Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 146 Peeking Through the Door Crack

But no matter what, now that the first floor of Saint Delan Square was opened, this building suddenly had so much more space, and Shard had to consider how to make use of it.

Returning from the basement to the first floor and viewing the expansive space, Shard, who learned a new secret, was in a very good mood:

"The Ancient God Statue is underground. Based on a century of experience, this will affect the ordinary people upstairs, so if I want to rent it out, I shouldn't hastily rent it to ordinary people."

Renting to Circle Sorcerers wouldn't require similar concerns, but Shard didn't know any Circle Sorcerers with whom he had a good enough relationship to live together. Among the other four in the group, except for Miss Luisa, everyone else had decent places to live. And Shard wasn't reckless enough to invite a single, unmarried blonde woman to live with him.

But upon further thought, he wasn't really lacking money now. If he wanted to buy expensive Relics and knowledge, relying on rental income wouldn't be enough, so renting out the house wasn't a necessity.

With that thought, Shard temporarily discarded the idea of renting out the first floor.

He walked up the stairs to the second floor, making plans for his own future:

"When I have money, I could consider hiring a maid to help clean, like Professor Manning. Cleaning the house myself is really a waste of time...for now, I'll use the first floor and the basement as spaces to store miscellaneous items. Mia will probably like having a place to walk around… But even so, it will cost a sum of money to reconnect the steam and gas pipes…"

As he thought about these trifles in life and ascended the winding staircase, he felt that reopening the first floor made his expenses seem even greater.

When he pushed open the door to the second floor, he looked up and thought about the time; it was only eight o'clock in the evening. There were still two hours until the time he had arranged to visit Sophie with Miss Luisa.

Thus, taking advantage of the time, he first finished writing the report for applying to consult the "Sublimation Codex." He sent it to the Academy through the pages of the manuscript he held, and then opened and browsed the story pages borrowed from Miss Luisa's friend.

Mia, who Shard had locked in the room, wanted to play with him, but Shard, who was eager to translate the preliminary translation of the story manuscript, could only refuse the request of the orange cat, though he did find a ball of yarn for it to play with on the side.

After washing his hands, he solemnly sat at the desk and then opened the cloth wrapping the pages.

It seems books recording mystical powers do not prefer to use ordinary paper as a medium. The book Miss Luisa lent to Shard was made of an unidentified leather material, which felt very smooth to the touch.

At the very top of page number one, clearly written in Ancient Language was the name of the story—

"The Little Match Girl."

"This is the one!"

He checked the first page with anticipatory excitement and read carefully the densely packed, matchstick-like strange characters. After spending about ten minutes, he carefully and earnestly read the story of the pitiable Matchstick Girl on a snowy night from start to finish.

Nothing happened.

Even though this was a page with special powers, the sensation after reading the entire story was not even as much as when he had told the story to three children in the past.

"This is troublesome...Do I really need to find the original manuscript to gain strong power?"

He looked outside at the moonlit night worriedly, then looked down again at the letters on the page. He acknowledged it was a good story, but Shard didn't like stories with sad endings.

Miss Luisa knocked on his door at ten as the clock chimed, and the well-prepared Shard immediately left with her. Incidentally, he also returned the few pages of the story to her:

"Are you done with these? Can you really understand the text written here? Is 'Space-Time' Rune really that powerful?"

Miss Luisa spoke as she rolled up the pages and tucked them into her pocket. Circle Sorcerers need Spellcasting Materials, so even in summer, they usually avoid wearing clothes without pockets, which is also why Shard wore a coat in summer.

There are no convenient "Space Rings" or similar items in this world.

The Steam Bomb explosion happened last night, and that alley remained cordoned off. Though the Merman was blown apart by Miss Luisa, the remnants still attracted the Church's attention.

Therefore, on their way to visit the little girl, Sophie, they deliberately chose a longer detour to avoid that alley.

Girl Sophie Dais came from a poor family, otherwise there was no need for such a small child to sell flowers. The Des family lived in a slum near Terael River at Riverside Street, five people crammed into a house the size of Shard's basement.

Last night, the two had escorted the girl to her doorstep and watched her enter before leaving. But today, they had to see the girl with their own eyes to confirm her health, so they had to think of other means.

When they set out with the blonde female author, they could still see the starry sky, but halfway there, thick fog surged up, causing Miss Luisa to complain bitterly about the city's factories.

