Deep Sea Embers

On the front deck of the Brilliant Star, Shirley was holding on to the railing on the side of the ship, looking excitedly at the gradually clearing coastline on the sea level in the distance, and yelled happily: "Oh, oh! I saw the port ! You can already see the port!"

"Don't get too excited and fall down," Agou's voice came from the side, "and don't patronize Shale, don't forget to promise the captain before going out, even if you go out to play..."

Shirley started waving her hands before she finished listening: "Oh, I know, I know, hey dog, you are so nagging, why are you acting like an old mother..."

The deep hound lying on the deck next to it suddenly became dissatisfied, and started a new round of nagging, while Lucrezia, who was standing not far away, watched the movement on the deck with complicated and subtle eyes. I don't know what I'm thinking in the blink of an eye.

Nina stood beside Lucrezia. She looked nervously at this "Sea Witch" who had an elegant and mysterious temperament, a beautiful appearance but a disturbing sense of indifference and alienation, and whispered: "You don't think Shirley is too noisy, do you? She always does..."

"No," Lucrezia said with a slight sideways face, "This ship has always been very noisy, and my dolls will make more noise than this."

"Oh..." Nina snorted, and then smiled a little shyly, "That... thank you for allowing us to take this boat."

"Father asked me to send you to Qingfeng Harbor, and I will do so," Lucrezia said. She glanced at Nina, as if she was not used to dealing with strangers, but this discomfort and embarrassment In the eyes of others, it will always become a kind of indifference and arrogance, so she tried her best to adjust her expression, trying to make herself look gentler, "I remember your name is Nina, right?"

"Yes." Nina nodded immediately, with a bright smile on her face.

"...You call my father 'Uncle Duncan'," Lucrezia seemed curious, "Aren't you... not afraid?"

"Don't be afraid, Uncle Duncan is very nice," Nina said with a smile, then she paused, her bright smile converged into a gentle smile, she looked into the eyes of the "witch" lady in front of her, "I know You don't have to worry about what happened... but I think it's fine now."

"...That's good." Lucrezia looked at Nina silently for a while, then nodded slightly.

But then, she heard the girl named Nina next to her ask a question curiously: "Miss Lucrecia, do you... have a bad relationship with Uncle Duncan?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I heard someone say that. They said that the Brilliant Star broke with the Lost Homeland a century ago, and when Uncle Duncan brought us here just now, I saw that you always avoided his eyes intentionally or unintentionally," As Nina spoke, her voice gradually decreased, "Sorry, did I say something wrong? This seems impolite..."

"We did go on different paths," Lucrezia didn't care, just shook her head, "but that's in the past, as for now, the relationship between me and my father may not be good or not. It's hard to describe, I think...we just haven't seen each other for too long."

Nina blinked her eyes and listened. She seemed to feel the subtle regret and sentimentality in Miss "Witch"'s tone, and hesitated for a while: "You are different from what I imagined at first... I was quite nervous before I actually met you." of."

"People in the world make wild guesses about things they don't understand, and they are never responsible for their own guesses," Lucrecia smiled, "Besides, you don't need to add honorifics when addressing me, Nina, you You can just call me by my name."

Nina froze for a moment: "But you..."

"My father is your 'Uncle Duncan'," Lucrezia looked at Nina, and finally there was some real warmth in her smile, "Under this premise, you still use honorifics to address me, I will feel very uncomfortable. awkward."

Nina thought for a while, then nodded: "Oh, it seems to be..."

The corners of Lucrezia's mouth curled up. She looked at the girl in front of her who was essentially a shard of the sun, but her words and deeds were nothing more than an ordinary girl. "Demon Summoner" for playing in the city.

At the same time, the Morris University scholar is in the cabin at the moment, chatting with Taran Al, whom he has not seen for decades, and the two seem to be discussing about going to the City State University in Qingfeng Harbor. The "exiled judge" named Fanna was in the middle of the deck, and under the guidance of the rabbit Rabbi, he curiously visited the unique "spiritual body structure" of the ship.

As for the living doll named "Alice", it must still be with her father at this time - as soon as the father got on the boat, he said that he would introduce her to Luni, and then took her away.

