Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Miss Galina is part of the Witch Council?"

He had just learned about this organization in detail from Miss Annette during the day, and not long ago, the maid Tifa had directly admitted it. To his surprise, Miss Luisa also knew about this organization.

"Not only Galina Cavendish, but her personal maid, Tifa Servet, must be as well. The witches claim to have inherited the legacy of the last thirteen Witch Empresses of the Fifth Era, forming a council centered around thirteen Grand Witches, and all other members are also female."

Miss Luisa smiled:

"For those in the know, the Witch Council has another 'elegant name.'"

"What is it?"

Shard asked curiously.

"The Handkerchief Enthusiasts Society."

"Hmm?"

Shard paused, quickly "flipping through" the "Draleon Common Language Collection" in his head, then he understood that "handkerchief dealings" also implied impure relations among women.

"Oh~"

He exclaimed.

The information from Miss Luisa reaffirmed the notion that "the witches of the Witch Council do not like men."

After finishing the discussion about Shard's employer, the two of them formally began talking about tonight's matters.

First of all, of course, was Shard's curiosity, with an expression of awe, he asked:

"Miss Luisa, did you also bring a steam bomb when you went out?"

He certainly approved of this practice. If he had money, he would like to bring one too.

"Safety first, I bought it from the black market, £10 each, no guarantee it will work, are you interested?"

The female writer asked, and Shard immediately shook his head. That money was enough for Miss Gawder to have Hamilton Detective find a cat again. Even if he made money from Miss Galina, found Detective Sparrow's wallet, and there was still some income from the Prophet's Society in the autumn, there was no need to waste it like that.

"However, I only have one, and, to be honest, steam bombs don't have a significant impact on mystical incidents. This time, if I didn't know that creature's weakness was the cold, and I had frozen it, I bet that even if I stuffed the bomb into the disgusting thing's mouth, it might not kill it,"

said Miss Luisa as she put a small bottle filled with fish scales thud onto Shard's coffee table.

The orange cat's eyes sparkled, then Shard grabbed it by the back of the neck and placed it on his lap to pet. The cat lazily called out, chin resting on Shard's leg, while receiving the strokes, it twisted its head to curiously gaze at the small bottle on the table with its amber eyes.

The tiny ears trembled with each stroke from Shard, so Mia ultimately didn't jump out.

"Are you interested in using this relic? Either to study fish scale disease or just as a swimming tool,"

the female writer asked.

Shard thought about what he would look like as a merman, then thought about being chased by Mia, and decisively shook his head:

"Not interested, we don't live in a coastal city like Coldwater Port where we might need to go out to sea, and I don't want to turn into some strange creature."

"I'm not interested in keeping it either, it's so ugly... so after a while, I'll sell it to Old Man John, or just donate it to the Academy. Once we get the money, we'll split it. I defeated that monster, but it was you who found it, so we'll split it."

the blond girl proposed, which was very fair.

The reason they weren't selling to Old Man John right now was because the incident had just happened, and Miss Luisa thought that Old John would use the reason "this thing being involved in a case makes it hard to get rid of" to lower the price. And not immediately giving it to the Academy was because she wanted to first find out what Old John would offer.

After all, neither Miss Luisa nor Shard were in a hurry for money.

Shard certainly would not rashly let a young lady stay overnight at his home, even though his house was indeed very large, and Detective Sparrow's spare room could be used, but their relationship had not progressed to the point where they could stay overnight, and he also respected ladies a lot.

Therefore, Miss Luisa changed into a warm coat, and after drinking a cup of hot tea with Shard on the couch, she left.

Before leaving, Miss Luisa also mentioned that although her circle sorcerer friend, who could not reveal his identity, was not currently in Tobesk, she still managed to borrow a manuscript of a translation of the original classic fairy tale "The Little Match Girl," which she would bring to him during the study session tomorrow afternoon, which was a Saturday.

"Should I thank you? And about the advertisement in the 'Steam Bird Daily.'"

The two of them said goodbye in the downstairs hall, the detective holding the cat asked.

"If you want to thank me, then tell me your detective stories when you have time. After the July exam season, 'The Mystery of the Blood Letters' is going to start serializing in 'Steam Bird Daily.' Experience more tales on empire

She stood on the stone steps at the door and said, looking left and right to see if there was no one in the square, then asked:

"Tomorrow night, I plan to check on little Sophie to make sure the fish scale disease hasn't affected her too much. Just a quick peek, probably around ten in the evening, are you interested in coming along?"

Shard leaned on the door and thought about his schedule:

"We can go together. I'd only be reading at home anyway. It's better to go out for a walk... Since we're on the topic, Miss Luisa, what are you planning to do the night after tomorrow—that is, Saturday night?"

