Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1020: The Witch’s Joke

"What else is there to do?"

Saradiel asked curiously, as the three stood by the lake shore. The calm artificial lake was frozen over, and the paths around the lakeside were made of pebbles and gravel. The scenery here was indeed nice.

"Drive away the flies from the opposite shore of the lake."

Before Saradiel could glance towards the darkness on the other side, Miss Galina had already completed the spellcasting. She did not reveal the Ring of Fate, nor did she use any spellcasting materials, merely pointed her right index finger towards the opposite shore of the lake with a gentle flick. Saradiel then heard a faint sound reminiscent of a bubble being popped.

His keen senses made him aware of the scorching, terrifying airflow directed towards the opposite shore, leaving a twisted optical phenomenon in the night’s air.

Soundless and seemingly uneventful, yet Miss Galina furrowed her brow:

"Dare to fight back?"

Snap~

Miss Sylvia, with fingers painted in red nail polish, snapped crisply, and suddenly a warm wind arose from nowhere, as though sweeping away something malicious.

Saradiel did not know what countermeasures the Circle Sorcerer on the opposite shore had used, but under the nighttime sky, a man’s short, anguished scream rang out.

Soon after, sounds of rustling came from the trees on the other shore, and three pitch-black figures fled hurriedly into the distance.

"Don’t worry, I’ve controlled the sound nearby."

Miss Galina added, indicating that neither witch had any intention of pursuing the others, nor did they care who they were.

Having dealt with the flies, the two witches began the ritual to summon the Keeper of Secrets.

Miss Sylvia took out a red lacquered wooden box containing a harmonica, while Miss Galina instructed Saradiel to open the canvas bag.

Inside were all sorts of miscellaneous items, and at the very bottom was surprisingly half a pocket of rice.

As per Miss Galina’s request, Saradiel used a bowl from the bag to scoop out a bowl of rice and approached the lakeside as Miss Sylvia played the harmonica.

"Moonlight Sonata."

The Duchess named the tune.

"Offer the grain."

Miss Galina said, and Saradiel poured the bowl of rice into the lake. The grains only caused slight ripples upon entering the water while some bubbles emerged on the lake’s surface.

"Offer the flesh."

Miss Galina continued, and Saradiel took out a salted roast duck leg from his pocket, sniffed it, and then tossed it into the lake. The heavy duck leg splashed oilily on the water surface, making a plop~ sound which was hardly noticeable amid the harmonica’s melody.

"Offer the gold and silver."

Miss Galina added, so Saradiel took out a handful of rusty silver-plated ornaments from his pocket and tossed them into the lake as well.

He was actually quite concerned whether such offerings might be considered too disrespectful.

"Offer the soul."

Miss Galina said for the fourth time. Saradiel rummaged through the bag and found a piece of parchment covered in the word "soul." The ink was a bluish-black, and the parchment appeared to be from last week. It had no supernatural power, merely a thorough scrawl of the word.

Saradiel hesitated without acting, looking towards the two witches with difficulty. Miss Sylvia continued playing the harmonica at the lakeside with a smile, the night wind brushing against her long gown as she seemed to enjoy the moment; the Duchess looked at Saradiel with curiosity, as if puzzled by his pause.

"The offerings are getting more absurd each time."

Saradiel thought to himself, tossing the fourth offering, the parchment with "soul" written on it, into the lake.

"Offer wisdom."

Miss Galina stated lastly. Only five offerings were needed for this ritual.

By now, the canvas bag was nearly empty. Saradiel reached inside, grasping something unpleasantly furry. Extracting such an item in the darkness was genuinely eerie because it was a bundle of hair.

These were all human long hair, strands in black, red, brown, yellow, and other colors, some naturally curly, others perfectly straight.

The hair was not smoothed out and bound with string but rather clumped together. Saradiel threw the hair into the lake and then it was blown back to him by a gust of wind.

Miss Galina’s fingers moved slightly, causing the stones on the ground to hover beside Saradiel. He tied the hair to one of the stones and tossed it far into the lake.

"Why can hair represent wisdom?"

He finally asked then.

"Isn’t it easy to understand? Overthinking leads to hair loss."

The Duchess replied.

"So..."

Shard found himself unable to refute:

"Where did you pick up those hairs earlier?"

"They weren’t picked up. Sylvia and I only received the notice from the Council this evening. Since time was tight, I had the maids gather some around the manor. You know, in a place where girls live, there’s never a shortage of hair. Besides, a witch’s hair itself is an excellent ritual material,"

Shard could almost imagine Tifa leading the maids around the manor looking for hair. He certainly didn’t believe those pretty witch followers would directly pull out their own hair.

