Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Antiques? Are they valuable?"

Dr. Schneider asked casually while examining the body, Shard, who was checking the bloodstains around, listened as well. The sound of rain was loud, forcing the conversation among the three to be louder.

Silverware still symbolized status in this era. In adventure novels, it was common for maids and lovers to elope, taking the master's silverware to fund their travel and living expenses. If the silverware was also antique, it would be even more valuable.

"Very valuable. Even an Earl of that level could use these two sets of silverware as family heirlooms."

Miss Luisa once again showed her grasp of "useless knowledge," likely learned from another princess. Enjoy more content from empire

Shard turned and asked,

"That's strange. Isn't the doctor's investigation saying that this factory owner was just acting as an agent holding the Tobesk property for 'Blood of Mercury'? He himself shouldn't be wealthy."

He then skeptically looked at the boy's body and had a theory:

"Could it be..."

"It's still too early to say, let's keep moving."

Dr. Schneider returned the body to its original position and quietly said a prayer for the boy amidst the tapping of rain on glass, signaling the other two that they could leave.

After leaving the kitchen, the blood trail turned back to the living room and then towards the stairs.

At the top of the stairs was a very cruel scene: the bodies of an elderly woman and a middle-aged housewife clung together. The thick blood dripped down the carpeted stairs, almost leaving no spot for the trio to step.

Mr. Schneider, after checking, discovered that the two had no obvious external injuries; the blood seemed to have flowed out of their mouths.

"It's a bit like a curse."

Luisa judged, and the doctor nodded:

"I also think it's a curse triggered by arcane technique. Enter, kill the maid with one stroke, then move to the kitchen to kill the young boy, turn back to the living room, encounter the two ladies coming down the stairs, immediately use sorcery or arcane technique to kill them by making them vomit blood... We need not doubt now, the murderer is a Circle Sorcerer."

Shard looked around cautiously, wary of anything suddenly appearing in the dark, then a clap of thunder scared him:

"If there is any anomaly, remember to alert me."

He quietly said to himself.

"[No problem.]"

The murmuring voice replied.

The perpetrator evidently walked away with blood on his boots due to the large amount of blood from the two bodies. The bloodstain on the boots was faint, visible only by Shard's eyes. The trails led only upwards, not downwards.

The two examining the bodies made a new discovery. In the middle-aged housewife's neck, Dr. Schneider found a string of pearl necklaces. According to Miss Luisa's on-the-spot estimate, the necklace was worth at least 3,000 pounds.

"This is definitely not a piece of jewelry that the factory owner could afford."

Shard stated, and then the three continued walking upstairs.

Nobody suggested taking the pearl necklace or the silverware from earlier. They were not robbers or thieves; although they had intruded into the crime scene and disturbed the clues on that rainy night, the doctor, writer, and the outlander all had their own principles.

The sound of the rain masked their footsteps; the trio reached the second floor, the trail of blood extending further inside. A sixteen-year-old girl with freckles lay face-up in the center of the corridor. Her face resembled the middle-aged housewife on the stairs, and her cause of death was the same as the maid at the door, directly pierced through the heart by a sharp blade.

Shard didn't know what to say about the cruel scene before him, while the doctor, after examining it, knelt on one knee beside the body to pray for her. It was then Shard realized that Dr. Bill Schneider was a follower of the True God "Lord of All Things," also known as the "God of Nature and Malice."

The purview of this True God included "death." When Shard first arrived in this world, the Corpse Bearer who carried away the body of Detective Sparrow bore the Holy Emblem of this True God.

Miss Luisa was already suppressing her anger:

"This is too cruel, who would do such a thing?"

If they could find the murderer, the blonde girl would probably show no mercy.

In the progressively fierce rain outside, the trio followed the glimmer of the silvermoon light from Shard's fingertips and entered three bedrooms on the second floor in succession. The murderer seemed to be searching for something, but there were no signs of lingering footsteps.

The trail of blood then led them to the third floor, the top floor of the house besides the attic. Surprisingly, the window facing the staircase on the third floor was wide open; rainwater blew into the corridor along with the wind, causing the curtains to flutter ceaselessly, a scene that was particularly eerie on this stormy summer night.

"The blood trail extends down the corridor, but another trail extends out and disappears near the window."

Shard shared the information he observed.

"Did the murderer enter the third floor, do something inside, and then leave through the window?"

Miss Luisa, standing behind Shard, speculated. Since entering the house, although it was not prearranged, it had always been the doctor following Shard, with the female writer behind.

The doctor cautiously approached the window to look outside; in the stormy night, it was pitch black, and not even the street lights nearby could penetrate the curtain of rain. Such heavy rain would wash away the blood, making it impossible for Shard to continue tracking from outside the window.

"Let's first go to the third floor and see what he actually did."

The doctor said, frowning as he glanced at the windowsill, then gave Miss Luisa a meaningful look. Luisa immediately understood his intention, and tried to signal Shard, only to find that Shard had already revealed an expression that said, "So that's the trick."

The blonde girl smiled at him; the murderer clearly underestimated what Shard's "eyes" could see.

Following the blood trail to the third floor and turning into the study, they finally discovered the body of Mr. Ponton, the owner of the house who ran a screw factory.

The gas lamp on the wall of the study was off, but the gas lamp on the desk was on, casting light directly on the body.

Mr. Ponton, dressed in a loose homely shirt, sat at his desk with his head down. Shard stood at the entrance of the study, Miss Luisa went to examine the papers on the desk, and the doctor examined the body:

"The cause of death is different from the ones downstairs; it seems like his brain was shattered by a sorcery known as 'Brain Crush.' I noticed a mark on his forehead, this principle is similar to the sorcery known as 'Corpse Explosion,' which is very famous. With that, unless we use necromancy, nobody would know what was in the deceased's head. What's on the desk?"

"Account books,"

Miss Luisa said.

Raindrops beat against the window, and thunder rumbled overhead. Suddenly, Shard sharply turned towards the other side of the corridor:

"I think I saw a shadow!"

"A shadow? Be careful, don't act rashly."

The doctor frowned and walked to the door of the study, intending to join Shard at the end of the corridor, while Miss Luisa continued to examine the documents on the desk.

A lightning bolt cut through the sky, and in the brief moment before the thunder followed, illuminated by the lightning, the figure of a man holding a dagger silently appeared behind Miss Luisa.

He raised the sharp dagger towards the back of the female writer.