Chapter 1516: Chapter 1516

An hour later, Jenkins stood at the entrance of the Rosalia Inn, watching the tour group depart. He was still wondering just how many people he’d hurt. As he sighed inwardly, the cat perched on his shoulder suddenly turned its head to look behind them, then brushed the tip of its tail against Jenkins's neck.

"Yes, I know we're being followed."

He stroked Chocolate's head, and the cat let out a gentle meow in response.

The person tailing him was an ordinary man, and the only reason he’d been noticed was Jenkins’s incredibly potent inspiration. Now, even a trained agent couldn't escape his detection; as long as Jenkins was paying attention, he could feel any gaze that lingered on him.

He didn't know who had sent the man, nor did he have the energy to care. Whether it was an agent sent by the Queen or a spy from some noble looking to place their bets, it wasn't a significant problem. The real troubles he faced were things ordinary people couldn't even imagine.

With his debriefing scheduled for that afternoon, Jenkins headed straight to the Church. There, he inevitably heard about the events of the previous night and learned about the investigation into the club.

In fact, just as Jenkins had been escaping on a unicorn toward the moon the night before, the Church had received intelligence about the tobacco appearing in the city. Coincidentally, due to the ongoing Blood Mosquito Curse incident, teams from all twelve orthodox churches were stationed in the Bel Diran region. A small investigative team was quickly assembled to look into the club, and they had already completed their preliminary findings by that same night.

Their first order of business, naturally, was to arrest the people indulging in the tobacco at the club. Jenkins hadn't seen an exact arrest list, but according to the rumors he heard, a few rather important figures were among those caught. Content orıginally comes from novelFirｅ.net

The Church conducted a thorough search of the club. In addition to piecing together a preliminary account of how the "Believer of Lies on a unicorn" had infiltrated the premises, they also uncovered some interesting documents. These records could be used to trace the club's founding and identify its benefactors, which would be instrumental in rooting out the Perfume Appreciation Committee's network in Bel Diran.

Any attempt at divination on the scene was rendered impossible by the presence of the Believer of Lies, so the Church remained oblivious to the truly terrible entity that had manifested there.

Beyond that, the investigation yielded a very unexpected discovery. When Jenkins had gone to retrieve the 'Mirror of Good and Evil,' he'd encountered three suspicious individuals. One of them, a man claiming to be a history teacher, had actually been hired by a mysterious organization to purchase the Series B Extraordinary item.

The documents found on the club's third floor proved that it was indeed the Perfume Appreciation Committee who had hired the man to acquire the mirror. As for their reasons, the files indicated that the mirror could, to a large extent, mitigate the spiritual harm for infrequent users of the tobacco.

The Perfume Appreciation Committee itself lacked an effective method for counteracting the side effects of their own product. Thus, they needed the mirror to help members with little self-control break their addiction.

"Why does it feel like Bel Diran got chaotic the moment I arrived?"

Jenkins muttered to himself, then realized this was just the normal state of affairs at the end of an Epoch. It probably had little to do with him.

Although the group holed up in the club had escaped for now, their unexpected exposure had left behind many clues. The Church would follow these leads, and Jenkins was confident it wouldn't be long before they saw results.

Unfamiliar with the local underworld, he hadn't yet found a way to report the horrifying vision from his dream to the Church. Compared to the potential dangers of the tobacco, a Beast of Calamity sealed away in an ancient Epoch was a far greater threat. Jenkins couldn't begin to imagine what would happen to the world if that thing were to fully break free.

At noon, he met Papa Oliver at the church, who would also be attending his afternoon debriefing in the main hall. The crowd was larger than Jenkins had expected. They sat in silence for the entire afternoon, listening to his account of the differences between the diocese in the northern Hamparvo Kingdom and those within the Fidektri Kingdom.

Jenkins wanted his two-month trip to Ruen to seem productive, not as if he had simply wasted his time enjoying the comforts of a foreign princess's estate. To that end, he had poured a great deal of effort into his report.

He outlined the history of the Ruen diocese, analyzed the differences in believers' perspectives stemming from cultural disparities, explained the influence of Hamparvo customs on religious faith, and even cited a short passage from a report he had seen in Ruen to prove that "extremely low winter temperatures discourage the faithful from attending church."

The presentation started at half-past one in the afternoon and didn't conclude until five. By the end, Jenkins felt like his throat was smoking, and he’d completely forgotten to bring a glass of water. The only other thing on the lectern was a cat, and while some people claim cats are liquid, Chocolate was, in fact, not drinkable.

After the presentation, he had to field questions from the audience. Once that was all over, the attendees gathered for a group photograph to commemorate the grand debriefing.

It was well past five by the time everything was finished. Jenkins politely declined Papa Oliver’s invitation to have dinner at the church and hurried to the Rosalia Inn downtown instead. After carefully slipping past Hathaway, he met up with Briny and took her to the restaurant where they had reservations.

At one point, Jenkins asked the blonde girl why they hadn't invited Hathaway to join them. Briny replied that what she needed right now was time alone with him, not a three-person date. That was when Jenkins realized what a stupid question he’d asked.

Although he had technically explained the situation with the little princess from the northern kingdom in a few letters, now that they were face-to-face, Briny still wanted him to recount his experiences in Ruen—especially everything concerning Dolores.

Jenkins could only brace himself and repeat the version of events he and Hathaway had agreed was safe to share. He didn't have to lie, really—he just omitted any mention of the marriage contract. After all, nothing had actually happened between him and Dolores.

"So, you're saying you really did spend the last two months living with the princess."

Briny asked as she elegantly dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a napkin, even though her pretty lips were perfectly clean.