Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 471: The Music Before Death

Speaking to strangers to look for clues is not something that can be done in a short period, so Shard spent two hours in the afternoon visiting and questioning different people from the Noan Opera Troupe.

Similar to what the bearded landlord had mentioned, the people here also said that Mr. Bondy had been very happy for a few days after his eyes were cured three months ago, but his mood soon turned gloomy, and he gradually became afraid of the dark and of being alone.

His entire demeanor became nervous, and he even made some mistakes during the opera troupe's performances.

However, as for the use of prohibited drugs mentioned by the bearded landlord, the people in the opera troupe hadn't noticed anything. Their impression of Frank Bondy was that he was a friendly and extremely disciplined man. Mr. Bondy didn't even smoke; he only tried Roder Card after his eyesight was restored.

As for the suicide note, the musician had written at great length about his life, reflecting on his existence. The distribution of his estate and the words of the bearded landlord matched, and at the end, he mentioned the location he had chosen for his grave and thanked his neighbors, landlord, and friends from the Noan Opera Troupe for their years of care.

The date on the suicide note was the same day Mr. Bondy took his life, and the wording in the note was clear, with very organized arrangements for his property and burial site. However, the way it was written was extremely manic; the letters looked like the insane scribbles of a madman who had encountered some unknowable entity.

Since Mr. Bondy had been blind before, Shard specifically asked the troupe leader if he had been able to write normally before, and learned that the musician could write well with legible handwriting.

"Hmm, something is increasingly amiss," he muttered.

Thus, Shard requested the scores that Mr. Bondy had written after his eyes had been cured. After comparing them to the suicide note, the detective concluded that the suicide note was indeed written by Frank Bondy's hand. But the clear thought process with the manic writing style caught his major attention.

The musician hadn't mentioned the reason for his madness in the suicide note, nor had he written his reasons for suicide, but simply ended with:

"I once plunged into darkness without lamenting fate, but why now must I be made to see the light."

"I am too tired."

The penultimate sentence matched almost exactly what the bearded landlord had said, which made Shard increasingly suspect that the eye issue had led to the musician's suicide.

Frank Bondy also left behind quite a few relics in the opera troupe, and the troupe leader allowed Shard to open the storage room door, letting him search through the shelves himself.

Thus, Shard examined the musician's notebooks, personal clothing, drinking cup, unused tea bags, and a small knife for sharpening pencils, among other items, but after looking through them all, he didn't see any diaries in the cardboard box.

Apparently, just three months were not enough to instill the habit of keeping a diary.

The only items that caught Shard's attention were two: one was a notebook with scores created by Mr. Bondy, and the other was a flat circular small bottle with a small amount of yellowish oil-like liquid at the bottom.

The notebook was purchased by Mr. Bondy after his eye condition was cured, each page dated, indicating that the musician, after regaining sight, wrote at a pace of one piece a week. But as the dates progressed, the musical notes written in black ink became increasingly thin, sharp, and chaotic, and by the last page, they were almost identical to the font in the suicide letter.

As for the liquid in the bottle, only a thin layer was left at the bottom. When Shard cautiously poured it onto his finger, a voice near his ear unexpectedly indicated that the liquid contained traces of Spirit, albeit in extremely tiny amounts.

It was not one of the Four Elements, but pure Spirit, because the traces of mysticism were indeed faint.

"The concentration is so weak; has it been diluted, or did it just accidentally become contaminated with traces of Spirit? Can this be considered a magic potion?" he wondered.

Out of caution, Shard informed the troupe leader, then took both the notebook containing the scores and the empty bottle.

Before leaving, Shard also learned about the purpose of the liquids. Many people in the opera troupe had seen musician Bondy drop the liquids into his eyes, claiming they were medication prescribed by his ophthalmologist.

"Things are becoming more complex," he thought.

Since he spent the entire afternoon investigating and asking questions within the Noan Opera Troupe, it was nearly evening by the time Shard left the troupe with two leads.

Seeing that it was getting late, Shard decided not to visit the ophthalmologist and Mr. Mendis involved in the commission under the cover of night, nor did he plan to continue his investigation at the Three Cats Inn at Hymn Square.

Conveniently, the residence of the Noan Opera Troupe was not far from Miss Galina's manor outside the city. After thinking, Shard decided to visit.

He was not going to mooch a dinner, but to ask Miss Galina to arrange for a musician to play the last few pieces in the scores Shard had obtained. Shard wanted to gauge the specific mental state of the individual during the last phase of his life through this.

