"Who was that?"
Jenkins wondered with a start, still in the carriage. The glimpse he caught was so fast that he hadn't even seen the three individuals' faces in detail. But he could be certain of one thing: he had t at least one of them before, and it wasn't just a fleeting encounter.
"An acquaintance is just an acquaintance, nothing to worry about..."
As the thought surfaced, an intense feeling of wrongness washed over him, so strong it was almost comical.
"Jenkins, do you really think it's a coincidence to run into an acquaintance you can't quite place, in a location like this?"
He had once touched the very threads of fate and had even gained a new ability from the experience. While he was still a novice at divination, he now possessed a faint, almost imperceptible sense of the future.
"Stop the carriage!"
Jenkins suddenly shouted. As Papa Oliver shot him a puzzled look, he called out again.
"I think I just saw soone I know. A dangerous acquaintance!"
He reiterated, scooping up Chocolate and turning to look back, his Eye of Reality wide open.
There were no suspicious spiritual auras nearby, only countless overlapping points of light in the rapidly receding alley, representing the believers of the Church of Death and End. But that didn't an the person he saw wasn't an Enchanter. If she had already reached the small house in the alley, Jenkins wouldn't be able to pick out a stranger from so many points of light.
The carriage began to turn as Jenkins had requested. The combat squads from both the front and rear vehicles dismounted. After learning the situation from Papa Oliver, they ford a protective detail, walking alongside the carriage.
Just then, a large contingent of uniford police officers appeared from the other side of the intersection, quickly cordoning it off. A crowd materialized as if from nowhere, standing excitedly behind the human wall of officers. Most were well-dressed gentlen and ladies, but they were clearly ordinary citizens.
Jenkins poked his head out the window. The road ahead was empty, though it seed a group of carriages was approaching from further down.
"What's going on?"
He felt they were being deliberately blocked.
"Oh, I rember now," Papa Oliver said after a few seconds of thought. "The delegation from the Cheslan Kingdom is arriving in Nolan today. They've closed the road!"
The old man paused, trying to recall the details. "I believe the Church's notice ntioned... a royal princess, yes, one with a title but no actual royal blood, accompanied by a duke. Who was it now? I can't quite rember..."
"Papa, I think there's an ergency over in that alley. We need to get there quickly... Yes, a very serious ergency! It's a premonition—Miss Audrey's lessons have been incredibly useful!"
It was the only excuse he could co up with on the spot, but since Papa Oliver had heard Audrey praise Jenkins's talent, he accepted it without question.
Jenkins had good reason to be frantic. In the short ti they had been delayed, one of the Gravediggers had already died. A cluster of those commingled points of light had been extinguished. He had a premonition that among the survivors was the acquaintance he had just seen.
"Is it that important?"
Papa Oliver nodded grimly and summoned Captain Ern Swift from outside. Monts later, the emblem of the Inherited Sage Church was retrieved from a hidden compartnt in the carriage roof and hung on the exterior. At the sa ti, all the Scribes standing guard wrapped a golden band representing thorns around their sleeves.
"Gods above, what's happening?"
Not everyone was focused on the approaching foreign motorcade; so nearby had noticed the change. The younger people stared in confusion, but an old gentleman leaning on a cane, with a white powdered wig, recognized the golden thorn bands.
"The Sage Church's Inquisition! Oh, gods above!"
He cried out again before turning and hurrying away without a second glance, as if terrified of being drawn into trouble.
The carriage lurched forward again, this ti charging ahead without any regard for the pedestrians or the police barricade. The Scribes, their faces stern, aid their guns forward as the crowd, finally realizing the situation, shrieked and scattered in all directions.
"What do you think you're doing? This is—"
A young officer shouted a warning, but before he could finish, a weathered, middle-aged officer beside him clamped a hand over his mouth.
The older man watched the convoy's approach in terror. Seeing that they were being ignored, he quickly dragged the younger officer aside.
"Are you mad? If you want to die, don't drag the rest of us with you!"
The Inherited Sage Church's convoy cut through the intersection's police cordon like a knife. Inside the carriage, Jenkins could only hear the sounds of shouting and commotion from outside. He ignored it, focusing all his attention on the Gravediggers' location. In just two short minutes, another one had fallen.
He was staring into the void, a posture strikingly similar to that of skilled diviners. Papa Oliver didn't ask what he was doing. He sat opposite Jenkins, his expression grave as he arranged his belongings, preparing for what was to co.
As their carriage crossed the middle of the road, the delegation's convoy finally arrived at the intersection. Their driver, startled by the chaos, reined in the horses. At that mont, a late evening breeze blew in from the depths of the fog. The wind billowed through the street, pushing aside the curtain next to Jenkins and giving him a perfect view of the duke who had stuck his head out of his carriage.
Though he looked young, the style of the carriage and his attire made it clear he was the duke. He didn't see Jenkins, but Jenkins caught a fleeting glimpse of him.
"A level-two Enchanter duke. Interesting."
He mused internally, but it was only a fleeting thought before his attention snapped back to the Gravediggers.
The convoy that had caused such a massive disturbance returned the way it ca. Once clear of the intersection, the number of pedestrians thinned, and their speed increased dramatically.
The carriage was still rushing towards the alley when Jenkins, unable to wait any longer, leaped out. He and the Scribes at his side charged toward the entrance.
"I see him!"
He suddenly yelled, finally recognizing the acquaintance.
"Watch out for a young man! Oh, Sage, the entire Gravedigger squad has been wiped out!"
But the figures that erged from the alley in the next mont were a middle-aged housewife and an elderly gentleman. Both were undead, and from the marks on their skin, it was clear they had been turned only monts ago. There was no need to guess who was responsible.
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