Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 654 - The Process of Civilization (Part 1)
Chapter 654: Chapter 654: The Process of Civilization (Part 1)
Chapter 654: Chapter 654: The Process of Civilization (Part 1)
Although the Evil Spirit was not severely injured, Shard’s actions made it even more ferocious. The Whisper Element’s corrosion eroded the Spiritual Body, and more and more black faces emerged from the depths of its soul. Shard could even hear a continuous stream of whispers and curses by his ear.
His right foot swept away the fallen leaves on the ground, and before it could launch another attack shrouded in mist, Shard took the initiative and charged forward with his sword in both hands:
“One!”
He thrust forward fiercely, and as expected, the Moonlight Greatsword was blocked by the ghastly green shield.
“Two!”
Through “Lagre’s Leap,” his figure appeared behind the Evil Spirit, and the Light Shield appeared once again to block the sword in Shard’s hand.
“Three!”
The sword and the Light Shield behind the Evil Spirit countered each other, while the second sword, summoned by the “Blade of Chaotic Time,” struck the Evil Spirit’s head from the front.
The Light Shield was half of an eggshell in shape, it defended the attack from behind, but could not protect the front. The Two-Handed Greatsword, carrying the Moonlight, pierced through from the air, first piercing through the blood-red hand extending from the Spiritual Body’s neck—an ability of the Evil Spirit closely related to resentment and cause of death—then the blade pierced the Spiritual Body’s head.
The Light Shield behind disappeared at that moment, but Shard did not relax his guard:
“Psychic Shockwave!”
With one punch, the black faces surrounding the soul dissipated in dismay. The Whisper Element was expelled along with the mist, and with the emergence of the pure white Spiritual Body and the appearance of cracks on its surface, Shard knew he had won.
At the brink of collapse, Professor Higgins turned to look at Shard, with confusion and puzzlement in his eyes, ready to utter his last words before disappearing. This was a unique trait of the spirits from the Midshire Fort Area:
“Why…”
He didn’t intend to pry further, but the professor’s sorrowful expression truly looked pitiful. With the soul about to vanish, Shard wasn’t worried about him tattling. Considering that he had taken the professor’s suitcase, Shard sighed and couldn’t help but speak consolingly:
“Actually, I’m the Grey Eagle, so your mission didn’t fail, Professor. You succeeded.”
Professor Higgins’ “last words” abruptly stopped, and as his crumbling soul looked upwards, it immediately began to come back together.
“Yes, I am the Grey Eagle from Tobesk. The intelligence was obtained from Vigil Cameron of the Duchy of Seth, inside that fountain pen. The accurate information is—on the last day of the month, your goods are in a warehouse on Punjab Avenue, Midshire Fort City, with a red doorplate. The ink is blue-black, and the paper is rolled up.”
The professor’s pure white transparent hand grabbed his arm, the crumbling soul, surprisingly due to Shard’s words, began to reform. Then, with a light swipe of Shard’s finger, the black crack immediately widened, and the dispersing light of the soul drifted off towards the Land of Death:
“Depart, your task is complete.”
He said gently, and Professor Higgins’ soul stared at him tautly:
“Tomorrow morning at nine-thirty, on the platform of the Midshire Fort Train Station. Bring a bunch of red roses, wear gray gloves inside out, pin a golden fountain pen on your chest pocket, and dress smartly—someone will hand over the suitcase. The passphrase is not, every age, interested.”
Shard looked at him in surprise. He had not mentioned that the mission could be completed in this way in his recent memories. But he quickly understood that after his colleagues ended their mission with one being shot and the other committing suicide, within a week, Professor Higgins wouldn’t have failed to inform his superiors of the change in the mission.
So, this was a new arrangement; Professor Higgins didn’t actually expect to take the suitcase himself.
As the soul had almost fully dissipated, leaving only the part above the neck, Shard nodded lightly but did not make any promises. He recalled the cryptic text from the newspaper, the passphrase for abandoning the mission (Chapter 561), and softly said in Carsonrick language:
“Your task is complete—eternal loyalty.”
“Eternal loyalty…”
The Spiritual Body completely disintegrated, drifting into the “Gate of Death” that Shard had opened.
Shard waved his palm, as if smoothing out the black crack with the palm of his hand.
He then sighed lightly, lifted his head to look past the dense forest canopy at the dimming sun. A strange optical effect made the dull solar disk blur indistinctly, reflecting the gradually thickening twilight:
“This world is indeed dangerous for ordinary people.”
Shard buried Professor Higgins’ body in Sicarl Mountain, under a tree with a view of Midshire Fort, and then returned home to Tobesk with the suitcase in hand.
No one was at home. In the light of the setting sun, only Mia Cat was excitedly jumping down the stairs from the second floor to welcome Shard home.
So, no matter how bad things Shard encountered outside, whenever he came home to be greeted by his cat, his mood would always improve.
After changing out of the clothes he wore to Midshire Fort and washing up a bit, he took the cat to Feather Quill Street in the University District to look for Dorothy.
Unfortunately, Miss Writer with the golden hair was not at home. According to the landlady, she had gone to have dinner with her family.
So Shard took it as an evening stroll, carrying Mia to Silver Cross Avenue and handed a note to Princess Angelina’s Maid, urgently requesting to see Lecia.
