Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 390 Report

This special card was extremely precious, and Shard wanted to err on the side of caution, so naturally, he sought the help of the vice president he was well acquainted with, Mr. Cyndia Mark.

In preparation for organizing next month’s Big City Players’ Roder Card competition, Mr. Mark had recently been extremely busy, but upon hearing that Shard was looking for him, he still made time to meet with Shard:

"Wait... Mr. Hamilton, don’t tell me you’ve obtained a new Roder Card again?"

After some pleasantries, the man leading Shard up the stairs suddenly paused, then skilfully reached out to grab the handrail:

"Alright, you can tell me now."

His eyes were filled with anticipation.

"Yes, a new Roder Card, you actually guessed it."

Shard nodded.

"The very ancient kind?"

Mr. Mark asked again cautiously.

"Yes, I would like an appraisal."

No sooner had Shard finished speaking than he saw Mr. Mark clutch his chest as if he was about to suffer a heart attack.

"How could you... oh no, not Genesis Series. Not that one. This one, this one."

Shard hurriedly explained, then took out a card from the Demon Series.

The middle-aged man in a black suit took deep breaths and scrutinized the card, his face gradually returning to normal upon realizing it wasn’t a Genesis:

"Demon Series? Now that is a rare card."

"Yes, although it’s not Genesis, this is still an old Roder Card. I was hoping to have the association’s appraisers take a look at it."

Shard made his request known.

"No problem, but it will take a few hours."

Mr. Mark’s breathing steadied, his expression serious. Although it wasn’t a Genesis Series card, this one was still valuable enough to be considered priceless... if it was genuine:

"The Tobesk Branch has never appraised a card from the Demon Series, but the senior appraisers who came from the headquarters for the Big City Players should be able to do so."

"Then I’ll leave the card here, and come back to pick it up tonight or tomorrow."

"No, that won’t do, it’s against the rules. The owner must be present during the appraisal."

Mr. Mark immediately emphasized, this was both to protect the cardholder and the association.

"It’s okay, I trust the association, and aren’t we friends?"

Shard shrugged nonchalantly, truthfully not holding much hope for the card.

After leaving Silver Cross Avenue, Shard returned home to greet Dorothy and Mia, who wore a ring on her tail, and under curious glances from the two, he went back down to the basement and returned to Coldwater Port.

"He sure is busy today."

The blonde girl laughed as she held the cat.

When he landed on the beach, the rain that had persisted all morning finally stopped. Shard, soaked to the skin, found a cheap inn in the Dock Area to bathe and then put on clean clothes before he ventured out to the streets again.

Whether it was inherently crowded in the afternoon or because people had gone out after the rain, the Dock Area was noticeably busier than it had been in the morning.

Shard had never reported anyone in person before; writing a letter or even tossing a message in a bottle into the sea was actually the simplest method. However, concerning The Chosen One, Shard did not want to risk the letter at all, so he decided to deliver it to the church himself.

Of course, to ensure the church believed the content of the letter, Shard recounted all of Daknis’s actions in detail and even signed off the letter as "God Summoner."

The inexplicable snowflakes when the Fishbone Pirate Ship departed and the moonlight over the alley taken over by mermen last week had already made the True God Church suspect that the Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, severely wounded from God summoning, was in Coldwater Port. So, there was no problem for Shard to write the letter this way.

He was not willing to enter the church and carelessly toss the letter aside while no one was looking. Instead, he wrote the letter, wandered aimlessly near the Nature Chapel in the Dock Area, and hoped to encounter a priest who might occasionally come out.

The Lord of All Things, that is, the God of Nature and Malice, had a clergy associated with the ocean, hence there was a very vigorous faith in coastal regions. The chapel was located on the busiest street in the Dock Area, with the sky clearing after the rain and even a rainbow appearing on the horizon. There were many more believers coming to pray or confess, and Shard, mingled among the crowd, was completely inconspicuous.

He stood at the edge of the street holding a newspaper, watching the comings and goings at the church entrance on Monday afternoon. It took a while before he finally saw a priest, wearing a white robe and a Holy Emblem on his chest, hurrying across from the other side of the street. He was about the same age as Dr. Schneider and his haste was not because he was in a rush to do something but because he wanted to avoid the next wave of people entering the church.

Shard’s eyes lit up, he quickly approached, and stopped the priest before he could enter the church:

"Oh, my child, what’s the matter?"

Stopped by Shard, the priest wasn’t upset, but stopped and asked kindly. The clergy members were all good at communication.

"Father, I need to confess."

