During breakfast on Sunday morning, Fini Faithford found Jenkins at the dining table and gave him a fountain pen in a small gift box.
It was clearly a gift she'd bought with her own savings as a token of her gratitude. Jenkins had no reason to refuse, and as he accepted it, sothing else ca to mind.
Seeing that no one was paying them any mind, he shifted slightly in his chair and asked her in a low voice:
"I rember you ntioned a Miss Fabry from Eldron City."
"Yes, sir."
The girl replied crisply, not understanding why Jenkins was bringing the topic up.
"Sir, do you need the account number?"
"No, no, no."
Jenkins shook his head quickly. No one knew the truth behind that affair better than he did.
"I wanted to say that after you ntioned it, I did a little investigating, but... how should I put this? Sothing about it doesn't feel right."
He couldn't be too explicit. While he didn't want to hurt anyone, even he couldn't guarantee that everything would turn out all right.
"But Miss Fabry really did send the profits back,"
the girl said. Though her words questioned his claim, her expression showed she was already wavering.
"Well... yes, but that's just my personal speculation. The safest thing to do would be to withdraw your initial investnt. I can't imagine Miss Fabry would object. I don't want to slander anyone, but the whole affair is deeply strange. I plan to keep looking into it."
"Alright, sir. I understand."
She truly trusted him, even though he couldn't offer a shred of proof.
"So, should I warn my aunt's family?"
She was referring to the Stress family—the sa people who had sold the vase to Papa Oliver.
"That's up to you, but we have no evidence to prove anything is wrong. I imagine it will be very difficult to convince anyone."
The girl gave a slightly bewildered nod, and he couldn't tell if she truly understood the implications of his words.
Ding-dong~
Stepping out of the misty street and into the warmth of the antique shop, Jenkins saw Papa Oliver sitting by the fireplace, reading a newspaper. The old man didn't even look up; he knew who had arrived just from the sound of footsteps and a cat's ow.
Only after Jenkins had hung up his coat and hat and settled Chocolate on her soft cushion on the counter did Papa Oliver speak.
"Do you rember that small shield from the day before yesterday? The Church has recovered it, but they haven't found any records on it yet. It's likely another unnumbered item."
"Is that so?"
He thought for a mont. "Have the other churches recovered any new special items recently? I recall the Ouija board that was lost during the séance was also an unrecorded Series B Extraordinary item."
His real aim, of course, was to ask about the mirror from two nights ago.
"It's likely just a coincidence. Last week, the Gravediggers from the Church of Death and End captured a group of grave robbers and confiscated B-12-4-0166, a poisonous iron shovel, which they had also purchased from a junk shop. This suggests the items sold at these shops don't share a single origin."
As he spoke, he turned the page of his newspaper. A large photograph of the Queen stared out at them; the article was about Her Majesty eting with a delegation from the Cheslan Kingdom.
"Was that the only one?"
he asked again.
"Two nights ago, the Dark and Hidden Church found traces of the New God cultists again. The chaotic divination environnt they left behind could only have been their doing. They found B-12-2-3456, the Shadow-hiding Corpse Mirror, at the scene. That item has a clear origin, so it's likely unrelated to the junk shop. According to the civilian who reported it, there was supposed to be another special item there, but since the Church couldn't find it, the cultists must have taken it. Speaking of which, the New God cultists unwittingly did a good deed. The Night Watchers searched the deceased's residence and discovered he was the descendant of an ancient family, and that this family..."
The rest of what he said was much the sa as what the young circus magician had ntioned, though with a few more details about the Abyssal Ones. But through it all, Papa Oliver never once ntioned a person being trapped inside the mirror.
The Dark and Hidden Church would have no reason to conceal sothing like that; there'd be no point. Besides, the civilians who fled all saw the mirror capture the magician.
"Could the magician have found a way out of the mirror after I left?"
It was the only explanation he could think of for now.
Even though Papa Oliver had sworn Jenkins wouldn't get another day off this month, when he heard Jenkins wanted to visit the Silver Jasmine Opera Troupe with Hathaway, he happily granted him a half-day leave.
The first thing Jenkins heard after stepping into Hathaway's carriage was:
"Did you hear? A unicorn appeared in Nolan City! On the very day of the blood moon!"
Although they had t since that night, Hathaway hadn't heard the news yet.
"A unicorn~"
he said in an exaggerated tone.
"You an the legendary creature that only a pure maiden can ride?"
Jenkins felt his performance was falling flat. He had no idea how an ordinary Enchanter of this era was supposed to react to news of such a creature.
"Yes, a unicorn!"
Hathaway repeated, her voice brimming with excitent. Her expression was strikingly similar to Miss Stuart's on that day.
"The legendary unicorn has appeared again! They say its master is that New God cultist—Twin Demons!"
"Oh, is that so."
The words slipped out before Jenkins realized that, in Hathaway's eyes, he was supposed to know all the New God cultists.
"I an, Twin Demons is a man, isn't he? At least, that's how I rember it. Does he own a unicorn? The man in the black robe never ntioned it."
He rubbed his nose as he spoke. Beside him, Chocolate glanced up at him for a mont before lowering her head to feign sleep again.
"There are so many rumors flying around! I even heard that soone saw a hideous, overweight, middle-aged man riding it that night, but how could that possibly be true?"
It seed most female Enchanters were captivated by unicorns, much like n were with money and power.
But they were destined never to guess the unicorn's true master. Hathaway would never know that of the two people and one cat in the carriage, she was the only one who had never ridden the beautiful creature.
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