Chapter 1785: Chapter 1785

The moment the two keys showed signs of merging, Jenkins separated them without a second thought. He had only wanted to try opening the door with both keys at once, but if it meant losing part of their bestowed characteristics, it simply wasn't worth it. He had no desire to lose either ability, whether it was opening a door to the outside world or breaking through seals and mazes.

His disobedient cat poked its head out from his collar once more, looking behind him. Jenkins followed its gaze and saw a short, humanoid figure vanish through the back door.

He didn't give chase. Instead, he blinked, but saw nothing.

Jenkins mused, pulling the small silver vial he had received in the Mysterious Realm from his pocket. According to Sigrid, the potion within could make him the strongest mortal in the material world for one hour.

He hesitated for a moment, deciding against using the potion immediately. Read complete versıon only at novel·fire·net

He glanced at the counter beside him. Aside from Chocolate's personal little cushion, there were several papers lying face down. Jenkins picked them up and saw they were the Church's investigation into Luther's death. Because it involved the Gear Artisans' Association, they had been remarkably efficient. Beyond what Jenkins already knew, the report mentioned that the strange curse fusing Luther's corpse with machinery was not the first of its kind in Nolan. In fact, similar incidents had occurred in other cities within the past week, but they had been dismissed as isolated cases.

He pondered this, then looked back at the files.

"Since these documents are on the counter, it means Papa Oliver received the news from the Church before dawn. He must have been on the first floor looking through these materials when..."

He glanced at the wall, and sure enough, the faint gas lamp was still lit.

"He heard a noise upstairs, so he put down the papers for a moment... and never came back."

He deduced, then raised his head and put on his monocle. Using the Eye of Reality to scan the room again, he could now make out a faint, black spiritual aura flowing along the walls. It was sparse and incredibly subtle, but it definitely enveloped the entire antique shop.

Just as he was thinking of heading upstairs to check the source of the aura on the doors, he was startled by the loud cry of a baby. He followed the sound to the storeroom in the shop's backyard and, in the corner, found an ugly, infant-like creature in an empty cardboard box.

But it was definitely not a human baby. It looked more like an oversized newborn rat. Its body was pink and hairless, a short tail grew from its backside, and it twitched constantly in the box. Its wails were deeply unsettling to Jenkins, and the sight of the little monster made him shudder.

"What in the world is this?"

The creature was no phantom; it was a tangible entity. Although the spirit of life flowed within it, it was dominated by the power of death. It was less a living thing and more some unknown type of undead aberration. Jenkins was certain this thing did not belong in Pops Antique Shop, and its appearance was connected to the day's events.

"Chocolate, is this a mouse?"

He asked his cat. The cat, disgusted by the ugly creature, refused to even look at Jenkins. Jenkins knew his cat had never shown any interest in mice, but he was still greatly disappointed that it couldn't even identify one.

He picked up the cardboard box and carried it back into the antique shop, placing it on the counter. Nothing unusual happened. But then, Jenkins noticed something else was wrong. In the ten minutes he and Chocolate had been away from the front of the shop, the umbrella standing behind the counter had been replaced.

Originally, it had been a plain black canvas umbrella, a bit worn from long use, which Papa Oliver kept handy in the shop. But now, in its place stood a new one. To be precise, it was an umbrella with a golden canopy and a red wooden handle.

A quick glance confirmed it was an ordinary umbrella, so Jenkins held it and opened it right there in the shop. The process was smooth, not at all like the old umbrella which required a bit of force. He just pressed a conspicuous button, and with a soft pop, the canopy unfurled completely. The sound momentarily reminded Jenkins of the umbrellas from his former world.

The handle was genuine mahogany, and the golden canopy was somewhat rigid, feeling like metal or perhaps plastic, though plastic didn't exist in this world. But that wasn't the crucial part. As the canopy smoothly opened, Jenkins faintly heard the soft whir of gears from within the handle and felt a rhythmic vibration in the shaft, indicating a very intricate mechanical mechanism inside.

"That's odd. Why would something be in the shop?"

He closed the umbrella and set it down next to the box containing the "rat-man cub." Staring at the two items, a sudden suspicion bloomed in his mind.

"Don't tell me Papa Oliver's Cursed Item key has lost control?"

