Chapter 2117: Prejudice
The surroundings were still shrouded in darkness, as the monster representing the source of the curse, though defeated, had not yet been completely eradicated.
It wasn’t until Iluna confirmed that Shard was truly alright that she brought up the topic, prompting Shard to look towards Emilia. The elf girl shrank back and pointed to herself, hesitantly nodding. Though she had lived under the protection of family, classmates, and teachers at the Academy, she wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with taking lives herself.
Given Emilia’s disposition, Shard wasn’t really worried about her being too soft.
Iluna didn’t let her approach the pure white light to cast a spell. Instead, she took out a handgun from a holster hidden inside her coat, carefully placed a bullet engraved with runes into the magazine, then handed the gun to her after disabling the safety:
"Use this."
The elf girl then aimed and fired. The gunshot roared like thunder, but what emerged from the barrel was not a solid metal bullet, but a golden lightning bolt. The bolt pierced straight through the weak, pure white figure, causing the entire dark world to shatter like a mirror.
In an instant of weightlessness, the three found themselves back in the room with the curtains drawn. The scrawny, monkey-like black monster they had just seen was still before them, now sprawled on the floor, crackling with electricity.
As the figure gradually turned to ashes, the three of them sighed in relief, while a steam mist appeared behind Emilia and Iluna, forming a continuous cloud. Bells tolled, whistles blew, and as the Eight Rings Life Ring and Five Rings Life Ring emerged from the depths of the steam mist, their edges collided and sparked due to their proximity, creating dazzling sparks. Meanwhile, each rapidly spinning life ring gained a new Spirit Rune.
Emilia’s was Whisper - [Fear], while Iluna’s was Whisper - [Envy]. Knowing the meaning of a new Spirit Rune, Iluna was clearly displeased and quickly hid her life ring, not wanting Shard to see it.
As for Shard, he didn’t gain anything, only hearing a voice by his ear:
"Outlander, you have encountered a Whisper. You have an insight into ’Prejudice.’
"Prejudice, huh?"
As he pondered, the dark figure completely dissipated, revealing the soul within. The departing soul crawled towards the window in the opposite direction from the others, struggled to stand after touching the wall, and reached for the curtain but couldn’t grasp it.
Iluna waved her hand, drawing on sorcery to open a gap in the curtains. Compared to the darkness inside, the beam of sunlight peeking through was almost blinding.
When the sunlight touched the soul, the three heard its whisper:
"I truly do prefer the light, after all."
"If you preferred the light, you shouldn’t have embraced the darkness."
Iluna frowned, saying that her work was always so busy because too many people were willing to indulge in curses and evil.
The nearly transparent soul turned in the ray of sunlight:
"If only someone could grant me a ray of light..."
The soul vanished without leaving a trace. Emilia, overwhelmed with joy, withdrew her life ring too and looked at Iluna, who had just made a cool remark, with reverence:
"Is it over?"
"If you don’t count the report I still have to write, this matter is over."
The eighteen-year-old girl said discontentedly, then checked on Shard’s condition again, worried about how to explain this to Luviya.
In the end, despite the hiccups along the way, the situation was resolved satisfactorily. Shard’s injuries weren’t severe at all, as he had anticipated that getting hit head-on wouldn’t be a major issue when he intervened.
Moreover, when the three were leaving the consulate together, Shard looked down at his hand:
"This isn’t a complete spellcasting failure. I did reverse a tiny amount of energy, but the quantity was too small... Stars shifting, reversing time..."
To celebrate, Shard treated Iluna and Angelina to lunch. During the meal, Emilia clearly felt the formidable Iluna Beath’s hostility towards her had disappeared, and she was very amicable in her interactions with her, making Emilia feel like she’d made another friend.
As for Iluna’s change in attitude, it was obviously because she realized the elf girl and Shard’s cat posed no threat.
"Speaking of which, Iluna, when Emilia and the others checked into the Three Cats Inn on Tuesday, what were you investigating? Were you investigating a relic near the Three Cats Inn?"
Over lunch, Shard asked the question he’d missed earlier, worried that there might be other dangers around the elf girl.
Iluna recalled with a spoon in hand:
"Not a relic. The church received a report that someone selling illegal hallucinogenic potions was staying at the Three Cats Inn. It was only a Second Ring Sorcerer; we went to arrest them. According to regulations, such individuals face fines and imprisonment."
"Did you find them in the end?"
Emilia asked curiously, surprised that someone so formidable was staying next to her. Although Shard had introduced her to the local black market, she found those places less interesting than the Saint Byrons Campus Tavern backdoor, where scammers sold ’smart pills,’ ’exam pass spells,’ and ’automatic writing pencils.’
"Didn’t catch him. When we got there that day, there was no one in his room, but all his luggage and belongings were still there. Later, we asked someone to perform a divination, and they indicated he was still at the Three Cats Inn, but we just couldn’t find him."
Iluna stirred the thick soup in front of her in frustration:
"But it’s not a big deal. The captain said if we still can’t find him after a while, we’ll bring people to thoroughly search the Three Cats Inn again. Emilia, be careful living there, don’t let us catch you."
After lunch, Iluna happily left. Meeting Shard and resolving the incident together, then having lunch, was proof enough that today was a lucky day... It would have been even luckier without a certain elf. Of course, she didn’t bear any malice towards Emilia. Before leaving, she even gave Emilia a Holy Emblem she carried with her, telling her that if she couldn’t find Shard in an emergency, she could also go to the Blackstone Security Company to find her:
"I still have some influence in this parish."
