Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Shard held the Relic in one hand, and reached out to Miss Beyas with the other. The latter looked at him, then at the bone finger.

In the shadows of the alleyway, her expression subtly changed, taking a good long while before she firmly grasped Shard's hand:

"Detective, you must explain yourself."

Her voice was no longer as light-hearted as it had been minutes earlier when discussing the reward with Shard.

"Of course, I'm sorry... could you relax a bit?"

The strength of her grip was considerable.

"Just for a few seconds."

As she spoke, the Ring of Fate actually appeared behind Miss Beyas. Shard thought there was going to be a fight, but none of the Spirit Runes were activated, instead, the Ring of Fate itself began to flicker with light.

That light shone on Shard, and a golden scale illusion materialized beside Shard and Miss Beyas.

"Detective, you need to regain my trust."

"Hmm?"

Looking at the scale illusion, Shard immediately thought of what Miss Annette had said about The Chosen One's ultimate manifestation being their Ring of Fate turning into a weapon. It seemed Miss Beyas had not yet succeeded, but the power she wielded was growing nonetheless.

"Detective, if you want me to continue trusting you, then relax your mind, do not resist."

"What?"

Shard did not understand.

"Good, evil?"

The Female Sorcerer holding Shard's hand asked, with the light from the scales shimmering in front of Shard's eyes, the glimmer illuminating part of the alley. Then, almost instantly, the scale tipped overwhelmingly to the left.

Miss Beyas's expression of caution changed:

"Oh? Detective, I hadn't realized you were so kind... no, what kind of great benefactor are you?"

She looked at Shard curiously; Shard had a guess about this—it was likely because he had not been there long, and the scales could only judge his experiences in this world.

Miss Beyas's attitude noticeably improved, and her expression became less severe. She asked again:

"Order, chaos?"

The scale restored balance, then tipped even more quickly to the left as if someone were pressing down on it:

"Hmm? Such a strong sense of order? It seems you have undergone very strict education and agree quite a bit with rules and order."

She looked at Shard as if he were a marvelous creature, her grip relaxing as though she intended to let go.

"No, what I agree with is civilization."

Shard explained, and at that moment, Miss Beyas's grip tightened again:

"Miracle, desecration?"

The scale wobbled a bit but quickly regained balance, barely tilting to the left. Shard had had numerous contacts with the Benevolent God, the Creator of Innocence, and had also devoured the Divinity of the Evil God. In and of itself, he aligned more with miracles, but the desecrated Divinity still lingered within his soul.

That's why the scale maintained such an almost balanced stance.

Miss Beyas frowned slightly but made no further comment:

"Enlightenment, Whisper?"

Both watched the scale, then saw it slowly tilt left, downward, and then... it flipped over, turning into golden dots of light scattered in the air.

"..."

Miss Beyas let go of Shard's hand, and the overturned scale vanished along with the Ring of Fate. Shard was surprised by what had just happened, not expecting "The Chosen One" to have such interesting abilities. The Female Sorcerer, fixing her gaze on Shard, asked seriously:

"Hamilton Detective, which fallen Old God's Saint Heir are you?"

"Saint Heir? What? No, no, I'm just an ordinary person."

Shard quickly shook his head; he felt quite tired and started to miss the cat at home.

"Take me to your home."

Miss Beyas said, glancing towards the gas street lamp at the mouth of the alley.

"Hmm?"

Shard looked at the brunette girl in surprise.

"I have some matters I want to discuss with you. I fully trust my capabilities, so, I believe our cooperation can continue."

Leaving the body behind without attending to it, Miss Beyas said she had a way to conceal the matter, and then the two walked out of the alley, one after the other.

Shard's home was quite far from there, so in the end, they boarded a hired horse carriage. The coachman gave Shard a surprised look because of Miss Beyas's attire, seemingly misunderstanding something.

Opening the front door of No. 6, Saint Delan Square at 9:50 p.m., Shard turned on the gas light in the foyer and invited Miss Beyas in.

During the journey, neither of them spoke.

Upon returning home, Shard breathed a real sigh of relief. Seeing his orange cat Mia cheerfully running over to greet him warmed his heart even more.

Miss Beyas took a seat directly on the sofa; she had been here before and was thus not a stranger to the place. Shard changed out of his expensive formal attire in his room before returning to the living room to talk.

"I am a Correspondence Circle Mage. That's it. The reason I didn't mention it last time is because I didn't want to expose myself in front of the Church's Circle Sorcerers. If you want me to apologize for lying, that is certainly no issue."

That was Shard's opening statement.

"Understood. I am aware of the situation with Correspondence Circle Mages. Don't worry, I won't report you."

Perhaps because of the four questions earlier, Miss Beyas's attitude was still quite good.

Shard stroked the cat on his lap and looked at her face, then asked:

"Miss Beyas, now that you know I am a Circle Mage, I still have the intention to cooperate with you. As a Circle Sorcerer of the Church, do you still want to work with me?"

