Ashes Of Deep Sea - Chapter 28

Chapter 28 Pale White Night

Horror stories weren’t exact replicas of real-life situations. The biggest difference was that living in the real world meant having many minor details to worry about.

Details like whether a live cursed puppet needed to maintain its joints, whether Alice would suddenly break into pieces if she kept removing her limbs, or even if the cured meat and cheese on the ship were rotten or not were something that Duncan had to worry about.

Also, whether superheroes who worked during the day and fought crimes at night had to sleep or not, or even if the superheroes had to go grocery shopping after defeating the villains, were such details that the authors committed.

The characters in novels would always live a life without many worries and come and go pretty quickly, just like how cursed puppets only needed to come out from beneath the chair to scare people suddenly, or the captain of a ghost ship had no need to worry if the cured meat and cheese had gone bad or not after a century.

However, in reality, a cursed puppet would feel uncomfortable being soaked in seawater, and they even had to worry about how to wash out the salt stuck inside their joints.

Duncan stood outside the bathroom and let out a deep sigh. He realized even more that having determination would not be enough for him to live on the ship for a long time.

He still had to worry about many problems, especially after the number of crews had increased.

Duncan was aware of the fact that there weren’t a lot of supplies on the ship.

The ship had an unlimited supply of fresh water, but that was the only thing that wasn’t finite. The food inside the storage would not replenish itself after being consumed, and there were only cured meats and cheese to consume. Although the food showed no sign of rotting because of the Lost Home’s unique feature, Duncan still suspected that the food had been in storage for a century.

Other than that, there weren’t any suitable clothes for Alice to change into (even though the cursed puppet had never mentioned needing to change). There wasn’t anything that could help them pass the time, things like a set of chess or poker cards. The boundless sea was borderless, but the Lost Home had no proper way of obtaining supplies. Another problem was that there was no reliable port for the ship to park at so that it could be maintained and repaired, and he had no method to get in touch with the civilized city-states either.

It seemed as if the goat head had never thought of such worries, but Duncan had already started to think about it in a serious matter. He had first to change the situation where they lacked supplies and resources.

He would then have to build a connection with the “city-states.”

Wandering endlessly on the ocean was highly inconvenient for information gathering. Information about the world had to be sought on the land. That was one of the things that Duncan had realized the most after experiencing the “Spirit World Walk.”

Even if it wasn’t for information gathering, he had to be able to communicate with the “city-states” for his mental health. He had to get in touch with a civilized society. He was worried that the long voyage would turn him into a twisted, dark, and solitary ghost ship captain.

Thinking of that, Duncan turned his head a little to look at Ai, the dove quietly pecking its feather on his shoulder.

His eyes were set on the brass compass.

The dove tilted its head to look at its “master” and suddenly said, “Build another base! Spread the creeps out! Hey! Do you know how to play this or not?”

Duncan didn’t react to the dove right away. Most of the time, it would act like it had gone crazy, but there were times when its’ words would make sense, to the point where it would make him wonder if the dove was actually bright or crazy.

Judging from the current situation, the Spirit World Walk was his only method to “head” to the city-states.

Even though there were a lot of uncertainties about using that method, such as strange events like Ai suddenly appearing after he tried it last time, he still knew that it wouldn’t take long for him to try it out again. It wasn’t only for information gathering but also because he wanted to test and master the ability.

Another essential matter, like the Spirit World Walk, was the “special power” of the ritual dagger that Ai had brought back with it.

After a moment of silence, Duncan decided to directly ask the dove, “Do you know how did you bring back that dagger?”

The dove thought deeply and said in a deep tone, “You need more crystal ores.”

Duncan was rendered speechless by the reply. He eventually decided to stop communicating with the dove for the time being. He believed that testing it out himself in the next Spirit World Walk would be more reliable than asking the bird.

Alice learned to get fresh water from the pipe inside the cabin after a few failed tries. She also thought of a way to clean herself.

Since they were on a ship, she could only shower with cold water. But, as a puppet, it wasn’t a big issue to her.

Before hopping into the bathtub, Alice checked everything inside the bathroom.

She tapped on the huge oak barrel and then at the pillars that supported the room. Next, she kicked the floor with her toes before standing on tiptoes to pull on the rope and hook dropping down from the ceiling.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Alice,” she happily greeted all the things she touched, just like how she greeted the goat head. “I’ll be living on the ship from now on.”

Not a single thing replied to her, and she didn’t mind it.

The goat head had once told her that the Lost Home was alive, and many of the objects on the ship were alive.

They might not have a real “sentience” like the goat head, and some of them might not even have the ability to communicate, but it didn’t stop Alice from treating everything on the ship as “neighbors” that she had to greet.

The Lost Home was alive, just like her.

After making sure her greeting was decent, Alice was even happier. She removed her elegant dress and awkwardly climbed into the bathtub made out of an oak barrel.

The first thing she did was remove her head from her body to clean it, as the joint that connected her head to her body was already loose to begin with.

The puppet believed that her thought process was reasonable.

After another day of hustle, the City-state of Pland finally quieted down at night. Under the dimly lit sky, the busy people in the city dubbed the “Pearl of the Sea” eventually went to sleep.

Some guards kept the city safe at night in the dark and quiet city.

On the highest floor of the tallest building in the City-state of Pland, the “Great Bell Tower,” a grey-haired and abnormally tall young lady stood in front of the window. The lady had beautiful facial features, but a terrifying scar spread across her left eye. She was taller than most men and wore light grey armor and a battle skirt. Her defined muscles and perfect figure showed that she was well-trained. Just beside her, where she could easily reach, was a greatsword that seemed faintly shining. On the sword’s hilt were runes that signified the wave, while the blade had wave-like patterns.

The sound of gears turning could be heard behind the lady. The gears of the bell tower were moving in a stable motion powered by the steam engine. The complex gears and connecting rods stemmed past the ceiling and the floor to put the four clocks and mini planetarium hidden in the deepest part of the building.

Judging from the machine’s noise, the vast and precise machine operated smoothly, and no evil energy affected the holy steam core.

Yet, Judge Fanna was still restless. It was as if something was about to happen or had already happened. She was annoyed at the fact that she wasn’t able to do anything to solve her premonition.

Footsteps could be heard from the stairs. The grey-haired lady who stood by the window turned around. She saw a priest wearing the robe of an ocean flamen ascending the stairs. The priest held a bronze incense cauldron in his hand, with clean smoke slowly surrounding him.

The priest approached the pillar of the machine core in the middle of the room. He took the old incense cauldron that was hung on the pillar down and replaced it with the one he had brought. He observed the smoke from the incense and made sure that the smoke was able to float around the gears and connecting rods before chanting the name of the Wind Goddess. After that, he turned to look at the grey-haired lady.

“Madam Judge, good evening. Are you watching over the city alone again?”