Chapter 277: Chapter 277

The instant the maid's hand slipped into her pocket, a prickling sense of danger shot up Jenkins's spine. Acting on pure instinct, he threw himself to the left just as a deafening crack exploded by his ear.

He heard the woman curse, followed by the sound of Hathaway abruptly shoving her chair back as she stood. The second shot he anticipated never came, because Chocolate had bravely pounced, slamming into the woman's wrist.

The woman swung her free fist, trying to bat the cat away, while Jenkins scrambled to his feet and lunged forward:

"Damn you, don't you touch my cat!"

"Gods, what's happening!"

A woman's scream came from the doorway, and the assailant, who had been ready to fight Jenkins, immediately abandoned the idea.

She swore again, ignoring the cat meowing at her feet. With a practiced martial arts move, she deflected Jenkins's punch with her forearm, then ripped the cloth from the serving cart, sending plates and pastries flying toward Jenkins and Hathaway.

While they were busy fending off the projectiles, the woman sprinted backward, pistol in hand. She fired a few shots at the screaming women in the doorway, then threw herself sideways through a window. She rolled across the lawn outside, gathered her skirts, and stumbled away into the distance.

From start to finish, not a single person had used any Enchanter abilities.

Jenkins swore, a rare occurrence for him. He scooped up Chocolate, checked that she was unharmed, and only then turned to Hathaway. The girl looked a bit disheveled, a smear of cream now staining her beautiful dress.

She started to say something, but when she saw Jenkins shake his head with a sharp look in his eyes, she wisely kept her mouth shut.

The unexpected attack hadn't resulted in any fatalities, but the maid's last two shots had struck two of Miss Mikhail's friends. The wounds weren't life-threatening, but for these ladies, who had never witnessed such violence, being shot was more than enough to make them faint from shock.

The undisguised gunshots had also alerted the management staff, and the scene instantly descended into chaos.

"Quiet, everyone, quiet! Gentlemen! Ladies!"

Jenkins shouted, watching the light representing the maid disappear from his field of vision. He walked over to the doorway and knelt to check the injuries of the two fallen ladies. While helping out at the sanatorium, he had learned some basic methods for treating gunshot and blade wounds, knowledge that was proving useful now.

Perhaps it was his unique presence and calm expression that earned everyone's trust. Under Jenkins's direction, a few panicked servants split up to call the police and find a doctor. There were several veterinarians on the second floor, and though their patients were usually of a different sort, they were better than a complete layman like Jenkins. They could at least be of some help before a proper physician arrived.

Besides, in this era, the line between physicians and veterinarians, at least when it came to treating external injuries, wasn't very distinct.

Briny Mikhail, her face pale, stayed close behind Jenkins. She had figured out that the attack had been aimed at her; otherwise, the woman wouldn't have needed to fire toward the doorway while fleeing. Jenkins and Hathaway had been much closer targets.

Jenkins, however, was in no mood to comfort the blonde lady. He was furious. Though he had only been caught in the crossfire, this was the first person, aside from the cultist who threw a steam bomb at him, who had acted with malice toward him and gotten away completely.

"Isn't there anyone here who can take charge?"

He stood amidst the crowd, loudly directing people not to panic and to clear the area, but his mind was on something else entirely.

Aside from the two Enchanters, everyone else who had witnessed the shooting was utterly distraught, screaming at the sound of hurried footsteps. The faint smell of gunpowder in the room had long since faded, and the assailant was long gone, but the chaotic crowd showed no signs of calming down.

Still, there was an advantage to having these distressed ladies present. They all came from noble families, and perhaps for that reason, both the doctor and the police arrived with remarkable speed.

By the time dusk began to fall, the entire perimeter of the management center had been cordoned off by the police. At least five carriages bearing the police insignia were parked at the entrance.

"Where's Miss Mikhail?"

In a corner on the first floor, Jenkins had just finished giving his statement in a makeshift police office. When he looked up, he saw Hathaway waiting for him. Chocolate was perched on the windowsill beside her, gazing out at the courtyard.

"The Marquis came to take her home. Do you still need to go to the station?"

She asked because Earl Hersha's influence meant that the red-haired lady wouldn't have to deal with the police any further. Normally, someone like Jenkins, who was present at the scene of the crime, would have to endure a lengthy interrogation.

"No need. It seems Papa Oliver's name carries some weight."

"Or perhaps the name of the Church."

Jenkins didn't reply. He picked up Chocolate and settled her on his shoulder, his gaze fixed on the police officers in the woods, their kerosene lamps held high as they examined footprints.

A hastily arrived carriage pulled up outside the cordon, and a Mr. Rogers Bentz in a police uniform stepped out. Three stars adorned his shoulders, indicating his rank as a superintendent. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novelFirｅ.net

He spotted Jenkins immediately. Jenkins pointed behind himself and held up five fingers, signaling that he was busy and would meet him in five minutes. Bentz nodded and walked over to another detective who was examining a document under the light of a raised kerosene lamp.

"Those two injured ladies, they're all right, aren't they?"

"They're fine. They woke up before their carriages came to pick them up. Just flesh wounds... They were the real innocent bystanders in all this."

Standing behind Jenkins and watching his back, Hathaway felt a strange sense of unfamiliarity. The Jenkins she knew didn't have such a sharp aura, nor would he wear such a piercing gaze. If his usual demeanor was like the soft, gentle cat Chocolate, then right now, he was much more like the black-robed man they had met by chance that night.

"Do you have any leads on the assassin?"

Jenkins asked directly. At such close range, the woman's bullet had nearly hit him in the head. If he had the chance, he would not let it go unavenged.

"She was probably after Briny..."

Her tone was tinged with worry, though it was unclear whether she was worried about Miss Mikhail or Jenkins.

"The royal family intends to reorganize the kingdom's navy, and Marquis Mikhail holds several important documents. They likely went after Briny to threaten the Marquis, but it's hard to tell if the culprit is a foreign spy, someone from the royal court, another noble, or some other faction. It's impossible to say for sure."