Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 711 - : Person of Reverse Life

Chapter 711 -711: Person of Reverse Life

Anxious, Shard stepped out of Sin Mansion’s gate, looking back at the courtyard filled with golden yellow fallen leaves. Ordinary people could hardly imagine how dangerous this place was.

Sister Delphine and Mr. Benhart hadn’t left yet. They were waiting for Shard by the path lined with crushed stones leading away from the gate. The nun was holding a very familiar-looking oil lamp. As Shard approached, he noticed dozens of blind nuns wearing silver eye masks standing in the woods; Sister Delphine had indeed not come alone.

Shard hadn’t noticed them upon his arrival, probably because he had come early, and the figure he saw before entering must have been Mr. Armand Benhart.

“My business here is done as well.”

Shard waved at them, prompting the nun and Mr. Benhart, who was dressed in a suit, to halt their conversation and turn toward him.

“Mr. Hamilton, thank you very much for this time.”

He placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed slightly to show his gratitude, appearing to have fully confirmed Shard’s identity. Shard was somewhat worried about this, but before he could express his concern, Sister Delphine whispered:

“Mr. Armand Benhart can be trusted.”

Shard nodded:

“There’s no need to thank me. I just hope we can keep each other’s secrets.”

“Of course, compared to you, I’m actually the one who’s worried about leaking my identity to the True God Church. After all, you are human, but I am not.”

As he spoke, the elegant middle-aged man took out two business cards and handed one each to Shard and the nun:

“If you need anything, you can find me at this address. Now, if you’ll excuse me, goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Mr. Benhart turned and left. Shard glanced at the business card, which was the same as the one he had received in Trash Alley behind the Sicarl Inn.

“What were you two discussing just now?”

Shard curiously asked the nun, their relationship was good, so such a question wasn’t considered impolite.

“He heard from somewhere that the Order might be connected with the Witch Council, so he wants to establish a relationship with the Witch Council to acquire a Relic.”

The nun explained, then gestured for Shard to follow them down the mountain. Shard wanted to entrust the Spiritual Practice Order to deal with the problem on the third floor of his home, so it happened he didn’t want to part ways with the Order either.

“Mr. Hamilton, did you meet the Ancient One at the top of the mountain?”

The hem of Sister Delphine’s gray-black nun’s robe was very long, almost sweeping the fallen leaves off the ground as she walked. But judging from the sound of stepping on dry leaves, she must be wearing a pair of boots.

“Yes, its condition is very bad. I used Arcane Technique inherited from ‘Yellow Moon’ to temporarily restore its sanity. The Ancient One acknowledged its poor state, but still imparted power to me, allowing me to help everyone escape just now… Oh, one more thing, it mentioned four ‘nails’.”

The nuns from the Order walked in two rows, with Shard and Sister Delphine side by side in the middle.

Regarding the so-called “four nails,” Sister Delphine was not surprised:

“If you had gone into town today, Granny Cassandra would have told you about it. With the help of the Prophet’s Society, the Church has made significant progress in its research on the state of the Interstice.”

More precisely, as the Church of the Five Gods was making final preparations for the ritual that would greatly affect the seal on the Interstice, they accidentally unearthed information left by an Ancient Circle Mage in the Sicarl Mountain Region.

With the decryption of Ancient Script, the assistance of the Prophet’s Society, and the special power of the key figure known as ‘Miss Balance,’ coupled with the fragment of the Whispering Verses about ‘death,’ they finally learned the entire process of the impending disaster.

After three earthquakes, the seals at the foot, middle, and top of the mountain would gradually fail. At the same time, the Power of Death accumulated in the Interstice, temporarily unable to be released, will prompt the return of four departed lives back to the world.

No one will remember they had left, not even they themselves will remember. But they will serve as the nails that firmly bind the Interstice and reality together, accelerating the approach of death.

The eruption of death turning the Sicarl Mountain Region into the final act before the haunt would be when all three channel seals completely fail. Finding and removing those four souls who have returned to the world would effectively delay this process.

“The four souls carry the most fundamental Power of Death. Once the Interstice collapses, the power of any one of them will not be weaker than an Angel-Level Relic. Therefore, even for the aftermath once the disaster strikes, finding and dealing with them is a must.”

The nun informed Shard.

The group continued through the woodland; the Spiritual Practice Order was very familiar with this Sicarl Mountain.

“So, are we already in the final stage before the disaster?”

“Yes, according to the current signs and the report from the Prophet’s Society, if the four nails aren’t found, the disaster is bound to happen before the end of the Month of Withered Moon.”

“So soon? Oh, but it’s actually not that soon.”

Shard shook his head.

Aside from the matter of the Interstice, Sister Delphine also had preliminary results of an Investigation concerning Joey Barton, the “boy” from the Raven Club who could cover his eyes with a Roder Card and then see others’ deaths.

At the Disciples Club in the city center, where Shard first met Sister Delphine, the nun told Shard about the investigation:

“Overall, he’s a rare Person of Reverse Life.”

“Sorry, is that a proprietary noun? I don’t quite understand,”

Having thanked the servant for the teacup, Shard began listening to the nun recount the investigation report.

Just as Shard thought, the “boy” was not a boy at all.

