Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 558 - 558

Chapter 558: 558 Chapter 558: 558 Standing at the door, Annie Julian’s figure was transparent. She was not wearing that very beautiful wedding dress nor a veil, so the strangulation marks on her neck were very evident.

“A spirit?”

Spirits that wish to linger rather than moving on often require some special conditions. A body influenced by a Relic also counts as one such special circumstance.

The lady at the door did not look at Shard and Iluna, but sorrowfully at the severed head of Toby Julian’s body on the ground. Unfortunately, this gentleman was merely killed by the Undead, and his spirit did not stay behind.

Shard did not know whether Toby Julian had moved on or if he’d been absorbed by a Relic. But in any case, Toby Julian had committed so many sins just to see his sister again. Yet, when her spirit truly returned, he himself had departed.

“This is a common spirit.”

Shard said, this type of spirit was similar to those he had seen before—spirits that died in an attic with illegal magazines, that could be left alone without any issues and would depart on their own after a while.

But Iluna thought for a moment and still went over:

“Is there something you’d like to say?”

The seventeen-year-old girl earnestly asked. Miss Annie Julian’s spirit seemed to still possess some wisdom as she looked towards Iluna, who was covering one eye:

“I… am very sorry for bringing you so much trouble.”

The voice was very gentle; she must have been a very gentle person in life as well.

“This is not your fault. Now, please move on.”

Iluna said, under the gaze of that strange eye, the spirit was becoming transparent.

“I, actually knew that my brother had complicated feelings for me, but we couldn’t be together…”

The disjointed voice, as if making a final addition to the tragedy, left Shard unsure of Iluna’s expression.

“This is not your fault.”

Iluna whispered, the seventeen-year-old girl seemingly had much sentiment about such matters:

“What’s past is past now.”

“My brother also died because of me.”

Miss Julian’ spirit seemed like it wanted to cry, but unfortunately, unless one can control Soul Power, normal spirits do not have that function.

Iluna then took a deep breath:

“The boundary between the Deceased and the Living cannot be broken; it’s a fundamental rule of this world. Everything has ended now, and it is his sin. Please leave now, Miss Julian.”

“Is it Fate’s fault? If we weren’t siblings, if he could have told me, he…”

The spirit looked at Iluna, and Iluna shook her head:

“We have no if’s, we can only look forward. Leave now, this story is over.”

She seemed especially mature when dealing with these matters, at least more mature than Shard thought she was.

The girl with brown hair extended her left hand that was covering her eye, trying to touch the spirit in front of her. The spirit, at the touch of her fingertip, dispersed into specks of light and ultimately vanished.

Iluna sighed and turned to look at Shard standing between the two bodies, seemingly in not a very good mood:

“Detective, who do you think is to blame for this matter?”

“Of course it’s Toby Julian’s fault. Even without that Relic, he would have done something else.”

The Outlander saw this matter, completely unrelated to himself, very clearly—at least he believed so:

“Such tragedies, I have read about many of them in stories. Isn’t that just how a tragedy works?

The wrong person did the wrong thing, the right person did the wrong thing, the wrong person did the right thing, even when the right person did the right thing, it could lead to tragedy. But a mistake is a mistake, and Toby Julian caused this tragedy, there is no doubt about that.”

“It’s good that I didn’t let you talk to Annie Julian earlier, otherwise she might have turned into an Evil Spirit.”

Iluna said, glancing at the two bodies on the ground, a faint smile appearing on her face:

“But you’re right, this is a tragedy…”

She then looked down at the Parchment Roll in her right hand and sighed softly:

“Death, tragedy, these things really affect the mood.”

“Indeed.”

Shard was still thinking about telling this story to Dorothy as material for a novel.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a steam whistle, Shard looked up, and behind Iluna, the Golden Life Ring materialized on its own in the Steam Mist. The faint Spiritual Light gathered at the Life Ring, the black Iron-colored Spiritual Light eventually forming a new Spirit Rune “Tragedy.” Iluna Beath now had all four types of Three Rings Spirit Runes, and she could prepare for the promotion to Four Rings.

(Mia running…)

“Looking so listless, did you not rest well?”

It was Wednesday morning, and Miss Galina said that to Shard with a smile, sitting at No. 6, Saint Delan Square.

Shard sat on the sofa across from the coffee table, holding Mia, while Tifa stood behind Miss Galina. The other two Maids who came with the Duchess were preparing the tea.

“Had a nightmare last night.”

Shard yawned, stroking the soft cat, and said.

“I always thought you were brave. What did you dream about?”

Miss Galina was quite curious.

“Dreamed of the bride.”

The adventure from the previous night wasn’t particularly dangerous, but the scene of the Corpse Bride clutching her head and sliding out in the dark had indeed left a significant shadow in Shard’s mind.

“Oh? A bride?”

The witch raised an eyebrow:

“You dreamed that at your own wedding, you were killed by several girls in wedding dresses?”

Shard thought back to that scene and immediately shook his head:

“You might have misunderstood, it wasn’t me getting married, it was the Corpse Bride.”

He yawned again:

“I dreamed that the Corpse Bride surrounded No. 6, Saint Delan Square, and I kept running and hiding in this big house, but in the end, I was still discovered. Then I woke up.”

