Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1416: Iluna and the Flower Seller

Shard and Iluna exchanged a glance, both feeling something peculiar:

"Miss Lathis, did you see the other person’s face?"

"No, but I’m almost certain that the young girl is definitely not a normal person."

Miss Lathis continued:

"In the erased memory, there’s no sense of pain. This means that the girl who disappeared wasn’t harmed or tortured within the week. In that memory, I smelled a faint floral scent, but also a bloody scent. The memory itself doesn’t explain much. Sorry, I guess I can only help you up to here."

"No, no, you can still help us. Since this is an opera house, there should be professional makeup artists and flower seller outfits, right? I remember many operas have scenes of flower sellers peddling on the streets."

Iluna hadn’t forgotten her plan, knowing that Shard didn’t want her to take risks, she said to Shard again:

"Shard, please treat me as an independent individual, not just a regular girl under your protection."

She locked eyes with Shard, then gradually shifted her gaze away from his:

"I promise I won’t take any risks, and if there’s danger, I’ll call you immediately."

In the end, Shard could only reluctantly agree to the plan. Miss Lathis found suitable clothes for Iluna and then had a professional makeup artist disguise her as a girl selling flowers on the street.

The makeup artist of the Golden Dawn Opera Group was truly professional. When Shard, waiting outside the makeup room, saw Iluna again, he almost believed she was a real flower seller from the street. Besides, Iluna already looked young, and with the makeup, she seemed three or four years younger, except for being a bit taller.

"You really look like you’re around thirteen or fourteen now."

He even jokingly praised Iluna for looking younger, assuming that complimenting a girl on her youth was correct, but surprisingly, Iluna seemed a bit displeased.

Shard spent money buying all the flowers, and even the flower basket, from the nearby flower seller so that Iluna could continue selling them in the area where the young girl usually sold out.

Since they knew the disappearances always happened in the alleys, Iluna was required to frequently traverse the nearby alleys.

On this afternoon, while waiting for another disappearance to occur, Shard stayed near Iluna, even getting close to buy a Lyon Big Red Chrysanthemum and a Randall Carnation.

By four in the afternoon, Iluna, feeling somewhat impatient, walked into the alley next to the opera house again. Shard stood at the alley entrance reading a newspaper, planning to follow two minutes later.

Unexpectedly, an incident occurred this time, as the unique glimmer of a Sunlight Gun flickered in the alley.

Shard immediately dropped the newspaper and ran after it, then saw the alley was empty, with only a small pool of fresh blood on the ground:

"Oh, I knew using bait wouldn’t work... Echo of Blood!"

The crimson halo instantly appeared in the air, and Shard pursued the direction of the halo, eventually seeing it enter an open sewer cover near the other end of the alley.

Despite the terrible stench of the city sewers, Shard transformed into a Red Butterfly and flew down. After landing in the foul, damp environment, he continued pursuing in the darkness, following the crimson light.

In the underground maze-like sewers, he chased for a full five minutes before finally hearing voices ahead. Moving forward, as Iluna summoned a Light Orb that illuminated the sewer with golden light, Shard finally saw the scene before him.

The current location was an underground room in the sewer used for storing construction tools and as a resting place for maintenance workers. Normally, it’s locked with an iron gate, not allowing casual entry, but inside were chairs, cabinets, and beds.

At that moment, four missing girls lay on the two combined beds. A young girl Shard had never seen stood in front of the beds, like a mother hen guarding her chicks, spreading her arms to prevent Iluna from approaching them.

The flower-selling girl appeared very young, her whole body exuding Whisper Element, unmistakably a Humanoid Relic. She was only about waist-high to Shard. Besides the clothing Miss Lathis described, she held a small basket covered with a black cloth, with five or six differently colored flower petals sticking out through the cloth and basket’s gaps.

"Are you okay?"

Since he followed the blood trail, Shard was very concerned about Iluna’s safety.

The brown-haired girl shook her head:

"I’m fine. I got injured at first by accident, but apart from that, I was always in control. You should be careful; she might look young, but she’s really powerful."

"I wasn’t the one who hurt you!"

The flower-selling girl’s voice was quite juvenile but filled with anger, her brown eyes almost shooting flames:

"I was only asking you a question, and you suddenly attacked me. I had to fight back!"

By her description, Shard could almost imagine the scene at that time: Iluna suddenly whipping out the Sunlight Gun while talking with a smile.

