In the end, Duncan couldn't push himself to eat the bowl of fish soup due to how freaky it was.
After all, just imagining that Miss Doll's head had once rolled in the soup pot would give him shivers. This couldn't be called a misgiving anymore but a step into the realm of curses and death sentences.
Looking slightly hurt at the spoon being placed back down, Miss Doll anxiously grabbed the side of her skirt with both hands and asked: "Captain, are you angry?"
Duncan watched the doll exhaustedly, "If you are unhappy about something on the ship, you can tell me directly…"
"Huh? I'm not…"
"In that case, try not to go into the kitchen in the future…" Duncan said casually but soon noticed Alice's increasingly frustrated expression. Quickly changing his words after shaking that head, "Forget it, your starting point is good. In fact, I am very happy for you. But cooking… If you are not skilled, you will have some kind of accident. Take it slow and get familiar with everything first."
Alice immediately perked up, "Then I can try again later?"
Duncan held his breath for the longest time before finally nodding, "Just pay attention…."
He also thought about it: the cursed doll obviously couldn't stand the status quo of loafing around on the Vanished. Perhaps she really had some kind of "natural characteristic" that compelled her to do something on the ship in order to settle down. She was an independent individual with a mind and personality, and for that reason alone, Duncan couldn't force his decisions on her less he become an overbearing piece of shit like in the movies.
In contrast, it's better to have Alice go to the kitchen and help than to keep her fighting with the ropes, anchors, and cannon shells—at least the pots and pans on the Vanished are relatively safe.
He looked down at the fish soup that had been placed next to him, and to be fair, the taste of the fish soup was actually quite normal. Although the seasoning on the ship was limited, but the doneness was completely fine. As a puppet who did not even have a sense of taste and digestive system, Alice had already done very well considering she's only going by the goat head's theoretical knowledge.
So, what else could Duncan ask for from two individuals who couldn't eat human food?
"That… Captain, do you want me to do something else for you?" Alice's voice came from the side again at this time, interrupting Duncan's thinking, "I also learned the method of grilled fish and fried fish fillet with Mr. Goathead. There's already some in the kitchen…."
"No, I'm not hungry," Duncan shook his head. Truth was his body actually didn't have much demand for food at all. The reason he's maintaining three meals a day was only to maintain his habit of being a "human". With Alice's soup today, his appetite had effectively been dispelled adequately for the day. Getting up from the chair, "I want to take a walk around the cabins."
"You're going to the cabin?" Alice was stunned, and then as if remembering something, her expression became slightly tense, "That… can you go 'below' and have a look?"
"Below?" Duncan frowned.
"It's the deeper cabins—the places where I'm not allowed to go," Alice said, "I always hear creaking sound coming from underneath. Sometimes it sounds like someone is muttering under the floor. Will you go and have a look? There might be something going on down below…"
Looking at the slightly nervous expression on Miss Doll's face, Duncan's heart gradually got lifted.
The depths of the Vanished… It was a place he hadn't explored yet!
Unlike the top area, the deepest parts gave him a strange and dangerous feeling. At that time, he had not yet "taken the helm" and had not mastered the power of the ghost fire, so the previous explorations had stopped after the first few levels. Of course, he had plans for further exploration in the future, but now it seems that the plan obviously cannot catch up with the change.
Just then, the voice of the goat head suddenly came from the side again: "Ah, it sounds like the bilge is a little restless. Captain, do you want to go down and have a look?"
Before Duncan could speak, the goat head had already begun going on his rant: "Think about it. You really haven't checked the bottom levels for a long time already. The bilge needs the comfort of the captain too, you know. After all, it has been immersed in the Boundless Sea for a long time… Would you like to bring your lantern along? It's kept in the usual spot, just behind the door… You've been going up and down all this time so the guys down below are getting restless. You don't even know how annoying they are getting. Aigh, I'm a lover of quiet and can't stand hearing the creaking sounds in the middle of the night…"
Duncan glanced silently at the goat head, which suddenly got all quiet.
Seriously, after hearing the stuff from the goat head's mouth, the idea of going down there just became all the more distasteful. From the way things sound, the lower parts had been more deeply affected by the Boundless Sea and the most likely place to have something bad happen!
