Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1411: Telescopic Sword

The door opened, and a young woman with similarly curly brown hair walked in. She had a tall figure, wearing a white women’s shirt paired with a black women’s formal suit, a fountain pen clipped in her pocket, and a plain black pencil skirt, with high-heeled black leather shoes on her feet.

She looked to be around twenty-four or twenty-five, wearing gold-framed glasses, and her hair was meticulously styled. Although she seemed quite young, she exuded a strong sense of maturity.

"You generally call me by my last name, so you can just call her Haley."

Miss Aphrola said, motioning her niece to come over:

"Haley, this way. You’ve met Sylvia and Benanis four or five times before, so I won’t introduce them again. This is Miss Ciris Lathes, the second in command of Golden Dawn under the Council."

"Hello."

The young woman bowed to greet, and Miss Lathes hurriedly stood up, indicating no need to be so formal. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"This is Miss Luviya Annette, she is a good friend of ours."

"Hello."

She bowed again towards Luviya, who nodded at her, quite curious about her.

"As for this handsome young gentleman."

Miss Aphrola emphasized the word "gentleman," causing all the ladies on the sofa to smile:

"He is a very important person to us... yes, the one I’ve repeated mentioned to you."

So young Miss Haley Aflora attempted to bow to Shard, who, being nearby, reached out to support her:

"No need to be so formal."

Miss Haley Aflora straightened up, but Shard noticed her ears had turned completely red. The contrast was rather amusing, as she seemed quite serious and mature overall.

"Shard, don’t be fooled by her serious demeanor. She actually had mild social anxiety and was afraid to speak to others. That’s why I got her involved in my business, to hone her social skills."

Miss Aphrola laughed and said:

"She’s much better now and has no problem talking to strangers, but for some reason, she still gets a bit nervous when speaking to people she doesn’t know among my acquaintances. Her attire isn’t due to the Aphrola family being strict or young Haley’s lack of fashion sense; she just doesn’t want people to engage her in conversation. At home, she loves to shut herself in her bedroom, curling up under the covers with a book..."

"Aunt!"

The young woman finally couldn’t help but interrupt her, stealing a quick glance at Shard, then blushing once more.

Shard had planned to leave for Benanis’s manor for lunch and then head home in the morning, but he found that, by the time he bid farewell to the ladies and returned from the Church of the Forgotten to his basement at home, it was already 2:30 in the afternoon.

He thought he’d have to go to Dorothy Apartments on Feather Quill Street to fetch Mia. But as soon as he walked out of the basement, he heard familiar feline footsteps coming from the stairs:

"Oh, Mia!"

Shard quickly made his way to the foyer, at the foot of the stairs, and opened his arms happily to catch the cat that jumped directly down from the stairs. Mia enthusiastically "collided" with Shard’s chest and then began meowing to express her displeasure.

"We came over right after breakfast."

Dorothy’s voice appeared at the upper staircase landing:

"Fortunately, you’ve let her stay overnight at my place before, so she was fairly behaved. But from lunchtime onwards, she started to get a bit down."

The golden-haired girl swiftly descended the stairs, her green eyes filled with a hint of concern as she looked at Shard:

"Shard, what happened? I was quite scared when Miss Sylvia showed up at my apartment door with Mia in the middle of the night."

She gave Shard a hug and then went upstairs with him, with Shard holding the cat.

Shard didn’t lie. Once seated on the sofa, he recounted how he had consumed some unknown liquid to combat a formidable enemy, resulting in a fever that lasted the entire night.

Since Dorothy wasn’t aware that Shard was facing a Shadow of the Evil God, she didn’t worry as much as the ladies from Randall Valley. However, she was equally perplexed as to why someone with Shard’s physical resilience suddenly had a fever, which then disappeared so quickly.

Unable to figure it out, she finally attributed it to Shard being afflicted by some unknown curse.

Shard had no intention of going to Randall Valley today, and Dorothy was pleased about it. She spent the entire day writing in her study on the second floor and, now that Shard was back, wanted to go out with him for a stroll.

Shard had a reason to visit Dawn Chapel to see Priest Augustus, and Dorothy was more than willing to accompany him. Of course, not having seen Shard all day, the cat, worried that it might not see Shard for a long time again, insisted on going out with him.

Shard felt he already knew how to motivate this cat to go outside.

