Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Miss Luisa, are you sure you're okay?"

As Shard asked, he used the "Illusion of the Moon Shadow." Silver mist surged around them, enveloping him and Miss Luisa. The silver moonlight at his fingertips disappeared. Confronting the silver mist, the merman let out cries of anger but could only thrash around aimlessly, its intelligence likely lower than Mia's.

"Detective, if you can handle it, what problem could I possibly have? Treat me later. First, go save that girl."

The blonde lady spoke, and Shard nodded. Taking the opportunity as Miss Luisa deliberately stepped out of the range of the illusion to distract the merman, he ran past the merman, holding a box, and headed towards the girl in the alley.

A relic going out of control was almost a certain death sentence for a commoner. Shard had been prepared for the worst. However, upon a quick examination, he found that she was merely unconscious with a large patch of fish scales around her neck—an injury that was treatable and currently didn't require the "False Immortality."

It seemed they had arrived just in time.

He carried the girl deeper into the alley. When he looked back at Miss Luisa, he saw her Ring of Fate spinning behind her, this time with the rune of the "Frozen Dead."

Soon after, the Miracle Soul Rune "Ice" also lit up.

Shard heard Miss Luisa's voice:

"The thing fish scales disease fears most is not fire, but freezing!"

The blonde girl stretched her hands forward, and a chill dispersed into the surroundings. The rustling sound echoed through the fog-filled alley. The previously screaming merman's movements gradually slowed down until it collapsed on the ground.

"Detective, take her and move back!"

She called out to Shard in the darkness.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

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"Move back where?"

"As far as you can, cover your ears and crouch down."

"Hmm?"

Though confused, he did as instructed. Once Shard was ready, he saw Miss Luisa pull a spherical object from her robe, tap it against the wall, then vigorously shake it before finally pulling a ring on the surface of the sphere and tossing it towards the frozen merman on the ground. She then frantically ran towards the depths of the alley, where Shard and the unconscious girl were.

Shard saw that the palm-sized spherical object began to spin erratically on the ground, spraying hot white steam all around it.

Although he had never seen such an object before, his knowledge as a foreigner allowed him to guess what it was. Amidst a gentle laugh from a woman, he covered the ears of the unconscious girl with both hands, tucked his body, holding the box, and closed his eyes.

Bang~

The explosion and the bright flash were enough to rouse nearby streets, and Shard even felt the ground quake beneath him. After the explosion, his ears rang incessantly.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw Miss Luisa spring up from the ground. Ignoring her messy hair, she turned back into the smoke from the explosion. In a few seconds, carefully holding a black scale, she ran towards Shard, shouting as she approached:

"Haha, it really fears the cold the most! It's dead, and I've got the 'Relic'! Detective, run! I'll carry the girl."

"What did you just use?"

As Shard dusted the dirt from his hair, he followed Miss Luisa along the riverbank into the mist. Police whistles could already be heard in the distance; they needed to run faster or else jump into the river to escape.

"Military-grade Drac II Integrated Steam Bomb! It's the most effective against uncontrolled fish-scale disease!"

Miss Luisa dropped the Dried Frog Legs she had been holding, carried the unconscious girl on her back, and grabbing Shard's hand, jumped onto the roof of a nearby house. Together with their voices, they disappeared into the dense night fog.

Even the Lower District couldn't ignore a steam bomb explosion in the city. So, they ran across three blocks before finally stopping, out of breath, in a dimly lit alley.

The sound of commotion was approaching, and groups of police could be seen hurrying past the entrance of the alley.

Shard first checked on the little girl that Miss Luisa was carrying again. She seemed to be a poor child from a nearby neighborhood, her shoes exposing her toes and her clothes patched, her face appearing unwashed for a long time.

Shard created some "Satiety Food" to suppress the spread of fish scales, then used "Cyndia's Silvermoon Blessing" to remove the fish scales from both Miss Luisa and the girl. Although it wasn't a mental issue, the light of Silvermoon seemed to restrain the disease effectively.

However, Shard was a First Ring Sorcerer, and after using arcane techniques too many times that night, he was starting to feel overwhelmed.

During this time, Miss Luisa also explained the situation with the fish scale she was carefully holding.

The scale had a very fishy smell.

"Scribe Level Relic 'Scales of the Drowned Fisherman,' I read about it at the Academy Library. In the year 2983 of the Fifth Era, fishermen on the eastern coast of the Western Continent caught a strange creature in their nets while fishing. The creature had human legs and a complete fish body, and its body was highly decomposed," she said.

Shard quietly listened, maintaining his arcane technique, the scent from Miss Luisa evident at close range.

"According to Academy records, the terrified fishermen pushed the corpse back into the sea. But soon after, the villagers of a small fishing village all showed symptoms of fish-scale disease—scales appearing on the body surface, and the entire body beginning to rot. By the time the Church of Nature, which was not as powerful as it is now, intervened, it was too late to save them.

They could only seal off that area and body of water.

During subsequent cremations of the deceased to prevent the spread of disease, this scale was found. It was the only scale that could not be burned and was the cause of the fish-scale disease."

