Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1035: The Special Trio

Shard didn’t ask Miss Chloe any questions, to avoid making the cat-transforming witch feel uncomfortable. Since there was still some time, Shard asked the other two about the situation. Of course, during this time, Shard had to control his instinct to pet the cat, as keeping Mia for the past six months had ingrained that reflex in him.

Mrs. Marques decided to head towards the mountain summit with the missing witch’s boots and make an imprint on top, so Shard inspected those boots. Although the workmanship was exquisite and the shoe size was surprisingly as small as Miss Chloe’s, they were just ordinary items, so no special attention was needed.

As for the man huddled to the side, his reason for not speaking was his fear of witches. But when Shard approached and asked, he was still willing to say a few things. The man lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard by the witches. He

didn’t want to reveal his name, but also admitted it was because he stole something that he was exiled here.

When Miss Chloe found him, he was on the verge of freezing to death in the snow. Miss Chloe, being a more open-minded witch, kept him around, allowing him to do tasks that would need a live person to explore or be sacrificed.

And when Shard asked the man what exactly he stole, he was too scared to speak.

The witch who was drinking soup snorted:

"It can’t be anything too valuable, or he would have been executed on the spot. But it can’t be something too ordinary either, otherwise exile wouldn’t have been warranted."

The witch’s remark made the man curl up again:

"I stole a... card. The territorial witch thought the card was interesting and wanted to study it, but it didn’t yield any results, so she threw it into the warehouse... After I got caught, the territorial witch tossed me and the card here, to be forever together with it."

This matched Shard’s understanding of the witches of this era, and when the man took out that "interesting" card, Shard recognized it at once. The card’s back had the Sun, Moon, and Stars positioned in three directions on a star map, the map itself circular, featuring interwoven lines.

"It’s everywhere..."

Flipping the card to its front, the card depicted a black humanoid figure, facing sideways out of the card, bald, with wings extending from behind, and curved spikes at the wing tips. The eyes resembled snake eyes, gazing sideways out of the card, and the bare skin showed traces like scales.

From any angle, Shard felt that snake eye was watching him.

"Impermanence: Darkness?"

Shard also had this card; it was a gift from Queen Diana. But interestingly, the rules at the bottom of this card, which would fall into Shard’s hands more than six thousand years later, were not the Roder Card rules he was familiar with, but—

[Sacrifice your own Life Points to create a number of black vortices on the table equal to the sacrificed Life Points. Allies may move through the vortices, receiving fixed healing each time they move, the healing amount being a third of the sacrificed Life Points, rounded down. Enemies approaching the vortices must roll to determine the number of turns they are bound.]

"A card from the Game of Life?"

Chloe the Cat recognized what it was. She was not interested in card games, so she didn’t even want to take the card for a closer look.

Shard didn’t expect that after crossing nearly six thousand years, he would still see this card. However, the appearance of this card couldn’t help the witches and their group change their situation; they still had to rely on themselves to climb the main peak of the Silver Mountains.

"What is the Game of Life?"

Holding the card, Shard vaguely felt he could manipulate it just like he did with the card from the Sixth Era.

"A game popular since the early Fifth Era, hard to pinpoint who created it, but witches liked to use it to show off their lives... It’s said some cards can be quite valuable."

The cat in his arms said, then saw Shard commanding the card to fly around, but no one there could realize what that meant.

Mrs. Marques and the timid man seemed unremarkable, so before leaving, Shard chatted again with Miss Lois, who was still in cat form.

Since the evil spirit of the Snow Mountain had been expelled, the witches planned to rest here for a while before proceeding further up the Silver Mountains.

None of the three people here could tell how far it was from their current position to the peak. But since the peak was there, climbing upwards continuously would be enough.

As for the deity that had appeared again to aid them earlier, not only Miss Chloe, but the other two had no memory of it either. Though under Shard’s inquiry, they surprisingly discovered that all three of them believed in that "Winter Maiden" and had prayed to this winter spirit for luck, but such ordinary prayers surely wouldn’t be enough to summon a deity.

Shard, who had plenty of interactions with the Old Gods, knew very well that a deity’s appearance was not a coincidence of diving down here.

Even the friendliest deities to humans would only respond when mortals made requests. If no wish was spoken before a god, they would only watch, not act. And the deity just appeared seemed to be actively protecting them, so surely someone had specifically called upon the deity on this Snow Mountain.

He shared his thoughts with Miss Chloe in her cat form, but the witch couldn’t clarify matters regarding the deity. She was only an Eleventh Rank, not an outstanding power level in the early Fifth Era, thus had no right to know the secrets of those Great Ones.

