Looking at Alice's confident posture with her neck held high, Duncan's emotions suddenly became incoherent - and he instantly realized that this silly posture was not confident or proud at all, it was completely fixed and unable to move...

But the doll lady herself seemed to be completely unaware of the seriousness of the matter. She still had a smug look on her face. She handed the newspaper to Duncan and smiled foolishly. She was obviously very happy that she could successfully shop alone: ​​"Here you go, the newspaper, and I remember to give you the change!"

Duncan finally took the newspaper expressionlessly, and after two or three seconds he reminded the fool: "Alice, nod your head."

"Huh? Why?" Alice was stunned for a moment, but immediately chose to obey the captain's orders. As a result, her head just shook slightly in place, and a strange sound came from near her neck, and then she could no longer move.

After two seconds of stagnation, the puppet finally reacted and cried out: "Mr. Duncan! I can't move! Help, help!"

Duncan looked at the doll exhaustedly, then turned and walked into the antique shop: "Stop yelling outside, go back and study it."

Alice hurriedly followed Duncan's footsteps, followed by Nina who was also a little confused and at a loss. The three of them entered the antique shop. Nina, who was walking at the end, turned back and closed the door carefully, and did not forget to hang up the wooden sign for temporary rest.

Duncan casually threw the newly bought newspaper on the counter and was about to check on Alice's condition, but suddenly his eyes swept across a headline on the front page of the newspaper.

His attention was immediately drawn back to the newspaper.

There was a sentence printed on it in the largest bold letters:

〖《The Storm Cathedral will arrive at the loyal Prand at noon tomorrow—The glory of the Storm Lord protects us all》〗①

Storm Cathedral? The mysterious "sea headquarters" of the Deep Sea Church? The messenger of the storm goddess Gemona is coming to this city... Is it because of the previous historical pollution incident? Or is it for the Lost Homeland? Or both?

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

Alice was so anxious that she was spinning around. She finally realized that pouring glue into her neck joints was not a wise move. After noticing that the captain was too busy to take care of her, she turned to Nina for help: "Ms. Nina, please help me, help me, help me, help me, help me..."

Nina was also a little panicked. She grabbed Alice's head and shook it left and right, only to find that the glue had already solidified completely. "This... this can't be pulled off! This looks like quick-drying glue!"

"Think of a solution," Alice seemed to be about to cry, holding her head with both hands, "Miss Nina, aren't you studying to repair machinery? You can even repair such a complicated steam core. Why don't you help me?"

"I don't know how to fix a doll!" Nina was also very anxious. Finally, she turned to Duncan for help, "Uncle, please think of a way. Miss Alice's head is completely stuck..."

Duncan finally put down the newspaper in his hand, turned his head to look at the two girls who were making a fuss beside him, and his eyes fell on Alice: "How much glue did you put in, and what kind of glue was it?"

"A bottle, about this big," Alice gestured with her hand. "I found it in your room. It's a small brown glass bottle."

"...You poured it all in?!" Duncan's eyes twitched noticeably, "How did you manage to pour such a big bottle?"

"Just pull the head off and put it upside down, pour the glue in and shake it, then snap it on directly," Alice said with a tearful tone, "Shirley said it's more secure this way..."

Duncan stared at the other person in amazement. He could feel that the beautiful doll was heartbroken, but the doll had no tears to shed. All the sadness could only flow in her empty heart - these words sounded poetic if you ignored the detail that "the reason the doll was heartbroken was that she had glued her head shut."

Duncan sighed, threw the newspaper aside, stepped forward and untied the lace decoration on Alice's neck, checked the hardened super glue on the edge of its joints, and turned to Nina after a moment of silence: "...Where is Shirley?"

"She... said she had a headache from memorizing words an hour ago, so she went outside to get some fresh air," Nina said, shrinking her neck. "Did she flee because she was afraid of being convicted?"

"I doubt she has given it that much thought. The thing she is thinking about most right now is just skipping classes," Duncan sighed and shook his head. "No, it has completely dried. It has been dried for at least half an hour. It is fast glue. You can't pull it off with brute force now."

"What should I do?" Alice looked at Duncan at a loss. "I... I have to take my head off when I comb my hair. I can't comb my hair with my head on."

