Deep Sea Embers

Anne looked at the two "guests" in the hut in a daze, her eyes turned back and forth between Agatha and Duncan, and after a long time, the girl finally came to her senses: "Ah, Uncle Duncan, you want to be here. cemetery keeper?"

"Perhaps," said Duncan, looking at Agatha, who was still in astonishment, "isn't that feasible? The cemetery guards must be veterans of the Guardian?"

Agatha finally came to her senses, and said quickly: "No... Although generally speaking, the guards of the cemetery are served by retired guard veterans, but if I come forward, of course I can arrange a place for you, the problem is not here , the key is... do you really want to stay in this cemetery as a guard?"

"My identity in Pland is still an antique dealer," Duncan said, with a smile in his eyes, "The Lost Country will not stop in one place, but my avatar will stay in the city-state, always looking for something You can’t spend your days drinking tea and reading newspapers in that big house on Oak Street with nothing to do?”

"This... I really haven't thought about this question," Agatha opened her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, "I haven't thought about what else your 'incarnation' needs to do on weekdays at all..."

"Normally, most of the novels and movies don't mention that the protagonists will change jobs after the incident is over, but the reality is that now you have to do the work of two people alone, and Tirian is overwhelmed with paperwork all day long," Duncan laughed. Get up, "For me, it is also very boring to drive a ghost ship that will not dock all day in the endless sea. Living a normal life in a city-state is to ensure that I still feel like a 'Human' skills, you can think of as..."

Agatha said instantly: "I'll make arrangements for you immediately, and you can come to the cemetery to 'take office' tomorrow."

Duncan: "...I'm not done yet."

"I have listened to the most important part," Agatha said with a serious face, "Please rest assured, even if the highest church asks, I will ensure that you can be a guard in this cemetery with peace of mind."

"... I always feel that you seem to have over-understood what I just said, but it's not a big problem," Duncan said awkwardly, and then he really asked about "work". "What do the cemetery guards do on weekdays?"

"In fact, there is basically not much work - the task of the guards is to ensure that the cemetery will not be 'disturbed', to ensure the tranquility of the supernatural power, and to register the living and dead people entering and leaving the cemetery. As for the cemetery facilities The maintenance and other things are arranged by the people in the nearby church," Agatha explained, "Given that Frost City has become an extremely safe environment even at night, I think...not just you, everyone The cemetery guards probably don't have to do anything."

When Agatha said this, her tone was somewhat strange, and her gaze swept over Duncan from time to time, obviously thinking of the relationship between the calmness of the recent frosty night and the existence in front of her.

And she still had something to say—what did it matter if the city-state's nights were as dangerous as ever? The cemetery ushered in such a "guard". I am afraid that there will never be any incidents of supernatural power agitation. It is estimated that even if something from the subspace comes out of the coffin, it will be taken by the new guard. Slap back...

Regardless, it's a good thing.

Duncan didn't know what Agatha was thinking in his heart, and he didn't think about too complicated things, because he really just wanted to find something to do for his body—and considering the remaining Considering the "fate" between himself and this cemetery, he finally chose to stay here and become the new caretaker of the cemetery.

He will continue to watch Frost here, taking care of and guarding the city-state, just like in Prand.

The hot tea in his hand has gradually cooled down.

Duncan put the teacup on the low table aside, stood up and silently looked around the small room. The plain and simple furnishings in the room caught his eyes, as if there were still traces of the old owner.

On the wall next to the doorway, an old looking shotgun was quietly hanging on the iron hook. The bolt was still shining brightly, reflecting the fire beside it.

Duncan looked at the old shotgun for a while, then nodded slightly, pushed the door and walked out of the cabin.

The sound of high-spirited and cheerful music came from a certain street outside the cemetery, mixed with the sound of fireworks.

Anne got out from the door of the hut behind him, and listening to the movement on the street in the distance, she happily tugged at the hem of Duncan's clothes: "The new consul's convoy is about to pass through the cemetery ring!"

"Many people are still very afraid of the new consul," Duncan lowered his head, with a smile in the corner of his eyes, "You don't look scared at all?"

"I'm not afraid, my mother said, the new consul is a hero to protect the city-state," Annie raised her face, squinting her eyes in the sun, "Just like father, he is a very powerful person."

