Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1439: Fate’s Divergence Point
The moonlit kiss lasted a long time, and it was only after they finally walked away that Shard and Miss Lathis revealed themselves.
Miss Lathis watched their backs, while Shard bent down to pick up two pages from the ground, carefully folding them and putting them in his pocket. These two pages would still be very useful to him:
"If judged by the standards of a play or opera, the tension and impact of the final scene are clearly insufficient."
Shard remarked.
"But real life isn’t a play; plainness is the main theme of life. I quite like the ending of this story. I just didn’t expect Maggie did such a thing in Velindale."
Miss Lathis said, watching their fading backs.
"Let’s go back. Margaret should be coming out soon."
Shard said, and Miss Lathis nodded, but then suddenly asked:
"By the way, I’ve been curious since just now, why did you run over to the stables? You yourself said that you were the first to arrive at the stables, and Mr. Enriques suddenly appeared afterward."
Shard could have used Ston Osenfort as an excuse for this topic, but he didn’t.
He stopped walking and looked at Miss Lathis’s delicate face under the gaslight:
"I met the Guardian again just now, but it wasn’t the Guardian’s true form; it was an earth avatar. He told me that there’s a big problem with the Heart of the Earth. After the banquet ends and we return to the manor, I’ll explain it to you, and also... the Guardian wanted me to give you this."
He took out the golden pebble:
"Touch this stone, and you can obtain the Power of the Earth."
In helping Shard extract the Time Key at the Night Shrine, Miss Lathis unexpectedly gained memories left by Mrs. Blanchett, a witch from a former era whom Shard met in the Worm Cave, and thus obtained related information on the Magic - Power of the Earth: Memory of the Soil.
As long as she touches the power related to the Power of the Earth, she can learn this magic. Although Shard doesn’t want Miss Lathis to die and become part of the Guardian, he must give her this stone because the Chosen One Ceremony requires inviting five bearers of the Power of the Earth.
But Miss Lathis did not take the stone and asked:
"Are you hiding something from me?"
Her beautiful eyes looked at Shard in the cold night:
"Why do you say that?"
"Lately, you’ve been looking at me with a strange expression, like you’re worried I’ll suddenly drop dead. Also, last time at the Night Shrine, you said something strange to me, telling me not to easily give up my life. Although I can’t guess what you actually know, it’s clear you’re hiding something important from me."
The golden-haired girl looked at Shard, who didn’t know what to say:
"Luvia surely knows what you’re hiding from me as well. Vanessa may not know all the details, but she probably guessed. You’ve told me I’m the third candidate for the Chosen One. The things you’re hiding from me must also be related to the Chosen One, right?"
Shard still didn’t speak.
"Does it concern my father? Sending this stone to make me fully grasp the Power of the Earth and hold the possibility of becoming the Chosen One, it surely isn’t because he still cares about me, but because it’s beneficial to the Earth... I see."
The young girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes, and when she looked at Shard again, there was an emotion in her eyes that Shard couldn’t understand, an emotion inducing compassion:
"The Guardian wants me to die and then become part of him?"
Although she hadn’t linked it to the demon’s scheme, she had already deduced the reason the Guardian sent the stone:
"And you and Luvia didn’t want to tell me because, in fact, my death would be an act that benefits everyone."
"Your death could indeed change some things, but I have other means to achieve the same result."
Shard directly put the golden pebble away:
"So, if you really died according to the Guardians’ wishes, it would lead to the worst outcome. Miss Lathis..."
"Call me Ciris."
She said strongly.
"Alright, Ciris."
Shard pointed in the direction of the manor:
"There are many paths in front of me, and I don’t want to choose the one where you die. The Guardians have already gone mad; even if they weren’t, they weren’t normal to begin with. You’ve met your father, you know they view the Earth as the most important thing; they don’t have normal human emotions. So, they’re wrong. You shouldn’t agree with the path they’ve chosen for you."
Ciris looked at him:
"Even if the Earth might be destroyed because of it, you still don’t want me to sacrifice myself?"
She likely had a spirit of sacrifice; otherwise, in the fragment Shard saw from the Bygone Era, Sixth Era, she wouldn’t have had that final dialogue with the long-haired Luvia.
"I’ve said before, I have other ways. The Earth won’t be so easily twisted without your sacrifice. Ciris, I know my words might be harsh, but you aren’t that important to this world."
