Alice very calmly accepted the fact that her box had been converted into parts for the Lost Homeland, and quickly put the matter of the Frost Queen Lenora behind her - her open-mindedness was far beyond Duncan's reach.
According to Miss Doll herself, the reason why she is so calm is that all this is "unrelated to her".
"Anyway, I live on this ship now and I don't plan to leave in the future. It's no big deal that the box has become part of the Lost Homeland. The matter of the Frost Queen is even simpler - I don't even know her." Alice sat on the lid of her wooden box again with a happy smile on her face. "I don't know if I am her, and I don't know what kind of person she was. Anyway, these are all things that happened half a century ago... history, so let it be history."
"I'm glad you're open-minded." Duncan just looked at Alice's lavender eyes quietly. After a long time, he nodded gently.
In the end, he still did not mention the "details" in the echo to the other party, nor did he mention what Frost Queen Lenora suddenly said to him before she was executed.
After all, even if she mentioned it, this doll would definitely not know anything... It's good that she is carefree now.
"That's it. We now have a preliminary understanding and control over your 'coffin', but we need to do some more tests later to see if the decapitation effect of 'Anomaly 099' can also be controlled," Duncan exhaled softly, "I'm leaving now."
"Hey, Captain, take care~~"
After leaving Alice's room, Duncan returned to the deck. He walked slowly towards the captain's room with a lot on his mind, sorting out the problems he had encountered as he walked.
He originally wanted to find out whether the "decapitation" power of Anomaly 099 was controllable, but in the end he failed to solve the problem. Instead, he accidentally touched upon an old incident from half a century ago... The Frost Queen who was executed by the rebels, the accusation of collusion with the Lost Homeland, and a mysterious "Abyss" plan. These things lingered in his mind and would not dissipate for a long time.
In addition to these, there was another thing that concerned him.
Duncan reached out and took something out of his arms.
It was a small hairpin, shaped like a silver-white feather surrounded by ocean waves.
It doesn’t seem like something a rugged male seaman would have by any means.
When I look at it, I feel a distant and vague feeling of nostalgia. This hairpin... seems to have a special meaning to the real "Captain Duncan".
Duncan had a lot of questions in his mind, but he knew that he couldn't ask Goat Head directly about this.
He put away the hairpin and returned to the captain's room with a heavy heart. Goat Head was still here diligently controlling the ship, but to Duncan's surprise, Pigeon Ai, who was supposed to stay in the dormitory on standby, was with him.
The bird was standing on the horns of the goat's head with a proud look on its face, rubbing its beak with the forehead of the goat's head in an arrogant manner.
Duncan saw this scene when he opened the door and asked curiously, "When did you become so close?"
The pigeon flapped its wings and remained silent. The goat head squeaked and turned its head around. Its obsidian eyes stared at Duncan. "Great Captain... next time you take Ai to the spirit world, can you bring back some fries?"
Duncan was stunned: "...Why are you also starting to use the 'order some fries' trick?"
The goat-headed man’s voice was almost trembling: “Please, give me some fries… just to make your pigeon shut up…”
Duncan stared at the combination of the bird and the sheep in amazement. After a while, he vaguely guessed what had happened and laughed: "You finally met your natural enemy?"
"I changed the topic seventy-six times! Seventy-six times! I used all my life's knowledge, spanning thousands of years of history, from poetry and songs to frying, cooking, from worshipping the gods to raising sows! But all the responses I got were 'some French fries'!" The goat-headed man sounded a little frustrated. "How do you usually deal with this pigeon?"
"It's simple. Just talk to it less. If you don't talk to it, it will calm down quickly." Duncan spread his hands. "I guess you can't do that."
The goat head thought for a moment and sighed, "...then you should get some French fries later."
Duncan didn't comment, but waved to Ai, and the pigeon immediately fluttered over and landed on his shoulder. Then he sat down on his chair and turned to the goat-headed man and said casually, "Do you know anything about the Frost Queen Lenoir, the ruler of the Frost City-State half a century ago?"
"The Frost Queen? The one who was executed by the rebels half a century ago?" The Goat Head was stunned for a moment. "I have heard of this incident. It seems that we fought a war with them nearby decades ago... But other than that, we didn't have any more dealings with them. Why do you suddenly mention this?"
