MTL - Deep Sea Embers-Chapter 14 harmless new crew

The Lost Country was big, remarkably big—a sail-powered ship almost too big for Duncan to think it was necessary.

Such a large scale means a larger cargo space, more artillery, a stronger structure, and a more stable attitude in the face of wind and waves - all of which means it is capable of facing the most difficult voyage challenges.

But the current Duncan has no plans for the so-called voyage. This surprisingly large ghost ship brings him only a sense of loneliness, so it would not be a bad thing if there was one more talking "crew" on board.

In any case, there are idle "guest rooms" on this big ship.

The sound of footsteps broke the silence in the corridor. Duncan walked down the wooden stairs with the gothic doll and came to the cabin on the lower deck of the stern deck. This is just below the captain's cabin. From the perspective of structure, it should be regarded as this big ship. Compared to the dark, gloomy and eerie areas on the lower level, the "upper-class residential area" in the house is more or less bright and tidy.

Duncan stopped in front of one of the crew cabins, then pushed open the hidden wooden door.

Inside was a single room with shabby furnishings.

There are several single cabins like this on the ship, but they have been unused for a long time, and there is absolutely no sign that anyone has ever used them.

Duncan noticed the existence of these empty rooms after initially exploring the upper area of ​​the Lost Country, but he didn't think much about it at the time, but now he has personally taken charge of the ghost ship and knows the secret of the ship's ability to sail alone. A doubt arises spontaneously.

Since this ship doesn't need a crew at all... Who are these crew cabins on board for?

The single-person room in the upper cabin is obviously reserved for upper-level seamen such as first mate, second mate, and bosun, while in the lower area, there are also open-bed cabins for general crew members. In addition, there is a restaurant on the ship for many people to use. Unlike the chess and card room—different from those sails and cables that do not need manual manipulation, the existence of these facilities is for "people".

But this ship needs no crew at all.

Duncan frowned slightly. He had realized that this ghost ship, which is now sailing alone at sea, at some point in its history... should also have a crew.

At least when the ship was built, it was designed with reasonable crew facilities for use by seafarers.

So what happened to cause the ship to become what it is today? Where did the original crew of the ship go? Is the real "Captain Duncan" the owner of the ship from beginning to end? What does that weird goat head know?

"Captain?" A suspicious voice suddenly came from behind.

Duncan's thoughts were interrupted instantly, and he was shocked, and then he realized that it was the voice of the doll lady - he forgot Alice's existence for a while.

In the past few days, Duncan had gotten used to the fact that he was the only living person on the ship, and he was used to the noisy goat-headed voice, but at this time, there was Alice, and he was not used to it.

"My name is Duncan, you can call me Captain Duncan—of course, it's your freedom to call the captain directly," Duncan quickly adjusted his expression, then turned to look at the puppet lady behind him, "This empty space The room will be yours from now on, go in and have a look."

"Ah, okay!" Alice nodded, first looking over Duncan's shoulder to look at the situation in the room, then turned around and grabbed the wooden box that was always floating behind her, and put it in He put it on his shoulder and carefully carried it into the room.

Seeing Alice's "coffin" that was always inseparable, Duncan couldn't help the urge to shake the corners of his mouth. He watched Miss Doll carefully place the "coffin" next to the bed, and inspected the inside of the coffin very carefully. It was lined with velvet, and then he began to look around the furnishings in the room, and finally couldn't help but say, "You have to carry this box with you all the time, don't you?"

"Yeah," Alice said rightfully, "or where would I put it?"

"This box used to be your seal, and I thought you would care about that," Duncan frowned. "Now it seems, you can't live without it."

"It's those people who sealed me, and it's not the box's fault," Alice sat on the box, and patted the lid of the wooden box as she spoke, "Would you like to come in and sit together?"

Duncan shook his head. "No, how do you feel about this room?"

"Ah, very good," Alice looked very happy. She looked around the simple furnishings in the room, but she seemed to be in a magnificent palace, "Is that a wardrobe? I don't have any clothes to replace, should I use it? Up...but it's nice to have a cabinet. Oh, and a table that I can put things on in the future, but I don't seem to have anything to put on it...maybe for my hair? It would be more convenient when combing my hair..."

"You're fine." Watching a Gothic doll sitting on a coffin planning his life is a very strange sight, especially since there are some very suspicious contents in this plan, but a trace of Duncan's face slowly appeared on his face. He smiled, then he took a half step back, his expression returning to normal, "You can rest here for a while and adjust to the environment here.

"Apart from the stairs leading to the lower level, you can move freely on this level and on the deck level, the structure is not complicated here, and you should be able to grasp the location of all the rooms by yourself.

"I'm in the captain's room, and you can go there to find me if I'm not there—there's a talking goat head on the sailing table, and he's my first mate."

Alice nodded while listening, but her eyes widened when she heard the last two sentences: "Goat's head?! That dark wood wither?!"

"Looks like you've noticed it."

"I noticed... but you said it can talk?! And it's your first mate?" Alice looked surprised, "I thought it was just... It's incredible!"

"...You're a puppet that can talk and walk," Duncan looked at Alice blankly. "You still think a talking goat head is incredible?"

Alice was stunned for a moment, looked down at her hands, and grumbled as if she had just reacted: "Ah... I think so?"

Duncan shook his head, turned and left: "That's it, you can rest here, find me if you have something."

Alice's voice came from behind him: "Okay, Captain."

After leaving, Duncan didn't go anywhere else, but went straight back to his captain's room. He came to the large sailing table and sat down. Turning to Duncan:

"Ah! It's the captain back! It looks like you've settled the lady--you see, as I said, a gentle and innocuous lady, who will do no harm to your voyage, and I can chat with you to relieve the boredom. I see that you have decided to keep her on board. Do you plan to arrange anything for her? The Lost Country does not need people very much. The deck will be cleaned, the guns will be cleaned, and the water tanks will be maintained. The water tank... Maybe she can manage the kitchen? You seem to have been dissatisfied with the food on board... Ah, speaking of food, it seems that we need to replenish some ingredients first, the bacon and hard cheese in the warehouse may be a little old, While rude seamen are not picky about food at sea, the great Captain Duncan must..."

Duncan felt that his brain was about to boil, and he was once again convinced of one thing at this moment: with this noisy goat head, he really needed a "normal conversation partner" like Alice!

"Shut up," he gave the goat's head a stern look, and then continued after the latter shut up, "you were very honest when Alice was here just now. I thought you finally learned to keep quiet."

"The captain can't interject when interviewing new crew members. This is the rule at sea, even if I am your loyal first mate and second mate and boatswain..."

Duncan didn't wait for the goathead to finish (in fact, if he didn't interrupt, the goathead couldn't finish it at all): "Keep an eye on that puppet these days."

"Ah... ah? To stare at that lady? Are you still worried about her? Oh, yes, the necessary caution is as a captain..."

"She has a lot of secrets, and she didn't tell them all, maybe it's because she really doesn't know it herself, or maybe ... it's deliberately concealed for some purpose, in any case, she is a 'cursed doll' after all, and With the name of 'Anomaly 099'," Duncan said, "the people on that ship used a lot of seals to prevent Alice from leaving the wooden box, but now the sealed doll is swaggering on my ship. Activity, I need to take a moment to confirm that Alice is really a harmless puppet...even if it's just harmless on the Homeless."

(Mom!)