Gun of Ashes

That was a story from long ago. After the Radiant War ended, the head of the Stuart family suddenly died of a malignant disease. With no direct heir, the enormous family was on the brink of being divided by different branches. There were rumors that a descendant of Stuart bloodline was still out there, a child left behind when Ingwig advanced to Gaulunaro.

Thus, a mission to retrieve the bloodline was issued, and many headed towards Gaulunaro, with Lorenzo being just one among the sea of people.

This involved a claim to power, so when the mission was issued, everyone knew something different. For instance, Lorenzo’s task was to find Selyu and extract what she knew from her mind. Lorenzo was the first to find her, at that time she was surviving on charity in a cold alley, which caused her to appear somewhat malnourished even now.

The two of them walked through desolate streets, nearing the Lower City District.

The weather was very cold, and Selyu unconsciously hugged Lorenzo’s arm, stepping over the frozen ground and past dilapidated buildings.

All along, Selyu had a strange attachment to Lorenzo, like how a newborn beast would rely on the first creature it sees. Lorenzo was the first to find her and took her from Gaulunaro back to Old Dunling, a life-changing transformation from a street-begging child to one above thousands.

But she found no joy in it, only discomfort and anxiety. The towering castles and armed guards could not bring her any inner security. A sharp dagger was always hidden under her pillow; she was forever that child shivering in the alley, never changed.

”So why are you interested in that kind of thing?”

With the words, a faint breath of hot air came from Lorenzo’s mouth. Old Dunling’s weather was increasingly cold, and coupled with the steam from the Furnace Pillar every day, it was completely unguardable.

”They said that thing is unique and came from the Far East.”

Selyu replied indifferently, and Lorenzo was long accustomed to her aloofness, his mind racing with thoughts.

”Mechanical things from the Far East, huh? Quite intriguing.”

Other than Jiuxia, which was what remained known as the Far East, besides a fleet that arrived long ago, the Western world only knew them as a word. But now something from there had appeared, indeed far more interesting than any family banquet.

”But if you don’t attend the banquet, won’t they say something about you?”

Lorenzo referred to the group of nobles led by the Stuarts, who were honored for their awards in the war, thus guarding the girl like Knights. Even though the direct line of the Stuarts only left her, under those people’s management, the family’s industry rather thrived daily, though the population remained pitifully small.

To Lorenzo, they seemed like a group of so-called nannies connected by the old butler Via, sometimes so cordial it was annoying.

Lorenzo vividly remembered a rainy night when Via knocked on the door of 121A Cork Street, holding a suitcase of money to persuade Lorenzo to leave their head of the household, all because, under Lorenzo’s close guidance, the girl’s marksmanship had become unnaturally precise, though at her age she should be learning how to be a manager.

”In one month, I’ll become an adult, I’ll be the Duchess of Stuart, that’s when those old guys will have their last days of arrogance.”

That was definitely a statement right out of rebellion.

Lorenzo looked somewhat helplessly at the side of Selyu, but because of the height difference, he could only see a moving deer hunter hat.

Indeed, during the century-long Radiant War, the Stuarts were promoted to Duke mid-war due to their great military feats and Michelle Stuart’s obstruction in the landing battles, leading the Southern War Zone.

Although now the honorable family had only Selyu left, the power owed to her was still retained; it was a mark of respect and tribute to those who sacrificed.

”An about-to-be Duchess stepping into the Lower City District, that can’t be a positive influence.”

As Lorenzo spoke, he pulled Selyu’s collar higher, covering her little face completely.

”From now on, you’ll be my assistant, anyone asks anything and I’ll answer, then do whatever you like, understand?”

Selyu might not be clear, but Lorenzo was very aware that Bola of the Lower City District was like an undercover agent. You think he is a gang leader who lives off nobles? In reality, behind him stands the mysterious Purification Mechanism. On the higher end of the rumor, his real patron is Queen Victoria.

Every noble entering the Lower City District would be noted down by him, and when the need arises, this would become a leverage against them.

”Do you know the way?”

”I’m more familiar with the Lower City District than you are.”

Before becoming a freelance detective, Lorenzo was practically an old acquaintance in the Lower City District.

Crossing the desolate wasteland, through a cluster of small wooden houses cobbled together with planks, Lorenzo led Selyu for a long distance, finally stopping at a downward path. A Gatekeeper lay beside it, pretending to sleep as a vagrant, yet secretly watching Lorenzo, his hand tucked into his clothes, surely gripping a gun.

”Move aside.”

As Lorenzo spoke, he tossed a coin, its scratch-riddled surface engraved with an image of a resting Shrike.

The Gatekeeper caught the coin, observed it carefully, but still stopped Lorenzo, pointing to Selyu next to him, the meaning clear.

”Does a child’s height require an entrance ticket?”

Lorenzo continued to babble, but still obediently threw a second coin, enduring the pain of Selyu pinching his waist, the two stepped into the darkness.

The air gradually became warm and in the depths of the darkness was a faint firelight. The two proceeded along the staircase beneath their feet, reaching the deepest part.

Suddenly, the low murmur of another language arose, the person’s skin, brownish-red with strange inscriptions traced in white dye across his body, chanted prayers that Lorenzo couldn’t understand, as if lamenting some forgotten God.

Selyu instinctively tightened her hold on Lorenzo, as the firelight brightened, more people sitting cross-legged in prayer came into view.

It was like a bizarre ritual, where they lined the path in welcome, only using ancient and obscure languages.

”People from the Far East.”

Lorenzo whispered to Selyu.

After Jiuxia seized control beyond the Caucasus Mountains of the entire Eastern world, they did not govern all territories. In fact, much of the East belonged to smaller countries, which were all vassals to Jiuxia. These peculiar individuals before them were likely from those vassal states.

Selyu couldn’t help but take a few more glances at the murmuring individuals with closed eyes, as Easterners were exceedingly rare in the Western world, akin to rare wild beasts.

Lorenzo pulled her forward, though his heart too was slightly rippling. With the advent of steam technology, the once untraversable ocean was becoming possible, bringing the link between the Eastern and Western worlds ever closer. Suddenly, he recalled Arthur’s words to him; the world was becoming smaller, like a shrinking arena, where the beasts would sooner or later meet and clash.

But that wasn’t something a small detective like him could ponder. The attendant stopped by the door, and upon seeing them arrive, he gave a slight bow, then presented a mask.

The doors followed suit and opened, revealing a vastly different world.

Countless intricate pieces of machinery lay quietly behind glass cases, limber movements displaying the beauty of metal and mechanical construction. People wandered among these cabinets, assessing one unfamiliar machine after another.

In the distance, a cordoned-off vacant lot held a gigantic apparatus standing tall, like a fallen steel giant, its cold edges sharp as blade.

”So this is the machinery of the East?”

Selyu gently touched the glass, behind which was a petite bronze woman, tiny gears humming quietly beneath it, holding a hand aloft with a flame dancing atop it.

Lorenzo, however, did not look at those things. His gaze was on the forefront, at the giant bronze object, lifted high like an enormous sword and spear.