Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Regardless of the witches' secrets, Shard was very happy tonight.

A specific Relic was soon to be within reach, and he even got a job with documentation; he even had a lead on the "White Stone Crystal." Surely, when Miss Tifa Servet delivered that Relic, she would explain the task she needed Shard to help with.

After finishing her business, Miss Galina and the people from the Prophet's Society left Duke Lucas' mansion directly, but Shard did not leave because he had just left the study when he was "caught" by the waiting Old Duke.

The enthusiastic Duke took him back to the Roder Card salon held in the banquet hall, introduced him to the guests invited that night, and carefully admired Genesis: Silver Moon from a close distance with gloves on.

Whether it was because of the card or because of Miss Galina, people were very enthusiastic about him. Everyone wanted to meet the young Detective, and Shard received more business cards in one hour than he had since coming to this world.

Duke Lucas took good care of Shard, even reminding the guests not to reveal the identity of the Detective holding the Genesis: Silver Moon card, but it was okay to say that the card had indeed appeared.

The Roder card enthusiasts were so excited that the opportunity for Shard to sit down and have something to eat came only an hour after he left the study.

"Thank you."

After ending the discussion about Roder card techniques with the two gentlemen beside him, Shard took the napkin passed by the Maid. Then, he realized that the Maid was Miss Beyas.

The Female Sorcerer with brown hair winked at Shard, who nodded knowingly. Shortly after, he left the banquet hall for the washroom, declined the servant's guidance, and, as expected, saw the waiting Miss Beyas at the corner of the corridor; she was still dressed as a Maid.

"Detective, you're really quite something," she said softly. Shard looked around carefully to ensure there was no one nearby before he replied in a lowered voice:

"Miss Beyas, how come you are here? Aren't you hot dressed like that?"

After all, it was nearly summer now.

"Of course, the outfit is hot, but I have no choice, there's something I need your..."

She hesitated, but Shard guessed she wanted his help but didn't want to involve him, a "normal person," in the incident, so she was struggling at the moment.

"You need my help?"

He helped her finish the sentence. Miss Beyas nodded shyly, hesitantly looking at Shard. Although younger than Miss Annette and Miss Luisa, Iluna Beath was not particularly short; her head reached nearly to Shard's eyebrows:

"Yes."

"I need to hear first what you need me to do."

He said this, not agreeing immediately because he knew her, nor outright refusing because of concern about being dragged into an accident.

"This... do you remember Baron Hurl?"

Miss Beyas asked.

"Of course, the one with boots that seemed to have horseshoes nailed to them, the one who just checked our Roder cards," Shard recalled, and Miss Beyas nodded, explaining quickly and in a low voice:

"I want to find out something from him about Blood of Mercury. He's just a regular person, but he's a sponsor of Blood of Mercury, and he might know the whereabouts of the Silver-Eyed One, Diak... Let me explain, Blood of Mercury is an illegal organization, and the Silver-Eyed One, Diak, is their leader."

Shard sighed with relief upon learning that the help Miss Beyas was seeking was just to extract some information from a regular person. At the same time, he had a plan in mind.

He nodded:

"I'll go back first and strike up a conversation with Baron Hurl,"

Close by to sense whether the other is a Circle Sorcerer.

"If things go well,"

If the other person isn't a Circle Sorcerer.

"I will invite him to talk in the hallway,"

Meaning to lure him out.

"You can do whatever you want, but remember not to leave him with any memory of this. That is to say, don't implicate me."

But Miss Beyas certainly didn't have a way to erase memories; otherwise, she wouldn't have been bluffed by Shard after using the Sunlight Gun last time.

"No problem, I've prepared a pretty nice Relic for this occasion."

Seeing Shard agree, Miss Beyas immediately smiled.

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She carefully took out a pure black metal rod from the pocket of her heavy maid's dress. The metal rod was uniform in thickness, like a part from some precise steam machinery.

Miss Beyas held both ends and pulled gently, and amid the sound of metal scraping, the thin rod in the middle was drawn out, making the metal rod the length of two fountain pens.

The voice in her ear indicated it was a Relic, and Miss Beyas explained:

"Scribe Level Relic, 'Beast Tamer's Memory Erasure Rod,' effective with a knock on the head. I specifically stole, cough cough, I mean borrowed it from the squad. Just be careful not to let it come into contact with blood or hit the heads of children under six, and it won't go out of control. This is the best (note)... Detective, I won't use it on you."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Shard had already put on a worried face, covering his head and backing away. Although, this thing probably would be of no use against him.

Miss Beyas put the metal rod away, somewhat embarrassedly saying:

"You've helped me, I won't use this against you. Besides, you've kept your promise to keep secrets these past few days, and we'll have plenty of opportunities to work together in the future."

"I'm just an ordinary person, I definitely won't come near you while you're holding that thing."

He still maintained the action of holding his head with both hands, which only increased Miss Beyas's annoyance.

Thus, Shard returned to the salon by himself but didn't approach Baron Hurl right away. Instead, he chatted with the people who came up to him, pretending to speculate about this year's autumn 'Big City Player' Roder Card tournament. Once he felt he had blended in with the people around him, he took the opportunity to ask a servant for a drink and made his way to Baron Hurl.

"Oh, Mr. Hamilton, what a fine game of cards!"

Without Shard having to start the conversation, Baron Hurl, wearing his odd boots, spoke enthusiastically. His friends around him also welcomed the young detective to join their conversation.

Shard naturally reached out to Baron Hurl, and the two men shook hands ceremoniously. During this time, Shard had heard the answer from the murmurs in his ear:

[Ordinary person, no elements on him, not carrying any Relic.]

While she wasn't necessarily omnipotent, Shard believed that this time, it wasn't a small probability event.

He continued to chat with Baron Hurl and his friends, learning that the others were the owner of a big factory in the city, the boss of a newspaper, and an owner of a fleet of ships that traveled back and forth between the Old and New World.

Shard had a different agenda with Baron Hurl, while the others were probing his relationship with Miss Galina, so the atmosphere of the conversation was very pleasant, with everyone complimenting each other.

Outlanders are not very good at such social occasions, so when the time was about right, he gave the Baron a secret glance and excused himself to the other few, saying he needed to go to the restroom and not looking back as he left the banquet hall.