Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 1033

When the smuggled cargo ship arrived in Nolan last night, Papa Oliver wasn't the only one who received word. For some unknown reason, a group of out-of-town Enchanters had come to blows over a bottle of ground tricorn-ox spinal marrow—a substance of no particular value. But what no one could have anticipated was that the ship's ballast was, in fact, an entire cargo hold filled with military-grade steam bombs.

Somehow, someone managed to ignite the cargo hold, triggering the massive explosion last night. By the time Jenkins arrived on his unicorn, he saw Papa Oliver walking through the inferno, dragging two severely injured unfortunates from the ship's hold.

Papa Oliver's clothes were in tatters, and his hair was singed in several places. He looked as if he had walked straight out of the blast's epicenter, yet he was completely unscathed.

Unsettled, Jenkins reverted to his usual appearance and pretended he had been drawn to the Docklands by the sound of the explosion. He wanted to heal Papa Oliver, but there wasn't a scratch on him.

In the end, he could only follow Papa Oliver's orders: rescue the foreign Enchanters who had been nearly blown to bits, then wait for the patrol from the Church of Ocean and Exploration to arrive and hand the poor souls over to them.

That was the truth of what had happened last night, and it wasn't concealed. This morning's papers dedicated a large section to the incident, directly attributing the explosion to a "cargo ship smuggling military arms."

As for the origin of the munitions, every newspaper unanimously blamed the Cheslan Kingdom. With war between the two nations a near certainty, no one felt the slightest bit of unease or guilt for pinning the disaster on them.

"Were your windows alright?"

He let out a yawn, and as if by contagion, Chocolate immediately followed suit. The cat wasn't tired in the slightest. On the contrary, it seemed absolutely thrilled, practically vibrating with eagerness for their trip to the countryside.

"I heard the docks were devastated, though. I read in the paper that the pier where the ship was moored was completely obliterated, and the nearby buildings and jetties all suffered various degrees of damage. I didn't see any casualty figures, though. May the Sage protect them..."

Jenkins made the sign of the holy emblem over his chest. He felt the familiar gesture sharpen his senses, and he straightened up from his slouched position.

He glanced out the window. They were still within the city limits. It was early Saturday morning, so the streets were empty of pedestrians, and most of the shops lining the road were still shuttered.

"Have you heard? A plague has broken out in the mines east of Nolan."

This new topic came from Hathaway.

Nolan City sits on the western coast of the continent. Its northeastern side presses up against the Sebek Mountain Range, a massive chain that spans the continent's western half and hinders travel between the north and south. The foothills bordering the mountains are one of the richest mining regions not just for Nolan, but for the entire continent. They yield not only coal, iron, and copper ore, but nearly every mineral of use to humankind.

Beyond its convenient access to both land and sea routes and its agreeable climate, Nolan's status as one of the continent's renowned industrial cities owed a great deal to its abundance of mineral resources.

"I heard about that, too."

Briny agreed, "They say a miner on leave contracted the plague in the city and carried it back to the mining district. The living conditions there are awful, so it spread to several hundred people almost overnight. By the time the city's disease control department discovered it, the outbreak was already critical."

"It was the Legacy Sage Church that resolved the matter. The church's clerics performed blessing rituals in the mining district for a full week, after which most of the infected recovered without any further treatment."

The truth was that three drops of the Universal Potion, diluted a thousand-fold, had been added to the miners' water cisterns. As potent as the Corpse Plague was, it was no match for this panacea that only existed because of Jenkins.

"Does the Legacy Sage Church really have a way to control plagues? I heard from my family that as long as the patient is still alive, the Church can cure any plague victim."

"Yes, that's true, but the method can't be widely implemented."

Jenkins nodded, though in truth, all five of Nolan's major churches possessed similar measures. However, apart from Jenkins using his own healing ability, every other method required consuming precious ritual components or numbered artifacts.

Jenkins never worried about his friends catching the plague. As long as they weren't dead, he could cure them. And even if they died, he had the resurrection feather. From that perspective, Jenkins could call himself a god on earth without any exaggeration. Chapters fırst released on novel⟡fire.net

In fact, he truly was a god on earth.

The carriage carrying Jenkins and the young ladies rolled out of the city, where their maids and guards were already waiting.

Their timing had been perfect, allowing them to reach the rendezvous point outside the city ten minutes ahead of schedule. They were at a crossroads that led into the Nolan countryside; left to the town, and right to their destination—the Helen Great Meadow.

The meadow belonged to a great noble from Bel Diran. The organizer of the outing, a Miss Wanda, was a relative of his, which was how she had secured permission for its use.

Over twenty young people were participating in the outing. Including their guards and servants, the entire party numbered more than a hundred. A great many carriages were parked at the crossroads, and as Jenkins glanced out the window, he spotted the familiar figures of Miss Lindsay and Miss Lawrence.

The former was the organizer of last year's séance; after being reprimanded by the Church, her parents had kept her confined at home, and only recently had she been allowed to meet with friends again. The latter was an acquaintance he'd made during his trip to the mountain resort, and one of the survivors of the murder at the villa.

Jenkins knew most of the others to some extent as well; he had attended a number of salons, parties, and balls over the past six months. Although Nolan was a large city, the number of young people of similar age and status was limited. Knowing one person could easily lead to knowing all the others.

When the carriage came to a halt, Jenkins and the young women stepped out to greet the others. To his surprise, no one batted an eye at the sight of two young ladies and a man arriving together in the same carriage.

Everyone knew about the duel on the night of the opera's premiere, so they understood the connection between Briny and the young writer. As for the relationship between Hathaway and Briny, that was an open secret among them all.

Everyone reacted to Jenkins's arrival with great enthusiasm—in fact, some were almost excessively warm. The first words out of most people's mouths were congratulations on his impending peerage, while a few of the young ladies invited him to ride with them in their carriage.