Chapter 485: Chapter 485

Jenkins shouted for his own amusement, concentrating his mind on the dagger. Sure enough, with a quiet whoosh, it shot into his hand, though the sudden movement still managed to startle him for a second. Googlᴇ search novel[f]ire.net

He was quite pleased with his new weapon.

Among the vast array of numbered supernatural items, once you filtered out the abstract ones—information, locations, events, and other unclassifiable phenomena—very few were actual physical objects one could hold.

And among those, a huge portion took all sorts of bizarre forms, like weather vanes, eyeglasses, or keys. Consequently, regardless of which series—A, B, or C—weapons were exceptionally rare.

More importantly, numbered items were, in most cases, indestructible, a trait that made supernatural weapons even more precious. Before today, Jenkins had only ever seen one, and that was an item that had dropped after he killed someone in the train-themed Mysterious Realm.

"Maybe I can find a leather sheath and strap it to my leg."

He mused happily, placing the dagger back in its case for the time being.

While Jenkins was distracted, Chocolate padded over, gave the case a sniff, and then looked away with an expression of complete disinterest.

In any case, before fitting it in his eye, Jenkins had been thrilled at the thought that it might grant him X-ray vision. With that, he could check at a glance whether people were carrying weapons like pistols or bombs.

But when he put it on, nothing happened. He blinked, looking at Chocolate, who was, disappointingly, still just a cat. He glanced at the nearby wall; it remained a perfectly ordinary wall, adorned with an oil painting.

"...What is this supposed to do?"

Examining the lens from the side, he could see it was a simple plane of glass with no corrective power. He was completely stumped as to its function.

"Could it automatically adjust its curvature to correct for the wearer's nearsightedness or farsightedness?"

The thought was rather unsettling. He subconsciously glanced aside again, this time out the window.

"Huh? Did the fog lift that quickly?"

Surprised, he closed his right eye and looked again with just his left. The view outside the window was unchanged—still a world shrouded in thick fog.

"I see! This monocle's purpose is to see through fog!"

He was joking, of course. Very few Bestowals had a function so simple and niche. But inspired by what he had just witnessed, Jenkins conducted a few more bold experiments. He soon discovered that the monocle's true function was to preserve his vision.

To put it simply, the eye wearing the monocle was completely unaffected by external conditions. It simultaneously granted him the ability to see through fog, ignore blinding light, and even provided dark vision and perfect clarity underwater.

"Useful enough, I suppose?"

He thought, pleased that he wouldn't have to worry about bumping into oncoming pedestrians when he went out.

The thick fog made the early winter morning, already uninviting, even more deserted. As the weather grew colder, most people confined their activities to the indoors. Still, the situation in Nolan City was manageable. The winters in the far-northern city of Ruen, however, were truly unfit for human habitation.

When he arrived at the antique shop, Papa Oliver was yawning in his rocking chair, reading a newspaper. He seemed unaffected by the late night, whereas Jenkins had "exhaustion" practically written on his face.

"Good morning, Papa Oliver."

"Good morning, Jenkins. Didn't you sleep well?"

He peered over the top of his newspaper.

"No, I was up all night thinking about the vampires. After all, the last time an exotic species—demons—showed up, it caused a major incident in the Nolan diocese."

As he spoke, he waved his right hand through the air with a theatrical flourish. Infected by Papa Oliver's yawn, Jenkins let out one of his own as he set down his overcoat, hat, and Chocolate. The cat padded over to the side of the counter, then elegantly curled up on the cushion Papa Oliver had prepared for it, becoming a black-and-white ball of fur.

"Any new information?"

"Not yet. Divination and spirit channeling have both been met with significant interference. The current plan is to find the young people who blocked off that alley. The wall's purpose was clearly to prevent pedestrians from noticing anything unusual. After all, the other end of the alley is mostly hidden by the sign of the goldsmith's shop next door, so blocking just one end was enough."

At this, Papa Oliver lowered his newspaper again.

"I need to give you a warning," he said sternly. "Remember, we only discovered that matter; it has nothing to do with our actual work. Don't get involved. It's very dangerous!"

Papa Oliver was probably worried Jenkins would get entangled in major trouble. In truth, Jenkins had no desire to get involved himself.

The topic of vampires ended there. Wanting Jenkins to forget the matter as quickly as possible, Papa Oliver waited until Jenkins started organizing the shelves before starting a new conversation.

"I heard last night that you rescued two knights from the Church of Sun and Justice?"

"Yes. Apparently, they ran into a Mysterious Realm. The woman was even attacked by a unicorn."

"That's truly a rare thing. You know, up to this point in this Epoch, there hasn't been a single confirmed unicorn sighting."

"There might be one soon..."

Jenkins thought to himself as he wiped a vase. He was planning to find some time to summon that beautiful unicorn again. The two of them needed to have a proper talk.

Although he already had a skeletal warhorse for transportation, he knew that unicorns could fly.

"What are they still doing in Nolan? The five local churches can't be happy with this group of troublemakers, can they?"

He asked casually, afraid Papa Oliver's answer would be that they were looking for something.

"I haven't looked into it closely, but I heard they're assisting with the follow-up investigation on the Witch's House. Consider it compensation to the local church branches."

"Weren't they already wiped out?"

"But before they were destroyed, those people were like a mother spider, weaving a great web of conspiracy. The Church needs to find the others caught in that web—certain city hall employees, new nobles, or suspicious military personnel. It's part of wrapping up the incident. So, leaving two people behind to assist is all that's needed. It's not a big deal. And of course," he added, his gaze sharp, "it has nothing to do with you. Remember that!"