The atmosphere on the deck suddenly became a little awkward, and an unspeakable silence shrouded Vanna and Tirian. The shock on the latter's face had not yet dissipated, but the former had already covered his forehead with his hands.

The silence was finally broken by a voice not far away. A few meters away, Shirley nudged Nina with her elbow: "Look, I said the first sentence must be this - you owe me two ice cream scoops."

"Okay, okay, you guessed it right," Nina muttered, "Two is two... I'll give them to you when we get to Frost."

Shirley's eyes widened immediately. "I'm not stupid! Eating ice cream in a place dozens of degrees below zero? Let's talk about it after we get back to Plande!"

Tirian blinked, and then he noticed the other people on the deck, and the atmosphere here was subtly different from what he had imagined. He first saw the girl named Shirley, whom he had met once, and then he saw the Deep Hound, whom he had met once, lazily basking in the sun at her feet. Next to her was another girl who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, and an old gentleman with gray hair and elegant temperament.

Everyone was smiling.

Behind these people are the deck, sides, masts and sails of the Lost Homeland.

Those yellowed and broken pictures of his childhood, the memories of the brother and sister playing around, all the pleasant and unpleasant impressions, seemed to emerge little by little from some dark and lost cave, and gradually regained their colors in the sunlight that filtered through the mist.

There were a few new faces here, but this was still the ship he remembered—not the gloomy, dilapidated, chaotic and distorted ghost ship he had initially imagined.

At least the deck looked familiar.

Tirian knew he was in a daze, and he also knew he should say something at this time, but he couldn't stop the thoughts in his heart from spreading. He knew that he had this daze problem since he was a child, and every time he was in a daze on the deck, his father would always suddenly come from nowhere and scold him from behind -

"Tirion, what are you doing here?"

The pirate captain shuddered visibly, the momentary confusion between memory and reality even causing his mind to freeze for two or three seconds. Then he turned around hesitantly and saw a tall and majestic figure standing behind him.

It's not the shadow in the mirror, it's not the blurry outline seen across the distant sea and artillery fire, it's standing face to face...

"I'm sorry, Father," Tirian said automatically, "I was distracted."

Duncan frowned.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he always felt that Tirian's state at this moment was very subtle, which was very different from the impression left by the previous contacts, but it was vaguely familiar. But he soon felt relieved.

After all, this was the first face-to-face conversation after a hundred years, and it was also the first time returning to this ship, so it was normal for the other party to have such a reaction.

At the same time, Vanna, who had been silent for a long time due to embarrassment, finally spoke up: "Captain Tirian, I need to explain my identity here. First of all, the situation is not what you think. I came to the Lost Homeland because of the assignment of the church..."

"Appointed by the church?" Tirian was even more confused than before. He turned his head and looked at his father. "You..."

"I didn't take down the church - pay attention to your thoughts, Tirian," Duncan knew what he was thinking before he could speak, and interrupted him immediately, "Do I need to emphasize it again? I am not an enemy of the civilized world now. You should face me more calmly, instead of being on guard against a natural disaster that can wreak havoc at any time."

Tirian: "I'm... sorry."

"I accept your apology - let's talk while we walk," Duncan waved his hand and walked to the end of the deck. "Regarding the reason why Miss Vanna appeared here, the matter of the Obsidian, and the Dagger Island - we have a lot to discuss."

Then he turned around and waved to a few guys who were watching the fun not far away: "If you have nothing to do with it, go and do your own thing. Don't join in the fun here."

Tirian followed Duncan in a daze, heading towards the captain's cabin in his memory, while Vanna walked silently on the other side.

The scenes in my memories and the scenes before my eyes merge and separate, sometimes overlapping and sometimes creating a clear sense of disharmony.

Back on the Lost Homeland, everything seemed to have deviated from its trajectory and expectations from the very beginning.

Tirian looked around subconsciously, observing the situation on the ship, looking for things that corroborated his memories, and also looking for a figure that should theoretically be here.

Of course Duncan noticed the other party's little action: "Are you looking for Alice?"

