Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1759 - 1758: Chains of Greed and Deals

The tattered bamboo structure supported decaying wooden boards, upon which lay three items. One was a severed finger as thick as Shard’s wrist, with congealed black blood at the base of the break. The other two items were completely obscured.

Miss Higgins took a few deep breaths, then mustered the courage to address the shadow behind the stall:

"Excuse me, do you know..."

She shiveringly pulled out a slip of paper and read the ancient runes written on it:

"Where is the soul-stealing merchant?"

Shard blinked suspiciously, but the dark shadow shook his head slightly, then pointed to his own stall.

The Witch pondered for a moment, then lowered her voice to ask:

"Must I buy something from you for you to answer my question?"

This time, there was a nod.

"I need some time to think about it; I don’t have much money."

She said, intending to retreat. Even if buying something was necessary to ask for directions, they didn’t necessarily have to purchase from here; they could easily look further into the market.

But the shadow was unwilling to let any customer escape. As the Witch retreated, dozens of blood-stained black chains flew toward her from the shadow’s feet. Fortunately, Miss Higgins had never let her guard down, quickly swinging the torch in her hand, while a golden light radiated from her right hand. The warm light dispelled some of the chill, and Shard was quite familiar with this power: it was the Sun’s power.

Of the chains attacking the Witch, more than half of them slowed significantly under the torchlight, while the rest continued to close in on her. The fireball in the Witch’s right palm exploded like a bomb, but the black fog limited its extension to only a short distance around her.

In the light, Shard clearly saw that the black chains were formed from Rune Chains symbolizing [Greed], unmistakably a [Great Sin Chain], but this chain was undaunted by the Sun’s power.

"Be careful."

Old Lady Miles and the timid boy Andor Ade hurriedly stepped forward to assist. Like the Witch, they waved their torches, slowing the remaining chains. Meanwhile, with his empty left hand, Shard retrieved a great sword imbued with silvery moonlight from the black fog.

Clang~

The great sword struck the chains, and amidst the scattering silver particles and sparks, the collision emitted a hair-raising hum. At the same time, more and more blood-stained chains emerged from all directions, enclosing the four people. Shard then instructed the group to gather together, facing different directions, and the swinging torches formed lines of afterimages, which slowed only a small fraction of the chains.

"Why does he have so many Great Sin Chains!"

Like an attack from a swarm of snakes, yet silently, Shard, well-acquainted with the [Great Sin Chain]’s trait, loudly warned:

"These chains have no attack power, but once you’re entangled, your spellcasting and movement abilities will be restrained. Don’t attempt to destroy them using ordinary methods; use destructive power—the Black Moon Insignia - Heaton Sigil."

Shard reached out and grabbed the nearest chain. At the moment of contact, the flow of Spirit within him halted, but the black moon insignia had already appeared on the chain.

The chain slowly disintegrated into flying ash, while at the same time, the exploding golden shield pushed all remaining blood-stained chains away.

The Witch Miss Higgins understood and kissed her right forefinger. The corrosive life dust that floated from it rusted and decayed a few of the chains.

Yet, whether it was Shard’s Arcane Techniques or the Witch’s secret techniques, both forces were significantly draining, and in this peculiar place, the recovery of Spirit was nearly stagnant. They couldn’t just waste all their strength like this.

"Great Sin Chain!"

A chain extended from Shard’s sleeve, clattering as it, under the manipulation of the Animated Rope Trick, tangled with the temporarily repelled chains. Entwined chain and chain, six Great Sin Runes interlaced with innumerable [Greed], suddenly gave Shard a strange sensation. This was his first confrontation with the [Great Sin Chain], and the shared source of power gave him a new insight.

And although Shard had only one chain, he completely dominated, the runes symbolizing six Great Sins emitting an eerie glow, making his companions uncomfortable yet completely suppressing the chain with only "Greed."

But this still wasn’t enough. Shard could handle dozens of chains but not hundreds nor thousands. Countless chains flew from all directions, emerging even from the earth beneath and descending from the sky above.

Seeing chains already binding Old Lady Miles’ ankle and encircling the boy’s neck—of course, the Witch didn’t care about the latter—Miss Higgins helplessly declared:

"I’ll buy! I won’t leave now; I’ll trade with you here, so retract your chains."

The previously writhing chains suddenly stilled, with only Shard’s chain still clattering.

No one dared to move; the four slowly breathed, trying not to let their body heat escape too quickly. Shard silently counted to twelve before the chains retreated extremely slowly to the invisible depths of the black fog. Looking again at the shadow behind the stall, he seemed to be stuck in the same pose, pointing at the merchandise, unmoving. But they all knew that if they dared to retreat now, the blood-stained chains would instantly surge and devour them.

After such a turmoil, even with the torch’s glow, Old Lady Miles and the boy’s faces were pale. The Witch had to hold the elderly lady steady, warming her with her hand. Mrs. Miles could only hold on to her torch with the last of her strength.

"I-I can support her."

