Chapter 1948: Chapter 1948

Back in City Hall, the short recess came to an end. Miss Windsor and Queen Isabella returned to the lecture hall together, taking the same path since they were both near the side entrance.

As the servants at the doorway bowed and pushed the doors open, the first thing the group saw was Jenkins standing on the lecture stage, a cat perched calmly on his shoulder.

"You should get back to your seat,"

He said to Miss Windsor, who let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding.

"You're finally back."

Queen Isabella, however, stood her ground, her eyes fixed on Jenkins's face. A slight frown pulled at the wrinkles etched across her features.

"Of course not. I was just sitting in the next room with my cat. I even had a rather long chat with Miss Fini Faithford."

His answer left her momentarily speechless. She pressed on.

"Because I wanted people to think I had left, and that I wouldn't be coming back. That way, those who were on guard against me might relax and forgo a few unnecessary actions."

He answered, then mischievously plucked the cat from his shoulder and set it on the table. The drowsy Chocolate, greatly displeased at being moved from its familiar perch, let out a soft grumble. Jenkins smiled at Queen Isabella.

"No matter what happens today, I will not be leaving City Hall. You may have misjudged one thing—my determination in this matter is far greater than you imagine. Please, take your seat, Your Majesty. The final part of the speech is about to begin."

Jenkins rarely addressed Queen Isabella as "Your Majesty." To use the title now was clearly a playful jab, not a sign of deference. The Queen understood this perfectly. She maintained her composure, gave him a stiff nod, and, surrounded by her attendants, walked down to her seat in the front row.

Jenkins raised his hands slightly, signaling for quiet.

"My apologies. Something came up and I had to step away for a moment, but I have returned. I believe the timing is perfect. If the rest of the speech goes smoothly, we should finish just in time for lunch."

He glanced toward Dolores in the front row. The princess looked at him nervously, knowing that the next hour would be the most critical.

Without any further preamble, Jenkins retrieved the closed chalk box from under Chocolate's rear and pointed to the massive blackboard behind him, which was covered in charts and graphs.

"Judging from the price trends, the price of tulips has not yet reached its peak. I believe everyone here has, to some extent, come into contact with this flower. So, if I were to guarantee that a bulb bought today for ten shillings could be immediately resold tomorrow for fifteen, who among you would not be tempted?"

"I can guarantee, Viscount, that anyone but a god would be tempted,"

A voice called out from the audience. Jenkins nodded, his eyes scanning the crowd. Every single person was watching him. Here were the royal families of the three great kingdoms, the great merchants whose businesses spanned the continent, and the great nobles who possessed both immense wealth and powerful political influence.

"And if, the day after tomorrow, the tulips and their bulbs could be sold for twenty shillings, would anyone be willing to be tomorrow's buyer at fifteen shillings?"

Another voice shouted.

"This is precisely the point I wish to make. When the price of a commodity becomes detached from its intrinsic value and is pursued by the entire populace, its price will inevitably skyrocket in a frantic trend. We are already seeing clear signs of this with the tulips in Nolan.

Just a short while ago, I had the young flower sellers describe with their own mouths what they've seen the people of this city do to acquire tulips. I can assure you, selling off one's entire life savings just to hoard a batch of flowers and flip them for a quick profit is by no means a rare case.

This brings us to a very interesting question. What would happen if the person supplying all of Nolan with these rare tulips were to suddenly cut off the normal supply and, at the same time, flood the market with a massive quantity at an extremely low price?"

"The price of tulips would fall,"

"Yes. Oh, thank you, my princess."

Dolores's face immediately flushed red.

"Such a price drop would create an avalanche effect. We all know that the current price of tulips is completely misaligned with their actual value. Everyone knows a tulip isn't worth that much gold, yet most people are eagerly investing because of the current prices.

This means that if the market experiences even a single large-scale price drop, it will cause everyone holding the stock to try and sell off their flowers by any means necessary, to prevent greater losses in the next price drop. No one wants to be the last fool holding the bag. But their selling will only intensify the panic, leading to an even more catastrophic crash.

Tulips are not a daily necessity. I wouldn't be surprised if their price plummeted to a third of its usual value within three days.

