Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1036: Night Visit to the Concert Hall

Receiving the doctor’s letter occurred on Sunday noon. The doctor had already locked onto the demon’s whereabouts and decided to take action tonight. This time, the demon didn’t attend a banquet; it was hiding in the "Royal Festive Music Hall" under the guise of Victor Vanny, in the east of the city.

The doctor’s plan was simple and broken into three steps: infiltrate the music hall, find the demon, and defeat it.

Even such a straightforward plan has other possibilities; the demon has already sensed that someone local intends to hunt it. It doesn’t know exactly what the doctor is, but since it hasn’t fled the city overnight, it’s surely got other tricks up its sleeve. Hence, the doctor instructs Shard to prepare for battle, as unexpected situations might arise tonight.

"Royal Festive Music Hall?"

Upon hearing that Shard would head to the music hall to hunt the demon tonight, the rosy-cheeked and fairly spirited Miss Writer frowned slightly:

"Tonight, Lecia and Princess Margaret will also be attending a concert there."

"Is it such a coincidence?"

Shard was somewhat surprised by this, but these two things should be unrelated. The demon hiding in the music hall was a desperate act driven by the doctor, while the princesses agreed to go to the music hall, a decision made only yesterday.

Although the main force in hunting the demon is the doctor, Shard won’t let down his guard because of it. He has prepared a sufficient amount of spellcasting materials and brought along all the relics he might use.

After finishing these preparations and having dinner, he left the cat and Dorothy at home. Carrying the [Night Watchman], he set out by coach and found Dr. Schneider, who had arrived in advance at the "Green Grass Tavern" in the eastern part of Tobesk.

The "Green Grass Tavern" is a formally operating tavern located on Rodriguez Street, only five hundred meters from the Royal Festive Music Hall, known for its distinctive grass-flavored special beer. Of course, after ordering a drink, Dr. Schneider found the taste rather peculiar and considered the reputation here to be overrated.

On a winter night, once night falls, the tavern becomes crowded, and no one pays attention to Shard and the doctor sitting against the wall.

On the table between them were newspapers, a notebook, Roder Card, and wine glasses. Beside the chair was the violin case containing the [Night Watchman]; everything seemed normal.

The violin case was also left behind by the previous detective, and Shard suspected it wasn’t purchased just to store a violin.

"I can sense that that guy is inside the music hall."

Dr. Schneider lowered his voice:

"I bought the architectural design of the music hall from the black market. Later, we’ll enter through the sewage system. Now, it’s..."

"Seven thirteen and twenty-one seconds."

Shard helped the doctor sync his pocket watch.

"Yes, the next music concert starts at eight o’clock. We’ll leave the tavern at seven-thirty and infiltrate during the ticket-checking time at the concert’s start. At eight o’clock, we’ll enter the music hall through the sewage system; if everything goes smoothly, we can come out within an hour."

The doctor handed Shard a small cloth bag containing various talismans, including basic silence charms, and talismans for assisting illusions, invisibility, odor elimination, and light suppression.

The doctor, as a student of the Mechanical Academy, is the most skilled in alchemical techniques among the five. In his view, the biggest challenge tonight isn’t whether they can defeat the demon, but whether they can remain undetected.

"I’ve devised several contingency plans."

The doctor showed Shard his notebook:

"Even if something goes wrong with the plan, we’ll have measures to remedy the situation."

Shard nodded:

"If that’s the case, then see if you have a pre-plan for the current situation. Two high-ring sorcerers have entered here just now."

His eyes glanced at the doctor, while his wine glass subtly motioned toward the door.

Dr. Schneider glanced toward the door and then changed his expression, lowering his head to look at the newspaper on the table, pretending to be interested in the obituary on the left side:

"Old Balgindo’s death is really odd, especially when he was about to retire."

The doctor feigned distraction, confirming that the two gentlemen dressed in black coats at the door were not heading their way before cautiously telling Shard:

"I don’t recognize the other one, but the taller one is a professor from the Saint Byrons Mechanical Academy. I took his elective course ’Precious Metal Refining.’ But what is the academy professor doing in Tobesk? Is it also for the [Sage’s Glowstone]?"

Encountering academy professors in a small tavern like this, Shard had experienced similar incidents in Coldwater Port; subsequently, he broke into the Aphrola Mansion and ran into [Desire] in the secret room behind the damp little church.

"The professors aren’t just here for a drink, are they?"

Shard remarked, also not glancing toward them, as the perception of high-ring sorcerers was extremely sharp.

