Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Although the conversation just now hadn’t been very heated, as the two of them took step after step forward, their respective momentum and spiritual power gradually Ascended. Every time Shard’s foot struck the ground, he felt himself drawing Power from the Earth; the process of striding forward was actually the process of gathering that Power. And the man walking toward him—his frail body swelled bit by bit with every step, until that wide trench coat was almost about to be torn apart.

When yet another black cloud, drifting from who knew where, completely covered the Moon in the night sky, the two who had already closed in on each other struck out with their fists at the same time.

In that Instant, Shard seemed to hear a Dragon Roar in the sound of the air being torn apart, and the man in front of him with Dragon Scales seemed to turn into a Black Dragon. In the other’s inspiration Perception, he was not trading punches with a human at all, but clearly swinging his fist at a towering mountain whose peak could not be seen.

"Power of the Black Dragon!"

"Power of the Red Dragon!"

As inspiration intertwined, neither side dared to hold back. Whether by coincidence or inevitability, the final spells they used were strangely similar. And when, at close range, their two fists collided, the Instant spiderweb-fine cracks spread across the Stone Tablet beneath their feet, the man trading blows with Shard had his right arm explode into a spray of flesh, and his whole body was sent flying back:

"Red Dragon! So it was you!"

Shard vaguely heard the man utter that word, but before he could give chase, that man who seemed to be down to his last breath rolled a few times on the ground after landing, then clutched his severed arm, flipped over, and leapt straight into the Taton River.

"What? What do you mean, I’m what?"

By the time Shard leaned over the railing to look down, there was no trace left in the river channel:

"Count him lucky. Echo of Blood has only one flaw—it’s afraid of water."

As he spoke, he glanced again at his own fist:

"Just now I thought I’d finally met a worthy opponent. The way he talked was so arrogant, he had the guts, had the presence—I thought I’d really run into a formidable enemy. In the end his strength wasn’t all that impressive."

The dark clouds had already drifted away from before March, and Moonlight shone down on Shard by the riverside. "She" smiled gently, yet said nothing at all.

"Makes sense. He was only a Seventh Ring. Even if he’d undergone bodily modification and seized the Power of a Dragon, he was still just a Seventh Ring. I heard recently that the Dragon Feast Cult and the Light Worshipper Training Association are working together. Since that man just now was very likely from the Dragon Feast Cult, I wonder if the Furen Brothers’ mother, the fifth-generation Edwards, that Nadia Folan, has also come to Moon Bay."

He pondered these matters, turned, picked up the unconscious woman, and then quickly left along the street:

"To think that Corpse is actually tied to the Dragon Feast Cult; there was once an egg-shaped object inside the Corpse... Moon Bay City really does seem about to face a serious problem."

When the unconscious Miss Lisa woke up, her first instinctive reaction was not to check whether her clothes were still intact, but to touch the hair ornament on her head. That ornament was the only valuable item she owned, although it was only a silver-plated trinket; to her, it was incomparably important.

"...And so, the Princess and the Prince lived Happily together."

The hair ornament was still there, and what she saw before her was a familiar ceiling. Then she heard the somewhat familiar voice of a man, as if he were telling a fairy tale, and next came the sound of a child’s voice:

"And then? And then?"

"The story is over. The Prince and the Princess lived Happily together."

"Yes, and what kind of Happy life was it?"

"Hmm... You’ll understand when you grow up."

"Can you tell just one more story? Just one, just one more!!"

The girl’s voice reached her ears, and the woman, waking from her faint, immediately sat up on the bed. Shard, who had been telling a story to the eight-year-old girl, also smiled and shook his head:

"See, your mother’s awake."

The golden-haired little girl, whose clothes were old but not patched, immediately ran to the bedside, and Shard also stood up and came over:

"From now on, let your mother tell you stories."

He handed that storybook to the little girl. Seeing that her mother was fine, she cast a worried glance at Shard, then finally left the room hugging that expensive storybook with color illustrations.

This was Miss Lisa’s rented apartment on Herring Street; Shard had brought her straight back here. The fat landlady downstairs had of course refused to let him in; she wouldn’t open the door even when he offered money. At first he thought that woman’s prejudice against Northerners had seeped into her bones, but then the little girl appeared and persuaded the landlady, allowing Shard to carry her mother upstairs.

The fat woman had kept reminding the girl that if she ran into any trouble, all she had to do was shout once and the entire building would hear.

The rented apartments in the Lower District were not very spacious; the rooms were divided into an inner and outer section. The outer section was the living room, dining room, and kitchen, while the inner section was the bedroom and a small balcony. The washroom was one per floor, shared by three families.