That key possessed the power of "evolution." If the objects before him were once just a small mouse and a regular umbrella, it was highly probable they had been subjected to that power.

But Jenkins still didn't understand why the entire shop was sealed off. That could also be the key's power, but for it to lose control today of all days was far too coincidental. In all of Miss Stevel's memories, and in the year Jenkins had known Papa Oliver, neither of them had ever seen the old man use that key.

As he mulled it over, he glanced again at the "rat-man" cub in the box, then scooped up the cat, which was sitting primly on its cushion, and headed upstairs again. Strange sounds once more echoed from a corner on the first floor, but Jenkins paid them no mind, proceeding to the second floor without looking back.

The hallway was just as it had been. Aside from Papa Oliver's locked bedroom, Jenkins searched every other room. The second floor had quite a few: a study, a drawing-room, the master bedroom, and a washroom, with the rest being spare guest rooms.

Finally, with Chocolate's help, in the last room on the left—the one that caught the most sun—he lifted the bedboard and found a massive rune carved into its underside.

He couldn't recognize it, so he carefully committed the rune to memory. As he turned to leave the room, a premonition of extreme danger shot through him.

He leaped to the side as a soft white light instantly shot from the half-open doorway, flooding the entire frame. Of course, Jenkins's movements couldn't outpace the speed of light, and he was struck.

A warm, pleasant sensation filled every corner of his body, a feeling so intensely comfortable it almost made him want to groan.

Simultaneously, his black coat, trousers, and shoes, which had been hit by the light, began to transform. It wasn't as if they'd suddenly gained sentience and were trying to strangle him; it was merely a change in their material and style.

Jenkins couldn't see his full appearance, but the resulting multi-colored fashion was clearly not his style, and the strange texture of the clothes felt like it was made from materials far beyond what this era could produce.

He himself, however, was unaffected by the white light. The warm, comforting feeling had indeed been pleasant, but it lasted only a few seconds and brought about no permanent change to him.

As for Chocolate, Jenkins had dodged to the right, and the cat had been perched on his right shoulder, so it hadn't been touched by the light.

He paused for only a second to register the changes before quickly giving chase. In the hallway, he caught sight of a short, greenish figure with long ears, resembling a fairy. It had already started to flee before he even emerged. It darted swiftly into the washroom on the left, but by the time Jenkins pushed the door open, the figure had already vanished.

"So it wasn't the key losing control after all?"

The Silver Dragon Lord had never mentioned that the key could transform into a short, ugly fairy. The white light, however, had most likely come from that very creature.

"As long as it's not the key, that's good. I can't handle a curse of that level yet."

He thought to himself as he scanned the washroom, then shattered the mirror with a single punch. Behind the mirror should have been a solid wall, but his fist plunged directly into a space devoid of any light. He reached in and dragged the fairy out from its hiding place.

The creature was even uglier from the front than he had imagined. Its head was almost as large as its body, and its eyes took up nearly a third of its face. Its entire body was covered in white hairs that were difficult to see but painfully sharp to the touch. Its skin had the slick, greasy feel of being coated in oil, yet it was also like mud, allowing his fingers to sink in.

His right hand gripped its neck. Where their skin made contact, a sizzling sound erupted, as if his own flesh were being burned. This Cursed Item was stronger than he'd anticipated; even under the passive effect of his Hero ability, it didn't seem particularly affected. Though its twisted features showed it was in pain, it still had the strength to struggle in his grasp.

"Are you going to introduce yourself, or do I have to make you talk?"

He asked, tightening his grip. But as its neck compressed, Jenkins didn't feel any bones or cartilage. It was as if its neck were stuffed with cotton.

A hissing sound came from the ugly fairy's mouth. Listening closely, he could make out the word spoken in a clumsy version of the common tongue. Jenkins furrowed his brow and glared at the fairy.

"I know you're related to evolution, but I want to know what, exactly, you are."

The "fairy" suddenly stopped struggling. Its enormous eyes began to glow with an even more intense black spiritual light. Its left eye remained unchanged, but the black pupil of its right eye expanded until it consumed the entire eyeball, turning it completely black.

Just as Jenkins summoned flames to scorch it, a black light burst forth from its right eye, enveloping the entire area before it, leaving no corner untouched.