Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 751 - Flowers and Fog and Shard

Chapter 751 -751 Flowers and Fog and Shard

That night, Luviya simply held Shard, and he experienced a perfect sleep.

Having closed his eyes after ten on Wednesday night, he slumbered dreamlessly and woke up at seven in the morning on Thursday. Mia hadn’t even disrupted his sleep at the usual six-thirty, probably realizing that Shard was truly exhausted. When Shard opened his eyes, he even thought it was the best night’s rest he had ever had in this world.

“I didn’t even have that dream where I look up at Silvermoon.”

Feeling refreshed as he sat up in bed, a night’s rest had completely restored Shard to his normal state. The purple-eyed girl was no longer on the bed, having left for the Prophet’s Society, but the sheets were still warm, indicating that she hadn’t left long ago. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

In high spirits, Shard curled his fingers towards the tightly closed curtains, and they drew back slightly with a soft noise, allowing the hazy autumn morning light to filter through the fog and into the second-floor bedroom.

“Meow~”

A somewhat aggrieved cat’s meow came from the direction of the door. Hearing the sounds of Shard getting up, Mia walked in from the living room with her short legs and stood at the doorway, urging Shard to fix breakfast.

Shard flipped off the covers, preparing to get out of bed, but then smiled and stretched out his finger:

“Sunlight Ray.”

A slender beam of positive energy shot out from his finger, leaving a small circular spot on the floor in front of Mia. A regular “Sunlight Ray” would only last a very short time, its strong energy being used to combat immortal creatures. What Shard did was control his own spirit to produce the light at the lowest power output, which allowed it to persist.

“Meow?”

The cat looked surprised at the bright spot, then abruptly swiped at it with her fluffy right front paw. Mia was a cat with orange and white patches, mostly orange fur on her back and mostly white on her four short legs.

After hitting the bright spot, then seeing it reappear further in front, she extended her left front paw to swipe at it again and once more saw the bright spot move and shake:

“Meow?”

The small orange cat was momentarily perplexed, then suddenly sprang into action, bouncing in place and batting at the ground with her front paws.

Shard couldn’t help but laugh at this sight.

The new day began with this friendly interaction between Shard and his pet cat, Mia; he hoped to maintain such good spirits throughout the day.

Since the danger at home had been resolved, Mia could stay at home alone. Frequent outings with the cat had not made her grow fond of the experience.

After breakfast on this particular morning, Shard prepared to leave without calling for Mia, which made her, glaring at him from the stairs, very happy.

Perhaps for the cat, just staying at home each day, waiting for Shard’s return, was the simplest happiness.

The weather in Milestone was still foggy that day, but perhaps due to the Ancient God Statue, the dense fog from the mountain forest had not invaded the basement of the Ruined Tower. However, looking up through the trapdoor from the basement, the thick fog was so heavy that Shard could not even see the early morning sun.

“The seal on the mountainside has been reinforced, what has happened now?”

After leaving the Ruined Tower, the fog in the mountains was incredibly dense. After a few steps, Shard felt as if he had entered the Ancient God Space. The fog, obviously emanating from the Interstice, crawled with a great number of undead that should have passed on. Fortunately, the side effect of attracting undead with the use of the Relic had long worn off for Shard. With “her” guidance and the blessing of Witch Empress Violetta, he managed to skirt any potential battles and arrived in the city by nine in the morning.

The situation in the city was not much better than in the mountains; enveloped in a heavy mist, Midshire Fort lost its usual bustle. Despite being a Thursday morning, the streets were practically empty of people. The few individuals Shard encountered were hurrying along and often needed the help of the low walls to navigate.

Even more, as Shard headed towards the Sun Church, he didn’t see a single carriage on the road. In this kind of weather, even with carriage lamps, they would be useless— the entire city was wrapped in white fog.

Without carriages, Shard had no choice but to walk through the city. What he saw most along the way were policemen scurrying past on the streets with kerosene lamps. Police whistles sounded occasionally from distant districts. This eerie foggy weather indeed provided the perfect opportunity for those with malicious intentions to commit crimes.

Shard was eager to learn about the changes in the city that day, but somehow, he did not encounter a single newsboy along the way. Fortunately, as he passed the intersection at Evergreen Street, he came across a flower-selling girl huddled by the roadside, too scared to cross the street by herself.

The little girl was very short, carrying a scrubbed but still shabby basket. Her shoes were oversized, and her grey dress and deflated hat were patched up. She was very thin, presumably from chronic malnutrition, which made it hard for Shard to guess her exact age.

The flower seller also noticed Shard approaching through the fog and hesitated before coming forward, yet she still kept her distance. Shard stopped, reached into his pocket to take out some money, but this motion made the girl even more hesitant.

In the foggy weather, if Shard pulled out a handkerchief that could knock someone out, no one could save her. The children who sold flowers or newspapers on the streets had learned to protect themselves through the hardships of life.

“This is a wallet.”

Shard showed the wallet he had inherited from Detective Sparrow to the flower seller, indicating for her to come over:

“I want to inquire about something. When did this fog roll in? I remember it seemed to be clearing by yesterday evening.”