They were my father's new "followers"—these people seemed to be on vacation when countless smart people in this world were trying their best to guess the purpose of the reorganization of the Lost Fleet.

In a sense, these people are indeed very powerful, each with unique skills, and they are definitely worthy of a place in the Lost Fleet, but looking at it from another angle...

They were completely different from what Lucrezia imagined at first.

This is not a group of terrifying and depressing "subspace dependents". On the contrary, they are very interesting and easy to get along with. My father brought these people together... It doesn't seem to be because of any deep and long-term planning. It was just a coincidence that these traveling companions were gathered together.

"After docking, I will arrange a place for you to stay." Lucrezia restrained her wandering thoughts, "I have a few strongholds in Qingfeng Harbor, which are fairly clean. You go to the city Is there any goal in the future? I can recommend it to you.”

"Recommended?" Nina's eyes lit up when she heard it, "Then you... do you know where the delicious food is in Qingfeng Harbor? I heard that this city-state has the most variety of delicacies in the entire Boundless Sea. Came here for this!"

Lucrezia's expression became subtle in an instant: "...the 'food' in Qingfeng Harbor?"

Nina nodded vigorously: "Yes!"

"...Didn't my father explain to you the food culture of the elves in detail?"

"No," Nina said blankly, as if she had vaguely noticed the subtlety in the other party's tone, "Um, did I make a mistake?"

"...It's not wrong, you need to experience it yourself to understand it," Lucrezia thought for a while, and said seriously, "I will take you to the Crown District later."

Nina looked forward with anticipation: "There are a lot of delicious food over there?"

"...It's closer to the hospital."

Nina: "...?"

At the same time, in the crew rest area of ​​the Brilliant Star, Duncan found a place to sit down, watching the scene not far away with great interest while resting.

There are two dolls standing there, both looking a little dazed.

Alice curiously looked at this strange "person" who looked more "doll-like" than herself. After thinking for a long time, she suddenly turned her head: "Captain! How do you make friends with strangers?"

"Introduce yourself first." Duncan took out a few French fries out of nowhere, and casually threw them to Ai who was strolling on the small table next to him. "Start with your name."

"Oh," Alice nodded, then turned to look at Luni who was standing opposite her, "Hello, my name is Alice, also called Abnormality 099."

"Hi, I'm Luni," the wind-up doll standing opposite Alice also bent down, and introduced herself very politely, "I'm Mistress Lucrecia's servant, and you are the old master's servant." Servant?"

"I'm not, I'm the captain's puppet! I'm in charge of cooking and cleaning on board!"

Luni tilted her head, and there was a slight sound of gears rubbing against a certain part of her body.

Alice continued to look at her new friend curiously: "You don't have a wire on your head!"

"Line? What's that?"

"It's something that everyone has. It floats out of the body. The captain said that only I can see it," Alice gestured, "He said it might be the 'soul thread', and I couldn't understand it either. What do you mean, anyway, once I grab it, the person will not move..."

"Your words are hard to understand," Luni said in a dull tone, "I'm a doll, I don't have a soul...but I have a clockwork."

While talking, the wind-up doll turned around and showed Alice the wind-up handle that looked like a big bow on her lower back.

"Hey, clockwork, I have it too!" Alice immediately became happy, and turned around to show her new friend, "Did you see this position? There is also a clockwork hole under the clothes, but I can't reach it myself." , so the key to the clockwork is in the hands of the captain..."

"Interesting, we have similarities," Luni heard a series of cheerful gears running in her body, and she seemed to be happy, "This is the first time I have seen an existence similar to myself, the hostess and the old master said you You can be friends with me, it seems they are right."

"Right? The captain is amazing!" Alice said happily. "And you see, our joints seem to be very similar, although your arms are harder than mine..."

Lu Ni lowered her head and observed her arms: "Yes, we have a similar joint structure."

Alice was even happier immediately, and then stretched out her hand to hold her head: "By the way, can your head be pulled out? Mine can be! Look——"

"Bo'er—" With a sound, Alice pulled off her head in front of Luni, and held it up with both hands to show off: "You, you, look, look, you can pull it off, pull it off..."

Lu Ni was surprised to see such a powerful move by the new friend in front of her, and she also held her head with her hands and pulled it down.

Click it.