Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Playing cards all day? Oh, absolutely not, Lecia, why would you think I'm that kind of person?"

Shard quickly shook his head, but he was reluctant to explain about The Chosen One, witches, the Blood Spirit School, and the whistleblowing letter, which he had promised to keep secret.

"However, I just ran into Mrs. Hevy Aurora's carriage, I recognized the family crest."

he added.

"Oh, you know about her?"

Lecia asked with a smile, then went on to introduce Shard:

"It's fine to call her 'lady' privately, but in public, you must address her as Baroness Aphrola. Hevy Aurora inherited the viscountcy of the Aphrola Family, and not just that of Draleon, but also the Carsonrick title due to business reasons."

"Viscount? That's impressive."

Shard actually didn't care about this, he had no desire to get involved with witches again, so he shook his head and ended the topic:

"Lecia, I came to say goodbye. There are some things I need to take care of back home, so I will leave now and come find you tomorrow morning. Be careful with everything, and if you need me, you can contact me through Dorothy."

He paused, thought for a moment, and then said:

"A lot of strange people have come to the city recently, so if it's not necessary, try to stay away from the city as much as possible."

"Shard, I am from the Five Rings, and you're from the Second Ring, I think I should be the one worrying about you."

The princess said softly, and Shard nodded, thinking it made sense. As he was about to leave, Lecia called him back. The red-haired girl walked with Shard towards the study, lowering her voice:

"I went into the city today and heard that tonight, City Hall will issue a tsunami warning throughout the city. The newspapers will publish that due to water pollution, the seawater has turned red in the past few days. I've already contacted the Academy, informed them about the curse I'm under, and the Academy believes that with my earrings, I can be completely unaffected by the 'Sea Return', so they haven't offered any additional help."

"Does Zaras Literary Academy understand this ritual?"

Shard frowned.

"About as much as the church does, through sacrifices, it invokes the power of the Evil God from the deep sea to flood Coldwater Port with a tsunami."

"The power of the Evil God..."

Shard nodded, continuing to walk forward with Lecia. His eyes narrowed slightly, his mind on things that the girl beside him could never guess:

"Could it be, is it possible that..."

[Outlander, it seems you've come up with a bold guess.]

"But indeed, there is a possibility, so no matter what, I must participate in the Sea Return ceremony."

When he returned home soaking wet at five in the evening, it was the umpteenth time he had taken a bath today, finally having a moment of brief respite.

"Shard, what exactly were you up to today, running around everywhere?"

Dorothy was also curious about Shard's travels, but to prevent further misunderstandings after spending a day playing Roder Cards, Shard could only claim he had encountered some trouble at Coldwater Port:

"Let's hurry to dinner, oh, I also need to post a letter, I'll be back at six for class."

He held his cat, calculating the time as if the cat's behind hid a pocket watch.

"You're always so busy, I don't know where you find so many things to do."

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The blonde, blue-eyed girl muttered, discontent with Shard's tight schedule, for she had wanted to speak with Shard more about the Kiss of the Tree.

After dining out together, Dorothy returned home.

Shard hurried home, but he didn't forget to stop by the city's photography studio to inquire about having the cat photographed. Assuming that professional studios required an appointment, he was surprised to find they could take the picture immediately for a fee, but it would take a half week to collect the photo.

This was no matter, Shard noted the photo collection in his schedule, and then he took a picture with the cat and a newspaper.

At the flash of the old-fashioned magnesium light, if Shard hadn't been holding the ginger cat tightly, it almost would have darted out.

But once the cat realized it was just a flash, it became braver. Concerned that one photo wouldn't suffice, Shard had several more taken for Miss Mia Gold. During subsequent flashes, the orange cat simply meowed in that direction a few times, lost interest when there was no response.

"Meow~"

It yawned widely, displaying its fangs and tongue.

Shard had heard the cat liked to sneak into Room No. 2 on the second floor when he was not home, so he had locked that door. The ginger cat scratched at the door all afternoon until Dorothy opened it, hence Mia's nap was delayed.

As the time reached 5:55 in the evening, the remnants of the sun had not completely faded and the pigeons in Saint Delan Square, together with the stall vendors, were enjoying the evening cool of the summer. Unbeknownst to them, at window number six, a cat was intently staring at them.

In the living room of room number one on the second floor, Shard picked up the cat from the windowsill and then drew the curtains. He turned up the gas lamp in the living room to its brightest, placed four chairs in the open space, with a bowl of water in the center. Three of the chairs held wooden dolls tied with human bones, and he sat in the most northern chair.

Unlike calling distant guests to project to Saint Delan Square, this time it was Shard projecting to Saint Byrons. Therefore, the steps of the ceremony were slightly different. He did not actively put the parchment into the water himself, but instead, mixed some bone powder into the water, stirred clockwise three times, then dropped in some blood.

After immersing the parchment in the bloodied water, and only after the corresponding parchment in the distance had also been dipped into a bowl, Shard's bowl finally ignited with an icy blue flame.

This ritual, classified under necromancy, was essentially complete at this step. The curious cat lay on the sofa watching Shard, and to avoid disturbances during his class, he not only left it the Transmutation Ring to play with but also prepared a few pieces of cat food as a midnight snack.

Having confirmed the cat was happily playing by itself, Shard straightened his clothes and sat down in the chair. He closed his eyes and silently counted to three. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the smiling face of Professor Hensinger Garcia, the vice-dean of the History Academy.

The slightly pointed-eared professor welcomed Shard with a smile, and as Shard looked down at his hands, he indeed saw his body had become translucent.

It was a strange feeling; he could feel the temperature of his own living room and even hear the occasional meow of the cat, but he saw before him the Academy scene at the edge of the Far North Ice Cap.

Around the room, the gray decorative walls were adorned with brass gas lamps modeled after the Saint Byrons emblem. The lamps, presumably often polished, were bright and lit up the classroom, which was nearly as large as Shard's entire second floor.

The old-fashioned classroom was tiled with gray square tiles, furnished with rows of benches painted brown. It was a typical lecture hall, with the lowest position at the lectern, and the desks and seats arranged ascendingly upwards.

Although spacious, aside from Shard, only five students had come to attend the class. Three men and two women, among them, two were about the age of Shard's body, one was a slightly more mature woman around thirty, and the last two were men in their forties.

Among the five, three sat on the other three directional chairs to maintain the projection ritual. They all smiled politely at Shard; after all, paying for an elective class and being invited by the professor to attend were entirely different treatments.