Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Who are you looking for?"

With a heavy accent, she stood in front of the fence that separated her garden from Miss Gold\'s and asked.

"Miss Mia Gold, she has entrusted us to find her cat."

Shard also shook the cat he was holding in his arms a bit. The orange cat lazily meowed, turned over, and pressed its head against Shard\'s chest—this cat really liked Shard.

And even though the half-year-old orange cat was not heavy, carrying it all this way had already become somewhat unbearable for Shard.

"Oh, that one, the naughty little thing,"

the old woman clearly recognized the orange cat Mia, then she said something that almost made Shard\'s heart sink:

"Mia moved out last week."

"Huh?"

Thankfully, there was a follow-up statement:

"Are you the Hamilton Detective looking for her cat? You\'re much younger than Mia described. Don\'t worry, she left a letter for you."

With that, she turned and went back into her house to get the letter, and when she returned, she said:

"There are some banknotes in the letter. Before you open it, check the wax seal to make sure no one has tampered with the money."

The letter was left for Detective Sparrow Hamilton by Miss Mia Gold. In it, Miss Gold mentioned she had to move to a large estate in the countryside on the east coast of the Draleon Kingdom because of family matters and was going to live with her parents, thus she sold her property here.

But Miss Gold still remembered her cat and the detective who took on the commission. Without confirmation that the detective had found the cat, she left this letter in the care of her neighbor. If the detective found the cat, he would be able to receive this letter:

[I cannot forget my Mia, but now is truly the time to leave Tobesk City. Detective Hamilton, if you are reading this letter, please provide temporary custody for Mia and send a letter to the address below. I will come to your office to pick her up within six months at the latest. At that time, a larger reward will be provided.

Postscript: In addition to the original detective fees, there is an additional five pounds in banknotes enclosed with this letter, for the temporary care of Mia. Please do not be overly harsh with my little mischief-maker.]

The orange cat known as "Mia" wriggled a bit in Shard\'s arms, looking like she wanted to sleep, completely unaware of her owner\'s departure.

"Why..."

"I\'m allergic to cats, and Mia couldn\'t find anyone else to take care of her cat. Plus, she didn\'t originally think you would actually be able to find Mia."

The old woman explained, having never seen Sparrow Hamilton, she mistook the young detective in front of her for the one Mia had originally described.

"So I..."

"You just take care of Mia for now. When Mia comes to get her, she won\'t shortchange you. Look, she even named the cat after herself."

"You\'re not the one who..."

"\'Mia dictated the contents of this letter before she left. Hmph, I\'ve been her neighbor for so long, can\'t she trust me with something like this?\'"

"All right, I\'ll go post the letter now. Goodbye, ma\'am."

Shard harbored some suspicion that the old woman could read minds.

"Goodbye, Detective. Remember, this cat can\'t drink milk, but it can drink goat\'s milk."

The old woman\'s voice came from behind, adding another expense to Shard\'s list.

Detective Sparrow Hamilton had known Miss Mia Gold for a long time, and this wasn\'t their first commissioned case, so Miss Gold gave the detective a great deal of trust.

That trust resulted in Shard gaining the additional task of looking after the cat and an unexpected increase of over seven pounds in his savings—Miss Gold was truly generous.

With the remaining money from pawning his cane, Shard felt he could soon make up the ten pounds. And with a bit of luck, if Miss Gold received the letter and came over within a week, he might be able to pay off all of his debts for the month.

Feeling cheerful, Shard walked back to Saint Delan Square with the cat in his arms, his steps feeling much lighter. On the way back, he passed by the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, which he had visited not long ago, and went in to inquire—it turned out they could also deliver goat\'s milk.

The salesperson who handled Shard\'s inquiry even guessed that he intended to feed the kitten goat\'s milk, thereby introducing him to more cat-rearing tips. However, his enthusiasm didn\'t lead Shard to relent on the cost of ordering goat\'s milk, fortunately, No. 6, Saint Delan Square, was right on the daily route of the busy Silver Parrot Milk Delivery milkmen.

Therefore, there was no need for an extra route to deliver specially to Shard, so the actual cost of the goat\'s milk was a bit less than expected.

Shard considered the orange cat "Mia" his lucky charm and after leaving the "Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company," he thought about indulging a little for lunch, perhaps in some better food.

Just as he passed by the old dog lying at the doorway, the voice of a woman, which had not made a sound until today, finally rang out in his mind:

[Observe her ring.]

He immediately looked around and almost a second later, saw Mr. Lawrence\'s mistress, Lady Lassoya, emerge from the alley across from the milk company, heading towards the direction of the silverware shop where a fight had happened the day before yesterday.

She still wore that white, egg-shaped stone ring.

"Is she changing from man to woman, or woman to man?"

Shard speculated but had no intention of following her. He valued his life, and having decided to give up the assignment, he would not change his mind out of curiosity.

If he had the strength of Dr. Schneider or the female writer, Miss Dorothy Louisa, of course, he wouldn\'t give up. But one must face reality, and he accepted that he was still weak.

With a pleasant mood, he casually walked through the streets with the cat in his arms and entered the candy shop across the street. Pretending to be curious, he asked about the price of the small cakes in the glass display case, using his peripheral vision to confirm Lady Lassoya had walked away. Then, he immediately left the store and entered the same alley Lady Lassoya had appeared from.

The alley was not deep and, like most alleys in Steam City, dirty and filled with odd smells. A quick walk took him to the end, where some abandoned pipes lay, their surface even covered with a layer of disgusting green moss.

And around the pipes, he saw a wall—this was a dead-end alley.

The alley should have connected to another block on the other end, but the store at the exit had expanded its premises, effectively walling off the alley with its back wall.

"Between this pile of pipes and the wall is an excellent blind spot. When Lady Lassoya came out of an alley with no exit just now, did she perform another \'Transformation\' by kissing her ring?"

Shard thought, pleased with his caution and his swift action. Although he dared not follow her, it was no problem to investigate what she had done just now.