Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1025 Bomb Attack

Although Shard successfully dissuaded "Miss Witte" from being keen on talking with him, the lady showed no intention of leaving. She and Shard talked about the Roder Cards, and now the rumor that Shard is about to obtain the [Genesis: Knowledge] card has spread throughout the city. In this era, he is truly a "Legendary Player".

Talking about Roder Cards is anything but boring for Shard. Not only is it about the [Genesis: Knowledge], but the new card he obtained from the Prophet’s Society, the [Old Continent Minerals: Carver Gem Mine], which can be adjusted between 12 and 13, is also fascinating.

They weren’t the only ones who enjoyed playing cards. Those who fell behind in the crowd were also mostly people who found the tour uninteresting. Unconsciously, more people joined the conversation, including Sir Lakin Prisia.

He is a poet, and although he possesses extensive knowledge, he isn’t particularly interested in mechanics and physical chemistry. A middle-aged noble like him can’t possibly have not encountered Roder Cards, so he also joined in the discussion.

This gentleman might have been busy with the [Apna Library] lately, as he was unaware of the city’s rumor about Shard’s forthcoming acquisition of the fifth Genesis Series Roder Card. Hearing people talking about it, he was quite interested and inquired Shard about what he had exchanged for that card, but Shard simply tapped his lips with his finger, indicating that it was a secret.

Thus, everyone around understood.

In any case, unknowingly, Miss Pawo had already left. Shard noticed she stood behind Princess Margaret for a while before leaving the group to end her academy tour. The seven or eight gentlemen conversing with Shard at the end of the line even agreed to go out for lunch at a tavern to play Roder Cards together.

Seeing that Sir Prisia was also going, Shard agreed as well. Poets from the Southern Nation are very interested in such elegant activities, and Shard also sought to create an opportunity to engage more deeply with him.

Thus, the atmosphere at the back of the tour group was livelier than that of Princess Margaret’s group at the front. If it weren’t for the princess still being on the tour, these gentlemen might have already started playing cards somewhere.

By eleven in the morning, Princess Margaret’s morning schedule reached its final stop, which was to listen to a half-hour academic seminar. The topic of the seminar was the "Research Progress of the New-Style Steam Engine in Draleon". Of course, this couldn’t be the kingdom’s latest steam engine; it was just a new model ready for commercial use, but even so, it held significant value for Casenli, so the princess and her accompanying delegates took it seriously.

The seminar was held in the auditorium of the Draleon Third National Mechanical Institute. The main auditorium was too large, so the third lecture hall was used this time. These centuries-old academies never lacked lecture halls.

Princess Margaret sat in the second row, and the guards who had previously conducted an investigation here arranged the seating for the others. The gentlemen discussing Roder Cards at the back naturally sat at the rear.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t chat or play cards during the seminar, so the gentlemen were much quieter. Sir Prisia, who sat two rows in front of Shard, even took out a poetry collection to read. It had been determined that he was the fourth The Chosen One, and Shard felt that through the daily actions of this Sir, he could roughly judge what kind of person he was. Naturally, a more in-depth investigation was still necessary.

Shard sat in the seminar hall for ten minutes before hearing a whisper in his ear:

[Perhaps I should remind you that at the second window on the left most closest to the podium, a man has appeared there three times within five minutes.]

Shard’s expression remained unchanged as he watched the middle-aged mechanic on the podium explaining data on the blackboard. He was currently discussing fuel savings and the differences between solid and liquid fuels.

"Did he walk by with his face completely exposed? Or did he appear very discreetly?"

Outside the window was a path within the academy, so it was normal for people to pass by.

[He was in the opposite building, peeking through the window in this direction.]

"What sort of person could he be? It wouldn’t be a Royal Guard; the Royal Guards wouldn’t act this way. Could it be a colleague from MI6 executing a mission? Or maybe a colleague from the Grey Glove carrying out an operation?"

Shard thought silently, then bent down, stood up, and temporarily left through the back door of the seminar hall. No one noticed him because he was at the back, and moreover, a temporary leave for physiological reasons was quite normal.

Instead of using the main entrance, Shard climbed out through the corridor window, lowering his hat to cover his face, and followed the path to the side of the auditorium. Then he looked towards the window of the opposite building.

Blinking his eyes, the [Echo of Blood] clearly revealed the crimson aura inside the window. The blood color was very clear, extending from the distant corridor to the area below the window blocked by a wall. As it was only part of the floor, Shard deduced that the person had stepped in blood.

"No matter who it is, stepping in blood here and lurking around clearly indicates they aren’t a good person."

