Holoss had set sail—these days, many were watching its every move, including the four Church Arks and the watchers arranged by the City-State. Under their watchful eyes, the massive and majestic ghost ship, wrapped in flas and thick smoke, sped away from Light Breeze Harbor at an unimaginable pace and vanished in the blink of an eye between the Spirit Realm and reality.
It appeared like a phantom and disappeared just as mysteriously, exactly as the legends had described.
"Off~ we~ go~"
Sherry, holding onto the ship’s railing, looked out at the boundless dark sea, her body swaying back and forth with excitent.
Holoss had entered the Spirit Realm navigation mode. Outside the ship’s hull, the sea had turned pitch black. The chaotic sky—a blend of black, white, and gray—lood low over everything. Far off, there were no more lighthouses, vessels, or islands visible; only bizarre, shadowy projections erged between the sea and sky, hauntingly surveying the world from the horizon’s edge.
A Dog lay a short distance from the railing, stretching its neck and pulling on Sherry’s arm with a chain while gripping the deck firmly with all four paws, loudly cautioning, "Hey, stop rocking! Be careful not to fall off!"
"A Dog, when did you beco so timid?" Sherry simply sat on the railing, tidying her ssy hair and turning to tease with a chuckle, "Didn’t we always play at the edge of the deck in the past?"
"This is the deep Spirit Realm!" A Dog suddenly exclaid, "If you fall here, you can’t get back up!"
Sherry ignored him and just sat on the railing, giggling at the sea until Duncan walked over and ssily ruffled her hair, "I’ve never seen you this excited when we’ve set sail before. Why are you so happy to leave the City-State this ti?"
"I’ve had enough of Light Breeze Harbor," Sherry spoke with a full-on grudge, "The city has no good food, there are only bookstores or chanical workshops nearby, no good food, no fun places, and no good food..."
Duncan, unable to help but smile as he watched Sherry, seemingly traumatized by the "elves’ cuisine" of Light Breeze Harbor, gently reminded her, "The place we’re heading to isn’t likely to have good food either—actually, we’ll mostly be at sea for the foreseeable future."
"That’s fine, the food on the ship is not bad, at least I won’t be dragged around bookstores by Nina all day," Sherry replied cheerily, "think of it as a breath of fresh air..."
"On the ship long enough, you think about going to the city, in the city long enough, you think about going to sea..." A Dog muttered from his spot on the deck, constantly complaining, "always thinking about playing, Nina has almost visited every bookstore in the city these past few days..."
Sherry imdiately waved her hand dismissively, "Oh A Dog, stop nagging like an old lady, you’re giving a headache..."
Duncan remained silent, just smiling as he listened to the typical bickering between Sherry and A Dog, when suddenly, as if sensing sothing, he looked up toward a certain area of the sea.
Almost simultaneously, a dim shadow erged beside him, and Agatha reported softly from within the shadow, "Brilliant Starship is here, looking for an entrance in the real world."
Duncan nodded, "Alright, go lead Lucy in."
Agatha’s figure faded away, and then just monts later, Duncan saw shadows abruptly materialize in vast patches above the dark sea near Holoss.
The shadows, fog-like, intertwined and out of them, a vast, bizarre, and magnificent ship slowly ford. The Brilliant Starship erged gradually from the fog—it initially appeared as a vague phantom, only its stern clearly solidified, but as Holoss drew closer the blurry phantom quickly solidified into a tangible entity stable enough to exist in the depths of the Spirit Realm.
Brilliant Starship entered the deep Spirit Realm and began to accompany Holoss on its voyage.
Sherry, sitting on the railing, stretched her neck to watch this scene unfold and let out an exaggerated gasp, "Wow—"
Then, she saw a white paper boat gently rise from the deck of the Brilliant Starship. The paper boat caught the wind, sailed across the murky sea between the two ships, and landed steadily on the deck of Holoss.
Lucricia, in her black dress and hair, with the clockwork doll Luny, disembarked from the paper boat.
Alice, who had been drying fish on the deck, noticed the action and happily approached, "Luny! You’re here!"
The clockwork doll, hearing her voice, turned its head and imdiately showed a joyful expression, spreading its arms to et her: "Alice!"
The two dolls happily took each other’s hands and started spinning around the deck, though they hadn’t been apart for long, they rejoiced as if it were a joyful reunion.
