Deep Sea Embers

Observing Alice with her seemingly confident posture, her neck held high, Duncan’s mood abruptly shifted to confusion. He quickly realized that her awkward stance was not due to confidence or pride, but rather, she had become completely stiff and unable to move.

Miss Doll, however, appeared oblivious to the gravity of the situation and maintained a smug expression. Giggling, she handed the newspaper to Duncan, obviously pleased with herself for managing to shop alone: “Here’s your newspaper, and I even remembered to get the change!”

Duncan accepted the newspaper without expression, and after a brief pause, reminded the awkward girl, “Alice, try nodding your head.”

“Huh? Why?” Alice was caught off guard but promptly chose to obey the captain’s order. Consequently, her head barely moved, accompanied by a peculiar noise from her neck, leaving her immobilized.

Following a moment of bewilderment, the doll finally reacted, exclaiming, “Mr. Duncan! I can’t move! Please help me, help me!”

Duncan, both mentally and physically drained, glanced at the doll and headed towards the antique shop, “Stop yelling outside, we’ll figure it out indoors.”

Alice quickly trailed behind Duncan, joined by a perplexed and helpless Nina. The trio entered the antique shop, where Nina carefully closed the door and hung a ‘temporarily closed’ wooden sign.

Duncan set the newly purchased newspaper on the counter, intending to assess Alice’s situation, when the front page caught his eye and instantly drew his attention.

The headline, printed in bold, black letters, read: The Grand Storm Cathedral will arrive at Pland in the hour of noon tomorrow – the glory of the Storm Lord will protect us all.

“The Grand Storm Cathedral? The mysterious Storm ‘headquarter at sea’? The envoy of the Storm Goddess Gomona is coming to this city… for the prior historical pollution event? Or for the Vanished? Or both?”

Duncan frowned, picked up the newspaper, and quickly scanned the front-page article.

In a state of panic, Alice sought Nina’s help upon realizing that the captain was preoccupied: “Miss Nina, please help me, save me, save me…”

Nina, too, was somewhat rattled. She grabbed Alice’s head and shook it side to side, discovering that the glue had entirely hardened: “This… this can’t be removed! It’s clearly a fast-drying glue!”

“Find a solution,” Alice pleaded, on the verge of tears, clutching her head with both hands, “Miss Nina, you study mechanical repair and such, right? You can fix complex steam cores, so fix me!”

“I don’t know how to repair dolls either!” Nina was equally frantic, ultimately turning to Duncan for assistance, “Uncle, please think of something! Miss Alice’s head is totally glued…”

Duncan finally set the newspaper aside, glanced at the two distressed girls beside him, and directed his attention to Alice: “How much glue did you use, and what type of glue was it?”

Holding her hand up, Alice indicated the size, “I found one bottle about this big in your room, a small brown glass bottle.”

“You poured the entire thing in?!” Duncan’s eye twitched noticeably. “How did you manage to do that?”

“I just removed my head, turned it upside down, poured the glue in, shook it slightly, and then put it back on,” Alice said, her voice trembling as if she was about to cry. “Shirley told me it would be secure that way…”

Duncan stared at her, dumbfounded. He could sense the beautiful doll’s despair, but as a doll, she had no tears to shed. All her sadness could only flow through her hollow heart – it would have sounded poetic if the detail “the doll’s despair was caused by her head getting glued” were disregarded.

Duncan sighed, set the newspaper aside, walked over, and untied the lace decoration around Alice’s neck. He examined the hardened super glue around the edges of her joint and, after a moment of silence, turned to Nina: “Where is Shirley?”

“She… said her head hurt from memorizing words an hour ago, so she went out to get some fresh air,” Nina replied, shrinking her neck. “Did she run away because she felt guilty?”

“I doubt she thought that far. The only thing on her mind these days is skipping class,” Duncan sighed and shook his head. “No, it’s completely dried. It’s fast-drying glue, so brute force won’t work.”

“What should I do!” Alice looked helplessly at Duncan. “I… I need to take my head off when I comb my hair. I can’t comb it with my head on.”