Joey Barton was born in the year 1810 of the Common Calendar of the Sixth Era and was now forty-three years old in the current year of 1853. He was a local of Midshire Fort, born into an ordinary family in the southern part of the city.

His father was a foreman at the steam factory, and his mother worked as a workwoman in a woolen mill, both of whom had passed away more than twenty years ago.

More than forty years before Joey Barton’s birth, it was still very common to give birth at home. However, due to a breech birth, Mrs. Barton gave birth to her child in a hospital, which, by a curious coincidence, belonged to the property of the Spiritual Practice Order.

Sister Delphine easily found the birth record and confirmed Joey Barton’s identity.

“He suffers from a strange disease.”

The nun’s voice remained as calm as ever:

“His body grew rapidly after birth and then aged rapidly. By the age of three, his height, weight, and various physiological indicators were almost identical to those of a man in his seventies.”

A very calm voice told a very horrifying story.

Shard listened intently, deeply curious about this suspected Chosen One.

“But afterward, he did not continue to age but instead became younger as he grew older. This period did not occur in Midshire Fort. After the age of three, Joey Barton was sent away by his family for treatment.”

The nun handed a photo to Shard, who set down the teacup and took the photo, seeing a middle-aged man lying in bed:

“This is what Joey Barton looked like at fifteen. By then, he had aged from old to middle-aged. This is also the most complete photo that the Order could find before he returned to Milestone at the age of thirty-two, showing his appearance as a young adult.”

“Born as an old man, middle-aged during his teenage years, young in his prime, and now a child, oh, so this is the Person of Reverse Life you were talking about… His life must have been filled with many stories, right?”

Shard said with a sigh of admiration.

“Indeed, but three days is hardly enough for the Order to uncover these stories,”

Sister Delphine paused:

“It is worth noting that the investigation also found no origin of his becoming a Circle Sorcerer. When he returned to Milestone at thirty-two, he was already a Circle Sorcerer and then joined the Raven Club.”

“He became a Circle Sorcerer while away?”

“Yes, and his rare disease should have been reported in the newspapers. Moreover, after the death of Mr. Barton and Mrs. Barton, the source of his treatment funds is unclear. There is reason to believe that an unknown Circle Sorcerer Organization discovered him, took an interest in him, provided funds for his treatment, and led him through the gates of transcendence after he awakened his Talent. But obviously, his Talent… is not outstanding.”

After all, he was only First Ring.

“Joey Barton may very well have secrets about the Interstice in his hands. His special disease could also be related to the Interstice. The Order will continue to investigate him, and once Granny Cassandra and Lady Aphrola return from Sicarl Mountain, I will request assistance from the Witch Council.”

The two witches went up the mountain today to investigate the large cavity inside the mountain that Shard mentioned.

“I’m also very interested in him and plan to make another appointment later. Next time, I’ll bring another very powerful friend of mine to meet him.”

Only Luviya could recognize a Chosen One at a glance, while Iluna, being a Chosen One herself, had only a vague perception of other Chosen Ones. Shard wanted to take Iluna to meet all three current suspects.

“No need to make an appointment. After we visited last Sunday, we have already used the relationship with Cassandra Auction House to make an advance booking. You can go there tomorrow afternoon.”

The nun handed Shard a badge with a raven pattern:

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“If there are any new clues, please share them with the Order.”

“No problem.”

Shard nodded, believing that among Priest Augustus, Sister Delphine, and Joey Barton, Mr. Barton’s suspicion as the first candidate for the Chosen by Death had been greatly magnified.

Having discussed Mr. Barton’s matters, Shard finally got the chance to bring up his own affairs. Since Sister Delphine already knew Shard’s identity, he no longer needed to conceal that he lived at No. 6, Saint Delan Square in Tobesk.

He hoped the nun could use the Traveler’s Gate to make a brief trip to Tobesk to “observe” the situation on the third floor and determine whether an interstice portal of that scale could be sealed off.

Because of the help Shard provided at Sin Mansion, Sister Delphine naturally wouldn’t refuse Shard’s request. However, the Traveler’s Gate needed to be transported to Midshire Fort before the nun could use it to travel to Saint Delan Square.

And whoever hired a carriage to transport such a heavy object from the Ruined Tower down the mountain would inevitably leave traces that couldn’t be hidden.

Considering the secrets of both the Ruined Tower and the Spatial Labyrinth, Shard finally decided to invite the nun to meet him in the basement of the Ruined Tower in the mountains that evening.

Although this would unavoidably lead the nun to guess the secret of Shard’s travels between the two places, there was no helping it. Using the Spatial Labyrinth to travel between the two was not Shard’s core secret. For the sake of his family’s safety, it was acceptable for this seemingly all-seeing nun to be in on it.

Though his acquaintance with the nun was not long, Shard believed she was of high moral character and a person worthy of trust.

Without having lunch in Midshire Fort, Shard, brimming with excitement, returned home. He then picked up Mia and went to the Prophet’s Society to wait for Luviya to finish work. He had many things to share with Luviya—about the revival of the Undead, the secrets of the Person of Reverse Life, and those two new Blood Coins.

The trip to Sin Mansion had finally brought new progress to the matters at Milestone.