Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1891 - 1890: Skull and Invitation Letter

Shard did not oppose the idea of owning an undead army, after all, even if there was an army of ghouls and water ghosts, it was the Church who would block them.

"But, for now, I cannot give it to you, as it has other uses for me."

The Corpse Servant came with a tray, on which was placed a third of a skull. The bone looked very different from a human skull, its size at least twice that of a normal human head. However, because it was incomplete, Shard could not determine what it looked like in its entirety.

"I know this doesn’t belong to me, so please allow me to return it to you after the Chosen One Ceremony."

The Diviner continued, Shard did not attempt to snatch it away, after all, the Priest had said that everything was currently an illusion, he just assumed it was like having eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms:

"Do you know who this bone should belong to?"

Shard asked, the Diviner gently shook his head:

"I placed some bones in my daughter’s ossuary, hoping she could sleep peacefully. I think, it’s the Tomb Robber who took away those bone fragments and finger bones, attracting your friend. There are really too many secrets in this world, even I am not all-knowing. I think, among the living, the closest to omniscience should be the insane Sir Lakin Prisia."

He suddenly stopped talking, turned to look sideways. In the music, the dancing corpses gradually made way for a straight path, at the end of which appeared the silhouette of Priest Augustus, hands behind his back.

Shard guessed the Priest shouldn’t be an illusion, otherwise, the solemn expression on the Diviner’s face was too convincing.

"This skull that doesn’t belong to me, please allow me to return it later."

He said this to Priest Augustus, who shook his head sternly:

"Though you are very polite, this is not your possession."

Huge wing shadows appeared on the wall behind him, broken wings were impressive even as shadows. The light of the crystal chandelier gradually dimmed until it became an eerie green, at the same time, there were dissonant notes in the melodious music, becoming increasingly eerie and sinister.

The dancing corpses all stopped, turned with Priest Augustus to look at their Lord, and this scene, surprisingly made Shard doubt who really is the antagonist here.

The Diviner with a monocle smiled slightly, took out a palm-sized book from his pocket. The book had a brown hard cover, in a fleeting glance, Shard saw the cover had the Ouroboros mark representing "Ancient God: Mr. Ring", and the back had the scythe mark representing "Ancient God: Ancient Reaper".

"Angel-Level Relic: [Soul Storybook]."

Shard said softly, and the book, about the size of a card, had already floated in front of Laplace Howard.

It was not simply floating, but several transparent hands lifted it in front of the Diviner, and opened to the corresponding page for him.

After some barely noticeable glimmers flashed by, all the corpses in the banquet hall fell. The eerie green light returned to normal, and in the splendid hall, only three remained standing.

Shard looked at Priest Augustus, inquiring his opinion. The Old Cleric slightly furrowed his brows, after thinking, made a compromise:

"Return half first. When you hold a family banquet on the island, I will personally come to the island to reclaim the remaining part."

"This is reasonable. I am honored to invite you to my territory to witness the final ceremony."

The Priest waved a hand, what should have been an indivisible third of the skull was split in half again. Grey mist came, covering the scene before them, and when the mist disappeared, the surroundings returned to the scene outside the country village, under the oak tree at a crossroads.

The moon in the night sky was still so enchanting, blown by the warm night wind, Shard truly felt a sense of detachment from the illusion.

The three brothers of the hanged ghouls had been burnt to charcoal, soon to resurrect again on another island.

Priest Augustus held the sixth of the skull in his hand, looking up at the tree, not sure what he was thinking. As for the doctor, he suspiciously looked around:

"Is this the real world now?"

"Yes, Doctor, you can ask me a question only we know."

"Hmm... What was the first thing we said when we first met last spring?"

[Ask about Time.]

"Ask about the time. And it’s not spring, it’s summer."

Only then did the doctor relax:

"What did you all see just now? I suddenly found myself in a cemetery, surrounded by a horde of ghouls. Although the priest said those were all illusions, the pain felt very real. Fortunately, the illusion ended, or I would have had to fight back... Did you get the priest’s promotion materials?"

"We’ve got half of them."

A weary look appeared on the Old Cleric’s face, and he carefully placed the sixth of a skull into his robe:

"I’m getting old after all, I thought I could succeed... It seems when the church finally lands on the island, I’ll have to personally retrieve the remaining part as well."

