Deep Sea Embers

For Vanna, the events of the past two days felt as if they were shrouded in a surreal haze. Her life had taken a dramatic turn to the point where it felt like an odd dream, causing her to frequently question whether she was unknowingly caught in an illusion. At this moment, her self-doubt had reached its zenith.

To her amazement, she saw Mr. Morris standing before her, a smile adorning his face.

The young inquisitor abruptly closed her eyes, tapped her forehead forcefully, and when she reopened her eyes, she discovered that Morris was still there, now joined by a tall figure.

It was the somber and mysterious ghost captain.

“Welcome aboard, Vanna,” Morris began, “I know you have many questions…”

As Vanna opened her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by a sudden “bang” beside her. Though she didn’t feel threatened by the noise, she was startled and reflexively turned her head. She observed a burst of colorful confetti and streamers flying her way. A stunning woman with waist-length silver hair gazed at her, dumbfounded, with a trace of smoke from the burnt gunpowder still emanating from the paper tube in her grasp.

Vanna: “…?”

Before she could react, the silver-haired woman excitedly snatched another paper tube from the side, displayed it proudly before her, and yanked the string on the tube.

Vanna hurriedly cautioned, “Ah! You’re holding it the wrong way…”

Her warning came too late.

The small amount of preloaded gunpowder in the tube detonated with a resounding bang, plastering the silver-haired woman’s face with streamers and confetti. She instinctively recoiled, and then Vanna heard an odd “plop” sound, followed by a head rolling across the deck under her watchful eye.

Vanna’s eyes widened in shock, and despite her composure, she nearly leaped in response to the sight. Right after, she heard a cry from behind her: “Ah! Uncle Duncan! Alice’s head has fallen off again!”

A high school-aged girl bolted over the following moment, frantically pursuing the rolling head on the deck. Another girl holding a black skeletal dog sprinted from a different direction, assisting in the chase while exclaiming, “I told you she couldn’t handle it on her own!”

“If you held it, you’d be too frightened!”

“Well, we shouldn’t have let Alice do it alone… Ah, the head rolled under the stairs!”

“Where’s a hook? Or a stick would do…”

“I found a rope! Throw it down, throw it down… Miss Alice, you bite it, and I’ll pull you up!”

The deck immediately became a hub of activity, with two girls chasing a rolling head and the headless silver-haired woman wandering around disorientated. Mr. Morris, who had been in the midst of speaking, now held his head and sighed repeatedly, while the air retained the lingering scent of the discharged confetti tube.

Vanna found herself in an unparalleled state of bewilderment, unlike anything she had ever encountered before. Staring wide-eyed at the tumultuous scene on the deck, she had several strands of colorful streamers hanging from her hair and shoulders. She seemed to faintly comprehend what had just transpired, but she couldn’t help but feel that remaining ignorant might have been preferable.

It was a welcome ceremony—a charming sight had it not taken place on the Vanished.

“You see, I told you, I have a group of rather troublesome crew members,” the somber and majestic Captain Duncan finally spoke, his voice snapping Vanna out of her stupor, “It’s always chaotic on this ship—but on the flip side, life here should never be dull.”

Vanna remained stoic—though it seemed as though a myriad of complex thoughts surged and detonated within her, she genuinely didn’t know how to respond.

She lifted her gaze to survey the scene on the deck and saw that Nina and Shirley had retrieved the head from the stairwell gap and were now busily reattaching it. A rotund dove appeared from somewhere, loudly squawking the baffling phrase “Little Hammer Forty, Little Hammer Forty.” She finally recognized the silver-haired woman’s face and recalled where she had seen it previously.

It was in the antique shop in the lower city.

Back then, the woman had blonde hair—Vanna now realized that must have been a disguise.

She glanced at Shirley, then at Nina, and finally at the hapless Mr. Morris, who stood before her with open hands. And she understood everything.

The entire world had silently shifted, and she had only just become aware of it.

