Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 729 - : Desolate Village

Chapter 729 -729: Desolate Village

“A horror story about a deserted village? I quite enjoy that genre, but don’t worry, these red butterflies will protect us.”

The girl in the black dress pointed to the red butterflies filling the sky around them, the translucent creatures flying as if responding to her, flocking to land on her fingertips:

“As long as we don’t leave the red butterflies, you, I mean we, will not be in danger.”

Shard looked at her for a while before nodding:

“Okay, I’ll go into the village with you, but I have to head to the mountain top later, so let’s make it quick.”

“No problem, I can accompany you to your destination. I know a shortcut in this village that leads directly to the mountain top.”

She smiled, took Shard’s hand, and they walked out of the gloomy forest into the black mist, officially entering the village enveloped in perpetual darkness.

“Outlander, you have entered the inside of a location-type Relic again.”

“I know.”

The Whisper Element grew denser, and a terrible black mist, cursed with intense malignancy, swept toward them, faces contorted with horror visible within the fog. However, surrounded by the fluttering red butterflies, not a trace of the mist could reach them. Instead, the fog seemed to fear the red butterflies, gradually thinning around Shard and the girl in the black dress.

“What a powerful curse.”

Shard watched his surroundings, heart racing; if he had been alone, he definitely would not have come here.

“Sir, are you also knowledgeable about curses? Yes, this is a curse born of resentment, hatred, remorse, and disasters from deep beneath the earth, we better not touch them too much.”

The girl in the black dress said, showing her deep familiarity with the place.

In the dilapidated mountain village roamed countless undead, their souls within the Relic afflicted by the Whisper Element, turned into monsters even more terrifying than evil spirits. Walking in the village, it seemed there were no enemies around, but Shard’s keen spiritual sense could feel those evil souls blending into the surroundings, watching them.

But under the protection of the butterflies, no foes dared to appear. Thus, as Shard and the girl in the black dress strolled through the village, they only saw buildings that had been abandoned for many years.

It was evident that this place had once thrived, although it was an old mountain village. Except for a few conspicuous houses at the entrance, most other buildings had been renovated before abandonment. The village roads were even, and the central buildings looked like homes only the mayor or sheriff could afford.

Perhaps, this village had an extra source of income.

The self-proclaimed student from the Midshire Fort Mechanical Academy, the girl in the black dress, knew a lot about the village. As they walked along the only road through the dilapidated mountain village, she shared stories that had occurred here long ago.

It was a long-ago story of a small village nestled deep in the mountains, whose residents, generation after generation, seldom left to earn a living or marry into other communities. However, their peaceful days ended with an earthquake.

The earthquake itself didn’t cause much destruction, but afterward, people discovered a gold mine beneath the cracked village well. The villagers unanimously decided to keep it a secret, and using “building a tower in the village” as a pretext, they deceived the nearby villagers and the nobles from the town below, carrying out secret excavations under the tower.

“So, what did they find?”

Shard asked, looking at those buildings standing in the darkness. Most of these homes were locked, probably requiring keys to open.

“Nobody knows exactly what it was, maybe an entrance to so-called Hell, or perhaps the lair of a sleeping Ancient One.

In any case, when uncontrolled desire drove the villagers to strike one last blow in the deepest part of the mine, black mist continuously seeped from the irrepairable fissure, corroding the earth, summoning undead, and preventing the villagers from leaving. Only by sacrificing two children under the age of ten to the fissure every ten years could they ease the mist’s assault on the area.”

The girl in the black dress said, Shard looked around through the gaps between the red butterflies:

“Looks like they failed.”

The girl in the black dress nodded, leading Shard to the foot of the tower in the village center. The village was small, so they hadn’t walked far.

“Look, this is the tower. A small mountain village really doesn’t need such a building, so there was no planned use at the beginning, it was just claimed to be built as a bell tower.”

Shard looked up at the gray stone bell tower, which was completed but only about four stories tall. It looked just as abandoned as the other buildings, but the bell tower’s door was still firmly closed.

“Should we look around for the key?”

Shard asked, looking at the nearby buildings:

“The key might be in the mayor’s house or the village sheriff’s. We might have to solve some mysteries from the past, or encounter some terrifying undead, defeat them, and listen to their stories before finding the keys in some strange corner or the village cemetery.”

“Sounds indeed intriguing.”

The girl in the black dress laughed:

“But that’s not necessary. Mr. Hamilton, since you are a detective, opening this door shouldn’t be a problem.”

Two translucent red butterflies landed on her shoulders, her black coat lit up but remained pitch black.

Shard nodded:

“Yes, I can certainly pick locks, it’s my specialty, but please let go of my hand first.”

