Chapter 1797: Chapter 1797

With the business of the rat settled, it was time to deal with the hammer.

Jenkins had previously acquired it under his other guise, mainly because there had been no time to negotiate with the Church of Creation and Machinery. Now there was time, but the Believer of Lies could not make an appearance so soon. Follow current novels on n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net

He didn't keep the hammer himself. Instead, he temporarily entrusted "Thor's Wrath" to the Church for safekeeping. On one hand, it wasn't a Bestowal, so it couldn't be carried conveniently. On the other, it was still considered a Cursed Item. If he brought it home, his cat and the young women there might be affected. It was better to leave it with the Church and retrieve it when needed, which wasn't much of a hassle.

Besides turning in the hammer, Jenkins also gave a verbal report from a bystander's perspective, just to be safe. He placed heavy emphasis on the "Mechanized Body Curse," a peculiar affliction born from a combination of different elements.

No one could have guessed that when the Gear Artisans' Guild spread their gear germs last year, it wasn't entirely a diversion to better search for the object underground; they were also gathering experimental data. It was even more unthinkable that the appearance of the Skull Sword's wielder in Nolan was also connected to experiments in spreading disease.

But at this stage, the fully formed curse could not be undone. After he explained its manifestations and its probabilistic nature of transmission to Miss Bevanna, she also realized that this was a catastrophe no less severe than the Corpse Plague that had swept the world thirty years ago.

With mysterious and supernatural elements in the mix, ordinary people stood no chance against the corpses that had fused with machinery. Although the cursed had not yet appeared in large numbers, the Difference Engine's words suggested the curse had already been spread. The Luther whom Jenkins had seen was a special case, fed a diluted solution of the germs. The mass of flesh that had merged with the textile machine a few days ago also seemed to be an "unfinished product." The corpse that fused with the piano today was truly the first cursed being he had encountered.

It sounded terrifying, even more serious than the Children of the Mist. The Church had to be on high alert. This was no longer an issue confined to Nolan; Jenkins refused to believe that the Gear Artisans' Guild, in collusion with the Difference Engine, had only released the curse here.

Through Jenkins's eyewitness account, Miss Bevanna also deduced that the monster that had fought the Believer of Lies was being controlled by the thing underground. It wasn't just Jenkins; the Church, too, understood the dire implications of this situation.

At the very least, they had to arrest the heretics from cults like the Treehouse and the Gear Artisans' Guild and bring them to justice.

The Twelve Orthodox Churches Joint Conference was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. Having temporarily handled the matters at hand, Jenkins felt it would be improper to continue bothering the preoccupied Miss Bevanna. His original plan was to stay at the church and read through the materials sent by the Holy See to prepare for his speech on the opening day of the conference.

But around two in the afternoon, Miss Windsor sent a messenger with a note. After reading it, Jenkins left the church, taking his unusually docile cat with him, and boarded Miss Windsor's carriage.

A few days prior, Finney had told Jenkins that due to choir rehearsals, the children from the church had temporarily stopped selling flowers on the streets. But Finney felt reluctant to part with the friends she had just made, so she entrusted Jenkins with looking after them.

Jenkins, in turn, had delegated this task to Miss Windsor, and it was on this matter that she had come to see him.

The market price for tulips in Nolan had already soared far beyond normal. Through careful supply control and some clever marketing, the potential for the flowers' value to increase had yet to be fully tapped. Things were progressing in a very positive direction.

Following Jenkins's request, Miss Windsor had her people distribute a supply of finished tulips that weren't of the highest quality to Finney's friends at a very low price. It was a simple task that shouldn't have caused any issues. Even if someone took a fancy to the flowers the girls were selling and refused to pay, Miss Windsor's people were there to help.

The problem occurred during the flower pickup. By custom, freight wagons would bring fresh flowers from outside the city to a fixed location in the urban area every morning, supplying the small local florists and providing a source for the scattered flower girls to get their stock.

The larger flower shops typically had their own nurseries outside the city and didn't need to source their flowers from others.

The flower girls would buy flowers from the wagons at a relatively high price, which was still cheaper than buying from a shop, and then sell them to the city's inhabitants for an even higher price. The accident had happened this morning. For some reason, the wagon hadn't entered the city until around eight o'clock, and then it was delayed further by the massive earthquake that occurred when the third metallic-black tower rose.