Unlike Randall Valley City, which was currently in turmoil and a bit of panic, Tobesk City had remained tranquil and peaceful since the beginning of the year. It was even said that the crime rate had decreased significantly, to the extent that Shard’s business in 1854 had barely reached double digits.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Dawn Chapel wasn’t very crowded, and at that time, Priest Augustus had nothing much to do. Knowing Shard was coming to see him, he understood the purpose of Shard’s visit.

Thus, he took a leave from the church temporarily, and then left Dawn Square with Shard and Dorothy, arriving at his potion workshop in the basement on the street directly opposite the Dawn Chapel.

"Speaking of which, Priest, Luviya and I went to the local Dawn Chapel in Randall Valley to inquire about Father Mephistopheles, whom you mentioned."

When Priest Augustus was taking out the key to open the door, Shard explained again to Dorothy about how Priest Augustus lost a bet with someone for 10 pence.

The priest curiously asked:

"Did you meet him? Since he returned from Randall Valley after his business trip when he was young, our communication has been sparse due to the long distance and inconvenience of mailing letters. How is Mephistopheles’ health? You’re not bringing me bad news, are you?"

He seemed somewhat worried.

"We didn’t see him, but that Father Mephistopheles is doing well; he has become the bishop there."

The three of them entered the basement with the distinctive smell of magic potions, and the priest was a bit surprised:

"He’s become a bishop? That’s really impressive."

"At that time, he was visiting patients in the hospital during the local plague, so Luviya and I didn’t meet him. I might be busy for a while next, but I will visit him again."

Shard said, while Dorothy asked curiously:

"Priest, you actually make bets with others? What did you bet on? Can you tell me?"

"Why are you all so curious about this?"

The priest remarked discontentedly:

"It’s nothing significant, just a friendly joke among friends. Otherwise, I would have sent that 10 pence long ago, even if the postage exceeded ten shillings."

He initially wanted to explain, but changed his mind:

"Young folks, excessive curiosity isn’t a good trait. This time, I’ve decided to teach you a lesson, so I won’t tell you. Let Shard find out on his own. Once you realize how trivial it is, you’ll regret the effort and time spent on it."

Yet, his words only piqued Shard’s and Dorothy’s interest even more.

Last Monday, Shard obtained an angel’s finger bone from the haunted Worsent Manor. Due to the "Teach Osenfort a Lesson" commission from a demon, he returned the finger bone to Priest Augustus and asked him to craft a presentable, but practically useless, weapon to obscure Shard’s actions from the demon.

The priest had said it would take a week to complete, so now that Shard was visiting, the weapon was naturally ready for him.

"This is it. I’m skilled at potion making, not iron forging, so I commissioned Old John to help with its appearance, and there’s mechanical design inside."

While Dorothy was holding Mia and observing Priest Augustus’ high-temperature forge, the priest handed a black iron box to Shard.

Shard opened it to find a dark silver sword hilt with a very metallic luster.

The center of the hilt featured a groove, in which two finger bones, which looked familiar but were definitely not authentic, were crossed and embedded. Additionally, the hilt bore a pattern of elderflower, giving it a rather luxurious appearance.

"Why is there only a hilt?"

Shard asked curiously.

"Because it’s a telescopic sword, the blade is divided into four sections within the hilt."

The priest explained, taking it out, tapping the bottom of the hilt, and then making a swift swing. With a click~ sound, a segment of the blade shot out from the tip of the hilt, now resembling an exaggerated dagger with a large hilt:

"Then it’s like this."

Priest Augustus shook his arm again, and another segment of the blade emerged, turning it into a short sword; with a third shake, a third blade section appeared; finally, a fourth shake, and it became a real longsword. The blade had a normal steel color, with central blood grooves on either side, inscribed with ancient runes about death and life.

As the priest swung this longsword, Shard could even see the runes flickering, casting a golden glow on the blade:

The priest introduced:

"Pure steel sword. Tap the bottom, and you can release the blade. To retract it, press the bottom of the hilt and push the blade back against the ground or a wall. You don’t have to worry about the four blade segments not connecting securely or retracting during battle. I not only used an adhesive spell, but also specially formulated a metal maintenance solution to treat the connection points to prevent metal fatigue. However, you’re just holding it for show, to bluff your opponents in battle, so don’t expect it to actually be effective... It can indeed counter undead resistance to some extent and deceive your opponents with no problem."