Deep Sea Embers

Ashes are floating around Nina? A lot of ashes… What does that mean?

Turning his gaze towards the staircase, an uncomfortable feeling gripped the man’s mood as he listened to the faint sound of cooking in the kitchen. It’s the same usual clink and clank of the pots, the normal optimistic girl preparing dinner, yet something’s changed in his opinion with this new discovery…

Withdrawing his gaze to stare at Shirley to ensure there was no lie: “So let me get the facts straight. After Dog told you about a very suspicious target inside the school, you snuck in and approached Nina. Meanwhile, you also started to approach the suntists in the city in search of clues to unlocking the fire from eleven years ago…”

Shirley nodded in confirmation: “Yes.”

“I’m assuming you’re not actually interested in the sun fragment then?”

“…… What’s the point of looking for a fragment of some dark god?” Shirley counters, “So a flame can tell me why it burned the city back then? What I’m looking for is the one responsible for setting things into motion back then.”

“But it’s no ordinary fire,” Duncan met the gothic girl’s gaze, “if it was really a fragment of the dark sun… It would be more powerful than what burned the factory. Shirley, you’re doing something very, very dangerous.”

“I’ll speak bluntly, so don’t be angry.” Shirley thought for a moment before heaving heavily, “I think sitting here with you is already dangerous enough…”

“…… Haha, probably,” Duncan was slightly startled by the frankness and couldn’t help but chuckle. Getting up from behind the counter to slowly walk towards the stairs, “I’m just making a kind reminder. Of course, how to go about it is your business.”

“Wait a minute,” Shirley bolted from her chair as if wanting to say something, “from the way you’re speaking… you didn’t know that Nina was special?”

Duncan halted, and after a slight hesitation, he raised his finger and pointed to his eyes: “It seems that this body’s ‘eyes’ are not very good. That’s why I haven’t noticed it.”

This body…

Shirley keenly picked up on those words and came to a conclusion. She didn’t dare to point out her discovery of course, but she did watch the other party walk up the stairs with her jaws wide open: “What are you going to do now?”

“What am I going to do? Go upstairs and have dinner, of course,” Duncan said rightfully as he glanced down at the girl. “And you two, aren’t both of you coming too? It’s dinner time.”

It’s dinner time.

Eating food at the home of a shadow of subspace?

Shirley didn’t know how to describe the many strange thoughts that flashed into her head, nor did she know how her legs managed to follow the boss’s trail. Regardless, she did end up going upstairs to the second floor, where she saw for the first time the cramped kitchen.

There’s nothing special here, merely a table, a few plates of heated hard bread, and a huge pot of soup in the middle. This arrangement was typical of every household in the lower city.

However, there was something special here that caught Shirley’s eye. Unlike most families in Pland, this pot had a few pieces of fish floating in the white broth.

“I made the soup with the remaining half of the salted fish,” Nina said to Duncan with a smile and then looked at Shirley. “Uncle bought the fish the other day. You need to taste it! It’s so good~!”

Shirley rigidly sat down at the dining table as instructed, her eyes still slightly confused as she scanned the assortments.

“You’re thinking why is the food so ordinary, right?”

“Ah, no, no, no… This is much better than what I usually eat…,” Shirley replied subconsciously, then added, “but I really didn’t expect it to be such an ordinary assortment.”

“This fish looks a little strange,” Dog poked his skeletal head up from the side and glanced at the food on the table. Then, with a perplexed voice, “Why am I getting a familiar feeling from this?”

“What do you know?” Shirley glanced at her friend, “You who usually gnaw at stones as cookies shouldn’t comment…”

“Doesn’t Mr. Dog eat?” Nina looked up in surprise when she heard this.

“Shadow demons don’t eat human food. In fact, they don’t eat at all,” Shirley nodded ahumphly, “aside from occasionally nibbling on some stones to grind their teeth, they don’t consume anything.”

When Dog heard this, the dark hound promptly swung his head to the side in a huff, “That hurts. Do you know how hard it was for me to find ways to feed you? I foraged and stole food to raise you. What’s wrong with me occasionally eating some stone…”

As he spoke though, Dog didn’t forget to take another look at the soup pot by leaning over the table. Then after a good half minute, the dark hound suddenly shuddered and retracted his gaze.

“Dog, what’s wrong with you?” Shirley was stunned by her partner’s reaction.

Dog shot a look at Duncan first, then back at Shirley. Finally, he just sat there like a statue with an idiotic smile.

“What? You don’t like fish?” The indescribable swirl of light and shadow (Duncan) asked with a smile.

Dog immediately shook his head like a rocking drum, acting all innocent and clueless.

What FISH!!! That’s a bloody offspring heir of the deep sea! You chopped it up and stewed the guy into a soup! How can you even ask if I want to eat it?! Sure, you changed it somehow, and now it’s a fish, but that’s not the point!

“I… don’t like to eat fish,” Dog answers robotically.

Duncan didn’t know why Dog would behave so weirdly before the soup. To him, this must be some sort of habit of a shadow demon. Instead, the man had shifted his attention to Nina.

Nina looked no different from normal. Although she may have a little more on her mind, the sensible child gave no impression that something was wrong. However, Duncan understood the veiled curtain that shrouded the factory in the sixth district had already taken his niece. The issue was how deep the infection was…

“Uncle?” Nina finally noticed Duncan’s gaze and asked with a look of confusion, “What’s wrong?”

Duncan didn’t answer, only reaching out to gently stroke the girl’s hair like a good elder.

“I’m not a child anymore!” Nina exclaims in defense, surprised by the sudden gesture.

“I know, you’re not a kid anymore,” Duncan laughed, a tiny green flame lingering on a strand of Nina’s hair, “but you’re still a child to me.”

Nina puffed out her cheeks grumpily.

“Uncle, are you going to investigate things with Shirley again in the future?” She finally couldn’t help but ask.

“Within the limits of safety,” Duncan replied casually.

“…… Can you not go?”

Duncan shook his head: “Can’t.”

Nina grew silent for a moment, “Then what can I do?”

“Eat well,” Duncan smiled and pointed to the table, “then sleep well, study hard, and finally protect yourself while your uncle I work.”

Nina stuffed a piece of bread into her mouth, “Okay…”