Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 152 Princess Lecia

listening to the blonde writer's words, shard sat on his bed with the large apple in hand, confused.

miss luisa suddenly stood up, a determined look on her face as she reached out and grabbed the outlander's hand. shard, sitting on the bed, didn't even have a chance to dodge.

"shard, if you're interested in the enlightenment element, i'd be more than willing to help you advance on this path... you don't know how incredible the 'little match girl' spirit rune is for circle sorcerers who seek enlightenment from stories,"

shard understood the situation and shifted uncomfortably on the bed. mia saw shard being grabbed and "roared" at the blonde girl, but her voice was so soft that someone unfamiliar with the cat might assume it was being affectionate.

shard suspected that miss luisa's insistence on him having breakfast in bed was to make him "inescapable". of course, she wasn't strong, and if shard wanted to break free, he wouldn't even need to exert much effort:

"miss luisa, don't be so excited. you mean to say, you want to guide me in unleashing the power of the enlightenment spirit rune?"

he attempted to communicate with the somewhat agitated miss luisa, their proximity a bit too close. beyond the smell of breakfast, he could detect a scent he recognized from the apartment miss luisa rented.

"not just that, if you need, i can teach you everything i know, shard. i'm not just a four-ring sorcerer, i have my secrets... and in exchange, you need to cooperate with me in studying the power of your spirit rune,"

she looked at shard earnestly, her golden hair catching the morning light as if it were shimmering. initially, shard was startled by the lady's enthusiasm in front of him, but upon reflection, this was actually quite good; he was in need of someone to further instruct him in the arts of circle sorcery:

"no problem, that sounds great."

he nodded his head.

a smile appeared on miss luisa's face. she released shard's hand and sat back down on her chair, playfully twirling a strand of hair by her ear:

"that's nice, i thought you would refuse. after all, most people do not like others meddling with their secrets."

but compared to the story of the outlander, this was hardly a secret.

"what would you have done if i refused?"

shard asked curiously, continuing to stir his porridge with a spoon. mia cat, seeing that the "danger" had passed, resumed peering at shard's breakfast.

"i would have threatened you with the pages worth 6000 pounds that you burned last night... just kidding, we're friends. i wouldn't do that, especially since you saved me. but, in a few weeks, when the owner of those pages comes back to tobesk, you'll have to go with me to apologize.

no need for compensation, my relationship with her is very good, plus, you've agreed to let me study, i mean teach you, which is enough to repay."

shard found miss luisa's attitude amusing, but he also felt relieved at not having to repay for the expensive pages that contained mysterious knowledge.

"shard, from now on, every saturday, after you leave the doctor's, come to my place for lessons and research. don't worry, since i've promised to teach you, you won't need to worry about the enlightenment spirit runes for each of your rings in the future,"

miss luisa confidently stated, and it was then that shard noticed she had begun to address him by his first name without any prelude.

shard comforted the small cat in his arms and then asked miss luisa. miss luisa popped the bubble with her finger with a pop:

"this kind of bubble can store a large amount of the air we breathe and can isolate toxic gases in environments with poisonous air. in theory, it can also help with underwater breathing, but for a limited time since the air in the bubble is finite."

thinking about it, shard still considered the use of bubblehead curse to be greater, but miss luisa insisted that underwater breathing was more useful. although they lived inland, far from the coast, they could never predict when they might need to undertake an underwater adventure.

once shard had clearly recovered, miss luisa left saint delan square. they agreed to formally start lessons and research on the following saturday evening. miss luisa would remind shard at the group gathering on saturday afternoon and try to find books that could simplify his acquisition of enlightenment spirit runes during the week.

she had slept on the sofa last night and hadn't rested well. now she needed to go back and rest because she was going to the opera with miss annette in the evening.

before leaving, shard also asked her about the "white stone crystal" and the triangular rune symbol at the bottom of the potion bottle, but the writer did not know.

miss luisa recommended that shard ask priest augustus:

"the priest is a circle sorcerer from the chemistry institute and has done some research on minerals. he comes from the church and is an expert in heraldry; he might be able to give you an answer."

shard didn't go out again that morning. his mental state wasn't great, and he needed to participate in a roder card game with the old duke at night, so he planned to rest at home during the day.

in the morning, miss luisa also helped pick up sheep milk along with the newspapers and letters.

the only letter was from dawn chapel, and he had thought it was from priest augustus, but after opening it, he found it was from mr. frankie of dawn chapel. the old gentleman had led the church's "construction team" to help shard open the first floor the previous evening.

he had said that he would find the key to room 2 on the second floor and deliver it soon, but he hadn't expected to receive a letter in just one day.

but the letter did not contain good news; room 2 could not be opened yet.

"the church wants to find time to hold an exorcism ritual?"

he sat at the dining table, reading the letter with surprise, and he read the key contents:

"dawn chapel believes that room 2, where a mass suicide occurred, may still have hidden dangers, so they want to find time to let professional church personnel perform an exorcism before it can be opened... well, that's actually good. maybe they can exorcise room 1 too, especially since it's free."

although ordinary people in this era were unaware of the real existence of the mystical, superstition was widespread, and the church would search for truly mystical-related content among the many true and false "haunted" events. therefore, the church advocating an exorcism wouldn't seem out of place to the common folk.

shard casually set the letter aside and looked towards the location of room 2 on the second floor, once again asking the voice inside his heart:

"are you sure, you've never felt an evil spirit on the second floor?"

"unless there's a special hidden space like the basement, i'm quite sure."

that made shard much more at ease.