“Is that your only concern after your head got glued?” Duncan glared at Alice, then waved his hand wearily. “Alright, don’t look so miserable. This glue is strong, but it’s not heat or water-resistant. Soak it in hot water, and it’ll come off in no time.”

Alice immediately looked relieved, and Nina, who had been worried beside her, quickly reacted, rushing over to hold Alice’s hand: “I’ll take you to the bathroom. I can heat water very quickly now!”

The sun fragment that was Nina led the glued-headed doll upstairs, leaving Duncan to sigh in the rear and focus back on the newspaper at hand.

According to public information, the Grand Storm Cathedral’s docking in Pland was merely a routine maintenance stop. Pope Helena would briefly visit Pland’s local cathedral during this time and discuss church matters with the archbishop and inquisitor. The newspaper made no mention of the previous historical pollution incident or any connection to the Vanished.

But even if the newspaper didn’t mention it, it was clear to anyone with eyes that the Storm Pope was here for those two significant events.

Duncan wasn’t concerned about the faith of the Storm Goddess, but he couldn’t help but wonder what impact this event would have on him.

Or, could he seize this opportunity… to gather some intelligence?

He still remembered the message “Thank you” that was supposedly from the Storm Goddess, and even without that event, he was curious about the deities of this world. He was also interested in the Grand Storm Cathedral, which was said to have been sailing the Boundless Sea all year round.

On the other hand, he was also curious whether the highest representative of the Storm Goddess, upon her arrival, would notice any abnormalities in the Pland City-State or discover his hidden “Subspace Shadow” within the island.

Things were getting interesting.

Duncan set down the newspaper, sat at the counter, and thoughtfully stroked his chin.

The antique shop was very quiet, with the faint sounds of Nina and Alice in the upstairs bathroom. The clearest sound was Nina’s exclamations of surprise:

“Wow! These joints are truly amazing… and so beautiful!

“Miss Alice, can your wrist really rotate 360 degrees… it really can?!”

“Miss Alice, there’s a keyhole on your back, huh? You don’t know what it’s for either?”

“Is it okay if the keyhole gets wet? Oh, then I’m relieved…”

Duncan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

He began to suspect that the two upstairs had completely forgotten about their task.

However, soon the voices upstairs quieted down, followed by hurried footsteps running to the stairway entrance, and Nina’s voice called out: “Uncle Duncan! It’s not working! You come and take a look, we can’t get it off at all!”

Duncan: “…?”

He went upstairs, puzzled, and saw Nina standing helplessly in the hallway. He looked up to see Alice peering out from the bathroom at the end of the hallway, appearing embarrassed.

The doll lady then emerged, soaked from head to toe, wrapped in a towel, her head still firmly attached.

“Captain, it still won’t come off,” Alice said with a mournful face.

“It hasn’t loosened at all,” Nina mumbled quietly. “We tried hot water for a long time.”

Duncan looked at Alice, then at Nina, who was clutching the corner of her clothes, and finally sighed after a long pause.

“Use boiling water.”

“Huh?” Nina was taken aback. “Really… really?! Can Miss Alice handle it…”

“She once deep-fried her own head; she’s not afraid of this temperature at all,” Duncan spread his hands. “It seems that using hot water won’t work now. There’s still hope with boiling water.”

Nina’s eyes seemed a little dazed. She thought hard about the process and hesitantly said, “It’s easy to get boiling water; I can do that quickly, but… we don’t have a pot big enough for that, nor a bathtub that can fit her whole body. If we want to soak her head in the water, Miss Alice will have to crouch down in the water, right?”

As she spoke and gestured, even though she was academically excellent at school, Nina still felt her imagination was struggling to keep up with reality.

But Duncan didn’t have the same limitations in his thinking as Nina. He just looked at the pitiful gothic doll wrapped in a towel nearby and turned to Nina, saying, “That’s easy. Just find a big pot, and let her dive in headfirst… I can even hold her on the side.”

Nina imagined the scene and had a picture in her mind, but her tone became even more hesitant, “I feel like it’s a bit pitiful for Miss Alice…”

“Pitiful my ass!” Duncan finally lost his patience and swore unprecedentedly. “She let an illiterate fool fill her joints with an entire bottle of glue; this is to teach her a lesson!”