Duncan thought for a while, then stretched out his hand and gently pressed the girl's furry hat.

"Indeed, he would be a fine consul."

...

On the boundless sea, Duncan returned to the captain's room through the poop deck.

The goat's head is steering the helm seriously, and on the navigation table, the thick fog floating on the surface of the large chart is flowing and dissipating little by little.

Duncan stood in front of the chart for a while, his eyes swept over the gradually clear route near Frost, and then he walked to a corner of the room.

The simple and elegant oval mirror in the captain's cabin is still quietly hanging on the wall. The mirror reflects the scene in the room, and in the interlacing of sunlight and shadow, the scene looks vague for some reason.

Duncan took a step forward, curled his fingers, and tapped the edge of the mirror lightly.

In the next second, layers of hazy light and shadow suddenly floated on the surface of the seemingly ordinary mirror, as if countless fog and smoke were rising from the world in the mirror. Immediately afterwards, a figure.

Agatha - the gatekeeper in the mirror - appears before Duncan.

"Good day, Captain," Agatha's slightly magnetic voice came from the mirror, "Nice to meet you."

Duncan nodded and asked casually, "How do you feel? Are you still used to it?"

"It feels... not bad," Agatha said slowly. "When I was just 'transferred' to the ship, the huge and empty mirror world here made me a little nervous, but maybe it's because I gradually got used to it. , Those empty darkness has gradually faded... I also tried to communicate with that 'Martha' lady, and she told me a lot of skills and knowledge as a 'mirror image', which are very useful."

Duncan raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "Oh? You can directly contact Martha here?"

"The Black Oak is wandering in the reflection of the nearby waters. In the mirror world, she and I are 'neighbors'," Agatha laughed, "This is a wonderful experience—the world in the mirror is neither Continuous, but connected everywhere, I can jump from one mirror to another, and I can appear in many mirrors at the same time, or hide in the vast nothingness behind the mirrors... It may take many, many years before I can fully understand this. everything."

Duncan listened with great interest to this "mirror image" telling himself about the unimaginable "laws in the mirror" beyond ordinary people's cognition, and when the other party's voice fell, he nodded lightly: "It sounds like you enjoyed it very much. This process is fine."

Agatha was startled, and sighed softly: "...Yeah, it's better than I imagined."

The captain's room fell silent for a while, and Duncan suddenly broke the silence after an unknown period of time: "I want to know, what made you decide to leave Frost and embark on a journey with the Lost Home? The longest journey, this ship may go to many places, distant city-states, sealed secrets, spirit worlds, the deep, and even subspace..."

Agatha in the mirror pondered. She considered this question very seriously, and after a few minutes she spoke slowly: "I think it was when 'we' dived into the dark deep sea together."

Duncan didn't speak, just looked at the person in the mirror, waiting for her to continue.

The voice in the mirror came again——

"I have all the memories and emotions of Agatha. In that memory, I was born in the frost, with my family and friends, I studied and trained, and I was tested by the church, and those streets, those old clock towers , all those things that are in disrepair...but very dear, all these things are in my mind, clear and deep, as if... I experienced it myself.

"But what we all know is that as of the day of the mirror image invasion, the life that really belongs to 'my' is actually only three days.

"So, when my consciousness regained and I returned to this world in the form of a mirror image, I have been thinking about a question - am I the gatekeeper Agatha, or am I just a person who inherited someone's memory? , reborn in this world...'people'."

She stopped, as a "mirror image", her eyes were bright, and those eyes were staring at the captain outside the mirror seriously.

"You are right that a 'man' cannot live forever as the shadow of another man.

"Almost all the memories of my life that I've ever had are from another individual, but even then, three days of those memories are my own.

"But if I stay in Frost, the three-day 'life' will sooner or later be buried with larger and deeper memories. I can't let go of my connection with that city, and I can't avoid my human weakness as a mortal— —I am destined to be a shadow, a shadow full of regrets, trapped in memories, and as time goes by... sooner or later, the regrets will turn into resentment and resentment.

"I can't accept that possibility.

"But something you said to me on that 'deep dive' trip with you... opened up new possibilities for me."