Chapter 830: Chapter 827 Farewell

The people across the long table looked at each other in dismay, none of them speaking for a while–they hadn’t expected the captain to suddenly pose such a question, nor were they certain what the question really meant.

It was quite a while before Nina seemed to come around. She thought hard and then spoke softly, “Probably… a very safe place? I can’t imagine… I think the best place was Prand before the sun had issues. Of course, it would be better if it was a bit more spacious. The City-State was really a bit too crowded, especially after taking a boat out to sea. The world is so wide, yet there is so little space for people to stand on…”

“Yes, there will be a much wider habitable zone, much safer than now,” Duncan smiled and then turned to look at Sherry sitting beside Nina, “What about you? What do you hope the new world has?”

Sherry, with a mouthful of biscuit, muttered indistinctly: “I haven’t thought that much, just to be fed and kept warm–that would be great. And maybe, if possible, the utility bills could be a bit cheaper.”

“That’s a demand for ‘society’, not for the ‘world’,” Duncan shook his head gently, “Think again?”

Chewing on her biscuit, Sherry’s gaze started to drift as if she was seriously pondering something, then she forcefully swallowed the food in her mouth: “Then… my thoughts are similar to Nina’s, a safer and more spacious place. You’re right, the rest depends on ‘people’… Oh, right! Agatha and I want a big house, or just a big empty plot will do, where we can live without disturbances, where Agatha can confidently run around everywhere…”

Duncan nodded with a smile, and his gaze fell on Morris who was sitting nearby.

“As a scholar, I’m very aware that a society composed of people is never perfect. Even if the environment becomes safer, the group itself will create new troubles. But that’s also one of the reasons why a society can change and develop,” Morris shrugged, “So instead of imagining what a ‘perfect’ new world looks like, I hope there are more research opportunities, more things worth studying–

“More phenomena never seen before, more incredible places, more distant lands worth traveling to. I hope there are real principles to be deeply investigated behind things, rather than encountering all sorts of ‘barriers’ and ‘contradictions’ at the end of every research. I hope knowledge is no longer dangerous, that students don’t have to fear for their lives every time they open a book, I hope ‘people’ can go farther, and not be bound by unspeakable horrors, forever trapped in their own spawning grounds.”

Morris exhaled softly, his face inadvertently carrying a smile: “If possible, that would really be a good place…”

“I just wish I could regain my sense of taste and normal sleep,” the sailor who had been mostly silent muttered, “I haven’t slept well in centuries.”

“As for me, I’d like to see… what the ‘continent’ is like,” Fenna spoke next, her face full of thought and memory, slowly continuing, “Vast and fertile land, many cities and ‘nations’ thriving on the earth, people able to travel between cities via more convenient transport… I’m very curious about what that would actually look like.”

“Is that possible? Such a large area?” Sherry asked, eyes wide in surprise, “As big as the ocean?”

Fenna looked at Sherry with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile: “Didn’t you just wish for a more ‘spacious’ place? The continent is more spacious than the City-State.”

Sherry pursed her lips: “That’s just what I said… I can’t imagine it either…”

“Yes, we can’t imagine things we’ve never seen,” Agatha’s shadow floated beside the dining table, her voice carrying a hint of ethereal, “So I have almost no ideas about the new world–after all, it has to be a good place. All I hope is to keep traveling, together with Homeloss. My time on this ship has been the shortest, yet I’ve seen many landscapes that I’ve never seen in my memory. But this journey is coming to an end… it is truly regrettable.”

“Then I also hope to be on the Homeloss then!” Sherry’s eyes lit up suddenly, “After all, it’s most interesting to run around with this ship!”

“…Me too,” Nina laughed as well, rocking her body back and forth on the chair, “It would be the best if we could go back to Homeloss.”

Nina and Sherry’s eyes simultaneously fell on Duncan, but after sneaking a peek, they both looked simultaneously toward the “Witch of the Sea” who had remained silent all along.

Lucricia had been silent all along, still seemingly absent-mindedly sitting in her place, and it wasn’t until she felt the gaze on her that the “Miss Witch” was suddenly startled into awareness.

“Will the Brilliant Starship and my crew have a place in the new world too?” she asked curiously, “Including Luny, Niru, and Rabi, and those tinplate male servants and wooden female servants I made… does the new world still allow such beings?”

Ever since the beginning, Duncan had been silently listening to the discussions of his crew around the table, listening to them sketching out the shape of the new world with their imaginations, listening to their expectations for the future, gradually as if he was immersed in his own thoughts. It was only when he heard Lucricia’s question that he suddenly awoke from his thoughts.

