Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 637 - Nun and the Cat

Chapter 637: Chapter 637 Nun and the Cat

Chapter 637: Chapter 637 Nun and the Cat

“Blood Feast…”

Shard, standing by the window, suddenly thought of the answer.

“Detective, don’t say it out loud.”

Dr. Schneider stopped Shard’s bold action:

“Anyway, no matter why you want to taste demon blood, a small amount should not be a major issue for a Three Ring Sorcerer like you. At worst, your esophagus might corrode or you might suffer a bout of insanity. Plus, don’t you already possess the power of ‘Gluttony’? That should make it even safer for you.”

“What about ordinary people?”

The detailed rules of the last party were still unknown, but the blood Shard had brought seemed to be distributed to everyone. If it was too dangerous, he wouldn’t bring the demon blood. If the danger was moderate, he would still bring it. Sharing small amounts of several types of blood certainly couldn’t last half an hour, and the vampiric deity would surely stretch the banquet until the very last second before declaring it over. So, for safety’s sake, Shard needed to bring a variety.

“That’s difficult to say since nobody has tried it.”

Dr. Schneider scratched his head:

“Shard, what exactly are you planning to do? Are there demons at Midshire Fort?”

“Not at the moment.”

Shard answered offhandedly, still hesitating in his mind whether to bring the demon blood to the past.

Before continuing her lessons about the “Sleeping Princess” fairy tale through Dorothy’s body in the evening, Lecia took advantage of the afternoon to prepare the Ritual Circle in the attic of the Shard household and set up other arrangements that could increase the chances of a successful ceremony. Thus, she still left Dr. Schneider’s clinic together with Shard.

And tonight, Luviya would, like the night before, not come to the third floor of the Shard house for stargazing, so she bid farewell to Shard at the doctor’s clinic.

Clouds obscured the night sky of Tobesk, reducing visibility significantly. Fortunately, she had divined the weather in advance and knew that the overcast and rainy conditions would clear up by the weekend, with good weather expected for the next couple of weeks.

“The Prophet’s Society could actually boost the sales of their ‘Threepenny Gazette’ by publishing extremely accurate weather forecasts and could claim to be in collaboration with the university.”

This was what Shard had mentioned in the afternoon while helping Dorothy carry a whole box of matches to the attic, where the cat seemed to want to wait for Shard to open the box so it could immediately jump in.

“The Prophet’s Society has tried that, but they quickly discovered that as soon as the weather forecasts were published, their accuracy plummeted to a pitiful degree. But without publication, the accuracy of divining the weather remains at normal levels.”

Dorothy said this while following behind Shard, holding a high-pressure fire extinguisher in her hand.

It was a brass-colored bottle about the length of a normal man’s forearm, polished so thoroughly it could almost be used as a mirror. With a purely mechanical structure, Shard didn’t know its internal workings, but in an era of the Steam Industry that had mastered steam bomb technology, using high-pressure steam to spray chemical agents for fire extinguishing was simple.

For Dorothy’s advancement ceremony, a large amount of matches were required, and to prevent the house, already rumored to be a “haunted house,” from burning down and killing another owner, Dorothy had Lecia help with procuring several fire extinguishers.

Judging by the Cavendish coat of arms on the bottom of the bottles, Lecia likely had someone directly take them from the Yordle Palace’s storeroom.

“Speaking of which, did you go and ask Old John to make a new Red Butterfly for you?”

Climbing the stairs to the attic, Shard placed the box full of matches on the highest shelf of the attic rack. Seeing that he had no intention of opening the box, Mia looked very disappointed and refused to get off of it.

“I did, and Lecia gave Old Man John a bank draft for 3,000 pounds…”

“How much?”

Shard looked in surprise at the golden-haired girl arranging the fire extinguishers:

“When I asked Old John to make the first Red Butterfly, he charged only one pound for the craftsmanship and materials.”

“Well, it could only allow me and Lecia to make eye contact from a distance for a short time.”

Bent at the waist, Dorothy hooked the half of the Red Butterfly pendant around her neck with her little finger and gave it a shake in front of Shard:

“Lecia would not be satisfied with just allowing us to make eye contact,”

“What does she plan to do?”

“We also know it’s unrealistic to expect that solely with alchemical items, we could completely ignore the peculiarities of the soul and approach each other at will.”