But the conflicting thought only lingered in the mind for less than a second.
Sooner or later, he would have to make further explorations of the other structures on the Vanished, and earlier the better…. Leaving unknown dangerous variables alone had never been wasn't his style.
The Vanished was huge, not only amazingly long, but the depth of its cabin was also divided into many layers and sections. Therefore, the only area that Duncan knows so far would be the upper area: including the deck, the upper cabin, the ammunition depot below deck, the artillery area, the warehouse, the freshwater storage, and a part of the crew room. All of which are above the sea line, anything below that would effectively be within the realm of the Boundless Sea.
He's already the ship's captain, and the Vanished was his foothold in this world to act as the base of operation. He could ignore everything else and turn a blind eye, but this ship meant everything to his survival. What's more, the guy has now gotten a better grasp of the ship's potential. If he's going to rely on something during a crisis, the Vanished would be it.
Not to mention that just now the goat head also mentioned that the bilge needs the comfort of the captain.
The "captain" has not been to the lower cabin for too long… If this continues, it seems that something bad will happen.
Duncan promptly got up and went to the door to find the lantern mentioned by the goat head.
It was a rather old lantern, the copper frame was in the shape of a narrow hexagonal prism, and the glass lampshade was embedded in the copper, appearing somewhat ambiguous with the wick-like structure inside the lampshade.
He did not show curiosity on the face, nor did he attempt to ask the goat head for instruction. After a short silent and contemplation, he tried to activate the green ghost fire from within to infuse into the lantern.
A cluster of bright green flames immediately jumped into existence and burned inside the lampshade, giving the surrounding area a quaint but constant glow.
A cold atmosphere somehow pervaded wherever the lantern shone, but Duncan only got an inexplicable sense of calm and control standing in the light. It's as if he could faintly feel that his power was spreading with the light, and wherever the light shone, the terrain's details would be clearly reflected in his mind.
Ai the dove suddenly flew over and landed on Duncan's shoulder then.
It has transformed into her illusory undead bird form—although Duncan did not actively "activate" the bird at all, it still passively completed the "transformation" under the lantern's illumination.
This gave more ideas to Duncan at what this might imply.
It seems to be able to diffuse my own power to its surroundings with minimal loss while maintaining a "force field" that combines the functions of detection, warning, and even control, which is obviously quite suitable for long-term exploration in unfamiliar or dangerous areas.
"Captain… Can I go with you?"
Duncan swung back and saw Alice standing behind him already. The doll's eyeing the lantern curiously with an eager expression on her face: "I haven't been to the lower level yet! Mr. Goathead said I couldn't go down without your permission…"
Duncan thought for a moment before giving a faint nod, "Alright."
He didn't know what was in the lower part of the cabin, but regardless, it was also part of the Vanished. Under the premise that he had successfully "taken the helm", the bilge would not be too dangerous, and with this doll along, he might be able to take advantage of her help to handle things.
The goat head, which remained on the mapping table, did not say anything to the arrangement. It was evident from its point of view that it was quite normal for the captain to inspect the Vanished, and the same was true with a helper.
Outside the cabin, night had gradually fallen, and the cold glow of the creation of the world was shining down on the sea, illuminating the empty deck of the ghost ship along the translucent ghost sails stirring in the wind.
With a lantern in his hand and his flintlock rifle, Duncan walked with Alice through the empty deck and uppermost cabin to where the staircases were located – this would be the spot Duncan had stopped exploring the last time he was here.
"It's so dark underneath," Alice stood at the stairwell, looking a little nervously at the dim environment below, "isn't there a light down there? Everywhere else is lit with some oil lamp that never goes out…"
"No, there's a light down there alright," Duncan said, holding the lantern in his hand as he slowly raised it up to eye level. The power of the green flame gave him the awareness of what's happening in the lower cabins, "It's just that the lights are black instead."
"... Huh?" Alice was stunned for a moment and did not react for a while, "The lights are black?"
Duncan didn't reply, only walking first with the lantern acting as his light source and signaling the doll to follow, "Don't be surprised, this is after all below the surface of the sea."