The young lady nodded slightly; she seemed to have made up her mind on her way here:

"Hamilton Detective, although I was dissatisfied with your initial concealment, I am also aware of the situation of the Academy Circle Mages... Our identities could indeed provide a lot of convenience for each other. If you wish to continue the cooperation, I think that's no problem."

"Speaking of identities, I am actually with MI6, but I can't get my credentials until tomorrow."

Shard added, to which the brunette girl gave him a peculiar look: Explore more stories with empire

"Was that introduced by Miss Galina? No, no need to explain, that identity is very useful too... After those four questions earlier, I was planning to trust you again, having another friend like you is indeed good. However, I hope that we can be more open and honest with each other."

"No problem, what would you like to know?"

Shard straightened up his body, and beneath the gas lamp light in the living room, for a moment Miss Beyas thought she saw golden rifts appearing on his body, which vanished with the blink of an eye.

"Answer a question, and we will continue cooperation."

Thinking that her vision was a mere illusion caused by fatigue, she extended a finger and shook it. Shard, of course, had no objections:

"Fair enough, please ask."

"Do you know... The Truth Society?"

"What?"

Shard frowned; he indeed didn't know. Observing his expression, Miss Beyas finally let out a sigh of relief:

"It's good that you don't know."

"Is that also your enemy?"

Shard countered, the brunette female sorcerer nodded, taking the initiative to reach for the tea that Shard had prepared, signifying that any animosity between them had completely dissolved:

"Detective, I have many secrets. The Truth Society is an organization comprised of madmen who claim to pursue the truth, but they are the real Blind Foolishness. Of course, this doesn't concern you. My story with them, perhaps I'll find the time to tell you about it. It involves some ancient secrets, old ambitions, the power of the True God, my Sunlight Gun, some ancient tablets..."

It sounded like a story of legendary nature. Shard thought for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"The Truth Society you mentioned, is their symbol an equilateral triangle, with a circle at each vertex of the triangle and a winged person in the center?"

"What is that?"

Miss Beyas shook her head.

"Good, it's not that. Actually, I too have many secrets; this is one of them. Oh, Miss Beyas, if you get the chance, could you help me look up this symbol in the Church library? Of course, you'll need to be careful not to be discovered because I'm also uncertain what exactly it is."

"No problem, the church library has a vast collection. If there's an answer, I will let you know."

She leaned back on the sofa in the Shard Family home, finally relaxing for the first time:

"Detective, are you interested in the information I received tonight? Fine, I will tell you."

Her voice was very soft, showing none of the sternness she had exhibited in the alley earlier. For some reason, Shard suddenly felt some pity for the young lady; she was still so young, yet had experienced far too much.

After the Blood of Mercury was fragmented and concealed in Tobesk, Baron Hurl, one of the organization's sponsors, was naturally privy to some information. Although Miss Beyas did not directly find out the hiding place of the severely wounded Silver-Eyed One from him, she did learn who might know the Silver-Eyed One's location.

Miss Beyas's slow search for the Silver-Eyed One was still a long way from over.

After the organization scattered, they sought items to synthesize the Angel-Level Relic, the Blood of Mercury, which were partly hidden in the hands of ordinary people connected to the organization. Baron Hurl had two pieces, but the Baron himself did not know what they were.

Shard asked carefully about it, and it turned out not to include any red liquid substance, but instead a silver figurine and a piece of green gemstone.

"Detective, I know you are very keen on getting those two Relics. However, Relics whose traits are unknown are only dangerous when held. Regarding these two Relics, I will report them through my channels to the Church for them to recover, and if there are any rewards, I can share some with you."

Shard had no objections to her arrangement; it was Miss Beyas who located Baron Hurl, while Shard was responsible for luring him out, so both had contributed to the case.

Although they hadn't found the Forged Philosopher's Stone, Miss Beyas had obtained a list of people from Baron Hurl who might, like him, possess a Relic.

There were only two names on the list: Mr. Ponton, the owner of the Steam Engine Specialty Screw Factory in the east of the city, and Mr. Roosevelt, the accountant at the Star Grass Public Tobesk Nursing Home.

Baron Hurl had met these two individuals, knowing they had intricate connections to the Blood of Mercury.

"I am looking for the Forged Philosopher's Stone, and I don't care about the rest."

Shard clarified his stance, which was the basis for their cooperation.

"These two names, I can wait one more day, until Tuesday, to report to the Church. Before then, you can send your associates to search for what you want. If they find it, it's yours; if not, then it belongs to the Church. But you must ensure that if it's not what you are looking for, you don't take it. This will prevent startling those two individuals and stop the Church from missing the next clue."

Miss Beyas was not someone who adhered strictly to rules, even though she was a member of the True God Church, she didn't seem to care much for the Dawn Church Ring Sorcerers' regulations. But she was indeed a kind and righteous girl; if one were to classify alignments between good and evil, order and chaos, although she resided in the good law camp, she was very close to neutral.

That was probably a trait of "The Chosen One" of Balance.