“How many more ‘secrets’?” Vanna’s lips finally twitched, and she regained her capacity to speak. She looked at Morris, the esteemed scholar she had known since childhood. His presence on this ghost ship was the most astonishing thing she had witnessed today. However, at this moment, he was the only person she could think to question, “When did you…?”

“Actually, not long ago—just a tad earlier than you,” Morris replied gently, nodding, “Heidi isn’t aware of this.”

“Ah, she does seem oblivious—today, she was still grumbling to me about how you suddenly left on business without informing her of the circumstances,” Vanna said, her emotions mixed, “Who would have imagined… that you would appear before me like this on the ‘Vanished.'”

“It seems I did depart a bit abruptly,” Morris conceded, nodding, “When I return, I should bring her some local delicacies from the North as a token of apology.”

Vanna pursed her lips and turned to face the ship’s owner.

“What other ‘surprises’ await?” She inquired helplessly. The events that had unfolded since she passed through the flaming gate had entirely upended her mental preparation from that morning. She had never felt so powerless and lost in her life, “Tell me in advance, so I can brace myself.”

Before Duncan could respond, Nina had already hurried over excitedly, gleefully informing Vanna, “There’s a dinner tonight! A welcome dinner for the new crew member!”

“An incredibly tasty fish soup!” Shirley interjected, “The fish was caught by the captain himself.”

“And then there’s a deck barbecue!” Nina continued, “Fish, beef, and wheat juice!”

“No alcohol,” Duncan’s voice interjected from behind Nina without delay, “Even if you call it ‘wheat juice,’ it’s not permitted.”

Nina’s expression fell immediately, “… Not even a little?”

“Last time’s sweet fruit wine was already pushing the limit,” Duncan said firmly, “Beer is still too early for you.”

“Oh.”

Vanna looked at Nina and then at Duncan, sighing softly after a while, “So that antique shop really had a problem? I didn’t notice anything.”

“We’ve always operated legally. Although the goods aren’t genuine, the prices are,” Duncan said with a half-smile, “As for you not noticing anything… that’s actually a good thing, you know what I mean.”

“Yes, Her Holiness advised me to curb my curiosity when I’m around you,” Vanna sighed again, glancing at the grotesque skeletal giant dog next to Shirley, “If I’m not mistaken, this is a dark hound? This little girl is a summoner living in symbiosis with a deep sea demon?”

The dog shook its head immediately, “Ah yes, yes, yes.”

Vanna was taken aback, “…This demon can talk?!”

“Not only can it talk, but it can now even spell its own name and perform addition and subtraction within a hundred,” Duncan said nonchalantly, “Among the crew of the Vanished, it has a relatively high level of education.”

Vanna stared blankly, then looked at Alice, who was not far away and moving her neck. She had noticed the details on Alice’s joints earlier and now appeared thoughtful, “A puppet, could it be…”

“Anomaly 099, its former name was Puppet Coffin, but now it seems you all just call her ‘Puppet.’ However, she has her own real name, which you should already know. Here, you can call her Alice,” Duncan said indifferently, then added, “Don’t worry, she’s safe now.”

“Hello!” Alice waved with a smile, her face displaying a harmless grin, “Did I scare you just now?”

Vanna instinctively touched her own neck, and then forced a stiff smile in response to the cursed puppet’s greeting.

At this time, Shirley ran to the side, found a paper tube with colorful packaging from a wooden barrel, and excitedly held it up as she ran back, “Alice, Alice! There’s one more! Do you want to…”

“Stop messing with that thing!” Duncan glared at Shirley, “So who bought this thing, and why didn’t it appear on the purchase list?”

“I…” Nina shrank her neck, cautiously speaking, “I bought it with my own pocket money.”

Duncan was silent for a moment, then turned to Alice, “In the future, if they give you strange things to play with, tell me first.”

As Alice picked the colorful confetti from her hair, she nodded, “Oh.”

Vanna sighed deeply once more.

She approached Morris and lowered her voice, “Is it… always like this here?”

“As far as I know, it has always been like this,” Morris whispered, “Sometimes it can be even more lively—especially when Miss Alice has some new ideas.”

Vanna: “…”