"You’re a Humanoid Relic, and you’ve abducted so many girls. Of course, I was going to attack you and capture you!"

Saying this, Iluna was also very angry. She pointed to the flower-selling girl’s back as if to prove her righteousness to Shard:

"Look, those missing girls are indeed all here. The one lying in the middle is the Baron’s daughter. I’ve seen her photo."

"Oh, you old woman pretending to be a young girl even though you’re an adult! How did I abduct them? They all came voluntarily to help me."

The flower-selling girl argued again, her innocent voice echoing in the sewer pipe. This time, she finally completely angered Iluna:

"I’m only seventeen, I just became an adult! How dare you call me an old woman?!"

As she spoke, a golden light orb, as if colored by the sun, appeared in her hand, and its volume continued to expand.

The flower-selling girl shivered, then looked at Shard pitifully:

"You will help me, right, brother?"

The sweet tone made Shard shiver involuntarily, but he still stopped Iluna:

"Don’t be hasty, what exactly is this relic?"

"Keeper of Secrets Level Relic [Flower Seller]. The name encompasses everything it means; she is the amalgamation of all concepts of flower sellers, resentment, joy, nostalgia for childhood, memories of the past, sadness over poverty, and reflection on suffering. All this combined formed her. Don’t be fooled by her young appearance; her formation likely traces directly back to the First Era. Decades ago, someone even suggested classifying her as Angel-Level!"

Iluna said through gritted teeth. In fact, her composure was quite good; it was just being called an "old woman" that made her angry, whereas previously she would say this about others:

"The danger level being only [Keeper of Secrets Level] doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous because no one has ever truly tested the upper limits of this relic’s power. Fortunately, apart from her uncontrollable influence around her, she doesn’t harbor much malice toward humans, just enjoys doing strange things related to selling and cultivating flowers. I think she’s also attracted by the twisted Earth power."

"Yes! Big sister is right!"

The girl said in quite a childlike voice, still showing a very scared expression towards Iluna:

"The soil here has become very special, allowing flowers that normally don’t bloom to flourish."

"Then what do you want to do by taking these girls away?"

Shard asked, and the girl looked up at him and replied:

"Cultivation of flowers requires not only soil but also nutrients. I need blood to grow the flowers, so I brought along these pure girls who share my profession to help. I asked for their opinion, and they agreed!"

"That’s because you possess the ability to make all sentient beings sympathize with and feel compassion for you, and thereby agree to almost all your demands!"

Iluna said through clenched teeth, glancing at Shard:

"Shard, don’t be deceived."

"Do you have any misunderstandings about me?"

Shard said softly, while the girl continued to stretch her arms to block Iluna:

"I’m not making them work for nothing. After they work for a week and leave, I gave each of them a little white flower to adorn their soul. In this way, they won’t be infected by the Petrified Plague you mentioned, nor will the corrupted earth element spirit attack them. Even if they move away from this area, that little white flower can enhance their soul strength."

"You see, this is precisely why she’s clearly quite dangerous, yet only rated as Keeper of Secrets Level."

Iluna said to Shard, the light orb in her hand still not disappearing. This is a new Arcane Technique Iluna developed; although it can only contain the sun’s power in her hand at the moment, it is already enough to cause considerable damage.

"You did very well, but could you let these girls go?"

Shard asked, since Iluna said the other party was formidable, they should best avoid acting rashly.

The girl pouted and thought for a moment:

"Since you requested it, letting the four of them leave is certainly possible; after all, I’m not a bad person. But afterward, I will still look for new assistants in this city because my flowers haven’t blossomed yet."

At the deepest part of this small room in the sewer, on the table sits a brown flowerpot, emitting a scent somewhat similar to Blood Brew, a mix of blood and wine that is fairly fragrant. However, for now, there’s only a very short green sprout in the pot’s soil.

"That won’t do. Leave this city now."

Iluna stared at her.

"But what about my flower... how about this."

The girl thought for a moment, then proposed a condition to the two:

"If you can help me find the nutrients that will allow my flower to bloom right now, then I will leave this city immediately and even give you a flower."

"What kind of nutrients do you need?"

Iluna hesitantly asked, as resolving the problem this way would indeed be ideal.

The young girl smiled at her:

"The nutrients are in this city, and they can be easily obtained; you might even say you can get them right now. This might be a difficult task for others, but it should be simple for you. You just need to agree to my request, and you can save many flower-selling girls, which is quite a worthwhile exchange."