Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 885: Chapter 885: The Grey-Headed Eagle’s New Mission

Since arriving in Huntington City for the first time on Thursday, and by Sunday evening, under the guidance of the resurrected wild wolf, seeing the mysterious lake at the edge of the Great Swamp, it took Shard only three days to get close to the truth of the legend.

But he couldn’t spend all his time and effort in Huntington City, because in Tobesk on Monday, there were still many things awaiting his attention.

At half past six on Monday morning, Shard woke up on time, feeling as if a stone was pressing on his chest.

“Sleep paralysis?”

This era also has such a saying.

It was only after opening his eyes that he realized it wasn’t sleep paralysis; it was cat paralysis. Mia, waiting for breakfast, was standing on the blanket over Shard’s chest, staring at him with bright eyes.

“Guess what this cat is thinking?”

Shard asked in his heart as he smiled and grabbed the cat, then sat up from the bed. With a slight movement of his fingers, the curtains automatically opened with a swish.

The voice beside his ear chuckled:

[Probably dissatisfied with your lazy lifestyle.]

“Lazy? To prevent the ‘Sloth’ Spirit Rune from adversely affecting my mind and personality, I haven’t even linked any Arcane Technique to this Spirit Rune. And the level of sloth in this cat surpasses any human I know.”

The cat, being picked up by the nape of its neck, looked at Shard pitifully, its large eyes showing a very human-like expression of grievance, its white whiskers slightly trembling, and its little nose twitching with its breath, almost seeming to have the words ‘want to eat’ written on its face.

The new week also meant Shard could take a new gift from God’s Gift Box. When he went downstairs to get the newspaper and milk, he took the metal box from the basement Upstairs with him.

While looking at the newspaper at the dining table, reading the news welcoming Princess Margaret Anjou today, he wondered what peculiar item he might extract this week. Regardless of how strange the weekly gifts might be, Shard always enjoyed trying them. This kind of “lottery” activity, where the outcome is entirely unpredictable yet may yield valuable items, was one of the few hobbies the Outlander had in this world… In fact, upon further thought, his hobbies in this world, including but not limited to the Roder Card and Mia, were already numerous.

This time, not waiting to finish breakfast, Shard, unable to restrain his curiosity, reached to push open the gift box’s lid.

When he reached into the box, he didn’t touch any item immediately, indicating that this time, it wasn’t something large. He continued to feel downwards until his hand touched something cold and metallic at the bottom of the box:

“Ordinary item.”

Even with this assessment, Shard’s interest didn’t wane. When he took the object from the gift box, he found it was a small silver box inlaid with bits of diamond on the surface. The box was shield-shaped, and from its weight, color, and texture, it was most likely a pure silver jewelry box.

After opening the box, a beautiful green gemstone lay on the red velvet lining. The gemstone was egg-shaped, although only the size of a fingernail, its surface was polished to have great depth. The sunlight streaming through the window made the gemstone shine brilliantly, unmistakably a precious jewel.

“A green gemstone in a silver jewelry box, such a thing counts as an item; the box and gemstone are considered as one.”

Shard mused curiously, taking out the gemstone to scrutinize it. Currently licking the goat milk, Mia also poked its small head over, widened its eyes, twitched its cute little nose to sniff twice, then immediately lost interest.

“The quality of the gemstone is excellent. Even for a ritual with stringent material requirements, it would not reject a jewel of this caliber.”

He placed the small green gemstone back in the silver shield-shaped box, thought for a moment, turned the box over, and extended his finger. Silvermoon’s light emerged from his fingertip:

“A gift from Rejed’s Hamilton.”

He spelled and engraved this line with Silvermoon at the tip of his finger, a skill he had even before fully mastering the Moonlight Greatsword:

“It’s just right to use this as a gift for that princess’s wedding on Tuesday; it shouldn’t be too shameful.”

He admired the letters he had carved but then, dissatisfied, he took a deep breath and erased the line with Breath of Ages:

“The handwriting is too ugly…”

In the end, he only engraved the initials to indicate his identity; this looked much more aesthetically pleasing.

As for the task corresponding to this jewel, it’s to buy groceries alone twice this week, which is indeed important for the children.

Having confirmed this week’s gifts, Shard read the newspaper while having breakfast. After finishing breakfast, he started going through today’s three letters.

One was sent by Priest Augustus, mentioning that the Dawn Chapel would distribute church gifts to core believers in early winter and reminding Shard to collect them. This year, the gifts included a small soap engraved with the Holy Emblem, an unframed church oil painting, and some seasonal vegetables.

Although these gifts seem worthless to the nobles, this tradition of giving seasonal gifts to core believers is quite important.

