Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

The old man behind the counter briefly glanced at the anchor and returned it to Shard:

"It’s an obvious Divine Item, and it belongs to a Benevolent God. But more information can’t be gleaned; the Power Attributes of the Deities of Bygone Days who departed in the Fifth Era are not something that we living in the Sixth Era can know. But since the deity has departed and this item still has such strong power, it indicates that The Great One must have very devout believers in this current era."

Thus, Shard had new conjectures about "Miss Eles." Initially, due to the anchor, he thought she was involved with an Old God related to the ocean. But after learning from Miss Lisa and her daughter that the task was merely to fulfill the little girl’s wish, Shard understood she should be affiliated with a deity associated with "wishes" and "children."

Combined with the Time Key task where the Old God that appeared was the "Giver of Dreams," Shard was almost certain at this moment that Miss Eles was a believer of that Old God.

Of course, matters concerning the Time Key weren’t to be handled right now; helping Emilia rid herself of the curse was more important. The tadpole script, deciphered by Shard, pointed to 19 Dineer Avenue in Tobesk Southern Part. The South City was where the city’s nobles lived, and Shard had never been to this address before. Upon disembarking from the carriage with Emilia, they saw that it was a sizable estate. A white wall shielded passersby’s view of this secluded mansion, clearly not a place one could enter casually.

Emilia also realized it was not an easy place to enter, hesitantly looking at Shard, who hesitated briefly:

"I’ll go find out whose mansion this is. If there are no issues, we’ll try to sneak in."

The word "sneak in" made the Elf Girl’s eyes light up, but before Shard could take action, another carriage approached from afar and stopped behind them:

"Shard, good morning, what are you doing here?"

A familiar voice appeared, and both Shard and Emilia turned around to see the red-haired Duchess peering at them from the carriage window.

Shard breathed a sigh of relief, while the young elf was taken aback by the lady’s beauty and poise. She quickly hid behind Shard, though she continued to surreptitiously observe the Duchess.

"I was... I want to go inside here."

Shard pointed at the estate behind him, and Miss Galina raised an eyebrow:

"Then get in the car and join me inside. Remember the funeral you accompanied me to last month? My brother, Duke Roder, left this place to Aunt Nymph’s youngest daughter, but she doesn’t live in Tobesk, so she rented it to me to host banquets within Tobesk City. You know, I don’t quite like using estates outside the city for parties."

The estate guards opened the gate for the Duchess, and Shard beckoned Emilia to join him on the carriage. The Elf Girl timidly followed Shard, and sat beside him, nervously not daring to look at Miss Galina, while the corner of her eye caught sight of the black-haired maid next to her. She was immediately speechless at the beauty and physique of the maid:

"So this is humanity? It seems elves do truly have their limits."

"Emilia, this is Duke Galina Cavendish."

Shard didn’t forget to introduce her, which brought Emilia back to her senses. She was somewhat intimidated by the Duchess’s presence, in part because she was being scrutinized by the Duchess.

"Hello, Duchess... I know of you; you were mentioned in the ’Hamilton Detective Stories.’

This made everyone in the carriage laugh. Dorothy in the detective novel, besides pairing the "Hamilton Detective" with a "blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady reporter" as a partner and ambiguous interest, also portrayed an unnamed noblewoman with significant influence in the city as an aider.

In the story, after a certain incident ended, and the perpetrator’s demise seemed to implicate the detective leading to possible imprisonment, this unnamed noblewoman was first mentioned and assisted him. She often provided information concerning the nobility in subsequent investigations.

The book never depicted her directly, with several appearances despite being mainly through a black-haired maid contact. Even her appellation seems to derive from Lecia’s "Malice," named as "that lady." Readers in Tobesk City who read ’Hamilton Detective Stories’ knew that "that lady" was modeled after Grand Duchess Galina Cavendish, so what Emilia said wasn’t wrong... It’s said that due to this mysterious half-concealment, reader letters received by the ’Steam Bird Daily’ showed more support for "that lady" than the "blonde-haired, blue-eyed lady reporter" created by Dorothy.

Ultimately, the group entered the estate. Miss Galina’s visit was to inspect the estate’s condition, meeting Shard was merely coincidental.

Though the estate’s original owner had passed away, there were still plenty of servants working inside.

Shard asked Emilia to wait in the study, and Tifa spoke with her there. Meanwhile, Shard accompanied Miss Galina separately to the reception room, where the witch immediately teased him:

"Shard, changed your taste recently? That young lady is a pureblood elf, isn’t she? She seems even younger than Angelina."

