Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 828: Dreams, Puzzles, and Flowers

Chapter 828 -828: Dreams, Puzzles, and Flowers

The rain in Tobesk really lasted the entire Sunday. When Luviya arrived at No. 6, Saint Delan Square as planned in the evening, the rain had not diminished.

Tonight already had some early autumn chill, and the purple-eyed girl walked into the door through the pearl-string-like rain under the eaves in the misty and ambiguous light of the entrance hall. Shard took her umbrella and then went upstairs together with the slightly cold girl.

Rainwater flowed from the drainage pipes on the walls to the ground gutters, and the whole city was bathing in the rain, serene and quiet.

On a rainy autumn night, being able to have a candlelight dinner in your own house with the girl you love is truly a delightful thing. During dinner, Luviya shared with Shard a strange dream she recently had.

Perhaps worrying too much about the affairs of Midshire Fort, even though the battle had been half a week ago, Luviya still dreamed that Iluna and Sister Delphine combined their forces, yet failed to stop Joey Barton from forcibly taking Marilyn Handel back from death.

This directly led to the complete loss of control of the 0-level relic, and Midshire Fort faced the horror disaster of a thousand ghosts running rampant before dawn broke on Thursday.

“In your dream, didn’t I appear?”

Shard, with a napkin around him and a silver fork in hand, sat on the other side of the table, while Mia lay long beside his hand, waiting for him to feed her.

The purple-eyed girl shook her head slightly under the candlelight:

“You didn’t appear in the dream, but Midshire Fort wasn’t destroyed. Sister Delphine ignited a great fire to block the evil spirits in the interstice, and the regretful Joey Barton, seriously injured, also joined in the doomed battle. All the living, even the vampire kind from Midshire Fort Area, participated in the fight against the evil spirits that emerged from the collapsing interstice. At the end of the dream, I heard the sound of a horn, followed by an angel appearing under the moonlight…”

She looked a bit lost at the candlelight:

“The figure seemed familiar, with white wings burnt to black, blowing a horn in the air, pressing the evil spirits back into Sicarl Mountain. From then on, Sicarl Mountain became the Ghost Mountain, and the church suffered heavy losses due to the battle. Joey Barton, who made a grave mistake, hid severely wounded in the mountains, but he didn’t achieve his goal. Marilyn Handel’s spirit was gravely damaged and ultimately completely shattered.”

“You see, thinking wildly during the day will lead to strange dreams at night.”

Shard said with a smile, but he adhered to the agreement with Priest Augustus, never mentioning the wings of the Death Angel to Luviya. Luviya’s dream was not a simple dream:

“Because of my existence, the story took a relatively best direction and conclusion. Forget about that strange dream.”

He raised his goblet, which contained red wine he created with sorcery. The purple-eyed girl smiled relievedly, raised her glass, clinked glasses with Shard:

“Yes, everything is fine. I shouldn’t be overthinking, otherwise, I’ll need to go to your basement again to suppress the out-of-control.”

Clink~

After a crisp clink, Shard drank half of the wine in one gulp and coughed violently. Luviya covered her mouth and laughed lightly, then stood up and reached out to help Shard, who was leaning on the table, pat his back.

Mia, lying on the table, squinted half her eyes, tilting her head to look towards the window. Candles were lit indoors, while outside was a pitch-black rainy night. In the reflection on the glass, behind the human female stood a nearly identical figure.

“Meow~”

Mia meowed curiously why the other didn’t sit down to dine together.

On a rainy night, the warmth and comfort of home can truly be felt. Of course, there was a small episode at No. 6, Saint Delan Square this night. It was about half an hour to midnight, Shard held Luviya’s smooth shoulder, softly telling her about the Impermanence Card in the master bedroom.

While talking, Luviya proactively kissed him, and Shard smiled and hugged her. Outside, the storm raged, but holding the girl he loved, the Outlander felt that nothing could spoil his mood.

[Really?]

“Her” whisper suddenly echoed in the dark.

The curtains were tightly closed, blocking out the sound of raindrops hitting the glass, creating a pleasant atmosphere.

“Of course, it’s true.”

Shard answered in his heart, and Luviya ended the kiss, opening her purple eyes:

“Knight, there’s still a long night ahead, let me see if the Primordial flame would also make your…”

[Indeed, there is one word that would make your current good mood completely disappear.]

“Oh, I don’t believe it.”

[Puzzle.]

“Her” tone was full of undisguised amusement.

At this moment, Luviya had already reached out to take the Ever-Youth Leaf placed on the bedside table in advance, while Shard froze:

“Oh no! I forgot about this!”

“Shard, what’s wrong? What’s more important than now?”

The purple-eyed girl said somewhat discontentedly, her brown short hair scattered on the pillow, with a hint of blame in her eyes:

“Are you going to find Dorothy or Her Highness the Princess tonight?”

“Of course not! I forgot about the puzzle! (Chapter 770)”

That puzzle was a gift Shard took from God’s Gift Box that week before setting off for Midshire Fort for the decisive battle. After receiving the gift, he went through that long and painful Wednesday night, then after returning home from Midshire Fort, he fell into a period of nothing but rest for the rest of the week, completely forgetting about the puzzle.

Now, with 27 minutes left before the end of the week, what Shard needs to do is cut out the puzzles from the puzzle book and assemble at least two of them.

Suddenly reminded of this, feeling trouble approaching, he could only ask for Luviya’s help:

“Help me, let’s assemble the puzzle together, shall we?”