"So, what’s your status at Zaras Academy?"

Shard curiously asked again, the silver-white cat slightly turned her head:

"Just an ordinary member."

She appeared somewhat embarrassed to admit this, and added:

"However, one day, I will also become Thirteenth Rank, maybe even surpass it; it’s not impossible, the Academy harbors the secret of demigods, and I have my own research."

Shard smiled:

"I believe you certainly can."

The individuals he encountered from the past, none of them were ordinary people.

Chloe the Cat unexpectedly looked at Shard and nodded after a long while:

"A man like you really seems quite nice... So, do you know any witches well?"

"Of course, I do, and I am her lover. Although nothing has happened between me and that lady, it’s actually with her maid..."

Shard raised his right hand and saw that the white mist had already wrapped around his hand. Although this adventure lasted forty minutes, slightly longer than the previous half-hour, time was ultimately limited.

Outside the tent, the gale howled, but the temperature inside the tent had gradually increased. The campfire did not flicker in the wind, and the aroma of vegetable soup made everyone quite content. Compared to when Shard had arrived, it had become safe and cozy here.

"Look, I have to go."

Shard said to Miss Chloe, and the cat twisted its body, looking up at him:

"You promised, you will definitely come back."

In this terrible ice and snow environment, finding someone strong enough with whom she could converse was not easy.

"Yes, I will definitely come back. Although you didn’t ask me to find any information or precious items, my home has a powerful flame. Maybe the Fire Holding Nun can help me make that flame a part of myself, which might be able to help you."

Shard said, politely bidding farewell to everyone in the tent. Mrs. Marques responded somewhat nervously to Shard, the scent of jasmine heavy on her; an unknown man, holding the card, timidly waved goodbye to Shard, fearing the cat on Shard.

Miss Chloe leaped off Shard, darting into the white blanket from earlier. Unlike Tifa’s transformation, which only changed the body, the transformation spell of the Eleventh Rank Witch included clothing:

"Farewell then."

The crimson gold eyes looked at Shard, and she extended her hand to Shard. As their hands clasped, the cocooning white mist completely enveloped Shard. When the mist dispersed, the Outlander had already left the warm tent.

Mrs. Marques continued mechanically simmering the vegetable soup, while the man huddled against the wall stood unmoving, staring at the ground. Only Miss Chloe propped her face with her hand, tilting her head as she looked at the spot where Shard had just been sitting, pondering something.

[Outlander, you have returned to the current time.]

"Oh!"

Stumbling out of the White Mist Gate, leaving the Snow Mountain environment and returning home, the frozen feeling made his whole body tremble:

"Fireplace, fireplace, fireplace!"

As Mia looked on with concern, Shard quickly jogged to the fireplace in the living room, letting the burning light envelop him. Bathing in the warm glow, he felt that the sensation of his very soul freezing eased slightly:

"Phew~"

Breathing out heavily, he realized that his breath was visible cold air.

"Meow~"

Because Shard was too cold, Mia only approached him but did not jump onto him. But the cat seemed to sniff something unusual on Shard, something like a cat yet not a cat, causing the cat to waver in confusion since it didn’t know what Shard had encountered and thus couldn’t be angry with him.

Having left the Silver Mountains, the temporary "Snow Eater" blessing given by the Deity to Shard vanished, hence his noticeable unsteadiness. But thankfully, being away from that eerie snow mountain, the surrounding environment became quite normal, and the warm home still offered Shard solace as it always did.

Thinking this way, it was truly remarkable that the trio of witches could resist such cold, especially that man, who, as a normal person, even managed to...

"What’s up?"

The blonde girl, woken by Shard, appeared at the bedroom door in her pajamas and slippers. The familiar gesture of touching her earlobe made Shard recognize her as Lecia.

"Just got back from the Snow Mountain, it’s really cold."

Shard said shivering, considering whether to go to the attic and consume some flame from the kerosene lamp containing "Sunfire." But the flame had just managed to become a spark; he was also planning to take it to Sister Delphine.

Lecia, still half-asleep, asked:

"Snow Mountain?"

She then realized that Shard had returned from his past adventure.

"Let me help you warm up, Knight, I often see this scenario in knight novels."

She approached Shard, unfastening her nightgown and tossed it towards the sofa, covering the cat whose eyes widened as it watched. The girl with a high body temperature pulled Shard, who was slightly cold, into her arms.

"Very well, this time there’s only a floral perfume scent on you."

Her Highness the Princess was satisfied but also somewhat puzzled:

"But you are quite impressive, averaging a thirty-minute adventure, and every time you manage to win the favor of those ancient women."

She unbuttoned Shard’s coat and hugged him tightly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel