Free Web NovelChapter 2027: Chapter 2027: Homebound People
"It’s Friday, Rain-Prayer Moon 30th, six thirteen in the morning."
Shard was calculating the time in his mind. Then, stretching out his arms amidst Helen’s laughter, the pair of red butterflies transformed into girls wearing black and white dresses, falling onto the bed.
Their weight wasn’t much, but the impact of their landing still caused the squatting Mia to seemingly levitate off the bed. It was clear the cat wasn’t in a good mood, but luckily the bed had been replaced after a certain "incident" in the past; it was sturdy and durable now, preventing any collapses.
"Good morning, Grace, He..."
The butterflies didn’t give Shard a chance to greet; Helen hugged Shard’s neck and kissed him, while Grace, on the other side, both advised her sister to be modest and invited Shard to join them for breakfast at Cassandra Auction House later:
"Good morning, sir. Breakfast is around eight; we arrived at Milestone Train Station last night."
Helen released Shard too, with a big smile on her face:
"But sir, would you like some dessert before breakfast?"
Grace helplessly hugged her sister from behind, but also smiled at Shard:
"Butterfly-flavored pastries, two should be enough, right?"
The "long-lost" reunited butterflies showed boundless enthusiasm, so Shard, holding hands with Helen and Grace and with a disgruntled-looking cat on his shoulder, arrived at Cassandra Auction House in Midshire Fort at ten past eight, still in time for breakfast.
After breakfast, Shard chatted with Granny Cassandra and the Red Butterfly Sisters about meeting Miss Feliana on Wednesday, hoping they could help find the [Hope Diamond].
Searching for an Unclassified Level Relic takes time, but antiques related to ancient stories are plentiful at Cassandra Auction House. After breakfast, the flaxen-haired young witch apprentice took Shard to the warehouse to choose. This time, the number of antiques was more than all the ones Shard had tried combined.
Yet, even so, only one item triggered the "butterfly paper card" effect, which clearly illustrated how low the probability was as mentioned in Laplace Klein’s alchemical handwriting about how few suitable items really were.
The antique found in the warehouse was also an ancient alchemical item from the Fourth Era. Its survival until now was not only due to the ancient alchemists’ exquisite skills but also because it was sealed within an ancient tomb and only discovered over a decade ago.
It was a rope roughly 10 feet (about 3 meters) long, controlled through special techniques to bind enemies like manipulating a snake. But overall, it wasn’t very useful; spells like the "animated rope trick" could easily replace its effect.
The rope’s true value lay in it being a tool supposedly used by an elven hero from the ancient legend "Forest Wind Song," proven by its discovery in the ancient tomb where the tomb owner was the hero’s real-life friend.
Thus, Shard made a "butterfly paper card" for each of the six cities he could reach, except for Tobesk.
"Could it be that one card can only come from one city? What a strange rule!"
However, the current five cards were enough for Dorothy and Lecia. The trend of fusion between Miss Writer and Her Highness the Princess, both Sixth Ring, was greatly slowed by the Chosen One Ceremony. As long as Shard could still make "butterfly cards" in the future, their issue wouldn’t be a concern.
Of course, since Shard was in Midshire Fort today, he also didn’t forget to buy a train ticket to the town where Miss Gawder lived.
The lady’s address could be found on the monthly envelope she sent. The coastal town next to Tis Lake was indeed remote, as the postman wouldn’t even come to the door, forcing mails to always be sent from the neighboring "Sacrifistown."
There’s no direct train from Midshire Fort to that town, but Shard wasn’t impulsively deciding on this journey, so he prepared his travel plans ahead of time.
He bought a ticket from Midshire Fort to Astra City, the eastern coastal city of Draleon, then transferred to another train heading north, getting off at Sacrifistown, and then walking or taking a carriage to the remote hometown of Miss Gawder.
Shard found it difficult to get specific information about the town; apart from gaining bits of information from Miss Gawder’s monthly letters, he couldn’t even find the town’s location on most maps—it was too small to be marked on maps as a populated place.
For this trip, Shard even prepared for getting lost halfway, and the ticket he purchased had a departure date set for next Friday. With the Sunlight Moon, or June, approaching on Sunday, he planned to welcome back Dr. Schneider and Priest Augustus, remind Durut Giles about his future life, receive Miss Gawder’s early-month letter, and handle the early-month household matters before setting out.
"Anyway, I don’t plan to do anything else in the next month; this journey should go smoothly, right?"
"If the road is blocked, I can hike over it myself; in the case of earthquakes and landslides, I can fly over; if a large number of monsters appear due to unstable space or filth on the earth causing the church to block the road, I’ll set off with the Grand Witch. I refuse to believe that this visit can be delayed again."
His travel plans were naturally shared with the girls around him, as this wasn’t Shard’s first mention of visiting Miss Gawder, so the girls had no objections. They just advised Shard not to wander and to return home after the visit, and not to engage in a fight over the ownership of the cat.
On Saturday, while welcoming the returning priest and doctor at the train station, Shard even informed them of his plan to travel again. Originally, the doctor wanted to admonish Shard since the summer exams were getting closer. But when he heard that Shard was aiming to gain custody of Mia, given Shard’s relationship with pets, the doctor immediately understood:
"Seeing your determination, I can only wish you luck... Early departure and early return, and don’t forget to bring us travel souvenirs."
As for Durut Giles and Laster Edwards, also returning from Green Lake City, Shard escorted them back to their residence and made an agreement using Arcane Technique - Oath Binding:
"You will keep all secrets you learned in Green Lake City and not divulge anyone’s identity information. You will accompany Laster Edwards for life, even death cannot separate you."
The weight of the oath carried deep significance, yet he still grasped Shard’s hand, and amidst the girl’s soul’s excitement, recited the vow.
Henceforth, he would remain in Tobesk, continuing his career as a history lecturer. Perhaps in the future, Shard might meet him again on the streets while walking his cat. Shard hopes this would be the end of their story.
Although the doctor and priest returned on Saturday morning, they still held a group meeting that afternoon. Everyone had been away for several days, delaying many matters, so that day’s group meeting took quite a bit of time.
Of course, the doctor did not forget to remind everyone about the summer exams. Although it’s at the end of July, still nearly two months away, in the doctor’s view, two months will pass in the blink of an eye:
"Since Shard joined our group, everyone’s level has increased smoothly. But we mustn’t forget theoretical and cultural courses. We aren’t just madmen who know only fighting and killing. Although the summer exams aren’t advancement exams, in preparation for the winter exams coming shortly after, I urge everyone to strive hard over the next month."
"Doctor, can winter exams really be called ’soon’?"
Miss Writer questioned, and the doctor nodded solemnly:
"For any exam, as soon as we develop complacency, in the blink of an eye, it arrives... I even believe this might be the effect of some undiscovered relic."
The other four were simply normal participants of the summer exams, but Miss Danester had arranged for Shard to skip from fourth to sixth grade... though he was already Seventh Ring in fact.
As for the study course on Saturday evening, it naturally proceeded as normal. After the group meeting, Dorothy followed Shard home, had dinner sitting on the sofa, and talked a bit about Butterfly Cards and "Maze Lock - Lovers of the Bell Tower," before resting her right hand on Shard’s leg.
"Didn’t you say you wanted to take a break? Teacher Luisa even granted you rare leave this week, so we don’t learn new stories. Shard, would you mind referring to me as ’Teacher Luisa’ for a while later?"
The golden-haired girl asked with a smile, then communicated briefly with Lecia, and soon a delicate pair of gold-framed glasses appeared in her hand:
"Such new talents are really useful."
Once deciding to relax, life suddenly became extraordinarily leisurely. Despite tasks such as researching at Edwards’ Old House, reading books quickly consumed time. Occasionally, as Shard immersed himself at the desk, upon looking toward the window again, it was already dusk.
The day following the doctor’s and priest’s return, Sunday, was the Sunlight Moon, the first day of June in 1854. It was the same month last year when the Outlander arrived in this world.
But no matter how nostalgic one felt, life must continue smoothly. Handling daily affairs, going on dates with the girls, reading and studying, attending Miss Danester’s elective class at Saint Byrons via projection ceremony, all kept life vibrant.
On the second day of June, Tifa arrived with a convoy to deliver furniture for Shard’s new third-floor room. As the room was to be kept secret from others, the maids spent a day arranging it personally for Shard, installing compressed gas cans, gas lamps, curtains, hanging oil paintings, and even helping repaint the walls.
They even relocated the magic potions and Alchemical Workshop from the basement upstairs without involving Shard directly. As their recompense, that evening, the eight maids and Shard gathered around the new room’s table for dinner.
After dinner, the beautiful black-haired Head Maid went alone to Shard’s bedroom on the second floor, reportedly to check the "Night Light Pocket Watch" that the detective had taken from the gift box that morning.
Such a wonderful holiday.
