Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 839: Shard’s Holiday

Chapter 839 -839: Shard’s Holiday

No matter what, the seventeen-year-old girl must continue to follow the Red-Haired Witch to learn the way of balance, with the “Edict” series of sorcery and arcane techniques being the main focus. But Shard’s classes were not going so smoothly, because ever since he solidified his relationship with Dorothy and Lecia, he had never been able to attend any Saturday evening class successfully.

Her Highness the Princess and Miss Writer seemed to view Saturday nights as a fixed date time for Shard with them. Therefore, even after Shard expressed his desire to learn the method to acquire the “Power” Spirit Rune to complete the final rune string of his Four Rings’ Ascension Words, the girls still planned their Saturday night activities in their own way:

“I think ‘Power’ is not urgent. After all, no matter how hard we try, Shard, you will surely receive help in the past time.”

That’s what the girls said.

Lecia couldn’t often spend the night outside Yordle Palace, so she somehow managed to persuade Dorothy to lend her body, allowing her to stay overnight at No. 6, Saint Delan Square in Dorothy’s body.

This was quite a strange behavior, especially for Shard, who felt like a scumbag calling Lecia’s name while holding Dorothy’s body.

[Aren’t you?]

And every time he had this thought, this question would echo in his ear.

Both Lecia and Dorothy felt that body swapping to make life more convenient was quite normal, with no sense of twisted ethics or morals.

“If one day, I propose to wear Dorothy’s clothes while Dorothy wears my dress, then we might be losing control. Isn’t this normal?”

Her Highness the Princess said as a matter of course. Seeing that Shard still wanted to persuade them to stop doing this, the red-haired girl using the blond girl’s body asked which body Shard preferred… so Shard could only shut his mouth.

However, Lecia had privately complained to Shard that Dorothy’s physical stamina was really unsatisfactory. But this was unavoidable. Lecia had received rigorous training as a Royal Lady since childhood, proficient in rapier, horsemanship, and other sports, as part of her basic training. Dorothy, on the other hand, was an ordinary civilian girl, and her career as a writer after adulthood didn’t require physical training. Even as a Circle Sorcerer, most of her arcane techniques leaned towards Spirit Summoning and Enlightenment. Therefore, although both were Five Rings, their physical stamina differences were significant.

The reason Dorothy agreed to Lecia’s request was probably that, while Miss Writer gained satisfactory friendships and love, she had recently made significant progress in her career. With the release of the “Hamilton Detective Stories,” she had become a hot figure in the city. Though the “Steam Bird Daily” was only sold in the western region of Draleon, the “Hamilton Detective Stories” could be purchased throughout the Old Continent.

In just a week, her new book’s sales surpassed a quarter of the annual sales of the bestselling popular novel “Marian’s Secret.” Dorothy herself was praised in the “Tobesk Morning Post,” “Steam Bird Daily,” and the “Threepenny Gazette” as the “Golden Rose of Draleon’s Popular Literature”—later, Lecia told Shard this had much to do with Dorothy’s father, Professor Luisa’s reputation.

There were even rumors that Dorothy might become one of the candidates for this year’s “Golden Feather Literary Award” of Draleon, a truly heavyweight award in the Draleon literary world. But Miss Writer herself didn’t care much about these honors; she enjoyed the process of writing and gathering material.

“Of course, although I don’t care about such honors and do not intend to dwell in the fame and fortune scene, if I do get nominated, I will take on the responsibility of inheriting and developing Draleon’s popular literature and…”

She saw Shard in formal wear on the other side of the table at the “Boniste Restaurant,” holding back laughter, and reached out to hold his hand with a bit of reproach.

Dorothy’s success with her new book certainly couldn’t have happened without the help of Detective Shard Hamilton. And as a thank-you, when Shard made a request to read their diaries during that dinner, Dorothy and Lecia discussed it for half a week and finally agreed.

Of course, only part of the diaries was made available to Shard; some content was still a secret of the ladies. But for Shard, it was enough. Amidst his intense studies, he now had something interesting to read, and the Outlander finally found something engaging besides Roder Cards in this era.

As for Luviya, after the Chosen by Death incident, she, like Shard, chose to take a break and, after Iluna’s return, the three of them went to the opera and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner. But only a week later, on a certain night when she and Shard took a carriage back to town from the Opera House, the purple-eyed girl announced she would start investigating the next Chosen One:

“I’ll handle the preliminary investigation as usual.”