"...So that's all you're worried about after your head is glued on?" Duncan glared at Alice, then waved his hand wearily, "Okay, don't be so sad. Although this glue is very strong, it's not heat-resistant or water-resistant. Soak it in hot water and it will dissolve in a while."

Alice was saved immediately, and Nina, who was anxious beside her, also reacted immediately and hurried forward to hold Alice's hand: "Then I'll take you to the bathroom, I'll boil water quickly now!"

The Sun Fragment ran upstairs with the puppet with its head stuck on it. Duncan sighed helplessly and picked up the newspaper he had put aside.

According to publicly available information, the Cathedral of Storms docked in Plande for a normal repair. Pope Helena will pay a brief visit to Plande Cathedral during this period and discuss some church matters with the Archbishop and the Inquisitor. The newspapers did not mention the previous historical pollution incidents or any words related to the Lost Homeland.

But even if the newspapers didn't mention it, anyone with a discerning eye knew that the Deep Sea Pope must have come for these two major events.

Duncan didn't care about the Storm Goddess's faith, but he couldn't help but wonder what impact this would have on him.

In other words, can I take this opportunity to... gather some information?

He still remembered the message "Thank you" that was suspected to be from the Storm Goddess. Even if that had not happened, he was still curious about the gods of this world. He was also quite interested in the Storm Cathedral that was said to cruise on the vast ocean all year round.

On the other hand, he was also very curious about whether the highest representative of the Goddess of Storm would find something strange about the city-state of Pland if he came here, and whether he would discover him, the "warp shadow" hidden in the city-state.

Things are getting interesting.

Duncan put down the newspaper, sat down at the counter, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

The antique shop was very quiet. The noises of Nina and Alice in the bathroom on the second floor could even be heard faintly. The clearest sound was Nina's fussing voice.

“Wow! These joints are really amazing… so beautiful!

"Ms. Alice, can your wrist rotate 360 ​​degrees...really?!"

"Miss Alice, there's a keyhole behind you, huh? You don't even know what it's for?"

"Is it okay for water to enter the keyhole? Oh, then I feel relieved..."

Duncan rubbed his brows with a slight headache.

He began to wonder if the two people upstairs had forgotten everything they were doing.

But soon, the noise upstairs quieted down, and then there was a hurried sound of footsteps running to the stairs, and Nina's voice came: "Uncle Duncan! No! Come and see, it can't be removed at all!"

Duncan: “……?”

He went upstairs in confusion and saw Nina standing in the corridor with a helpless look on her face. He raised his head and looked towards the bathroom at the end of the corridor, and saw Alice peeking in awkwardly.

Then Miss Doll came out, all wet, wrapped in a towel, her head still steady.

"Captain, it still doesn't work." Alice said with a sad face.

"It's not loose at all," Nina muttered quietly, "I've been running hot water over it for a long time."

Duncan looked at Alice, then at Nina who was grabbing the corner of her clothes beside him, and finally sighed after a long while.

"Use boiling water."

"Ah?" Nina was shocked. "Really? Miss Alice can bear it..."

"She fried her own head in oil, so she's not afraid of this kind of temperature," Duncan spread out his hands. "Looking at the situation now, it's useless to rinse it with hot water. Boiling it in boiling water might still help."

Nina's eyes seemed a little dazed. She thought hard about the operation process for a long time, and said with some hesitation: "Boiling water is easy, I can do it quickly, but... we don't have a pot that big at home, nor a bathtub that can be soaked in. If you want to immerse your head in water to boil it, Miss Alice should at least squat in the water, right?"

She gestured as she spoke. Although she was an excellent student in school, Nina still felt that her imagination could not keep up with the reality.

But Duncan's thinking was obviously not as limited as Nina's. He just looked up at the pitiful Gothic doll wrapped in a bath towel not far away, then turned to Nina and said, "This is easy. Just find a big pot and let her fall headfirst into it... At worst, I can support her from the side."

Nina imagined it for a moment, and a scene came to her mind, but her tone became particularly hesitant: "I always feel that Miss Alice is a little pitiful in this way..."

"Poor thing!" Duncan finally couldn't hold back and swore for the first time in history, "She let an illiterate person trick her into pouring a whole bottle of glue into her joints. This is to teach her a lesson!"

Notes:

① "The Cathedral of the Storm will arrive at loyal Plunder at noon tomorrow - the glory of the Lord of the Storm blesses us all"