Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Shard, oh, I was about to ask you how you ended up here. I saw the newspapers—congratulations. The title of Knight is truly impressive. I first thought it was just a medal."

Standing alongside Shard by the window in the corridor, the doctor looked outside, curious about Shard's demeanor at the moment. After straightening the cuffs of his black suit, which had been crumpled from Shard's grip, he spoke loudly:

"As for why I'm here, do you remember the family of Earl Abrash? They are some of my most important patients recently."

Shard furrowed his brow suspiciously:

"The one with gluttony?"

With a proud nod, the doctor replied:

"Yes, the illnesses of the Earl's wife and daughter have improved a lot thanks to my psychological guidance and the treatment from their private doctor. The Abrash family is attending the banquet tonight, hence they specifically invited me as one of their gestures of gratitude."

"This is the first time I've heard of an invitation to a banquet being used as a form of gratitude. Isn't this a charity banquet meant for raising funds? And the Earl is using this to thank you?"

Shard asked with suspicion, causing the doctor to laugh awkwardly. He wanted to explain, but seeing Shard's skeptical expression, he decided to give up lying. Scratching his nose and lowering his voice, he said:

"I knew I couldn't fool you, but I still hoped to keep you out of it, as the matter is too dangerous. What else could bring me here, if not an invitation? It was I who took the initiative, leveraging the healing of the Countess to secure an invitation from the Earl. The objective is a plaster statue."

"What plaster statue? Eh? A plaster statue?"

Suddenly remembering more, Shard turned to look behind him and leaned even closer to the doctor:

"You mean, one out of those five..."

"Yes, one of those."

Last week, after repeatedly entering dreams, the doctor finally pinpointed the ultimate hiding place of the "Forged Philosopher's Stone." That precious liquid "Relic" was infused into red glass using a special method, forming the eyes of a plaster statue, hidden within one of five statues.

"One of them is here?"

"That's right. It's not just Earl Maupassant who contributed for the university fundraiser. Among today's auction items, only a third are from the Maupassant family. The remaining two-thirds are donations from others for the auction. One of the statues has been donated, and that statue itself is merely a craft, finely made and adorned with gemstones and precious metals, starting at 60 Gold Pounds."

The doctor explained, lowering his voice to caution:

"This has nothing to do with you, which is why I didn't want to tell you earlier."

"But this banquet..."

Shard cautiously avoided directly mentioning that the banquet was a ritual for the descent of an Evil God. Miss Galina had repeatedly stressed that any sort of Circle Sorcerer or Relic might appear at tonight's banquet, so once inside the mansion, under no circumstances should the descent of an Evil God be mentioned.

"While that's all very good, I have an urgent matter I need your help with."

Shard organized his thoughts, trying to keep his voice down and speak rapidly:

"Remember the client you referred to me last time? There's been a problem with the assignment. I need his psychiatric records; the guy is mentally unstable, claiming to have seen mermaids in the sewers. I was planning to see you tomorrow, but now that I've bumped into you here, if it's not too much of a bother, doctor, could you bring me his records now? There's no rush."

He emphasized "no rush":

"Just take your time getting them."

While saying this, he quickly winked at the doctor and then shook his head. Dr. Schneider's luck might really be bad, having stumbled into a situation like this, but Shard couldn't let him stay here.

For a moment, the doctor was taken aback by Shard's request:

"Hm? Oh, that file."

He widened his eyes, then feigned a sudden realization:

"I knew that assignment wasn't going to be easy. You've run into problems. Don't worry, I'll go get it now... Why don't we go together to the clinic to get it? It's a good opportunity to tell you about that gentleman's condition."

The doctor said, locking eyes with Shard, his blue pupils shifting constantly. He realized there was danger and wanted to leave with Shard.

But Shard shook his head:

"I still have some things to take care of here, I'll come to the clinic later. I'm done with what I had to do here; I'm just waiting for my carriage."

"Waiting for a carriage... Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

The doctor hesitated in asking.

"Don't worry, I'll be leaving soon as well."

Shard responded, to which the doctor opened his mouth:

"Well... alright, then. I'll go back first and put that file together for you. Shard..."

"What?"

"If you need my help, just say the word."

"Don't worry, everything's been taken care of. I'm just here to help with the auction."

The doctor pursed his lips and said nothing more, gave Shard a wave, and then walked alone down the corridor towards the entrance hall on the first floor.

Though the doctor's luck might indeed be terrible, at least this time, he escaped the misfortune about to unfold here.

The Church would not allow Priest Augustus to be here, Miss Annette is waiting for Shard from afar, the doctor has left, and Shard will also leave immediately, and he confirmed that Miss Luisa would be at home all night when he went to ask her for the Ever-Youth Leaf this morning (Note).