He didn't let the professional musicians from the opera troupe play because Shard was concerned about involving civilians in case of complications; it was better to be cautious with such matters.

Although Miss Galina's manor was outside the city, because the area was surrounded by noble manors, forests, and high-class racecourses, the city coachmen were willing to go there. On the carriage ride, Shard thought that showing up empty-handed seemed inappropriate, but picking a handful of wildflowers seemed even more so.

So, in the end, he had to disembark in front of the manor gate empty-handed, pay the fare, and meet Shard's well-acquainted manor housekeeper, who had already ordered someone to open the gate to welcome Shard.

"Is Miss Galina here? I didn't make an appointment for this visit. If she has gone to the city, could I possibly get a carriage ride into the city?"

This would save him the trip back.

"The lady is in the manor but is currently meeting with important guests."

The middle-aged housekeeper said very carefully and arranged for Shard to wait in the lounge. Shard also had time to take a closer look at a notebook filled with musical scores, but these scores were more obscure than ancient scripts to him, an outlander who knew nothing about the music of this world.

Because at least he could understand the ancient scripts.

Shard did not have to wait long in the second-floor reception room of the manor. The maids soon brought him tea and snacks and even asked if he would like to have dinner at the manor.

But Shard was thinking about going home and having dinner with Mia, so he shook his head and declined.

When he had finally finished looking through the musical scores again, Miss Tifa Servet, Galina's personal maid, walked through the door. She always seemed to be dressed in the same maid uniform. As long as Shard had known her, he had never seen her wear anything else.

"Mr. Hamilton, the lady is having dinner with important guests today, so she doesn't have time to meet with you this evening. She asked me to inquire whether you have urgent matters. If it's not urgent, I can handle it for you."

Miss Galina, as the Duchess with real power in Draleon Kingdom, certainly couldn't afford to drop important matters to meet with Shard like he could in his leisurely days. Therefore, Shard didn't expect her to drop everything and meet with him.

He stood up from the sofa:

"It's nothing urgent. I came across a possibly peculiar piece of sheet music and wanted someone to help perform it."

After briefly describing the commission from the eye doctor, Shard handed over the notebook to Miss Tifa Servet.

She flipped through from front to back, and sure enough, she frowned when she reached the last page. Being a Six Rings Warlock, she most likely understood the music sheet, and so the problems she could perceive were greater:

"It was a very good idea not to have ordinary people from the Noan Opera Troupe perform it. Mr. Hamilton, please follow me. I will perform it for you."

With that, she gestured for Shard to follow her to the manor's second-floor soundproof music room, the room where Miss Galina practiced the violin.

"Miss Servit, what instruments do you play?"

Shard asked curiously as they walked out the door.

"I can play both the piano and the violin a bit."

She said quite modestly.

To prevent the music left by the blind musician from affecting ordinary people, after their arrival at the music room, the maid had other servants wait outside and only left herself and Shard in the room.

It was Shard's first time in this room, which compared to the so-called professional music rooms he had seen in his hometown, bore a style much more ... expensive. The floor was carpeted in red, the uneven sound-absorbing walls were a pale yellow, all the visible instruments were golden, the oil paintings on the walls were probably antiques, and the white wooden cabinets and glass showcases containing the instruments were each probably worth more than Mia.

But at least the piano was black. After lifting the piano lid, the black and white keys reflecting the room's gas lamp light appeared neat and ice-cold, which Shard quite liked.

Although the world had changed, the types of instruments were very similar, but for an outlander like him, there really wasn't much difference since he was clueless about instruments from any world.

To prepare Shard, the black-haired girl carefully held the long fabric of her skirt at the back of her body and then sat down in front of the piano. She turned the notebook to the last piece of sheet music, positioned it upright, and those hands that almost always served tea whenever Shard was around, fluttered a few times. Her ten slender, pale fingers moved up and down before landing on the keys.

Shard sat on a high stool padded with a soft cushion. At the first abrupt note of the music, he was still guessing the potential selling price of the instrument and once again tried to measure it using "Mia" as a unit of measurement.

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But when the notes formed a string and flooded into his ears, at first he felt it was nothing special, but then an increasing irritation grew in his heart, and he couldn't help but frown.

Miss Tifa Servet's piano technique was quite good. Her fingers danced on the keys, and the frenzied music made Shard feel increasingly uncomfortable. Although he wasn't knowledgeable about music, he firmly agreed that brilliant sheet music and performers could express their emotions through the melodies.