Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1538: An Afternoon with the Butterflies
"Sir, the flower seller you mentioned is quite special. Although the Sixth Era humans consider her Keeper of Secrets Level, and the humans of the Fifth Era didn’t regard her as highly dangerous, in a real fight, we relics in our prime couldn’t defeat her. She is a very ancient existence, extremely ancient, even tracing back to the times when the Ancient Gods hadn’t yet left. However, during the Fifth Era, she helped me and us."
Grace said, then offered a suggestion:
"My sister and I, after all, only gained our powers in the Fifth Era, so we are not familiar with that ancient knowledge. Sir, the flower seller reminded us, if you want to explore the source of your bloodline, I think those older existences might be able to help you. Your lineage must be very noble, just as your character is noble."
Shard felt a bit embarrassed:
"Don’t say that about me. But I think it’s true that I should pay some attention to my bloodline issue. If I get a chance, I’ll ask others."
Like "Desire."
Although he still somewhat doubted the peculiarity of his physical body, stemming from the divinity in his soul affecting the materialized shell. But since Grace and Helen, who have seen many different Deities, didn’t propose this possibility, Shard grew increasingly suspicious that this body, which in the Academy’s background investigation was born in the rural Southern Draleon and fled to Tobesk, might not have such a normal life background in its blind foolish first half as he had previously thought.
"No, now I’m completely certain, this body definitely has a problem."
Shard had nothing to do before nightfall, so he devoted this afternoon to having fun with Helen and Grace.
He asked the Red Butterfly Maidens if they wanted to stay in Midshire Fort or go to Tobesk, Randall Valley, or other places. They could all mark waypoints by touching the Ancient God Statue, and since Shard could summon them with the "Butterfly Summoning Flute," in theory, Helen and Grace could go anywhere with Shard.
It was clear that the twin sisters had long made plans for a "date," and the place they chose was Tobesk City, where they had once visited with Shard.
The Outlander also experienced the early spring of Tobesk for the first time, so after returning home with Helen and Grace, he first visited Mia, who had eaten the cat food and was napping, and seemed unhappy to be touched, extending a paw. Then he, along with the sisters wearing a beige wide-brimmed sunhat adorned with fake flowers, prepared to go out.
But as coincidence would have it, a long-absent client knocked on the door downstairs just as Shard was about to leave this afternoon. Shard originally wanted to decline the job, but the twin sisters thought it would be fun to be a "detective" with Shard:
"Instead of wandering around the city aimlessly, why not find something to do?"
Grace, wearing a white dress, suggested.
So, Shard listened to the task description of the "Northern City Tom’s Alley Prank Knocking Incident" in the second-floor living room. The matter was not complicated; Northern City’s Tom’s Alley was one of those common narrow alleys in the city, but it was also the location of the back entrances of large commodity trading warehouses and transport company buildings in the Northern part of the city.
Starting from last week, the iron doors in those alleys, which often remained unopened for weeks, began frequently being knocked from the alley, but whenever people opened the doors to check, no one was there. The irritated people had once sought police investigation, but as this incident involved no deaths and no major property loss, the Riddlevitch Field police had no interest at all.
Therefore, the building owners with back doors in Tom Alley pooled money together, sent a representative to find the city’s "Detective Hamilton," hoping Shard could help with the investigation.
There were no problems with the details of the entrusted task. After signing the contract and sending off the lawyer who was the intermediary and the client, Shard began today’s work with the twin sisters.
They seemed very excited, discussing the details of the case together with Shard on the carriage heading to the crime scene. When the three got off at the alley entrance, reeking a peculiar odor and resembling a Trash Alley, they complained about the smell and then pushed Shard as they entered together.
In fact, this case was quite simple. Because not long after they entered the alley, they saw a Wraith Spirit, only its upper body remaining, surprisingly appearing by the wall in broad daylight.
The appearance of the powerful Wraith Spirit made white mist spread in an instant. As the drawn-out wailing echoed in their ears, an untraceable chill swept across the alley, the light suddenly dimmed, and everything around seemed to melt into the mist.
In a daze, Shard thought he had returned once more to Midshire Fort.
"The vague Edge of Life and Death! Again, the edge!"
The Undead crawled toward Shard and the two girls, so the girls, who seemed to fear ghosts, screamed and hid behind Shard, laughing and tugging at his clothes, peering forward from his side:
"Oh, sir, it’s a ghost!"
Helen said, which reminded Shard of their reunion in the Sicarl Mountains, her performance by the bright sunlit stream.
