Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 433 - Trained Cat

The maids' outfits behind the sofa were the same as the one who followed Mr. Stan to find Shard, indicating that these three maids were all brought out from Yordle Palace by the Princess.

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Mr. Stan gestured for Shard to straighten out his clothes. When Shard reached for his collar, he was startled to touch a furry paw. He then realized that Mia was still perched on his shoulder.

The cat had been so well-behaved just now that Shard had completely forgotten it was still there.

"Isn't it somewhat rude to bring a cat to a commission?"

Thinking to himself, Shard turned his head to look at his shoulder, and indeed, Mia's amber eyes were very beautiful.

"You must behave."

Whispering a reminder and adjusting his collar properly, he was then introduced by President Stan to these "distinguished guests."

Looking directly at Princess Angelina Cavendish, one could easily spot traces of both Lecia and Miss Galina in the young girl's sixteen-year-old face. However, the charm of a witch truly surpassed that of ordinary people. Lecia was more steadfast and decisive, while the temperament of the Princess before him was significantly different from theirs.

Princess Angelina Cavendish was the young lady who had been unfortunately injured during the divination. Her right hand was now bandaged. The absence of blood seeping through the carpet or gauze suggested that the wound was small and not serious.

Princess Angelina was dressed in a blue dress; her hair simply tied and hanging down her back. With light makeup on her face, she didn't wear many accessories. Just some gemstones adorned the waist of her dress, which, considering her status, was quite modest.

She was somewhat cold towards Shard, merely nodding as a greeting. In contrast, her friends, who found the detective with a cat on his shoulder to be more intriguing, even jokingly mentioned Miss Galina, seemingly recognizing Shard's identity.

Mr. Stan signaled that Shard was free to investigate, so Shard began by asking the maids and the young noblewomen about the incident that had just occurred.

It wasn't complex. The girls assembled around a visibly aged stone table to play a divination game. They did not use the standard equipment provided by the Prophet's Society but brought their own divination tools instead.

Today, they had chosen Fire Divination, which involved burning a tortoise shell in a fire basin. Once the tortoise shell cracked from the heat, they would interpret the shell's patterns to attempt to discern the so-called "guidance of Fate."

This was not their first time engaging in such activity, but this time, the tortoise shell had barely been heated before it "exploded." It was not an accident on the scale of a Steam Bomb explosion, but bone fragments from the edge of the shell scattered after being ignited, accidentally injuring Princess Angelina Cavendish's hand.

"It sounds like the accident was caused by uneven heating of the bone fragments..."

Shard pondered and then inquired:

"Ladies, may I ask who suggested the 'Fire Divination' this time and who brought the tortoise shell and charcoal?"

Laughing merrily, the girls gave Shard his answer. The person who proposed and brought the items was the Princess herself.

"Aside from Fire Divination, we originally planned to play with an Ouija Board said to be dug up from a cemetery and a small ritual from an ancient script on an old book."

An enthusiastic lady with black hair introduced this to Shard. She was the younger daughter of Earl Solar and regarded Shard with enticing eyes. If Shard showed any interest, it would likely be easy for something to happen between them.

It wasn't that Shard's appearance had become so impressive as to easily win over the girls' favor – it likely had to do with the rumors circulating about him and Miss Galina.

"Although unrelated to this accident, it would be best not to attempt such... stimulating games."

Shard advised, but seeing that no one paid attention to him, he went back to inspect the fire basin, which had yet to be taken away.

The fire basin was also made of stone, hexagonal at the rim, with clear signs of impact, and its exterior had some symbols resembling ancient script that Shard couldn't interpret. Most likely, it was another aged item. After touching all the objects, Shard concluded that everything there was quite ordinary.

He put on gloves he carried and made sure Mia, who was obediently squatting and looking around, still had a long time before her next meal and confidently picked up the charred bone fragment from the stone basin.

The fragment was still warm, and after Shard wiped off the soot to take a closer look and brought it near his nose to sniff, he detected nothing unusual.

"Could this truly have been an accidental incident? Did President Stan divine that it was merely an accident and, worried no one would believe him, sought me out to investigate?"

Shard, doubtful, turned to look at President Stan but saw him conversing with two middle-aged men who seemed to be the Princess's guards outside the door.

"He's not paying close attention to me at the moment, good... Echo of the Past!"

The Arcane Technique was activated, and the voices of the young ladies entered Shard's ears. Just as he thought, this room was rarely opened, so the only human voices within the last 48 hours belonged to today's leisurely noble girls.

However, those voices did not provide Shard with further clues. He listened to the girls' laughter as the tortoise shell burned, then heard the clear sound of ignition, followed by cries of surprise.

"The course of the accident was indeed as they described. If this was not an accident, it could only mean that someone tampered with the tortoise shell during the divination."

But since Shard was not exactly a highly professional detective, he had no further method for processing the charred tortoise shell in his hand.

