Chapter 109: Chapter 109
He had arrived in this world in July, the Month of the Hermit and Thunder, and now it was late September, the Month of the War God and Falling Leaves.
In those two months, the octopus affair had been resolved, though the hospital incident still dangled the loose end of a "demon." The Church had secured the Cursed Item from the outer sea, but the Evil God's Child incident remained a frustrating unknown.
An inexplicable sense of urgency always pushed Jenkins to improve himself; even without this string of complicated events, he doubted he could ever truly relax. A few nights ago, he had heard the term "Beast of Calamity" directly from Miss Bevanna, and the more he thought about it, the more ominous it seemed.
It was nearly midnight when he left the black market. The Pig's Head Bar, which served as one of its entrances, was still open, but its secluded location tucked away in an alley meant it was never bustling. After the Church's recent crackdown, the usual night-crawling dregs of the city were on edge, leaving the pub nearly empty.
An old-fashioned gas lamp hung on the wall, its shade thick with dust. A drowsy bartender swayed on his feet, wiping the counter again and again with a filthy rag. Just as Jenkins reached the doorway, a strange woman with a carrot-shaped earring called out to him.
“Is there something you need?”
Jenkins's face was hidden beneath his hood. He inwardly cursed himself for having removed the Black Robe's magical disguise while still in the market.
“Care for a reading? Five pence. No charge if I'm wrong.”
“You are filled with uncertainty.”
The woman's voice trailed after him. Empty-handed, she followed him out of the pub.
“In times like these, everyone's a little lost.”
Jenkins retorted dismissively. He blinked, and his vision revealed thirteen motes of light with no surrounding bubbles. A level 6 Enchanter.
His guard went up instantly.
“I'm wary of any stranger who follows me at night.”
He backed away as he spoke. The alley wasn't long; a corner was just ahead. The rıghtful source is novęlfire.net
“Are you sure you don't want a reading? It's quite cheap.”
The woman seemed to ignore his tone, continuing her sales pitch.
“I'm sorry, but I really don't. I'd rather spend my money on a girl at a brothel than waste it on such nonsense.”
“A prostitute, you say?”
The woman didn't seem offended. Instead, she let out a soft chuckle. “From where I'm standing, I'd say you've never been intimate with a woman in your life. That's not a very convincing excuse.”
Damn it, he thought, how can these women always tell I'm a vir— He cut the thought short with a mental cough.
He grumbled internally. Knowing he was outmatched, he decided to stop before things turned hostile.
“What can you divine?”
the woman said confidently.
As he spoke, he fished a few copper coins from his pocket and tossed them over.
Jenkins might be dealing in sums of ten pounds or more these days, but he still had to buy groceries and cat food, so his pockets were never without some loose change.
“No, I said my career.”
“Right. Your marriage it is.”
The coins sailed through the darkness and she snatched them neatly from the air. She nodded, but didn't ask to read his palm, produce a crystal ball, or even glance up at the stars.
“Your romantic life is exceptionally complicated. Yes, exceptionally so. I see several threads of fate. Some are just beginning to form, while others are little more than whispers. But one of your future partners... before the War God leaves this month, she will face a terrible accident. A truly horrifying one.”
She fell silent. Jenkins tugged at the brim of his hood, trying to keep his face shadowed in the dim glow of the twin moons.
“I asked for a reading on my career,” he reminded her. “Or do I need to offer up a few gold pounds for you to offer a solution?”
He scoffed, already tensing his muscles to vault the wall and flee, just as he had that night outside Barnard's home.
“No. This is your destiny, and you must be the one to resolve it. But I can offer you two hints.”
Jenkins felt like he was walking into a trap.
Okay, just keep it slow and natural, he told himself, sidling closer to the wall. It's not that high. If I jump and grab that jutting brick, I can be over in a second.
These fortune-tellers, he thought, were always so deliberately cryptic.
“Second: have you ever heard the story of the demon and the boy during the famine years?”
Jenkins replied, a strange premonition telling him he was about to hear a fourth version.
“I don't know how far the versions you've heard stray from the truth, but my tale begins at the end. The demon tried to deceive the boy with a contract, but was ultimately defeated by the boy's pure, innocent goodness. The Church found the demon, defeated it, and sealed away the boy's evil power. They allowed the boy to return home to live with his younger brother and sister. Through the power of their love, the evil of the demon of fate was completely erased, and he lived a long and happy life.”
Jenkins couldn't believe that this increasingly complex story could have such a perfect ending.
The four versions he now knew were riddled with contradictions. For example, in the tale his predecessor remembered, the little boy had to cross countless mountains and rivers to find the demon—a clear embellishment. In the professor's version, the demon was a guardian of order while the great god was the villain, a twist that undoubtedly came from the blasphemous cultist scriptures he'd been reading, twisted to fit their worldview.
“Common sense dictates that once a human becomes a demon, it's impossible for them to retain any goodness. So this story... ha, ha, ha! Do you believe it?”
The woman's laughter grew louder as she spoke, until the very air around them seemed to hum. A thin crack suddenly spiderwebbed across a nearby shop window. Startled, Jenkins forgot all about the story, leaped onto the low wall beside the alley, and vanished over the other side. The woman made no move to follow.
“Mr. Williams... the Savior. Could it be you?”
Her laughter died down. The woman whispered to herself, the magical charm disguising her features dissolving to reveal the face of Miss Audrey.
“Oh, Hermit,” she murmured. “Let us wait and see.”
The wheel of time turned, and the next few days were uncharacteristically calm. All was well. Aside from the foul air that perpetually blanketed Nolan City, nothing troubled Jenkins's spirits.
Of course, he still hadn't managed to find out the identity of the woman from that night.
“Ah, Mr. Williams! You truly are my lucky star.”
The publisher, a Mr. Bro, boomed with laughter and spread his arms for an embrace, but Jenkins sidestepped him with practiced ease.
“You seem to be in high spirits today.”
They were speaking, as usual, on the second floor of Pops Antique Shop.