In the eyes of the owner of the "Rose Dollhouse," the most outstanding doll maker in the world is a human named Lucretia Abnormal, the daughter of the famous "Captain Duncan."

The old woman's words silenced the entire shop for several seconds before Duncan finally erupted in a thunderous coughing fit: "Cough, cough, cough cough..."

"Are you alright, sir?" The shop owner was immediately startled by Duncan's reaction. Like every elf who had long dealt with short-lived races, she instantly showed concern on her face that the human before her might suddenly drop dead. "Should I find a doctor to help?"

"Cough cough... I... cough, I'm fine," Duncan finally managed to stop coughing, but it took him a while to wave his hand at the old woman in front of him—because at the same time, he also had to soothe the cursed doll on the Vanishing Sea who had been suddenly frightened by him. "I just choked on my saliva. What were you saying just now? Lucretia?"

"Lucretia Abnormal, the mistress of the Brilliant Star, one of Captain Duncan's two children," the shop owner said with an expression that said, "This all happened in the last few years, why are you humans so easily alarmed." "The most outstanding doll maker in the world..."

Duncan, who had finally managed to catch his breath, choked on his saliva again when he heard the old woman's words: "Ptooey—"

At the same time, on the deck of the Vanishing Sea, Alice, who had just been startled by Duncan's violent cough, was startled again by his shout of "Damn it!" The doll lady, who was holding a large basket of vegetables and fruits, stared blankly at the captain, who was behaving strangely today. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Duncan gasped, slowly calming himself down. He had finally mastered the skillful control of his two bodies after this period of practice, but he almost became flustered again at this moment. To prevent himself from appearing too strange in the city-state, he had to wave his hand at the doll in front of him first. "Go to the cabin yourself first, I have something to deal with."

"Are you really alright?" Alice still looked at him suspiciously, her light purple eyes reflecting Duncan's image.

"Should I check your body, pat your back, and smooth your breathing..."

"Can you do that?"

"No."

"Go, go, go!"

"Oh."

Finally getting rid of the silly doll, Duncan quickly focused his attention on the Pland city-state. He raised his eyes and looked very seriously at the slightly plump elven old woman in front of him: "That famous Captain Duncan... is the legendary Vanishing Sea?"

"Shh, don't just say that name!" The shop owner quickly interrupted Duncan. "You ordinary people don't know, but casually uttering the name of such a great terror and curse will bring bad luck! Be careful that ship doesn't come to you in your dreams!"

"...You're right," Duncan choked, trying to suppress the strange feeling in his heart and nodded. "That captain... not only has a daughter named Lucretia, but also has both a son and a daughter?"

"Yes, it was a hundred years ago, I even met them both. The son was called Tirian Abnormal, who later became a general under the Frost Queen, but not long after, there seemed to be a rebellion on the Frost side, and that kid pulled a group of people to become pirates. The daughter is Lucretia, Abnormal, the most outstanding doll maker..."

The old woman rambled on, paused at the end, and then sighed: "But this all happened many years ago, at least for humans it was many years ago... In Pland, few people mention their affairs anymore, and even in the elven city-states, people don't dare to casually discuss matters related to that ship. But what is there to say, those siblings are not as crazy as their father, they are still doing well as captains..."

"Wait!" Duncan immediately widened his eyes. "You said they are still alive?!"

"Alive, it is said that they are cursed by the subspace, immortal," the old woman sighed, "I guess they can live longer than me..."

Duncan: "..."

"Are you really alright, sir?" The old shop owner couldn't help but ask again. "I've noticed that your face has been looking strange since just now. Do you not like this topic? That's normal, most humans don't seem to like listening to me talk about these things, they don't even dare to listen during the day..."

"I dare to listen, I dare to listen," Duncan immediately reacted when he heard this, quickly adjusted his expression and posture, and stared at the shop owner with almost burning eyes. "Can you tell me more about those siblings? And you said just now... you've met them both?"

"It was a century ago," the old woman said slowly in a reminiscing tone. "At that time, I had a shop on this street. The siblings came to my place to buy things. Lucretia bought a one-third scale doll, and Tirian paid for it. They were still young at that time, and their father... was still a normal human being. Oh, never mind him, can't mention him."

"Then another ten years or so passed, and I met Lucretia alone again on the way to Lonsa to exchange ideas with my colleagues. At that time, she had already become an outstanding doll maker and mechanic... The clockwork-driven magical dolls she made were things that even I couldn't make..."

The shop owner rambled on again, talking about stories that were already history for most humans, but were just memories of her life.

It seems that no matter what race they are, older people like to reminisce and ramble like this. As long as someone starts the topic, it can never be finished.

Duncan's turbulent emotions still hadn't calmed down, but his expression had already calmed down. He pricked up his ears and listened to every word the old woman said, taking these shocking pieces of information into his mind without missing a word.

For ordinary people in the city-state, the cursed captain from a century ago and his cursed children were just a distant story, but for an elf who had lived here for centuries, many so-called "secrets" were just things she had seen and heard in her early years—she said many things about Lucretia, and also mentioned Tirian and his "Sea Mist."

However, her knowledge of Tirian and the "Sea Mist" was obviously not as much as her knowledge of Lucretia.

"Tirian Abnormal's allegiance to the Frost Queen was half a century ago, which is not too far from now. Some older people among humans have heard of this," the shop owner said casually, "but that's all they've heard. Decades ago, the city-states on the Coldsea side were more closed off and had limited dealings with Pland..."

Duncan felt his heart pounding. Of course, he knew who the Frost Queen was. He even had a one-to-one Frost Queen doll at home jumping around all day, but he never thought that the queen, who had been executed by rebels half a century ago, would establish another connection with him in this way—through an "eldest son" whose existence he himself had only just learned about.

"The Frost Rebellion half a century ago..." He weighed his words, trying to make himself look like an ordinary guest who loved to gossip. "I saw it in a history book, but it wasn't written clearly..."

"That matter was originally unclear," the shop owner waved her hand. "It is said to be related to 'that ship', who dares to record it clearly?"

"Tirian Abnormal took his team to become pirates after the Frost Rebellion?" Duncan asked again. "Is he still active on the Coldsea side?"

"It seems so," the shop owner recalled. "Anyway, more than twenty years ago, I heard a fellow countryman who ran a business at sea say so."

"Then... do Tirian and Lucretia still have contact now?"

"How would I know that?" The shop owner waved her hand. "I'm just an ordinary old woman running a shop on the streets of Pland, at most I met them once in my early years, and I just happen to remember a little more than you humans, how would I know everything?"

"That... that's true."

Duncan smacked his lips, realizing that the concern he showed about this matter seemed a bit excessive, so he wisely didn't pursue it.

But the old woman in front of him seemed to suddenly remember something again, and stood up from behind the counter: "Ah, right, speaking of Lucretia, I suddenly remembered something that I've had here for many years, I wonder if you'd be interested?"

As she spoke, the shop owner walked to a low door in the corner of the stairs, opened the door and rummaged through the storage room inside for a while. After fiddling for who knows how long, she finally found a box more than half a meter long from the deepest part of the storage room and put it on the counter.

"This is..." Duncan looked at the thing the other party took out with doubt.

"A doll," the old woman smiled kindly and carefully opened the lid of the box. "Her name is Nilu—"

"Remember what I said just now? Many years ago, Lucretia and her brother bought a doll from my shop, but that doll was actually one of a pair of sisters. She took the older sister, named 'Luni', and what's left here is Nilu.

Chapter 161 Another Connection