Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 617 - A Study of Midshire Forts Folklore
Chapter 617: Chapter 617: A Study of Midshire Fort’s Folklore
Chapter 617: Chapter 617: A Study of Midshire Fort’s Folklore
The gunshot came from directly above the inn, and judging from the clarity of the sound, it did not originate from the nearby second floor but seemed to come from the farthest fourth floor.
“Oh, damn!”
The captain muttered a curse under his breath, apologized to Shard after gathering his playing cards, and walked with Lieutenant Hoyle towards the ground floor counter, clearly intending to go upstairs to check the situation with the innkeeper before the local police arrived. As they were dressed in Draleon military uniforms, they needed to maintain the scene and be in charge of checking for any victims that could be helped.
The guests on the ground floor silently settled their bills and left through the door, fearful of getting involved in any troublesome matters. Shard neither followed the two officers upstairs nor did he leave with most of the people.
He stood up, got two glasses of low-alcohol apple cider from the waiter who had replaced the bearded innkeeper, and then sat down with his drink opposite the bard in the corner, pushing one of the glasses toward him.
Although the Kingdom prohibited the brewing of private alcohol, it allowed small-scale brewing of fruit wines like those in large inns. These two glasses of apple cider were made from apples harvested earlier this summer on Sicarl Mountain. While not comparable to the fruit wines of big wine estates, they were at least cheap.
With a shooting incident upstairs, the bard could no longer continue performing. However, leaving now meant that he wouldn’t earn any more income today, so he huddled in the corner waiting. Seeing Shard sit down opposite him, and even offering him a drink, the bard recognized Shard as the person who had thrown two shilling coins earlier:
“Thank you.”
He said cautiously, not knowing what the young man in front of him wanted to do.
“Do you know many of the ancient legends from Midshire Fort and the Sicarl Mountain Area?”
Shard asked.
“Yes.”
The bard nodded cautiously.
“Since you can’t perform right now, why don’t you tell me some of these stories? I can pay for your drinks this afternoon.”
While Shard didn’t mention a cash reward, accepting an offer of free drinks on an afternoon when business was clearly impossible was not bad.
“No problem, what would you like to know…”
Bang!
Suddenly, another gunshot rang out from upstairs. Even though it was two floors up, Shard could tell it was different from the previous one.
The bard was startled by the sound, but Shard didn’t seem to care much. Even a Circle Sorcerer who wanted to kill people with a gun would use a Silence Charm or something similar to suppress the sound, so the incident upstairs definitely had nothing to do with the Circle Sorcerers.
“I want to know how many local beliefs there are, the kind that are only circulated locally in Midshire Fort.”
Shard had learned similar information from the materials provided by the Spiritual Practice Order, but still wanted to inquire from a layman’s perspective.
“Local esoteric beliefs… I certainly won’t know as many as the True God Church, but there are quite a few that circulate privately.”
Seeing that Shard was unfazed by the gunshots, the bard became a little bolder:
“There aren’t many local legends about Evil Gods.”
At the mention of “Evil God”, he instinctively shrank and his eyes moved toward the staircase leading to the second floor. The customers who hadn’t left were either sitting in their original spots or crowding around the staircase to watch the excitement.
“But there are some special beliefs, like the Deities of Bygone Days, the Twin Gods, who are said to have stayed in this area. Therefore, the locals generally believe that twins have a special spirituality.”
“That is said elsewhere too.”
Shard nodded, but the cult of the Twin Gods had long since been destroyed, and the Spiritual Practice Order had taken root here, clearly documenting the disappearance of that old cult, so there was no need to worry.
He discussed with the bard for a few moments about the topic of the special nature of “twins”, which led to some local customs. Meanwhile, two policemen patrolling nearby hurried over, one running upstairs guided by curious bystanders while the other blew a whistle to seek help.
Two streets away was the train station of Midshire Fort City, and the area was not only full of policemen but also had a fully equipped infantry company. Of course, the current situation did not require assistance from the stationed troops.
“Besides the Old Gods, there are some other special beliefs in the area.”
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The bard took a sip of apple cider and then pointed towards Sicarl Mountain:
“Additionally, there is a very traditional worship of the mountain itself.”
“I can understand that. Relying on the mountain for sustenance and then developing a reverence for Sicarl Mountain that nurtured the city is quite natural.”
Shard nodded. The bard took a moment to grasp the awkward translation of “Relying on the mountain for sustenance” before he understood:
“Yes, before Midshire Fort became the front line for two nations, it was just a very small town. Back then, there was no steam industry like today, and people lived by hunting for the local lord or tending to orchards, which led to this localized belief. But with the arrival of the Steam Age, these primitive beliefs gradually disappeared, and now they can only be seen in the books of folklore scholars.”
