Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic
Chapter 924 - 924: The Road on the Lake

Due to the wild playing at the wedding celebration on Tuesday night, Shard practically did nothing this Wednesday. But by Thursday, it was time to resume handling the matters at hand.

After getting up early, he first used the manuscript pages he had to schedule an evening meeting with librarian Miss Danester. Then, he caught the energetic Mia, strolling around the house after breakfast, and despite her fierce struggle to stay in, took her with him to Huntington City.

Yesterday, Shard had already left a message for Sister Delphine at Midshire Fort, agreeing on the specific time to use the Magician's Escape Box.

He arrived at White Valley Vineyard half an hour earlier than the agreed nine o'clock. To prevent the Ancient God Statue from affecting the "escape ritual," he specifically left the cellar and arranged the ritual at the vineyard house.

The servants staying at the vineyard during the winter were not qualified to use the house, so the space here was ample. Although the old Vampire Kind responsible for watching the warehouse during winter didn't know what Shard wanted to do, he still helped him cooperatively.

Tobesk had already welcomed the first snow, while Huntington City was still waiting in early winter.

For Mia, visiting Huntington for the first time, she apparently wasn't interested in such unfamiliar places. However, the cats raised at White Valley Vineyard to catch mice soon bothered her, and upon realizing they had "malicious intent" towards Shard, the small orange cat furiously "roared" for quite a while, scaring off three Carsonrick Wildcats at least three times her size.

Shard still doesn't understand why Mia possesses such an intimidating power over her kind.

At nine o'clock, with the Ritual Circle that should be ineffective and completely different from contemporary mystical rituals starting to glow, Sister Delphine appeared in the radiance, with her head lowered and hands clasped.

Using the Relic Magician's Escape Box ought to feel like minor piercing by a blade, but the nun's expression didn't change. Upon "seeing" Shard holding the cat, she only greeted softly, as if she hadn't traversed over a thousand miles but merely visited the neighbor next door.

After removing the Ritual Circle from the ground, Shard took the nun to the hidden space behind the walls in the underground wine cellar at White Valley Vineyard, touching the Ancient God Statue to establish a route marker. Since the nun had already touched the statue at the Ruined Tower in the Sicarl Mountain last time, she formally established the Midshire Fort-Huntington teleportation channel.

They led horses from the stable, with Shard and Sister Delphine each riding one. Though blind riding sounded dangerous, Sister Delphine, with her face covered in a blindfold, indeed rode a horse.

They didn't enter the city but instead headed west from White Valley Vineyard, located in the eastern plains of the city.

Shard originally worried Sister Delphine might not be adept at horseback riding, but the remarkable horsemanship displayed by this blind nun even made Shard doubt whether people in this world learned "horsemanship" as a basic course alongside literacy.

Today's Huntington was somewhat overcast, but it didn't hinder them from enjoying the scenery of this City's red wine far suburbs. As they approached Lake Kalek marked on the map of Western Huntington, Shard signaled to Sister Delphine to stop:

"Sister, the 'Lake Goddess' hinted to me to bring an intelligent enough animal, which will guide us. That's why I chose here. Let's walk nearby and try to forget our original purpose; Mia will probably soon lead us."

The main reason is that there are no villages or towns nearby, so Sister Delphine's peculiar attire need not worry about being seen.

"Meow?"

Upon hearing her name mentioned, the cat lying on the horse's head glanced at Shard. Amusingly, after dismounting, Shard originally placed Mia on the saddle, but Mia probably felt the scenery wasn't good enough from the saddle or simply thought it wasn't high enough, so she climbed onto the horse's head.

And the black horse didn't mind at all, very obediently keeping Mia on its head, making this cat resemble a "horse controller."

Sister Delphine led the horse walking beside Shard, as the two advanced along the country road by the lake. The temperature in early winter wasn't particularly low, but close to the lake, the cold wind could still be felt. Recent weeks saw daily temperature drops. The lake surface hadn't frozen yet, but local fishermen were no longer seen nearby.

The country road bordered a large lake on one side, and unused wasteland on the other, with a distant view of a patch of dead forest appearing to be a purchased orchard nearby.

As they walked and chatted, Shard recounted the discovery of the fourth Chosen One in Tobesk, sharing the clues of the "Keeper of Secrets" and "Sage's Glowstone" with the nun. He also asked the nun how she intended to handle the "Evil Creatures of Pantanal." This rare existence, capable of being burned as firewood by Primal Fire, was certainly something the nun wouldn't overlook.

