This was the first time since their "reunion" that Lucrecia saw such a complex, heavy, and warm expression on her "father's" face.

Before this, her father had smiled at her and shown many humane behaviors, but for some reason, she always felt that there was a vague sense of incongruity behind those smiles and words and deeds. She always felt that it was the "friendly appearance" that her father tried hard to pretend after losing his memory in the subspace. This sense of incongruity made her feel vaguely uneasy.

However, at this moment, she finally saw some heartfelt emotions on the other person's face - a sense of guilt and regret that others could hardly understand.

But she didn't know whether this guilt was directed at herself.

"I still don't know enough," the witch sighed softly, "I thought I had more or less caught up with you."

"…The Lost Homeland eventually fell into the subspace. It's a good thing you didn't catch up with it." Duncan shook his head, and then took one last look at the quietly floating "moon", turned and walked towards the connecting bridge to leave the platform, "Go back first, Lucy."

Lucrecia was a little surprised: "Aren't you going to study it for a while?"

"I'm not a scholar, and I don't have any professional research methods or equipment," Duncan waved his hand. "I just came here to see it with my own eyes, but how to uncover its secrets depends on professional scholars."

He paused for a moment and added, "I will stay in Breeze Harbor during this period. I will keep an eye on your progress on the Moon. Also, if the same thing happened to other elves as happened to Taran El, please tell me immediately."

"I understand," Lucrecia nodded immediately in response. Then she hesitated for a moment and asked again, "Can I tell Governor Sarah Meier about your arrival? Of course, I won't tell anyone else casually..."

"You can tell whoever you want - how they react to it is none of my business."

Lucrecia lowered her head slightly: "Yes."

A moment later, a rotating and spreading flaming door suddenly appeared on the front deck of the Lost Homeland, which was hovering on the sea somewhere outside the glowing geometric body.

The door opened with a crackling sound of flames, and Duncan stepped out. Alice, who was holding a large mop and scrubbing the deck with several other mops, ran over happily, "The captain is back!"

Duncan waved his hand to disperse the flames behind him, looked at the Gothic doll in front of him with a mop in his hand and a happy smile on his face, and simply nodded: "Yeah, I'm back."

"Did everything go well?" Alice threw the mop aside and looked at the captain happily. "You were gone for a long time. Did you talk a lot with Miss Lucrecia? Did you go to that 'ball'? What does it look like...ah!"

The mop that Alice had thrown aside suddenly jumped up, hit the cheerful doll lady on the head with its wooden pole, then jumped on the deck and ran to the bucket to rinse herself.

Alice covered her head and looked at Duncan blankly and aggrievedly: "Why did it hit me?! It almost knocked me to death..."

Duncan looked at the doll lady whose emotions were simple and distinct, her smile just now and her current distress. Unconsciously, the boredom and loss that had accumulated in his heart quietly dissipated a little.

Alice still felt aggrieved.

"...You'd better check to see if that's a mop used to clean the deck. Maybe it's 'working' in the restaurant," Duncan laughed, reached out and touched Alice's head, and then asked curiously, "Also, I've always wanted to ask you - the mop and bucket on this ship can do the cleaning by themselves, why do you insist on washing the deck yourself?"

"I'll help!" Alice puffed out her chest confidently. "It must be so tiring for them to wipe it by themselves!"

Duncan's eyes twitched, and he turned his gaze silently, looking at the mops and buckets that were cleaning the deck quickly not far away, as if they were afraid that if they were a step slower, they would be caught by some puppets for "help". After a moment of silence, he shook his head: "You are happy...as long as you are happy."

Alice nodded confusedly, and then saw Duncan turn around, as if he was going back to the captain's room. She couldn't help but ask, "Captain, are you going back to rest?"

"...Well, I'm a little tired."

"Captain..." Alice still looked a little worried. She walked over and tugged at Duncan's sleeve. "Are you okay?"

"Why do you ask?" Duncan stopped in confusion and turned to look at the not-so-bright puppet.

"Because you've been sighing a lot these past two days, and you've been spending more time in the captain's room than outside. Miss Nina thought you were worried, but she was too embarrassed to ask you," Alice answered honestly. "Also, you looked very bad when you came back just now, as if... you had a lot of things in your heart. But you look better now."

Duncan looked at the puppet in front of him with some surprise.

