Chapter 231 “The Reliable Messenger Perley”

Ai flew into the store and stood on the handrail of the stairs with her breasts propped up, those green beady eyes scanning around the store.

The big parrot with colorful tail feathers also flew into the store, landing on the counter next to Duncan, and jumped around with its head held high as if it was in his own home.

With a stunned expression, Duncan looked at this guy who flew in from nowhere. The big parrot also raised its head, staring up at the man without finding anything wrong with this situation. Then after a long while, it suddenly flapped its wings, making a loud and harsh sound: “Ah! Perley!”

“Your name is Perley?” Duncan asked curiously. He didn’t expect this parrot to really answer him, after all, the essence of parrot talking was just mimicry of the tongue. Yet, not only did the parrot nod to him, but it also flapped its wings after hearing his question: “Perley! Called Perley!”

Duncan’s expression froze for a moment, and he turned his head to look at Ai, who was looking at the first floor on the handrail of the stairs: “Where did you find this…’friend’?”

“The friend came from afar,” Ai immediately flapped her wings, one eye looking at Duncan, the other eye drifting out the window, “Already here!”

“What does she mean?” Nina asked curiously.

After learning the secrets of the Vanished and Duncan, Nina of course also knew that Ai could talk. She was surprised initially, but now she’s calmed down and taking it well. Like everyone else, she had difficulty understanding the strange words popping out of the dove from time to time.

“Maybe it doesn’t know where this parrot came from,” Duncan used his imagination to translate for Ai, then turned his head to look at the parrot before glancing back and forth between the pair. “Ai… I’m not against you making friends, but did you realize that you are different species? You should look for a dove friend…”

“There is great tolerance among the vast stretches of rivers, for they all run into the ocean!” The dove tilted her head and shouted this stunning phrase, “There is great tolerance!”

Duncan: “…”

As he talked with Ai, he often pondered about life and questioned himself. It’s truly miraculous how a bird with such a pea brain could converse with him and vice-versa. In fact, he wondered if they’re even conversing on the same wavelength.

Shirley, Dog, and Alice were also drawn to the commotion and came to the counter to see the fearless big parrot. Alice tried curiously poking the bird’s wings, but it quickly dodged and glared at the miscreant doll for the offensive gesture.

“What is it?” Alice asked Duncan, “It looks completely different from Ai.”

Shirley clarified, “Of course it’s different. This is a parrot, and Ai is a dove.”

“What is a parrot?” Alice asked soulfully. “Can you eat it?”

“No,” Shirley shook her head and turned to the puppet, “Why do you always ask about eating when you don’t even need to eat?”

“I’m responsible for the cap… cooking for Mr. Duncan!”

The chatter continued around the counter, but Duncan remained pensive, observing the big parrot that called itself “Perley.” He had a vague sense of familiarity with the bird as if he had seen it somewhere before.

“Where are you from? Why are you here?” he suddenly asked.

From their conversation earlier, Duncan sensed that this parrot could communicate with people, indicating that it was not of ordinary origin.

“Perley! Go, send a message!” The big parrot turned its head and tilted it to the side.

“A messenger?” Duncan was taken aback, and his expression grew serious, “What kind of message?”

The big parrot seemed to ponder for a moment before opening its beak to speak, but it was interrupted by Ai, who suddenly fluttered and shouted, “Make some fries!”

The big parrot was startled, “Ah! Perley!”

“Make some fries!” Ai landed in front of the big parrot and nodded seriously, “Make some fries.”

“Perley?” “Make some fries!”

The two birds communicated in this manner until Duncan had to intervene, “Stop! Ai, quiet down. Perley, what message are you delivering, and to whom?”

The big parrot seemed stunned momentarily, hesitating before shaking its body repeatedly while uttering, “Make some fries.”

Duncan didn’t say anything, realizing that no matter what message the parrot had before, it was forgotten now.