"Though I am a High Ring Sorcerer and also The Chosen One, I'm still somewhat inadequate compared to the mysterious Pantanal region. The Order is purchasing a private hospital in Huntington City, planning to develop it into a church enterprise and stationing the Order's nuns locally to commence an investigation. After collecting intelligence for one or two months, I will seek aid from the Witch Council, collaborating with the Council's Grand Witch to penetrate the swamp and locate the sealing site of the evil creatures."

This thorough and careful approach, while time-consuming, was indeed prudent and reasonable. After Shard expressed his admiration, the nun turned her head to "gaze" west, where the Pantanal Swamp truly lay:

"The Spiritual Practice Order believes in animism. The Order's blind nuns can keenly sense the world. Pantanal Swamp isn't as simple as we imagine it to be. Even though we haven't penetrated the region yet, I can still perceive those terrifying existences."

Although Sister Delphine used Delarion language, it was an ancient grammar, and Shard had to think a bit after understanding to fully grasp its meaning:

"You mean, Pantanal region is as dangerous as Sicarl Mountain was not too long ago?"

```

"No."

The nun shook her head slightly, and Shard's gaze lingered on her silver-gray hair for a moment.

"Even more dangerous than Biscarr Mountain."

"Ha~"

Shard sighed, but was not surprised at all. Not only wasn't he surprised, but he was also not worried. No matter how dangerous the Pantanal Swamp was, it had nothing to do with him. Huntington City may be near the swamp, but it wasn't in the swamp area.

The two chatted while walking, making time pass quickly. Shard and the nun led the horses as the country's winter wind blew against their clothes; the horse carried Mia, who sat perched on the horse's head, looking around curiously. Her eyes took in the unfamiliar scenery as her fur was pressed down by the wind, and she seemed to be enjoying the feeling of the breeze.

At ten forty-three in the morning, when Shard inquired Sister Delphine about her knowledge of the Truth Society, the cat suddenly turned its head to gaze at the distant, silent lake and then, seemingly having discovered something, softly called out:

"Meow~"

Her voice was not obvious outdoors, and Shard did not initially hear it, only noticing the cat's unusual behavior from "her" reminder.

"What is it?"

Shard looked at the cat with anticipation and reached out to pick her up from the horse's head, but Mia unexpectedly jumped onto the horseback and then leapt to the ground.

Shard was stunned at that moment. Ever since the battle at Midshire Fort, where he had appointed Mia to watch over Grace and Helen, he hadn't seen the cat's little paws touch the ground outdoors.

The orange and white kitten raised her head, twitched her pink nose as she sniffed the air intently, then looked back at Shard and stepped towards the riverbank.

Shard and Sister Delphine thus led the horses and followed down the river slope, finding that the cat was almost directly headed to the shores of Lake Kalek. Around the natural lake in this wetland area was muddy ground, yet the typically clean-loving cat walked directly onto it, but no paw prints were left on the mud.

Just as Shard again began to question if the cat was behaving normally, he noticed that neither he, Sister Delphine, nor the two horses left any footprints on the muddy ground.

The cat continued deeper along the lake, eventually entering the water. But rather than sinking, it seemed as if it had learned "Water Walking" and stood atop the water, gesturing for Shard to follow.

The lake surface under the cat's paws bore not a ripple, and the orange cat seemed invigorated, constantly looking back as if admonishing Shard for walking too slowly.

"Yes, Miracle Element!"

[There is a hidden road ahead.]

"She" said laughingly beside Shard's ear.

Shard also attempted to stretch his foot towards the water surface, and sure enough, found a solid road invisible above the rippling water.

Yet, he was unsure how wide the surface road was, or if he and the nun could walk side by side.

Sister Delphine, knowledgeable as a High Ring Sorcerer, naturally knew how to handle the current situation.

Her slender fingers swayed forward, sending several stones radiating different glimmers at irregular spots upon the water. Most sank into the water, yet a few "floated" on the water, marking the location of the hidden road.

"Sorcery - Luminous Stone. Creation of non-material luminous stones. The stones can persist for a long duration by expending additional Spirit during spellcasting, allowing the caster to determine if the target stones are their creation. Often used to mark paths and gauge height in nocturnal explorations and ancient tomb excavations, and sometimes serving as dim lighting."

Sister Delphine noticed Shard's amazement and softly explained.

This should be basic sorcery, but unfortunately, Shard's "Book of Pink" didn't include such sorcery. The Basic Sorcery list in the "Book of Pink" provided by "Desire" was quite lengthy but leaned more toward... practicality.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.