Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

The rain in Tobesk was much gentler than the rain in the port city. The rain, which had persisted for a whole day, had greatly weakened the pollution haze that enveloped the city, and it also made the city's air become fresh.

Though summer was typically hot and muggy, traveling in the summer rain didn't make one feel any heat, nor the excessive humidity of the rain in Coldwater Port City.

When Shard knocked on Miss Luisa's rented apartment door downstairs, holding a paper bag and clutching an umbrella, the rainwater lashed in strings against the umbrella from the eaves. The landlady who opened the door seemed somewhat displeased,

Not because she didn't welcome her tenants' visitors, but because she was rebuking Shard for coming over for the second time that day. All the tenants were ladies, and the landlady didn't like men visiting frequently, as the rental contract stipulated.

Miss Luisa herself was even more surprised upon seeing Shard. Her dress was still the same one she had worn that morning, which suggested she hadn't gone out due to the weather:

"Shard, you haven't left yet? Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"No no, not that I haven't left, I've actually just returned. Look, I brought back a souvenir for you."

Upon reaching the third-floor living room, Shard handed over the paper bag containing the freshly dead fish, which had a strong smell.

"Meow~"

In the midst of these sounds, the cat that had been sitting on the windowsill suddenly sprang forward. But Mia Cat wasn't aiming for the unfortunate fish. It leaped from the windowsill to a chair, from the chair onto the table, and then, using the table's height to reach up to Shard's arm, it clung on and completely refused to let go with its paws.

It meowed plaintively several times, as if worried that Shard would leave it behind again.

"It's been lying on the windowsill almost all afternoon, just staring out the window at the street,"
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

said Miss Luisa with a smile before looking disdainfully at the fish:

"Shard, what made you think I'd mastered the skill to deal with fish? I never mess with such troublesome things. Though this fish looks quite nice, did you catch it yourself?"

After asking, she eyed the fish suspiciously:

"However... it seems very fresh and appears to be a sea fish. Where on earth did you go?"

"Hmm... that's a very long story, please allow me to keep it a secret for now."

In truth, he temporarily didn't want to reveal the secret of his house:

"I'm really tired today, I've come to pick up Mia, and I still need to eat when I get back. Miss Luisa, I really appreciate your help with the cat, and I hope it hasn't caused you any trouble."

"The cat has behaved well, but you haven't eaten yet?"

asked the blonde young lady with concern, rising from the couch:

"Since you've brought a big fish, why don't we eat it together? I and your cat haven't eaten yet either."

"I thought you didn't know how to process the fish? Oh, neither do I."

"So let's go out to eat. I know a very nice restaurant that allows customers to bring their own ingredients. Plus, I think your cat would also enjoy the fish, but be careful not to let the bones get stuck."

"Meow~"

Mia Cat probably didn't hear what the blonde young lady said; it was cradled in Shard's arms, squinting its eyes and earnestly rubbing its face against Shard's clothes.

"By the way, I forgot to ask this morning, what made you suddenly want to set off on a long journey?"

Miss Luisa went into her bedroom to change into outdoor clothing, while Shard sat on the couch and didn't move. They conversed through a closed door, but this was entirely different from speaking with Miss Galina through a door. Talking like this with the blonde writer made Shard feel warmth and trust, while conversing with the then-unfamiliar Grand Witch only brought tension.

The reason for leaving...

Shard pondered for a moment, not revealing the dangerous encounter with the Silver-Eyed One deep in the Ruins. There was no need to involve Miss Luisa in such perilous matters. Holding a teacup in one hand and petting the cat with the other, he spoke to the closed door:

"It was a sudden whim, as you know, Circle Sorcerers can sometimes have remarkable inspirations. Recently, I just felt inspired to make a distant trip."

"Having an inspiration is certainly great, but also be careful of the traps it might bring, Circle Sorcerer..."

She paused, and Shard's overly sensitive hearing allowed him to catch the sound of a wardrobe door sliding open.

"A Circle Sorcerer's inspiration might sometimes not originate from their own thoughts but from something that makes them think of something."

Miss Luisa continued imparting her knowledge through a door, her tone slightly lazy:

"So, before you do anything, you must think it through, but you also can't let that make you timid or hesitant."

He heard the clinking of hangers from the wardrobe, footsteps, the sound of clothes being tossed onto the bed, and then the sound of a dress's laces being untied...

The images invaded his mind, and Shard's face turned red:

"Oh, Miss Luisa, I'll borrow the washroom for a moment. Mia needs her paws washed; she's already left two marks on my clothes."

"Can I... I thought its paws were always very clean?"

