Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 390 Report

This special card was extremely precious, and Shard wanted to err on the side of caution, so naturally, he sought the help of the vice president he was well acquainted with, Mr. Cyndia Mark.

In preparation for organizing next month's Big City Players' Roder Card competition, Mr. Mark had recently been extremely busy, but upon hearing that Shard was looking for him, he still made time to meet with Shard:

"Wait... Mr. Hamilton, don't tell me you've obtained a new Roder Card again?"

After some pleasantries, the man leading Shard up the stairs suddenly paused, then skilfully reached out to grab the handrail:

"Alright, you can tell me now."

His eyes were filled with anticipation.

"Yes, a new Roder Card, you actually guessed it."

Shard nodded.

"The very ancient kind?"

Mr. Mark asked again cautiously.

"Yes, I would like an appraisal."

No sooner had Shard finished speaking than he saw Mr. Mark clutch his chest as if he was about to suffer a heart attack.

"How could you... oh no, not Genesis Series. Not that one. This one, this one."

Shard hurriedly explained, then took out a card from the Demon Series.

The middle-aged man in a black suit took deep breaths and scrutinized the card, his face gradually returning to normal upon realizing it wasn't a Genesis:

"Demon Series? Now that is a rare card."

"Yes, although it's not Genesis, this is still an old Roder Card. I was hoping to have the association's appraisers take a look at it."

Shard made his request known.

"No problem, but it will take a few hours."

Mr. Mark's breathing steadied, his expression serious. Although it wasn't a Genesis Series card, this one was still valuable enough to be considered priceless... if it was genuine:

"The Tobesk Branch has never appraised a card from the Demon Series, but the senior appraisers who came from the headquarters for the Big City Players should be able to do so."

"Then I'll leave the card here, and come back to pick it up tonight or tomorrow."

"No, that won't do, it's against the rules. The owner must be present during the appraisal."

Mr. Mark immediately emphasized, this was both to protect the cardholder and the association.

"It's okay, I trust the association, and aren't we friends?"

Shard shrugged nonchalantly, truthfully not holding much hope for the card.

After leaving Silver Cross Avenue, Shard returned home to greet Dorothy and Mia, who wore a ring on her tail, and under curious glances from the two, he went back down to the basement and returned to Coldwater Port.

As he spoke, he took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to the priest in front of him:

"Father, please donate this money to the church on my behalf. I can't, as a sinner, face the Holy Emblem and the Divine Statue. If I truly marry her, Father, I will come back to thank you."

Shard tried to make his performance truly heartfelt.

"Then I wish you happiness, young man. You may have been wrapped up in dark thoughts, but the Deity will guide you towards the direction of the Glimmer. Make sure you understand what you really want before making any decisions."

The priest took the envelope, showing a kind smile. Standing on the bustling street, beside the brass gas pipes glistening in the sunshine after the rain, paired with the rainbow after the rain had cleared, the scene did have a somewhat divine quality to it.

But Shard never lifted his head and walked away after bidding farewell to the priest.

The middle-aged priest, holding the envelope, headed towards the church; he couldn't possibly open the donation from the believer in the middle of the street, plus the donations to the church were always checked for amount. Therefore, the envelope would definitely be opened inside the church, and besides the single one-shilling bill and dozens of pieces of paper with "one shilling" written on them that Shard had put inside, the letter tucked in between them was bound to be discovered.

"It's like spending one shilling to send a letter."

Thinking this, Shard was quite pleased with his action just now.

Of course, to prevent the church from immediately opening the letter and then chasing after him, Shard didn't linger in the area. But he hadn't even walked out of the street when he saw a carriage approaching from the corner.

The appearance of a carriage on such a busy street wasn't a problem, but this wasn't a public four-wheeled carriage for hire.

Shard only needed to glance over the crowd to judge that the handcrafted ironwork of the carriage frame was definitely expensive, and the robust appearance of the hatted coachman was different from that of an ordinary driver.

"A noble's private carriage?"

He stood still for a moment, and in the time it took for the carriage to get closer, Shard saw the family crest on the side of the carriage.

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"Is that... the Aphrola family crest? Oh, it's Hevy Aurora! It's the witch."

Upon realizing this, Shard quickly headed for a side alley off the street. Just then, a slight gap opened in the carriage window, as the woman inside glanced out curiously at Shard's retreating figure but quickly lost interest.

Because he ran fast enough, the second Grand Witch of the Witch Council who appeared before Shard's eyes didn't notice anything unusual about this man.

The chance encounter with Hevy Aurora induced a huge sense of crisis in Shard. Although Miss Galina seemed fairly normal, he did embrace the argument that most of the people from the Witch Council were not mentally sound.

In order to make himself safer, the production of alchemical tools, which he had seen in Miss Feliana's notebook, could not be delayed.

After leaving the vicinity of the Nature Chapel, Shard went straight back to the Seven Brooms Tavern and paid the high price of 69 pounds to take possession of the alchemical materials he had purchased. After confirming that only the most important core material was missing, namely the witch's hair, Shard didn't stay in the city and rode a carriage straight to Sophia's Mansion in the north of the city.

Princess Lecia had just come back from the city as well and saw Shard holding a bag, looking as though he'd had a fright, so she inquired about what he had done that day.

"I... first went to the tavern to buy things, then played Roder Card at a small inn, and before coming back, I went to the church to make a donation."

He thought for a moment and simply recounted his day.

"Oh?"

The Princess walked alongside Shard in the corridor, turned her head to look at him, and her beautiful brows furrowed slightly:

"Shard, it sounds like after you entered the city, you delegated the tavern to make purchases and then spent a whole day playing cards. On your way back, you passed by the church and decided to make a donation to assuage your unease about wasting time."