Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 393: Silver Badge

"Ritual information on the mermen? Is that all you want?"

In the living room on the second floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, Miss Galina looked somewhat surprised at Shard:

"Are you sure you don’t want anything else? I’ve always been quite generous with you."

"I only need this, please make sure to gather as much information as possible."

Shard nodded. It seemed like he was getting the short end of the stick, but in truth, even if it was just a single line of a clue, this deal was more beneficial to him.

"I can’t agree to that, this isn’t a fair trade. You have no idea how valuable this formula is to me... Come here, Shard, come in front of me."

The witch beckoned Shard with a gesture. Although this was the Shard Family’s place, Galina Cavendish obviously did not hold back.

"You want to grab my hand again?"

Shard asked quizzically, but still put down the cat and walked over.

Mia stood there watching Shard.

To Shard’s surprise, when he approached, Miss Galina suddenly stood up. The witch was only a little shorter than Shard. They looked into each other’s eyes at close range, and before Shard could react, she tiptoed, pressed his head with her right hand, and gently kissed his forehead.

"Oh, miss!"

Shard heard the exclamation from Miss Tifa Servet, heard the meow of the cat on the armrest of the sofa. But before he could feel anything, the witch let him go.

Galina Cavendish, her face slightly flushed, had an enchanting smile as she brushed her fingers across her lips:

"Of course, this doesn’t compare to your formula, but I think our relationship doesn’t always have to be about fair trade."

"Yes..."

The outlander was momentarily at a loss for words, stepped back, and observed the witch in front of him:

"However, I hope it won’t be like this next time."

"You don’t like a witch’s kiss?"

Miss Galina asked, and Shard shook his head:

"Next time, please let me know in advance what you’re going to do. I want to properly feel it, only then it will be fair."

The Duchess’s smile curled at the corners of her mouth, the maid Miss was frowning slightly in dissatisfaction toward Shard, and little Mia, looking up with eyes wide as if she wanted to "roar" at the women, while Shard gazed at the red-haired witch close by, her eyes very beautiful.

"Shard, I thought you’d blush and not know what to say. I didn’t expect... this is good."

The gas lamp on the wall was very bright, illuminating the three people and a cat in this moment.

Miss Galina was true to her word. Early the next morning, before Dorothy had even come over to the Shard residence, Miss Tifa arrived at Saint Delan Square in a carriage.

Taking into account the travel time from the estate outside the city to the city itself, she must have woken up very early that morning. Shard expressed his apologies and invited the dark-haired maid to have a cup of tea at his house before leaving, and after a moment’s hesitation, Miss Servet pulled out a pocket watch from her elaborate dress, glanced at the time, and nodded in agreement.

She had come to Shard not just to have tea but also to explain the items she had entrusted to him.

The first item was a pendant Shard had received from her hands, a silver circular badge strung on a cord. The badge bore thorns, a lion’s head, and the pattern of an azalea flower.

This pattern looked familiar. It took Shard a moment to remember that it was the heraldry of "Duchess of Saradiel," Galina Cavendish. The thorns were her personally chosen decorative motif, the lion was taken from the Royal Crest, representing her royal identity, and the azalea was the symbol of the County of Saradiel.

Although she was a member of the Royal Family, a Duke with landholdings could have their own heraldry. On Miss Galina’s carriage, both the Royal Crest and this pattern were displayed.

If Miss Galina had not been a witch but a normal woman, her descendants would have inherited this emblem as their family crest.

"What does this mean?"

Shard asked, puzzled.

"It means you belong to the young lady. Even if you have the misfortune of encountering a witch, they won’t harm you if they see this."

Miss Maid said serenely, winking at Shard, and added: Enjoy exclusive content from novelbuddy

"Also, in certain situations, this badge will be useful. Like... if you take it to the County of Saradiel, the taverns might not even dare charge you."

This was probably a little joke.

The cat, having had its fill, sat on the armrest next to him, opened its mouth wide in a yawn, showing that even a young cat could open its mouth very wide.

"Miss has tested it, and the formula you provided is perfect, even better than what’s recorded in the Council’s archives from the later period of the Witch Wars."

This could be because the technique had encountered issues during transmission in the Fifth Era, or perhaps Miss Feliana had provided her own improved private version.

Shard toyed with the beautiful silver badge in his hand, which had already begun to warm up simply because Miss Servet was present. However, since the black-haired maid was not a true witch but merely possessed the witch’s power, the heating was mild.

The top of the badge had been perforated and threaded with a cord. Shard tied it around his neck and decided to always wear it when he went out.

"Mr. Hamilton, here is the ’Sea Return’ information that the lady found. The Council had already collected it earlier so she didn’t expend much effort. Miss Hevy Aurora, the Grand Witch presently at Coldwater Port, has surely seen it already."

Miss Servet handed Shard a brown, thick paper envelope, a product of the steam industry standard, representing the productivity of the era. However, the contents inside were handwritten. Not very extensive, they summed up to only three pages, even with black-and-white photos pasted on with glue. Shard skimmed through them quickly and found two points of value.

Most importantly, the Council’s documents pointed out that the power source for initiating the Sea Return ritual was an object left in the material world by an Evil God during a Godfall in the Fifth Era, which gave Shard much to consider.

The other point concerned the salvation of the cursed:

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"Tie the line of a fishing rod with supernatural power around the Cursed One. As long as the rod can be held, it can effectively prevent them from being called into the ocean by the power of the Evil God..."

Shard read the content from the paper, which was very similar to Miss Feliana’s last hint.

Seeing that Shard did not appear distressed, the black-haired maid continued to explain:

"An ordinary fishing rod only suppresses the impulse to walk into the Crimson Sea, while a transcendent rod can greatly inhibit it. Miss says that the Evil God is the guardian of the mermen, and He detests anglers, even more so the failure of those caught by them, which is why fishing rods are the most abhorred by that deity and His Order."

Shard thought of something more:

"So He must detest drowned mermen even more... Oh, I see, that’s why the Evil God opposed to the ’Lord of the Crimson Spiral,’ the ’God of the Deep Sea Drowned,’ is attracted to the ’scales of the Drowned One.’ It’s not only the little girl’s spirit that’s unique."