Shard didn't respond but hurried to the washroom. The washroom was quite far from Miss Luisa's bedroom, and Shard couldn't hear those sounds he wasn't supposed to hear anymore.

The washroom in the writer's rented apartment was smaller than the one at the Shard Family's, and the steam pipes weren't embedded in the walls but ran straight through, clinging to the walls, making the inside of the washroom appear even smaller.

There was a strong smell of spices in the washroom. It wasn't because someone had spilled perfume here because the washrooms in the Shard Family's home also had a similar scent.

In this era, the sewage system wasn't very sophisticated, so to prevent strange smells from emerging and spreading throughout the house, poor families used orange peels, and those who were a bit more well-off would use some inferior spices at the washroom entrance or sewer outlet to cover up the smell.

He turned on the gas light without looking around and went straight to the sink. A bright mirror was framed with metal, and the brass tap beneath it was stamped with a series of numbers. He turned the squeaky tap, and the water first bubbled and spluttered fitfully before flowing out normally from the spout:

"When did my hearing get so good?"

He was still a bit flushed, cradling the cat in one arm while gazing at the mirror, and with the other hand, he waved back and forth under the faucet, creating the sound of running water.

[This is probably an inconsequential trait of Arcane Technique—Echo of the Past, which slightly improved your hearing level. Otherwise, how could you continuously pick up footsteps in a noisy market?]

He was the only one in the mirror, with no one behind him, but the voice still made Shard think a woman was leaning over his shoulder, whispering in his ear.

He looked at the mirror and tentatively reached with his wet hand toward his shoulder, but whether in the mirror or outside it, he didn't touch anything.

The woman chuckled softly in Shard's ear, as if mocking his current actions:

[But what made you blush just now?]

"You're asking me what made me blush?"

He retorted, looking at his own clearly Western features in the mirror and waving a hand at his reflection. Watching the reflected image, he was amused by his own foolish actions.

"Meow~"

Mia Cat noticed Shard's movements, wriggled to stand up in the crook of his elbow, and then waved her paws at the small ginger cat in the mirror. After seeing the cat in the mirror also wave its paws, Mia Cat emitted a threatening sound at "it."

Outlanders weren't good at cooking, so most of the time, they would look for cheap eateries around Saint Delan Square.

And the restaurant Miss Luisa took Shard to this time looked every bit the part of a high-end restaurant, although thankfully it wasn't too upscale, or they would have needed to change into a different set of clothes to enter.

The restaurant allowed customers to bring their own ingredients, and the chef, who knew his fare, recognized that the fish Shard had brought was a common West Coast sea fish called 'Olick Fish.' Although it was dead, it seemed to have not been dead for too long.

"Don't worry; we won't waste your fish, sir."

Shard still remembered Draleon's terrible food standards, so he was actually worried he would see something dreadful like a "fish head pizza" because of the chef's confidence.

In the end, he enjoyed a very nice fish soup and butter-fried fish together with Miss Luisa and Mia.

They sat at a table near the wall, which was adorned with landscape paintings of lavender fields and windmills.

Miss Luisa noticed that Shard had something on his mind. Throughout the meal, she probed to find out what he was up to, but Shard deflected all her attempts. So in the end, she merely hinted that he could ask for her help if he needed to, but Shard really didn't want to drag Miss Luisa into that mess as well.

Overall, though, the dinner was quite enjoyable. Miss Luisa spoke enthusiastically about the menu here, while Shard talked about attending an academic report last Friday and his coincidental encounter with Professor Manning.

As for Mia, considering the health of a cat, Shard did not share the fish soup with her, but the restaurant's chef specially separated a piece of fish meat cleaned of bones for Mia Cat. Before finishing her own meal, Mia Cat probably wouldn't have time to bother Shard.

Even with their own ingredients, they still had to settle the bill, but when leaving, Shard only left a tip under the plate and didn't pay anything else, as Miss Luisa had said to put this meal on the tab as they'd done before.

As they stood at the rain-swept entrance of the restaurant under an umbrella, with Shard intending to escort the blonde girl back to Feather Quill Street, Miss Luisa mentioned the meal wasn't paid for by her:

"Princess Lecia is a regular here; she often sneaks out to eat, so just put it on her tab."

The two walked together on the rainy streets, with the cat huddling on Shard's shoulder. The gas streetlights were dim in the rain, and the triple round moon was hidden behind the clouds. From Miss Luisa's nonchalant tone, it was clear she had done this before.

Her relationship with Princess Lecia Cavendish, whom Shard had yet to meet, seemed to be quite good indeed.