Chapter 2169: Chapter 2169

The Church took care of cleaning up the traces of Jenkins's Four-in-One ritual at the abandoned hospital, while Alexia and the others returned to the Legacy Sage Church in the city center.

The old elf had no desire to linger in a church. He had planned to return to his rented apartment to make up for his missed lunch and await good news from Jenkins. But at the church entrance, they ran into Hathaway, who had come to meet them. At her suggestion, the old elf headed instead toward St. George Avenue, where Jenkins lived.

The ladies who returned to the church were not idle. Alexia was the busiest of all; her first task was to meet with Jenkins's friend, the man who should have been long dead—Mr. Pisco.

Mason Pisco was a playwright of some renown, making a living by writing scripts for operas and plays. He had even penned a script for the Silver Jasmine Opera Troupe.

When Jenkins first met him, the man was on death's door from overusing his power. But as Alexia pushed open the door to meet him now, Mr. Pisco looked to be in excellent health.

The gas lamps in the church's guest room cast a bright glow. A middle-aged man in a formal black silk suit and bow tie stood sideways by the window, gazing out at the warm ash drifting down from the dark sky. The corners of his eyes held two or three wrinkles, as one would expect of a man his age, but he was in high spirits.

Hearing Alexia's footsteps, he turned. She was not alone. The little fairy, Vinette, hovered at her side, followed by Hathaway with a cat perched on her head, and Sigrid, who had nothing else to do for the moment. Bringing up the rear were Anathasia and Princess Sophia, who were also at loose ends and wanted to see the fairy born from the Millstone of Fate.

In all their long lives, neither the dragon nor the princess had ever heard of a book's pages giving birth to a soul.

Of course, upon seeing that he was just an uninteresting, middle-aged man, they felt a pang of disappointment.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Please, sit."

Mr. Pisco glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner as he greeted them, then looked toward the closed door.

"Do the people outside need to come in?"

Outside were members of the Church, including several demigods and Miss Bevanna, who had managed to free up some time.

"That won't be necessary."

Alexia shook her head. The ladies settled onto the sofa, and Mr. Pisco pulled up a chair to sit opposite them. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel fire.net

The little fairy had intended to land on the sofa's armrest next to Hathaway, but a threatening "Meow~" from Chocolate, the cat on the red-haired lady's head, made her reconsider. Not daring to get any closer, she flew to the other side of the sofa and landed by Sigrid's hand.

"Then I will be brief, as we're nearly out of time."

Mr. Pisco clapped his hands, and an incomplete sheet of paper immediately materialized before them. A piece had been torn off and fed to a cat, but the remaining part was covered in the few repeating lines that had caused the "Thirty-One Day Loop" incident last year.

"I am quite surprised by my own resurrection. Yes, I truly believed I had reached my end, which is why I arranged for two letters to be sent to Jenkins to help him. Had I known I would live, it would have been better to handle things myself."

"I overlooked one crucial detail," he explained. "This paper is, in theory, indestructible. Therefore, even if I, a being born from this very page, exhausted my power and perished, I could simply be reborn from it."

He simply explained the reason for his reappearance, noting that book fairies did indeed possess this racial trait. Their true form was not their humanoid or fairy-like body, but the book or its pages.

"So, you are here to help Jenkins as well?" Alexia asked, refraining from commenting on his revival.

"Certainly not. Jenkins is my friend, and I would very much like to help him, but I am a soul born from a lost page of the Millstone of Fate. I must abide by the rules. The purpose of the Millstone of Fate is to record history, not to actively participate in its unfolding."

He gestured with his hands as he spoke.

"Then you have another way," Hathaway stated with conviction.

"Yes. I cannot help him directly, as this silver dragon lady can, but I can help indirectly."

He gave a slight nod to Anathasia. The silver dragon, who had already lost interest in the fairy from the Millstone of Fate, only returned the courtesy after a nudge from Princess Sophia.

"Though I was born from the Millstone of Fate, the material world is my home, too. I have no wish to see the civilization I know simply vanish. If there is a way for it all to continue, I am willing to pay a price, even if it is a steep one."

Mr. Pisco looked at the ladies across from him, and at the cat.

"I daren't comment on Jenkins's views on marriage, but his taste is certainly impeccable. You are all remarkably capable women. I cannot help him directly, but you can."

Anathasia and Sophia were surely not part of his consideration. They were merely friends with Jenkins, and the silver dragon could no longer enter the Mysterious Realms. Among the other Enchanters in Jenkins's circle, Julia, Dolores, and the three Jessicas were too weak. Hathaway and Sigrid, while not weak, could not be called strong either.

"Yes, so that leaves me," Alexia said, pointing to herself. During her final secret meeting deep underground with the A4 Type Arithmetic Auxiliary External Machine, she had used the contents of the letter from her future niece to perform an arithmetic divination with the machine. That was why, today, the short woman had been able to anticipate Jenkins's needs time and again.

It was a true divination. Because she already knew the answer and only needed to verify the process, the experience had been of immense benefit to Alexia.

"But even Alexia probably can't help Jenkins all that much," Princess Sophia interjected, a rare contribution from her. She wasn't deeply involved in the matter, but she was good friends with the women of Jenkins's household and was willing to help them.

"Correct. This lady's current power is insufficient. That is why she needs to take that crucial step."

The silver dragon, who had been tilting her head to gaze at the "scenery" outside the window, immediately frowned at his words. She turned to face Mr. Pisco.

"Of course, I'm sure," the uninteresting, middle-aged man nodded.

"Now?" the dragon pressed.

"Yes," Alexia agreed.