Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Next, Shard took Emilia to Old John’s Pawnshop. It was only after getting off the carriage that he saw a "Closed" sign hanging on the shop’s doorknob. Shard inquired at the clothing and hat shop next door and found out that Old Man John had gone out today to visit a friend and would probably be back tomorrow.

"How about we deal with this tomorrow?"

Emilia tugged at Shard’s coat and said, not wanting to trouble him further.

"That can’t happen. What if you encounter danger again during this time?"

She actually wanted to suggest staying at Shard’s house again tonight, but was suddenly so flustered by Shard turning around to look at her that her face turned red:

"What is it?"

She worried Shard had seen through her thoughts, but Shard was thinking about something else:

"Emilia, have you ever been to a church? I mean a True God Church."

"What?"

Getting back on the carriage that hadn’t left yet, the two headed to the Dawn Chapel in the Tobesk Parish. As the Holy Prayer Day at the end of the month drew closer, the priests and nuns in the church were busy with various tasks.

The elf girl, a believer of the Ancient God Tree Father, as a heathen, had never set foot in the churches of the five True Gods. She got off the carriage and hesitated at the entrance, claiming she wanted to enjoy the scenery and would wait for Shard at the church door, but was still pulled in by Shard.

She was evidently more afraid here than when facing relics, clinging almost to Shard’s side by gripping his coat. But Shard knew that as long as they didn’t go to the back of the church, she definitely wouldn’t run into circle sorcerers capable of seeing through her illusion magic spell.

Right in the entrance hall of the church, Shard encountered Bishop Owen, who was speaking with the believers. The old bishop, seeing Shard bring a strange girl over, smiled apologetically to the people he was talking to and approached Shard:

"Mr. Hamilton, long time no see. Why haven’t you been coming to church for services lately?"

"I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit busy these days. But I will certainly come for the Holy Prayer Day at the end of the month."

He introduced Emilia as a "client," then told the elf girl that standing before her was the bishop of this church. The golden-haired girl looked at the old man with reverence and fright, which puzzled him, but he still pointed out where Priest Augustus was now:

"Lat is in the back corridor, overseeing the young ones replacing the paintings."

Prior to this, Emilia had only heard the name Lat August but had never met him. This afternoon was the first time. When the old cleric heard Shard was seeking help, he took the two of them to the potion workshop in the basement not far from the Dawn Chapel.

He listened carefully to Shard’s description of the situation and was surprised when he learned that Emilia had encountered two relics in less than a week, asking Shard:

"Isn’t this what you call the fate of The Chosen One?"

Emilia, as if startled, jumped up from the small bench by the kiln. For some reason, her actions reminded Shard of a little rabbit, and the sharp-eared "Miss Rabbit" asked nervously and excitedly:

"Am I?"

"Of course you are not."

Shard pressed her back onto the bench. If she were The Chosen, Luviya would have noticed by now:

"I suspect this is some kind of curse, though I’m unsure if it’s natural or man-made. Cleric, could you take a look at these three items for us? We wanted to find Old Man John, but he is out visiting friends and not around now."

Withered leaf bookmark, black 20-sided dice, and rusted silver-plated brooch were taken out in order. Emilia sat obediently on the small bench, awaiting her "verdict," while her eyes surveyed the potion workshop. Having come from the Chemistry Academy, she naturally could recognize most of the tools here.

"I can’t identify this."

The old cleric set the bookmark aside, frowning as he sniffed the dice, then looked at the brooch:

"This is..."

His expression grew increasingly serious.

"The dice have a desecration element, and the brooch carries a whisper element."

Shard explained, and Priest Augustus nodded:

"This brooch is a very unique relic derivative. I’m not an expert on this. But this is not merely silver-plated. Haven’t you noticed it’s somewhat too light? This is silver-plated bone. Since John is not here, you could go see Mr. Copus outside the city tonight. He might have an answer."

Mr. Copus specializes in materials related to corpses and had previously bought undead class materials from Shard that he brought from the "Interstice of Life and Death."

"As for these dice...you obtained the dice before the brooch, right?"

"Yes, leaf, dice, brooch, that’s the order of acquisition."

Emilia answered obediently.

"Both the leaves and the dice contain Desecration Element. Perhaps the final brooch isn’t important; it’s the former two that triggered the incident with Miss Elf, and then in Tobesk, they attracted the brooch and brought the two relics you mentioned. So, Miss Elf has actually encountered relics three times within a week."

