Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1517: Solution to the Plague

"Attending your own funeral, wouldn’t that feel strange?"

Shard raised an eyebrow and asked softly.

The Guardian shook his head slightly. His attire was similar to Shard’s, just a bit more old-fashioned. Ciris, standing next to the Priest and delivering a eulogy, obviously noticed the new guest but did not pause her speech.

After Ciris, it was Shard’s turn. He briefly expressed his respect for Mr. Lathis and acknowledged that he laid an important foundation for the current "Golden Dawn Opera Troupe".

Shard originally thought that after his speech, Ciris would let the Guardian say a few words, but in fact, that did not happen. The Priest announced for everyone to stand, and he led the people in the final prayer, praying for Wylan Lathes’s soul to rest in peace.

After the church service ended, the coffin was moved to the tomb under the large tree. Led by Ciris, everyone threw a handful of soil onto the coffin in the tomb, which was then filled and leveled, surrounded by a circle of small stone pillars. According to Randall Valley’s custom, the highest point of the grave should be flush with the ground.

Everyone stood in front of the grave in silence for a while, and then came another farewell. The Church’s search and investigation efforts throughout the city were about to intensify, so no one would meet again for a short time.

Seeing that Ciris had no intention of talking to him, the Guardian walked a little further away, waiting for a moment to talk with Shard.

Shard then bid farewell to the ladies one by one. Although the moment of parting was always melancholic, he knew that this farewell meant the countdown to their next reunion had already begun.

"These are letters for Helen and Grace. I will go to Milestone to see you once I’ve dealt with the matters at hand."

Shard handed the letters to the girl with flaxen hair, Miss Swift gently nodded, accepted the letters, and ignoring others’ gazes, kissed Shard on the cheek:

"You’ve worked hard on the Randall Valley matters. Don’t forget to visit us at Midshire Fort in spring, Sicarl Mountain is very beautiful in the spring."

Shard smiled and nodded.

Next was Miss Aphrola. The proud Witch seemed indifferent to the farewell, but when Shard reached out to hug her, she showed a hint of reluctance on her face:

"Be careful, stop always going to dangerous places."

She advised Shard but refrained from saying anything more. As for Miss Haley Aflora, she waved quietly to Shard. Although she hadn’t interacted much with Shard, she had a good impression of him.

Miss Galina and Tifa were returning to Tobesk today with the help of Miss Sylvia, so there was no need for a farewell. However, she reminded Shard to keep his schedule open tomorrow, Tuesday, as there might be things she would want Shard to do.

When Miss Galina said this, Tifa was standing behind her, winking at Shard. This was an obvious hinting action, but Shard was unsure of what was being hinted at. He wanted to ask Tifa for clarification, but the black-haired Miss Maid only smiled and refused to speak afterward.

Lastly were Miss Sylvia and Margaret. They had to stay locally for another week due to the shipyard ribbon-cutting event. Although this wasn’t the first farewell, Margaret still seemed very emotional:

"During the time in Randall Valley, you always helped me with various matters, especially dealing with the Stonemason Guild, thanks to you. I’ve always been busy, sorry, I haven’t had much time to spend with you."

She bit her lip, hugged Shard goodbye, genuinely regretful about this:

"Next time we meet, no matter the time or place, I will definitely push away all things for you."

Though blushing slightly, she still kissed Shard, looking closely into his eyes:

"Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, my... lover."

Shard could clearly feel the change in the surrounding women’s gazes.

"Margaret, you still have to meet with Countess Hatiers later, don’t delay."

Hence, Miss Sylvia gently pulled her along, then smiled and said to Shard:

"Take care of yourself, you don’t have to worry about our business, Margaret will assist me. Oh, I didn’t bring the finished product to Randall Valley. When we return to Velindale, I’ll have Margaret send it to you; you’ll like it."

Everyone knew what she meant by "finished product".

"Remember to visit Randall Valley often."

Miss Benanis said lastly, but since she had a date with Shard at the Opera House tonight, it wasn’t really a goodbye, so her expression was the least wistful.

Ciris did not speak to Shard. She knelt on one knee, gazing sadly at the tombstone in front of her, which had brief inscriptions:

[Wylan Garland Lathes]

[Second Head of the Golden Dawn Opera Troupe, a good father.]

[Born of the earth, died on the earth, buried in the earth.]

