A large parrot with colorful tail feathers flapped its wings and left the Sea Mist, flying over the dock area at an astonishing speed and flying straight into the city-state.

"First mate, what should we do? Just wait here?"

On the bridge of the Sea Mist, a sailor looked at Perri's figure flying away, turned his head and asked Aiden who was silent beside him.

"...We can only wait." Aiden lowered his head and glanced at the ground under his feet. He weighed the pros and cons quickly, trying to make his cold mind work as much as possible. "Not only because of the captain's order, but also because of the current state of the Sea Mist."

The second half of his sentence quickly calmed down several of his men who were still a little restless.

The captain only brought a few trusted men ashore, and let his first mate and all the remaining sailors stay with the captain. The apparent explanation for this was that most of the undead sailors on the Sea Mist were weird and terrifying, and would easily cause unrest and hostility in the city-state, but Aiden actually understood the actual situation very well.

Because the Sea Mist had just encountered its flagship not long ago.

The ship is in a very bad condition now, not only because its hull is damaged, but also because the ship's... "soul" is restless. The boiler of the Sea Mist has been vibrating, strange and hollow sounds are echoing in the chapel, and the pressure in the steam pipe has not yet completely stabilized. The ship has indeed returned to "this side" now, but it is hard to say whether it will get out of control again.

When the ship is in an unstable state, the sailors who have served on the ship for more than half a century are the "anchor" of the ship - the iron anchor of the Sea Mist allows it to dock on the sea, and the "anchor of humanity" composed of the undead can stabilize it in the real dimension.

Aiden did not dare to rashly reduce the number of sailors on the ship - especially after vaguely realizing that Pland's situation was strange, he did not dare to let the members of the Sea Mist enter the city-state casually, because this would most likely cause a "trigger" and awaken the "soul" of the ship that had just settled down.

Similarly, he did not dare to let the Sea Mist send a signal directly to the city-state of Plande, including blowing the whistle, ringing the bell, or directly contacting the city-state authorities by telegram, because he was afraid of alarming certain forces hidden within Plande.

Letting the parrot Perri pass on the message was the lowest-risk option he could think of at the moment. He hoped that the captain would return as soon as possible after receiving the message - he hoped that he had not been trapped by anything, and that it was not too late.

Of course, he couldn't put all his hopes on "waiting" - if the captain still didn't return after a day, he would have no choice but to send a small number of crew members to the shore to take the risk.

Aiden frowned tightly, staring at the pearl city shining brightly in the sun, recalling every detail of the captain's departure with the city-state judge, trying to find anything wrong to explain the abnormal behavior of Anomaly 203 just now.

※※※

Duncan, who was sitting at the counter flipping through a newspaper, suddenly stopped what he was doing, raised his head and looked out the window thoughtfully.

Alice, who was sitting next to him and flipping through the newspaper, noticed it and asked curiously, "Mr. Duncan, what are you reading?"

"…Just now I suddenly felt something glance over here," Duncan frowned and muttered uncertainly, "but it disappeared in the blink of an eye."

"Oh, I know. This is called 'The Thrill of the Strong'! Mr. Goat Head told me about it," Alice said happily. "It says that the stronger a person is, the easier it is for them to feel the gazes and even thoughts directed at them. A strong person like you will always be trembling..."

Duncan put down the newspaper in his hand and looked at Alice expressionlessly: "Did it really say that?"

The smile on Alice's face froze for a moment: "...The last sentence is my deduction."

"Don't make such useless inferences." Duncan said casually, then he concentrated a little and began to look for the source of the "shudder" just now.

He did not regard the fleeting feeling as an illusion - after staying in this world full of weirdness for so long, he has developed the habit of paying attention to any "sudden intuition" and digging deep into it.

Duncan's perception quickly expanded and spread to the edge of the city-state. In just a moment, he felt that Plande had emerged in his mind with a clear outline like the Lost Homeland. Just as he could feel the "touch" of the Lost Homeland, he began to feel the complex "touch" conveyed to him by the city-state under his feet, and among these touches, the most obvious and abrupt message entered his mind.

In the southeast port of Plande.

"...Tirion's ship?" Duncan was a little surprised after sensing the source of the breath. "Why is he here?"

Then, he recalled his previous encounter with the iron battleship, the position of the ship at that time and the intentions shown by the opponent in the battle. After a brief thought, the expression on his face became a little strange.

The Sea Mist appeared near Pland and took the initiative to attack the Lost Homeland... Could it be the "reinforcements" called by the Pland authorities? Were they here to intercept me?

Duncan vaguely guessed the cause and effect of the matter in his mind, but he just felt at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know whether he should first sigh for the loving father and filial son relationship, or sigh for Tirian's professionalism as a reinforcement - even after being beaten so badly by the Lost Homeland and his ship was almost sunk, he still resolutely went to Plande. What kind of spirit is this?