The Old Cleric spoke softly and then picked up the dice, handing them to Shard:

"Crush it."

Shard raised an eyebrow:

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Shard looked at the owner of the item, Emilia, who naturally had no objection.

So he placed the dice in his right palm, weighed them twice, and then slapped his left hand forcefully against his right hand. When he separated his hands, the metal dice had been completely flattened. He twisted the "metal disk" and quickly tore it open with a tooth-grating sound. Judging by the weight, one could tell the dice were hollow, and indeed, there was something inside.

It was a square piece of paper cut from parchment. When Shard "tore" the metal earlier, he accidentally tore some of it too. A conspicuous Holy Emblem was drawn on the paper in bright red ink, and when Shard and Priest Augustus saw it, they immediately recognized what it was:

"The Holy Emblem of the Evil God - ’Mr. Misfortune’?"

During Margaret’s visit to Tobesk, the Misfortune Cult cooperated with the Truth Society, and Iluna participated in the "Dice Story Collection" with the Prophet’s Society, where one party was the believers of this Evil God... Then, due to inviting misfortune for both parties, they encountered the doctor and the cleric at the door of the Shard Family.

At this moment, the Old Cleric wasn’t thinking about that. His aged eyes looked up and down at Emilia:

"I see, now it all makes sense. They’ve set their sights on Miss Elf."

"Mr. Augustus, what does this mean?"

Emilia showed a fearful expression, reaching out to tug Shard’s sleeve and move closer to him.

"The Evil God - ’Mr. Misfortune’ is a god who governs misfortune. His believers often choose a target, give her or him an item marked with the Power of the Evil God, and then wait for that person to gradually go insane or even die in misfortune. They consider this behavior as a ritual to please the deity and gain power through it."

The Old Cleric simply described:

"I work in the church. Although people in the church see me as an ordinary person, I’ve come across similar case investigation reports. Such things are generally hard to detect because, aside from professionals like Annette, observing unnatural misfortune curses is difficult. Even someone as capable as Shard only discovered the element’s markings.

Since the dice were obtained on the train, you’re likely being targeted by these people from the moment you came to Tobesk. The recent series of incidents are due to misfortune accumulating on you. Annette said your fortune is extremely poor, likely because of this. The only issue is that the misfortune spread by those cultists shouldn’t be taking effect so noticeably; you’ve already encountered so many relics in just one week... Could it be because you arrived in Tobesk?"

"What should be done then?"

The Elf Girl was almost leaning directly against Shard.

"There are three issues to resolve now."

The Old Cleric said:

"First, the brooch. I don’t know exactly what Relic Derivative it is, but it’s certainly taking effect on you, so tonight you must find Mr. Copus; secondly, the Misfortune Curse cast on you by the cultists. This problem should be handled by the Prophet’s Society because they are skilled in dealing with curses from followers of gods like the God of Misfortune ’Mr. Misfortune’ and the God of Curses ’Grand Magician of Probability’; lastly, deal with the cultists. They’ve placed misfortune on you and certainly won’t allow you to escape their sight. They’re nearby, so find them, resolve them, and then you can be safe."

Afterward, he hesitated again:

"Additionally, we can’t be sure if your misfortune has attracted anything else. Thoroughly check your surroundings; there might be an Evil Object hidden under your bed lethal enough to kill."

"Ah!"

Emilia clutched Shard’s arm, refusing to let go.

"Cleric, don’t scare her."

Shard said helplessly. The cleric, still in thought, didn’t look at him:

"I am merely considering the worst-case scenario. Shard, quickly deal with these cultists. Otherwise, even if you watch her 24 hours a day, she will eventually be in trouble. An Elf targeted by cultists... I’m not sure if they know her racial background, but don’t relax your guard. Anticipate all things to go in the worst direction. If you’re careless, she might disappear in the blink of an eye, and when you find her again, she might be..."

The Old Cleric didn’t continue speaking. He certainly wasn’t joking or deliberately trying to frighten the two; it’s genuinely what he thought.

While Shard agreed with the cleric’s caution, he also wondered if Dr. Schneider’s psychological treatments had ever truly been effective.

"Let’s not tell the Academy this time, okay."

The Elf Girl tugged on Shard’s sleeve, whispering. After Shard gazed at her, she shivered slightly and slowly lowered her head:

"Alright, I understand."