Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 352 Major Event - Shadow of Coldwater Port

The servants had finished serving the meal and gradually left, leaving only the middle-aged head maid and two older maids standing by. Princess Lecia signaled to Shard that it was safe to talk here, and as they ate, they began discussing the events of the morning.

"It seems the Crimson Cult has long infiltrated Coldwater Port, even the city's establishment is related to them. Those merman and cultists have always existed in the shadows of Coldwater Port, but no one had noticed it before. I suspect the earliest mermaid statues were probably spread by them."

This was the conclusion Shard had deduced based on the clues he found that morning.

"But what exactly do they want to do?"

Princess Lecia asked, puzzled, having taken only a small amount of food, seemingly unaccustomed to eating much at noon:

"The Sea Return ritual, we can almost confirm the steps. But the ritual itself, what is it really for? The last line of the nursery rhyme involves a sacrifice, which is very unsettling."

She did not mention "Evil God" in front of the servants, but Shard understood her meaning, and while clumsily handling his knife and fork, he said:

"This time is different from Tobesk, the Church had a mishap in Tobesk half a month ago, and this time they can't afford another incident. All we can do now is wait for news, and then there's the issue with you."

Shard spoke very cautiously:

"The captain I played cards with said that as long as you stay out of the crimson sea when it appears, and wait until the ritual is over, the curse should naturally disappear. That means, when the crimson sea appears, you are likely to be mentally influenced, unconsciously walking into the sea."

The so-called "sacrifice" should not be the selection of individuals, but rather all those afflicted by the curse, who will eventually appear staggering on the beach, and then step into the sea together. Just imagining the scene is hair-raising.

Leaving Coldwater Port was the first option ruled out, as this type of curse could immediately erupt once one leaves the ritual site. And to suppress the curse, Lecia already possessed sage-level ruby earrings, as well as a Saint Roland ring purchased from the coastal lighthouse.

After seeking help from Zaras Literary Academy, the academy could also lend some relics against curses. However, Shard thought the safest plan was for him to stay by Lecia's side when the crimson sea appeared.

Although he was just a Second Ring Magician who was powerless in many respects, if the curse indeed related to the power of a deity, Shard's presence could easily solve many issues that ordinary people could not.

"So the difficulty we're facing now is that after you drove away the pirate ship, we don't know how the ritual is progressing or when the crimson sea will appear."

Lecia summarized briefly while Shard slightly furrowed his brows:

"It will definitely be resolved within a week. I have a very talented diviner friend who prophesied that one of the male magicians who encountered the pirates with us will set out for Tobesk in a week. By then, the issue with the curse must have already been resolved."

The rain in Coldwater Port had lasted all day. Because of the events in the morning, and with the idea of keeping a low profile, Shard spent the afternoon at Sophia's Mansion waiting for news.

Shard's Moonlight gift had attracted the attention of the Church of War and Peace. Although the latter was known as the "Peace Church," its full name was the "Church of War and Peace," theoretically the strongest in combat among the Church of the Five Gods. The merman base on that old street was likely to become history.

Princess Lecia entertained Shard well in the mansion. After they had dined, she took him to spend the afternoon in the study.

She had many documents to handle, as adult princes and princesses of the Cavendish Family were often assigned government duties by the King. This was also why it was commonly believed that when the King aged decades later, there would surely be substantial disputes over the succession.

The study in Sophia's Mansion was about the same size as the one Shard had seen in Yordle Palace with Larus III. The spacious room's walls were filled with bookshelves, and a desk was placed in the center of the room, near the entrance sat a set of sofas for visitors.

This reflected the current King's preferences, as he liked spacious rooms.

Lecia handled her matters while Shard was allowed to freely pick any books from the shelves. The wide variety of books was mostly related to politics, economy, and history. Eventually, Shard selected "Cavendish Secret History," a semi-official publication.

It was a descriptive literature documenting the origins and history of the Cavendish Family, offering effective insights into the development and prosperity of Draleon.

Of course, Shard had many other matters to attend to this week. Spending the afternoon "wasting" time beside Lecia in the study was primarily to listen for any follow-up news related to the Crimson Cult.

Their morning activities were not tracked by the Church, but the cultists who used the ancient streets of the South District as their base were in great trouble. Mr. Jude, the Circle Sorcerer, was killed by Shard, and only one of the remaining four Circle Sorcerers managed to escape.

As for the fish-headed humanoid creatures that fled in all directions from the old street, most of them were captured by the Church. Based on the intelligence obtained by the Princess, there were at least three hundred transformed beings on that street. It was conceivable that there were even more in Coldwater Port.

These creatures, which had strong self-healing abilities in the water, could switch between human and fish-like appearances; however, their human forms were mostly hideously ugly. After the morning's activities, the Church of the Five Gods directly collaborated with the official authorities of Coldwater Port to launch a city-wide search.

