Chapter 237: Chapter 237

"Yes, your book is quite famous, especially with the younger generation."

The professor wouldn't be attending the church activities that afternoon; he had other important matters to attend to.

Before they parted ways, the professor warned Jenkins. He'd heard whispers that an illegal Enchanter organization, the Witch's House, had been responsible for several major incidents in Nolan City. Since most of the cases involved wealthy merchants or nobles, he urged Jenkins to be careful.

He said it with complete sincerity. It wasn't even a lie—compared to the average assets of Nolan's high society, eight thousand pounds was practically nothing.

After going home to fetch Chocolate, Jenkins had the coachman drive him to the church. A line of worshipers waiting to get inside already stretched around the street corner.

Jenkins had no choice but to use the back entrance, where he was immediately grabbed by Captain Bincy.

"Hurry up, we were waiting for you!"

The two of them hurried down a spiral stone staircase to the Gate of All Things. The area was already packed with church Enchanters, a dense crowd that included faces Jenkins had never seen before.

In the large open space between the Gate of All Things and the stairs, a massive circle had been drawn with purple, fluorescent paint. Common prayers and tenets of faith were inscribed in the common tongue around its outer edge, while an indecipherable ancient script lined the inner side. A row of golden candelabras had appeared on the wall at some point, their thick, white candles—each the width of a man's arm—already lit and filling the air with a peculiar aroma.

Jenkins was pulled into place behind a formally dressed Papa Oliver, their position relatively close to the front. After another ten minutes, with Miss Bevanna out of the city, a Keeper of Secrets took her place and began to lead the solemn assembly in prayer.

Amidst the low, murmured prayers, the massive holy emblem on the Gate of All Things erupted in a dazzling spiritual light.

Within that light, a grand and solemn gaze swept over them all from a higher dimension. As it passed over them, the Keepers of Secrets began to distribute silver cups, each filled with a liquid, to every Enchanter present.

The candle flames on the walls flickered, casting a wavering, uncertain light. In the shifting glow, Jenkins saw that his silver cup held a blood-red liquid that emanated a golden aura. The cup itself was incredibly cold, as if just removed from a freezer, a chill caused by the properties of the liquid within.

To the sound of chanting, the Enchanters drank from their cups in turn. When his turn came, Papa Oliver nudged him, snapping him out of his reverie.

The icy liquid slid down his throat, raising goosebumps on his arms. As it reached his stomach, a burning sensation followed. Just as he began to worry that drinking something so cold would make him ill, the liquid transformed into a current of energy that spread throughout his entire body. It was spirit.

He had long suspected as much. If an item like the white flower, A-01-2-0198, existed—something that could increase one's spirit reserves out of thin air—then the Church surely possessed other items with similar properties.

"A little sweet, tastes good."

He thought to himself, then bent down to place the empty silver cup at his feet and rejoined the chorus of prayers.

As each Enchanter drank the crimson liquid, the candlelight along the walls grew dimmer and dimmer. By the time the last person had rejoined the prayer, the flames had vanished completely.

But the space was not plunged into darkness. The Gate of All Things, which they all faced, had silently opened a crack. As the prayers grew louder, the crack widened, until finally, when the chanting reached a crescendo, the door swung fully open.

B-10-5-0400, the Gate of All Things. It opened to different spaces depending on the angle. Jenkins had no idea what kind of place it would reveal when opened completely.

Beyond the fully opened Gate of All Things lay an endless expanse of white light, much like the entrance to a Mysterious Realm. The faint, familiar sound of a sacred hymn reached his ears, and Jenkins's heart jumped.

"Is the Sage descending?"

Of course, that was impossible. Accompanied by the sacred hymn, a single, pure white feather the size of a man's palm drifted out from beyond the gate. The Gate of All Things then began to close, the candles along the wall reignited on their own, and the feather settled gently on the floor.

In the small space, the sound of every breath was audible. The moment the gate had opened, they had all felt a suffocating pressure. It was merely a trace of the presence from beyond the gate, but no one offered any explanation.

With that, the ritual was over. A few of the Keepers of Secrets surrounded the feather while everyone else was dismissed. Those with time to spare could join the Reading Festival celebrations in the main church; otherwise, they were free to go about their business.

The activities for Enchanters varied completely from one diocese to another. Beyond the customary prayer, everything else was arranged locally. In the Nolan diocese, for instance, the liquid they drank was called the "Crimson Tincture," the most precious specialty of the Church of Knowledge and Books in the region. The subsequent opening of the Gate of All Things was a direct connection to the great Sage, allowing the Sage to bestow a blessing directly upon their diocese.

Even within the Nolan diocese, fewer than ten people knew the truth of the matter. Jenkins was only privy to this information because of his unique status. It wasn't hard for Jenkins, the burgeoning pseudo-god, to deduce anyway; besides the Sage, who else would have the authority to bestow a blessing on such an occasion?

What truly stunned Jenkins was the realization that the Gate of All Things could communicate directly with a god. What in the world was this artifact?

The investiture of the Saint had also taken place here, and he recalled that a holy emblem was engraved upon the Extraordinary item itself. It was hard to fathom where such an object had come from. But now, at least, he understood why Papa Oliver had once called it one of the most important artifacts of the Church of Knowledge and Books in the Nolan diocese.

His mind swirling with questions, he followed the crowd upward, originally intending to listen to the Bishop's sermon. It wasn't a daily event; the Bishop was getting on in years and couldn't bear standing for long periods.

But Captain Bincy tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Jenkins had no choice but to stop, letting Papa Oliver go on ahead and asking him to check if Chocolate was still playing in the courtyard.

The space before the Gate of All Things quickly emptied, leaving only a few Keepers of Secrets lingering in front of it, their purpose unclear.

Jenkins and Captain Bincy stood at the bottom of the stone steps leading up. The captain clearly had something to ask.

"Were you there when the murder at the Davids' residence took place?"

Bincy's expression wasn't overly stern, so Jenkins assumed this was just a routine inquiry. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ noⅴelfire.net

"Yes, sir. But hasn't that case been closed? The detective on the scene, Erwin Ignaz, had discovered the truth before the police even arrived. The maid, Joyce, poisoned her mistress."

He nodded. "But we later discovered that the vial of poison Joyce used bore the mark of the Witch's House. We believe this is a deliberate provocation against the Orthodox Churches of Nolan City."