“Woken up by fright?”

Tifa took the tea tray offered by the maid and poured tea for the two of them, casually laughing as she asked.

“No, I was woken up by Mia, it wanted breakfast.”

He recounted what had happened the night before, and then took out the letter that Iluna had sent him this morning. Unfortunately, Iluna’s vacation was ruined, and now their team needed to investigate the origin of that marriage contract.

“That’s really something. From the description of its specific traits, this could be considered one of the most dangerous Keeper of Secrets Level Relics.”

There are records concerning the Keeper of Secrets Level Relic “Grolinston Marriage Contract” within the Dawn Church, a contract that appeared in the Second Era. Its original form is a matter of great debate between the church and the academy. The church believes it to be a contract from the ancient Old God Church, while the academy believes it to be from the marriage codex of the ancient kingdom.

Miss Galina looked at the letter and said with a smile:

“Look at this, writing two living people’s names on it can make them fall in love forever; writing a living person’s and a dead person’s names can break the boundaries between life and death; and writing the names of a human and a non-human can actually…”

“What?”

Shard asked curiously, hugging Mia. He had only read half the letter when Miss Galina arrived, so he didn’t see the latter part of it.

“The information released by the church is definitely not complete. I’d bet that this relic could be used as the core of a God Summoning Ritual.”

Miss Galina closed the letter and handed it back to Shard:

“Writing the names of a human and a non-human, two deceased, or more than two names on it can all lead to the relic going out of control. You’re really lucky that you didn’t encounter such an out-of-control situation. But just because it’s out of control doesn’t mean the ‘togetherness’ effect won’t occur. How interesting, was this originally the contract signed by the priest or shamaness of some deity from the Third Era when they joined the church?”

Shard recalled again what Miss Feliana had said—never underestimate the use of a relic, nor be misled by its apparent traits.

“What if you write ‘another me’ on it?”

Shard proposed a bolder idea. Miss Galina looked at him in surprise, unable to understand how he came up with that question:

“‘Another me’ doesn’t count as a true name, the true name of another me is ourselves. And writing your own name twice has no effect.”

Shard nodded in understanding, and for some reason, the word “Sulun” popped into his head.

After finishing the discussion about last night’s events, they finally talked about the purpose of Miss Galina’s visit. She had come especially to deliver a new Time Key to Shard.

Knowing that Shard could truly travel through time, she looked forward to the possibility of him meeting Miss Feliana once again.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

The Time Key provided by the Duchess corresponded to the year 3014 of the Fifth Era, which was 12 years after Shard met Miss Feliana in the Forest of Thousand Trees. At that time, Miss Feliana was still young because the establishment of Saint Byrons Integrated Academy occurred around the year 3050. According to records, the founder Mana Feliana appeared to be around 23 to 24 years old, so even after 12 years, Shard would likely see Miss Feliana just as she originally was.

Miss Galina handed the key to Shard, who grasped it in his hand:

“But I can’t guarantee that I’ll definitely meet that lady again.”

“No problem, try one key at a time, and there will always be a chance to meet. Acquiring Time Keys is not simple, especially those for specific time points. But as long as there are Gold Pounds, they can always be found. I can’t guarantee the frequency of providing you with keys, so I hope your luck will be better,” said the Duchess, appraising Shard with a glance, then reminded him:

“There’s no hurry with this matter, just take it slowly, and you don’t have to push yourself.”

“Safety first, I understand that. But how am I to pay for these keys?”

Shard passed the key to the curious cat, which hadn’t seen what Shard had received and thought it was food. But upon seeing the key, it lost interest as it was something it had seen in Shard’s hands before.

“After you meet Miss Feliana, just ask a question for me. Don’t be so formal with me, you are different from others in my heart,” the Red-Haired Duchess said lightly, teasingly looking at Shard, with Tifa standing behind her also showing a smile.

“That won’t do, asking a question is simple, but a key like this is quite precious… I have a notebook with Miss Feliana’s handwriting, go ahead and take a copy,” said Shard.

He had nearly flipped through the notebook twice, and there was nothing on it that only he needed to know.

“Oh?”

Miss Galina narrowed her eyes slightly:

“You have that kind of thing? Detective, do you know how valuable this is?”

“Just don’t show the contents of the notebook to anyone other than you and Tifa. Don’t be so formal with me…”

Shard looked up at the witch, repeating her words:

“… you are different from others in my heart.”

The witch touched her smooth chin and locked eyes with Shard.

Time seemed to stand still during that leisurely morning. The dust in the air solidified, sunlight shone on the maids’ skirts, the cat’s eyes were fixed on the teacup on the table, and its cheek fur trembled evenly.

The young man sitting on the old-fashioned sofa across from her had a smile in his eyes which reflected her own image.

The years were perfect, life was comfortable. For a moment, Galina Cavendish, who considered herself well-versed in “matters of the heart,” genuinely felt her heart skip a beat from a simple sentence.

“But that sentence was mine too.”

She too returned a smile to Shard.

But regardless, this vivid, real, and spine-tingling scene would surely become one of the most important memories in the life of the witch.