Within an evenly grayish-white "passage" that seemed to fill the entire world, a massive sailing exploration vessel was speeding along in silence. It was a phantom with an unreal quality—the image of the Lost Homeland overlaid the Brilliant Star, while Eerie Green Flame spilled and burned across the huge hull. Through the "mapping relationship" established by this method, Anomaly 077, the helmsman of the Lost Homeland, was guiding the ship toward the Boundless Sea.
This homeward journey seemed especially long. The uniform, monotonous grayish-white passage appeared to have no end. Not even the faintest sound of wind could be heard beyond the railings, and no matter how long they had traveled through this passage, the ship showed no sign of movement at all. Even though they had experienced this sort of "voyage" more than once, everyone found its monotony unbearable.
And as a professional "border exploration vessel" as well as the Sea Witch's "mobile fortress," the Brilliant Star was filled with countless dangerous laboratories and workshops. It was clearly not suitable for fooling around inside.
Shirley lay listlessly over the railing, staring at the vast grayish-white expanse beyond the ship as she muttered, "When are we getting there... Why do I feel like, ever since we first set out, we've spent most of our time at the border floating around in this grayish-white place?"
"That's not an illusion," Nina said, leaning against the railing beside Shirley and sighing. "We really have spent most of our time floating around in this grayish-white place."
"...I kind of miss the captain," Shirley muttered after thinking for a moment.
"We haven't been apart from the captain for that long, have we?" A'gou's muffled voice came from the deck nearby. He raised his head and glanced at Shirley. "And didn't you mutter just yesterday that