Dr. Schneider nodded, not asking what had just happened:

"This is normal. If such a precious thing were obtained without risk, I would suspect it might be a trap. You should remember the effort I put in last summer for those materials. Priest, don’t worry, I’ll go with you when the time comes. Since we know where the materials are, we’ll certainly get them."

The priest nodded, and Shard beckoned the two to prepare to leave:

"Tonight’s action was half-successful. Priest, Doctor, after we return, please prepare for the final island landing. It should be soon, within a week."

Neither the priest nor the doctor had doubts about this. Though neither brought it up, they both understood what the final battle in the Green Lake region meant. The doctor wanted to help, to feel involved, and test his newly acquired powers, while the priest aimed for the remaining bones.

Everyone had their own matters, all making final preparations.

That night, when the three returned to Green Lake Hotel, it was already late; they didn’t have supper but went straight to rest. However, instead of returning to his room, Shard knocked on Dorothy’s door to fetch Mia, who had been waiting for him to come home.

The night was deep. Dorothy, being in a special period, did not leave Shard to stay overnight, so he returned home with the cat.

Home’s sleep is always so pleasant. Waking up early on Saturday, looking at the familiar ceiling, Shard felt completely refreshed.

He went downstairs to get goat milk and a newspaper, then headed to Green Lake Hotel with the cat. Priest Augustus and Dr. Schneider were up early as usual, discussing the news with Shard over breakfast; such a morning was truly delightful.

As for Miss Writer, she routinely didn’t get up until after eight-thirty, so Shard decided to wait to have breakfast with her before going out. Today was the day the Prophet’s Society was holding its long-prepared large-scale divination ceremony, and the contemporary president of the society would also appear. However, this had nothing to do with Shard; all he needed was to wait for the divination results from Iluna.

He planned to try checking off some tasks from the Witch’s mission list today, trying to analyze what the Grand Witch of Time had glimpsed from the future, and then attend tonight’s highly prestigious banquet. But before Dorothy came downstairs for breakfast, Megan came to him in a rush.

The brown-haired witch saw Shard sitting by the wall as soon as she entered, by the table where they first met, and immediately rushed over to hug him.

Shard didn’t understand the situation, gently comforting her a bit, and then, with the cat still eating, went to the basement with Megan.

The hotel’s basement had been remodeled, the dazzling blue light of the ritual core base formation ensured that every corner of the building was under the protection of the witches’ powers. The almost invisible red, gold, black, and brown strands were woven from witches’ hair, known as "Spirit Conductors," or "Aether Conductors."

This material is most suitable for witches’ secret techniques. Even though witches can control their hair growth, contributing this much hair is still considered a very extravagant act.

Because the place was so important, each Grand Witch allocated a small number of people to take turns guarding the basement. Due to the shift system, the young women were not tired even during night watch. Seeing Shard and the Grand Witch entering, they conscientiously put down their novels, Roder Cards, and checkers, pretending to be busy with their routine maintenance work.

"What’s the matter? Aren’t I here?"

Shard softly asked the girl in front of him. On Megan’s face, looking much younger than Miss Galina’s, was a mix of worry and fear. It was hard to imagine that a witch of her power would have such an expression:

"Last night, I had a dream where I unknowingly entered our family’s mansion on the island again. I awoke before pushing the door open, wanting to turn back, but Sloss Edwards came out of the house..."

He was the Second Generation Second Son, also Megan’s great-grandfather, transformed into a tentacle-formed eerie evil object due to fear of death.

"He gave me an invitation letter, inviting me to attend the family banquet so the six generations of the family could reunite."

Her hands tightly clasped Shard’s arm, her lips pursed as she stared into Shard’s eyes:

"When I woke up this morning, two invitation letters were already in my hand."

She took out one of the invitation letters and handed it to Shard. It was a folded, gold-embossed invitation. On the cover was the family crest, resembling the Ouroboros black spiral symbol. Below, in cursive letters, was written "The Ever Noble Edwards Family," with the scenery of Green Town as the backdrop, and nearly transparent, a genealogical root system of 21 people from six generations of the Edwards Family.