Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1761 - 1760: The Conch of Longing

The group continued forward under the guidance of the black metal balance, the firelight flickering with the movement of the four, illuminating the eerie and terrifying shadows, which were then left behind.

"That is to say, if you want to get something here, currency isn’t the only method to pay."

The witch walking in the front whispered a summary, clearly speaking to Shard:

"Before we entered, the Empress didn’t mention this situation."

Shard looked at the witch’s back ahead:

"Never assume you understand places like this. It’s already surprising that the Empress could prepare currency for you in advance. However, I always feel there’s something odd about the currency... Mrs. Miles, are you alright?"

Because his hand was resting on the old lady’s shoulder, Shard could sense her walking movements becoming increasingly laborious:

"Miss Higgins, how much farther is the road?"

"It’s impossible to estimate the exact time needed."

"Don’t worry about me, just keep moving forward. No matter what, I must find his soul and make him tell me why he didn’t return. I’ve waited so long, even if I die here, I must see him again."

Mrs. Miles’s determination was firm, her frail and aged body couldn’t obstruct her resolve. She was even pleading with Shard not to pay attention to her:

"Young man, I have waited my whole life. Even in my dreams, I think of meeting him again at the crossroads overgrown with sage, rosemary, and thyme, on a sunny day. Please keep moving forward, I know he is surely waiting for me too."

As if to prove she could keep going, she tried hard to stop her body from trembling, but couldn’t overcome her instincts. Fortunately, Shard wasn’t planning to turn back now:

"Mrs. Miles, please relax — Puppetry."

Shard temporarily took over the walking of the elderly woman. As for the boy behind him, he could still keep up by himself, so he didn’t need Shard’s special care.

The road ahead was quite long. The group held torches, placing their hands on the shoulders of the person in front, traversing the eerie area in this manner. The cautious witch no longer spoke to Shard but patiently sought the direction according to the balance’s indication. She took several wrong turns because there were actually "dead ends" in this market-like maze, where a stall blocked the end of a path after they turned onto a small road.

This forced the group to spend even more time progressing. The torches in their hands had about two-thirds of the brightness they had when they first entered the campsite. If they still couldn’t reach their destination, then no matter how much spiritual power the two ordinary people had, they would have to end their first exploration of the campsite.

Suddenly, the witch in front slowed her pace and extended three fingers backwards. This was an agreed signal between her and Shard; one finger represented danger, two meant reaching the destination, and three signified encountering shadows other than vendors again.

They didn’t try to avoid it and walked straight over. On this peculiar stall, amid the ruined wooden table before the shadow, lay a black coin and three chipped porcelain teacups, which were dirty, with what looked like bloodstains on the inside.

The shadow stood quietly behind the wooden table and remained motionless even after the four reached its front.

The witch attempted to walk forward and was not stopped. The other three promptly followed, and this time none of them were stopped.

"It seems participation is not mandatory."

Miss Higgins whispered to Shard:

"The items on the table, it’s presumably one of those classic gambling games, with a coin under one of the three cups, and then they are shuffled for us to guess... Are you interested in this?"

The importance of the coin here needs no further explanation, but the conditions for participation are unknown, and losing cannot be ruled out either.

Shard thought for a moment, feeling the need to obtain currency of his own:

"Let me give it a shot."

He’d have to try sooner or later anyway.

Mrs. Miles and the boy still hid behind the duo, and soon Shard and the witch returned to the wooden table with the cups.

The shadow behind the table lifted its hand and pointed to the black metal balance floating beside the witch, which then flew onto the table. The end facing it immediately tilted downward. Shard exchanged a glance with the witch, holding the torch:

"Miss Higgins, can I borrow some coins from you? I promise to return them."

The witch placed a coin with her own portrait onto the table, just one, and the balance restored itself, indicating a game of one coin against one coin.

The shadow covered the coin already on the table with a cup, then maneuvered both hands quickly, swapping the positions of the three overturned cups before them.