"It’s hard to say, but anyway, it has nothing to do with us."

The doctor emphasized to Shard:

"Our target tonight is just that demon, we don’t need to worry about anything else."

After speaking, he stood up:

"But to be safe, let’s go outside now, it’s not safe here anymore."

Although walking on the street on a winter night isn’t a good idea, the doctor was obviously afraid that staying in the tavern would cause other trouble.

In short, the doctor took Shard and avoided the professors from the Academy, and wandered the winter streets for twenty minutes, which also served to familiarize themselves with the terrain.

Seeing the time was about right, he brought Shard to an alley outside the Green Grass Tavern on Rodriguez Street, and found an iron door almost merged with the ground halfway down the alley. The door was pressed under a pile of abandoned steam pipes, and the doctor used telekinesis to shift the pipes to the right, allowing Shard to see the door flush against the wall, which judging by its rust, hadn’t been opened for at least three years.

"It’s an entrance for sewer maintenance, but due to the transformation of the city’s underground pipes, to prevent direct contact between sewage and gas pipelines, this section of the sewer was abandoned."

As the doctor explained, he squatted down and took out a small copper key to insert into the lock next to the door. He twisted it forcefully, and the key snapped in the lock.

"It’s okay, this was expected."

The doctor chuckled dryly, glanced left and right down the dark alley, muttered a spell, and then slammed his right hand on the ground. With a muffled thud, the rusty iron door on the ground popped open, revealing the dark passage below.

The doctor went down the ladder first, followed by Shard, making sure to cover the popped-open door behind them.

Compared to the cold ground, the nauseatingly smelly sewer seemed damp and warm. Although the smell was still tolerable, Shard was thankful he hadn’t eaten much that night.

"This way!"

Dr. Schneider, who had reached the bottom of the ladder first, took two candle stubs out of his pocket and lit them, letting them float beside him.

He checked their current position, ensuring there were no other "visitors" in the sewer. Once he confirmed there were none, he gestured to Shard, and together they headed into the darkness:

"Doctor, have you prepared a deodorizing method?"

Shard didn’t forget to ask, as with the scent they had now, the smell might be noticeable two corridors away once they were in the music hall.

The dim candlelight lit the path ahead, and in the filthy narrow sewer, rats and cockroaches advanced alongside them. Although acting with the doctor often led to mishaps, perhaps even these "accidents" disliked the sewer’s smell, and they quickly arrived beneath the concert hall.

This abandoned sewer segment was originally connected to the concert hall’s warehouse, but the exit had been sealed off years ago. After reviewing the concert hall’s architectural map, the doctor found another path, which was to directly create an opening from a location closest to the surface:

"This is it."

The candle floated upward, illuminating the spot the doctor confirmed. And next, Shard wouldn’t need to take action, as Dr. Schneider, being a Six Rings Warlock, had the ability to melt through stone walls.

He reached upward, and then a high-temperature fireball resembling molten lava appeared in his hand. The fireball moved upward continuously, swiftly melting the rock above like a scorching knife through snow. Shard recognized it as the Flame Demon’s fire, the power the doctor could gain after consuming the demon.

The opening was quickly made, revealing the supply storeroom backstage on the first floor of the concert hall above. It wouldn’t be opened during a performance, so the room was unlit.

And so, the two successfully entered the concert hall, and the doctor handed Shard a brown leaf. After casually rubbing the leaf on his clothes a couple of times, the stench that had just clung to them completely disappeared.

"It’s not an alchemical tool, but a special plant’s leaf."

As if guessing what Shard was thinking, the doctor explained, then handed Shard a white mask that only exposed the eyes and mouth:

"This is the alchemical tool."

He put on an identical mask himself, and as the mask "melted," the doctor’s appearance changed to another person. Shard did the same, and when the mask melted on his face, it felt like a layer of water film wrapped around it.

"Even a demon can’t easily see through this disguise. It’s very expensive, so we must make the most of this opportunity. Follow the plan and come with me."

After preparing thoroughly, the doctor leaned against the door to confirm the corridor was temporarily empty, then opened the door a crack. As this blue-eyed middle-aged psychologist moved from the darkness into the light, the writhing black sludge enveloped his shirt, adding a completely new garment to him.

Shard, wearing freshly changed clothes, followed, stepping onto the red carpet on the floor and glancing down the brightly lit but empty corridor illuminated by gas lamps.

This marked their official entry into the concert hall’s interior, indicating Shard was once again entering someone else’s premises without permission following Dr. Schneider’s lead.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