Chapter 1655: Chapter 1655
Victeum's death was unexpected, but Jenkins wasn't about to lose sleep over it. Feuds and assassinations among the nobility were hardly rare; it was just a coincidence that the latest victim happened to be someone with a grudge against him.
Jenkins spent the morning at the antique shop, leaving after lunch. Papa Oliver, understanding how busy Jenkins had been lately, gave him the time off with a simple reminder not to neglect his studies.
That afternoon, he and Miss Windsor met with several of the kingdom's elder dukes—all potential allies. The industrial revolution had swept the material world, ushering in an era of relative peace free from major wars and conflicts. Consequently, the number of dukes in the Fidektri Kingdom had remained stable for a long time; most of the current titleholders were nobles who had inherited their positions from their ancestors.
While it was true that wealthy merchants and factory owners without titles could buy their way into parliamentary seats, this was, at its core, still an age ruled by the aristocracy. The nobility controlled the Upper House, and the true power of the state did not lie with the parliament—the king was still the king.
The white-haired old dukes were already loyal to the Middleton bloodline, but meeting Jenkins in person left them utterly astounded. Though he appeared young, the sheer force of his presence was palpable even when he sat in silence. It was an oppressive, commanding aura that any ordinary person could sense.
"You are a born king."
The old dukes praised him in unison from their sofas, completely unaware of what—or who—they were truly dealing with.
Winning their support was the easy part; the army, however, presented a greater challenge. Most of the officers had been personally promoted by Queen Isabella, and a third of them were not of noble birth. Their loyalty lay with the Queen, not the royal bloodline or the Middleton name. Consequently, aside from the Third Army, the rest of the military was beyond even Miss Windsor's influence.
According to Dolores's intelligence, Queen Isabella had her own direct channels of communication with the army. The old monarch might have appeared to have a loose grip on power, but she hadn't sat on the throne for fifty years without making her own moves.
After bidding Miss Windsor farewell, Jenkins returned home for dinner with Hathaway and Briny. Hathaway seemed to be in low spirits. Briny mentioned that she had met with a strikingly beautiful stranger earlier that day.
Jenkins suspected it might have been his senior from the church and questioned Hathaway about it. She confirmed that someone from the Music Cult had contacted her but refused to disclose their purpose.
He spent the evening playing cards with the three women before urging them to get some rest. Once they were asleep, he slipped out of the house to meet Dolores and Alexia.
Likely for security reasons, the Stuart family was now scattered across the city in different residences. King Salsi II was staying near the Church of the Sage, quite close to the mansion where Queen Isabella had taken up lodging.
Alexia greeted Jenkins with a warm embrace. The three of them were planning to travel to Ruen that night to assess the situation there.
"But before we go, there's something very important we need to discuss."
Jenkins said, gesturing for the women to sit. He had arrived on a unicorn, bringing Julia with him. While the three of them projected their consciousnesses to Ruen, Julia would be responsible for safeguarding their physical bodies.
"I seem to recall you have a small tulip garden in Ruen, don't you?"
Jenkins directed the question to Dolores. She nodded, though she had no idea what he was planning. They gathered around the room's ornamental fireplace as Jenkins rolled a seed between his fingers. A moment later, a tulip miraculously sprouted from his very flesh.
"There is something of the utmost importance I need to do," he began, his tone grave. "Something so critical that I must ask for your help."
He handed the tulip to Dolores, his expression deadly serious.
"It's more important than the throne itself."
A smile graced Dolores's lips.
"I am at your service."
"I'm planning to orchestrate another... swindle."
Even Alexia turned to look at him, her curiosity piqued.
"What do you have in mind?"
"This won't be like the Fabry swindle. I need something fast, something effective, something that will shake the entire world. While the immediate effects only need to ripple through Nolan and its surroundings, the city is currently filled with influential figures from across the globe. If this succeeds, the whole world will know what we've done."
As she listened, Dolores idly twisted the tulip's stem between her fingers. It was slightly prickly to the touch, but the princess paid it no mind.
"I need to turn this flower into the city's most expensive luxury item—a symbol of wealth and opulence—all within one to two months, at the most."
Jenkins's eyes narrowed as he carefully dredged up historical knowledge from his former world.
