Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

When Shard arrived, the blonde lady on the sofa lazily greeted him.

"You look tired?"

"Yes, the city council cannot lack the Belindel Family. We enjoy the rights, but we also have obligations... Will you stay for dinner?"

"What?"

At the moment, the look she gave him was indescribable. Shard wanted to say he had just eaten, but somehow he nodded:

"Alright, thank you for the invitation."

Thus, twenty minutes later, Shard found himself in the dining room of the Belindel Estate, meeting Lady Belindel—the Witch’s mother—and Miss Belindel’s two younger sisters and a cousin, who also lived there.

According to Miss Belindel, they were unaware of her identity as a Witch. Regarding their daughter/sister’s aversion to men, they simply believed that Bella Belindel had a peculiar fondness for pretty girls.

Therefore, when a strange man appeared at the dinner table tonight and was even allowed to sit on the right side of the Countess, the Belindel family showed immense surprise.

When introducing Shard to the family, Miss Belindel did not refer to Shard as a "cousin" but as a "business partner":

"Her Highness Princess Margaret chose us as business partners at Moon Bay. Yes, those goods I showed a few days ago. This gentleman is the contact sent by Her Highness and will be frequenting this residence for some time now."

To Miss Belindel, Miss Sylvia was aware of the "male" situation, so assigning this identity to "John Watson" wasn’t a problem, and it even provided a reasonable reason for Shard’s presence there.

However, mentioning the "goods" of Miss Sylvia made her blush, and she glanced at Shard, who showed no unusual reaction because he was conversing with Old Lady Belindel.

"Young man, are you from Velindale? Renting or owning a house? Any family? Oh, you look so young, a few years younger than Bella..."

"Oh! Mother!"

Even a Witch can feel shy.

After Shard had his second dinner, he had the opportunity to inquire about Miss Belindel’s situation in the study.

The curtains were tightly drawn, and the gas lamps on the walls were adjusted to their dimmest setting. Only the floor-standing gas lamp behind the sofa and the gas desk lamp on the grand desk in the distance provided a bright, warm yellow light. Having eaten dinner, sitting down to chat in such an environment created a cozy atmosphere.

"I feel pretty good."

The Countess sat on the long sofa while Shard took the short sofa on the east side. She pressed her right shoulder slightly and moved it a bit:

"I’ve been taking the magic potion you gave me regularly, and I haven’t dreamt of anything strange these past two days. Instead, the presence of this relic makes me feel my spirit is quickly recovering. Moreover, after nightfall, my psychic perception seems more acute than before."

She opened her right hand, and a golden light orb appeared in her palm. The ambiguous and dim light was clearly moonlight, and previously, Miss Belindel didn’t have the Moon Gift:

"I can now understand why the Truth Society researches the integration of relics with the human body. This way of gaining power is far simpler than the normal learning of circle sorcerers."

"Don’t think that way. If not for those exotic light sources still inside you, constantly counteracting the relic’s power, I would never have taken out the relic."

Shard quickly said, and the Witch naturally understood his implication:

"Don’t worry, I won’t lose my sanity for power."

She pressed her shoulder again:

"Power comes easily, but ultimately there’s a price to pay. As a diviner, I know more than anyone that gain always comes with cost. Fate is fair."

She sighed, displaying a somewhat melancholic expression as she sat on the sofa:

"So, has the investigation made any progress?"

"Yes, my tracking of Freeman Hawthorne yielded significant results."

Shard briefly described his encounter on the ship last night and mentioned the dragon egg fossil:

"Though his memory was cleared, I have contacted Ciris in Velindale, who I mean Miss Lathis. She’s an expert in memory manipulation, so it shouldn’t be a problem."

The Countess nodded, indifferent to this:

"But what does Hawthorn want the dragon egg fossil for? You’ve met the circle sorcerer from Hawthorn Family that you’re interacting with; you should know that while his methods are flashy, he’s actually not very capable."

Shard recalled that the man was adept at using hats to perform various arcane techniques.

"Before you came to Moon Bay, I investigated that circle sorcerer when competing for the relic Sole Existence. He isn’t a member of the Dragon Feast Cult and has no connection with cultists... Speaking of which, could it be that he’s just a decoy put up by the Hawthorn family? Matilda~"

The blonde Maid brought over the crystal ball. The Witch softly chanted an incantation, waved her right hand over the crystal ball’s surface, and gazed at the swirling white mist within, slightly furrowing her brows:

"Interesting, either hidden very well, or Hawthorne hasn’t directly contacted the [Dragon Feast Cult], but instead those cultists have used other means to indirectly exploit them... Originally, I was planning that if evidence could be obtained, I would report them to the Church directly."

