Chapter 26 - Starless Night

Chapter 26 Starless Night

The truth was that when Duncan learned that the dove on his shoulder could talk, it was hard for him to remain calm, no matter how good he was at dealing with surprises.

He would rather have a typical parrot on his shoulder as a regular pirate captain would, or even a monkey would suffice.

Yet, he had already pushed the door open, and there was no turning back for him.

was

Inside the sea chart chamber, the goat head was excitedly explaining the 12th myth of the stewed fish and vegetable to Alice. Its black head suddenly turned toward Duncan, sounding even more excited. “Ah! Cap’n! Ye are finally here! Miss Alice here is a wonderful person to talk to! It has been years since me is able to have such a good conversation. Ye know that…”

Duncan ignored the talkative goat head and turned his attention to the victim in front of the sea chart table. The headless puppet was sitting on the chair up straight with her head in her hands. She was covering her ears tightly.

Even then, Alice’s expression looked as if her soul had left her body, as one would have after sitting through a whole day of mathematics class. She didn’t even react when Duncan approached her.

Duncan looked at the puppet speechlessly.

“She suddenly took her head down,” the goat head explained before the captain even asked. “Although, I don’t know why she did that.”

The power of the goat head’s talkativeness was strong enough to make a cursed puppet remove her own head so that she didn’t have to hear more of it.

Duncan was rendered even more speechless by that. It was then the goat head finally noticed a new being coming out with the captain. It turned its head a little and suddenly stared at the dove on Duncan’s shoulder. “Hmm? Cap’n, the thing on ye shoulder…”

“She’s Ai. She’s my new pet.” Duncan gave a brief introduction and tried to use as few words as possible to prevent any suspicion from the goat head. At the same time, he was studying its reaction.

“Your pet?” The goat head showed clear signs of being stunned for a second, and then it looked like it came to an assumption itself. “Ah! I didn’t feel that ye have left the ship a while ago, Cap’n. Did ye perform the Spirit World Walk? Is that ye loot from the Spirit World Walk?”

“The Spirit World Walk?”

That was a term that Duncan had yet to hear before. It made him think of the brass compass that he had found inside the bed chamber and the words that the real Captain Duncan had left. He also thought of the unique experience of projecting his soul to a faraway place. He believed the incident was what the goat head had talked about and nodded without expression. “I just wanted to take a walk.”

After he said that, the goat head exclaimed as he thought about how it would react. “Ah! As expected of the great Cap’n Duncan! Bringing a loot back from a simple Spirit World Walk! Is that a dove? She must have a special power for you to bring her back as a pet! Huh? Why did ye hang ye compass on her? Could that… Me apologies, Cap’n! Ye judgment is always correct! But, what’s so special ’bout this dove? Could it be that she…”

Duncan was able to notice something from the goat head’s respective tone. He was also glad to hear that the goat head could recognize the brass compass hung over Ai’s neck and that it was extremely important to the real Captain Duncan. It was so important that the goat head felt weird seeing it being worn by a new “pet.”

Even if it felt wrong, there was nothing he could do because the compass was now “tied” to the dove. Not only that, but, judging from the reaction he got from controlling the spirit flame, it seemed that the dove was the actual form of the dove.

Duncan was racking his mind, but he did not show any expression on his face. Just in that few seconds, Ai, who was still silently standing on his shoulder a moment ago, suddenly cooed. It flapped its wing to fly and land in front of the goat head.

The goat head stared at the dove while the latter tilted its head before pecking the wooden head. “Do you want to top up?”

Duncan’s expression froze up.

“An abnormal item with a sentience?” The goat head was stunned, but it quickly adjusted itself. “The dove can speak?”

“Did you forget that you can speak too?” Duncan reminded.

Ai the dove hopped as it started to mumble, “Is that normal? Is that normal? Is that normal…”

Duncan quickly snapped his finger. With the flicker of the green flame, the dove walking on the table suddenly disappeared and reappeared on his shoulder.

“Yes. It’s an abnormal item with sentience and under my control.” Duncan nodded. “Any more questions?”.

“Huh? Of course not! There’s no more question!” the goat head quickly replied. “Everything is in our great Cap’n Duncan’s control!”

Duncan quickly ended the conversation and shifted his attention to Alice, who was still hugging her head and dazing out. Perhaps because of his eye-opening or chest-opening experience, he wasn’t as easily surprised as he used to be. Or maybe, it was because he was used to seeing the puppet removing her head and thought that she looked cute instead.

He reached his hand out and gently tapped the puppet’s shoulder. “Wake up.”

Alice’s body trembled a little as if she was woken up from a nightmare. Her head that was in her hands started to move as she talked. “Ca-ca-ca…”

“Put your head back on first.”

Alice realized her head was off and hurriedly put her head back on. After a loud clip that signaled her head was attached back to her body, her speech finally returned to normal. “Ah! Captain! You’re finally back. Did something… Did Mr. Goat Head finish talking?” “No,” the goat head on the table immediately replied. “We were talking about some myths regarding stewed fish and vegetables. We can continue this next time…”

“Shut up.” Duncan issued a simple command.

“Aye.”

Alice clearly trembled a little when the goat head started talking again. Seeing a cursed puppet showing the sign of fear in her eyes was a sight. Even after the captain had ordered the goat head to shut up, she still hesitantly glanced toward the map table.

Duncan even believed that the puppet would not enter the captain’s cabin for a very long time after this.

“So, do you need anything from me?” he finally curiously asked.

“I…” Alice’s looked a little lifeless as if she had forgotten entirely about her intention after having that long conversation with the goat head. However, she managed to recover a few seconds later. “Ah! Right! I wanted to ask if there’s any place that I could shower on this ship. The seawater got into my case, and my joints are a little… uncomfortable.”

The puppet showed a clear sign of being embarrassed after saying that. However, the one who was even more awkward was Duncan, as he was the one who threw her and the wooden case back into the ocean.

He even repeated that a few times.

He tried to suppress that awkwardness and maintained his calm expression and tone. “That’s what you wanted to ask?”.

Alice reservedly sat on the chair. “Y-yes.”

“To many ships that go on long voyages, clean water is a precious resource. Bathing is a luxury,” Duncan replied in a serious tone but followed up with a grin. “But, you’re lucky as the Lost Home is not a normal ship. Our supply of fresh water is not finite. Come with me. There’s a place to shower in one of the cabins under the middle deck.”

Alice immediately stood up. She didn’t want to stay in the same room as the goat head, even for a second longer.

Just before he left, Duncan turned to look at the goat head and said, “Continue to take the helm.”

After that, he pushed the door open and brought Alice onto the deck.

Night had already fallen.

The sky above the boundless sea was empty.

After having rain clouds covering the sky for a few days, that was Duncan’s first time standing under a clear sky after arriving in this world.

He suddenly stopped and raised his head to look at the night sky without moving.

The sky was completely dark. There was no star nor the sign of another planet or a moon.

The only thing he could see was a faint white crack spanning the entire sky. Countless tiny cracks stemmed out of the big one, spreading in all directions in the night sky as if blood was slowly soaking a cloth.

The “white crack gently lighted the night sky above the boundless sea.” It was at least twice brighter than the moon on Earth.