Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

The flower pot is quite exquisite, like a custom-made ceramic art piece. After Shard inquired, it was confirmed that this pot of flowers was gifted to Little Franco by a certain lady. Shard also discovered letter engravings at the bottom of the pot, letters that were almost identical to those found in Miss Norma's home:

[I will be buried in the mountains, united with the earth.]

"No... don't touch that pot of flowers..."

A weak voice came from behind. Shard set the flower pot down and looked back to see Little Franco, who finally had enough strength to speak.

This was good news, so under the care of the servants and Old Mr. Franco, Shard sat by the bed and had a brief conversation with the frail man.

The winter sunshine illuminated the side of the weak man's face as he leaned against the headboard. His sunken eyes and pale lips looked so frightful in the sunlight.

"May I ask what your relationship with Miss Norma is?"

"I love her, deeply in love."

The young man struggled to get the words out of his mouth. Despite his weakness, his eyes were so firm when he spoke. The expression of Old Mr. Franco became noticeably more sorrowful. Shard did not comment on this emotion:

"Why do you love her? Because of her beauty? Because of her eloquence? Because of her good nature?"

"All of it, embracing her feels like... being held by a mother in childhood."

Shard pursed his lips, Old Mr. Franco grew even more sorrowful, and the servants all turned aside, pretending not to have heard the words.

"I am Shard Hamilton, a detective in the city... oh, by the look on your face, you've heard my name. So, do you know if Miss Norma behaved oddly at any time?"

Little Franco struggled to shake his head:

"She is fine, everything is fine, she loves life, loves the earth, loves... me."

Shard tried hard not to make an unusual expression:

"Miss Norma is missing. If you want to help her, please speak the truth. In the name of Rejed's Hamilton, what you say will not be shared with anyone."

He glanced up at Old Mr. Franco, who nodded, signaling the servants to leave the room temporarily, leaving only the three of them and a cat, the drowsy cat nestled quietly in the deep pocket of Shard's coat.

"Norma she... maybe she has some self-destructive tendencies."

After hesitating for quite a while, the frail Little Franco finally spoke:

"Sometimes, I really feel like she's a fragile vase. So beautiful, yet so fragile... When we're alone, she's told me countless times that she will return to the earth. The earth has nurtured her, and she will return everything to the earth... I once peeked... peeked at her journal..."

It seems that it's not that Miss Norma didn't keep a journal, but that the journal was taken as well.

"She had planned to, at the peak of her beauty, return herself to the earth... she even made plans for it... I originally thought it was the lone rambling of a woman..."

"Oh~"

Old Mr. Franco groaned a bit, unable to believe his son knew such a person. In the Church of the Five Gods' doctrine, suicide is a huge sin. Besides, this sounds like a sacrifice from some sort of so-called cult.

Shard slightly frowned:

"What is the plan?"

"She wrote very briefly, only expressing with excitement that the time would come soon... I don't know what this specifically refers to."

"Do you really know nothing?"

Shard slightly lowered his voice, Little Franco laboriously turned his head to look at him. For an instant, this mentally confused young man inexplicably showed a terrified expression, swallowing hard, this time nodding affirmatively:

"Yes, truly nothing. But, maybe someone else knows. My relationship with Norma is actually not the best. I know she has other acquaintances... Sir, perhaps you, like my father, think I'm crazy, but my love doesn't compare to the madness of those others... they are willing to do anything for her."

Little Franco's clues, by this point, Shard had gathered most of what he could. Little Franco softly exclaimed:

"She is such a unique person, unique. The real world is so dull, she is like the only green shoot in a desert. Even knowing she cannot last, I am still willing to give her my..."

His voice grew weaker, and Old Mr. Franco immediately called for the doctor to come in, then conversed with Shard outside the door.

"Mr. Hamilton, I'm truly sorry for what you had to witness just now... You will continue to search for Mr. Martin while also looking for Miss Norma, won't you?"

The old gentleman asked with concern. After Shard nodded, he took out his checkbook from his pocket and filled out a number for him:

"If you can find Miss Norma, please try to bring her here. I wish to have a serious talk with that lady, no matter what method is used, I must persuade her to leave my son."

Shard glanced at the number on the check, raising an eyebrow slightly. 30 pounds, just to bring the woman here, while an ordinary worker at a steam or textile factory in Tobesk couldn't earn that in a year:

"I can take on your commission. But from the current clues, the lady might have, of course, it's only a possibility, met with misfortune."

