Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1045: Reward for Defeating the Demon

After Sir Plisha walked off into the distance, Luviya emerged from the shadows across the street, wrapped in a brown lady’s coat and a woolen scarf:

"Shard’s guess about the Angel Bloodline is actually true, and he can actually use methods to forcibly trigger the Bloodline Power?"

The purple-eyed girl thought to herself and looked up at the traces of the Red Butterfly fading in the starry sky above, knowing that Shard had probably already left this area:

"It seems the matter with the demon is resolved, and Dorothy should soon move out from No. 6, Saint Delan Square."

Feeling quite lighthearted at the thought, she knew Shard had worked hard confronting the demon tonight, so she planned to visit Saint Delan Square tomorrow to check on his condition.

But before she had even taken two steps along the snow-covered street, she stopped again, because not far ahead was the Gray Stone Angel Statue.

Snow fell upon her shoulders but did not melt. Luviya looked at the statue nearby, biting her lip as she reached into her pocket. As a Prophet, when confronted with danger, her first thought was not whether to fight or flee like Shard, but to throw a coin to observe fate.

"Do you repent?"

But before Luviya could take out a coin, a layered echoing voice reached her ears. Slightly hesitating, she looked at the statue, confirmed she was alone on the snowy street, and suspiciously asked:

"Repent what?"

The streetlamp cast Luviya’s long shadow on the snow, and vaguely another mature purple-eyed girl appeared behind her, but she remained unaware.

The Weeping Angel had not advanced; instead, its stone circular base slid backward along the street, the sound of stone rubbing against stone deeply unsettling:

"You do not deserve to be banished to the end of Time, cursed one, your sin is beyond forgiveness."

The Angel Statue vanished from the street, leaving only the heavy snowfall cascading down like goose feathers, growing ever thicker.

"What does it mean?"

Luviya was still puzzled, tossing a coin but unable to divine anything.

The transparent and phantom-like figure extended an arm to encircle her neck, the two nearly identical faces pressed closely together. The mature face bore unresolved worry.

Elsewhere, Shard was already jogging back from Tobesk Southern District through the University District to Saint Delan Square.

The sound of the door opening first drew little Mia hopping downstairs—Miss Writer appeared a step slower at the bend of the stairs, but did not see Shard’s figure:

"Hm? Shard?"

Little Mia was hopping on a stone statue on one side of the entrance hall, the statue fitting so seamlessly into the hall’s environment that Dorothy instinctively overlooked it, assuming it had always been there.

She stepped out of the open door, looking at the snow-covered square, and also did not see Shard. Just as she frowned, about to call out again, Shard’s voice came from behind her:

"I’m here."

Dorothy turned around, only to see Shard transform back into his human form from the statue’s appearance.

"Can you not be so childish?"

She scolded playfully, turned to close the door, and then gently hugged him, prompting the cat originally in Shard’s arms to jump onto his shoulder instead.

"The demon issue is resolved!"

Shard hugged Dorothy and said joyfully.

"Yes, Lecia has already told me."

Dorothy smiled, tapping her head lightly, then kissed Shard on the cheek:

"But what did you do tonight? She seemed quite worried about you."

"It’s nothing, everything’s normal with me."

The two walked up the stairs together:

"Prepare a glass of water for me; there’s still some work to do."

The tea cup filled with water was placed in the empty second room on the second floor, with Dorothy waiting temporarily in the first room, and Shard sitting on the floor of the second room, holding the cat while watching the cup of water.

They faced the window of the second room’s living room, moonlight spilling onto the floor, and outside, the snow flew:

"Ahem."

Shard cleared his throat and started telling a joke about cats:

"What is the difference between Mia and a monkey?"

He asked the cat sitting on his lap, whose big eyes stared at him suspiciously.

"The difference is that Mia can’t walk on just two hind legs."

Mia changed her crouching posture, staring down at her little paws.

"And what is the difference between Mia and a dog?"

Shard asked again, then chuckled and said:

"The difference is that Mia can’t bark like a dog."

The cat meowed a few times.

"So, what is the difference between Mia and me?"

Shard asked the final question, and the cat’s tail moved up and down very nimbly, leading Shard to grab that cat tail:

"The difference is that Mia can’t catch this tail."

"Meow~"

The cat used its paws to push Shard’s hand away, becoming interested in its own tail. It stared at the tail as if battling a worm, then began to spin around chasing it, making Shard laugh again.

"Actually, this isn’t very funny."

A voice came from the teacup. Shard looked at the water, where the Sage-Level Relic [Prankster Boy] that had appeared on the lake at Regent’s Park was now reflected on the water’s surface:

"However, I do admit you did defeat the demon. So, what gift do you want?"

