Chapter 193: Chapter 193
He remembered this was a stronghold for the Church of All Things and Nature, so instead of returning to the main hall immediately, he decided to look around. Before long, he spotted a familiar face—someone he'd seen during the test of that spear.
Not long after he returned to the main hall, Miss Mikhail and Hathaway approached him together.
“If you've come to apologize, don't worry about it. Miss Hersha has already done so.”
He said with a grin, holding his hands up to his chest.
“If I have the chance, I'll host another party.”
The blonde young woman touched her nose. She was wearing a voluminous, golden tiered dress today, and the gesture, far from being impolite, only seemed to accentuate her charm.
Jenkins seized the opportunity to inquire about a certain Dimon Beryl, and to his surprise, both young women knew of him. He was twenty-five, not of noble birth, but was nevertheless quite famous in Nolan's high society.
He seemed to be a man with a real gift for socializing. Apart from a recent bout of illness that had made him rather eccentric, he had always been quite likable. He ran in his own circles and was often surrounded by a crowd of young men and women.
“Oh, and he seems to be interested in the occult, too. But Briny can't stand the man—she thinks he's utterly bizarre, so she never speaks to him.”
If Miss Miller hadn't been deceiving him the other day, then this Mr. Beryl was very likely the target the Church was searching for. Just then, Miss Mikhail turned to chat with a friend. Jenkins immediately lowered his voice, raising a hand as if to adjust his collar but really to shield his mouth, and whispered:
“Is he an Enchanter? I mean, is he just an occult enthusiast?”
The girl stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing:
“Jenkins, the number of people in this world who receive the World's Gift and become Enchanters is actually very, very small. But the number of enthusiasts who yearn for and pursue the mysteries of the occult? That's quite large. Not everyone can be an Enchanter. I think you're overthinking things.”
Jenkins gave a slight nod. This matched what Miss Miller had concluded about Beryl.
The two young women introduced Jenkins to some of their friends, where his status as a writer proved far more useful than his title of honorary baron. As the young people gathered, chatting and laughing, Jenkins once again spotted the young woman who had maintained a calm expression while he was telling his story earlier. Latest content publıshed on n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
“She's a beautiful woman, isn't she?”
Miss Mikhail nudged Jenkins with her elbow and whispered. Hathaway stood nearby, maintaining a gentle, demure expression, but her eyes narrowed involuntarily.
He admitted honestly.
“She's not an easy one to catch, you know. She's a distant relative of the Queen, Jessica Windsor, and she came to Nolan with the Duke. Of course, 'not easy' just means it's a bit of a challenge. If you'd like to get to know her, how about I make an introduction? We could start with music, or maybe literature?”
Miss Mikhail's eyes crinkled into a smile, and she seemed eager to give it a try.
Jenkins quickly waved his hands in refusal. “A lady of her station is far beyond someone I could presume to approach.”
Miss Mikhail let out a small laugh and dropped the subject, while Hathaway simply pouted.
Jenkins continued to chat absently with the two young women, oblivious to the fact that he had sat down between them. Over at the hall's newly constructed staircase, Duke Gerrod and Marquis Mikhail descended together, their hands on the golden banister.
The elderly duke looked at Jenkins, then at the two young women beside him.
“Quite young, indeed.”
A peculiar expression crossed his face. Marquis Mikhail's gaze fell, his own expression unreadable.
Jenkins happened to remember the letters sent by his fans and recited a few lines from the more memorable poems. The girls erupted in giggles but stubbornly refused to explain the meaning to him.
He looked on helplessly as the two of them laughed until their faces were red, quite certain now that the poems contained some metaphor he was failing to grasp.
“There have been too many social events lately; my grammar studies have fallen behind.”
True scholars and researchers must endure solitude. Their success stems from their ability to use the time others spend socializing on reading and studying instead. Jenkins understood this principle deeply.
When Miss Mikhail was called away by a friend, Hathaway and Jenkins found themselves alone again and began discussing recent events—from the perspective of Enchanters.
“I heard there's been a series of midnight murders in Pasival City, in the northeast of the kingdom.”
Jenkins had heard about that; he'd read it in the newspaper.
“Is it related to our kind?”
“I have a friend in Pasival. She wrote to me that the bodies of the innocent victims were all found with parts of their brains missing. It's probably some large-scale, malevolent ritual. I can't believe things still happen in this day and age.”
“The police will have their hands full for quite some time, I imagine. When Enchanters are involved, ordinary people can do very little. Do you think it's the work of a lone individual, or a group?”
he asked, glancing around the room. His eyes met those of a young lady, and Jenkins offered her a polite smile. She blushed and hastily averted her gaze.
Watching him, Hathaway's brow furrowed slightly. But she quickly shook her head, as if trying to dispel some strange, indefinable feeling.
“Are you suggesting an illegal society or a heretical cult? There are quite a few pseudo-gods with domains over murder, and plenty of illegal organizations made up of Enchanters from various faiths, so it's hard to be sure. The Murder Club? The Purifiers' Alchemy Guild? The Cursed Hand? The Evil Eye Collectors' Society? The Witch's House? The Club of Light Chasers? Gods, there are just too many possibilities. And those are only the groups that have been active in the kingdom recently. I don't even know the names of the more sinister cabals out there.”
She rattled off six illegal organizations in a single breath, but the list of suspects was far longer. Fortunately, at least this incident wasn't taking place in Nolan.
Hathaway didn't know much about the followers of the so-called 'Prince of Lies,' who had been causing such a stir lately. The swindlers didn't even have a proper name for their organization, which made it easier for them to stay hidden.
Similarly, she was unaware of the wishing tree that had appeared in the city one night this week, but she knew all about the 'Gear Germs'.
The Gear Germs had been discovered the day after Mr. Hood's gathering. Jenkins had told her about it the day she delivered the invitation to him.
Before he could repeat his warning, Hathaway was already speaking urgently about the dangerous, bacteria-like Cursed Item. Her knowledge of its properties wasn't as detailed as what Jenkins had learned from the Church, and she had no idea they had already developed a device to detect infected individuals.