Duncan looked calmly into the eyes of the goat-headed man. He knew that the "first mate" was not lying.
Goat Head really didn't know anything about the Frost Queen, and the Lost Homeland had no connection with that Frost city-state.
Not only was there no connection, the Lost Homeland had even clashed with the city-state's guard force - just like it had clashed with other city-states and ships on other routes.
Since in Goat Head's memory, the Lost Homeland had never been an ally of the Frost City-State, it meant that the charges that the rebels pinned on the Frost Queen half a century ago were completely fictitious.
Of course, it might be too early to draw this conclusion now. After all, it was an old story from half a century ago. There might be many twists and turns in the buried history. He only had Goat Head's one-sided statement. The first mate might just be telling the truth, but what he knew might not be the whole truth - but none of this mattered.
Duncan had no intention of overturning the case of the Frost Queen half a century ago. He just wanted to know everything about the Lost Homeland and Alice.
"Do you know? Alice's appearance is exactly the same as the Frost Queen half a century ago. The so-called Anomaly 099 is most likely the product of the executed Frost Queen who was cursed by the Infinite Sea," he said casually while teasing the pigeon on his shoulder with his fingers. "And the main 'crime' for which the Frost Queen was executed by the rebels was collusion with the Lost Homeland."
Goat Head was stunned for a moment.
Duncan rarely saw this guy stunned.
"Colluding with the Lost Homeland?! Do those stupid humans in the city-state have to make up such a ridiculous reason to betray their own monarch?" After several seconds, the goat-head finally laughed loudly. He obviously thought this matter was extremely ridiculous. "Don't blame me for laughing too loudly. It's really that those humans are too stupid and weak. I'm afraid they will blame the curse of the Lost Homeland if they fall down when they go out! This 'crime' is really too outrageous!"
He paused for a moment before continuing, "But you said that Miss Alice looks a lot like the Frost Queen? This is really... incredible. If Miss Alice is really the transformed Frost Queen... then this matter is full of irony."
"Yes, if they really have such a connection, it's really ironic," Duncan leaned back in a comfortable position. "The Frost Queen never had any contact with the Lost Homeland during her lifetime, but the rebels accused her of colluding with the Lost Homeland. Half a century later, Alice has really become a crew member of the Lost Homeland. The crime that the rebels forced upon her has come true across time and space."
"No wonder you rushed to find Miss Alice as soon as you came back. It turns out that you found key information about Anomaly 099," the goat-headed man immediately began to flatter him. "You are worthy of being the great Captain Duncan. Every trip you make is rewarding! This reminds me of a saying by a navigator, or maybe it's a..."
Duncan immediately glared at the goat-headed man, took the pigeon off his shoulder and placed it in front of the goat-headed man: "You two can chat."
Goat Head: “……?!”
※※※
In the central cathedral of Plande City-State, Vanna handed a newly signed document to her entourage: "Send this document to the Western Church - this is the last search warrant."
The young Guardian warrior took the document: "Yes, Inquisitor."
Vanna exhaled softly and stretched her neck which was a little stiff from dealing with paperwork. She felt that dealing with pens was more tiring than wielding a giant sword to fight heretics.
At the edge of the table, an oil lamp was burning quietly, and wisps of green smoke were rising from the copper incense burner. These two things were necessary protective measures when handling documents at night - even in a sacred cathedral, necessary protection was still necessary.
"I hope there won't be any more trouble tonight."
The young judge couldn't help but mutter as she stretched.
As if in response to her muttering, just as Vanna finished her words, a slightly hurried and sharp bell sound suddenly came from the direction of the main building of the church!
The guard soldier who had just picked up the documents and had not yet had time to leave the room stopped when he heard the bell. He looked out the window in confusion, then looked at his boss who was just halfway through stretching: "The night signal bell rang...what happened?"
"It's the bell that calls for attention," Vanna quickly discerned the message conveyed by the bell, and her expression suddenly became serious. "Seven consecutive short beeps, coming from the 'Unknown King's Tomb'... Could it be that a new anomaly or phenomenon has been discovered?"