Shard hung his head low on the street corner and pulled out the excuse he had prepared, while the clergy member opposite him showed an understanding expression:

"No problem, that’s good. Why don’t you come into the church with me, and we’ll go to the confession booth, where we can protect your privacy."

"Oh, no, Father, my sin is too great, I don’t want my tainted spirit to pass before God."

Shard said again, trying to make his tone sound more sincere.

The priest’s face showed concern:

"So what you want to say is..."

He was probably worried that Shard was some kind of murderer.

"I’ve fallen in love with many girls at the same time."

This was the lightest yet not too trivial sin that Shard could come up with. Even though it was self-defamation that could damage his image, he didn’t mind since it was all for a noble cause—to get the True God Church to arrest Daknis.

The middle-aged man’s worried expression disappeared, and he nodded with empathy:

"Indeed that is a sin, but since you already know it is wrong, it shows that you are still a good person. Sincerely repent, and then choose the girl who you truly want to spend your life with, and you will be happy."

"Oh, thank you, Father."

Shard hung his head low, forced out a hoarse voice, then sniffled and shrugged his shoulders, pretending to cry:

"You are really a good person, you’re right, I think I know what to do now. I’m going to see her right now, and I will tell her my thoughts."

As he spoke, he took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to the priest in front of him:

"Father, please donate this money to the church on my behalf. I can’t, as a sinner, face the Holy Emblem and the Divine Statue. If I truly marry her, Father, I will come back to thank you."

Shard tried to make his performance truly heartfelt.

"Then I wish you happiness, young man. You may have been wrapped up in dark thoughts, but the Deity will guide you towards the direction of the Glimmer. Make sure you understand what you really want before making any decisions."

The priest took the envelope, showing a kind smile. Standing on the bustling street, beside the brass gas pipes glistening in the sunshine after the rain, paired with the rainbow after the rain had cleared, the scene did have a somewhat divine quality to it.

But Shard never lifted his head and walked away after bidding farewell to the priest.

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The middle-aged priest, holding the envelope, headed towards the church; he couldn’t possibly open the donation from the believer in the middle of the street, plus the donations to the church were always checked for amount. Therefore, the envelope would definitely be opened inside the church, and besides the single one-shilling bill and dozens of pieces of paper with "one shilling" written on them that Shard had put inside, the letter tucked in between them was bound to be discovered.

"It’s like spending one shilling to send a letter."

Thinking this, Shard was quite pleased with his action just now.

Of course, to prevent the church from immediately opening the letter and then chasing after him, Shard didn’t linger in the area. But he hadn’t even walked out of the street when he saw a carriage approaching from the corner.

The appearance of a carriage on such a busy street wasn’t a problem, but this wasn’t a public four-wheeled carriage for hire.

Shard only needed to glance over the crowd to judge that the handcrafted ironwork of the carriage frame was definitely expensive, and the robust appearance of the hatted coachman was different from that of an ordinary driver.

"A noble’s private carriage?"

He stood still for a moment, and in the time it took for the carriage to get closer, Shard saw the family crest on the side of the carriage.

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"Is that... the Aphrola family crest? Oh, it’s Hevy Aurora! It’s the witch."

Upon realizing this, Shard quickly headed for a side alley off the street. Just then, a slight gap opened in the carriage window, as the woman inside glanced out curiously at Shard’s retreating figure but quickly lost interest.

Because he ran fast enough, the second Grand Witch of the Witch Council who appeared before Shard’s eyes didn’t notice anything unusual about this man.

The chance encounter with Hevy Aurora induced a huge sense of crisis in Shard. Although Miss Galina seemed fairly normal, he did embrace the argument that most of the people from the Witch Council were not mentally sound.

In order to make himself safer, the production of alchemical tools, which he had seen in Miss Feliana’s notebook, could not be delayed.

After leaving the vicinity of the Nature Chapel, Shard went straight back to the Seven Brooms Tavern and paid the high price of 69 pounds to take possession of the alchemical materials he had purchased. After confirming that only the most important core material was missing, namely the witch’s hair, Shard didn’t stay in the city and rode a carriage straight to Sophia’s Mansion in the north of the city.

Princess Lecia had just come back from the city as well and saw Shard holding a bag, looking as though he’d had a fright, so she inquired about what he had done that day.

"I... first went to the tavern to buy things, then played Roder Card at a small inn, and before coming back, I went to the church to make a donation."

He thought for a moment and simply recounted his day.

"Oh?"

The Princess walked alongside Shard in the corridor, turned her head to look at him, and her beautiful brows furrowed slightly:

"Shard, it sounds like after you entered the city, you delegated the tavern to make purchases and then spent a whole day playing cards. On your way back, you passed by the church and decided to make a donation to assuage your unease about wasting time."