Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 735 - : Urgent Situation

Chapter 735 -735: Urgent Situation

The Old Witch finished speaking and glanced again at her apprentice, Miss Rita Swift, who held a stern face, pretending that although she had heard the story, it didn’t spark any thoughts.

“Mortals will eventually die, and I will inevitably leave. The apprentice who should inherit my position would be Rita. We are loyal to the Council, but we are first and foremost loyal to our teacher, no matter what happens, we will help you.”

She was making a promise to Shard:

“Shard, it was the teacher who gave me everything I have now, and I hope you will treat them well.”

“They are also my friends.”

Shard stealthily glanced at Miss Swift’s expression. Granny Cassandra must have said something similar to her, so she was not very surprised at the moment but carefully stood by, holding a tea tray.

“Speaking of which, what’s with the fog this morning?”

Although it was already 9:30 in the morning, the gas lamp had to be lit inside. The three of them looked out the window, where on a normal day they could view half the city, but today they could barely see the rooftops of buildings across the street.

“The fog came down late at night. It wasn’t a problem with the passageway at the base of the mountain, nor was it an issue with the seal at the peak; Delphine guaranteed that. So, it is a new change in the seals left by the Witch Empresses. We leave tomorrow and must quickly ascertain what exactly happened there.”

At this point, Granny Cassandra was also very serious:

“Tomorrow, Hevy Aurora and I will lead the team, you, besides us, we have our own followers. The Speaker had already traded with the Church of the Five Gods, in exchange for cancelling the warrant for a Grand Witch who had transgressed. The Church of the Five Gods assured us that, even if the Interstice finally shattered, the first to be breached wouldn’t be the mid-mountain pass.”

“Okay, I’ll come here early tomorrow morning.”

Shard nodded.

“Moreover, according to information Delphine obtained from the Church of the Five Gods, this thick fog is related to your yesterday’s dispatching of the first ‘nail.’ The Prophet’s Society conducted further Divination on those nails, revealing that the four resurrected dead each represent a powerful emotion, namely joy, anger, sorrow, and fear. They will forget that they are the resurrected, but if they realize this fact, even a High Ring Sorcerer will find them challenging, and each time a nail is destroyed, the next one becomes stronger. The one you and Delphine destroyed was ‘fear,’ and the Interstice sensed that one of its nails embedded in the material world was pulled out, hence this sudden dense fog as a backlash.”

“Any clues about the other three nails?”

“Not at the moment; that is something the Church should worry about. However, about the Chosen One…”

The Old Witch hesitated:

“The Council has found new fragments of the Poem Chapter, further confirming that the deceased Chosen One should be male.”

But Shard already knew this, he even knew that the person’s name was Joey Barton, currently divining for others at the Raven Club. He planned to make another trip to the Raven Club this afternoon to ascertain his attitude before deciding whether to report or recruit him.

“Additionally, the new Chosen One must have personally killed a resurrected individual. Yes, a real ‘Resurrection,’ not merely slaying an Undead.”

Shard frowned:

“Is that the complete requirement for the Chosen One Ceremony?”

“That’s only a part of the ceremony, there should be more to it. Now I have found several suspects for the Chosen One—

Delphine asked me to help investigate a First Ring Sorcerer, a strange one-eyed man in the local Circle Sorcerer team of the Church of Nature, a Middle Ring Scholar living alone on Sicarl Mountain, and a foreigner who has only recently arrived in our city.”

The Old Witch explained:

“The Church should have also locked onto a few targets, but they haven’t made a move, probably because they are not yet certain about the contents of the Chosen One Ceremony, worried that choosing the wrong person could give other powers an advantage.”

“The situation indeed is complex.”

“Yes, and, notable persons from the Three Major Academies are coming this time, who haven’t arrived yet but should be here before the Church’s ceremony.”

“Notable persons?”