The boy, mustering his courage amidst the cold and fear, said to the young Witch, who frowned but didn’t hesitate:

"Take care of this lady; protecting her is protecting you."

She instructed the boy to support Mrs. Miles behind Shard and her, giving the two a glowing yellow stone, seemingly providing warmth. Then, she softly apologized to Shard for the earlier trouble since she was the one who dragged them into danger. Yet, more than the danger, Shard was concerned about the time.

Despite his interest in the chains marked solely by [Greed], he knew this was not the right opportunity to investigate. So, on behalf of the Witch, he asked the shadow:

"What do you have here? We can only see one item."

The shadow remained silent in its motionless gesture as the black mist cloaking the items finally dissipated. Next to the thick severed finger lay a coiled blood-stained rope and coagulated blood in a filthy glass tube.

The rope was a Relic, while the other two items were likely powerful Supernatural Materials.

"What are all these?"

Shard continued to ask, but no answer came; the black shadows in this camp probably didn’t have the ability to speak. The witch asked again, but also received no answer.

The light from the four torches illuminated everyone’s faces, which were unpredictable. The firelight had noticeably dimmed compared to when they had just set out.

Miss Higgins frowned, thought for a moment, blew a breath into her palm, and then said to Shard:

"I fear this camp won’t explain the purpose and function of the goods. We can only pick one at random; this is no different from gambling on luck."

"Do you have enough currency on you? From what just happened, if you don’t have enough currency, it won’t let us leave without paying... It might charge us with something else."

Miss Higgins pursed her lips and nodded:

"Before setting out, His Majesty gave the lady and me some money. I have 23 coins on me."

"I have 6 here."

The silver-haired old lady leaning on the boy spoke next. Seeing Shard look at her, she tried hard to smile:

"The rest is up to you, young ones."

The boy, who hadn’t spoken until then, also said, shivering:

"I have 7 coins here. My coins were sold to me by the witch who gave me the method to enter here, along with the map."

"Then the remaining question is simple — which thing here is the cheapest?"

Judging an item’s value by appearance is foolish, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. The three items, a finger, a rope, and blood, even though the rope is the only relic, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most expensive; though the finger is the only item that revealed its appearance in advance, it can’t be assumed it’s the cheapest.

At this moment, the two ordinary people had no chance to speak, and it was still up to Shard and Miss Higgins the witch to make a decision.

"I don’t have the ability to evaluate, nor the power to appraise treasure."

Shard spoke first, and the red-haired witch hesitantly said:

"Since it involves a transaction, I learned some appraisal secret techniques before entering here. Let me give it a try."

She rolled up her right sleeve to reveal her fair wrist, then grabbed her right wrist with her left hand, opened her right palm, and aimed at the three items one by one.

"Oh!"

She made a breath-holding gesture, her eyes widening suddenly. But after only two or three seconds, she groaned, and black blood flowed from her mouth and nose. She let out that breath, her whole body trembling as she fell back, fortunately caught by Shard in time.

"Cough, cough."

After a violent cough, the foul blood she spat onto the ground corroded the low weeds beneath her feet.

"It’s alright, it’s alright."

She clutched her chest and waved her hand, but it didn’t seem alright at all:

"I was attacked, it seems the camp attacked me. It seems without permission, you can’t touch or investigate goods that don’t belong to you."

"Here."

Shard handed over a bottle of Holy Water No. 3. The witch drank it in gulps before hoarsely expressing her gratitude, but she still looked unwell:

"Now what? I have no other means."

"You said it earlier, we can only rely on luck. The currency is yours, you decide."

They both turned their gaze to the three items, exchanged a look, and then the red-haired witch pointed at the bottle of blood:

"I want this one."

The once nearly still black mist started to flow, condensing into a cloud-like balance on the plank between the goods and the four of them. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The shadow finally moved, picking up the bottle of blood and placing it on the left end of the balance, which slanted to the left. Then it made a gesture to invite. This movement was easy to understand, so Miss Higgins took a purse from her skirt pocket, her hand trembling as she placed coins with her own likeness engraved on them onto the right side of the balance. Although they still didn’t know if this bottle of blood was the cheapest here, fortunately, the balance reached equilibrium after only placing 4 coins.

At that instant, the once fog-like balance solidified into a black metal. Under the glimmer of the torches in everyone’s hands, the balance reflected a deep, heavy metallic luster, and Shard immediately took a liking to it:

"Speaking of which, Iluna’s birthday gift..."

The four coins were taken by the shadow, and then it pushed the balance with the blood on one end to the group, returning to its original motionless posture.

Miss Higgins cautiously retrieved the bottle of blood from one end of the balance. However, she didn’t know what the blood was, so she put it into her carried satchel first.

Seeing the shadow didn’t object, she touched the deep-colored balance, and Shard reached out to touch it too. The balance’s surface was etched with shell, coin, and olive branch patterns, extremely cold and heavy. Both Shard and the witch could confirm it was an ordinary object.

The witch softly inquired:

"Now that this shadow isn’t moving again, do you think this balance is a guide to find the next merchant’s clue?"