On either side of a large navigation table, Captain Duncan of the Lost Homeland sat facing the cursed doll, Alice.
The atmosphere between the two of them (even though they might not both be human) was anything but friendly.
Alice, who claimed to be a doll, looked a bit nervous. Even though the ghost captain had promised her temporary safety, it was clear that even a cursed doll couldn't feel completely at ease in front of Duncan's naturally intimidating face.
She was sitting dignifiedly on her coffin lid, but the fingers she quietly pinched together at the edge of her dress revealed her unease.
Duncan remained silent for a while, observing this... "lady" in front of him.
A doll driven by some unknown force, clearly not made of flesh and blood, yet capable of speaking, walking, and even having a bit of warmth—if he were back home, this would definitely be something to investigate.
Duncan didn’t know what kind of existence dolls like Alice belonged to in this world, but during his days spent with the goat-headed creature, he had picked up some information. He understood that while there were "extraordinary phenomena" in this world, such supernatural beings were not something you’d see every day. And this doll lady in front of him...
Duncan suspected that even in this strange world, she must belong to some special category.
His guess wasn’t unfounded—he had seen the mechanical ship that collided with the Lost Homeland. It was new and had a well-trained crew. He had witnessed many of the sailors holding their posts even in great fear. The ship also had many mysterious cabins and items inside, with lots of complex symbols on them that looked very similar to the markings on Alice's "coffin."
In other words, that new ship was likely there to escort... or rather "transport" Alice, this cursed doll.
Duncan adjusted his position in the chair, looking at Alice with a mix of ease and seriousness—there was no doubt that his ship had gained an extraordinary "guest."
But from another angle, this doll lady didn’t seem too scary; she appeared to be quite timid.
After all, when they first met, she was so frightened that her head almost fell off without him saying a word.
“May I ask…” Perhaps Duncan’s long silence and gaze had put too much pressure on her, as Alice finally couldn’t help but speak, “Also…”
“Where do you come from?” Duncan finally pulled back his intense gaze and asked in a calmer tone.
Alice seemed taken aback for a moment, as if processing the meaning of his question. After a few seconds, she gently tapped the fancy wooden box beneath her: “From here.”
Duncan’s expression instantly stiffened: “…”
“I know you were lying in this box before,” he cleared his throat, “but I meant where did you come from—like a location, understand? Do you have a hometown? Or something that can be called a starting point?”
Alice thought carefully and shook her head honestly: “I can’t remember.”
“Can’t remember?”
“Do dolls have hometowns?” Alice answered seriously, her hands resting neatly on her lap. “Most of my memories are of lying in the box. I was transported from one place to another, and sometimes I could vaguely sense people moving around or guarding outside the box… Ah, I also remember some quiet conversations. The people guarding my wooden box spoke in fearful and tense tones about certain matters…”
Duncan raised an eyebrow: “What did they talk about?”
“Just some boring trivial matters.”
“But I’m curious,” Duncan said earnestly—he believed they were probably just trivial matters, but he really needed to understand this world as much as possible, even if it was just the ordinary chatter of its people.
“...Well, the most common name I heard was Anomaly 099—they seemed to use this to refer to me and my box, but I don’t like it. I have a name,” Alice recalled, “Besides that, I occasionally heard them talk about seals and curses, but most of it is vague. When I was in the box, I would sleep and didn’t pay much attention to the sounds outside.”
The doll spoke slowly, then seemed to suddenly remember something and added, “But I do remember what I heard recently; it must have been before I came to your ship. The voices outside the wooden box frequently mentioned a place called Pland City-State. That seemed to be their destination… and probably mine too?”
“Pland City-State?” Duncan’s eyes narrowed as he silently noted the name in his mind.
He finally learned something useful, even though he didn’t know when this information would come in handy.
He then raised his head and looked at the doll lady again: “What else?”
“Other than that, I mostly just slept, Captain,” the doll lady said earnestly. “When you’re locked in a coffin-like box, and there’s a constant murmur of whispers around you, what else can you do but sleep? Do sit-ups in the coffin?”
Duncan’s mouth twitched.
She maintained her dignified appearance and was an elegant beauty when her head didn’t fall off, but she could also casually make comments that left people speechless.
He quickly built a new image of this Alice lady in his mind.
But on the surface, he still kept his calm and authoritative image as Captain Duncan, simply responding with a noncommittal “Hmm” before continuing, “So, aside from dozing in the box, you know nothing about the outside world. You can’t tell me about the changes in this world, nor can you tell me where any ports or city-states are located.”
“Probably so, Captain,” the doll lady nodded seriously, then suddenly seemed to realize something and looked at Duncan with wide eyes, quite nervously, “So… are you planning to throw me off the ship? Because I have no value now?”
Before Duncan could respond, Alice continued, “Well, I understand. After all, this is your ship, but could you please not stuff cannonballs in the box this time? Seriously… eight cannonballs is a bit excessive…”
It was clear that the doll lady was not in a good mood—but she didn’t dare to show it too much.
Duncan felt awkward too, mainly because he hadn’t considered how he would calmly discuss this matter with her after stuffing cannonballs in the box. At that time, he had only seen Alice as a standard horror movie cursed doll, with images in his mind that fit that theme… He never thought this cursed doll wasn’t straight out of a horror film but rather from a courtyard.
So the preparations he made to counter the curse now turned into awkwardness.
However, Duncan was thick-skinned, and his stern, eerie face was etched like a knife. As long as he didn’t short-circuit his nerves, he could maintain his composure. So he forced himself to ignore the embarrassment brought on by the eight cannonballs and simply shook his head lightly, “I haven’t decided whether to throw you off the ship yet.
After all, you seem to always find a way to come back. I’m just curious, why do you keep coming back to the Lost Homeland? It’s clear you’re quite wary of me and this ship—if that’s the case, why not stay away from this danger?”
“This ship is called the Lost Homeland? Well, I do feel a bit… afraid of you and your ship, but isn’t the deep sea more dangerous?”
The doll lady quietly looked at the ghost captain. In her view, this tall man was surrounded by an endless, dark void that overlapped with the real scene in the cabin, as if two worlds were forcibly combined.
But compared to this overwhelming shadow, the things that came from the depths of the boundless sea felt even more dangerous to her, who was Anomaly 099. “Is there anything more terrifying in this world than the deep sea?”
(Mother of God!)
(End of Chapter)