Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 913

Captain Bincy, his hand on the doorknob, relayed Papa Oliver's message to Jenkins word for word. Although the message was to "spend the weekend as you please," he was sure to add a final note:

"Be careful when you go out. The undead threat may be gone, but our city still faces immense danger."

Yesterday's mass fainting incident had affected the entire city, and Jenkins had expected to return to a scene of unrest and widespread panic.

But Nolan seemed unchanged. The dense fog had lifted, and people were going about their daily routines. Although most faces betrayed a sense of unease and dread, the city hadn't ground to a halt. It remained the same peaceful and serene Nolan.

He voiced his question to the church's coachman, who seemed amused by his assumption.

"Mr. Williams, why would we panic just because someone poisoned the city's water supply? If I don't show up for work, my family will fall apart. My wife and children would starve. Besides, it's all over, isn't it? The great gods are watching over us, which is why, despite such a disaster, only a little over a hundred people in the entire city died."

The middle-aged coachman seemed remarkably optimistic, one moment complaining to Jenkins about life's hardships, the next praising the generosity and greatness of the Sage. To him, the most important thing was to keep working for the Church and earning enough to support his family. As for foreign plots or plagues—while they affected everyone in the city, they were matters far beyond his control.

It was better to focus on the present than to worry about the past or future. Otherwise, one would simply starve.

Jenkins had no reply to that.

The greater tragedy, however, was the death toll among ordinary citizens. The hundred-or-so people the coachman had mentioned were merely those who died in accidents caused by the sudden fainting spell. The number of people actually killed by roaming undead, or turned into them, was far higher.

For Nolan, a major west coast metropolis with a population of nearly three million (including its surrounding towns and districts), the loss of over a thousand civilians in a single day was a rare tragedy. Fortunately, all the blame could be pinned on Duke Antak, an opinion shared by City Hall, the Church, and even the Kingdom.

This wasn't merely for short-term stability; it was also a convenient pretext for hostility against the Cheslan Kingdom. The continent had enjoyed peace for nearly two centuries, but in truth, irreconcilable conflicts had always simmered between the three great kingdoms.

Jenkins had planned to stay and help treat the wounded at the church, but he found there were hardly any patients left. He later learned from a Keeper of Secrets that a celestial anomaly had occurred around three in the morning. A powerful surge of life spirit had burst forth from the direction of the Evergreen Forest, instantly healing the illnesses and injuries of every living creature nearby.

The churches were now bickering over who to credit for this "miracle." Because of this, it was said that the five major churches, having just fought and won a war side-by-side, were now blaming one another for lax oversight, claiming it was the primary cause of the disaster.

With nothing left to do, Jenkins decided to take his cat and head home. In the mailbox by his front gate, he found another invitation from Mr. Nelly to the opera premiere on Sunday night.

Even after such a catastrophe, the premiere was still on.

"That makes sense. People need something cheerful right now to take their minds off the disaster."

He stood in his yard with the letter, hesitating for a moment. Ultimately, instead of going inside, he climbed back into the carriage and directed it to the Hersha estate.

Hathaway had returned from her trip, but she still wasn't home. After a subtle hint from her younger brother, Baines Hersha, Jenkins figured out she had gone to see Briny. The writer finally found the two of them in the house by the Westminster River.

A maid opened the door, and as Jenkins saw an emotional Hathaway rush into the foyer, he realized it was the first time he had seen the red-haired young woman since that bizarre dream. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by ⓝovelFire.net

She rushed forward enthusiastically, throwing her arms around Jenkins right in front of the maid.

"Thank goodness, you're all right! This is such a relief, Jenkins."

She could never have imagined what Jenkins had done yesterday, but she was well aware of what had transpired in the city. Hathaway had been fortunate enough to be out of town before Nolan was locked down, but she had heard the rumors even from a distance.

Upon her return this morning, she had immediately seen the headlines at the train station. After anxiously gathering information from the black market, she had been so pale with shock that she hadn't recovered for hours.

The maid closed the door behind them and went to prepare tea. Hathaway continued to hold Jenkins tightly, sobbing near his ear.

"I was so terribly worried. Worried that Briny might have run into the undead when she passed out, and worried that you might have been injured in the fighting yesterday. Oh, Jenkins, you have no idea..."

Jenkins suddenly pushed her back slightly and blinked rapidly. Hathaway paused, then raised her right hand to wipe away her tears. Her voice was abruptly calm as she continued:

"...You're right. I shouldn't have been so worried. Since you were attending a church service, you were certainly much safer than Briny was."

As she said this, she turned toward the blonde girl descending the stairs. Briny hadn't overheard their exchange, so she didn't notice anything was off.

Both young women seemed to be fine. Hathaway had been out of Nolan when the disaster struck, and Briny, who had been at a friend's house, had simply passed out at a desk and slept through the entire day, waking up parched and famished.

Knowing that everyone he was close to was safe, Jenkins breathed a sigh of relief. He'd already seen the professor at the church, and as for the members of Mr. Hood's gathering, he trusted they weren't the type to perish so easily.

"Hathaway, it was a good thing you left Nolan when you did."

They settled in the ground-floor drawing room to continue their talk as the maid brought tea and snacks for the three of them.

"Your timing for returning to Nolan was quite a coincidence."

Hathaway pointed out with a smile, "If you'd returned just two days later, you could have missed this whole mess, just like I did."

Chocolate stood up on Jenkins's lap, stretched with a yawn, and settled in as if preparing to watch a play. Jenkins steeled himself to tell them about the dinner party on the last night of the previous month. While he could have kept it a secret, doing so now seemed utterly foolish.

"The thing is... I had to come back from Shire City."