"It won't be easy, of course, but we have our advantages. Give me the seeds, and I can accelerate the growth of multiple generations of hybrids in a short time, allowing for the selective breeding of tulips with all sorts of exotic patterns. I also want the street flower sellers to be part of the plan. By using them as distributors, I can keep a constant pulse on the actual transaction price for every flower sold in this city. We'll raise the price step by step, gradually getting people to accept it, to understand that this is a flower that can make them rich. We'll make the tulip synonymous with money—a signal of ever-rising fortunes."
"This... this is the tulip swindle you told me about!"
Dolores had an excellent memory; Jenkins had mentioned this 'swindle' to her once before the Ice and Snow Festival in Ruen. The principle was remarkably simple: once people believed the flower could make them money, its price would continue to climb, and they would be willing to pay more and more to acquire it.
It was a game of hot potato, or 'pass the flower,' as it were. As long as you kept passing the flower along and got out before the music stopped, the nearly worthless tulips would generate immense profits for those pulling the strings.
Of course, there were countless details to manage, and it would require a significant number of people. They would need merchants to 'arrive in Nolan with rare breeds,' wealthy nobles to 'spend fortunes at auction,' and gossips to 'spread rumors in taverns and on the streets.' Every role had to be carefully orchestrated.
Unlike the Fabry swindle, this was not something Jenkins could accomplish on his own. He would need the help of both Dolores and Miss Windsor to pull it off in such a short time frame.
He gazed at the flower between Dolores's pale fingers, its petals swaying gently, their colors as rich and intense as an oil painting. Jenkins didn't need money. The treasure he'd unearthed near Bel Diran was worth even more than he had estimated—enough to fund three bids for the throne without issue.
What Jenkins needed was divinity. After his direct confrontation with a fully-formed Beast of Calamity, he had a rough measure of such beings. With divinity, he might not be guaranteed a win against one, but he certainly wouldn't lose. And since the only way he currently knew to acquire divinity was through a divine domain, there was no better method than the 'tulip swindle'.
"I need you to gather as many of the flower sellers in the Nolan area as you can. We'll distribute the first batch of tulips through them."
Jenkins explained to Dolores, who nodded immediately, taking mental notes. The princess was already completely captivated by the idea.
Relying on the flower sellers wasn't just about using the power of his divine domain to constantly monitor tulip prices and prepare his next move. In truth, Jenkins wasn't only hoping to accumulate divinity for his [Lie Godhood] domain. Content orıginally comes from NoveI[F]ire.net
"We can offer the flower sellers of Nolan favorable terms. We'll share the profits with them, help them change their lives, maybe even organize them into a guild of sorts... This time, I'm not after money..."
His divine domain, [Protector of Flower Girls], might have a small scope, but it was incredibly specific. By making the flower sellers an integral part of the 'tulip swindle' and genuinely helping them improve their lives, strengthening that domain wouldn't be difficult at all.
This swindle was a dual-pronged experiment for Jenkins, a combined application of two vastly different divine domains. Since he didn't know when the final day would arrive, he needed this scheme to come to fruition as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, the timing, the place, and the people were all on his side. Nolan was teeming with nobles and merchants from across the world, creating a luxury market where demand far outstripped supply. It was the city he knew best, and to top it off, his 'affinity with flower sellers' was a supernatural talent that would allow him to work more effectively with the impoverished girls.
He even planned to enter the dreams of every potential flower seller in the city at night, weaving visions that would convince them that tulips were the path to wealth, thus encouraging them to join his plan of their own accord.
"'Deceiving the flower sellers with a truthful lie, only to then help them change their lives... I suppose I'm perfectly suited for these two divine domains after all.'"
He thought to himself, unsure what to make of his own character at that moment. But he was resolute on one point: he would not profit from this venture. In the end, he would be the one to expose the whole charade. For that reason, Jenkins didn't consider himself a true con artist.
He had mentioned the idea to Dolores before, and Alexia grasped his intentions with ease. Leaving the public-facing execution to the two of them while he pulled the strings from behind the curtain would be no problem at all.
To drive the price of an ordinary tulip to astronomical heights in just one month sounded like a joke. But to Jenkins, who had witnessed history, it was entirely feasible.
He would have to discuss the matter with Miss Windsor as well. Dolores was a foreigner, after all. No matter how resourceful her spies were, they couldn't possibly support an operation of this magnitude on their own.
Jenkins was confident he could persuade Miss Windsor to undertake such a seemingly 'meaningless' task, even at this critical juncture in the struggle for the throne. He knew she would follow his lead without question...
A pang of guilt struck him at the thought.