Lord of The Mysterious Realms Chapter 946

Even from a high vantage point, a thin mist still obscured the distant view. It was unnervingly quiet, but at least he had Chocolate with him.

"This didn't seem to be the same mirror dimension the Church used, either. It was so desolate..."

The mist in this mirror world was a composite of the material world's reflection and a distorted visual effect created by the realm's supernatural power. Still, the air smelled just as it should.

On his way to the bell tower, he found scattered trash and even a copy of that morning's newspaper. It seemed this mirror world's imitation of reality updated in real-time, though its inhabitants were blind to the process.

The paper's layout and text were completely reversed, making it a struggle to read. The headline was still about the Corpse Plague. A small-scale outbreak had erupted in the southwestern slums after a vagrant living alone died and his body went undiscovered. During the previous week's war against the undead, the corpse had been contaminated with something foul, and by Monday, the plague had spread throughout the entire alley.

This was to be expected. Though notices about plague prevention had been circulating for nearly a month, both the Nolan Council and the Church knew it was impossible to stop completely. Now that the first source had been identified, they just had to stamp it out quickly. After all, with the Skull Sword dealt with, the plague had lost its source. The situation Nolan faced was no worse than the one thirty years ago.

"A small blessing, I suppose," he muttered. "Better to catch it and stamp it out now than to wait until an entire district is infected."

He muttered to himself, trying to scan the paper for any news about his own exploits, but deciphering words formed from reversed letters was maddeningly difficult. Halfway through, Jenkins lost his patience and offered the paper to Chocolate.

"Here, want something to shred?"

A solitary stroll through a misty, deserted city might have a certain romantic appeal, but in truth, it was incredibly dangerous. Jenkins relied on his ability to see supernatural auras, weaving a circuitous path through the city in an attempt to avoid any hostile creatures.

But that approach wasn't always successful; some creatures didn't rely on sight alone to find their prey. As he neared the Westminster River bridge, Jenkins noticed he was being followed by a humanoid creature with a yellow aura. Since he couldn't teleport or summon his unicorn in this mirror realm, flying was out of the question. In the end, his pursuer cornered him in the middle of the bridge.

His pursuer was a middle-aged man clutching a black briefcase, dressed in a cheap black suit and scuffed leather shoes. He looked like a down-on-his-luck salesman—which, as it turned out, was exactly what he was.

"Sir, you don't have to run so fast!" the man gasped. "I'm not a bad person."

He bent over, hands on his knees, wheezing for breath. Jenkins was panting just as hard, gulping down air. They had been running for quite a distance, and both looked like they had a cramp from the sudden exertion.

"I'm a salesman," he said between breaths. "Oh, this cursed place... It's been ages since I've met a living person to do business with. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Theos Baffman, another unlucky salesman trapped in this place."

With that, he actually pulled a crumpled business card from his pocket and offered it to Jenkins.

Jenkins double-checked that the card had no supernatural aura before he dared to accept it, half-expecting the man to have some bizarre ability like "instantly kills anyone who takes his business card."

It was a perfectly ordinary business card in size and style. The same text was written on both sides, once in the language of the Fidektri Kingdom and again in a rare, ancient script:

[B-04-4-5611, The Curious Insurer.

Life Insurance: Body only.

Soul Insurance: Items bound by demonic contracts are not eligible.

Love Insurance: All races and orientations welcome. We respect our clients' preferences.

Home Insurance: Must be located in the material world and exist in the present time. Property ownership not required.

Item Insurance: Covers ordinary items only. The policy will be automatically voided if the insured item acquires supernatural abilities due to any unforeseen circumstances.

The Curious Insurer welcomes your business.

Curious Insurance, your best choice.

All terms and conditions are subject to the final interpretation of Theos Baffman, Salesman.]

The small card was crammed with far too many letters, the densely packed words a strain to read. The line about home insurance was squeezed in at the very bottom. Having run out of space, the writer had scrawled the remaining text crookedly in the gaps between the other lines, even thoughtfully adding arrows to indicate the correct reading order.

The line about "final interpretation" was written in minuscule text, perhaps even illegible to the average person. But as a man from another world, Jenkins harbored a deep-seated wariness of anyone "selling insurance," which was why he immediately spotted the fine print.

"If I recall correctly, human civilization should have rediscovered the concept of 'insurance' by now. Do you understand the services I provide?"

The salesman asked eagerly while Jenkins squinted at the tiny words, then flashed a smile he clearly thought was dazzling.

The insurance industry was still in its infancy, a fledgling offshoot of the banking sector that had only emerged in the last few years. It was still small-scale, with pitifully low returns. However, thanks to the recent 'Fabry Fraud,' Jenkins had casually mentioned 'insurance scams' during one of his public lectures, and now rumor had it the business was poised for massive expansion. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel⸺fire.net

Had the salesman met anyone other than Jenkins, it was unlikely he would have found anyone in this era who understood what insurance was. It was hard to say whether this was the salesman's good fortune or Jenkins's bad luck.

"Sorry, I'm not interested in buying any insurance."

Though the entity before him was merely a Series B Extraordinary item, Jenkins had no desire to engage with it. This strange place gave him an unsettling feeling he couldn't quite put his finger on. The best course of action was to keep moving.

"Not interested? But my insurance business is now offering special value-added services..."

The technical term "value-added services" sent a shiver down the transmigrator's spine. The misty bridge was cold, yes, but not enough to provoke such a visceral reaction. His mind instantly flooded with countless scam scenarios. He shook his head sharply, shoved the business card back into the man's hand, and tried to walk around him.

But he had only taken a few steps when he saw a figure emerge from the fog at the far end of the bridge. It was the salesman, standing there waiting.