Chapter 159 Who Isn't Persecuting Whom

After the arrival of the Deep Sea Era, the intelligent races that survived from the Old World and established city-state civilizations were not only humans – besides humans, there were also the Gipplos, the Senjin, and the Elves living in this world, developing their respective civilizations.

This was the knowledge written in Nina's textbook, which Duncan already knew, and from a long time ago, he had been very interested in these 'alien races' mentioned in the textbook, especially the Elves – this race that always appeared in various fantasy stories, surrounded by a mysterious aura, actually lived in this world, which once made his curiosity explode.

The illustrations in Nina's textbook had depicted the appearance of the Elves to Duncan. The illustrations were the same as the Elves in his impression, with long, pointed ears, slender figures, and beautiful faces, so beautiful that it was almost impossible to tell male from female.

This directly established his initial impression of the 'Elves' in this world: a long-lived species with a lifespan of thousands of years, generally with extremely high looks, elegant and mysterious.

In his crude initial impression, it seemed that he had not outlined what an Elf with a lifespan of thousands of years would look like when they grew old.

…He had never even thought that this race would have the same appearance changes after aging as humans.

But now he knew that his understanding of the 'Elves' in this world was too superficial.

The owner of this 'Rose Dollhouse' was an Elf, a chubby, kind-smiling Elf old woman – apart from the iconic pointed ears and emerald green eyes, and the vaguely discernible beauty between her eyebrows, she looked no different from an ordinary old lady next door.

It's impolite to stare at people.

Duncan quickly reacted, quickly retracted his overly curious and probing gaze, and touched his chin a little embarrassedly: "This is my first time seeing an Elf."

He wasn't worried that his 'ignorance' would reveal anything because Elves were indeed rarely seen in the city-state of Pland.

Each race has its own city-state, and due to the inconvenience of transportation in the Deep Sea Era, most civilians rarely leave their homeland in their lifetime. Only brave deep-sea explorers and caravans travel between the city-states, and they are just passers-by, hardly settling down in the city-states of other races – this is the case in all major city-states, where more than ninety-nine percent of the residents are 'main nationalities'.

A person who lives in his own city-state and doesn't go out much may never see the 'alien races' living on the other side of the city in his lifetime.

"That's normal," the Elf old lady smiled. "There are probably no more than a hundred Elves in this city, including the dozen or so homebodies in the Institute of Mathematics who have been holed up for two hundred years and never go out – is there anything I can help you with?"

Hearing the old woman's reminder, Duncan realized his original purpose. He looked back at the dolls that filled the windows, counters, and stairwells, and said while thinking, "I want to buy some things for the dolls, and if possible, I would also like to ask some questions about the dolls… but I'm dazzled as soon as I come in."

"Oh, it looks like you are a 'newbie'," the old woman nodded. "Is it a female doll? Is it your own collection, or?"

"Female, 'collected' by myself," Duncan replied casually, but as soon as he finished speaking, he felt that something was wrong, and the corner of his mouth twitched subconsciously, "This hobby isn't weird, right?"

As a result, it would have been better if he hadn't asked. Asking made it feel even weirder.

"Of course it's not weird. Collecting and taking care of dolls is a tasteful hobby," the old woman didn't react at all, probably because this was the leeway accumulated from running a centuries-old store and seeing the world. "Do you want to add some clothes or accessories to your doll?"

Duncan thought for a while: "Let's start with a wig."

"Over here," the old woman led Duncan to a corner of the store, and at the same time asked, "What size is the doll? One-fourth? Or one-third?"

Duncan: "...The same size as a real person."

The old woman's footsteps stopped involuntarily, and she turned her head: "This… is rare. A doll the same size as a real person? That must be worth a lot, right?"

"...Actually, I'm not sure how much she's 'worth',"

Duncan: "..."

The old lady shopkeeper was quite enthusiastic: "Looking at your reaction, you are not very willing? Please rest assured, the craftsmanship of this store has always been very good. We have never disappointed customers for hundreds of years, and not a single old customer has complained."

Duncan thought to himself that the old lady's 'old customers' were probably unable to complain. He could not say that, so he had to smile awkwardly and casually find an excuse to perfunctorily say: "That's not the case, mainly because... if the head is changed, then she is no longer her, right?"

He was just saying it casually, but he didn't expect the old lady's eyes to light up, and even her smile became more sincere than before:

"Ah, your idea is really not simple. Many people only regard dolls as objects. Even if they like them, few people consider them like you."

Duncan was a little embarrassed: "Ahem, you make me feel a little embarrassed."

"I'm telling the truth," the old lady sighed, "Dolls need to be taken care of with heart. From the moment they are given human form, they should no longer be regarded as inanimate objects. There is a saying among doll makers – dolls that are carefully treated have their own souls, and you should even think that they have their own joys, sorrows, and existence…"

Duncan's mind immediately flashed Alice's harmless "hehe," and nodded repeatedly: "You are right, you are right."