Deep Sea Embers

Before the last ray of sunlight in the sky dissipated, Duncan saw the familiar facade of the antique shop.

The gas street lamps on both sides of the road have already been turned on, and the slightly yellowish light illuminates the signboard in front of the door and the gray wall. The lights on the ground floor, waiting for Duncan to come back.

Strictly speaking, from Duncan's perspective, he and Nina have just met, but for some reason, when he saw the lights on the first floor, he felt an inexplicable... apology.

Is this apology because I went out and never returned?

Duncan stepped forward and pushed open the door of the antique shop. The bell hanging at the door rang crisply. The next second, he heard a burst of hurried footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs.

The girl in a plain dress ran down the stairs like a gust of wind.

"Uncle Duncan!" Nina stopped on the stairs, looking at Duncan who appeared at the door in surprise and joy, with some surprise in her eyes, "I thought you..."

"Walking around the city, I didn't notice that it was already getting dark," Duncan shook his head, "Sorry, actually, I wanted to pick you up from school at Shizijie, but something happened to me later."

"Did you go to the cross street?" Nina looked at Duncan in surprise and confusion. She looked up and down, as if to confirm whether her uncle had drunk outside again, or was suffering from depression due to the effects of drugs, "Pick me up after school... ?”

Uncle Duncan showed a strange and familiar side again, which made Nina not know how to react.

"I'm just curious about your current situation at school," Duncan said casually, "Don't talk about it, you don't have to worry about me going out to drink or hang out with 'friends' in the future. If I come back late, it's because I have to do business. Got it?"

Nina stared blankly at Uncle Duncan entering the room and closing the door, seeing his steady gait and energetic demeanor, she nodded subconsciously.

"It's getting late," Duncan said to Nina who was standing at the top of the stairs as he walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor, "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not...not yet." Probably because she was still not used to her uncle's changes, Nina always seemed a little hesitant when answering, "When I came back, I saw that you were not at home, and I didn't know if you would come back tonight, so I just . . . haven't cooked yet. But I bought some bread, and I was going to . . . "

"Just eating bread is not enough nutrition. Let's go, there are some good things in the kitchen." Duncan was about to step up the steps, when he turned his head and smiled at Nina, "Today I will cook."

Uncle wants to cook? !

Nina seemed to have heard something from the Arabian Nights, but before she could ask any questions, she saw Uncle Duncan striding upwards, so she had to follow up quickly. Ai Yi, who was on Duncan's shoulder, was a little surprised: "Uncle, this pigeon has been with you all this time?"

"Yes, it's quite clingy," Duncan said casually, "Oh, yes, I named it Ai."

"Ai? As a pigeon...what a strange name..." Nina scratched her hair, she had already followed up to the second floor, and seeing Uncle Duncan walking towards the kitchen, she finally couldn't help asking , "Did you buy anything?"

"It's actually just a dried salted fish." Duncan found the salted fish he had put away from the kitchen cabinet, and shook the hard material at Nina with a rather smug expression, "Don't look at it so badly. So, it tastes pretty good when used to make soup.”

"Fish?!" Nina's eyes widened in surprise, "What day is it today? Fish is so expensive, isn't it usually... ah?"

She finally saw the dried fish in Duncan's hand. This unattractive thing made the girl very confused. She blinked her eyes and looked at it for a long time: "What kind of fish is this? Why haven't I seen it before?"

Duncan knew Nina would react like this.

Of course, the residents of the city-state have seen fish—although the boundless sea is dangerous, and there are dangerous things called "children" in the deep sea that threaten human safety, but not all sea areas are as weird and extreme as the deep sea area, because The protection of the gods and the defense system of the city-state itself, the ocean will be relatively safer in the shallow sea near the city-state and on a few routes that have received divine grace, and these areas often provide valuable resources for the city-state civilization.

People collect seafood and minerals from offshore areas, hunt whales and other fish with great industrial value on the routes protected by the gods, and use these things to maintain the survival of the city-state and support industrial development.

