Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

After the handgun, Mr. Johnson continued to hand Shard new items: Experience new tales on empire

"Firearm License and bullets. Your monthly bullet quota is 50. You have to wait until next month to get more, and when you do, you must specify how the old bullets were used. Some damned guys recently caused a lot of trouble by reselling arms on the black market... Keep the firearm license safe; if you lose it, go directly to Riddlevitch Field to replace it. It's already registered in your name."

Shard took the heavily oiled, weighty box of bullets with one hand, prompting Mr. Johnson to raise an eyebrow at his strength.

He continued to take items out of the carton, this time a sheet of paper:

"Your enlistment consent form. You can sign any name; it's mainly for ease of accounting. MI6 is part of the Royal Army, so you need to sign this."

Thus, Shard signed as Sherlock Holmes, noticing that every organization he dealt with seemed bothered by bookkeeping.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Mr. Johnson reached for one last item, again a document:

"A declaration for the deduction of taxes. This way, MI6 can handle the tax before your salary is paid to you."

Shard hesitantly looked at this burly middle-aged man, feeling surprised for the first time since his arrival:

"Excuse me... does MI6 really have to pay taxes?"

Mr. Johnson snorted:

"Of course, why wouldn't we? Expenses are tax-free, but how could a base salary not be taxed? Death and taxes are the only inevitabilities... Sign the same name as the previous one, don't spell it wrong. Last time, a guy had a really complicated name, and forgot what he had written when he came to sign it a second time."

He handed the fountain pen to Shard, who read through the document carefully before daring to sign, his signature in deep blue ink conspicuous against the print. Now as an Outlander, he was experiencing the characteristics of the Steam Age; "Death and taxes are the only inevitabilities" was not just a saying unique to his own people.

"Salary is settled monthly, come here at the beginning of each month to receive it, just come directly to me. Twenty pounds of monthly expenses require proof, any proof will do, but the types can't be singular.

Oh, and I must warn you, an agent might need cost coverage for various things, but even if you manage to obtain receipts from Roder Card Casino or brothels, we won't accept them; any amount, we don't accept."

Mr. Johnson repeatedly said, his expression suggesting he had experienced such situations.

"Do you accept church donation receipts?"

Shard raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, those are even better, they simplify the accounting, but the receipts must be genuine."

"No problem."

He nodded; as Priest Augustus, helping with some donation receipts was easy. If not, it wouldn't be hard to get some receipts from the Prophet's Society through Miss Annette.

He was gradually also learning the ropes.

"Although I don't know why you were recruited, remember to write a report each time you receive your salary. There's another thing, you probably have a director who set a specific task for you, but you also need to pay attention to other matters in the city."

Mr. Johnson coughed, his tone becoming very serious and his expression and gaze earnest as he brought up the official matters:

"Recently, there was an explosion by the Terael River involving a military Drac II Integrated Steam Bomb. If you hear anything related to this, be sure to report it. Not only the City Hall and military are investigating this matter, but the True God Church is as well."

Shard certainly knew about it, he even knew the lady well who had grappled with a Merman and detonated the bomb to destroy it:

"Was it black market merchandise?"

He tried to inquire.

"Impossible, these steam bombs are not yet being mass-produced and are only in limited use within the Royal Guard."

Mr. Johnson ran his fingers through his hair:

"It's suspected that there's a mole within the Royal Guard, who knows?"

Shard didn't respond, recalling Miss Luisa had said she purchased it from the black market. Now that he thought about it, it was more likely that she got it from Princess Lecia Cavendish for self-defense.

"The True God Church has also placed a high reward on this matter, added suddenly at midnight on Saturday. No one knows what happened..."

Mr. Johnson muttered, and Shard thought about the timing, which must have been after he had engaged Maze Lock to combat the gaze of the Evil God. Meaning, the True God Church indeed connected the Friday's merman incident with Saturday's Maze Lock.

But luckily, the gaze of the Evil God interfered with divination, plus he had the habit of carrying "The Twenty-Sided Die of Destiny" when traveling. As long as he didn't expose himself, no one could find him.

"I understand, is there anything else I should be aware of?"

Shard wanted to steer the conversation elsewhere.

"There is another noteworthy thing... The reward is very high."

Mr. Johnson pointed at a newspaper pinned under an empty box, which was the Tobesk Morning Post. Most of the page covered the ongoing reports of child disappearances in the city:

"This issue has caught the attention of those above, with City Hall and MI6 offering very high rewards."

"Because of the large number of lost children?"

Mr. Johnson glanced at Shard:

"Of course not, it's because a Viscount has lost a child... Let's not talk about this, just keep an eye on it. The final key point is this: the day after tomorrow, around Wednesday noon, Queen Diana is going to the Tobesk Station for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. We recently received information that the Grey Gloves plan to make a move on a member of the Royal Family..."

Captain Lades had mentioned this vaguely before, and even the citizens had heard of it, so MI6 certainly knew.

"...But it turned out, another organization was acting under the name of the Grey Gloves... We have some intelligence agents, you know, the sort that are double agents, who have confirmed the situation. The Grey Gloves don't want to trigger a war between the nations because of this."

He looked at Shard, who showed an understanding expression, so he continued:

"Mr. Anlos suspects that this mysterious organization intends to target Queen Diana, so you might want to pay attention to this news."

This matter had nothing to do with Shard, as he was just a salaried idler at MI6, not intending to be involved in political affairs.

Mr. Johnson was still speaking, jokingly said:

"Of course, there's no definite news yet, and it might not be a plot against the Queen. But if something really happens on Wednesday... our beloved Director Mr. Anlos would probably be reassigned to work at the 'National Cemetery Management Association,' I hear that's quite a cushy job."

"In my hometown, such reassignment is usually called 'guarding the royal tombs.'"

As Mr. Johnson smiled, Shard also whispered a joke to the woman in his thoughts and received a light laugh in response.

Just like this, Shard, who had dealt with a concealed foreign agent half a month ago, officially became a member of Draleon Kingdom's secret service, MI6. Although he was an idler collecting a salary, this identity would undoubtedly be greatly helpful in the future.

The job came from Miss Galina, Grand Witch of the Witch Council. As Shard held his umbrella and walked home, he still wondered what she saw in him.

"If it was just for the Roder Card, she probably wouldn't treat me so well... Even if she truly didn't care about those things, the help seems a bit too significant. Am I overthinking, or is there really another motive?"

He looked at the rain-soaked cityscape of the Steam Age, pondering as he moved forward.