When they arrived near the slums by Terael River, it was around ten-twenty in the evening. On such a night, even loafers wouldn't be wandering outside.

Miss Luisa had already made a very thorough plan, so upon entering the dim alley where the Des family lived, the two went directly to knock on the door.

There was no light in the alley, and poor families usually sleep very early at night, so there was no light either. The sound of knocking seemed to wake up the nearby households, at least the Des family was woken up.

Light from a candle was lit inside, and after at least two minutes, a nervous male voice came from inside:

"Who is there?"

Even in the area where Captain Lades lived, the sound of gang gunfire was occasionally heard, and in the slums where Sophie Dais and her family lived, the security was even worse. Shard could fully imagine that right now, the man answering the door was nervously clutching a kitchen knife or some other weapon.

Miss Luisa glanced at Shard and then took a one-shilling coin from her pocket and slipped it through the crack in the door.

"It doesn't matter who it is, you don't have to open the door. Now, have all the women in the house stand in front of the door crack one by one, each for ten seconds. If you can do this, there's money, if not, there's a gun." Continue reading at empire

These were the words Shack murmured, his voice tense, as a male voice in such situations was more intimidating than a female's.

Immediately, a disturbance erupted inside, with a family's heavily accented whispers mingling, making it hard to distinguish who said what.

"Alright."

It was a while before a middle-aged man's voice came through. Then Miss Luisa signaled for Shard to step aside, and she herself leaned against the door crack to look inside. For such dangerous acts, it was better if a higher-level Circle Sorcerer performed them.

"Now it's the first one."

Shard said from outside the door, watching the two ends of the alley to prevent anyone from appearing. After waiting a while and looking at Miss Luisa, the blonde girl gestured that there was no problem.

"A foggy night, peering through a door crack in a lightless slum alley to see if there's anything strange inside... sounds like good material for a horror story."

He thought to himself, about to speak, but the whispering in his ears made him pause. He looked incredulously at the female sorcerer's back, then spoke:

"Then the second one."

The light and shadow in the door crack changed slightly, as if another person had taken the place in front of the door.

After a while, Miss Luisa again gestured with her hand, and Shard, squinting his eyes and looking at her back, spoke into the door:

"The last one."

They had already found out about her family's composition from Little Sophie's mouth the day before.

The third person was also unproblematic, the blonde girl moved away from the door crack, bowed her head slightly toward Shard, and hid her face in the shadows. She then slipped two more coins through the door crack, and Shard watched this silently.

After all was done, the two left the alley under the cover of night. The exit of the alley faced the Terael River, and under the thick fog, the riverbanks were barely visible, only the moored ships could be faintly seen.

Both of them slowed their pace at the entrance of the alley; Miss Luisa was the first to stop, still bowing her head. This district could only be lit by moonlight, and on a foggy night, Shard could not see her face clearly at all.

Her clothes were somehow soaked, and she hid her body in the deepest shadow of the alley entrance. Standing downwind, Shard could smell an abnormal scent of seafood.

"Detective, go ahead, I still have something to do."

Her voice was somewhat hoarse.

Shard pursed his lips, sizing up his friend up and down:

"I understand."

He lowered his head to look at his hands, then stretched out his hand toward the girl in front of him:

"Miss Luisa, what do you think this is?"

The blonde girl bent over to look at Shard's hand, and Shard whispered:

"Silvermoon."

The sanctified silver moonlight suddenly burst forth from the tips of his fingers, and although Shard tried to control the output power, the proximity to the touch of Silvermoon's glimmer still made Miss Luisa cry out.

She covered her eyes and stepped back; as she raised her head, Shard finally saw that half of Miss Luisa's face was covered in fish scales.

He didn't run away, but instead took two steps closer, placing his entire right palm on Miss Luisa's face. She tried to scream, but Shard's other hand reached out and covered her mouth.

She struggled violently, but Shard firmly pressed her down on the ground. The muffled noise from the mouth under his hand went "woo woo~," and her blonde hair scattered messily on the ground.

Shard's hands emitted a gentle glow of Silvermoon, and he squatted beside the blonde girl, ignoring Miss Luisa's struggles, his fingers continuously scratching his wrists and not letting go.

Gradually, Miss Luisa's struggles weakened, until she stopped completely.

The surrounding fog thickened, completely obscuring the starry sky and the three moons. The wind also died down, as if everything had frozen in that moment.