"What happened here?"
With Bevanna was an entire squad of Scribes, surrounded by the scattered corpses of several aberrations. Most of these creatures were ghoulish fiends and cursed beings—in other words, enemies of humanity. Aside from certain curses and illegal alchemical experints, such creatures had long been extinct in the material world.
"Jenkins, my apologies for disturbing you so late," Bevanna began. "Here's the situation. This afternoon, soone in Nolan opened a gateway connecting the material world to the realms beyond, causing a massive number of aberrations to pour into the city. Nolan is now under a city-wide lockdown. All citizens are forbidden from going outside, and the Church is leading the effort to hunt down the escapees. Although we have the situation temporarily under control, we still haven't found the location of the gateway. After consulting your astromancy teacher, Audrey, she said this divination must be perford by you."
"By ? But..."
The massive projection of Jenkins's head in the sky showed a hesitant expression. He knew his own limits all too well—divining the location of a lost key was a struggle for him, let alone uncovering such critical information. But he realized there was sothing he could do. During the incident with the campfire a while back, he had obtained a broken mirror that could help with finding things.
"Those were Audrey's exact words. She said you would have a way. Whatever thod you use, please give an answer before dawn. The ti is now..."
Bevanna glanced toward the clock tower rising in the center of the city.
"It's nine o'clock at night. You have ten hours. Please be as quick as you can. The situation is under control for now, but we don't know if the next wave of aberrations from the other world will be twice as large."
Bevanna urged him. Jenkins could find no reason to refuse the task, so he could only nod in agreent.
"However, an aberration invasion... Could it be because..."
As he pulled his head from the Basin of Visions, a thought suddenly struck Jenkins. He explained the current situation to a Mr. Fernando, then requested a spacious room in the church. He locked himself inside, announcing to the outside world that he was about to perform a complex divination.
"You stand guard here. If anyone knocks, stall them. I'll be back every hour."
After preparing, he made an excessive demand of his cat. The cat let out a slightly disgruntled ow but didn't object.
With everything in place, he imdiately set off for Nolan. After stepping out of the wardrobe in his own ho, he noticed the atmosphere that night was unusually tense. Just getting from his backyard to the street took ten minutes, as patrols of Church Enchanters, paired with local police and even soldiers, were constantly sweeping the area.
In the end, Jenkins had no choice but to take a risk. He summoned his unicorn on the roof of the deserted house next door—Miss Silver Flute's—and had it carry him high into the sky, out of sight from the ground.
From this altitude, he could look down upon the city. Nolan was illuminated by the warm yellow glow of its lights, the city's outline and the dense fog on its outskirts clearly visible. Down in the narrow streets, clusters of fiery lights wove and intersected—patrol squads carrying oil lamps and torches. Judging by the density of the lights, moving on the ground was now practically impossible.
Jenkins knew he had no ti to admire the city's nightscape. After ascending, he had the unicorn fly him toward the construction site of the Fidektri National Bank's Nolan branch in the eastern part of the city. Mr. White Cat had planned an operation here today. Recalling the aberration corpses he had just seen around Bevanna, Jenkins connected the two events. Before starting his so-called divination, he needed to confirm if his guess was sound.
The bank had been under construction since the Kingdom announced banking reforms early this year. In four months, the building's basic fra had begun to take shape. Since the main gate was sealed, there was no need for a night watchman inside. This allowed Jenkins to land on the roof and make his way back down to the ground by stepping on the temporary wooden planks and tal scaffolding used for construction.
This block was quiet, and he couldn't sll the scent of blood in the air, as if it were completely disconnected from the turmoil gripping the city tonight. Jenkins stood in the shadow of the building to conceal himself, then scanned his surroundings with the Eye of Reality, searching for any suspicious auras. But he found nothing.
However, upon closer inspection, he discovered so bloodstains in a corner on the first floor's inner wall. The blood had already dried, but it couldn't have been more than a day old.
"So it's not related to what happened here?"
That was the only conclusion he could draw for now. After confirming one last ti that there were no more clues to be found, he had no choice but to return to Ruen.
The cat was curled loyally before the door in his room. Hearing Jenkins get up, it imdiately sprang to its feet and pounced on him. The young writer praised his cat's usefulness, showering him with pats and scratches. Chocolate, for his part, reveled in the attention.
He had the B-07-4-2637 [Fragnted Treasure Mirror] with him. Jenkins had originally planned to use it to find "clues related to the Williams family bloodline," but for Nolan's sake, he had to use the fragnted mirror now.
Following the procedure he'd read about in the docunts, Jenkins pricked his finger with a small knife. He then carefully used his blood to write on the mirror's surface: "Find the portal connecting to the other world that has appeared in Nolan City." Then, he opened the window and casually tossed the mirror into the distance.
He didn't hear the sound of the bronze mirror hitting the ground. Instead, a sudden gust of wind nearly blinded him. He quickly ducked below the window to avoid the blast. When the sound of the wind died down, he went to close the window, only to find a tree branch, blown in by the gale, resting on the sill.
The branch was just an ordinary branch—Jenkins's eyes could confirm that. This had to be the hint the mirror was giving him.
He took the branch and sat down at his desk, examining it several tis without discovering any hidden secrets. It was only later that he thought to identify the type of tree, wondering if it held so special aning.
After so inspection and guesswork, Jenkins determined it was a branch from a birch tree.
"Birch... MrBirchwood?"
MrBirchwood was one of the original mbers of Mr. Hood's gathering, who had died on a rainy autumn night last year because of the Young Flower Seller. Jenkins had visited his family at the beginning of the year because of the incident with the fruit platter. MrBirchwood's family was doing reasonably well; the death of the head of the household hadn't led to any further family tragedies. Jenkins knew their address well. That would be his next destination.
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