The sea has settled down.
Alice saw the severed tentacle lying on the deck, and with it, some powerful flesh and blood fragments fell at the captain's feet. Life quickly faded from these pieces, and at the same moment, a massive creature lurking beneath the water around the Lost Home began to dive deeper. It seemed to be fleeing in a hurry, having sacrificed a tentacle as a "price" to escape the area.
As this enormous shadow sank back into the deep sea, the ocean returned to calm at an astonishing speed, and the dark clouds in the sky completely disappeared.
... Perhaps those clouds weren't clouds at all.
Alice looked up at the sky. She remembered how those dark clouds looked and recalled their outline as they faded away, finally connecting it to the shadow she had seen underwater earlier.
The thick clouds above seemed like a shadow cast by some giant creature in the sea.
The crackling sound of flames burning came from the edge of the deck, interrupting Alice's thoughts. She quickly turned to the captain's direction and saw him back to his usual self, a tall man with a cheerful smile. He had noticed Alice standing not far away and waved for her to come over.
When Alice approached him, Duncan kicked the large fish on the deck and said with a slightly raised tone, "Look, I caught a big fish!"
"B-big fish?" Alice's expression was a bit dazed. She looked at the thing at Duncan's feet, where countless bloodied eyes were half-open, staring at the sky among the twisted flesh. Jagged teeth glinted with a metallic shine between the eyes.
As Duncan kicked it, half of the eyes on the severed tentacle suddenly blinked, but then they all closed again.
"Yeah, big fish," Duncan said happily. "You see, it took me quite a bit of effort to haul this thing up."
Even though she was just a puppet, Alice felt a twitch at the corner of her eye for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something but didn't know how to steer the conversation back on track.
She looked at the "fish" by Duncan's feet.
An ugly big fish lay there—dark in color, with a bumpy skin, strange grayish-white patterns near its fins, and bone spikes extending from its head. Lifeless fish eyes met her gaze.
There were also many "little fish" scattered around on the deck.
Alice suddenly lost all expression and words. She stared wide-eyed at the scene before her, looking at the "fish" lying on the deck, at these things that just a moment ago weren't "fish."
The inexperienced puppet didn't understand what it meant to "question life," but at this moment, she truly began to doubt everything. She even wondered if she was "dreaming"—where did that tentacle go? What about those bloody fragments?
Maybe her moment of daze was too obvious, as Duncan quickly noticed Alice's unusual behavior. He raised an eyebrow and looked at her, "What's wrong? Is something off?"
"I..." Alice opened her mouth, but just as she was about to correct something, the rules the goat-headed figure had told her suddenly popped into her mind.
On the Lost Home, Captain Duncan was the absolute authority. His words were the absolute "truth"—if reality contradicted what Captain Duncan said, then his judgment was what mattered.
"There's nothing wrong!" Alice suddenly snapped back to reality and said quickly. Then, as if to cover up her nervousness, she quickly changed the subject. "By the way, Captain, that storm earlier was really scary..."
"Storm? You mean those waves?" Duncan looked at her in confusion. "Those waves were indeed big, but they hardly qualify as a storm... But then again, you haven't seen a real storm."
Alice replied, "…You're right."
If Captain Duncan called the storm that nearly covered the entire sea a "wave," then it was a wave. If he thought the things he caught on board were "fish," then they were fish.
"…I feel like you're a bit tense. Are you really okay?" Duncan still sensed something off in Alice's tone. He looked at his "first mate" with concern. "Are you seasick? Can you get seasick?"
"I'm fine, just a bit shaken from the rocking earlier…" Alice looked at the captain, who showed concern, unsure whether to feel reassured or more afraid. She could only awkwardly change the topic, "By the way, what do you plan to do with these... 'fish'?"
"Do I even need to ask?" Duncan laughed. "Of course, we're going to eat!"
Alice's expression froze: "…Eat?"
"What else? Didn't you notice that the food supply on the Lost Home is too monotonous?" Duncan was clearly in a good mood. "I plan to cut up this big one, stew some parts and roast others, and for these smaller ones, I'll salt them to make dried fish..."
He happily talked about his plans, but even though he sounded confident, he was actually quite unsure if he could pull it off—his cooking skills were just average, and he had no experience handling such a large fish. He only had some theoretical knowledge about making dried fish, with no practical experience at all.
But how would he know if he didn't try?
The only issue... was not to get a stomachache.
Duncan still retained some rationality amid his joy of a bountiful catch. He cautiously looked at the big fish at his feet, wondering if this gift from nature might be poisonous.
The safest way would be to find someone unlucky to try it first.
He first thought of the goat-headed figure in the captain's cabin but quickly dismissed that option. Then he glanced at the cursed puppet across from him—this puppet was also not a viable choice.
Alice didn't have a stomach.
Finally, he looked at the pigeon on his shoulder.
The pigeon tilted its head to look at him.
No matter how you looked at it, Ayi didn't seem like a normal creature, but if he had to find a living being with blood and flesh on the ship, it seemed this pigeon was all that was left...
Moments later, Duncan left the deck with his "catch"—lunch time was approaching, and he couldn't wait to improve the meals on the Lost Home.
Alice stood there in a daze for a while before heading to the captain's cabin door.
She hadn't planned to seek out the goat-headed figure. Ever since she witnessed the "first mate's" incessant chatter last time, she had developed a deep respect for the entire captain's cabin.
If possible, she didn't want to step through the door of the captain's cabin.
But what happened today was too strange. She felt it was necessary to consult the experienced goat-headed figure to see if this was indeed a normal occurrence on the Lost Home.
She wasn't breaking any crew rules; she was just inquiring about the situation, which should be acceptable.
After hesitating for a good ten seconds, Alice finally gathered her courage and pulled open the captain's cabin door.
In the next second, she was shocked to see that the goat-headed figure had already turned to face the door, staring intently in her direction—as if it had been waiting for her to come.
"What happened outside?" The goat-headed figure spoke succinctly, which was quite rare.
Alice sensed something was off from its unusual behavior. She quickly turned around to close the door and approached the navigation table, telling it everything she had seen.
After she finished speaking, the goat-headed figure fell into an extremely unusual silence— it didn't say a word for a full minute.
The wooden goat head couldn't show expressions, but Alice could clearly feel that... things seemed to be beyond this "first mate's" judgment.
Alice became tense. She instinctively leaned forward, "Isn't this something that normally happens on the Lost Home? Is the captain really..."
"The Lost Home is completely normal," the goat-headed figure finally snapped out of its silence. It quickly replied, as if trying to cut off any potential leaks in the conversation, "Listen, everything on the Lost Home is normal, Captain Duncan is as great as ever!"
"Then... I was just looking at your reaction..."
"Things are a bit beyond my expectations—but that's due to my lack of imagination and understanding," the goat-headed figure's words flowed smoothly. It seemed to be gradually recovering from its shock, and then its mood noticeably lifted, its tone becoming passionate and excited. "Yes, the great Captain Duncan—he should be even greater and stronger! There’s nothing unusual, Miss Alice, listen, everything on the Lost Home is as usual! Let the captain do what he thinks is right, and let’s not discuss this topic any further... Just remember this fact from today onward:
"There are fish in the Lost Home's kitchen, and fish are delicious ingredients."
(End of Chapter)