This certainly cannot be the spirit of responsibility to maintain world peace.

The most likely thing is the endless joy of competing with Dad.

"Mr. Duncan, you are in a daze," Alice's voice sounded again from the side. The puppet tilted its head slightly and looked over here. "Do you want to go out?"

“No,” Duncan shook his head, while maintaining his awareness of the Sea Mist. Since the latter had not yet become his “collection” like the Lost Homeland and Plunder, he could not sense the details of the ship. However, considering the “connection” between himself, the Sea Mist, and Tirian, he had already begun to try to search for the location of his “eldest son”. However, Alice could not understand these complicated things, so he simply did not explain them. He just frowned when he saw the puppet tilting its head, “Don’t tilt your head, or it will fall off.”

Alice nodded quickly and slightly: "Oh."

Just then, another round of footsteps sounded behind the small door behind the counter, and then the door opened, and a petite figure came out from inside.

"Mr. Duncan," Shirley patted the dust off her skirt and greeted Duncan with a look of praise, "The warehouse has been cleaned up! The sundries you asked for have also been put on a shelf!"

"Well, you did a good job," Duncan kept some of his attention on the port and nodded to Shirley. "There's still some dust on your shoulder."

"Oh," Shirley turned her head and dusted herself off, then looked at Duncan nervously, "Mr. Duncan, what are we going to do next?"

When she was talking with Duncan here, the expression on her face was obviously not as panicked as on the Lost Homeland, but she was still somewhat nervous. It seemed that this nervousness could not be completely eliminated for a while, but compared to the initial time, her current condition was obviously much better.

Obviously, at least intellectually she knew Duncan's kindness towards her. As for the unrelieved tension...she had to resolve Agou's tension first.

Duncan nodded, then glanced at Alice, who was flipping through a newspaper beside him but didn't know a single word.

illiteracy.

Then he looked at Shirley opposite him.

Another illiterate.

There is also Agou, who is hiding in the shadows nearby. Although he has never shown his face, his aura is becoming more and more unconcealable.

Still illiterate.

I asked these three to come to the store to help, but they can't even figure out the accounts.

Duncan sighed in his heart, and then he remembered an idea he had before and his old job.

"Come on, all of you sit here. Shirley, you sit on Alice's right." Duncan casually pulled a chair from the side and placed it next to the counter. "Agou, you squat behind the counter... Don't hide, I can see your shadow. Come here, everyone. I have an arrangement."

Shirley quickly sat down on the chair obediently. Alice, who was standing beside her, finally put down the newspaper she couldn't understand and looked over curiously: "Ah, what's the arrangement?"

"Nina's out shopping and she's not back yet. I'll teach you how to read," Duncan said cheerfully, standing up and straightening his clothes. "You can't stay illiterate forever."

Shirley had never expected that Captain Duncan's serious "arrangement" would be this, and she was stunned on the spot. Alice was very curious, and her eyes lit up slightly. Agou, who was squatting behind the counter, raised his head and looked at Duncan, then at Shirley, with a question mark in his head: "But I'm just a dog..."

Duncan looked down upon hearing this. Before he could say anything, the Dark Demon suddenly shuddered and his entire upper body suddenly straightened up: "But I can try to be a cultured dog. I have the passion and confidence to do so..."

"That's all," Duncan said cheerfully. He kept his attention on the port while reaching under the counter and pulling out a few blank white paper books. He distributed them to several "students" and said, "Then use these as alphabet books for you. Let's start with the most basic letters..."

Shirley took the notebook handed to her by Duncan with a confused look on her face.

Then, she became even more confused.

Letters and spelling, the door to a completely incomprehensible new world.

After just a few minutes, Shirley confirmed one thing: it would be easier to fight the cultists with Agou than to do this!

But Duncan obviously didn't care much about Shirley's distressed expression - or rather, he had long been accustomed to this expression.

He only felt happiness, the kind of happiness that comes when he suddenly comes into contact with familiar things and suddenly does familiar things while wandering in a foreign land.

However, this happy time did not last long - when Shirley began to stumble and learn to write the fourth letter, a crisp bell and brisk footsteps suddenly came from the door, interrupting the class time of "The Warp Shadow Imparting Knowledge to Its Followers".

Nina's cheerful voice rang out at the door: "Uncle Duncan! I'm back!"

Duncan looked up from his happy teaching and saw Nina pushing the door into the store, but then he noticed that something was flying in behind Nina.

"I saw Ai when I came back," Nina said happily, "It seems Ai brought some friends back with him!"

"friend?"

Duncan frowned slightly, and then he saw Ai followed Nina into the store, followed by a large parrot with colorful tail feathers...

Duncan: “……?”