Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 1896 - 1895: Rift and Banquet

"What happened?"

Seeing Shard and Miss Sylvia coming out, the girls who were keeping watch outside gathered around. Miss Sylvia’s assistant, Miss Dector, informed them of the situation:

"About ten minutes ago, the first rift appeared in the sky. The interior of the initial rift was completely black, then a rural scene appeared. We haven’t yet determined the exact location of the scene, but judging from the lifestyle depicted, it seems to be from our current era."

"Can ordinary people see it?"

Miss Sylvia asked.

"No, at least not now."

"Is it related to the large-scale ritual of the Prophet’s Society?"

Shard also speculated but then dismissed his own thought:

"That’s a divination ritual, even if it goes wrong, it wouldn’t involve such severe spatial rifts... Things have gotten worse."

Shard originally planned to return to the City of Glass with Miss Sylvia and then go to Green Lake City in the evening for the banquet. But Laster insisted on returning to Durut Giles immediately, so Shard waited twenty minutes, then let Miss Sylvia open the portal and returned to the basement of the Green Lake Hotel.

Now, with the increasing spatial anomalies in the Green Lake Region, even for this great spatial witch, opening a portal at will is not an easy task. Fortunately, when the witches made extensive modifications to the Green Lake Hotel, they did not forget to set up professional spatial markers in the basement, allowing Miss Sylvia to connect to this place even now.

In this way, the function of the Green Lake Hotel as a stronghold has been completely perfected.

The abnormal phenomenon in the sky has caused chaos among the Circle Sorcerers in the Green Lake Region, but fortunately, besides the cracks in the sky, no other abnormalities have appeared yet. However, the special scene hanging overhead indeed causes unease.

Fortunately, on Saturday evening, when the moon appeared on the horizon in the dusk sunset, the rift became blurry in the fading sun and gradually dimmed until it completely disappeared.

On the third floor of the hotel, Dorothy was helping Shard inspect his formal attire in front of the mirror and sighed softly:

"Have fun tonight, and please send my regards to Lecia."

She was somewhat disappointed she couldn’t attend the banquet.

"Why don’t you come with me? Just stay a little apart from Lecia."

"What’s the point in that? Besides, I have things to do here too, like looking after your cat. The doctor just told me to help check a manuscript he got from the local black market. And I also want to chat with that Maria Edwards."

She stood on tiptoe and kissed Shard’s cheek:

"If I get bored, I’ll swap with Lecia."

"Meow~"

The cat sitting on the windowsill let out a soft meow. It didn’t look at the two in the mirror but gazed at the sun in the window’s sunset with bright eyes until Shard, who was dressed, patted its head, prompting it to turn and leap into his arm.

"Mia, stay with Dorothy tonight and don’t run around."

"Meow~"

At times, the cat’s obedience made Shard feel a bit guilty.

Shard was attending the grand banquet as Megan’s escort. After bidding farewell to Dorothy, he boarded the Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals carriage at the entrance and met Megan, elegantly dressed, inside the compartment.

"Good evening, Shard."

Soft lips pressed against Shard’s cheek.

"Good evening, Shard."

Then Audrey spoke.

As the carriage started to move, she looked at Shard’s attire with a gentle smile:

"Very nice, don’t forget to invite me for a dance tonight..."

Then she glanced outside the carriage:

"Here’s a test for you, answer me, why did the anomaly in the sky disappear after sunset?"

"The light of the sun and moon can stabilize the world’s rules. Each cycle of day and night re-tightens the rules."

Shard answered casually, then thought of something else:

"But in that case, it doesn’t make sense. If under the sunlight, sky rifts can appear, then under moonlight, rules would also be broken by spatial anomalies... Could it be that in our era, the moon is stronger than the sun?"

At this time it’s still dusk, the sun and moon appearing simultaneously in the sky. Shard only needs to slightly lean out from the carriage to see the sun and the moon. However, Audrey didn’t pay much attention to this. She held Shard’s hand:

"Tonight is probably the last banquet we can attend before the family gathering."

Saying this, she firmly embraced Shard’s neck and kissed him again. Shard realized Megan and Audrey really liked kissing, but he didn’t dislike it either. It’s just that before the carriage stopped at the gate of Rose Manor, the two had to carefully check if they needed makeup touch-ups, or if there were traces of another shade at the corner of their lips.

When Shard first jumped down from the carriage and took Audrey’s hand wrapped in a white lace glove, the witch looked up at the red carpet stretching from the manor’s house to the gate. She then gazed towards the higher places of the manor where the brilliant sunset resembled fireworks, and finally looked at Shard standing in this backdrop.

In an instant, she felt her life’s meaning was seemingly tied to this moment. Even if she ultimately couldn’t leave the family’s old residence, she wouldn’t feel regret about herself and her life as she did before...