Its hands moved rapidly, and if the sound’s transmission in the mist wasn’t hampered, Shard would suspect he might hear a sonic boom. Keeping track of the correct cup position with dynamic vision was exceptionally tough. Adding to this, the drifting black mist occasionally caused large blind spots in his field of vision; even if only for an instant, it was enough to lose the right choice.

The shadow halted its hands only after twenty seconds, gesturing for Shard to guess. Shard no longer had any clue as to which was the correct answer, and with his perception suppressed, he couldn’t rely on his inspiration to seek the answer.

Fortunately, there existed a method of perception that wouldn’t be restricted under any circumstance.

"Which one?"

[The middle.]

Shard pointed to the middle cup, and after the shadow turned it over, it pushed the coin inside towards Shard. The coin flipped to reveal Shard’s own portrait on it.

Both Shard and the witch let out a sigh of relief. Shard returned Miss Higgins’s coin, and she took another look at the table. Unfortunately, no second coin appeared on the table, implying this seemingly simple "game" could be played only once.

"There will be more opportunities next time."

Compared to the numerous stalls, the number of special "roles" like magicians was relatively small. However, they soon encountered a third peculiar shadow, but this time everyone avoided it without thinking because, after they showed up, the figure stood within a fence lined with branches, waving a sword back and forth.

It was highly likely that dueling was needed to obtain coins or other items, and one could imagine the level of risk involved. Here, if battles could be avoided, they should be avoided where possible.

Mrs. Miles and the boy’s condition worsened, physical exhaustion was now a minor issue, and both of them began to experience slight auditory and visual hallucinations due to spiritual power overconsumption. According to the boy, he now felt the urge to stay put and sleep for a while, or to casually find a vendor and trade away his soul for "eternal rest."

Fortunately, the destination guided by the Black Metal Balance was finally confirmed. After encountering a dead end and carefully detouring, they stopped in front of a stand set on the ground.

On a yellow-brown blood-stained tattered cloth, eight items were scattered around. Only two of the items were revealed, while the remaining four were concealed entirely by the black mist.

The Witch exhaled deeply, and only after the white mist in her mouth dissipated did she carefully tug at the hem of her skirt and bend down, placing the balance before the stand, then gently inquired:

"Hello. We would like to call upon a soul. If he has departed, please bring him before us. If he has not died, then please inform us of his survival."

She clearly stated her request, and the black mist covering the six items dissipated, revealing the appearance of the goods.

The two items that were not obscured by the black mist were both remnants of flesh, so they were definitely not used to call upon spirits.

The six items now revealed were a small bottle of colorless, transparent water, stored in a sealed glass container;

A segment of a broken sword with a metal blade, even just looking at it felt as though one’s soul could be sucked out;

A blood-stained pink-white conch, roughly the size of Shard’s palm;

A gray fossil conch, similar in size to the former, possessing the Whisper Element alongside a strong Miracle Element;

A pink... bra, neatly folded there, not only seeming out of place among the surrounding items but even incongruent with this region. Shard repeatedly thought he was having hallucinations.

The last item appeared to be a small statue resembling a tin man, the figurine had outstretched arms, and its face bore a terrified expression of a nobleman, roughly the size of a finger.

Among the six items, only the runes on the surface of the gray fossil conch revealed themselves in Shard’s direction, allowing him to see the words on the artifact—[Longing, hence Communication].

Before Shard could speak, Miss Higgins couldn’t help but gasp with her hand over her mouth. She didn’t look at the other items but instead stared wide-eyed at the tin-like figurine, quivering as she said to Shard:

"That’s a soul."

"A soul?"

"Yes, a solidified soul. To think this place sells such things? Only demons would do such a thing. Solidified souls never get a chance to move on, unless destroyed, they can only endure torment until the world ends. This is to solidify a soul, creating an item—a Great Sin, the gods disdain all who attempt such acts."