With five offerings presented, Miss Sylvia continued to play the harmonica under the night sky, but no elemental traces appeared around. Miss Galina clearly didn’t anticipate this, so she signaled for Miss Sylvia to stop and then said to Shard:

"The information says that to summon the Sage-Level Relic, the ’Prankster Boy,’ five offerings are needed, followed by creating a jovial environment. Did I misunderstand?"

Humanoid relics are more difficult to contain than other types, so there is relatively little information. The information provided by the Witch Council to the two witches was evidently not comprehensive enough.

Shard believed "five offerings" were certainly enough, but "a jovial environment" was probably not something that could be achieved just by playing a harmonica.

"Since it’s the Prankster Boy, Miss Galina, why not have someone perform a comedy skit in Regent’s Park tomorrow, or bring in a circus, under the pretense of enriching the citizens’ cultural life?"

He suggested.

"Others have already found this place; we can’t delay."

Although Shard’s proposal was quite good, Miss Galina still shook her head in refusal.

She thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said to Miss Sylvia:

"Emma, answer me a question.

If one night, our young detective goes out to look for his cat named ’Mia’ and encounters three beautiful blonde women at Saint Delan Square, if he gives up searching for the cat, he could spend a wonderful and outrageous night with the three blondes. What do you think he would do?"

Before Miss Sylvia could respond, the Duchess laughed and said:

"I think Shard would definitely insist on finding the cat."

"This joke is quite unethical."

Though she said that, Miss Sylvia, with her black bobbed hair, still giggled while covering her mouth. When she put her hand down, her red lips, with an unidentified shade of lipstick, drew an enticing curve on her pale cheeks, and her eyes sparkled with amusement.

Yet still, nothing happened, and only Shard felt slightly unhappy due to being "mocked."

"Then let’s try another one."

Miss Galina seemed intrigued and laughed as she said to Shard:

"Now there’s a relic called the ’Trickster Identifier’ that can detect lies. If people lie in front of it, it emits light of varying intensity.

So, I asked Little Angelina: Have you ever read the magazine with colors that a lady shouldn’t see?

She said no, and the relic emitted the light of a gas lamp;

Then, I asked Tifa: Have you ever secretly done bad things with Shard behind my back?

She said no, and the relic emitted the color of the dim winter noon sun;

Then, I asked Emma..."

She looked over at Miss Sylvia with a smile, and the latter immediately realized she was the "main character" of this time:

"When you were little, did you ever secretly use the teacher’s lipstick to paint a ridiculous makeup on your face? Emma immediately denied it and defended herself: This is like how I wouldn’t covet others’ lovers. The relic first slightly flickered, then exploded outright."

Miss Galina’s smile could hardly be contained, and although Shard felt she was implying something, he also felt like laughing but managed to control himself. As for the young Grand Witch, her mood worsened abruptly just like Shard’s when the earlier "cat and the ladies" joke was made.

Miss Emma Sylvia, not one to suffer losses idly, seeing that there was still no reaction around, returned a similarly bright smile:

"Then it’s my turn to tell a joke.

One day, the court painter of Draleon painted a beautiful large oil painting for Duchess Galina Cavendish and named it ’The Duchess of Saradiel Inspecting Tobesk.’ The painting was hung in the manor, and a curious maid who saw the painting asked an elder maid: Who is this handsome gentleman in the painting? The elder maid replied: That is Mr. Shard Suren Hamilton. The young maid then asked: Then who is the lady embracing him in the picture, kissing on the Duke’s bedroom bed? The elder maid answered: That would be our Head Maid Tifa Servet."

Miss Sylvia smiled as she looked at Miss Galina beside her:

"Then the young maid finally asked: So where is our Duke? The elder maid pointed to the nameplate of the painting: The Duchess of Saradiel is inspecting Tobesk."

Miss Galina pressed her lips together and looked coldly at her, and Miss Sylvia stubbornly stared back at Miss Galina.

Shard, meanwhile, was stifling laughter to the side. Although this joke also involved him, it was really quite amusing. Meanwhile, the two witches who were "teasing" each other were not in as good of a mood as he was. Miss Galina, being mocked, had no awareness that she started it, and laughed coldly as she was about to speak again, while Miss Sylvia was also thinking of another joke, but Shard stopped them:

"It’s coming!"

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