As if trying to remember something important, the parrot suddenly jumped up and flapped its wings vigorously, shouting “tell the captain, tell the captain!” while repeating “make some fries”. It then flew towards the door and out of sight before anyone could react.

Nina wanted to stop the parrot but couldn’t move fast enough. So, in the end, she could only watch it go regretfully. On the other hand, Duncan became serious upon hearing Perley shout to tell the captain. He suddenly remembered where he had seen the parrot before – in a certain cabin of the Sea Mist when the Vanished and the Sea Mist overlapped.

“Ai, chase after that parrot.”

……

“That’s pretty much it.”

In a secluded reception room somewhere in the Cathedral of Pland, Valentine, an old bishop in civilian clothes, spoke to Tyrian, who was sitting across from him on a sofa.

“The Vanished finally took the sun fragment away, prevented the Creeping Sunwheel from descending, and eliminated the impact of historical pollution on the city-state. Although we still can’t be sure of… your father’s intentions.”

Tyrian’s expression was subtle and stiff. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so bewildered. Of course, he could understand every word the old bishop said, but even in his wildest dreams, he never imagined it would happen like this.

“Did the Vanished really leave like that? Did someone come to rescue them?” Tyrian spoke in disbelief, “It took away the sun fragment… and then what? Is that all? Didn’t do anything else?”

Valentine and Vanna exchanged a look, both showing helplessness and hesitation in their expressions. It was still hard to say the phrase “your dad robbed half of the city’s fries” in front of Tyrian.

“…Nothing else,” Valentine hesitated, “I know you are confused, Mr. Tyrian. We are as confused as you are, and if you don’t even know what your father wants to do, then we don’t know either.”

“Since a century ago, he could not be considered my father,” Tyrian slowly shook his head and said in a deep voice. “It’s just an imitation that was torn apart by subspace and then put together by clumsy means. There is no trace of humanity in that empty body…”

Tyrian stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering the seconds when the Vanished and the Sea Mist overlapped and passed each other. He thought of the cold and distant words he heard, “I’m busy.”

The big pirate hesitated.

Inside that shell on the Vanished, was it really inhuman? The voice that spoke to him at that time, and the aura he felt from that figure… Was it really just an echo of the empty frenzy of subspace?

As Tyrian was distracted, the young inquisitor’s voice interrupted his thoughts: “The question of whether Captain Duncan has ‘human nature’ is exactly what we will discuss next.”

“Huh?” Tyrian looked at Vanna suspiciously, “What does that mean?”

“Actually…” Vanna hesitated, then turned her head to exchange a look with Bishop Valentine before nodding slightly, “We have communicated with your father more than once recently.”

Matters related to the Vanished were classified information, especially the conversation with Captain Duncan, which should not have been disclosed to anyone outside the church. But Tyrian’s identity was so special that these questions were clearly no longer a problem.

“Communication? You and my father?! Tyrian was really taken aback and almost got up from the couch, “This is a very bad joke if it is!”

“Please calm down, this is a very serious question—no one would joke about this kind of thing after the city-state has almost collapsed.” Vanna looked at Tyrian calmly, then paused slightly, “Strictly speaking, I had a few exchanges with your father, and according to my observations… ‘Captain Duncan’ no longer seems to be as described in the records.”

Tyrian noticed the other party’s solemn attitude, causing him to quickly calmed down and show an extremely serious expression: “Miss Inquisitor, how did you establish communication? Why did he find you? And… what did he say?”

“It started as an accident… No, now that I think about it, it may also be your father’s intentional arrangement.” Vanna collected her thoughts and recalled as she spoke, “I came into contact with the ‘flame’ he left behind and made a connection with it. As for why he chose me… Unfortunately, no one knows…”

Vanna omitted the details of her “imprint” and “contamination could not be removed”, instead vaguely summed up the process as “making contact”, and then told the “pirate captain” in front of her the details of several exchanges with Captain Duncan.

The man who theoretically knows Duncan Abnomar best.