Therefore, the unfortunate five members of the group from the first Blood Feast really had nothing to do with the second Blood Feast of Gluttony.

Miss Maid's handling of Event's matters was a bit slower than Shard had anticipated. His meeting time with Miss Annette and Miss Beyas was set for eight-thirty, but when Shard received the signal that he could leave the mansion, it was already ten past eight.

Riding away from here in the carriage with Maid, he did not breathe a sigh of relief until the mansion was completely out of sight through the carriage window. By then, the rain had stopped entirely, but the moist air mixed with the fog that had risen again made the city's smell a bit unpleasant.

Shard handed his fountain pen, the old storybook, and the remaining Gold Pounds to Maid Tifa for safekeeping, while Miss Maid returned Shard's Relic, overcoat, and Ruby Ring to him and showed him the white pebble ring with a smile:

"The plan went smoothly, although there was some delay, but all traces have been cleaned up."

The Transmutation Ring lay quietly in the palm of Maid's hand, this first Relic that Shard had encountered in this world, thus reappeared before him once again.

"Miss Galina's matter has been settled, now it's my own business," he said.

He waved his hand, his face serious, but he showed no interest in picking up the ring to examine it.

Listening to the clop-clop of horse hooves, the black-haired Maid asked curiously:

"Mr. Hamilton, don't you want to borrow this ring? You should know what it does, it's like having an extra life."

"You can just give it directly to Miss Galina, I won't touch it," Shard replied, shaking his head. The power of the Transmutation Ring came with effects that could twist one's mind. He was accompanied by Divinity, and instead of using the ring, he preferred to use his Divinity directly. After all, he would not flee tonight no matter what, he must get the gift meant for him inside God's Gift Box.

"Then I wish you a smooth operation in advance."

Miss Maid showed a look of regret, then carefully placed the ring into a metal box, and solemnly put the metal box into the pocket of her elaborate long dress. She sat with her legs together, her hands folded on her knees, and then reminded him softly:

"Though Miss cannot directly help you deal with the Silver-Eyed One, if you need to clean up afterward, you can mention it to Miss anytime."

Shard looked at her unexpectedly, not expecting Maid to take the initiative to say this to him. The black-haired Maid put on a serene expression:

"You deserve Miss's help."

Shard smiled:

"I'm already very well-prepared, I don't think anything will go wrong. But if I do need Miss Galina's help, I will mention it. I just hope that next time, Miss Galina doesn't put me in such a dangerous situation again."

He fidgeted with the Time Key in his pocket that he hadn't used yet:

"I've even prepared more than one emergency plan for the worst-case scenario. Tonight, what I'm worried about is not this."

Shard looked out the window:

"What I'm worried about is the Divine Descent Ritual."

"We should trust in the True God Church."

It was rather amusing to hear this from someone from the Witch Council.

"I ran into Mr. Hog Lendel, the Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, downstairs earlier. The Church must also be worried about accidents happening, but I always have this strange feeling of unease. No, it's not about what I am about to do."

He had no reason to feel uneasy about the Ruins, holding a drop of Divinity, the Silver-Eyed One was essentially already a dead person.

"I'm worried that other things may happen tonight."

"Intuition? I understand."

Miss Maid nodded to Shard, her brown eyes meeting his for a moment:

"I will inform Miss of your intuition later. If possible, I will persuade her to keep an eye on the happenings in the mansion tonight at all times."

"That would be much appreciated."

Shard said awkwardly, after all, it was just a feeling, with no evidence.

"It's okay, this is what I should do."

She revealed a shy smile.

If it weren't for knowing her strength, it would be hard for Shard to associate this elegant young Maid with being a Circle Sorcerer.

The carriage didn't take Shard directly to the doorstep of the Nock Printing House, where the entrance to the Ruins was located, which would be too foolish. The meeting place with the two ladies was at the White Swan Inn, one street over from the printing house.

Miss Annette had rented a room here in advance and had been investigating and performing Divination on the Nock Printing House nearby for the past few days.

Yesterday, when they exchanged information at the Shard Family house, she had already clarified the general method of entering the printing house and the Ruins. And when Shard met them using the three-strong two-weak knocking method, Miss Annette had new findings:

"Come over here, Shard."

Outside the window was the heavy night sky after the rain, almost all of the gas lamps in the room were lit, and there were even a few candles stuck to the floor.

The three of them stood beside the bed, the sheets and blankets were pushed to the side, and the bedboard was covered with dense notes, papers, and pages from notebooks. Miss Annette picked up one of them and handed it to Shard, a circular seal drawn with a pencil on it.