Luviya said, taking off Shard’s coat in the bedroom and pushing him onto the bed:

“Before new clues emerge, you can continue to enjoy the city life of Tobesk during the transition from autumn to winter. Although I have no complaints about your relationships with Dorothy and Her Highness the Princess, I still hope they haven’t made you lose yourself in bed games… Detective, don’t forget that you still want to take the jump exam at the end of the year. Not only do you need to test the second-year courses, but also the third-year ones.”

“I have already borrowed from the library…”

The purple eyes gazed at Shard, illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the window:

“Do you really want to discuss this now?”

Of course, Shard hadn’t forgotten to visit Grace and Helen. The girls’ recovery was going well, and since most of the Red Butterfly’s power was sealed, they didn’t have to worry about their power of calamity affecting the city. Therefore, they could stroll and wander around Midshire Fort like normal people.

Despite having lived through two eras, both the girl in the white dress and the girl in the black dress still had child-like personalities. Of course, Grace, as the elder sister, was relatively more mature. Shard toured Midshire Fort with them in the late autumn, and even climbed up the gradually reopening Sicarl Mountain at night to visit the giant tree on the summit.

Somehow, Summit Lake had returned, and the giant tree stood tall on the Heart Lake Island of Summit Lake, with its lush crown covering most of the lake even in late autumn.

Under the tree, the Red Butterfly Maidens closed their eyes and made a wish, then kissed Shard on the cheeks on either side:

“Let’s go to the treetop and watch the moon together.”

Blushing and smiling, Grace and Helen transformed into a swarm of red butterflies, dancing among the trees under the moonlight. Shard also became a swarm of butterflies, flying with them to the treetop, and together they gazed at the brilliant starry sky.

The entwined butterflies flew towards the Star Ocean. The story that began at the banquet of the Fifth Era in 3014 seemed unfinished; they still had long tales to weave. For instance, the twins planned to find a way to No. 6, Saint Delan Square before winter to see Shard’s life there:

“If you have clients, we can even temporarily act as detective assistants to help you entertain those with interesting stories.”

Helen suggested with a smile, and finding a way to get to Saint Delan Square wasn’t too difficult for them. Granny Cassandra, the Grand Witch, had already started searching for relics.

Although the Traveler’s Gate was a relic with unique properties, spatial movement wasn’t its exclusive ability.

In short, after concluding the Chosen by Death arc, the Outlander thoroughly enjoyed his leisure time in this world. He didn’t have to toil for a living, nor did he have to worry about the prophecies. However, every morning when he woke up and found a different girl beside him than the previous night, he couldn’t help but feel a guilty sense of “How did I become this kind of person,” only to be teased by “her” in his ear:

“Outlander, no one remains unchanged forever. At least, you’ve only changed in this aspect.”

Burying himself in studies, entertaining clients, or wandering the city, accompanying Dorothy for her fieldwork or visiting Luviya at the Prophet’s Society for a divination session, Shard’s life was fulfilling and peaceful up until the thirteenth day of the Frostfall Moon, which was the tenth day before Priest Augustus returned from Midshire Fort.

Within two weeks, he retrieved a delicate silver pocket watch and a bottle of quite fragrant perfume from God’s Gift Box. The task for the pocket watch was to pray to God at 7 PM every evening during the week, while the perfume, confirmed to be ordinary by Priest Augustus, was gifted to Luviya by Shard.

As for the perfume’s task, it required Shard to collect dewdrops in the morning. This led him to grow two flower pots at home, adding new life to the household apart from himself and the Mia Cat. But Mia wouldn’t allow Shard to place the flower pots on the living room window sill where it took its afternoon naps, so the flowers were placed on the balcony. Shard even asked “her” to remind him to water the flowers regularly.

Besides occasionally asking the doctor about demons and consulting Priest Augustus about angels, Shard also accepted three detective commissions other than the “Mr. Hank’s Haunted Incident” and “Baron Pasos’ Family Heirloom Medal.” These were recorded in his detective logs as “Lewis’ Giant Cat,” “Cemetery Evening Bell Murder Case,” and “The Missing Third Gold Coin,” which also bolstered Detective Shard Hamilton’s reputation. The detective business thrived, and life seemed to be getting better.

But peace wouldn’t last forever. After a short respite, a letter arriving on the morning of the Frostfall Moon, November 13th, signaled the end of Shard’s rest time.