And to prevent Emilia from running off, Shard personally escorted her back to the Three Cats Inn. In reality, Miss Elf was indeed reluctant to return so soon to the "surveillance" of her teammates and pitifully asked Shard on the carriage if they could go on more exciting adventures together next time:
"I promise I’ll listen to everything you say!"
She raised her right hand, filled with anticipation for this summer. After all, she’d only been in Tobesk for two days and interesting things were already happening.
"You’d better resolve the task for you three first, and you also saw that Tobesk seems peaceful but is actually fraught with danger beneath the surface."
Shard exaggerated the local dangers:
"You never know, there might be threats right next to the room you’re staying in. Although Tobesk cannot be said to be crawling with cultists, relics, monsters, curses, urban legends about monsters, and criminals who love to harm beautiful elves are not scarce here. So you’d better stick with your teammates and definitely don’t run off impulsively."
Emilia giggled:
"Is this a story to scare kids?"
Then she showed a disappointed expression:
"I understand, I’ll stick to my teammates. You don’t need to worry about me wandering off."
Shard then comforted her:
"Once you’ve completed your task, I’ll take you around safe places in the city. The opera house, the racetrack, the theater in the Lower District, the noble manor outside the city, and if possible, even take you into the Yordle Palace. Today, we met Miss Galina—alright, I won’t mention her. Today, the two princesses we encountered are pretty close to me, and I noticed you got along well with Her Highness Angelina, so I’m sure they’ll agree to help."
The elf girl’s eyes immediately brightened:
"It’s settled then! I’ll make sure I don’t cause trouble in Tobesk, Shard, you won’t need to worry about my safety, look at this."
She pulled out a wooden elf rune pendant from around her neck:
"This is a holy relic of my clan’s inheritance, completely exempt from Arcane Techniques like Death’s Finger. And there’s also this."
She shook the silver-white bracelet on her wrist, its surface crafted with filigree detailing that clearly depicted leaf vein patterns, and Shard even felt familiar energy from it:
"This is a Divine Item consecrated before the Ancient God Tree Father’s Altar, its power is enough to heal any injury. Oh, and there’s this!
She unbuttoned her lady’s coat to reveal a red woolen vest underneath:
"This was given to me by the unicorns, they blessed me when they heard I was coming to Tobesk. There’s 10% unicorn hair in this sweater, knitted by my sister."
Shard stared wide-eyed at the little vest, unable to estimate its value but buying No. 6, Saint Delan Square shouldn’t be a problem. Seeing Shard gaze at her, the fifty-something elf girl blushed slightly, yet still had a hint of self-satisfaction because she mistakenly believed her figure still held some charm in Shard’s eyes.
Though Emilia has many protections, Shard considered that the city’s dangers aren’t all related to Circle Sorcerers and that Emilia’s appearance might attract unfriendly individuals. Therefore, after learning that Emilia wasn’t armed, Shard directed the northbound carriage to first stop at Saint Delan Square, where he retrieved from home an automatic pistol he’d never used, two boxes of bullets, and two Steam Bombs apparently acquired from Lecia, and gave them all to the elf girl.
For an underage elf, these items may look inappropriate, but considering she herself is a Five-Ring Sorcerer and could cause more destruction than these ordinary weapons, Shard felt quite assured. If her spellcasting got her caught, it would be really challenging to bail her out; but if caught with a gun, Shard had countless ways to help her out of Riddlevitch Field.
"Ah, Steam Bombs!"
Emilia exclaimed as she eagerly held the black metal:
"I couldn’t get hold of such weapons when I was in Randall Valley. At school, the goblins in the tavern never willing to sell me Alchemical Bombs and Steam Bombs, look, I’ve finally got them!"
Shard began to regret it somewhat.
He delivered the thrilled Emilia to the entrance of the Three Cats Inn but remained outside to avoid suspicion, instead watching her go through the inn’s door.
The elf girl also kept her promise to Shard, not sneaking out once entering. In a good mood, she greeted her two teammates waiting for her in the inn, and Miss Matilda Delas jokingly asked:
"Emilia, why are you so happy? Was the morning with Mr. Hamilton interesting?"
"Yes, indeed wonderful!"
She said cheerfully and then told her companions to wait a moment downstairs while she went to her room to change her clothes before joining them for the preliminary investigation of their task.
And just when Emilia reached for the key to unlock her room, the room of the "Goodman Family" living next door opened again. This time, peeping from the crack was the ever-smiling Mrs. Goodman:
"Good afternoon, would you like to join me for afternoon tea? I’ve got some good leaves."
"No, thank you, I’ve got things to do."
Eager to complete her task and explore Tobesk with Shard before returning to school to brag... boast... share her experiences with classmates, the elf girl firmly declined, quickly entered her room, securely locked the door, and planned to pick an outfit suitable for the black market.
And before the door fully closed, Mrs. Goodman reached a hand towards Emilia’s back, yet timidly withdrew it. The unicorn’s blessed wool shielded the pure girl, the Divine Item of the Ancient God protected the descendants of the loyal clan, Iluna’s Holy Emblem emitted a faint Glimmer, and the trace "cat" scent on her invoked memories of those appeared that night.
Still smiling, Mrs. Goodman stepped back into the room that doesn’t exist, her body retreating like a snake returning to the grass.