Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 1080

For the next while, the Keeper of Secrets tirelessly questioned Jenkins, demanding to know if he had accepted the power of death. Jenkins repeatedly assured him that he hadn't been greedy, even swearing an oath in the Sage's name.

But even so, the Keeper of Secrets and Miss Bevanna couldn't rest easy. They repeatedly checked for any mark of death on Jenkins, using rituals, potions, and even bizarre numbered artifacts.

"Why are you all so tense? Even if I had accepted the gift from that black-robed man, it wouldn't have been a problem, would it? I could feel that the power he offered held no ill intent."

During his report, Jenkins had concealed the fact that he'd been invited into the realm of the Ancient God of Death. Instead, he attributed some of Mr. Augustus's words to the black-robed man in the dilapidated room.

"That's not the issue."

Miss Bevanna explained, though she deliberately avoided his gaze.

"Your Soul Trait Ability is in the life category, which means the power of death could very well have an adverse effect on you. Even a deathly power without malicious intent could taint the pure source of life within you. It's a very real possibility."

His Lie Godhood didn't flag her words as a lie, but Jenkins couldn't shake the feeling that she was hiding something. He made a mental note to ask the old elf about it when he had the chance.

The morning passed in a bit of a daze. He had lunch with Chocolate at the church, chatted with Miss Bevanna for a while, and was just about to head to the library to read and write down a treatment for the plague when he ran right into Papa Oliver.

he asked, his expression tense. It was the first thing he said.

"Of course not. I'm sensible enough to never trust unsolicited gifts."

Jenkins assured him again, then eyed Papa Oliver with suspicion.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Papa Oliver asked, puzzled.

"It's just... all of you are acting a little strange today."

"Strange? If you ask me, the strangest thing is how you always seem to run into these bizarre situations."

Papa Oliver didn't tell Jenkins to return to the shop that afternoon, clearly giving his tacit approval for him to remain at the church for the rest of the day.

Later that afternoon, for some reason, Miss Audrey also showed up at the church, a look of panic on her face. She then asked the very same question Jenkins had already heard several times:

"You didn't accept the power of death, did you?" Get full chapters from novel⦿fire.net

he replied once more. At this point, he was starting to suspect that perhaps they really were just worried about the power of death clashing with his Soul Trait Ability.

He spent the entire afternoon reading in the library. It was a Wednesday, so there weren't many others with the leisure to be there. As a result, Jenkins and Chocolate had a long table all to themselves. On the table sat a book, with a teacup to its left and a cat to its right.

Jenkins stroked Chocolate with one hand as he read, while the cat napped on the table with its eyes squinted shut. Jenkins was seated in a spot that caught the sunlight. Even with the city's mist obscuring some of its rays, the sun still managed to find a corner of the long table.

The cat quickly fell asleep in that toasty patch of sunlight. The light fell like a column, illuminating only Chocolate. The library was utterly silent, and only the tiny dust motes dancing in the sunbeam showed that time hadn't stopped completely.

But the cat was a light sleeper. Whenever Jenkins stopped petting him, it would stretch out a paw with its eyes still closed and swat at his hand.

But the cat paid him no mind.

Since it was Wednesday, Jenkins had planned to stay in the library until dinner and then head straight to his night class. But at four in the afternoon, he saw Captain Bincy walk into the library and head straight for him.

"Good afternoon, Jenkins. There's something I need to tell you."

Jenkins stood, scooping up the now-awake but still-unwilling-to-move cat from the table.

Speaking in a library was highly improper, so Jenkins intended to talk with Captain Bincy outside.

"There's been a development in yesterday afternoon's case."

"A development? Are you talking about the plague in the alley? Or has the Pestilence Evil appeared again?"

Jenkins asked, puzzled. He hadn't yet formulated a complete treatment for the plague, so by all rights, there shouldn't have been any resolution from last night's events.

"No, no, not the plague. It's the other illness. You remember, the poor woman who died was suffering from more than one disease. Miss Bevanna suspected that the other one, that suspicious flu, was the actual cause of the Mysterious Object's appearance. We tracked it back to the textile factory where the woman worked, and just as we thought, we found a lead!"

Captain Bincy said with a frown.

"Are we leaving now? Are you inviting me to come along? Oh, if you can convince Papa Oliver, I think I..."

he replied eagerly, sensing that Captain Bincy was about to invite him. Why else would he be telling him this?

"No, the investigation wrapped up this morning. When I reported to Miss Bevanna just now, she mentioned you seemed quite interested in the case, so she sent me to tell you the full story."

Jenkins's face fell in disappointment. After all, the "future" had seemed to imply he would kill the man himself. Getting caught by the church or having the man escape were not outcomes he desired. But since there was a result, he had to hear it. He just wondered if they had actually caught the man he had cursed.

The course of events was quite simple. To avoid tipping off their quarry, the church had begun a secret investigation early this morning into the all-female textile factory, looking for any strange individuals who might have appeared recently.

A single night's investigation actually yielded results. The textile factory where the deceased woman had worked wasn't large—more of a small workshop—and there had been no major changes in personnel recently. Many of the workers were able to point out the first woman to show symptoms of the flu, which saved the investigators a significant amount of time.

"Her name is Koliss Ebowah, a twenty-nine-year-old textile worker living on the west side of the city. She came down with the flu a week ago but couldn't bring herself to spend money on a doctor, so she never got any treatment. But since her flu only caused coughing, a runny nose, and a slight fever, without any other major effects, neither she nor the workers she infected paid it much mind."

"Mild symptoms and highly contagious. It really does sound like the winter flu."

Jenkins added with a nod, acting as if none of this had anything to do with him.

"No, it *doesn't* have anything to do with me."