The Gravediggers had no other way to identify the poison, but that didn't an Jenkins was out of options. His eyes swept over the plants, and faint black traces caught his attention. The spiritual glow wasn't strong, far from the level of a Cursed Item, but considering that a black aura always signified sothing serious, Jenkins didn't let his guard down.
"That red rose over there, the second one from the left. That's the one."
He pointed it out directly, then explained:
"I have a very keen sense for life force."
The explanation was a bit of a stretch, but it was plausible enough. Captain Rogues ordered one of his n to fetch a new white mouse for testing.
But Jenkins stopped him. A closer comparison revealed that the black spiritual glow on the rose was far weaker than that of the poison the Gravediggers had extracted from the corpse.
This made no sense. The report stated the three victims had died on contact, so there wouldn't be much poison in their bodies. The amount of toxin extracted from the corpses should have been far less than what was on the flower. It was illogical for the extracted portion to have a stronger spiritual glow.
"Actually, I've been wondering since earlier," Jenkins mused. "If the poison is so destructive to plants, how did it adhere to the flower in the first place?"
As he spoke, Jenkins glanced back, making sure only a few Gravediggers were near the cart and the flowerbed, while the civilians and police were a safe distance away.
He waved a hand toward the flowerbed. The stems of the flowers near the poisoned rose, infused with the life force Jenkins provided, grew past their limits, lifting the red rose up on a cradle of branches.
The manipulated plants touched the flower, yet surprisingly, they didn't turn to black ash. But the three victims had clearly died on contact.
Now everyone could see that sothing was still wrong. The subsequent death of the white mouse, which had already been used to test over thirty other flowers, confird that this particular rose was indeed the cause of the deaths.
Jenkins had initially wanted to try saving the little mouse. He thought he might be able to keep it and use it as a control group in front of Chocolate to test his cat's attitude toward other mice. But the "poison" gave him no chance to intervene. Death was instantaneous; one mont the white mouse was alive, and the next, it had stopped breathing, with no process in between.
The Gravediggers had seen far more death than Jenkins. They considered another possibility. After extracting the minuscule amount of poison from the mouse's body and dripping it onto the plant Jenkins had grown, the entire flower instantly turned to black ash. Jenkins, who was controlling it, was ntally prepared, but when his own spirit ca into contact with that foul, disgusting liquid, he instinctively relinquished his control over the plant.
This was probably for the best. Given the properties the poison displayed, if Jenkins had continued to control the plant, he might have been affected.
This experint also confird one thing: the poison originally on the rose showed no particular effect on plants. However, after passing through a human body, it gained greater power. This wasn't a simple purification; it was a fundantal change in the poison's nature.
The properties deduced were unique, so Captain Rogues had soone send their findings back to the church, hoping to determine if this was a registered, numbered item.
Jenkins didn't object. The spiritual glow was weak for now, but the rose's poison grew stronger after passing through a human body. He wasn't sure if it could continue to amplify through transmission, so he couldn't rule out the possibility of it being a numbered item.
If a comparison with the Church of Death and End's records of numbered items yielded no match, they could simply classify the poison found here as an undiscovered toxin and contain it. That would be a perfect resolution. If, however, they found a match, the subsequent handling would depend on the item's Cursed properties.
This was the standard procedure for the Church's Enchanters when dealing with anomalous events. It was one of the few tis Jenkins had participated in a proper, by-the-book investigation. Compared to his own thods, the Church's process was more cumberso, but undoubtedly safer and more reliable.
Seeing that the Gravediggers were handling the arrangents competently, Jenkins felt reassured. He didn't leave right away, deciding to wait for the Church of Death and End's results before leaving with the flower sellers.
He had promised to compensate the girls for their lost business, so he did a quick calculation of the cash he'd need. He realized that while he had enough money, it was all in large bills. He didn't have enough small change.
So, he told one of the Gravediggers he was stepping out to get change. There happened to be a cake shop diagonally across the street. Jenkins bought so assorted cookies and bread, planning to give them to the flower girls later, and took the opportunity to break his large bills.
Of course, entering the cake shop naturally excited Chocolate. The cat scrambled from Jenkins's shoulder to the top of his head, stretching out a paw to point at the cakes in the display case. The sweet aroma made the cat incredibly lively, instantly chasing away the drowsy lethargy of the sumr afternoon.
"You want cake? Have you forgotten what you did this morning?"