[May the Earth be with you and me.]

"Are you okay?"

Shard softly asked from behind her, and Ciris shook her head slightly, having long since grown strong:

"Everyone ages; it’s something we should have understood when we first met. My father chose his own path, and I’m happy for him. He didn’t abandon me, rather he sought a better way to protect me."

She turned to Shard and said:

"Someday, you’ll leave too, won’t you?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The "her" by his ear chuckled, and Shard shook his head, looking up with all the ladies around him at the bare tree now:

"See this tree, in winter, it has no leaves, but come summer, the abundant leaves will shade the grave from the scorching sun, and the warm wind will make it sing the songs of summer. Then it will be winter again, withered and dying, and after that, a vibrant spring once more."

"You mean to say, this is the cycle of nature, and we must face it all?"

Ciris asked, and once more Shard shook his head:

"The tree will always change, but the earth beneath will remember its form every year. Ciris, whether people leave or not depends on you, not me. As long as you remember us, we will always be by your side."

The ladies around them all smiled, and the young girl with the golden hair stood up, smiling and nodding, as if to engrave the figures in front of her onto her heart forever:

"I will always remember you, never forget."

"Nor will I forget you, or any of you."

And so, Ciris gently left a kiss mark on the side of Shard’s face.

Just as Shard said, soon enough, the tree’s shade would cover this small grave. Because, indeed, spring had come.

The Witch and the apprentices each left. After the simple funeral ended, Shard waved goodbye to everyone, then put his hands in his pockets and went to find the waiting Guardian nearby.

Two men, or at least two who appeared to be men, walked together on the square stone slab-paved path of the cemetery. The hazy fog made this graveyard seem somewhat unreal, but it was indeed a good place for a secret conversation.

Shard asked:

"You didn’t come just for this funeral, did you? I thought you’d contact Luviya directly if there was anything."

Just like how Sister Delphine gave Luviya the flame that could directly contact her, Shard also had the Guardian give Luviya the means to contact him directly. Of course, if Shard wanted to find the Guardian, he wouldn’t need to go through the passage beneath the Night Shrine again; just standing on the ground in the Randall Valley Region and calling the Guardian’s name would make him appear.

"There are other matters; I really don’t like appearing on the surface unless necessary."

The Guardian said, and although the city public cemetery was quite crowded during this time, it was also silent in the mist. Shard wasn’t the Chosen of Death, but he could still sense the ’Breath of Death’ through his own Perception. It was a hard-to-describe feeling, and in his perception, the Randall Valley, filled with the breath of death, was being illuminated by the morning sun, with the fog soon dispersing.

"It’s about curing the Petrified Plague and the Circle Sorcerers contaminated by filth."

The Guardian said, his tone calm:

"These people must be dealt with quickly; even though you’ve eradicated the root of the twist, the contamination can still spread."

Shard’s expression turned serious; this was indeed a big problem:

"But the issue is that even if we address the root of the earth’s twist, we still haven’t found a convenient and affordable cure. Besides, I don’t have a single Holy Grail left in my possession."

Shard said regretfully:

"We can’t really chip another piece from the current Heart of the Earth, can we? This would be, aside from skipping stones, the most wasteful use of the Heart of the Earth."

"The Heart of the Earth’s power must not suffer any more loss now."

The Guardian said, this being the truth. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be unable to easily leave the Randall Valley:

"The True God Church has discussed this through the Chosen of Balance. They have ways to deal with petrification, but neither the high-level magic potions, the table on the sanctified riverside clearing, nor relics are ways they can produce in mass enough to save thousands or tens of thousands of people."

Shard nodded to show he understood:

"I could directly cure the Petrified Plague, and even the petrification symptoms from the black mud, as long as they aren’t dead yet. But I don’t want to expose my identity, and I don’t have enough Spirit to heal everyone in an entire city either."

Shard sighed and said, and the Guardian asked:

"May I ask what method it is? Sorcery? Arcane Technique? A unique ritual? Or some highly specifiable relic with low negative traits?"

So Shard described his ’Active Soil,’ and then realized that this Arcane Technique didn’t have the ’Power of the Earth’ prefix, meaning that even the Guardian, having undergone the Chosen One Ceremony and now fully mastering all the Power of the Earth, couldn’t learn or use this spell.