He flipped a shilling coin from his hand and caught it again. The skinny flower girl watched the coin flipping intently and slowly approached:

“Sir, the fog came last night.”

The residents of Midshire Fort had a strong accent, and they tended to emphasize the guttural sounds when they spoke.

“Coming from the mountain?”

“No, it just emerged from the city like the usual autumn fog.”

The girl couldn’t describe the situation very well when the fog appeared, but based on her explanation, it seemed that this fog had nothing to do with the seals in the mountain passes, and there had not been any errors with yesterday’s seals.

“Okay, I understand.”

Shard nodded, tossing the shilling coin to the girl who refused to approach him. Intent on leaving, he stopped and said,

“With such terrible weather, you should head home soon too. It’s not suitable to be out right now.”

“But… but I haven’t sold all my flowers yet.”

The little girl said timidly.

Of course, Shard knew why she didn’t want to go home. Going home now meant not only no earnings but also that the upfront cost for the flowers would be a loss to the florist. His question was intended to lead to the following offer:

“How much for all these flowers? I’ll buy them all.”

Given the stamina of a girl who was chronically malnourished, there weren’t many flowers in her basket to begin with. And these street flower sellers usually wouldn’t purchase overly expensive bouquets, so Shard’s expense wasn’t significant.

“Sir, I…”

She was not only surprised but at a loss for words, stuttering without being able to give an answer.

So, Shard took out his wallet and the change from his pocket, about 12 shillings, and placed it in the girl’s hand, then took all the few flowers from her basket.

The quantity was even less than he’d expected; he could grasp them all in one hand:

“Take this money and hurry home. Remember not to tell anyone you have this much. Good luck!”

The girl hurriedly tried to thank him, but Shard shook his head, turned his back to her, waved his hand without looking at her, and once again stepped into the thick fog. Ensuring no one was around, the Outlander wrapped the flowers in his coat, turning them into toys stuffed into his pockets, but he left one bunch of unremarkably colored red roses.

Unlike the Nature Chapel and the Dawn Chapel located in the center of Milestone City, the Sun Church in this parish was situated on the southwestern side of the city, near the mountainous area. After descending the mountain and entering the city, Shard circled the outskirts to reach Saint Roland Square in the old western quarter—the core of the area.

Unlike the Dawn Chapel of the Tobesk Parish, which is in the center of Dawn Square, the Sun Church of Milestone Parish was just on one side of Saint Roland Square. But as the area was an old quarter, there was a lot of land available for development, so the Sun Church was even larger than the most prosperous Nature Chapel in the locality.

Due to the divine powers radiated by the church, the fog near Saint Roland Square was somewhat thinner, and sparse merchants could be seen hawking their wares on the square, though there were still not many pedestrians.

Shard discussed the topic of special Roder Cards with a vendor selling miscellaneous goods in the Sun Church, waiting for Iluna to arrive. She found an excuse to leave the church, so she came out without any attempt to hide.

“Is this for me?”

Seeing Shard holding a red rose, Iluna asked with a smile, and Shard immediately nodded:

“Yes.”

He handed her the red rose, which made Iluna smile even more.

The two had agreed to meet today to exchange information. Sitting down in a teahouse on the street, Iluna informed Shard about the outcome of the Truth Society’s roundup, while Shard recounted his experience of going to the Interstice with the witches the day before.

So far, the three passageways located in the Interstice of Life and Death had all been reinforced to some extent. The seal at the foot of the mountain was reinforced by Shard’s Enigmatic Kiss of the Tree. The faint fire was still lit in front of the Gate of Death; the seal mid-mountain was reinforced by the combined efforts of the witches and Shard, their silvery threads and the witches’ hair ensuring the seal remained intact; and the seal at the mountaintop was stabilized by Sister Delphine on Monday, after meeting the Red Butterfly Twins.

These were only preliminary reinforcements; a large-scale divine ritual from the church would follow. Of the four nails holding reality and the Interstice together, one had been killed by Sister Delphine, and another had been held hostage by Joey Barton and taken into the Interstice. The four nails correspond to four intense emotions: the woman in the desolate village represents “fear,” and the Jester should be “joy.”

As for the remaining “sadness” and “anger,” Priest Augustus would attempt to search with Shard in the afternoon, while the True God Church had already locked onto another:

“The Interstice of Life and Death itself is a level 0 Relic, and Joey Barton is a prime candidate for The Chosen One, making it difficult for the church to divine his location. But with the Prophet’s Society’s cooperation for the resurrected nail, since we were able to find the Jester, we can find the second one.”

Iluna sat opposite Shard, holding her teacup confidently. Beside her was a little bottle she had bought from the teahouse, filled with water and now holding the wilted rose.

“Have you found the other two people?”

“We’ve only located one, roughly in the northern part of Midshire Fort. We’ll move on it Friday or Saturday once the information is more precise.”

Shard noted this information. His search with the priest in the afternoon could start from the south of Milestone:

“There’s also the matter of The Chosen One. It seems there are unplanned changes every time. We still don’t know what method Joey Barton intends to use to bring back The Deceased. But once it’s certain his actions are irreversible, you must make sure to kill him yourself. Joey Barton may not be aware of The Chosen One Ceremony, so this time your opponent might not be as strong as Daknis.”