"Oh, good evening, Miss Green."

The voice came from beside her; Miss Vanessa Benanis, dressed in a sky-blue gown with pink ribbons tied in her golden hair, walked over with a smile. Accompanying her was Ciris, the young golden-haired girl shyly smiled at Shard, while the Witch of the Earth directly stood on Shard’s other side:

"Your male companion is really handsome. Won’t you introduce him to us?"

Having successfully advanced to the Twelfth Rank, she spoke with the formal yet elegant grammar of ancient Casenric language. Though conversing with Audrey, her gaze remained fixed on Shard.

Thus, the Great Witch of Knowledge and Wisdom felt for a moment that her life indeed had many regrets. She naturally crossed Shard’s right arm, gently nodding at the Blonde Witch, whose reputation echoed throughout the Old Continent:

"Good evening, Lady Benanis."

Miss Benanis’s smile grew broader, walking alongside Ciris and Shard, they all traversed the carpet towards the nearby Rose Manor house.

Though Miss Galina had mentioned the scale of this banquet beforehand, actually arriving at the banquet hall felt like suddenly being back in Tobesk City.

He tried not to think about how the exquisite dishes laid out on the long tables were prepared, nor when the costly oil paintings and antique vases that appeared seemingly overnight in the mansion were brought in. Miss Galina, who never spared expenses on banquets, had already decided this was likely the last banquet for the negotiation delegation in Green Lake City, and thus aimed to showcase Draleon Royal Family’s generosity and prosperity to the Carsonrickians.

The band that came from afar played soothing tunes, and the gentlemen and ladies attending the banquet were dressed in grand outfits, discussing topics affecting the Old Continent’s civilization’s fate under the lit gas lamps and crystal chandeliers.

With the sunset outside the window completely gone, three moons illuminated the earth, the rift in the sky ceased to exist. Inside the glass windows, the splendid lights bathed everything golden. Even the beggars on the streets could speculate from the lights what kind of enjoyment the nobles were indulging in.

The nominal purpose of this banquet was to ease negotiation tensions and provide the delegates a space to interact outside the meeting tables. Therefore, Margaret and Miss Galina were busy meeting various people, temporarily unable to conversate with Shard.

Alongside Audrey, who was meeting major South and North country merchants, Shard certainly wouldn’t stand idly by. As the banquet officially started and people assembled in groups with wine glasses, he was conversing with Miss Swift, who was supporting Granny Cassandra.

The young girl with flaxen hair, compared to the fearful and naive girl Shard first met last autumn, now had grown to be quite poised.

Just at this time, Shard’s peripheral vision caught a familiar figure. He turned to look and indeed saw the scarlet-gowned Miss Hevy Aurora approaching them. Following her were her niece and apprentice, Miss Haley Aflora.

The Grand Witch of "Light" finally arrived in Green Lake City this Saturday. Thus, the six Great Witches participating in this operation all gathered, marking the end of the Witch Council’s early and mid-term activities and leading the way for the final preparations.

However, this was a lively banquet and not the place to discuss such topics now. Hence, Miss Hevy Aurora, with her large wavy brown hair, who came in a private capacity, joyfully approached Shard first and shared an embrace with Granny Cassandra:

"Granny, it’s been so long since we’ve met."

"It’s been a long time, Hevy."

Then, surprisingly, Miss Aphrola gently hugged Shard and took a deep breath:

"It’s been a while, Detective. Have you missed me these past months?"

She released Shard, who smiled and nodded:

"Of course. It’s been a while, madam, has your journey been smooth?"

"It went smoothly enough; I started at the East Coast. Traveling upstream through inland rivers by ship was quite tiring, but necessary, as it was the only way for my family to arrive."

She winked at Shard, the mature and charming "Witch’s Scent" perfume wafting:

"Are you enjoying your time in Green Lake? I hope our sisters are taking good care of you... Oh, Miss Green, we’ve not seen each other since last time for many years. How’s business been? In my opinion, with the New World’s pharmaceutical business, you should place a big bet on it. This chance is great; nobles from both countries are here, and once an agreement with the military is made, the New World will continuously send gold your way."

She held Audrey’s hand and, as they came nearby, she lowered her voice and winked:

"Enjoying your Green Lake holiday? How’s the taste of Shard?"

Audrey was stunned and didn’t know what to say. Miss Aphrola was very satisfied with her reaction:

"See, telling that to girls newly acquainted with Shard is one of the pleasures the Detective brings to me."

Then she turned to Shard:

"Detective, perhaps you should step outside for a moment. Someone is waiting for you out there. It’s the Diviner and the seventeen-year-old girl from the Church. They’ve brought new information for you."