Afterward, in the rest room reserved for Angelina at the back of the flower shop, he enjoyed rose tea and exquisite rose cakes. Angelina would sometimes sneak out and liked to spend time alone in this flower shop, so the rest room reserved for her was indeed very nice.
After a full meal and drink with the cat, Lecia sent a message, asking Shard to wait for her on the Terael Riverbank to the west of Yordle Palace. She and Angelina were going out to see an opera soon, and after passing through Felishe Countryside Avenue, their carriage would stop by the riverbank for a while.
“Princesses’ lives are truly comfortable.”
With a sigh in his heart, Shard hoisted the briefcase he had not yet opened, cradling the looks of a sleepy, soft, and cuddly cat, and set off once more. He circumnavigated the vast expanse of the Yordle Palace complex from the side, crossed the street between Yordle Palace and the Kingdom Senate, entered the intersection with Felishe Countryside Avenue, and at that quintuple crossroads, he chose the path leading to the riverbank.
The Terael River, even in autumn, was still in its high-water period, the freight steamers rushing to transport the last batch of cargo before the winter freeze set in.
By this time, the sun had almost completely set, and the Terael River was bathed in golden light. Steamboats with their tall smokestacks plied the waterway, trailing columns of smoke behind them. The autumn breeze skimming the surface of the water made the glinting waves so bright that people had to squint their eyes.
Geese flew in formation across the sky, barely observable against the irregularly shaped, cotton-like clouds in the misty city sky. As the sun showed its last ray of light, traces of three moons could already be seen in the sky.
The Red Moon, the Yellow Moon, the Silvermoon, the three moons hanging in the indistinct starry sky, this was dusk, perhaps the most comfortable moment of the day. Because at this moment, everyone would unconsciously slow down their pace, the night was about to arrive.
Shard didn’t have to wait long on the riverbank before the princesses’ motorcade drove by. But after the convoy left, an unremarkable-looking carriage stopped.
Not far away was Cavendish Bridge, the Tower Bridge spanning the Terael River — funded by the royalty, the coachman signaled for Shard to head to the edge of the bridge. So, Shard strolled leisurely along the riverbank with his cat as the carriage followed behind at an extremely slow pace.
They arrived at the bridge quickly. Shard stepped onto the bridge, walked about twelve paces, and then stopped, gazing out at the scenery beyond the bridge. Mia, curiosity piqued within his arms, peered at the water below the bridge and then shrank back as if frightened.
The carriage slowly positioned itself behind Shard, and with the carriage door opening, Shard quickly turned around and darted inside with the cat in his arms as if he were clutching an orange steam bomb.
The speed almost caused him to collide with Angelina, who was trying to lean out the door to greet him.
“Good evening, Shard.”
“Good evening, Lecia, oh, good evening, Your Highness Angelina.”
Perhaps because it was Shard who had taken the initiative to visit her, Lecia, dressed in a red gown, was very excited:
“You wrote a letter to find me, is there something you need?”
Since explaining MI6, Detective Sparrow, and the Vampire Kind would be very complicated, Shard went straight to the point:
“Have any important departments in the kingdom recently lost anything valuable or secret documents that could fit in this briefcase?”
Shard placed the black briefcase on his lap, and the cat, who had been set aside on the long bench seat, immediately leaped onto it, flopping down.
“Angelina, hold her for me.”
So Shard handed the bothersome cat to the Little Princess, who delightedly embraced Mia. Seeing that Shard was indeed discussing serious matters, Mia made a symbolic struggle to show she was somewhat reluctant.
“I picked this up in Midshire Fort City; it belongs to the Grey Gloves.”
“Grey Gloves?”
Lecia smiled and didn’t realize its importance:
“Our great detective is even contributing to the kingdom while in Midshire Fort. Oh, I just remembered, you’re also an agent of MI6.”
The five people in the group all knew about the job “that lady” had arranged for Shard, which paid him a salary without working, but no one knew exactly what his standing and treatment were with MI6 now.
“A detective who is both a knight and an agent?”
Angelina whispered while holding the cat, but no one paid her any attention.
“I think… the kingdom hasn’t lost any important documents recently.”
Lecia twirled a lock of hair next to her ear and replied.
“Then, could it be possible that important documents or information were duplicated?”
“That’s also unlikely…”
She raised an eyebrow:
“Aside from the four metal plates in your basement, I don’t know of any important items that have been leaked recently.”
She was referring to the master plates of the one-shilling banknotes.
Angelina looked quite curious, but neither Shard nor Lecia wished to explain.
“So what could this be then?”
Shard gazed solemnly at the briefcase resting on his lap.
“Why don’t we open it and find out?”
Lecia, looking past Shard, gazed out the carriage window; she and Angelina could not show themselves readily, so they could only peer out from this small window at the Terael River. From the moment Shard arrived at the riverbank, in just over twenty minutes, the last vestiges of the sunset’s afterglow had vanished.
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The tranquil Terael River was dotted with lights from the steamships, and on both banks were the lights of a thousand homes. This was the heart of Tobesk, the Northern Pearl of the Steam Age, its luminescence signifying the greatest civilization achievements of the age.
This scene only strengthened Lecia Cavendish’s belief that it was all worth possessing.
