he thought. “Something abnormal happening after running into the Lost Home means everything is normal!”

He was able to control his facial expression quickly. He walked toward the door as he hastily ordered his first mate to take over the helm before telling his boatswain to lead the way.

Hurried footsteps echoed all over the White Oak’s hallway. Laurence didn’t take long to reach the deepest part of the steam-powered ship with the boatswain leading the way.

A special cabin was now in front of him.

The door to the cabin had a lot of mysterious symbols carved onto it. The heavy black door seemed like it was made out of black iron. The abstruse signs spread from the doorframe into the hallway as if they were forming a sealed cage to trap whatever was stored inside the cabin.

Laurence glanced at the door to ensure that the heavy door and the symbols weren’t destroyed. He then raised his head to look up into the ceiling. Just past the ceiling was the “Holy Item Storage,” where the Holy Compass was stored at. The compass was an item to ensure that the ship would not be affected by the “abyss” and acted as another safety device to ensure the cabin was sealed. It should have the power to make sure that the seal remains active.

However, with both safety measures still in effect, the things sealed inside the cabin, the most important cargo on the White Oak, the Abnormality 099, also known as the Puppet Coffin, had disappeared.

Laurence took a deep breath and walked up to the sealed door. With his brute strength, he pushed the heavy door open.

The inside of the sealed room was brightly lit. The four vapor lamps on all corners lit the entire room. The lights in the room were on all the time.

The boatswain’s voice could be heard from behind Laurence. “A sailor would come and check on the chains around the “coffin,” and the ashes spread across the floor every two hours. However, because of the sudden appearance of the… ghost ship, the chaotic moment caused the sailor tasked to check the room to miss his shift. He arrived seven minutes late and discovered that the Abnormality 099 had gone missing…”

“No. His arrival seven minutes late won’t cause that thing to lose control. At most, we’ll only see a few strange occurrences caused by the weakening of the seal. The worst would be us seeing a coffin running amok in this room. The layers of seals and the Holy Compass are not for shows.” Laurence shook his head with a deep frown. “The current situation is that it has disappeared… The item is missing from our ship. It has nothing to do with that sailor.”

The boatswain reacted anxiously. “Are you saying…”

“It must be the Lost Home,” Laurence said in a deep voice. “That ‘captain’ has taken away Abnormality 099…”

The captain then paused for a short while before letting out a sigh. “Perhaps, we should consider ourselves lucky. The Lost Home would always take things it wanted with them. That captain came for the Abnormality 099 and not our lives.”

The boatswain looked at the captain’s expression and then at the empty, sealed room. After a moment of hesitation, he asked, “Then… How are we supposed to report this to the authority for losing such an important cargo…”

Laurence turned to look at his boatswain and patted his shoulder.

“The Lost Home is considered a natural disaster. We still have the maritime insurance for that.”

“But… will the insurance company compensate for this?”

“If they don’t, we’ll have the Explorer’s Association issue a new bounty for the Lost Home.”

“Isn’t that a little…”

“Shut it!”