After seriously organizing his thoughts and words, he slowly began to speak: “They will have a place–every soul will have a place to dwell.”

The next second, Sherry and Nina simultaneously exclaimed: “Will Homeloss be there too?”

“…Homeloss will be there,” Duncan hesitated for a moment, then nodded seriously, “In some form… I will make sure all of this reaches the new world in the most appropriate way possible. Then, you will be able to return to Homeloss, and I will take you on a further voyage.”

Lucricia’s face slowly blossomed into a pleased smile: “Well, this time take my brother along–even with the whole Endless Sea and border barriers between us, I can almost feel his resentment.”

Duncan grew silent for a few seconds, finally nodding solemnly: “Alright.”

Upon hearing this response, Lucricia exhaled lightly, stood up, and raised her glass.

“Then let us toast to the new world,” she said with a smile.

Agatha stood up and raised a toast: “To the new world!”

“To the captain!”

“To Homeloss!”

“To the future!”

“To… ugh, I don’t even know what to say, just drink the damn thing!”

Everyone raised their glasses at the dining table. Nina was already quite tipsy with a brilliant smile on her face after drinking plenty of wheat juice and fermented grape juice. “Sherry, pour some for Ai Yi. It doesn’t have hands… By the way, how can this bird drink so much? It’s finished already?”

Then she looked to the other side: “Luny, come join us for a toast… Niru wants to join too? Can Niru drink anything?”

The little doll immediately shouted with a glass almost the size of her head: “She can!”

As soon as the voice fell, the little one had drained the glass in one gulp. The red wine overflowed from the joints of her neck, soaking her beautiful doll dress completely.

Luny exclaimed in surprise, apologizing to the hostess on her sister’s behalf while hurrying over with a handkerchief to help Niru clean up.

Nina wanted to come over and help: “Hey, it won’t get dry. Let me dry her out, don’t let her move around…”

Sherry immediately grabbed Nina’s collar from behind: “Don’t! You’ll burn it to a crisp! What happened to that white dress with the blue edges of yours?”

The dog sat amidst the chaos, calm and unmoving, gulping wine into his neck with both paws, the liquid sizzling loudly in his chest before being instantly evaporated. He mumbled with his oversized skeletal head swaying: “This wine is tasteless… It would be great if I could have normal taste in the new world…”

Before he could finish, he felt an oppressive gaze coming from the front and immediately shrunk his neck to look up. Seeing the captain looking this way, smiling, he heard: “You can have it.”

“If I had known it was going to turn into a mess, I would have brought Rabi,” Lucresia said, looking at the sudden chaos on the dining table and shaking her head helplessly. “That rabbit loves chaos, it creates chaos even when there isn’t any…”

“Yeah, it would’ve been good to bring Rabi,” Luny sighed along, while holding the soaking wet Niru in one arm and futilely wiping off the wine from the little doll’s body with a handkerchief in the other, “Rabi is really good at soaking things up.”

Lucresia sighed, “You shouldn’t bully Rabi just because you’re not afraid of nightmares. I know you used him to wipe the table last time.”

Luny immediately bowed her head: “Mistress, I’m sorry.”

Niru, held aloft by her sister, also cheerfully raised her hand: “Sorry!”

“…Forget it, don’t wipe her anymore, just go back and have both doll and dress soaked and washed in a tub.”

Duncan sat across the dining table, arms crossed, with a calm smile on his face, watching this familiar yet chaotic scene.

It was like going back to the beginning, when Alice first proudly served her fish soup, and her own head was stewing in the pot.

And then, it was time for them to leave.

The Homeloss and the Brilliant Starship moved slowly, but eventually they reached the black island with towering temples and a pilgrim road.

The farewells that had to be said were said.

A little paper boat flew to the edge of the Homeloss’s deck, expanded into a shuttle large enough to hold everyone. Lucresia stood on the small boat, with Luny holding Niru beside her mistress.

Sherry, the dog, Nina, Maurice, Fenna, the sailors, and the phantom form of Agatha…

One by one, they left the Homeloss and stood on the paper boat.

Duncan stood on the deck, silently watching this scene.

Then, he saw Nina and Sherry turn around, followed by Fenna and Maurice and the others–they had smiles on their faces, waving at him.

Lucresia’s face beamed with the brightest smile.

Every time you say goodbye, you have to smile, so if you can never see each other again, at least the last memory in your mind will be a radiant smile.

So Duncan smiled too, waving hard at everyone.

And then, they left.