Ashes Of Deep Sea
Chapter 541 - Chapter 541 Chapter 542 Alices Simple Theory

Chapter 541: Chapter 542: Alice’s Simple Theory Chapter 541: Chapter 542: Alice’s Simple Theory This was the first time since the “reunion” that Lucrezia saw such complex, such profound, and yet such warm expressions on her “father’s” face.

Before this, her father had also smiled at her, had shown many human-like gestures, but for some reason, she always felt a subtle dissonance behind those smiles and actions, always felt that those were “affectionate appearances” her father had tried hard to feign after losing his memory due to the Subspace. This dissonance had always subtly unnerved her.

However, at this moment, she finally saw some kind of emotion emanating from within– a kind of apology and a regret that others might find hard to understand.

But she did not know whether this apology was meant for her or not.

“I still don’t know enough,” the young witch sighed gently, “I thought I had more or less caught up with you.”

“… Homeloss eventually fell into the Subspace, and you did not catch up, which is a good thing,” Duncan shook his head, then took one last look at the silently floating “moon,” turned, and walked towards the connecting bridge leading away from the platform, “Let’s head back, Lucy.”

Lucrezia was somewhat surprised, “Aren’t you going to study it a bit more?”

“I am not a scholar, nor do I have the professional methods and equipment for research,” Duncan waved his hand, “I came just to see it for myself, but how to unravel its secrets will be up to the professionals.”

He paused for a moment, then added, “I will be staying at Light Breeze Harbor during this period. I will keep an eye on your progress on the ‘moon.’ Also, if something similar happens to any other Elf like with Taran El, inform me immediately.”

“I understand,” Lucrezia nodded straightaway in response and then hesitated before asking, “About your arrival… may I tell Governor Sala Mel? Of course, I won’t casually reveal it to more people…”

“Suit yourself,” Duncan nodded, “You can tell whomever you want–it won’t have anything to do with me how they react.”

Lucrezia bowed her head slightly, “Yes.”

Moments later, on the Homeloss, which was stationary on the surface of the sea outside the Luminous Geometric Body, a fiery vortex door suddenly appeared on the front deck.

The door, accompanied by the crackling of flames, swung open, and Duncan stepped out–upon seeing his return, Alice, who was clinging to a large mop and scrubbing the deck alongside several others, joyfully ran over: “The captain’s back!”

Duncan waved to dissipate the flames behind him and looked at the Goth puppet in front of him, holding a mop, her face brimming with a happy smile, and nodded simply, “Hmm, I’m back.”

“Was it smooth?” Alice threw aside her mop carefreely and looked at the captain happily, “You were gone for such a long time. Did you talk a lot with Miss Lucrezia? Did you go see that ‘ball’? What does it look like… Ah!”

The mop Alice had tossed aside suddenly sprang up and vigorously thwacked the head of the delighted puppet miss, then it hopped bounced toward the bucket to rinse itself off.

Alice, holding her head, looked puzzled and aggrieved at Duncan, “Why did it hit me?! It nearly knocked off my…”

Duncan, observing the doll miss’s simple and clear emotions, her smile from before, and her current perplexity, unexpectedly found the restlessness and sense of loss inside him subsiding slightly.

Yet Alice still looked aggrieved.

“… You’d better check if that’s a mop for scrubbing the deck, maybe it’s supposed to be ‘working’ in the dining hall,” Duncan struggled to suppress a smile, pressed Alice’s head, and curiously asked, “Besides, I’ve been meaning to ask you–why do you insist on scrubbing the deck yourself when the mops and buckets here can clean on their own?”

“I’m helping out!” Alice stood tall and proud, “It’s so tiring for them to clean by themselves!”

Duncan’s eyes twitched, he looked silently at the mops and buckets that were swiftly cleaning the deck, as if afraid of being caught by a certain puppet to “help,” and after a moment of silence, he shook his head, “As long as you’re happy… as long as you all are happy.”

Alice nodded, still a bit confused, then noticed Duncan turning around, apparently heading back to his captain’s quarters, and she couldn’t resist calling out, “Captain, are you going back to rest?”

“… Yes, I’m somewhat tired.”

“Captain…” Alice still looked concerned, stepping forward and tugging at Duncan’s sleeve, “Are you all right?”

“Why do you ask?” Duncan stopped, puzzled, and turned to look at the not-so-smart doll.

“Because you’ve been sighing a lot these days, and you spend more time in your cabin than outside–Miss Nina even thinks you’re troubled, but she’s too shy to ask,” Alice answered candidly, “Also, you looked really down when you came back just now, as if… as if you had a lot on your mind. But now you look better than before.”

