Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1821 - 1820: Cat Bath and the Council’s Reward

After leaving the ruined house outside the village, Shard didn’t hurry back north to the city, but crossed the border again to the City of Glass. When crossing, he found that new defensive works seemed to be under construction in the border area, but since he didn’t run into Captain Lades, he didn’t go and ask about it. As for the reason for going to the City of Glass, it was to inform Her Highness the Princess about the Grey Glove undercover in the Circus that Margaret had asked him to investigate.

Of course, Margaret was still as busy as ever, so she was still absent this morning, and it was once again Miss Sylvia who received Shard and had lunch with him.

During lunch, the shouts of the marching crowds outside the manor could be heard even with the windows closed. Shard put down the knife he was using to cut the steak, looked up and asked the young Grand Witch:

"Miss Sylvia, from your point of view, how would you like these negotiations to end?"

The black-haired Witch sitting at the head of the long dining table elegantly dabbed the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief, then frowned in thought:

"From my personal point of view, a more peaceful outcome would make it easier to push forward my business. But from the Council’s point of view, in wartime, Witches can more easily hide their identities and develop their own power. So, I don’t really care."

She knew what Shard was thinking:

"The negotiations are at a stalemate right now, so don’t overthink it. However, the issue currently under discussion over these two weeks—the border line of the ’Black Sun Forest’ in the eastern Pantanal—has already caused quite a dispute within the Kingdom of Carsonrick. According to the 1205 agreement, that area actually belongs to the Kingdom of Carsonrick, but Draleon does not recognize that agreement."

When the 1205 agreement was signed, the situation in the north and south was completely different from now; that was an ancient agreement from six hundred years ago.

"What does Margaret say about this?"

"The war hawks at home are agitating for the Council to pass a bill expanding the military budget, and Margaret’s father is under a lot of pressure."

The Witch shook her head and said nothing more on the subject. After all, whether it was peace or War, for Witches who did not fear hot weapons at all and could easily wipe out an entire legion, it merely meant a change in lifestyle.

After having lunch with Miss Sylvia, Shard told her the news he had heard that morning, and only then did he return home.

But once home he remembered his plan from a few days ago, so he pretended he was going to take Mia, who had already eaten lunch, out to eat again, making the cat think that Shard had grown muddle‑headed and forgotten how many times he’d already eaten. He then seized the opportunity to grab Mia and carry her into the washroom.

Spring was at its best now, and it was time to wash the cat again.

Mia had always hated baths, and indeed she was quite angry at Shard’s actions. When Shard lowered her into the warm water, the cat struggled desperately, splashing water all over Shard, as if the moment he let go she would sink. When Shard really did let go, the cat, not immediately realizing it, kept paddling her little paws and struggling in the tub on her own.

However Shard looked at it, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Meow?"

The cat looked up and saw Shard standing over her, his hands already withdrawn. She immediately leapt up, trying to escape, and was pressed back down by Shard again. Twenty minutes later, after Shard had dried Mia’s body with a towel, she was still angry at him, darted out at once to evade his hand, and clearly had no intention of paying him any attention before dinner.

But Shard was going to a banquet at the Green Lake Hotel tonight. He had originally planned to leave some cat food for Mia as her lunch, but seeing how angry she looked, he couldn’t bear to leave her alone at home:

"I’m going to have something nice to eat tonight. Want to come along?"

So Mia temporarily forgave the rude Outlander, then very happily went down to the basement with Shard.

It was still early, only four in the afternoon. When Shard, with freshly bathed and thus even more adorable Mia on his shoulder, entered through the front door of the Green Lake Hotel, Mr. Soren Green and Ms. Helena Green were still busy preparing for tonight’s banquet.

On the east side of the second floor of the Green Lake Hotel there was a fairly large room that could host birthday banquets or receptions for guests. It was seldom used, and tonight’s family dinner would be held there.

The siblings were directing the servants in cleaning, polishing the tableware, and urging the cooks to prepare the ingredients in advance. Seeing how busy they were, Shard didn’t disturb them and instead went up to the third floor to knock on the doctor’s door.

Unfortunately, the doctor wasn’t in. Seeing that there was still some time before the banquet started, and knowing that Miss Galina was currently in a meeting over in the City of Glass, Shard could only go looking for Audrey and Megan.

Fortunately, the Grand Witch of Wisdom and Knowledge was still on her cruise ship. When Shard met her in the laboratory on the lowest deck, she was in a good mood and showed Shard a test tube filled with a glowing, multicolored Magic Potion:

"Look, this is a Magic Potion prepared using the mushroom sample you provided, with the aid of that Holy Grail. Because the mushroom sample is limited, I can only make this much for now, but the effect is very good. If you drop it into your eyes, it can reproduce what you described—the ability to see Space fissures."