In the narrow little bedroom, even the gas lamp seemed rather dim. The woman, now awake, sat properly at the bedside, looked at Shard, her lips twitching, but she didn’t know how to begin.

"If you’re going to say thank you, then forget it."

Shard shook his head:

"But don’t worry, that strange man won’t come looking for you again. He thinks you don’t know anything. If you still feel uneasy, you can go to the church later and ask for help."

The woman immediately shook her head, and actually looked somewhat afraid of the church:

"My daughter..."

"Oh, you don’t need to worry about that either, I didn’t have any bad intentions. It’s just that you were unconscious the whole time, and that girl called Maria and I were sitting together in silence, which was a bit awkward, so I wanted to read her a story."

Shard’s eyes tilted slightly. In truth, the silver ship-anchor in his pocket had suddenly begun to glow, which meant that Miss Lisa’s daughter was exactly the person Miss Radiance had asked him to help. But the little girl didn’t seem to have any wish that needed him to fulfill... She most likely dearly wished this stranger would leave, only she didn’t have the courage to say it.

Fortunately, Shard had experience communicating with children, and later discovered she wanted to listen to fairy tales, so he had started telling stories.

Miss Lisa nodded, still choosing to offer a soft thank you, then explained:

"I have never brought a man back here."

"I live alone too, and I can tell you’ve made your home very cozy. Someone like you wouldn’t let your daughter see those things. Family and one’s dwelling—these are the final lines of defense for outsiders like us who have no one to rely on. I barged into your home so abruptly, so please accept my apology as well."

Shard remarked, then added:

"I told the landlady downstairs that I’m your distant cousin. She didn’t really look convinced, but you can explain it to her later."

The woman shook her head:

"You’re a good man, I can see that as well."

Shard smiled:

"Then indulge this good man’s curiosity a little. That little girl looks about eight or nine, which would put her birth around the time when you were seventeen or eighteen. But as luck would have it, I studied some heredity courses; her eyelids, hair color, and jawline are not traits that a child of yours should have."

He glanced at the doorway, making sure the little girl wasn’t secretly listening, then lowered his voice:

"She’s not your child, is she?"

Miss Lisa pressed her lips together:

"I came to Moon Bay alone at sixteen. I used to share this place with another friend who was five years older than me. Maria is her child. She... died in childbirth."

Under the dim gas lamp, her already gloomy expression grew even grayer:

"We were going to go to Serpent Heart Hospital for the delivery, but to save money she insisted on giving birth at home. By the time I’d found a doctor, the only one still alive was that child."

Shard pressed his own lips together:

"It sounds cruel to say it this way, but what most people would do in that situation is send her to the Moon Bay City orphanage."

"...She cried incessantly the moment she was born, and even the nun-doctors at Serpent Heart Hospital couldn’t soothe her. Only when I was flustered and holding her in my arms would she quiet down. Back then she was so tiny, so ugly, just a little thing, yet she already knew to cling to me... I know I have no money, and I can’t give her a good life... At the very least, I want her to grow up and not become someone like me, or like her mother."

Her eyes were already reddening, and Shard cut her off:

"All right, all right, it’s late at night and I don’t want to listen to such sad stories. You’re a good person too, so I was right to bring you home."

He shifted his position in the chair, making himself a bit more comfortable as he sat:

"As for the man tonight, don’t concern yourself with that. It’s something you shouldn’t know about. But I still hope you can tell me the answer I’m looking for—what exactly happened last week at the Crowley Steam Bath, No. 18 Glover Street, in the northern part of the city."

The woman gently nodded and dabbed at her eyes, wiping away some of her eye shadow as well. Then she raised her voice, asking the little girl outside the door to bring in cups and a teapot.

Of course she didn’t have any good tea at home, but Shard wasn’t picky. Once he had picked up the teacup, Miss Lisa began to speak about what had happened the previous week:

"That wasn’t my first time going to the Crowley Steam Bath. The place itself doesn’t provide... women, but they also don’t forbid guests from bringing women from outside. There were six people there that day—besides me, there were two other... women. Of the three guests, I only knew Mr. Freeman Hawthorne, but I heard him address the other two gentlemen as Mr. Black and Mr. Wood."

This matched the information Viscount Benhart had managed to obtain.

"At first that night wasn’t much different from usual. They talked business and played... games. Later, I don’t know how, but I fell asleep."

She shook her head:

"I’m not lying. It was hot and stifling in there, and I was exhausted. At the time, both I and the other woman from the Parsifal Club had fallen asleep. In my daze, I vaguely heard Mr. Black say he was going to take them to see something interesting. When I woke up, they had all left, but the bill had already been paid. The only one around me was that girl from the Parsifal Club; I called her awake, and we left the bath together."