The second letter was from Dorothy, informing that the wedding of Mona Cavendish and Randolph Iceberg would be held at the Peace Chapel in the city on Tuesday afternoon, which is tomorrow afternoon. As requested by Lecia, Shard invited Dorothy as his companion, and Dorothy’s letter specified the time to meet him tomorrow.

As for the third letter, it bore the lowest denomination stamp and was sent from a street in the north of the city, without a more specific house number. Just by seeing the ink color on it, Shard knew it was a communication from the “Grey Glove”.

“Has it finally arrived?”

The expired Reveal Potion obtained earlier from Priest Augustus was not yet used up. After applying the potion to the letter with the words “As before”, numerous numbers immediately appeared.

Fetching “The Queen and Her Lovers”, “The Silver Knight”, and “Western Front Memorabilia” from the study for code-breaking, a complete letter was deciphered.

The content was not much, and indeed it was about Princess Margaret Anjou. The letter requested “Gray Hawk” to secretly ensure the princess’s safety during her visit but under no circumstances to reveal his identity.

After the message about delivering “Difference Engine” data during the Big City Player period, “Gray Hawk” was supposed to fall into silence, to wait to be awakened again. Receiving orders within less than three months suggests internal strife within Grey Glove and consideration by the Royalty.

Although the order told “Gray Hawk” not to expose his identity, it did give him a special password to reveal himself to Princess Margaret alone at a critical moment.

This task didn’t have too specific requirements, but rather repeatedly emphasized for Gray Hawk not to reveal himself lightly. Clearly, no matter what, Carsonrick’s big figures acknowledge the high value of Gray Hawk, and he should not be sacrificed unless absolutely necessary.

“The political struggles in Carsonrick are not simple either.”

Even though Shard has long resided in Draleon and could only be considered “Gray Hawk II”, he could still hear a thunderclap from this letter.

In fact, even without this letter, he would have protected Princess Margaret. On one hand, MI6 absolutely couldn’t allow the princess to encounter an incident within Draleon, and on the other hand, this was also in repayment for the already deceased Detective Sparrow.

Though he intended to try his luck in Huntington today as well, due to tasks from MI6 and Grey Glove, Shard had to join the crowd in welcoming Princess Margaret’s entourage’s arrival. For this, he had already discussed with Miss Galina to join her, which also saves time queuing for entry.

Although it departed from Huntington City via a steam hover zeppelin, the zeppelin wouldn’t land directly in the city but would land in Walsh Town, eight miles (approximately 12.9km) east of Tobesk City. The visiting group would then take a special train to the Tobesk Train Station.

The train journey actually takes less than half an hour, so the exact arrival time depends on when the zeppelin can land safely. Fortunately, in recent days, there hasn’t been severe rain or snow in Tobesk City and its surrounding areas, so there was no need to worry about delays due to weather affecting the zeppelin’s arrival.

The Tobesk Train Station is located in the northern part of the city, while Miss Galina’s manor is in the southern suburbs, therefore, by around eight o’clock, the Grand Witch arrived at No. 6, Saint Delan Square with her maids, planning to wait there for the exact arrival time of the train.

The reason they didn’t wait at Yordle Palace was because the palace was busy preparing for Larus III’s meeting with the Princess of the Southern Nation and for the specially prepared luncheon and dinner for the visiting group.

According to diplomatic specifications and general rules, when members of the Anjou Royal Family visit, members of the Cavendish Royalty need to personally greet them. If it were a visit of a duke with ruling power, a queen, or even a king, Larus III would need to greet them personally, but this time it was just a princess. Therefore, by convention, Queen Diana would lead the Great Prince, who isn’t her biological son, and a few princesses to the train station to welcome them.

The group from Yordle Palace preparing to set off should also be waiting for news. Once the people from Yordle Palace set off first, Miss Galina’s convoy would join up with them:

“Although I am also a member of the Cavendish Family, my nephew has considered this many times, about whether I should appear on such occasions. After all, as a duke with real power, welcoming a princess from the Anjou Family might seem a bit high in standard.”

The Red-Haired Witch said, sitting on the sofa. She was in high spirits early in the morning:

“Later it was decided that I should participate. MI6 got some news, that this time the princess came not just for a simple visit, but bringing a letter from ‘Lion Ryan’, the current king of the United Kingdom of Carsonrick. It seems there is intent to negotiate regarding the balance of troop numbers. To show goodwill, it was my nephew who wrote me a letter requesting me to go to Tobesk Train Station today.”

“If he hadn’t written the letter, would you have gone?”

Shard asked curiously, as Tifa was directing the maids to prepare hot tea. They didn’t know how long they would be waiting.

“Of course, as a fellow Council member, if Sylvia were to arrive in Tobesk and I didn’t go to welcome her, what would the other witches of the Council think of me?”