"Don’t worry, I will protect you."
Shard said, raising his hand, as a rotating, spiked Light Wheel appeared. But he hesitated and finally threw out the silver round ring of the [Binding Light].
Afterwards, things became much simpler. No matter how unique the opponent was, they were still completely immobilized under the Arcane Technique of Shard, who was now at the Six Rings.
The twin girls, frightened, clung to Shard’s back, and together they approached the undead.
"Moonlight Slash!"
Shard didn’t use his full strength, merely severely wounding the enemy in front of him. Then he extended his right hand towards the weakened spirit:
"Guide to Death."
Due to the direct touch, the resentment of the Wraith Spirit was dispelled, and at the same time, the story of this fragmented spirit appeared in Shard’s mind.
In short, he had been dismembered and buried in the alley and in a building adjacent to it. The daily knocking was merely the soul’s instinctive attempt to retrieve its severed lower half after being stirred from the Edge of Life and Death.
The spirit originally had no ability to attack humans, and could barely manage to knock and make sounds. However, it suddenly received a boost this afternoon.
This seemed like a change in the "Edge of Life and Death" hidden here this afternoon, but Shard understood that the trait of Helen and Grace’s "Calamity Twins" had not completely disappeared.
Shard, being an ordinary detective, certainly couldn’t tell the client that there was a haunting, nor could he directly inform the Church about the situation here. According to his investigative habits, the next step was to find the remaining half of the corpse and then inform the police about the discovery of both parts of the body.
At least a decade had passed since the Wraith Spirit’s death, so finding clues through the Echo of Blood was impossible. This wasn’t an untouched basement with traces to follow. As for the undead itself, it didn’t know where the rest of its body was either, otherwise, it wouldn’t have gone door-to-door knocking.
The most foolish method would be to inquire at the police station about missing person cases in the area over the past decade or so, but the "timid" girls provided another method:
"Souls have a gravitational force, especially separated souls. This gravitational force attracts them to converge, and no distance can prevent their reunion."
Helen held onto Shard’s arm, while Grace stood on Shard’s other side. She extended her empty left hand, and a transparent Red Butterfly flew out from her palm, landing on the fragmented spirit.
The Red Butterfly seemed to solidify upon contact with the spirit, leading the trio away from the Edge of Life and Death. It then fluttered into one of the doors in the alley, and Shard opened the door, slipping inside with Helen and Grace.
Thus, in this ordinary and peaceful afternoon, they uncovered the "Ursula’s Emporium Murder Case." The murder itself occurred about 17 years ago. Two accountants at the emporium had a dispute over bookkeeping, leading to one of them being killed. The corpse fell from the upstairs and hit a sharp object, severing it into two parts.
One part was buried in the perpetually foul-smelling alley, while the other, too fragmented to handle easily, was buried on the spot in a corner of the emporium’s warehouse.
Now, 17 years later, the murderer had long vanished, but at least the body was found and the case resolved, addressing a missing person case from years past.
Of course, tales of hauntings would never come from the mouth of Detective Shard Hamilton, who valued reasoning and wisdom. He merely reported the discovery of the body to the police that afternoon and, when bringing them back, also brought along the lawyer who served as the intermediary for the commission to explain the events clearly.
On the other side of this alley was the busiest commercial street of the Northern District Lower District. The priest from the Church soon arrived upon hearing the news, instructing the police to completely cordon off the alley. Shard did not directly reveal to the merchants the ghostly occurrences, but the actions of the police and priest still confirmed the suspicions of the superstitious people of this era.
In any case, Shard successfully received his commission reward and was thanked:
"But the knocking culprit hasn’t truly been caught. I don’t really believe in the haunting theories, but if there’s another knocker in the future, you can come to me and I’ll handle it for free."
However, the merchants surrounding the priest and police, eager for a comforting response, paid him no mind. Whether Shard believed in ghosts was irrelevant, as he didn’t live or work here, but most of their assets were nearby.
"Sir, is your work always this interesting?"
On the way home, Helen asked Shard with a smile, her hands behind her back.
"Actually, most of my commissions involve finding cats and dogs. And most of the cases detectives take involve infidelity. Cases like today’s are rare."
In reality, the twin girls weren’t concerned about the nature of the case. Having more shared memories with Shard was the main point. They didn’t take a carriage home but walked instead. When passing the Northern District Hymn Square, Shard took them to the Three Cats Inn to sit for a while and listen to the bard sing ballads about heroes and love.
By the time they ambled back home, it was already dusk. The setting sun had sunk below the horizon.