He tried to withdraw his hand that had been held all along.

“Of course.”

The girl in the black dress released his hand, then teasingly said:

“So, sir, can your lock-picking skills open all locks?”

“Of course not. For instance, the locks on girls’ hearts aren’t just easily opened.”

As he spoke, he reached out his right hand to touch the rusty black iron door, attempting to turn his wrist, but he felt a tremendous force surge from the direction of the door, nearly sending Shard off his feet and flying. Thankfully, a swarm of red butterflies spontaneously gathered behind him, forming a giant red net that gently caught Shard.

Obviously, this door was the key to accessing the Relic Core, and the power of the relic was preventing Shard from opening it in any way other than using the key.

“It seems we still need to find the key.”

Shard shrugged, but the girl in the black dress still shook her head:

“Detective, come, let me help you.”

She took a step back, positioned herself behind Shard, and then almost hugged him from behind. Her right arm passed under Shard’s armpit, her soft arm then winding back onto Shard’s arm, with her fair hand pressing on the back of Shard’s right hand, her fingers interlacing with his… Miss Aphrola had made similar movements with Shard before.

The girl behind him seemed to take a deep breath, her voice very gentle. She pressed her entire body against Shard’s, standing on tiptoes, resting her head lightly on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear:

“Get moving, Detective, I think you are also curious about what is inside the tower.”

“Yes.”

This inelegant pose made Shard extremely uncomfortable, but he also knew that the girl in the black dress behind him would definitely not be pushed away.

Together, they stretched their hands toward the door of the Clock Tower, and a dense swarm of red butterflies unexpectedly enveloped both arms. The force that pushed outward when their palms touched the cold, prickly metal resurfaced, but was easily countered by the hand of the girl in the black dress.

“You’re really strong,”

Shard complimented.

“In the days waiting for my sister to return, I have to live by myself. Having a bit of strength is just for self-protection,”

she whispered in Shard’s ear.

Both hands pressed on the door and turned together; under the effect of the Sorcery “Key of the Door,” the swarm of red butterflies flapped their wings, providing power from below. Whisper Element countered Whisper Element, and the power of the desolate village clearly could not match the swarm of red butterflies.

Thus, the iron door of the Clock Tower was silently opened.

The iron door opened a crack, and a strong odor of decay blew out from inside, even more severe than that which pervaded the mountain village.

“Let’s carry on with the story we were discussing earlier. Sacrificing two children under ten every decade to suppress the black mist in the gold mine—how exactly did it fail?”

Shard asked, hesitating a moment:

“Did the children meant for the sacrifice run away?”

“That’s only part of it. The other part is that an outsider came here and, unable to bear the ongoing cruelty, intervened to stop the sacrifices at that time, resulting in what this place is now,”

the girl in the black dress said, then moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with Shard.

Shard nodded. That made sense. Although not every place in the world swarmed with the Transcendents, whether during the Fifth Era or the Sixth Era, the number of Witches or Circle Sorcerers wasn’t small. This was a relic, so it must have been the Fifth Era when the accident happened; it’s possible that a benevolent Witch happened to pass by.

“The ones who happened to pass by were…”

“A pair of monochrome Twins, accompanied by red butterflies. Because they encountered the two children who had run away that year, twin sisters aged nine, they promised to put an end to it all. The church refers to the Twins as the ‘Red Butterfly Twins.’ They are enigmatic young girls who wander the material world, their age always adhering to a 22-year cycle although they are twins. Rarely do they appear together.”

Shard looked around at the multitude of red butterflies, momentarily at a loss for words:

“Those twins must be quite formidable, right?”

A slight smile appeared on the face of the girl in the black dress:

“Before I entered the mountains, I was able to gather some information through a friend in the church. The ‘Red Butterfly Twins’ are referred to as Angel-Level Relics, suspected of possessing some power of the ancient Twin Gods. Whenever they appear, twins are always born around them. The black dress brings the curse of Fate to twins, whilst the white dress brings the blessing of Relics; when they appear together, they inevitably bring disaster, thus they are also known as the Calamity Twins, the embodiment of catastrophe.”

“I see…”

Shard pursed his lips, looking at the iron door in front of him:

“So do the church records mention… how they have been faring these years?”

The softness in those blue eyes seemed to grow more profound in an instant:

“Whether good or bad doesn’t matter, life is but a profound dream. Perhaps, they are just not yet awakened from their dream.”

The last phrase was almost a murmur.

Shard’s mood suddenly took a turn for the worse. He slightly turned his head to look at the girl beside him, only to find that she had been watching him all along, surrounded by a whirl of red butterflies. Under the flickering red spots of light, she almost seemed unreal.

“I…”

“Sir…”