The bard talked about a form of extinct primitive nature worship that was not mentioned in the Spiritual Practice Order’s materials; apparently, the Order did not see much significance in this history.
“Worshiping the mountain… that’s interesting. Did you know that Sicarl Mountain is a dead volcano?”
Shard suddenly asked, and the poet nodded after taking a sip of apple cider:
“Of course, since the topic of the Dead Volcano has arisen, it’s essential to mention another traditional belief in nature. In fact, there is a tradition of fire worship in this area.”
“Fire worship?”
A police chief with stars on his shoulder, accompanied by two senior officers and a group of regular officers, rushed into the inn from the entrance, with two doctors carrying medicine chests among them. Leaving two officers to guard the first floor, the rest charged upstairs. But after the second gunshot, there was a long silence without any further shots, suggesting the incident had concluded.
“Is this tradition of fire worship a form of natural worship, or is it related to the legend that a Great One with the mighty power of flame once appeared here?”
Curious, Shard motioned to the waiter and told the poet, who had just finished his apple cider, to order some more drinks at his leisure. While the poet was talking to the waiter, Shard also took a sip of the apple cider in front of him. The taste of alcohol was lighter than any wine he had ever tasted, nearly comparable to fruit juice.
And seeing the fruit wine, he somehow recalled the dinner he had last night.
“The tradition of fire worship at Midshire Fort is quite ancient as well, although there are no large-scale sacrificial events to be seen in contemporary times under the dominance of the Church of the Five Gods. But from those traditional tales, one can learn that the local festival of the Midshire Fort, the Fire Worship Festival in autumn, originated from this.”
Shard had heard of the local festival before, but the mainstream modern interpretation is that it was a plea to avoid wildfires during the dry season of autumn. After all, autumn is the most crucial season for logging, hunting, and harvesting fruits and vegetables.
He pondered, asking the poet about these things merely as a test to see if he could acquire Divinity in Midshire Fort, just as he had in Coldwater Port. However, it was apparent that the religious situation in this inland city was far more complicated than he had thought.
“Moreover, some say that this ancient natural worship of flame has been incorporated by the Church of Nature.”
The poet lowered his voice, knowing that such matters were best not overheard by a third party:
“However, if you are interested in learning about these things, you could ask Mr. Tels, the innkeeper. Although he’s a believer of the God of Nature, ‘Lord of All Things,’ he has a profound adoration for flame.”
“Understood.”
Shard nodded.
At that moment, the sound of footsteps came from the stairs again, as the innkeeper, with a worried frown, followed a gun-toting officer downstairs to fetch the account books.
“It seems someone really died.”
The poet, who had known the bearded innkeeper for many years, shook his head:
“An inn death is bad for business.”
The waiter brought the poet a new drink, which he probably hoped to enjoy normally that evening, so he just asked for a barley wine that wasn’t very strong.
Shard paid for the second drink:
“Twin worship, mountain worship, fire worship—this place is really interesting. It might provide more inspiration for my new book.”
He deliberately said so.
“Are you a writer?”
The poet asked curiously, to which Shard nodded:
“An obscure writer. Do you know the ‘Hamilton Detective Stories’ serialized in ‘Steam Bird Daily’? I want to emulate this kind of detective novel and write a new book, currently gathering material.”
“Of course I know it, it’s almost the most popular story this autumn in Draleon. ‘Steam Bird Daily’ is only distributed around Tobesk and the central and western parts of the Kingdom, but because of this serial, even the Midshire Fort Area now has places selling back issues of ‘Steam Bird Daily.’
The poet had many topics to discuss when it came to detective stories:
“I’ve also subscribed to a copy of ‘Steam Bird Daily’ at the post office. It’s a shame it’s copyrighted, or I’d really like to adapt the Hamilton Detective stories into verse… Speaking of coincidence, the ultimate victor of the Big City Player, Rejed’s Knight, also has the surname Hamilton.”
He couldn’t quite make a connection between the two.
Footsteps were heard from the stairway once more, as a senior officer came downstairs, calling the names of two male waiters on the first floor, who followed the officers upstairs somewhat panic-stricken.
“The taller one, he was in charge of checking the hallway windows on the fourth floor last night and complained to Tels about drafts. The other one was responsible for moving luggage for guests on the higher floors.”
The poet told Shard he was very familiar with the situation here.
“Is this the start of the interrogation? I wonder if anyone died because of it.”
Shard said quietly, then asked:
“Besides twin worship and fire worship, are there other localized beliefs here?”
It seemed there had been no local Evil God beliefs, or perhaps the poet didn’t dare to speak of them, so Shard could only probe for these more folklore-oriented elements.