Miss Luisa was extremely careful holding that black fish scale, as no relic should be taken lightly. In the darkness of the alley, the fish scale itself possessed an even deeper darkness.

Of course, what was more noticeable was the fishy smell.

"So, the function of this relic is to trigger the fish scale disease, and to transform people into fish? But why did it go out of control?"

"Place the fish scale over your heart, and upon contact with water, you can transform your body into the form of a Merman monster. However, this form must not sustain severe injuries, otherwise the outbreak of the fish scale disease is just a moment away. You could say that for every second the scale is used, the Circle Sorcerer must struggle against it with their own body."

She had asked Shard for a bottle, shook it to create water, and dunked the scale into it. This relic was simple to contain, just completely submerging it in water was enough.

It took some time before Shard was utterly drained of energy, to expel the fish scales from the little girl and Miss Luisa. Circle Sorcerers don't have a convenient way to replenish Spirit, after all, Spirit is not just simple energy. Fortunately, the Spirit Rune possesses the innate ability to transform elements into Spirit, combined with the Divine Afterglow, Shard recovered quite quickly.

Afterward, Miss Luisa woke up the unconscious girl, learned her address, and sent her home.

This was a little flower-selling girl named Sophie Dais. During the day, she had hidden some money in the alley, not wanting to be extorted by the bigger kids around. Unexpectedly, when she came back at night to retrieve it, she encountered the monster.

Miss Luisa used a method similar to mental suggestion to ensure that Little Sophie wouldn't speak of what she saw at night, this tactic was quite effective on the drowsy little girl. Besides, the two of them also stuffed 2 shillings of loose change into her pocket, making sure she got home safely, before Shard and Miss Luisa left.

It was nearly one in the morning, Shard needed to head back quickly. Meanwhile, Miss Luisa planned to visit Shard's house late at night, as she was wrapped in Shard's robes, drenched, and reeking of fish, she was in no state to go home and needed to borrow clothes from Shard's house first.

The two hastened their steps, on the way, Miss Luisa admitted that despite having obtained a relic, tonight's mission could only be considered a failure:

"I think, we should wait for the doctor to recover before we act again. The doctor's Circle Sorcerer abilities are particularly suited for reconnaissance and intelligence gathering, something we can't compare with."

The Circle Sorcerer of "Blood of Mercury" had transformed into a Merman, was frozen, then shattered by a bomb. Naturally, Miss Luisa couldn't obtain the information she wanted.

As they walked and talked, most of the time was spent by Miss Luisa lamenting about missing such a great opportunity tonight. Of course, she didn't forget to thank the detective for his help this evening, the fish scale was their spoils of war.

Shard certainly wouldn't refuse, although he would not use a relic with such severe side effects, he was more than happy to sell it and share the money.

Turning from a street lit with gas lamps into Saint Delan Plaza Street, Shard was talking with the blonde writer while getting his keys, only to see a four-wheeled carriage with lights on stopped at door number six.

"Oh?"

Wrapped in a robe, Miss Luisa uttered an exclamatory word with a questioning tone.

"My employer has arrived."

Shard explained, eyeing the carriage and slowing his pace. He didn't smell much like fish, as he hadn't been in close contact with the Merman.

"It seems your employer has quite a remarkable identity."

The blonde girl remarked as Shard saw no difference between this carriage and any ordinary one, but the still-drenched, blonde woman pointed out:

"Look at those all-metal, manually twisted iron floral patterns around the edge of the carriage. Even though it's painted, you can still tell the quality of the wood. Also, the coachman—"

The coachman was standing aside, smoking a hand-rolled cigarette, a small red dot glowing in the dark shadows:

"I bet he's definitely of military background. Even though the carriage doesn't bear a family crest, it must belong to a Grand Noble, no, ordinary Grand Nobles don't even qualify to use this kind of carriage. Let me think, currently in Tobesk City, young women eligible to use such a carriage definitely don't number more than three."

As Miss Luisa was eloquently explaining, Shard was again reminded of Professor Hams Sanchez, the vice dean of Saint Byrons who had mentioned that Miss Luisa had mysterious ties with the Draleon Kingdom's Royal Family, leading him to suspect she was associated with Zaras Literary Academy, one of the Three Great Magics Academies.

Priest Augustus, who had lived here most of his life and knew many important people due to the respect of the believers, couldn't narrow it down this much. It seemed Miss Luisa indeed had an impressive understanding of the Royal Family and nobility.

"You actually know so much?"

Shard instinctively voiced his doubt, but the female writer's answer came naturally and offhandedly:

"For literary creation, I know a lot of somewhat useless knowledge."

As they discussed, the carriage window was nudged open a crack, a black-haired maid called "Tifa" glanced at Shard, then quickly closed the window.

The entire process lasted only about a second or two.

"Oh? Why is it her again?"

Miss Luisa once again expressed her exclamation, and Shard looked surprised at his friend, the female writer seemed to recognize the maid.

She hesitated, looked at Shard, but said nothing:

"Detective, go see your employer. I'd rather not get close. The fishy smell on me is too strong."

Miss Dorothy Louisa halted her steps, but by the look on her face, once Miss Galina's personal maid left, she certainly had a lot to say.