She shook the test tube slightly:

"I plan to wait until all the Witches have arrived, then use this Magic Potion and enter Green Lake together to search for the entrance that leads through to another island. The information provided by His Excellency the Speaker truly proved useful; if we were relying on ourselves alone, it would be very difficult to find this kind of mushroom."

She described to Shard the process of making this kind of Magic Potion and the peculiarities of that Holy Grail, then suddenly smacked her own forehead, pulled a white envelope out of the drawer under the lab bench beside her, and handed it to Shard:

"Look, I actually forgot something this important. Fortunately Megan reminded me. This is your Investigation reward. Once any task on that task list is completed, the Council always gives a reward. Since the mushroom task is registered under my name, I helped you pick up the reward."

Although these mushrooms were quite miraculous, the Investigation itself had been extremely simple and hadn’t even involved any Circle Sorcerers, so the Council’s reward wasn’t particularly generous. Of course, there was no way that envelope could contain a Relic. When Shard opened it, what he saw was a lock of long golden hair tied together with a red ribbon.

He was slightly surprised, and as soon as he touched the hair he understood, which made him even more surprised:

"This wouldn’t be..."

"Yes, it’s hair from the Grand Witch of Time—His Excellency Speaker Isabella, the Speaker. Galina and the others should have told you already that a Grand Witch’s hair is an excellent substitute Spellcasting material. And as the most outstanding Thirteenth Rank Witch of this generation, the Speaker’s hair is even more valuable."

Audrey said with a smile:

"But hair is a very sensitive kind of item. You have to promise me you’ll only use it as Ritual Materials, and not for Curses or anything like that."

"Yes, I swear on Mia."

"Meow?"

Shard patted the little cat’s head, and the cat promptly lost interest in the hair.

Then Audrey added another line:

"You also have to promise not to use it for any other suspicious purposes."

"Of course, I swear on my soul... What do you mean by that?"

Seeing Shard looking at her in confusion, the brown‑haired girl just smiled and shook her head:

"It’s better if you don’t understand. By the way, do you want to take a sniff before the scent fades? His Excellency the Speaker’s perfume smells wonderful. Even I can’t figure out how she improved on the original formula."

"Take a sniff? Audrey, what makes you think I’d do something like that?"

Shard put the hair back into the envelope and then, quite solemnly, slipped it into his pocket. He reached up to touch the cat on his shoulder, who was looking around curiously:

"See? Even the gluttonous little Mia isn’t interested in the hair, so how could I possibly be?"

The Witch only laughed happily; Shard had no idea what exactly she was imagining.

There were still two hours before the family dinner that evening. Since it wasn’t a formal banquet, there was no need to prepare any special clothes. And considering he had practically never met the Edwards family members before, there wouldn’t be any chance for them to compare lifestyles with each other anyway. So all he had to do was wait for the time and then head straight to the Green Lake Hotel.

Taking advantage of the free time, Shard told Audrey about what he’d heard that morning from Elder Green. Audrey and Megan also understood just how important this information was. After Shard finished recounting all those loves and hatreds and the stories of each generation in the family, and had faithfully repeated Elder Green’s overall evaluation of the family, the Witch, who was feeling somewhat melancholic, invited Shard to go out for a walk to relieve the gloom in their hearts.

As it happened, there was a task on the Witch’s task list that was located here in Green Lake City, upstream along the Duin River, so Audrey decided to bring Shard along to take care of it.

The description for this task was even simpler than that of "The Earl and the Mushrooms" or "Darkmoon Circus." Specifically, on overcast days, on either bank of the Duin River, there was a chance that one might see, on the west bank of the river, a door that should not exist.

This sort of description was very similar to urban legends about "nonexistent streets" or "nonexistent shops," just like how the "Church of the Forgotten" was the locally famous "nonexistent church."

However, according to Audrey and Megan’s preliminary Investigation, although Green Lake City also had similar legendary tales, there was nothing about a "door" appearing by the river. Therefore, it could basically be concluded that this was yet another temporary incident caused by spatial instability around Green Lake Central Island.

As for whether the cause was a Relic, some Circle Sorcerer’s handiwork, or something else entirely, that was unknown.

Aside from definitely appearing only on overcast days, the door had no other fixed pattern of manifestation. Audrey, who had done the preliminary work for this task, only came up with an approach after she’d managed to prepare the "Seven-Color Mushroom Potion." Of course, more importantly, after listening to the family stories, she wanted to go out for a walk with Shard.

"Simply put, according to information obtained by His Excellency the Speaker, when that door isn’t appearing, it doesn’t actually cease to exist, it’s just in a state that can’t be observed."

Walking together with Shard along the riverside path under the cloudy sky, passing one gas streetlamp after another, Megan shook the little bottle in her hand. Inside was a small amount of diluted solution of the "Seven-Color Mushroom Potion."