"But at least one possibility is eliminated, and ruling out the first two flesh pieces brings it down to a one in five chance. No, it’s one in four."

Shard pointed to the bottle of transparent water with certainty and said:

"This isn’t what you’re looking for either. I recognize this bottle of water, though I’ve never heard of anyone naming it, so I gave it a name myself: Water of the Styx. It’s water from the Nether Moon in True Death that souls pass through."

In fact, water in True Death isn’t water, that dark water, that mudflat, and that Nether Moon are just scenes that come into being because someone appeared, allowing them to be observed.

In Death, actually, there is nothing. This is something Priest Augustus also discussed with Shard. But through special means, water or even stones from the mudflat can indeed be brought into the Material World. It’s top-tier death-related material, with amazing effects in rituals aiding Destruction, Death, and Corruption of Life, though it’s Shard’s first time seeing such water outside of death.

As he spoke, white mist also emerged from his mouth, even with "Shadow of the Moon" always casting a nighttime state and the dual blessing of "Month of Breathing" never causing fatigue beneath the moon, he still felt some weariness: 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"One in four, do you recognize anything?"

He asked the young Witch, who pointed to the fossil conch:

"This Relic [Conch of Longing], speak into the conch, and you can convey your yearning into the ears of the person you long for and establish short-term communication. Of course, the other party must be alive."

She had an idea at this point. So she placed the Black Metal Balance on the ground and said to the shadow sitting behind the stand:

"I don’t want to buy, can I borrow one of these?"

She pointed to the fossil conch, and the unmoving shadow then gestured toward the balance, which once again became unbalanced. However, the Witch only placed down a coin, and balance was once again achieved:

"See, His Majesty chose me, and it seems he had good reason."

She said to Shard, and then noticed the pale-faced Old Lady Miles, barely able to hold onto the torch under the boy’s support, so she tossed the coin to the shadow, picked up the gray fossil conch, and pressed it against her ear:

"Can you hear me? Is it the Empress? Alright, yes, yes, the broken sword, pink-white conch, the bra, yes, I’m not kidding. Runes? Sorry, unable to touch or observe closely, feel? Probably all related to the Undead, specifics are like this... yes, accurately mentioned. Alright, I’ll take care of Mrs. Miles. Oh, I’ll also take care of myself, blessing you too... Time’s up."

She stood upright, conversing with the conch respectfully. Apart from her, no one could hear the voice from the conch. When the conversation ended, Miss Higgins took away the conch with some reluctance and noticed Shard watching her, explained as if defending herself:

"Speaking respectfully to a Witch of such status isn’t wrong, even if the Empress can only hear my voice... Someday, I too can become such a Witch."

She raised her head with determination to show her ambition, and Shard smiled and said:

"Yes, good luck with that."

Although Miss Higgins’s conversation with the Witch Empress of the desert was brief, at least they gained insight:

"I contacted the Empress, though I could only simply describe the appearance, so the Empress merely identified this item."

Miss Higgins pointed at the women’s bra; it was clear the young Witch was not surprised by its appearance, indicating that in their era, the textile industry had reached a high level, and lace decorations like these were commonplace. Moreover, since Shard told a little girl in "Hope Town" about steam industry, triggering her awakening as a Witch, hundreds of years had already passed, presumably bringing the Material World into the Steam Industrial Era.

"Relic [Charm of the Undead], only female usage, substantially increasing the pregnancy probability after mating with Undead Creatures. Of course, the counterpart doesn’t have to be a Vampire Kind or other typically reproductive Undead, but can also be... well, forget it. However, this relic is ineffective for witches. Hence, it’s not something Mrs. Miles would use. It won’t summon the Undead. Speaking of, the Empress mentioned that men wearing this relic will... and you won’t want to know."

She wasn’t very accustomed to this topic either, so she didn’t delve further. Then, she lowered her voice, looked into Shard’s eyes, and playfully suggested:

"Do you want to try?"