Duncan was somewhat taken aback by the puppet in front of him.

He hadn’t expected the normally airheaded, carefree Alice to observe and be aware of these details, and he certainly did not anticipate that she’d hold onto him like this and say all this–

Maybe it was precisely because she didn’t have many concerns on a regular basis that she didn’t understand hesitation and reticence?

Fanciful thoughts flitted through Duncan’s mind, but faced with the still visibly worried and perplexed puppet, he was at a loss for words.

After all, even with the knowledgeable Lucrezia, there were far too many things he couldn’t make clear.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he shook his head after a brief silence, “It’s complicated, so complicated that it’s beyond explanation, not just to you, but even to Morris, I’m afraid.”

Yet Alice just blinked, undeterred, “Then you can still tell me.”

Duncan was torn between laughter and tears, “Didn’t I just say you wouldn’t understand…”

“But I also don’t understand many of the things you usually talk about,” Alice said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “There’s a lot I don’t understand, but you talk to me about them anyway–I’m really good at listening to people talk, whether I understand or not, I will listen…”

Duncan’s expression suddenly became a bit subtle, hearing the straightforward, and even somewhat “proud,” bizarre logic from this naive puppet, he found himself at a loss for retort.

Alice, however, continued to look straight at the “captain” before her, neither feeling ashamed for not understanding many things on a regular basis, nor thinking there was anything wrong with what she was saying now–she thought of it, she was curious, so she said it.

If you have something on your mind, just say it–that was how Alice’s uncomplicated worldview operated.

Suddenly, she ran off and brought over a large wooden tub that was half her height not far away, placing it near the guardrails along the deck’s edge. Then she brought over another and placed it beside the first tub.

Nimbly, she climbed onto one of the tubs and, smiling, waved at Duncan, “Captain, why don’t you take a seat, too–Miss Fenna said, a bit of wind and a view of the sea can make one feel quite good.”

Duncan hesitated, then suddenly laughed.

The puppet was trying hard, with her limited cognition and experience, to find a way to cheer up the “captain” a little.

Duncan walked over and sat beside Alice on the wooden tub.

His mood didn’t change with the sea breeze–but it did get a little better.

“Alice.”

“Mm?”

“I want to ask you a question,” Duncan pondered. At first, he tried to think of how to make Alice understand the concepts of “the moon” and “the stars,” but now he realized he didn’t actually need to explain such complex matters to her. “Imagine you live in a place, and there is something unique to that place–it could never come from anywhere else, nor could it belong anywhere else. Whenever you see that thing, you’d know, it comes from there…”

Alice thought for a moment and curiously replied, “Like how I live on the Homeloss now, and you’re the Homeloss’s only captain?”

Duncan was taken aback and hesitated before saying, “Your comparison isn’t quite right… but, in a way, that’s one way to understand it.”

“Oh, then what?”

“…then, you leave that place, and you can’t go back,” Duncan’s tone sank slightly, “you arrive at a very distant and unfamiliar place, everything here is different from home, you live here for a while, trying to find a way back, but suddenly, you see that ‘thing’–the thing which, theoretically, should only appear in your hometown, something that should never be seen in a foreign land…”

As Duncan finished speaking, Alice was still pondering intently, but after a moment she suddenly burst out laughing.

“Then I must have returned to the Homeloss!”

“Back to the Homeloss?”

“That’s what you said, I can understand it that way–you’re the only captain of the Homeloss, and one day I’m sent to a place far from the Homeloss and can’t find my way back, but you suddenly appear before me–then I must be back home! After all, wherever you are, that’s the Homeloss.”

The puppet laughed joyfully, confidently looking at Duncan.

“You said that ‘thing’ could only possibly be from ‘home,’ and now it’s before you, so that means you’re home now, right?”

Alice completed her theory and then turned around on the large wooden tub, supporting her chin with both hands, leaning forward with a radiant smile,

“Captain, is this a riddle?”

Duncan was a little stunned.

He gazed blankly at the puppet miss on the opposite tub, as the sea breeze blew by and Alice’s silver hair fluttered, much like her eternally cheerful disposition.

Then he laughed.

“Yes, it’s a riddle–we’ve both turned around now,” he hopped down from the tub, smiling at Alice, “There’s one more thing.”

“Mm?”

“Your posture is unstable.”

Alice, who was still leaning forward, supporting her chin with her hands, paused and said, “Ah?”

The next second, she heard a slight crack near her neck.

“Boing–”

Thud thud, Alice fell to the ground in two stages, followed by her signature, stammering–

“Captain, save… save… save me…”