Many who bought tulips at high prices would be utterly ruined. For those who borrowed money to participate, it wouldn't be surprising if entire families were driven to suicide. This is enough to turn a wealthy man into a penniless beggar overnight, and it is enough to completely destroy Nolan's finances and market order.

That's right. The ultimate goal of whoever orchestrated this was never to make a profit, but to throw this city into chaos."

He stated his conclusion. Seeing that no one had any questions, he simply continued.

"Think about it. A massive number of merchants bankrupted in a short time, scores of ordinary citizens who had savings and businesses losing everything overnight. And the price to achieve all this? Nothing more than a little push to drive up the price of tulips in the beginning. Oh, gentlemen, I can assure you, those people who were buying tulips at exorbitant prices in the auction houses from the very start were undoubtedly hired by the mastermind behind this affair."

This conclusion sent a wave of murmurs through the crowd. Jenkins went on, "Before the speech, I asked the mayor to investigate them. Unfortunately, those individuals were merely hired hands who took money from a broker to do a job. They have no idea what their employer even looks like."

"Then who do you think they are?"

Duchess Madeline asked.

"This cannot be allowed. If a city can be toppled with such simple steps, then who would dare to invest in the future?"

"I don't think who they are is important. What's important is how we prevent this from happening again."

Jenkins paused, waiting for a question. There was still no sign of the divinity materializing. Merely exposing the scam, however brilliant, was not enough to gather its power. A true lie was far more complex than simple deception and revelation; he had to play every single role in the scheme himself.

"Could it be the Believers of Lies? Could it be that Miss Fabry?"

In the single second that Jenkins deliberately paused, before the eyes of hundreds, he closed his eyes. Then, using a spiritual lodestone, he projected himself to a high point at the very back of the room. A projection required no physical movement, so by having previously activated the wooden floorboards to hold his body fast, no one, with their attention fixed on the stage, noticed the new figure that had appeared behind them.

"Could it be the Believers of Lies? Could it be that Miss Fabry?"

He shouted from the back of the room, having donned a black robe. He then left behind a True Illusion, tossed a talisman at his feet, and cancelled the projection, returning to his own body.

On the stage, Jenkins's eyes fluttered open. He looked toward the back row, at the figure leaning on a chair, and answered.

"Indeed. It could very well be the Believers of Lies. I think, in this era, only that group would be interested in such a grand deception. If you think about it carefully, this tulip affair and Miss Fabry's mining venture are not so different. The biggest difference, perhaps, is that even if I hadn't exposed Miss Fabry's scheme, which involved half the continent, it would have only cost people a portion of their money.

But if this tulip mania is not stopped, it won't just be people going bankrupt. The entire economy of Nolan will suffer long-term consequences."

This conclusion earned the support of his listeners. Jenkins turned his head slightly to look out the window, in the direction where the Human Jigsaw Puzzle incident had occurred. He could see the shining aura of the Spirit of Life, and figured things over there were about to conclude as well. He blinked once more, and the mechanical bird sharing its senses with him transmitted a blurry image.

In fact, it was indeed about to end.

The task Jenkins had given Sigrid was simple: retrieve the Arrow of Ruin from the old elf. But after she delivered the arrow to the club and the musicians had successfully enchanted it with their song, Hathaway gave her some very unfortunate news. Googlᴇ search NoveI(F)ire.net

"Jenkins said he can't leave City Hall, so you'll have to handle this."

With that, she handed the box containing the arrow to Sigrid, and then gave her Jenkins's cane as well.

"The Orthodox Church has no Earth Root, but the Earth Root is a root of the World Tree. Jenkins said this cane also contains a part of the World Tree. You can use your control over life force to shape the cane into roots and entwine them around the arrow. It should produce the exact same effect."

"Should? No, no, I can't do it."

Sigrid shook her head frantically, backing away. Hathaway stepped forward and grabbed her right hand. They were so close that Sigrid could smell the other woman's fragrance, forcing her to hold her breath.

"That won't do. Be more confident. You and he are both descendants of the World Tree's priests. There's no reason he can do it and you can't. Do you know who fired that arrow in the last epoch?"

"Of course. That was a demigod from our church. She was also a half-elf."

"But I'd wager that the demigod from the last epoch was just an ordinary half-elf. You, on the other hand, are a descendant of the World Tree's priests, with the blood of royal elves. In that respect, you've already won."