Miss Luisa sized up Shard:

"What, are you asking me out? I'm sorry, Luviya has asked me to the opera."

Her answer was eloquent. If Shard had indeed intended to ask the blonde girl out, he would have been very disappointed.

But the young outlander clearly had no such intention, as he explained:

"No, no, no, I was just making sure you weren't going to play cards. Going to the opera sounds great; have fun."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He said, relieved, while the blonde writer gave him a puzzled frown, seeing that Shard did not plan to elaborate, she waved at him:

"Then, see you tomorrow afternoon. Detective, I'll wash these clothes before returning them to you. Good night."

With those words, she wrapped herself in a coat, turned, and stepped into the dark night, leaving the detective and his cat at his feet, watching the peaceful night.

The light from the hall stretched their shadows long across the streets around the square. The shifting shadows seemed to herald coming events.

(Mia running...)

Outlanders who arrive in different worlds usually have grand goals to achieve. Shard's goal was naturally the Path of the Twelve Divinities, but hindered by the slow upgrade speed of the Circle Sorcerer System, what he could do for now was to manage his daily life first.

A week after the time at Lakeside Manor, he came across two relics, the "Joyful Dream Pen" and the "Scales of the Drowned Fisherman," which broadened his horizons.

However, with an attitude of trying to complete the tasks at hand, on the following Saturday morning, Shard did not go out for a city "adventure" but diligently completed the translation of "Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" as commissioned by Miss Luisa, strictly adhering to her request for a general rather than detailed translation.

This was much more difficult than a direct translation.

If it weren't for the "Divine Afterglow" state, able to shield him from the mental contamination from abnormal knowledge, Shard might have needed an extra half-week.

He woke up on Saturday morning, made food for himself and the cat, and immediately started working. The company where Mr. Sparrow used to order milk was also the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, but Shard didn't have time to go anymore, and milk was not essential, so he thought he'd consider it by the end of the month when renewing Mia's goat milk.

His enthusiasm for hard work even made the petite orange cat somewhat worried about Shard's health. Shard believed if there were no mice at home, Mia would probably bring him a dead mouse to replenish his nutrients.

"Speaking of which, why do I feel like you're getting smarter lately? Could it be because I've used too many elements around you?"

He asked during a break while holding the cat, but the bewildered cat just leaned lazily against Shard's chest to rest.

"Is Mia a normal cat?"

Since he thought of the question, he asked himself inwardly, a plot often seen in the stories Shard had read.

[Normal cat, no traces of elements or spirits.]

Though "she" might not be omnipotent, if a being like a saint intentionally concealed themselves, "she" probably would not detect it either. But the cat purring in front of him didn't seem like a creature disguised, so Shard believed Mia's recent increase in intelligence was probably just his own illusion.

Because of his special ability to understand text, helping Miss Luisa translate the book wasn't difficult, but rather, completing the translation, Shard felt he understood something from the story of the book.

"Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" could indeed acquire spirit runes related to "wind" and "fire," compounded by the sudden advancement of the sorcery "Ignite" that Shard had recently experienced after telling the story—

He squinted at the flames jumping on his fingertips, but nothing happened. It seemed that the enlightenment from translating the book was not enough to trigger a metamorphosis. This accumulation would settle until it fully sublimated.

"However, translating ancient mysticism books seems to deepen my understanding of the elements more than reading the books... Hmm, a very good approach."

He had lunch at 11:30 AM, played with Mia for a while, and then revisited his recent financial situation, adding a note in the detective's logbook that read, "No events today, savings decreased," before he set off.

When he handed over "Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" and his handwritten translation to the blonde writer in the doctor's bedroom on the third floor of Schneider Psychological Clinic that afternoon, Miss Luisa, whom he hadn't seen for half a day, was quite surprised:

"Detective, I thought you'd be busy, you didn't spend your whole week translating this book, did you?"

"The exams are at the end of this month; since I took the compensation, of course, I wouldn't delay your matters,"

Shard said demurely, without a look of self-satisfaction.

Miss Luisa briefly commented on his handwriting as being hard to read while flipping through Shard's handwritten papers, but it was an inevitable issue as Shard was not very accustomed to writing in alphabet characters.

The study session today would feature professors from Saint Byrons, but before that, the five still had to follow the normal sequence.

Everyone arrived on time, but as there were only three days until next Tuesday's meeting, there was not much to share, most were preoccupied with the upcoming exam week, making Shard feel as if he had returned to the past.

The windows in the bedroom were open, spring sunlight poured into the room through the window, reaching the bed, making the metal posts of the four-post bed gleam, and making Dr. Schneider, who was still weak, seem a bit more spirited.

Despite the fog still lingered in the town, at least it was nice weather now.