Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 137 A Normal Cat

"Miss Galina is part of the Witch Council?"

He had just learned about this organization in detail from Miss Annette during the day, and not long ago, the maid Tifa had directly admitted it. To his surprise, Miss Luisa also knew about this organization.

"Not only Galina Cavendish, but her personal maid, Tifa Servet, must be as well. The witches claim to have inherited the legacy of the last thirteen Witch Empresses of the Fifth Era, forming a council centered around thirteen Grand Witches, and all other members are also female."

Miss Luisa smiled:

"For those in the know, the Witch Council has another 'elegant name.'"

"What is it?"

Shard asked curiously.

"The Handkerchief Enthusiasts Society."

"Hmm?"

Shard paused, quickly "flipping through" the "Draleon Common Language Collection" in his head, then he understood that "handkerchief dealings" also implied impure relations among women.

"Oh~"

He exclaimed.

The information from Miss Luisa reaffirmed the notion that "the witches of the Witch Council do not like men."

After finishing the discussion about Shard's employer, the two of them formally began talking about tonight's matters.

First of all, of course, was Shard's curiosity, with an expression of awe, he asked:

"Miss Luisa, did you also bring a steam bomb when you went out?"

He certainly approved of this practice. If he had money, he would like to bring one too.

"Safety first, I bought it from the black market, £10 each, no guarantee it will work, are you interested?"

The female writer asked, and Shard immediately shook his head. That money was enough for Miss Gawder to have Hamilton Detective find a cat again. Even if he made money from Miss Galina, found Detective Sparrow's wallet, and there was still some income from the Prophet's Society in the autumn, there was no need to waste it like that.

"However, I only have one, and, to be honest, steam bombs don't have a significant impact on mystical incidents. This time, if I didn't know that creature's weakness was the cold, and I had frozen it, I bet that even if I stuffed the bomb into the disgusting thing's mouth, it might not kill it,"

said Miss Luisa as she put a small bottle filled with fish scales thud onto Shard's coffee table.

The orange cat's eyes sparkled, then Shard grabbed it by the back of the neck and placed it on his lap to pet. The cat lazily called out, chin resting on Shard's leg, while receiving the strokes, it twisted its head to curiously gaze at the small bottle on the table with its amber eyes.

The tiny ears trembled with each stroke from Shard, so Mia ultimately didn't jump out.

"Are you interested in using this relic? Either to study fish scale disease or just as a swimming tool,"

the female writer asked.

Shard thought about what he would look like as a merman, then thought about being chased by Mia, and decisively shook his head:

A week after the time at Lakeside Manor, he came across two relics, the "Joyful Dream Pen" and the "Scales of the Drowned Fisherman," which broadened his horizons.

However, with an attitude of trying to complete the tasks at hand, on the following Saturday morning, Shard did not go out for a city "adventure" but diligently completed the translation of "Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" as commissioned by Miss Luisa, strictly adhering to her request for a general rather than detailed translation.

This was much more difficult than a direct translation.

If it weren't for the "Divine Afterglow" state, able to shield him from the mental contamination from abnormal knowledge, Shard might have needed an extra half-week.

He woke up on Saturday morning, made food for himself and the cat, and immediately started working. The company where Mr. Sparrow used to order milk was also the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, but Shard didn't have time to go anymore, and milk was not essential, so he thought he'd consider it by the end of the month when renewing Mia's goat milk.

His enthusiasm for hard work even made the petite orange cat somewhat worried about Shard's health. Shard believed if there were no mice at home, Mia would probably bring him a dead mouse to replenish his nutrients.

"Speaking of which, why do I feel like you're getting smarter lately? Could it be because I've used too many elements around you?"

He asked during a break while holding the cat, but the bewildered cat just leaned lazily against Shard's chest to rest.

"Is Mia a normal cat?"

Since he thought of the question, he asked himself inwardly, a plot often seen in the stories Shard had read.

[Normal cat, no traces of elements or spirits.]

Though "she" might not be omnipotent, if a being like a saint intentionally concealed themselves, "she" probably would not detect it either. But the cat purring in front of him didn't seem like a creature disguised, so Shard believed Mia's recent increase in intelligence was probably just his own illusion.

Because of his special ability to understand text, helping Miss Luisa translate the book wasn't difficult, but rather, completing the translation, Shard felt he understood something from the story of the book.

"Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" could indeed acquire spirit runes related to "wind" and "fire," compounded by the sudden advancement of the sorcery "Ignite" that Shard had recently experienced after telling the story—

He squinted at the flames jumping on his fingertips, but nothing happened. It seemed that the enlightenment from translating the book was not enough to trigger a metamorphosis. This accumulation would settle until it fully sublimated.

"However, translating ancient mysticism books seems to deepen my understanding of the elements more than reading the books... Hmm, a very good approach."

He had lunch at 11:30 AM, played with Mia for a while, and then revisited his recent financial situation, adding a note in the detective's logbook that read, "No events today, savings decreased," before he set off.

When he handed over "Chasing the Four Elements: Wind and Fire" and his handwritten translation to the blonde writer in the doctor's bedroom on the third floor of Schneider Psychological Clinic that afternoon, Miss Luisa, whom he hadn't seen for half a day, was quite surprised:

"Detective, I thought you'd be busy, you didn't spend your whole week translating this book, did you?"

"The exams are at the end of this month; since I took the compensation, of course, I wouldn't delay your matters,"

Shard said demurely, without a look of self-satisfaction.

Miss Luisa briefly commented on his handwriting as being hard to read while flipping through Shard's handwritten papers, but it was an inevitable issue as Shard was not very accustomed to writing in alphabet characters.

The study session today would feature professors from Saint Byrons, but before that, the five still had to follow the normal sequence.

Everyone arrived on time, but as there were only three days until next Tuesday's meeting, there was not much to share, most were preoccupied with the upcoming exam week, making Shard feel as if he had returned to the past.

The windows in the bedroom were open, spring sunlight poured into the room through the window, reaching the bed, making the metal posts of the four-post bed gleam, and making Dr. Schneider, who was still weak, seem a bit more spirited.

Despite the fog still lingered in the town, at least it was nice weather now.