The boy asked, and Shard immediately shook his head:

"I don’t want anything."

"Yes, yes, wanting everything but saying nothing."

The boy mocked, and the blue teardrop-shaped form fell into the teacup with a ’plop’, lying quietly at the bottom of the liquid:

"But I’m still glad I didn’t see those witches this time. Those madwomen, even in the Sixth Era, are still so annoying. Offering flesh and soul as tributes is rough enough, but they can never produce real gold or silver for the tributes!"

He seemed particularly angry, and Shard felt that Miss Galina and Miss Sylvia didn’t do it on purpose; the two Grand Witches probably just found the corresponding procedure in the council’s records.

After complaining about the witches, the boy full of malice in the teacup reflection looked at Shard again:

"Although I now follow the footsteps of the [Secret-Keeping Mentor], in a very distant past, I was once a follower of the [Guardian of Innocence], once admiring the glory of that Old God."

"So..."

Shard raised an eyebrow, and the boy laughed:

"Since you have also been favored by that Deity, why don’t I give you some extra rewards as compensation for defeating the demon so swiftly and beautifully."

As he said this, his right hand aimed at Shard like a handgun:

"Bang!"

As the sound came from his mouth, a gunshot really appeared. Mia was startled, Shard instinctively dodged to the side, then felt something brush past his cheek.

"Shard, why was there a gunshot?"

Dorothy burst in through the door connecting rooms one and two on the wall, seeing Shard holding his hand on the ground to support himself. He was a bit surprised as he touched his face, finding an ink mark on it, then looked at the wall behind him, where a freshly painted white wall now bore an ink stain.

What was shot at him earlier wasn’t a bullet but just a blob of ink.

The image of the Prankster Boy in the teacup had disappeared, and the startled cat leapt into Shard’s arms. He reached out to fish the [Sage’s Glowstone] from the teacup and then stood up, half complaining:

"As expected of the Prankster Boy."

"Hurry and wash your face."

Dorothy said with a smile:

"You better pray that the ink stain can be washed off easily; I really don’t want to peel off your skin to help you heal."

The cat cradled in Shard’s arms tilted its head, looking at the ink stain on the wall illuminated by the faint moonlight, a spot it found particularly familiar.

The ink mark on his face was easily washed off, much to Shard’s relief. As for the ink stain on the wall, it could be brushed over with paint, or simply covered with a frame or an oil painting; it wasn’t such a big issue.

And when Shard came out of the washroom, he was immediately embraced by the blonde girl.

Somehow, the living room was already dark, with only the firelight dancing in the fireplace. The blonde girl’s body was so soft, and she pressed Shard’s head against her chest as she held him:

"Oh, Lecia!"

At some point, Her Highness the Princess had completed a soul exchange with Dorothy, and now she had laid out a bed in front of the fireplace:

"This is your reward for defeating the demon and rescuing the princess."

The fireplace’s firelight cast the entwined shadows of the two onto the wall.

(Mia running...)

Dorothy had been invited to live with Shard due to the threat of the demon. But with the demon gone and a new Monday having arrived, Dorothy, waking up with Shard before the fireplace, took the initiative to propose returning to her own apartment:

"Feather Quill Street is close to the publishing house and the newspaper office. My regular Writer’s Club is also there, besides..."

The girl in her corset gave the yawning Shard an annoyed look:

"If I don’t move out, what would Lecia and Luviya think of me... Help me out."

She turned around:

"Lecia is really something, getting so excited last night. I was sleeping so comfortably in her room in the middle of the night, and she switched back. If she doesn’t... then don’t... Shard, at this rate, a single female sorcerer won’t be able to handle you. Can’t use the [Ever-Youth Leaf] every time; it greatly affects kissing..."

She said with a somewhat complaining tone, but there was a faint smile on her face, facing away from Shard.

Shard couldn’t comment on that, so he simply waved his hand, making the fire in the fireplace burn even more vigorously. The snow that started last night was still falling, getting heavier and heavier. Looking out at the morning from the window, the snowflakes seemed to fall like cotton onto the ground. The Slumber Moon had reached the ninth day, and according to Tobesk’s climate, the coldest time of the year was approaching.

"Speaking of which, this Wednesday afternoon, the third Day of the Red Butterfly is coming."

The blonde girl mentioned this matter as if unintentionally. The last Day of the Red Butterfly started with a Tuesday afternoon wedding on Frostfall Moon 19, ending at noon on Frostfall Moon 20. Counting the days, 21 days later would be this Wednesday.

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