Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1708 - 1707: Chloe Reappears

"Dragon, please change the terms. We are companions on this journey, and I won’t give up on any of them!"

Shard resolutely said, while stuffing Mia into the inside pocket of his coat, ready to act.

To be precise, whether a Flame Demon or a Dragon is stronger depends on their age and specific race. But since they were able to defeat the Flame Demon on their first visit, under the "Traveler Mode" where it’s unclear if the enemy was weakened or they were strengthened, perhaps they could also defeat a Dragon.

Clearly, Shard wasn’t the only one who thought this way; the golden horn of the Unicorn was already glimmering, and the Witch was even angrier than Shard.

"Change the terms?"

The enormous dragon head pondered for a moment:

"Then it’s only money, lots and lots of gold, or a powerful Relic, or valuable ancient books."

Shard obviously didn’t have these, and although the Witch had brought some tools that might help, they weren’t extremely valuable.

Understanding this, a silver arc of lightning crackled in Shard’s hanging right hand. He had always heard that the "Thunder Spear" and "Sunlight Gun" had special damage effects on Pureblood Dragons, and since it couldn’t be verified in the Sixth Era, this was a perfect opportunity to test them.

However, just before Shard could act, the dragon’s nose, like a cavern, twitched suddenly, and it suspiciously asked Shard:

"How interesting, I thought I sniffed wrong earlier. Why do you have the scent of a female dragon on you?"

Shard frowned slightly, recalling the scent left by Demigod Witch Fiona, a Demigod Red Dragon Witch, during the final use of the Time Key of the City of Eternal Night in the Randall Valley battle. Although this scent wasn’t purely olfactory, it would slowly dissipate over time. Now, though its power to intimidate wild animals had diminished, it hadn’t completely vanished.

"I know a Half-Blood Dragon Witch."

Shard answered, knowing that in this era, neither Fiona nor even Miss Feliana or Miss Orland had been born, so even if he mentioned them, they couldn’t trace any information:

"That Witch left some of her scent on me, but that’s not the point. We have no valuable items, we just want to pass through."

As he spoke, the "Power of the Red Dragon" had already been activated; against such a massive opponent, power was also necessary.

The Unicorn also walked up next to Shard, the light from its golden horn spreading around. The dragon looked at the hostile faces of the people and the Unicorn, thought for a while, and then slightly conceded some space:

"Since that’s the case, you may pass. The source of the scent on you, that female dragon is indeed powerful; I don’t want to be chased and beaten by other dragons later, especially those bad-tempered red dragons."

But Shard hadn’t noticed any bad temper in Fiona; on the contrary, the Miss Fiona Drago he knew had a somewhat soft character.

"Let us pass? Just to confirm, us travelers don’t need to spend a large amount of money like the last person who passed, right?"

Because this was in a story, Shard specifically used the title "Traveler" to ensure the other party wouldn’t lie.

"Go ahead, go ahead,"

the dragon said somewhat impatiently:

"And the last Witch who passed didn’t give me money either."

The latter half of the sentence was much quieter:

"I was just trying to scare you, the last Witch gave me a beating, otherwise where do you think the ice crystals on my head came from? I’m a dragon, not an Elemental Creature; having ice spikes on my body is definitely not normal."

Complaining as it was, it withdrew its head, and with a massive shadow passing overhead, everyone just felt a moment of darkness, and as the light reappeared, they found themselves back at the familiar campsite.

The campfire burned brightly, snowflakes danced in the sky, and the surrounding woods were enshrouded in a nighttime fog. Despite encountering a dragon and being ready for battle, the confrontation ended anticlimactically.

It seemed this dragon had sustained injuries in its fight with the previous Witch, at least affecting its combat ability; otherwise, there’s no reason it would let a group pass just based on scent alone.

The Bard was quickly writing something down, while Shard looked at the Witch, who shook her head:

"Lax is excellent, but I’m sure she can’t defeat a dragon of that size alone. The previous Witch isn’t the person we’re looking for."

"Sister had just been promoted to Eighth Rank before she disappeared."

The maid in the black dress added, and Shard nodded in understanding, while the voice of the Deity began narrating once more:

"The Traveler under the Moon possesses a blind confidence, and the path he chose led the group into the perilous domain of the Dragon. The Dragon appeared and demanded a toll for passage, or some companions to be left behind. Although the travelers’ pockets were empty and they were unwilling to abandon their companions, the deep bond between the Traveler under the Moon and the Demigod Red Dragon successfully convinced the Dragon to let them continue their journey."