Tirian was stunned for a moment before he remembered that this was the name of the doll lady - he always thought that the other party was called "Leinora": "Ah, yes, is she on the ship?"

"Yes, but she should be busy in the kitchen right now," Duncan nodded. "Alice is in charge of the food on the ship. You can try her cooking today. We have fresh vegetables and freshly caught fish, which are rare on ordinary ocean voyages."

"Food..." Tirian repeated the word subconsciously, and almost said "Father actually eats other people's food". But in the next second, a series of exclamations and hurried footsteps suddenly came from not far away, interrupting his distraction.

"Help, help, help, help, help—"

That was Alice's exclamation.

Tirian looked in astonishment in the direction of the sound, and saw the Gothic puppet running across the deck not far away, shouting and screaming, with a kitchen knife in her hand. Behind her was a wooden barrel that was jumping and hopping, and the barrel was full of carrots and vegetables.

Duncan looked expressionlessly at Alice running around on the deck, and at Nina and Shirley running to help but failing, which ended up with three people and a dog being chased around on the deck by a bucket of vegetables. He turned around and patted Tirian on the shoulder.

“Sometimes, it’s quite lively here.”

Tirian turned around with a bewildered look on his face, and the corners of his mouth twitched twice: "...Are the ingredients on the ship too fresh?"

"It's because of the bucket. It has its own ideas about how to store vegetables, so it often conflicts with Alice."

"Don't you need help?"

"No, Alice is generous."

"But I think she seems to be asking you for help..."

"It's okay. I'm at peace."

Tirian's expression seemed a little stiff. Even as a pirate leader commanding an entire fleet of undead, he seemed unable to keep up with the daily pace of the Lost Homeland.

Duncan was not surprised by this. He just patted Tirian on the shoulder and said, "You have to learn to adapt. If I help every time Alice cries for help, I won't have to do anything every day. Facts have proved that her adaptability and vitality are actually quite strong."

Tirian wanted to say something else, but they had already reached the captain's cabin.

Of all his childhood and adult memories, this was the most impressive place on the entire ship.

When he was a child, his father's captain's room was a mysterious and slightly scary room. He and Lucrecia could play around in most places on the ship, but they were strictly forbidden to enter this place. Even the most talkative sailor on the ship would ruthlessly block the brother and sister at the door.

After they grew up, their father's captain's room was a tense and serious place. Even after becoming captains of the Sea Mist and Brilliant Star, Tirian and Lucretia would still instinctively get nervous when they stepped in here - their father formulated all the great exploration plans here, marked the newly discovered islands and visions by the Lost Homeland Fleet on the nautical charts, and completed the planning and dispatch of the entire fleet here. Most of the time, they and their sister were only responsible for listening to and executing orders.

My father didn't like other people's advice. In my memory, he was an arbitrary and stubborn person.

The door opened, and the interior environment, which was slightly dim compared to the deck, came into Tirian's eyes.

The next second, his eyes fell on the edge of the navigation table and on the dark and strange goat head.

The pitch-black goat head with a wooden texture creaked and turned around, and a pair of hollow and deep obsidian eyes stared at the visitor who stepped into this place.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Mr. Tirian."

Tirian was startled and turned his head subconsciously: "This is..."

"This is the first mate of the Lost Homeland. He is trustworthy," Duncan introduced. "You can just call him Goat Head."

“First mate?” Tirian blinked, then turned back to look at the strange “wooden sculpture”. He accepted his father’s words and tentatively greeted him, “Hello, Mr. Goat Head?”

The goat head shook his neck, as if ready to say something, but the next second, Duncan interrupted him in advance: "Shut up, and keep quiet while we talk."

Tirian glanced at Duncan in surprise.

"When talking to it, be sure to be familiar with the operation of interrupting in advance - don't let it talk recklessly, this is my advice."

Listening to his father's warning, Tirian's expression quickly turned serious.

The goat head, which made the powerful Captain Duncan treat it so seriously and cautiously, must be as strange and dangerous as its appearance.

Naturally, Tirian regarded the goat head as some kind of extremely dangerous "anomaly", and making it shut up was obviously the sealing requirement of the anomaly...