Dorothy straightened up and clapped her hands, then went downstairs with Shard to move other items. It was only after Shard left that Mia reluctantly departed from the cardboard box she had taken a liking to, following along with her little short legs.

“Lecia thinks, at the very least, we should be able to touch, even if it’s just for a second.”

“Is that all? She really is wealthy,”

Shard remarked.

“Indeed, Her Highness the Princess lives a life beyond our imagination,”

Dorothy appeared somewhat sorrowful, but it probably wasn’t because of money.

The time before dawn on Sunday was the last chance for Shard to attend the party of the Fifth Era in the year 3014, and the blood he had obtained so far was only that from Old John, the blood of an unfortunate struck by lightning, and the blood of the Evil Spirit Demon – Devourer Sakato that he had acquired from Granny Cassandra.

In order to use the key on time in the morning, after helping Dorothy with the boxes, Shard set off for Midshire Fort at four in the afternoon, planning to go to the House of the Blind and collect the blood Sister Delphine had promised.

He had also agreed to have dinner with Dorothy that evening, which put a smile on the face of the busy author.

Because this trip to Midshire Fort was purely for retrieving an item and not dangerous, Shard also took the cat who refused to budge from the house.

Rather than the shock of seeing the ocean for the first time, the orange cat Mia, once restored from toy to real cat, did not react much to Sicarl Mountain or the forest. Perhaps to this cat, the dense city buildings were not much different from dense forest areas.

Taking the cat down the mountain, there was no fog over Sicarl Mountain today, so Shard did not engage in battle with any evil spirits. Instead, the cat in Shard’s arms kept looking around curiously in the mountains, and at one point even let out a loud “meow~” which almost made Shard think his cat had turned into a wolf.

“Did you see any danger?”

He stood alert in the woods, observing his surroundings, but not only was there no danger, he didn’t even find an ant beneath his feet:

“Don’t just cry out. If you really attract a pack of wolves, don’t you dare burrow into my arms in fright.”

He patted Mia on the head, and the orange cat raised its head to rub against Shard’s hand, but still looked around vigilantly with its amber eyes.

When he arrived at the House of the Blind on Ruff Lane almost at five in the evening, Sister Delphine was unexpectedly present as well. Led by the servant to the third-floor parlor, Ms. Michelle, with a cloth over her eyes, was sitting opposite Sister Delphine.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Watson,”

Ms. Michelle stood up to greet them while Sister Delphine, who remained seated, nodded with a calm demeanor:

“Good afternoon.”

The nun, wearing her silver eye mask in the shape of a tiara, turned towards Shard, seemingly looking at the cat in his arms, but said nothing. Instead, she asked Ms. Michelle to leave temporarily, as she had some matters to discuss with Shard.

“This is the blood I promised you.”

Sister Delphine reached into the pocket of her grey-black nun’s robe and handed over a silver flask with a narrow neck to Shard. The metal felt warm rather than cold. Aside from an eye-shaped emblem on the surface, the flask was smooth all around. And that “eye-shaped emblem” was the insignia of the Spiritual Practice Order.

Wrapped in a red silk cloth at the top was a somewhat heavy pure silver stopper.

Just the exquisitely made silver flask looked quite valuable, but Shard didn’t have the nerve to ask about its real worth:

“Whose blood is this?”

“The blood of some marvelous creatures able to live in lava, one drop from each species, mixed into this flask. Although it’s not classified as incredibly special, I think this flask contains the essence of an entire subterranean community of lava creatures.”

The nun spoke calmly.

“What will happen if I drink this?”

Shard asked the question again, and Sister Delphine didn’t show the confusion that Dr. Schneider had. She still had her hands folded in her lap:

“I’ve preprocessed these blood samples. Their temperature won’t exceed one hundred degrees, so drinking it will only scald the mouth and esophagus. But even without the concern of scalding, one mustn’t drink too much. Coming into contact with an excessive amount of magma creature blood is sure to precipitate manic mental alterations.”

“I understand.”

Shard pocketed the bottle, picking up the cat, which seemed curious about what it was, and placed it on his lap:

“It seems you have something else you wish to say to me.”

“Yes, there’s something I’d like assistance with. Mr. Hamilton, are you aware of the boy in the city rumors, the one who can see the death dates of mortals?”

