"And that, in a nutshell, is what happened. I think I've had more than my fair share of bad luck lately. My Destiny's Stage is supposed to bring good fortune, so what's all this about?"
Jenkins had practically lted into the study's sofa, sighing as he recounted the past few days' ordeals. Chocolate, however, felt no such fatigue. The kitten watched with eager anticipation as Jenkins peeled the orange in his hands, hoping for a slice.
Three hours had passed since their escape from the Mirror Realm. The study in Ruen was as warm and comfortable as ever, a quality that Jenkins deeply appreciated.
"Can cats even eat oranges?"
Though the productivity of this era couldn't compare to the world Jenkins rembered, it wasn't difficult for the royal family to procure oranges at this ti of year. Miss Stuart and Alexia both knew that a cat's sensitive nose made it averse to the sharp scent of citrus. But Chocolate was no ordinary cat; the little feline's diet was a perfect match for Jenkins's own.
"The Mirror Realm, you say? All sorts of strange things are popping up lately."
Alexia was holding a book titled "Ancient mories II: Dark Echoes." She had borrowed it from the library on the tower's ground floor. Although Miss Stuart had promised to help her apply for a higher level of access, it was clear that wouldn't be resolved anyti soon.
"Yes, yes, and Chocolate and I even ran into a monster in there. Gods, that thing was horrifying."
He muttered under his breath, glancing down at the cat that was now pawing insistently at his sleeve. Chocolate had seen that Jenkins was finished peeling the orange but showed no sign of sharing. Growing impatient, the kitten decided to take matters into its own paws.
He held a slice of the orange to the kitten's mouth. It opened its tiny jaws and swiftly snatched the fruit away. A look of pure delight spread across its face, its little whiskers twitching adorably.
"But everything turned out all right in the end, didn't it?"
Alexia remarked, setting her book down. She then noticed Miss Stuart bent over the desk, diligently working on her howork, her pen tracing patterns across the paper. It looked like she was writing furiously, but the nib never actually touched the page.
"From accidentally entering the Mirror Realm on Monday morning to escaping an hour ago, you were only missing for a day."
"It was a very eventful day," Jenkins deadpanned.
Jenkins's right hand gently stroked the cat's head as he turned slightly to gaze at the nightscape outside the window. It hadn't snowed in Ruen today, but the stars were still hidden from view, veiled by a thin layer of fog.
The fog was nowhere near as severe as Nolan's and wasn't unusual for the city. Ruen was the royal capital, after all, and its level of steam industrialization was quite advanced.
"How do you plan to explain your escape from that... creature? That woman is sure to report this, you know. You won't be able to hide it."
"Yes, of course I can't hide it. I plan to tell Miss Bevanna that after Miss Capet fell unconscious, I carried her on my back and ran as far from the coast as I could. In the end, I managed to survive the ten minutes and successfully enter Mirror #14."
Jenkins said nonchalantly, as if it were a minor detail.
"If you really say that, the Orthodox Churches might abandon their exploration of the Mirror Realm entirely, to prevent that active creature from invading the material world."
Alexia pointed out.
"Let them abandon it, then. That might be for the best. I can sense that what we encountered isn't the only thing sealed in the depths of the Mirror Realm. There are far more terrifying creatures, it's just that this ti, the 'Beast of Corrupting Chaos' happened to be summoned by that troupe of deranged circus perforrs. Perhaps the gods use the Mirror Realm as a dumping ground. It's no place for mortals to explore."
This information had actually co from his divine connection, but Jenkins had phrased it as a personal intuition.
"That's true. And now that the circus troupe is dead, we don't have to worry about them causing any more trouble in the Mirror Realm. But... we still don't know the secret behind their high power levels."
The petite woman rested her right elbow on the arm of her chair and cupped her face in her hand. She looked absolutely beautiful.
"I have a theory about that."
The room was brightly lit, a stark contrast to the silent, long night outside. The faces of everyone in the study were reflected in the windowpane, and Jenkins stared quietly at his own reflection.
"Killing your double in the Mirror Realm most likely allows you to absorb their spirit and beco stronger. It's a simple principle, really. I guessed as much when I first heard about the place. It's not that important. A steady, reliable path of absorbing the world's spirit is a much safer bet."
He stretched, feeling that he might suddenly fall asleep in such a warm, comfortable environnt. Jenkins liked Ruen; it was a place where he felt no pressure.
Everyone in the room knew about the Williams family banquet last week, so they all tacitly avoided the subject. After Miss Stuart managed to finish her howork, Jenkins brought out the Draconic Secret Box and shared the translation the dragon had given him.
Alexia only needed a mont to grasp its aning. It was a cypher related to the elent of fire, involving complex ancient elental lore. In the end, no one besides Alexia and Chocolate truly understood what it ant, but all that mattered was that the box was open.
"Elvish for the elent of air, ancient human tongue for earth, and Draconic for fire..."
The theory of four elents was common knowledge among Enchanters, so it was no surprise that after solving the Draconic lock, they found a transparent cube encased in a mbrane of water. The flowing liquid made it difficult to see what was inside, but Jenkins figured there couldn't possibly be another box.
The water cube had a peculiar feel. Touching the solidified water still sent ripples across its surface. But pressing harder revealed a soft yet resilient mbrane that prevented one's fingers from probing the space within.
The rippling patterns on the cube's surface ford intricate designs, which were actually words in the language of the rfolk. Fortunately, while no one present could understand it, the language wasn't lost to ti. Papa Oliver had a rfolk-to-Common translation dictionary. In fact, after the Evil God's Child incident, Jenkins had brought the dusty old to—which Papa Oliver complained was taking up too much space—ho from the antique shop and had placed it on his study's bookshelf as a decoration.
He would have to return to Nolan imdiately to translate the water-elental phrase into Common. After Alexia decrypted it, the three won would each place a hand on one of the cube's non-opposing faces and recite three different sentences in the rfolk tongue.
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