Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Chapter 182 The Missing Child

The lawyer probably thought that Shard was too young and didn't want him getting involved in gambling. Shard just smiled confidently and said,

"Look at this old deck of mine, do I look like a rookie at Roder Card? The most I can lose in a game is less than two shillings, and I don't think my luck is always that bad... Sir, on this boring morning, we should find something to do."

He purposely spoke with a heavy Tobesk accent. The lawyer just shrugged and gestured that they could begin,

"I do appreciate confident people."

The crowd around them was also excited. Although no one had seen this young man before, as long as the card game continued, giving them something to do, they didn't care if Shard was from MI6.

Shard still held onto the idea of not gambling, but now, sitting at the table, he aimed to gather information by winning money. Thus, this wasn't considered gambling.

The card game in this tavern didn't have very formal rules. Both sides kept drawing cards until they stopped and counted points. The lawyer might have been skilled and experienced, but facing Shard, who was lucky thanks to "Genesis: Silver Moon," he still lost more than he won.

When Shard sat down, he had already prepared for both winning and losing. However, after easily winning four of the first five games, he knew there was nothing to worry about.

By half-past ten in the morning, Shard's side was piled with small coins and a few banknotes, while the lawyer only had an empty cup left. He sweated and held his last card, his bloodshot eyes slightly trembling as he looked at the slowly revealing card:

"Oh, a nine of moons, I have twenty points this time!"

He slowly exhaled, and a relieved smile appeared on his sweaty face. The three men standing behind him discussed how many more rounds the lawyer could endure if he won this time.

Shard also received his last card. He too pressed it down with his palm and bent to look with the two people behind him:

"Oh, the King."

Shard said casually and then shrugged,

"Lawyer, it looks like I win again."

"No more, no more."

The middle-aged lawyer was stunned for a moment, disheartenedly throwing down his last card,

"Perhaps all my luck was used up before you appeared. It's not that my skills are lacking, it's the conservation of luck."

He didn't forget to justify himself in front of the familiar faces around him but didn't suspect Shard of cheating, as there was a crowd surrounding them.

"No more, is it? 20 pence."

Shard tapped on the table, the pile of pennies and the rare few shillings beside him added up to about half a pound, of which about three shillings were the lawyer's money, the rest was what the lawyer had won from others that morning.

"Really, I was thinking of visiting Laura tonight, now it looks like I'll only be taking a bath at home."

This was the woman he had seen scolding a child this morning when he knocked on the lawyer's apartment door downstairs, but her child wasn't with her now.

Since Shard's path was going to take him past her, the middle-aged woman with slightly disheveled hair approached him:

"My child, Little Ron, is missing. Sir, have you seen a boy about this tall, wearing a black hat around here?"

Her eyes were dull, and her haggard expression immediately dampened Shard's previously good mood.

"Your child is missing? When did this happen?" he asked, surprised, looking around.

"Ten minutes ago, I was buying something here with him, and in the blink of an eye, he was gone. I don't know if he went to play nearby or... was taken away."

The woman's eyes were red, and her look was hard to describe. It wasn't tearful, urgent, or frantic; it was a kind of despair so intense that Shard never imagined it could emanate so strongly just from someone's eyes:

"Why not go to the police... never mind," he said.

Shard took a deep breath. In this era, even with the frequent cases of child kidnapping in this city, thinking the police would solve the problem was less reliable than hoping he could find some clues on the spot himself.

The Outlander had found his footing in this world, but he was well aware that this era was far from being considered civilized and orderly. He had thought about the various things that might happen out of his sight, but he hadn't expected to encounter such an event so soon.

After making some inquiries, he learned the middle-aged woman's name was Marian Cook, a single mother living nearby, with no relatives. As for where her husband had gone, Shard neither asked nor was told.

Sighing, since he was involved, Shard decided to mix into this troubling matter:

"I'll ask some passersby around here, and you could go check the shops next to the candy store," he suggested.

Even though this incident had nothing to do with him financially, since he had stumbled upon it, trying to help was not an issue. After all, he had no other plans for today.

If it were something like a lost wallet, he probably would have inquired and then left. But with a missing child, helping out seemed the right thing to do.

Mrs. Cook turned and went to the clothing store next to the candy shop to ask about her child, but Shard did not do what he said he would. Instead, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes;

"Echo of the Past."

His ears itched, followed by the noisy sounds of the street entering his ears. This "Arcane Technique" related to "Space-Time" could randomly let him hear voices from the past 24 hours, although it did incline toward human voices, this preference didn't increase the chances of hearing relevant information in the bustling streets or in stores.

Under "Divine Afterglow," any Arcane Technique or Sorcery would be enhanced. However, the enhancement "Echo of the Past" received was not an increase in odds but an extension from 24 hours to 36 hours, something he had found out while experimenting at home when he was idle.

After several attempts, none of the voices he heard were related to the lost child. The longer the delay, the lower the chances of finding the child, and as he turned to look at the distraught woman holding her hands together and inquiring inside the store at the corner, Shard sighed helplessly.

He reached into his pocket and asked the voice in his head:

"The Twenty-Sided Die of Destiny..."

"[Are you going to rely on luck for a stranger? Good idea, but I must remind you, you only have one chance per day. And even if you roll a lucky number, it may not relate to your Arcane Technique.]"