“A Thirteen-Ring Sorcerer, but I don’t know from which Academy. The pretext is to assist the Church in sealing the Rift, but everyone knows it is really because of the Chosen One. Including the three Thirteen-Ring Sorcerers of the Church, we will soon have four Thirteen-Rings locally.”

Granny Cassandra sighed:

“The Prophet’s Society will also send people later; the sealing of the Rift cannot proceed without their aid. And the Truth Society, now that they have shown themselves, it doesn’t make sense just to send a few minor players. I heard that there is also movement within the Circle Sorcerer Organization of the Southern Realm, but it’s unclear who exactly is coming. Midshire Fort is getting more chaotic by the day.”

After saying goodbye to Granny Cassandra, Shard, holding little Mia, followed Miss Swift to the auction house’s basement, preparing to meet with Grace and Helen.

He had thought the so-called “underground housing” would be a cold and decrepit rusted metal room, but as Miss Swift walked through the underground warehouse and into a hallway hidden by Illusion Technique, he learned from her that it was actually a luxurious underground bedroom.

The Illusion Technique disguised the corridor as a wall, and walking along that narrow passage, lined with torches, they reached a heavy brass-colored metal door at the end, adorned with a large butterfly pattern.

In that era, usually only the vaults of banks or the safes of nobles were secured with doors of that specification.

“Mr. Hamilton, you have only ten minutes,” said Swift.

Miss Swift held the lantern to illuminate the door in front of them, then handed Shard a key, indicating that he should use a pocket watch to keep time. Shard shook his head:

“I have the ability to perceive time; rest assured, I will come out on time.”

He was about to knock on the door when the young apprentice spoke again:

“Please wait a moment. I have a small question to ask you.”

She was about the same age as Shard’s body, and by the standards of this world, she was already an adult, but by witch standards, she was still very young. Naturally, she was intensely curious about an existence like Shard, but she had never found the opportunity to talk to Shard alone.

“If you want to ask whether I am a man, oh, yes. Miss, many people have asked me that before, and I don’t think you need to ask again,” Shard somewhat complained.

“No, no, that’s not what I am asking,” Miss Swift said, her face reddening slightly.

“I wanted to ask, do you know many witches?”

“Not many… just a quarter of the witches in the Council.”

“How do they treat you?”

Shard thought for a moment:

“Not bad.”

“Then, do you know their apprentices?”

That was the question she really wanted to ask.

“I only know one.”

“That apprentice… what are they like? Are they very mature, very powerful, what Ring are they now?”

Shard then realized, the girl with flaxen hair was worried about not measuring up to others:

“May I ask, have you just become Granny Cassandra’s apprentice?” he asked softly.

“Yes, next month will be my third year. Granny had apprentices before, but I haven’t met them.”

To prevent themselves from suddenly dying without an apprentice to inherit their position, witches always trained generations of apprentices, but usually, it was the last generation that inherited. The situation where a witch like Granny Cassandra’s predecessor died without a suitable apprentice was very rare.

Tifa was obviously Miss Galina’s first-generation apprentice, and Miss Swift here was Granny Cassandra’s last-generation apprentice.

“Don’t worry, aren’t you doing exceedingly well now? For your age, being a Four-Ring Sorcerer is quite uncommon. The path of a witch is very long; rather than worrying about the present, you should worry about the future. No one climbs a Ring a month, advancing to Thirteen Rings within a year,” Shard joked. His advice made good sense; after more than four months in this world, he was only a Three-Ring Sorcerer himself.

Miss Swift finally smiled:

“I understand, then you better go in. But please be cautious; although your teacher’s teachers can control themselves, you might still encounter some trouble inside. If you can’t handle it, just come back out.”

She held the lantern in her left hand and waved to Shard with her right:

“I will wait for you here.”

“Okay, please look after this cat for me for a while,” Shard said.

Shard handed the reluctant cat to the girl with flaxen hair, turned around to knock on the door, waited for a response, then inserted the key into the lock, and pushed open the door, walking in.