Shard was certain he hadn’t experienced an illusion; the Witch and the Maid definitely glanced at him with a look full of meaning.

"The wings of the Dragon cleared the path ahead for them, allowing them to reach the designated campsite before dark."

At the top of the stack of cards, the next card flipped open automatically, signifying that the events of this night were not for them to choose but had appeared on their own as the story progressed.

On that card, standing against the backdrop of a blizzard, was a small single-person tent.

And just when the four of them were confirming the card’s surface, a faint glow appeared at the edge of the woodland, where the campfire had not illuminated, and it grew brighter and brighter until it lit up another small campsite in the snow, made up of a campfire and tent.

At that moment, the storm mixed with snowflakes rushed toward them; no one could see clearly what was in that small campsite, only that the silhouette that had been sitting there stood up and walked toward them.

The voice of the Deity carried a hint of amusement:

"On the night of the sixth day, the travelers in the snow night arrived at the predetermined camping spot, unexpectedly finding someone already resting there. Encountering unfamiliar travelers during a journey is also a crucial part of the adventure. However, it remains to be seen whether the travelers can get along harmoniously with this stranger."

That not-so-tall figure walked toward them amidst the blizzard, and as the silhouette drew closer, the face became clearer. Shard abruptly stood up. The Demigod Witch with long silver hair and a luxurious dress draped with a brown fur-collared coat, Miss Chloe Marcus Marquez, walked towards them against the wind and snow.

Even though he had known in advance that Chloe might appear, Shard’s eyes widened in surprise, and Miss Andriana the Witch also stood up, recognizing that it was the Demigod of Zaras Academy.

Yet, Chloe frowned, scrutinizing the man in front of her and the group of animals behind him, as if completely failing to recognize Shard.

This was a very strange situation. She, being a Demigod, left the Silver Mountains without her memory being erased. Moreover, her strong memory as a Demigod should not have allowed her to entirely forget Shard within the mere twenty years from 903 to 923.

Even if she truly couldn’t recall, the fact that Shard, as a man, wouldn’t trigger the Witch’s Curse, shouldn’t have made her so calm. Therefore, the only explanation was that, although Shard hadn’t transformed into an animal like his companions, his appearance in the story certainly wasn’t his usual one.

"Who are you? The Circus leader?"

Despite her petite stature and cold expression, her words carried more pressure than those tall and arrogant Grand Witches of the Sixth Era.

Clearly, the test in this event was to get along peacefully with other travelers met during the journey, but Shard was more intent on making Chloe recognize him.

He gestured to Miss Andriana the Witch beside him to remain silent as he was about to say something when the cat in his arms meowed again.

Speaking of which, this cat had significantly meowed too much in the Lostwoods.

"Meow~"

Since this cat had also seen Miss Chloe during Shard’s second visit to the Silver Mountains, facing the Witch in front of it, the meowing wasn’t the wary and aggressive one used for strangers.

Upon hearing the meow, Chloe suspiciously furrowed her attractive brows, then looked down at her arms, as if just noticing he was still holding a cat.

This also made Shard realize something: although he had brought the cat on both visits, little Mia had never appeared in the travel stories told by the Deity; the Deity had never mentioned Mia’s existence. Even if it followed Shard into scene after scene of the story, it wasn’t considered part of the travel party since it didn’t come the first time.

In other words—

[Both inside and outside the story, this cat is real.]

"She" gently summarized.

"This cat is... Mia?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The short-statured Witch with silver hair exclaimed in surprise, calling out the name of the cat Shard had once called, then looked in astonishment at the man’s face in front of her. Suddenly her mind wavered, finally realizing that a man was indeed standing in the snow. And the seemingly unfamiliar face revealed its true appearance when acknowledged as male. Or rather, she suddenly understood what that face represented.

Twenty years of longing, twenty years of reminiscing in dreams about the ’Climb of the Silver Mountains,’ all transformed into real emotions at that moment. And that beautiful, one-of-a-kind ginger cat proved that this was definitely not an illusion created by the snow mountain:

"Is it you?!"

"You recognized me! Wonderful, I was just thinking about how to explain it."

The silver-haired Witch couldn’t bother speaking further, quickly striding on tiptoe through the snow towards Shard, then opening her arms and standing on tiptoe to embrace him.

Her whole body trembled, the familiar warm breath reminding her of that brief moment spent in the tent when climbing the Silver Mountains. Meanwhile, the displeased cat squeezed between them, scrambled onto Shard’s shoulder, mewing to express its feelings.