Jenkins put away his change and asked the shopkeeper for a few small paper packets used for candy. He placed the money inside the packets and then put them into the paper bags with the cookies and bread.
"I still haven't forgiven you for what happened this morning."
"ow~"
The cat imdiately let out a very wronged-sounding cry and, looking dejected, jumped from Jenkins's head back down to his shoulder to sulk.
The young shop assistant bagging Jenkins's items saw the cat's expression and couldn't help but laugh, though she didn't forget to offer a reminder:
"Sir, I don't think pet cats are supposed to eat sweets. Most cats are lactose intolerant. For their own good, it's best not to feed them desserts or cake."
Chocolate had eaten more sweets than Jenkins himself, who wasn't particularly fond of the era's cloyingly sweet flavors.
"I know. If I had my way, I'd never feed my cat sugar for the rest of its life."
It seed like an answer for the assistant, but it was really ant for Chocolate. The cat understood Jenkins's threat and owed in protest from his shoulder.
Of course, despite his verbal threats, Jenkins still bought a small piece of cake for Chocolate before leaving the shop with his arms full. In return, Chocolate, seemingly sensing Jenkins's true feelings and being considerate of his full hands, didn't perch on his shoulder. Instead, it did sothing rare—it got down and walked on its own.
The whole trip—from leaving the unloading yard to returning—took less than twenty minutes. But just a few steps out of the shop, Jenkins stopped short. He looked up at the third floor of the building housing the carriage company, where thick black smoke was billowing out.
It must have just started. The people on the street below hadn't noticed yet, so there was no panic.
"Is that a fire?"
A flicker of unease sparked in his heart. He quickened his pace, Chocolate trotting beside him. Though he'd only been gone for twenty minutes, the hallway was completely empty. When he reached the door to the yard, there wasn't a single police officer in sight, not even the Gravedigger who was supposed to be on guard duty.
Jenkins's sense of foreboding grew stronger. He pushed the door open. Just as he'd feared, the yard was also empty, with only a few flowers scattered on the ground.
"What's going on?"
Placing the things he was carrying on the front shaft of a carriage, he scooped up Chocolate and looked toward the third floor. An intense black spiritual glow emanated from the window where flas flickered. It wasn't humanoid in shape; it looked more like a puddle of sli.
The Gravediggers were up there, too, and they were all alive. If he wasn't mistaken, the missing police officers and everyone else from the yard were probably on the third floor as well.
"Everything was fine. What happened now?"
He wondered aloud. At that mont, a backdraft erupted on the third floor, finally catching the attention of the pedestrians on the street. Screams and cries for help soon followed from up ahead.
Jenkins stood his ground and pointed a finger to the sky:
"Let it rain!"
The shifting winds gathered dark clouds, and a heavy layer ford above the gray haze, bringing a dampness to the air. A few drops pattered on the ground, followed by the continuous, rushing sound of a downpour.
This ti, he didn't need the rain to cover the entire city; just the nearby blocks would suffice. The drain on his spirit was less than before. After just a few breaths, Jenkins felt he could easily sustain the effort.
"I'm going up to check on things. You stay here and watch the food."
he told the cat on his shoulder, placing Chocolate down next to the paper bags.
The cat craned its neck, sniffed the sweet aroma nearby, and then decisively shook its head at Jenkins. It actually "stood up" on the carriage shaft, balancing on its two hind legs, raising its body and opening its front paws in a gesture for Jenkins to pick it up. But it quickly lost its balance and plopped back into its original posture, owing at Jenkins in protest, clearly not wanting to be separated from him.
"Be good. There's a fire upstairs. I have to go save people."
The rain was getting heavier, and even Jenkins, who had summoned it, couldn't avoid getting drenched. Although the downpour would prevent the fire from spreading, it clearly wasn't enough to extinguish the flas raging inside the building.
He still didn't know what had happened, but the fire itself was clearly unrelated to the Cursed Item, as the black spiritual glow was confined to a single room on the third floor.
"Wait for here. I'll be back soon."
he told his cat. Then, using his Spiritual Communion ability, he focused on a carriage parked in the corner of the yard. It wasn't a cargo wagon but an ordinary open-topped rental carriage. It was likely kept ready for ergencies, as a horse was already harnessed to it. The four-legged animal was placidly eating hay under a small awning when it suddenly realized a human was speaking to it. It turned its head, looking bewildered at the young man and his cat.
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