He had never thought that Alice, who usually seemed heartless and confused, would actually observe and notice these things, and he had never thought that she would just grab him and say all these words -

Perhaps it is because she doesn't think much on a daily basis that she doesn't know how to hesitate or waver?

Some incongruous associations emerged in Duncan's mind, but looking at the puppet in front of him who still had a worried and confused look on his face, he didn't know what to say.

After all, even when facing the knowledgeable Lucrecia, there were too many things he could not explain clearly.

"You don't understand." After a moment's silence, Duncan shook his head. "Things are very complicated. They are so complicated that I can't explain them to anyone. Not only you, but even Morris might not understand them."

Alice just blinked and said without hesitation: "Then you can tell me too."

Duncan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Didn't I just tell you that you don't understand..."

"But I don't understand a lot of what you say," Alice said as if it was a matter of course. "There are a lot of things I don't understand, but you still tell me - I'm very suitable for listening to people talk, I will listen whether I understand or not..."

Duncan's expression suddenly became a little subtle. Listening to this silly puppet's straightforward and even somewhat "proud" magical logic, he couldn't find any way to refute it for a moment.

Alice was still staring at the "Captain" in front of her. She didn't think it was shameful that she didn't understand many things, nor did she think there was anything wrong with what she said at the moment - she thought about it, she was curious, so she said it out.

If you have something on your mind, just say it out loud - that's how everything works in Alice's simple worldview.

She suddenly ran away, ran to a nearby place, and brought back a large wooden barrel that was half her height, and placed it on the deck near the ship's side railing. Then she brought back another one and placed it next to the large wooden barrel.

She climbed onto the barrel swiftly and waved to Duncan with a smile, "Captain, please sit down too. Miss Vanna said that if you enjoy the breeze and look at the sea, you will feel very happy."

Duncan hesitated for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

This puppet is trying hard, using her limited knowledge and experience, to find a way to make the "Captain" feel better.

Duncan walked over and sat on the barrel side by side with Alice.

His mood didn't change because of the sea breeze - but he did feel a little better.

"Alice."

"Um?"

"Let me ask you a question," Duncan pondered. Initially, he tried hard to think about how to make Alice understand the concepts of "moon" and "starry sky", but now he suddenly found that he didn't need to explain these complicated things to her at all. "Suppose you live in a place, and there is something that is unique to the place where you live - it can never come from anywhere else, and it can never belong to anywhere else. As long as you see this thing, you will know that it comes from there..."

Alice thought for a moment and asked curiously, "Just like I'm living on the Lost Homeland now, and you're the only captain of the Lost Homeland?"

Duncan was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said, "Your analogy is not quite right... but it can be roughly understood this way."

"Oh, and then what?"

"...Then, you left there and couldn't go back." Duncan's tone suddenly became a little low. "You went to a very remote and unfamiliar place. Everything here was different from home. You lived here for a while, trying to find your way home, but suddenly, you saw that 'thing' - that thing that theoretically could only appear in your hometown and should never be seen in a foreign land..."

Duncan's voice fell, but Alice was still thinking blankly. But after a while, she suddenly laughed.

"Then I must have returned to the Lost Hometown!"

"Return to the Lost Homeland?"

"Well, I can understand it this way - you are the only captain of the Lost Homeland. One day I was sent to a place far away from the Lost Homeland and couldn't find the way back to the ship, but you suddenly appeared in front of me - then I must have gone home! After all, wherever you are, that is the Lost Homeland."

The puppet smiled happily and looked at Duncan with confidence.

"You said that thing can only appear in 'hometown', and now it appears in front of you, which means you are at home now!"

Alice finished her theory, then turned around on the big barrel, resting her hands on her chin, leaning forward, with a bright smile on her face:

"Captain, is this a brain teaser?"

Duncan was a little dazed.

He stared blankly at the doll lady on the wooden barrel opposite. When the sea breeze blew from the side, Alice's silver-white hair flew up, just like her always bright and cheerful mood.

Then he laughed.

'Yes, it's a very clever riddle—now that we've got it all round,' he said, laughing, as he jumped down from the cask. 'And there's one more thing.'

"Um?"

"Your posture is unstable."

Alice, who was still leaning forward and supporting her chin with both hands, was stunned for a moment when she heard this: "Huh?"

The next second, she heard a slight cracking sound from her neck.

"Boer——"

Alice fell to the ground twice with two thumps. Then, her signature stuttering voice could be heard from the deck.

"Captain, save, save...save..."