The young girl wasn’t angry; instead, she smiled:
"Can you promise me something?"
"What is it?"
"I’ve reached the final step my father took. Tomorrow, Friday, accompany me to the Church of the Forgotten. Although this matter seems to only make me sentimental about the past now, it has no other significance, I still want to experience my father’s last thoughts before he passed, to see the scenery he last saw."
Those eyes looked at Shard, and Shard instinctively felt that refusing this invitation would likely lead to a terrible outcome at the end of the upcoming story.
[A fork in Fate. The choice you are about to make will have a significant impact on the future.]
The whispers gently echoed in Shard’s ear, prompting him to make a decision immediately:
"No problem, anytime during the day tomorrow is fine. However, the stone entrusted to me by the Guardian for you, I won’t give it to you for now... to prevent... what I want to refuse from happening."
The young blonde girl pursed her lips and looked at him, before softly saying:
"I probably know why the Grand Witches of the Witch Council... Thank you."
Winter was not entirely over, chatting in the open courtyard at night was definitely not a good choice. Shard and Ciris did not linger by the fountain, instead returning together to the mansion where the banquet was held.
"What were you up to?"
As soon as they entered the lively banquet hall, Miss Sylvia and Miss Benanis approached them together. Both elegant Grand Witches held wine glasses, Miss Sylvia with champagne and Miss Benanis with red wine.
"Had a chat outside about tomorrow night and early Saturday morning events."
Shard said vaguely, while Ciris smiled, not engaging with the topic:
"Her Highness Margaret hasn’t come out yet?"
"Almost here. I just came from the study, the final negotiation went fairly well."
Miss Sylvia said, walking with the other three towards the sofa by the wall:
"Margaret increased the compensation amount but divided it into three installments, the first to be paid now, the remaining two every six months. Prince William contributed some money for this merit. With all these combined, the representatives of the Stonemason Guild mostly agreed."
"What form did the apology take, and what about the King’s request to repair the Royal Mausoleum?"
Shard asked, Miss Benanis smiled and said:
"My future apprentice really has some skills. We actually fell into a thinking trap; repairing the Royal Mausoleum, is it really a tough task?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
"If there’s suitable pay, even if repairing the Royal Mausoleum incurs some loss, it greatly benefits in terms of reputation."
Miss Lathis spoke, then hinted:
"What the Royal Family wants is only for the outside world to see the Stonemason Guild working for free. How it’s actually done doesn’t really matter."
Shard then somewhat understood:
"Although King ’Lion’ Lain said the Stonemason Guild should repair for free, it’s just for the Royal Family’s face. Actually, Margaret can completely pay the Stonemason Guild from another angle... Outsourcing? I mean, she herself can start an empty shell company, the Royal Family assigns the task to this no-person company, then the company hires the Randall Valley Stonemason Association. As long as this relationship is not exposed, it fully appears that the Stonemason Guild didn’t get the Royal Family’s money but still repaired the mausoleum."
Miss Sylvia looked at Shard in surprise:
"I didn’t expect you to think of that. With your life experience, you haven’t encountered similar situations, right?"
"I read quite a lot of books."
The Outlander said exceptionally humbly, so Miss Benanis asked:
"Then, dear Mr. Knight who reads a lot, guess how the apology matter is going to be fudged away?"
"Uh..."
"Oh, don’t move!"
The Blonde Witch suddenly said, then used both arms to embrace Shard’s left arm:
"Someone over there is taking pictures, like last time, help me disguise a bit."
She leaned her entire body against him, her head slightly tilted, resting on Shard’s shoulder:
"During the Randall Valley incident, the Council provided too much help. This surely makes the Church of the Five Gods suspicious if there’s a resident Grand Witch of the Witch Council locally, otherwise many things are hard to explain. So, help me escape suspicion, nobody would think that women of the ’Handkerchief Enthusiasts Society’, as widely rumored outside, have close relations with a man."
"Were they often like this before we came?"
Miss Sylvia raised her eyebrow while holding champagne, questioning Ciris, the young blonde girl watching them, shook her head with a smile:
"Vanessa only got bold recently in the past few weeks."
Then she was threatened by her best friend, with beautiful big eyes shining with a greenish tint amidst gold.