The Female Diviner hesitated for a moment:

“A puzzle? Is this… some kind of code? Did you learn something new last night? Or is it a new technique from the ?”

“Oh, Luviya, stop joking around. I really need your help.”

What should have been a pleasant evening, Shard was forced to get up, turn on the gaslamp while listening to the heavy rain outside, and spent a full half-hour playing puzzles with Luviya in bed. During this time, Mia even jumped onto the bed, trying to mess up the puzzle.

And this cat received the “punishment” of being locked in the closet for the whole night. Actually, Shard wanted to experiment on the cat with the “Animated Rope Trick” sorcery he learned from the , a spell that makes ropes move like living snakes. But worried he might hurt the little cat, he didn’t go through with it in the end.

The arrival of Monday meant that Shard had to start dealing with the aftermath at Midshire Fort. Of course, those issues weren’t very urgent, but they still had to be addressed.

The rain that had lasted nearly two days finally stopped at dawn. After sending off a well-rested Luviya under the still-dripping eaves in the morning light, Shard took out this week’s new gift from —a small tin box filled with needles and thread, and received the task of doing something related to “sewing” within the week.

This was a challenge for the outlander, as he wasn’t skilled in sewing, but he could ask Tifa for guidance.

The lazy cat, having filled its stomach with breakfast, was unwilling to go out with Shard. After finishing breakfast and reading the day’s newspaper, Shard went to Midshire Fort through the basement.

While it was sunny today in Tobesk, Midshire Fort was drenched in autumn rains. After the great battle last week, the city had returned to calm within half a week. Walking through the streets and alleys with an umbrella, there was no sign of panic among the city’s residents. However, when buying flowers and gifts for the sick at the roadside, Shard could still hear many rumors about last Wednesday from people’s conversations.

Most of those rumors were absurd and baseless, but overall they were related to ghosts and war. When combined with the series of earthquakes and the eruption of Sicarl Mountain on Wednesday night, the most outrageous version concocted by the citizens was that a dragon living beneath Sicarl Mountain had awakened.

This rumor gained wide traction because entry to and exit from Sicarl Mountain continued to be limited under the excuse that the volcano might still erupt. But in the eyes of the citizens, it became evidence of the authorities trying to cover up the dragon’s existence.

But regardless, letting people believe in a dragon was far better than telling them that two Deities were having a fierce battle above Sicarl Mountain.

At least in this matter, the truth was even more outrageous than the citizens’ wildest guesses.

When it came to the gifts for visiting Helen and Grace, Shard couldn’t decide what to buy right up to the end, but there were customs and rules regarding flowers for visiting patients in this era, so he wasn’t worried about making a wrong choice. He bought two posies of scarlet hydrangeas at a street-front flower shop. As he stepped out of the flower shop, he saw a girl selling flowers under the distant shops’ eaves in the rain and called her over to buy some different colored flowers to match the plain ones he’d just bought.

“Oh? It’s you.”

The flower-selling girl called over by Shard turned out to be the same girl who had sold Shard eight flowers in the fog at Milestone. Now the eight flowers had each found their place, and in the aftermath of the turmoil, Shard met her again.

Looking much the same as she did over a week ago, the girl recognized the generous, young gentleman. She looked at Shard walking over under an umbrella with a shy smile:

“Sir, long time no see. Would you like to buy some flowers?”

Last Wednesday’s disaster seemed to have hardly affected her, which made Shard very happy:

“I need to visit two patients. Do you have flowers in your basket that would go well with these hydrangeas?”

“Yes, sir. How about these?”

She picked out two green Eustoma for Shard, and Shard thought they looked good. As he reached into his wallet to pay, the girl refused:

“Sir, you gave too much last time. These flowers are on me.”

“But…”

Shard didn’t want to take advantage of the flower seller on the street. Their lives weren’t easy.

“Sir, are the people you want to visit injured from last Wednesday?”

The girl asked with some worry. Shard knew she was changing the topic but still nodded in the rain:

“Yes, they were slightly injured in the earthquake. Was your family okay?”

“A bad person tried to break into our home that night (Chapter 780), but another kind sir chased him away.”

“A kind sir?”

“Yes.”

The girl nodded:

“He said he was a principal at a school, but the kids in our family didn’t qualify for admission. Yet a few days ago, he found the church for us and arranged for my siblings and me to attend the church school, and he provided for our living expenses. Now, selling flowers is just to supplement our household income. So, you don’t have to pay me again.”

“What was that gentleman’s name?”

“Oh, I only know his last name is Pigman. He told us to call him Professor Pigman.”

The girl said with a smile:

“He told me that knowledge is power. So, we must acquire more knowledge and never give up on schooling. Sir, goodbye and may you have a wonderful day!”

She waved and bid farewell to Shard at the street, walking away along the narrow space under the eaves, leaving Shard holding the flowers and watching her back: fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm

“A principal, Professor Pigman? Knowledge is power…”

Shard turned to look at the scenery behind him. The street was still bustling in the rain. He seemed to see the principal of Saint Byrons, who, like him, had also measured this city with his steps.

He successfully avoided Professor Pigman in the Milestone incident but still heard about the professor’s deeds through a small event. Maybe not everyone can create miracles in one peril after another like he did. But fortune always seemed to favor the kind and innocent children.

“May the Creator of Innocence bless you.”

Shard whispered in his heart, then held his flowers, opened his umbrella, and walked back into the rain.