Bringing the shell to his nose once more, he still couldn't detect any smell. Just as he was considering trying the "Echo of Blood" as a stroke of luck, the well-behaved cat squatting on his shoulder suddenly imitated Shard's actions and stretched out its head, the small pink nose sniffing at the shell.

Perhaps mimicking Shard's movements and due to its sensitive sense of smell, the cat was instantly overwhelmed by the pungent burned scent from the shell.

"Meow~"

Although Shard didn't understand cat language, he could still make out the discontent in the cat's meows.

A smile couldn't help but creep onto Shard's face, and he reached out to comfort the cat, but Mia actually swatted his hand away with her paw. Shard's glove-covered hand was now covered with black ash, and directly touching the orange cat's head would dirty its beautiful fur.

"You're getting smarter by the minute."

Praising Mia under his breath, Shard put the tortoise shell back into the stone bowl.

Turning to find Mr. Stan to announce his investigative findings, Shard glanced back at the orange cat grooming itself on his shoulder and once again returned to the stone table to pick up the tortoise shell:

"Do you smell anything special?"

He tried to bring the tortoise shell close to Mia's nose again, but the cat's little paws straightforwardly pushed Shard's hand away.

"Do you smell anything special? Besides the burnt smell, is there anything else..."

Even though the cat was smart, Shard stopped mid-sentence, realizing it was still difficult for it to understand human language. After all, while Shard was speaking, the cat was still licking its paws, paying no mind to what Shard meant.

Cats and dogs have extremely sensitive senses of smell, capable of detecting scents imperceptible to humans. A competent detective should keep an obedient dog as a detective partner, and Shard thought Mia was also capable enough to fulfill such a role.

Although he had failed to make Mia understand his meaning, Shard was struck with a new inspiration.

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He walked back to the sofa and stood to one side, coughing to get attention:

"Ladies, I believe after conducting a minor test, I will be able to provide you with answers."

"Hamilton Detective, what do you plan to do?"

The girl with long hair cascading over her shoulders asked with a smile, they did not regard detective work as a serious matter.

"Well, since both the tortoise shell and charcoal were brought by Her Highness herself, even if someone managed to tamper with them, it surely would have been done here. And substances like black gunpowder that cause deflagration would leave a scent on one's hands. Excellent, I've noticed none of you are wearing gloves, which is perfect."

"Detective, are you suggesting you want to sniff our hands one by one?"

The bold girl asked, then really stretched out her fair hand to Shard, causing a round of laughter:

"Sir Knight, that's quite ungentlemanly."

Shard coughed again, indicating he was serious:

"No, my nose isn't sensitive enough. I would like my cat to do the sniffing."

He pointed to his shoulder with his finger and Mia immediately reached out a paw to touch Shard's finger, but because the paw was too short to reach, she could only sulk there.

"The sense of smell of cats and dogs is sensitive enough, and my cat has undergone standardized, rigorous training, enabling her to accomplish tasks her kin cannot."

As he spoke, Shard took the cat off his shoulder. His right hand pinched the cat's nape, and his left hand supported her from below to prevent Mia from falling due to her restlessness.

And Mia, with her amber eyes wide, meowed at the human women on the sofa, struggled and found that Shard wouldn't let go, so she tried to turn her head and meow~ at Shard to express her discontent.

This scene once again incited laughter from the noble young ladies.

"Ladies, please come forward one at a time, then bring your hands close to my cat's nose. If someone's hand has an unusual scent that matches the one on the tortoise shell, my professionally trained cat will definitely detect it."

The cat, described as "professionally trained," curled her tail and shook her body, seemingly finding joy in the process.

"Hamilton Detective, I've only heard that dogs have a keen sense of smell, I've never heard that cats also have this ability."

On the single-seat sofa to the left, the blond girl with gold-rimmed glasses said. She was the eldest daughter of Sir Lewis Ludwig, the current Minister of Finance of the Kingdom, and she looked like the most demure one among these noble young ladies.

Shard explained without a hint of panic, or rather, boldly asserted:

"One theory suggests that cats' sense of smell is also quite sensitive. However, since these cute little creatures are not very obedient, people don't like to train them. But I have a professional technique for training cats, allowing this domesticated orange cat to undergo professional training. Ladies, please extend your hands, if there is any scent that matches the abnormal scent on the tortoise shell, Mia will certainly be able to sniff it out."

The noble young ladies actually laughed again, commenting noisily on Shard's words.

Shard was originally worried that no one would respond to his call, but Princess Angelina Cavendish, who had been silent all along, took the initiative to say:

"Then let me go first."

She extended her hand to Shard, and as a result, the laughter stopped immediately. Shard also understood that Princess Angelina Cavendish was the absolute leader of this small group. After all, as Lecia's sister, Princess Angelina seemed not as clueless as Shard had imagined.