By the time the girls arrived to pick up their flowers, it was already nine-thirty in the morning. Consequently, the flower girls, who usually arrived sporadically, were all gathered together waiting for the wagons. Adding to the crowd were employees sent by flower shop owners to check on the situation, so the unloading yard was more packed than usual.

The unloading process itself was unremarkable, until a squabble over the flowers nearly escalated into a fight among the young men from the shops. This was actually a fairly normal occurrence, but as fate would have it, one of them stumbled and fell headfirst into a pile of flowers laid out on the ground, and died on the spot.

As Miss Windsor recounted the story, Jenkins tilted his head and pondered for a few seconds, but he couldn't imagine how falling into a bed of flowers could be fatal.

"Did he fall and break his neck? Or did he have a heart condition?"

"No, the deceased was very young. Because a life was lost, they decided to call the police. In the interim, another person accidentally touched the pile of flowers and also died. When the police arrived, they followed standard investigative procedures and suspected poison in the flowers. During the examination, one of the officers died, so they notified the Church."

"Those little girls you asked me to look after are still waiting in the yard. The situation is rather chaotic. I'm not sure if this is the work of an Enchanter, but I'm worried it might be a curse."

As she spoke, she glanced toward a corner of the carriage where Silver Flute Miss sat in silence. Magic Miss had the day off, so only Silver Flute Miss was present.

"I'm not as skilled at detecting traces of the mysterious as Magic Miss is. My expertise lies in protection. So, just to be safe, I'd like you to take a look at this, and also get those little girls out of there. The Church isn't allowing anyone to leave at the moment," Silver Flute Miss said.

The number of strange incidents occurring in Nolan these days was at least double the usual rate. Jenkins was completely unaware of the smaller, less significant events; he focused only on those that could be connected to the apocalypse, the Treehouse, or the Gear Artisans' Guild.

He had initially been concerned that the Orthodox Church Enchanter in charge at the scene might not recognize him, but as luck would have it, the Church of Death and End was handling the situation. The Church of Death and End was a local chapter; though Jenkins wasn't well-acquainted with them, they would at least know who he was.

The wagons unloaded their goods in the yard of the Rental Carriage Guild, located in the southern part of the city. The police officers maintaining the outer cordon recognized Jenkins Williams, so after a perfunctory question about his purpose there, they allowed him, Miss Windsor, and their retinue of guards to proceed inside.

They then encountered the Enchanter squad from the Church of Death and End that was managing the incident. The yard was now accessible only through a single entrance leading from within the building. The two men guarding the door recognized Jenkins, but that alone wasn't enough to grant him entry.

One of the men remained to question Jenkins about his intentions, while the other went into the yard to fetch the captain of the Gravekeeper Squad.

Jenkins couldn't very well announce that he and Miss Windsor were the masterminds behind the recent manipulation of the tulip market. Instead, he used Finney as his reason, stating only that the flower girls in the yard were friends of a friend of his, and he wanted to take them away.

The explanation was somewhat tenuous. Acting on principle, the Gravekeeper captain, Robin Rogues—a man who looked as thin as a skeleton but stood taller than Jenkins—did not agree.

Jenkins wasn't offended; after all, refusal was the correct procedure. He understood that the captain was worried about a potential contagious curse being carried out and spread throughout the city. So, after being denied, he didn't press the issue, but simply asked for permission to enter the yard to take a look.

"I want to ensure the girls' safety. Besides, I'm a pretty decent Enchanter myself. I know this is against the rules, but I swear I will follow your orders. If any trouble arises because of my entry, I will take full responsibility."

Since Jenkins had put it that way, Captain Rogues couldn't very well refuse. However, he would only permit Jenkins to enter alone. Miss Windsor, Silver Flute Miss, and the guards had to stay behind.

Jenkins had no intention of getting them involved anyway. He still had no idea what the situation was like inside.

"I'll handle this. Thank you for telling me what happened here."

In front of outsiders, Jenkins maintained a slightly more formal demeanor toward Miss Windsor.

"No need to be so formal, Viscount Williamette."

Miss Windsor responded with equal coolness, then departed with her people.

Jenkins then entered the yard with Captain Rogues. He noticed that the holy symbol of Death and End had been carved into the doorframe—a restrictive measure unique to the followers of the God of Death.

The air today was still hazy with gray fog, and the unloading yard was no different. Every single person who had been in the yard when the incident occurred was being detained. A small number of police officers maintained order, while three bodies lay on the ground, covered with white cloths. The young girls, under the watch of a female employee from the rental carriage guild, huddled together timidly against a wall, not daring to look at anything else in the yard.