However, without the massive numbers of military and police control like in Tobesk, conducting a search in this free port was indeed useful but how effective it could be was questionable.

The Church linked those Merman creatures, the Crimson Cult, the Sea Return Ritual, and the Mermaid's Curse together, officially naming this incident as "The Shadow Over Coldwater Harbor in 1853." This name represented the cult's infiltration into the shadows of the city, hidden since the establishment of the port.

The Peace Church had a gunfire battle with the Mermen in the rain and successfully seized Kazem Lane and Jude Mansion.

Through the captives they caught, and the documents left in Mr. Jude's safe, the Church learned more about the "Sea Return" ritual. With a robust intelligence network and exceptional information-gathering abilities, they fully understood what the hidden cultists in the city were up to.

Thus, by dinner time that evening, through intelligence conveyed by "well-informed individuals" planted in the Church by the Royal Family, Shard and Princess Lecia had received three crucial pieces of information.

First, the exact number of Circle Sorcerers who encountered the "Fishbone Pirate Ship" with them on Monday night had been determined—thirteen in total. Apart from "John Watson" and "Miss Princess", two of the remaining eleven had already been found by the Church. Through the descriptions from these rational individuals, the Church further understood what had happened on the ship and knew the attire of the Circle Sorcerers who attended the auction that day. Find your next read at novelbuddy

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However, those two Male Sorcerers were unlikely to be the second Chosen One, because the Church, still with unreasonable "enthusiasm", actively sought the remaining individuals with unidentified identities, and initiated investigations into the Circle Sorcerers who suddenly appeared in Coldwater Port from Monday onward. They did this to eliminate competitors.

Secondly, the ancient text for the "Sea Return" ritual was found in the Church of Creation's Papal Library; this ritual was not the God Summoning Ritual that Shard had feared.

"I knew it, how could it be that wherever I go, they are summoning the Evil God?"

This was Shard's opinion, spoken while sitting at the desk and listening to Princess Lecia read the letter. He had a relaxed smile on his face, and Her Highness the Princess glanced at him with her emerald eyes, her voice very decisive:

"Even if it's not the worst-case scenario, the consequences if this ritual succeeds would not be less severe than an Evil God appearing."

In the early stages of the Sixth Era, before Coldwater Port was known as such, the influence of the True God Church had not reached here, and at that time, there were three different cult beliefs locally—God of the Deep Sea Drowned, Lord of the Crimson Spiral, and Fury Storm.

All three deities were intricately linked with the ocean, and as their followers fought each other, a shared culture also permeated among them, allowing the coastal cultists to develop extremely similar customs and even similar supernatural abilities. Strictly speaking, the "Sea Return Ritual" was a ritual that could be used by the followers of all three evil deities, but the specific steps varied subtly.

The purpose of this ritual was that after the arrival of the red sea, by sacrificing mortals imbued with divine power, it would awaken the powers left by the deities in the deep sea, thus summoning the tides to flood the city and transform Coldwater Port into an underwater metropolis.

The Crimson Cult had not acted impulsively; they had been planning for this purpose for many years. Evidence of this lies in the fact that while the ritual's four main steps corresponded with the nursery rhyme, there were also many other meticulous tasks in the ritual that required decades of preparation.

The Mermen hidden in the shadows of Coldwater Port had always been planning this, only this summer happens to be the time for the final steps.

This was undoubtedly a large-scale ritual, rarely seen in the material world anymore. The reason the Crimson Cult wanted to conduct the ritual was that since the establishment of Coldwater Port, they had transformed and developed too many fish-like humanoid creatures on land.

They needed a new habitat, but while gaining power, the Mermen were bound by the ancient covenant signed by their ancestors with the deities, unable to leave Coldwater Port where their forebears lived. Therefore, they decided to call upon the deity's power left in the deep sea, allowing the sea to flood the city, enabling the dreadful Mermen to eternally occupy and live here.

"The good news is, this incident only involves the ancient local cult faith, the Crimson Cult, and has no ties with the other two ancient faiths, so this time the Church only has to deal with the Merman Population that has developed and hidden in Coldwater Port for nearly a thousand years,"

Princess Lecia said. Seeing Shard somewhat puzzled and about to ask a question, she explained to the newcomer who had only been a Circle Sorcerer for a month:

"Only the guardians of the terrifying Merman Population, the followers of Lord of the Crimson Spiral, have the tradition of transforming their Favored Ones through rituals and divine arts.

Most followers of the Evil God, the God of the Drowned, are human Circle Sorcerers who manipulate the floating corpses of the drowned. Followers of the Evil God, the Fury Storm, are even less related to marine species as they manipulate storms and thunder. Therefore, only the Mermen would want Coldwater Port to be flooded by the sea, and we need not worry that this incident is related to other cults."