Chapter 412: Chapter 412

A stack of cards lay on the table between Jenkins and Miss Audrey.

"How much do you know about divination?"

He answered honestly.

"That's excellent. In that case, we'll begin with the fundamentals. I hope you won't find it tedious, but the history and origins of the art are the cornerstones of divination."

"Please, speak freely, Mr. Williams." The source of thɪs content is nοvelfire.net

"Should I take some notes?"

He sat up a little straighter, his tone earnest.

That evening, they discussed the history and development of divination, without even delving into the relationship between the art and the world's spirit from an Enchanter's perspective. But history is always captivating, and Jenkins found it quite fascinating, a fact that seemed to please Miss Audrey greatly.

Considering their next meeting might not be for another two weeks, Miss Audrey also gave Jenkins a reading list to work through in his spare time. The list itself wasn't very long, but a few days later, he would discover that the books were all incredibly thick.

There was one other thing.

"Since you're heading to the royal capital, would you mind delivering something for me?"

"Of course. It would be my honor."

The item Miss Audrey wanted Jenkins to deliver was a letter, addressed to an apartment in the city of Bel Diran. The recipient was Miss Audrey's childhood dance instructor. The poor old woman had recently been swindled out of her life savings by a group of con artists, and Miss Audrey wished to help her.

The envelope bore no spiritual glow, and to the touch, it seemed to contain only banknotes and a letter. The errand, therefore, was unlikely to involve any complications.

He had to handle things one by one. With the Corpse Gentleman's gathering still some time away, Jenkins had nothing else planned for the weekend except to say farewell to all his friends.

Professor Burns asked Jenkins to pick up some documents from the Tigel Museum in Bel Diran. The materials were extremely important, and the postal service of this era was clearly fraught with risk. If Jenkins hadn't happened to be going, Professor Burns would have already sent one of his own students.

Hathaway and Miss Mikhail spent an entire afternoon excitedly telling Jenkins about the local culture and cuisine of Bel Diran. Unlike Jenkins, a "poor boy" by comparison, the two young ladies traveled all over the continent every summer and were intimately familiar with the capital. They both recommended he try the expensive food on a certain pedestrian street and gave him the addresses of several friends he could turn to for help if he ran into trouble in Bel Diran.

"I'll probably be staying at the cathedral. The main see of the Church of Knowledge and Books is there..."

"So, you'll not only be able to meet Her Majesty the Queen, but you might even see the Pontiff?"

The ladies seemed even more excited than Jenkins. According to them, the noble balls in Bel Diran were far more interesting than the local ones.

Of course, Hathaway seemed to be hinting that Jenkins shouldn't accept invitations to balls from young ladies he didn't know. Her hint was so obvious that Jenkins was sure not only he had noticed it, but Miss Mikhail and Chocolate as well.

Miss Mikhail seemed to think so too.

He asked the two ladies if he should bring back any souvenirs. They both knew Jenkins had recently come into money, but they only requested some inexpensive local specialties.

Robert and Mary had known about Jenkins's travel plans for some time, and Mary was so eager she practically wanted to pack his luggage for him.

Mary had prepared a large number of fresh clothes for Jenkins, and even a sweater for Chocolate, reasoning that the weather had been changing drastically lately. He didn't refuse, but since a single suitcase had limited space, he had to leave the clothes at home.

He didn't have much luggage to bring on this long trip. Aside from the three days and two nights he would spend on the steam train, the Church would cover all his needs for the journey.

Therefore, he only needed one change of clothes. And since all of his other belongings had been destroyed in the pool beneath the giant tree, he had no dangerous items to carry, either. A single black suitcase would suffice. He had considered bringing a cat carrier to prevent the mischievous kitten from wandering around on the train, but Chocolate would certainly never have agreed to that.

The appraisal of the black gemstone necklace was completed quickly. The item was quite famous: B-12-5-8812, the Caller of Black Mist. By infusing it with spirit, one could briefly summon a dense, vision-obscuring fog in the surrounding area.

The item's legendary status wasn't due to its function, as plenty of abilities and items could achieve the same effect. Its fame came from the fact that, throughout the years, it had been frequently discovered and recorded, only to regularly disappear and vanish without a trace.

Two instances of B-12-5-8812 had never appeared at the same time, yet people believed there was more than just one of these necklaces.

The reason for this belief was the complete lack of pattern in its disappearances and reappearances; it was often impossible to establish any definitive connection between one disappearance and the next time it surfaced.

For example, the last time B-12-5-8812 had appeared was in March of 1601 by the Universal Calendar. Its owner had been a member of the heretical sect known as the Dragon Slaying Association. At least twenty people witnessed the necklace and its owner fall into an active volcano overseas. Yet this time, Jenkins had discovered it among a batch of antique jewelry from the previous epoch.

Papa Oliver was fascinated by this phenomenon. Although Jenkins had taken the necklace, the old man had somehow managed to delay the estate's auction, intending to thoroughly investigate the origins of that batch of antique jewelry.

There was one more thing. Papa Oliver's expression was full of meaning as he told Jenkins:

"The purpose of this necklace is evasion and defense."

He pressed the chain into Jenkins's hand.

"Its previous owners were all vortexes of trouble, so B-12-5-8812 always got plenty of use. That might be a curse of its own. But I'm not worried about you in the slightest, because you were already a trouble magnet long before you got your hands on it."

Monday morning, before the sun could pierce the curtains and light up the bedroom, Jenkins, who had slept in the living room, was already emerging from the washroom.

He crouched by the sofa and poked Chocolate's back before getting up to fetch the milk and newspaper from the door. The train was scheduled to depart at nine in the morning, and since this was the first station on the line, the chance of a delay was low. Furthermore, Jenkins was traveling in a VIP carriage with a dedicated boarding entrance, making the odds of missing the train even lower.

His suitcase and walking stick were placed together under the coat rack by the door. On top of the case sat a notebook containing his recent itinerary.

The journey was about to begin.