Shard conveyed his judgment as gently as he could, not expecting Old Mr. Franco's face to remain unchanged:

"Hamilton Detective, if you can bring me news of her death, I am willing to pay double, no, triple the remuneration... Yes, as long as it's news of her death... you understand what I mean."

Shard pretended not to notice the implication in his words.

The clues did not end there. On the contrary, due to this brief conversation, Shard learned more. He did not hastily take away the problematic potted plant, but instead, after having lunch with Mia, spent the entire afternoon visiting other gentlemen acquainted with Miss Norma, following the addresses he had.

This lady had "many connections," and those gentlemen lived in various corners of the city. But interestingly enough, two of them had disappeared, just like the Mr. Martin Shard was looking for, while the others, if they had potted plants gifted by Miss Norma, mostly showed signs of extremely poor health.

Of course, Little Mr. Franco was in the worst condition among them.

This investigation gave Shard a better understanding of Miss Norma. This lady grew up without a father; her mother worked at a local noble's estate during her youth, and young Miss Norma grew up there with her mother.

Later, the noble was dealt with by the Kingdom for crimes, the estate abandoned, and Miss Norma's mother caught a cold and passed away years later. Miss Norma, relying on her beauty, flitted among men until early 1854, when Shard began this investigation. Though her life story was pieced together from the descriptions by those men, many had seen old photos of Miss Norma, lending credibility to the tales.

Despite her simple life, she never left Tobesk, nor did she seem to have engaged with any unusual groups, which remained the only unresolved point.

On this Thursday night, Mia stayed home to guard the house while Shard once again visited Little Mr. Franco's home, where he was convalescing from serious illness.

Around ten o'clock, using his Illusion Technique, he quietly slipped into Little Mr. Franco's bedroom. The room was not lit by gas lamps, with only moonlight illuminating a portion at the window.

In the shadowy corner, Shard covered his face with his hands, becoming a petrified angel, quietly standing there.

The wait was somewhat long, but it was indeed worthwhile. Around eleven-thirty, as a chilling wind blew into the closed room, a transparent woman's hand emerged from the dark soil of the windowsill plant.

It was quite a bizarre scene. The pot of the plant illuminated by moonlight, the size of merely two palms, yet the terrifying Evil Spirit Shard encountered at Miss Norma's house during the day, managed to "squeeze" out.

With its emergence, the interiors seemed to decay as if ravaged by centuries of time. Of course, this was merely an illusion caused by the appearance of a powerful Evil Spirit.

And though Little Mr. Franco, still asleep, remained in a sleep state, a look of terror emerged on his face, his eyeballs rapidly rotating beneath his eyelids.

The eerie undead kept approaching the bed only until before reaching it, five glowing Moonlight Rings were already flying toward it.

"Binding Aura!"

The Evil Spirit's movement was extremely quick, acting even faster. It moved as lightly as a wafting sheet of paper, dodging, but the auto-aiming rings closely followed.

"Lagre's Leap!"

Shard took a step forward, appearing behind it. He wanted to understand the truth through the undead, thus gripping the Evil Spirit's arm with his left hand, attempting to capture it, then using the Arcane Technique "Guide to Death" to probe its soul. But as soon as his left hand made contact with the Spiritual Body, a painful and itchy sensation, as if prickled by countless thorns, caused him to shudder.

[The soul is polluted by some kind of power, possessing petrification and curse traits. Don't worry, it's ineffective against you.]

The [Binding Aura] had now arrived. And just like that morning, this clearly abnormal soul vanished before Shard's eyes, following a dull thud.

Of course, Shard would not repeat a mistake. Even though the Evil Spirit had disappeared, [Binding Aura] still struck the left hand of the Spiritual Body, so after the Evil Spirit's escape, the blackened severed arm of the Spirit remained in Shard's hand.

Generally speaking, unless using special methods, souls could not fracture like this. Clearly, [Binding Aura] had worked, which was part of the function of this Arcane Technique.

"Though not particularly strong, it sure runs fast."

Shard slightly furrowed his brows, then turned to look at the potted plant by the window. In the bright moonlight, a clear rift appeared on the small pottery flowerpot's surface, suggesting the bizarre spirit would no longer visit Little Mr. Franco, justifying the 30 pounds Old Mr. Franco had given him.

"Part of the soul is enough."