Alice was showing off the freshly dried fish on the deck to her dear friend Luny when Luny suddenly had sothing she wanted to boast about as well.
"Alice! Look at this, the mistress just made ..."
While happily speaking, the wind-up doll reached up to cradle her head and gently pulled upwards. Then, with a "pop,"
in front of everyone on the deck, she detached her head.
Alice watched the scene, mouth agape—it was rare for her to be so shocked due to her usual naivety—but she quickly realized this was a new "feature" her friend had mastered. A happy expression imdiately spread across her face, "Oh, you can do it too now!"
As she spoke, she casually plucked her own head from her neck and joyfully held it high with Luny. "We... now... are the sa!"
Then the two dolls began frolicking and laughing on the deck.
Aside from the two of them, everyone on the deck was in shock.
Duncan was initially heading toward Lucia to inquire about the operational status of the Brilliant Starship after entering the Spirit Realm. However, halfway there, he was stunned by the spectacle of Alice and Luny—he even thought that such a bizarre scene was hardly to be seen in Subspace. It took him several seconds to snap out of it, turning his head to Lucia, who was approaching him, "What’s going on?"
Lucia seed montarily dazed as well. As she walked, she couldn’t help but glance back at the two dolls with a bizarre expression. Upon hearing Duncan’s question, her expression stiffened slightly, "...I just made a few modifications to Luny... After the malfunction caused by detaching her head earlier, she kept nagging every now and then how Alice’s head joints could be dismantled... I got tired of hearing about it, so I replaced her joints..."
She hesitated, then stopped, eyeing the two dolls walking about the deck with their heads in their hands, her expression finally unable to remain composed, "But I didn’t expect this!"
"... Well, as long as they’re happy. Dolls... have their own forms of entertainnt and socializing," Duncan finally managed to compose himself after the shock, his lips twitching as he redirected his gaze from Alice and Luny (which was not easy, given the head-turning chaos they were causing) and forced his attention back to Lucia and the Brilliant Starship, "... Is the journey going smoothly?"
Lucia was still watching in the direction of Luny and Alice until Duncan repeated his question before she could suddenly snap back to reality, quickly tapping her forehead and organizing her thoughts as she spoke, "Yes, it’s sowhat chaotic but manageable..."
She finally shifted her focus entirely, glancing up at the Brilliant Starship navigating autonomously alongside the Holoss.
"This is the first ti the Brilliant Starship has ventured this ’deep’... Normally, only its stern is in the Spirit Realm. A full ’imrsion’ like this is an unprecedented ’experience’ both for and the ship."
"The speed will be quite fast," Duncan smiled, "The Holoss is accustod to traveling deep in the Spirit Realm. The White Oak and the Black Oak have also sailed alongside the Holoss like this as escort ships—In this depth, it takes us less than two days to catch up with the returning ship, and we don’t have to worry about being detected."
Lucia didn’t respond, only looking up at Duncan.
Her father stood there, surrounded by rising green flas, his face bearing a confident and proud smile, a look reminiscent of her mories.
After a mont, she shook her head and asked, "What about the movents of the churches?"
"There will be small-scale fleets from the Deep Sea Church and the Death Church joining us. The flagship from the Deep Sea Church is the ’Tide’ and its escort fleet, and the Death Church has sent the ’Rest’ and ’Restless,’ two sister ships and their escort fleets, all reputed to be powerful warships," Duncan spoke casually, "But I’m more interested in the ’professionals’ they bring. After all, in the face of those strange things in the frontier waters, scholarly knowledge can sotis be more useful than firepower."
"But scholarly expertise can sotis attract even greater dangers... Near the frontier, restless ’shadows’ are more likely to erge than anywhere else," Lucia couldn’t help but interject.
Duncan raised an eyebrow, "Isn’t that better?"
Lucia appeared a bit startled, "..."
"Let’s not talk about that now. How is the ’saint’?" Duncan waved his hand, changing the subject, "Did you bring it this ti?"
"It’s brought along, now contained in the lowermost cell of the Brilliant Starship," Lucia imdiately nodded, her face showing a trace of delight, "Rest assured, its condition is good—I’ve restored its vitality as much as possible while ensuring the ’saint’ can’t escape. If you need, I can bring it out anyti."
"Not now," Duncan shook his head, his gaze moved toward the distant murky depths, "Once we locate that ’sanctuary’ of the vanished adherents, that will be the ti to put the ’saint’ to use."
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