Sure enough, that Camouflage Spell wasn’t very effective on the Twelfth Rank witch.

"Yes, she’s a pureblood elf, but don’t misunderstand; she’s a student from the Academy here for a summer internship. Conveniently ran into you, we’re in a bind."

Shard briefly explained the cursed letter situation, and Miss Galina naturally knew of this Relic:

"This kind of thing appeared in Tobesk too? These past few years have been quite... you and that Elf Girl keep me company for tea, I’ll have Tifa check out who sent the letter from here."

She leaned in and sniffed Shard, her beautiful golden eyes suspiciously sizing him up:

"Did you catch a whiff of that elf girl? Are you really just friends?"

Shard’s lips twitched slightly:

"Please don’t assume that all the women of marriageable age around me are my... close friends. Also, there’s another matter, I need Ciris’s help."

He then spoke about the fragment of the poem Chapter and Hawthorn’s erased memory. Miss Galina was quite concerned about the possibility of "The Chosen of Brightness" appearing in Moon Bay, but Miss Belindel apparently hadn’t had the chance to mention it in the Council yet. As for Shard seeking Ciris’s help, she agreed to mention it to Miss Benanis at the next meeting.

So, the two returned to the study, where Emilia, who had been chatting and laughing with Tifa, immediately stood up nervously upon seeing Miss Galina return. She seemed somewhat afraid of Miss Galina.

Since the sender’s address was this estate, considering the rule that the address couldn’t be false, the person Shard and Emilia were looking for must be a resident servant here.

Hence, Tifa took the Duchess’s personal maids to inquire, while Miss Galina, Shard, and Emilia continued chatting in the study. She didn’t show herself as a Circle Sorcerer, but Emilia was still quite afraid of her.

In no time, the black-haired Head Maid returned with news. Although the target had been found, that male servant had drowned himself in Osel River in the city area three days ago. Thankfully, his relics were still here, so Shard got up to check the belongings left by the suicidal male servant, and the young elf girl tugged at Shard’s coat tails, wanting to go with him, but was stopped by Miss Galina:

"Let the detective investigate on his own, we’ll wait here. Men need to focus when working, Shard understands this, doesn’t he?"

She gave Tifa a glance, causing the maids to crowd around Shard as they left, not giving Shard the chance to call Emilia along.

The nervous golden-haired elf could only sit there holding a teacup, bowing her head without knowing what to say.

Miss Galina smiled and asked:

"Do you seem a little afraid of me?"

"Your demeanor is quite similar to the librarian lady at our Academy."

Emilia said quietly, appearing as though if Miss Galina teased her more, she might genuinely tear up with reddened eyes.

Shard did not leave for long and soon returned with another letter. It was the Cursed Letter received by the male servant, partially burnt, but he used the "Breath of Ages" to reverse the ashes in the brazier under the bed, successfully restoring all parts of the letter except for the stamp.

Thus, although Emilia couldn’t personally eliminate the person who wrote him the letter, they could continue to trace upward.

Seeing Shard return, Emilia clung to his sleeve as if she had found a savior and refused to let go. The mischievous witch smiled upon witnessing this:

"I didn’t expect the servants of this estate would engage in such pranks as sending Cursed Letters. Shard, would you kindly provide me with this beautiful golden-haired lady’s address? I’d like to personally visit soon and deliver an apology gift."

"No need, really, no need."

The young elf immediately shook her head, the witch’s smile grew broader:

"But compensation is due nonetheless. I’ll send the apology gift to Shard’s place for him to hand over to you. Detective, I’m busy with other matters, so I won’t join in on your ’detective game’—enjoy the game."

She was not at all worried that Shard wouldn’t be able to handle the relic.

Until the carriage drove away from the estate, Emilia’s tension finally eased a bit. Watching the scenery from the car window upon reaching the main streets, she patted her chest and admitted to Shard:

"Is this the aura of a Duchess? It almost feels as oppressive as Professor Danester."

"Galina... actually, she’s quite amiable."

But Emilia didn’t believe:

"There aren’t any nobles in the Academy... Well, I count as a noble, but the concept of nobility among elves is different from humans. Shard, I didn’t expect you to know such formidable individuals. I heard from Mrs. Sangmi at the inn that the Duchess is your lover."

"Cough, cough, cough, cough."

Shard covered up his embarrassment with a cough, though this fact was no secret in the city, hearing it said by Emilia still made him uncomfortable.