Alice's Spoils

"You saw the shadow of the Lost Homeland!?"

"Yes." Lucretia glanced at Duncan and nodded, her tone somewhat strange. "After being lost in the fog for three days, I saw a silhouette that looked very, very much like the Lost Homeland sailing through the dense mist in the distance. Wherever it passed, the fog seemed to thin briefly, revealing what normal seas looked like. I... hesitated for a long time, but I had no other choice then, so I gathered my courage and sailed toward that silhouette. But just as the Brilliant Star was about to approach it, it suddenly vanished... and then I returned to normal waters."

After finishing, Lucretia looked at Duncan with an unusual expression for several seconds before adding, "That was in 1862. You had already fallen into Subspace for sixty-two years."

Duncan fell silent for a moment. He turned to look out at the distant sea without betraying any change in his expression, then said calmly, "I don't remember that."

"I know." Lucretia nodded. "That is why I have always wondered whether what I saw was truly the Lost Homeland, or merely a hallucination born of exhaustion, or perhaps... some kind of 'special phenomenon' of the border."

"That was the first and only time I crossed the limit of 'six nautical miles.' After that, I never went that deep again, nor did I ever see a similar 'phantom.'"

Duncan remained silent, thoughts churning within him.

From Lucretia's account, he had finally gained a real understanding of just how bizarre and dangerous the boundless fog known as the "Civilization Border" and the "Eternal Veil" truly was. At the same time, countless speculations and... curiosity arose in him regarding the incredible phenomena within that fog.

Clearly, entering that fog carried enormous risks. Even a seasoned Border scholar