Under this premise, the occupation of "fisherman" will certainly exist.

However, the oceans of this world are not like the earth after all. Even safe sea areas are "safer" compared with deep sea areas. Therefore, even offshore fishing in this world is an extremely professional, thrilling and even a test of extraordinary knowledge and combat skills. things.

Fish was a known but expensive food item for those living in the city-state.

Even if the sea is around them, even if there are countless fish in the sea.

Nina hadn't eaten fish for many years—even before her uncle fell ill, a commoner like her didn't have much chance to see fish served on the table.

Ordinary fish are so rare, let alone gifts from the deep sea.

Duncan even suspected that this kind of deep-sea fish he caught on the Lost Country was the first time in the territory of the Puland city-state—let alone Nina, a commoner girl, I am afraid that even the consul of the city-state and the high-ranking priest of the church We have no chance to try this fresh.

Nina is lucky today.

"Don't worry about the variety, just wait and eat." Duncan knew that there were some things that couldn't be explained clearly, so he didn't explain at all. He turned and went back to the kitchen to start preparing today's dinner.

This strange fish is not small in size, even after it is dried, it is quite a size. If it is used to make soup, it cannot be eaten at one time, so he divided the dried salted fish into two sections, and prepared to use the fish head first - the rest can be used After the rope is threaded, it continues to be hung in the cabinet, and it may become more flavorful after further drying.

Uncle really started cooking.

Seeing the familiar figure busy in the kitchen, Nina felt like a dream.

In fact, she didn't care at all what happened to the strange fish that her uncle brought out, and she didn't even care about today's dinner at all.

Compared with these trivial things, the changes that happened to her uncle were the weirdest things that deserved her most attention.

There was the sound of the knife hitting the cutting board, the gas stove was hissing, and the bottom soup in the pot was bubbling and bubbling.

Nina was in a daze. She hadn't seen such a scene for several years?

There was a hint of hesitation on her face, and after a while, she seemed to suddenly make up her mind, and said to the busy back at the kitchen door: "Uncle, tomorrow...Mr. Morris is coming to visit."

"A home visit?" Duncan, who was busy cooking, was taken aback when he heard this. "Mr. Morris...your history teacher?"

Nina nodded: "Yes."

"The teachers in that school still make home visits?" Duncan put the processed fish pieces into the pot, and while putting the knife in the pool, he looked back at Nina in surprise, "I thought it was the ones in the upper city. A 'feature' that only a school can have."

"The school... does not have such rules," Nina said cautiously while paying attention to Duncan's attitude, "but old Mr. Morris is special, he... pays special attention to students."

Duncan didn't speak for a while.

Things went a little beyond his expectations.

He didn't expect that his "Captain Duncan" would suddenly encounter such a situation and need to deal with it when he was carrying out activities in the city-state!

He has considered dealing with the church, considering dealing with the magistrate, and even considering dealing with the city-state navy and military and police forces—whether he likes it or not, his plan is full of spirit fire, swords, and more than a hundred people from the Lost Homelander. Door broadsides.

But he never considered in his plans that there would be an old man who taught history in the public schools.

Why is this reality always so unexpected?

"Uncle?" Seeing Duncan's lack of response for a long time, Nina couldn't help feeling a little worried, "Aren't you willing? Then I can tell old Mr. Morris... Actually, I told him today, I told him about your health. It wasn't very good, so I couldn't accept a home visit this time, he didn't say anything at the time..."

Looking at Nina's nervous reaction, Duncan felt thoughts in his heart.

It seemed that the old Mr. Morris had made a request for a home visit for the first time.

So how many times did Nina say no for the same reason?

"...he teaches history, doesn't he?" Duncan asked again suddenly.

Although she didn't know why her uncle asked this question again, Nina nodded, "That's right."

"Very good, I just want to deal with professionals in the field of history," Duncan laughed, "When will he come tomorrow?"