She twirled the lock of hair beside her ear and then looked at Shard:

"Since that’s the case, you should continue the investigation along this line. But I’m not idle here either; after retrieving the piece of Golden Dragon Scale and the Fragment of Poem Chapter, I reported individually to His Excellency the Speaker. His Excellency compared the new fragment with other fragments collected by the Council and found sentences that can connect with each other. Other witches don’t know about this, a meeting will be held tonight to explain."

"What exactly is the content?"

Shard immediately asked, the witch smiled with her eyes squinting, the reddish birthmark on her forehead looked more enchanting under the gas lamp:

"The sentence we obtained is: Hatchling Dragon, Seven-Colored Dragon Scale. And the completed content is roughly, after the departure of the Ancient God- [Radiant Dragon], the Material World still contains His former scales..."

"So, it’s about collecting seven colored dragon scales to transform oneself into a dragon, is this the Chosen One Ceremony this time?"

Shard speculated, and the witch who had purposefully paused to give Shard an opportunity to interrupt continued laughing as she spoke:

"I knew you’d think that way, of course, it won’t be that simple and straightforward. But before telling you the answer, I want to mention an ancient legend: the Ancient God- [Radiant Dragon] is the legendary Primordial Dragon. All subsequent dragons are His Favored Ones, created from His scales and flesh."

"The thirteen Ancient Gods were originally the first deities, the birth of dragons couldn’t have preceded the deities, so this legend should indeed be true."

Shard agreed, so the witch continued to narrate:

"Since dragons are created from the scales and flesh of the Ancient God, for dragons, does it mean obtaining the scales and flesh of that Primordial Dragon allows them to get closer to the form of the Ancient God?"

Shard pondered:

"It’s somewhat reasonable... This sounds like some kind of ’Bloodline Purification Ceremony’."

He remembered the Eggshell Book obtained in the "City of Eternal Night" recorded a similar dragon clan bloodline purification ceremony. However, at that time, Shard was eager to awaken Fiona and didn’t examine it carefully. Later, the egg shell book should have returned to Fiona’s hand, but there is no record of the book during the Sixth Era in Saint Byrons.

"Alright, basic information has been completed; let’s return to the main topic. Unfortunately, the fragment of the Poem Chapter doesn’t correspond to the information of the Chosen One Ceremony, at least not entirely; it corresponds to the identity of the Chosen One: A newborn dragon refers to those younger than 300 years old, or short-lived humans related to dragons. His Excellency the Speaker believes this range is quite broad, not just for Dragonborn, as long as one possesses dragon-related power."

"Then all members of the Dragon Feast Cult meet the conditions."

Shard thought of the Circle Sorcerer he had fought before, whose face bore black dragon scale marks.

Miss Belindel nodded and continued:

"The Seven-Colored Dragon Scale, according to the context, implies needing to possess more than one dragon’s power. The Ancient God- Radiant Dragon represents pure white light, white light splits and combines into many other colors, forming dragons of different hues, such as Red Dragon, Black Dragon, Silver Dragon, Brass Dragon, Stardust Dragon, and so forth. As such, dragons from different races have diverse talents and powers.

’Seven-Colored Dragon Scale’ actually implies that this time, the Chosen One should have the capacity to harbor and wield powers from different dragon races, rather than only being able to use power from one type of dragon. ’Seven colors’ is general, meaning multiple."

Modern physics has made people aware of the concept of the spectrum.

"Harboring powers from different dragon races, thus allowing different colors to merge, getting closer to the First Light? Indeed, the content indicated by the fragment we obtained is indeed rich... Must we achieve the fusion of multiple dragon powers, or is it about having the potential to do so, without necessarily fusing with dragons?"

Shard asked curiously, but this time Miss Belindel lightly shook her head:

"That isn’t clear, I think it probably involves the content of the Chosen One Ceremony, there’s no fragment of this part in the Council."

After speaking, she curiously asked Shard:

"So, you who possess a special fate, do you have dragon power?"

"I do, but it’s only one kind, ’Power of the Red Dragon’, which can enhance my flesh power... Wait, do you think I might be the Chosen One?"

Shard finally realized, the witch nodded as if it were the most obvious thing:

"I certainly suspect, after all, a special fate doesn’t just appear for anyone. Moreover, your Dragon Gloves are evidently not something an ordinary Dragonborn Girl could give. I’ve heard others say that the Chosen Ones have very unique talents, perhaps your power and charm are distinct talents."

"But I can’t be the Chosen One."

"Why?"

The witch blinked:

"How did you arrive at this conclusion?"

"Someone has done divination for me. Anyone could potentially be the Chosen One, except me."

Shard spoke frankly; however, Miss Belindel covered her mouth and laughed:

"What a peculiar saying, you weren’t tricked by a second-rate diviner, were you? Alright, alright, don’t be so tense, I’m just offering a perspective, it’s really hard to say whether you are or not. But speaking of divination, I would like to meet the diviner who did the divination for you and refute their absurd conclusion face to face. In this world, all transcendent beings could potentially be the Chosen One; perhaps that person holds some bias against you?"