Shard raised his eyebrows:

“I know of him, the local group, the Raven Club, has him. I’ve made an appointment to visit him seven days from now, on Sunday morning… I am curious to know what he will see upon me.”

The nun nodded:

“I hope you can accompany me. I’ll disguise myself as your friend. The Order is very interested in the boy, but the Raven Club is also aware of the presence of the Blind Nuns, and I need the cooperation of a foreign Circle Sorcerer.”

The Spiritual Practice Order itself is a unique organization venerating nature and death, so their interest in the boy is understandable.

“You’re going personally?”

Shard asked curiously:

“For such matters, wouldn’t it be sufficient to send another High Ring Sorcerer from the Order? I didn’t expect you to visit him yourself.”

“I have the time, so I shall go.”

She did not wish to offer further explanation, so Shard did not press further:

“Then where shall I find you next Sunday? The club? Here? Or perhaps at Granny Cassandra’s place?”

“Here will be fine, and please, do not inform the Witch about this matter.”

The nun added, hesitating momentarily:

“I’ve been curious since the moment I saw you—may I ask where your cat is from?”

“Mia?”

Shard picked up the cat that seemed a bit sleepy, and the cat lazily meowed at the nun.

He introduced with a smile:

“Actually, she belongs to someone else and is being fostered by me. She accidentally consumed some… special materials and incidentally gained quite high intelligence. Why, did you notice something peculiar about her?”

The sourc𝗲 of this content is freēwēbηovel.c૦m.

Shard asked with some excitement, as he had had many people check on Mia by now, but all had deemed this cat to be just an ordinary one:

“Please wait a moment.”

The nun bowed her head and then slowly removed her intricately patterned silver eyepatch. The patterns on it were indescribable, resembling intertwining vines, roots of trees, and yet also like eyelashes beside open eyes.

With the binding of the eyepatch removed, her unbound grey hair gradually spilled out from the side of her ear, but the nun did not mind.

Raising her head, Sister Delphine, with her dull-colored eyes, looked at Shard and the cat, which was being held by the waist:

“I see.”

After just a glance, she lowered her head again:

“Indeed, this world is balanced.”

“Sorry, what does that mean?”

Shard asked, shaking little Mia in his hand:

“Is there something wrong with this cat?”

“Nothing’s wrong, just as there is nothing wrong with you.”

“I see~”

Shard put down the cat with a hint of disappointment.

[Must you prove that the cat you’re keeping is not an ordinary one to be satisfied?]

“She” whispered in Shard’s ear. He thought about it and shook his head:

“No, of course, I hope everything is normal with Mia… What am I disappointed about? I should be glad instead.”

The young nun, who appeared to be in her twenties, slowly put the eyepatch back on, restraining her loose grey hair. She had been using somewhat archaic speech patterns, and the words she said after raising her head became even more incomprehensible:

“The calamity of Midshire Fort approaches, and to this city, you are a foreigner, Mr. Shard Hamilton.”

“That’s true.”

“So, foreigner, have you decided to take part in the upcoming events?”

“I believe the Church will deal with the matters of the Interstice of Life and Death; there’s no need for an outsider like me.”

Sister Delphine slightly pursed her lips to reveal a smile, a rare expression for the nun, leading Shard to almost think she was always impassive:

“My eyes have seen some possibilities. You will definitely become entangled with the affairs of Midshire Fort.”

The Blind Nuns of the Spiritual Practice Order are also known to possess strong Divination skills, so this statement is likely not made lightly.

“But the seals at the mountain’s foot have been reinforced, Granny Cassandra has said that the Witch Council will deal with the seal at the mountainside, and the True God Church is in charge of communicating about the Ancient One holding the mountain’s peak passage. I think the outbreak of death can be postponed for quite a long time.”

“No, the sealed gates will open again sooner or later. The seals of the Ancient Witch Empress are not easily found, and the passage at the mountain’s peak is already in peril.”

The nun said softly.

Shard frowned slightly:

“Are you saying that the disaster cannot be prevented?”

“No, I’m saying the city remains in great danger. If you continue to operate here, then when danger comes, you can move towards the direction where the flames exist.”

“Is this… a prophecy?”

After a moment’s hesitation, the nun nodded:

“You may take it as such. But there’s no need for undue concern; the Order will do its best to prevent the disaster.”

“The Order is going to intervene in this matter? Why?”

“Because it is our duty.”