Shard concluded, taking a glance at the building. He made another round to a spot where no one was paying attention, and directly used [Lagre’s Leap] to enter through the window.

The interior of the building was heated, much warmer than outside. Shard, wrapped in his coat, passed by the portrait paintings hanging in the corridor, searching for the source of the blood trail. He finally found a body with a slit throat hidden in a corner of the eastern room. It wasn’t a student, but rather seemed to be a doorman.

Shard frowned slightly, returned the way he came, and arrived at a corridor corner, pressing his body against the wall.

Carefully extending a fingertip’s length outside, then quickly withdrawing it:

"Did you see?"

[It was the man from before, crouching beneath the window. An ordinary person.]

"That’s easier then—Red Butterfly Illusion."

A distortion appeared in the corner of the corridor for an instant, and then it returned to normal. Shard walked out from the corner, heading towards the end of the hallway. And the crouching man acted as if he couldn’t see him, nervously peeking outside from time to time.

The "Red Butterfly Illusion" is different from Shard’s sealed "Illusion of the Moon Shadow". The former focuses on creating illusions, so Shard created the illusion of an empty corridor. This kind of concealment can be easily discovered by Circle Sorcerers, especially as Shard approached closer, but ordinary people would need an extremely strong inspiration to see through it, unfortunately, Shard’s opponent this time lacked such inspiration.

He thus walked right up to the crouching man, taking out the "Mind Crystal Ring" from his pocket and putting it on his finger as he walked. He stopped ten meters away, clenching a Silence Charm in his left hand and pointing his index finger at the man’s forehead:

"Psychic Shockwave!"

With a dull thud, red and white substances trickled simultaneously from the man’s mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. He stared wide-eyed at the void ahead before weakly collapsing to the ground.

Shard shook his head, approached the corpse, and sprinkled the Bone Powder used as Spellcasting Materials:

"Soul Echo."

An eerie wind swept through the corridor, and the soul conjured through Necromancy floated above the corpse. Shard sighed softly, standing in a position where he couldn’t be seen from outside:

"Who are you?"

"I am Neil Hawkman from the Duchy of Lamia."

The soul answered unconsciously. Despite facing the murderer who killed him, due to the blessing from countless spirits on Shard, it did not attempt an Evil Spirit Transformation to attack him.

"What are you doing here?"

"To confirm the bomb explosion."

Shard was taken aback:

"What bomb?"

"A Steam Bomb, installed under the seventh row, fifth seat in the hall opposite, using a leakage-style steam valve as a delay device, set to explode in about five to seven minutes."

"Ha?"

Upon hearing this, Shard had no time to ask any more questions. He reached out to touch the soul, and the Arcane Technique "Guide to Death" allowed him to "see" the soul’s most profound memories directly.

Although Shard’s "Guide to Death" gains soul memories through touch, which is far inferior to Sister Delphine’s ability to "see" all the soul’s emotions at a glance, he at least confirmed that the bomb indeed existed and this organized assassination was aimed at Princess Margaret.

They were an independent organization from the Duchy of Lamia, a small duchy under Draleon. The organization’s intent was to provoke a conflict between Draleon and Carsonrick to seek independent status in the ensuing war.

Earlier this Monday, Director Anlos, who came to Saint Delan Square, had clearly mentioned this matter, but Shard hadn’t expected to come across it himself.

The dead janitor earlier was killed by Neil Hawkman after accidentally seeing him. But aside from the bomb, they had yet to find any other means of harming the princess.

Even being able to place the bomb was only possible by bribing the hall’s guard after police inspections, allowing them barely to access the rear seats. Placing it directly behind the front row seats was impossible.

"This is really a mess."

Casually opening the Gate of Death, Shard pushed the soul into it. Frowning for a moment in thought, he took a deep breath to restore the surrounding environment, then used the Light of the Witch to completely dissolve the corpse, eliminating any possible remaining traces, before sticking his hands into his pockets and turning to leave the building.

There wasn’t much time left before the bomb would explode. Although he couldn’t explain the source of this intelligence, directly informing MI6 wasn’t an issue, except Shard couldn’t currently locate anyone from MI6.

As for bursting into the hall to shout about the bomb, that was another option, but doing so would draw more attention to himself, something Shard had been avoiding.

Fortunately, he still had the identity of "Ace Agent Grey Hawk" to use. After Princess Margaret arrived in Tobesk, he received orders and learned how to contact her in an emergency. Revealing himself to protect the princess, in Shard’s view, was also a way to repay Detective Sparrow Hamilton, who rested in the cemetery. Instead of using the Grey Hawk identity for personal gain, protecting others was a better way to maintain the honor of this identity.

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