Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 358 A Friend’s Ancient Painting

The Freeman family now lived on the second floor of a street-side apartment. Although the space was smaller than their previous house, it was at least clean, tidy, and safe, posing no issue as a temporary home. However, the death of the household's male breadwinner meant that their future would probably be even more challenging.

The two children attended a public middle school in the city, and though the Steam Age also had summer vacations, they stayed at home with Mrs. Freeman. Mrs. Freeman asked the children not to disturb her and then entertained two guests in the living room after Priest Augustus had returned the keys. He introduced Shard to the somewhat haggard woman with a high nose bridge and blonde hair:

"This is Detective Shard Hamilton from Saint Delan Square, my friend. He heard about Mr. Freeman from me, and today he accompanied me to Hangton Garden Street."

"Good afternoon, madam. This investigation is just driven by personal curiosity, and it's free of charge. Coincidentally, my friend who is a writer is penning a detective novel, and I thought to help her gather some material."

As Shard spoke, he extended his business card, "The detective from Saint Delan Square" was a rather intimidating title. Coupled with the fact that he was a friend brought by Priest Augustus, Mrs. Freeman naturally wouldn't mind his presence.

After whispering his thanks to Shard, Priest Augustus spoke about their experiences that morning. When asked about the attic, Mrs. Freeman also reminisced about the oil paintings:

"Those were my husband's failed drafts, usually such works are to be burned to prevent them from reaching the market. His death was so sudden that he didn't have a chance to destroy the last batch of failures. I originally planned to take them with me, but I probably left them in the attic."

Shard actually felt sympathy for the middle-aged woman. She had no legitimate income, and the entire family relied on the deceased artist for survival. When they hastily moved out of the house, they even left behind some baggage. From now on, after selling the remaining paintings at home, they would have to fend for themselves.

"I want to confirm if there were any bloodstains in the attic when Mr. Freeman met with the accident?"

Shard asked, and Mrs. Freeman nodded, her face showing a mournful expression:

"Yes, there were cuts on his palm, and besides that, there were five or six non-fatal old wounds on his body. The police from Riddlevitch Field also noticed this when they examined the body, but they didn't find any matching sharp objects in the attic. Later, they speculated that he had fallen onto something sharp."

"I am wondering if you…"

Shard wanted to ask what the woman was doing when Mr. Freeman had the accident, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. The young outlander's experience was no match for the Old Cleric's. Priest Augustus changed the subject:

"How long after Mr. Freeman had the accident did you discover it?"

"About half an hour later. At that time, the children were playing in the garden, and I went to buy bread. We thought he was in the attic sorting old drafts when…"

Even though a week had passed, the woman still couldn't forget the horrific scene of that day.

Sitting on the sofa, Shard and the priest exchanged glances. Priest Augustus cautiously said:

"As far as Mr. Freeman's incident is concerned, it currently seems unrelated to the commonly recognized haunting incidents by the church. However, did he come into contact with any strange object within a week or two before his mental state changed? For example, an antique bought from somewhere unknown, strange potions, or bone decor acquired by chance from a vendor?"

"No, he was busy painting all summer, rarely going out... If we're really talking about strange things then it would only be the oil paintings sent to him by a friend from Carsonrick whom he met in his youth, from the south about half a month ago. A local elder painter had died, and his worthless old paintings were sold in bulk. My husband asked his friend to buy a batch to derive some inspiration from another's painting style."

Shard exchanged glances with the priest again; with this, their original thought process turned out to be wrong. It wasn't the evil spirit that occupied the house nor any secret within the house itself. If Mr. Freeman's death indeed involved a mystery, it was very likely related to that batch of paintings.

When they moved, Mrs. Freeman also took those paintings to the new rental apartment. As the family was only staying there temporarily, planning to move to a cheaper district in the Tobesk Northern Area after selling their previous home, most of their luggage remained unpacked and was stored in a separate room in the apartment.

In a stack of wooden boxes in the corner, most contained paintings collected by Mr. Greeman during his lifetime. Unfortunately, these relics were worthless, otherwise, the family's living situation might have improved somewhat.

Mrs. Greeman quickly found the wooden box storing those oil paintings, which was already opened, and a very professional cardboard folder was used to store the paintings.

Priest Augustus started to search through the folder, while Shard stood by chatting with Mrs. Freeman:

"I noticed this box has been opened. Has anyone tampered with the contents?"

"The kids might have rummaged through it looking for toys. Since we moved here, I have been very busy handling things all day and rarely take care of them..."

"Shard!"

Priest suddenly called out, and Shard quickly turned around:

"What happened?"

"One is missing, a painting is missing."

He pulled back the white cardboard folder, and oddly, one of the sheets in the middle was blank. This wasn't just the front or back sheet; the paintings next to this one were still there, so indeed, a painting was missing.

"Maybe the kids touched it..."

Seeing the uneasy expressions on Shard and the Old Cleric's face, the middle-aged woman began to panic.

The Cleric immediately handed her the folder:

"Mrs. Freeman, please check which painting is missing and try to recall the content of the image. Shard, go find that older boy, I'll bring the little girl over."

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The rental apartment was about the size of the second floor's room number one in the Shard family's house. After leaving the room where the boxes were stored, Shard walked past the bathroom door and then knocked on the tightly shut room door:

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"Please open the door, your mother needs you."

But no sound came from inside. Shard turned to see that Priest Augustus had already led the little girl clutching a bunny doll out of the room, and Mrs. Greeman, holding the folder, also appeared outside, her expression somewhat dazed:

"The missing painting, I remember it seemed to depict miscellaneous items on a table. A rotting black apple, a double-headed plaster statue, a three-story house's toy wooden model, a golden pendant, and a peculiar antique vase... I don't have a vivid memory of this painting; had you not mentioned it, I wouldn't even remember knowing it existed."

Her face bore a puzzled expression, clearly doubting her own memory.

In Mrs. Freeman's description, every item in the painting sounded problematic.