Lord of The Mysterious Realms - Chapter 15: The Contract

Jenkins’ words immediately brought a smile to the face of the man across the table as he held out his hand in a complex set of gestures over his chest, “May the goddess bless! Very well, it is very good that you have this realization, worthy of a believer who has followed his father to the Church since he was a child. I have heard that you have gradually turned your back on the ways of knowledge over the past few years, but now it seems that it was all a temporary lack of understanding due to youth, Mr. Williams, you are very good!”

Jenkins smiled reservedly, mentally reminding himself to keep a low profile, he was indeed behaving considerably differently today compared to the original owner.

Bincy didn’t ask Jenkins to sign the contract right away, but gave him a note with the address written on it and asked him to go straight to Papa Oliver in the morning . Oliver was one of the few enchanters in the church of Nolan City who hold the qualifications to guide fresh blood, so Jenkins would not only be learning to appraise antiques under Pops in the future, he would also be teaching Jenkins extraordinary knowledge.

“Here.”

Captain Bincy took all the papers back into the file bag, sealed it with a seal that was very luminous in Jenkins’ eyes, and pushed a wad of notes at him.

“That’s three weeks’ pay in advance; the job at Pops’ antique shop is a bit easier, so it’s only four pounds a week. But he will give you a paycheck too, as a reward for your help in his shop.”

Jenkins nodded cluelessly and looked at the twelve green notes stacked in front of him. There were ten pound notes of value in the kingdom’s currency system, but they were usually only used when settling large purchases, and some paupers had never once used a ten pound note in their lives. So Bincy was kind enough to exchange Jenkins’ pay for change notes.

He carefully picked up the little pieces of paper and subconsciously tried to count them, but then it suddenly occurred to him that this was rude.

Bincy laughed at his behaviour and shook his head and patted Jenkins on the shoulder, “You don’t have to be so concerned about money,you have to know where old man is…..hehe I will not talk about it”

He took out another piece of parchment , rolled it into a tube and gestured for Jenkins to sign it.

The golden glow of this roll of parchment almost blinded Jenkins, and he had to temporarily stop the use of his ability. The writing on the parchment was completely unrecognisable to Jenkins, who could only discern that it was also part of the alphabetic script. Bincy looked like he didn’t want to explain and just looked at him with a smile as Jenkins nodded.

“I knew this would happen.”

He stiffly wrote down the body’s name – Jenkins Ridgeport Williams.

Leading Jenkins back the way he had come, Bincy didn’t mention that someone on the outside of the room had been watching Jenkins’ performance, and Jenkins didn’t ask what exactly the underground place used for.

There was silence all the way, and as he was nearing the top of the revolving staircase, Bincy suddenly turned and said.

“Right, I forgot to tell you about this. Regarding the mysterious realm you experienced, it is required to be recorded according to the rules of the Church. Although news has come from the [Dark and Hidden] Church side,after all words of your own people matter the most. Forget it for today, you have to come back to the church again this week and Papa Oliver will tell you who you should see.”

“Yes sir.”

Jenkins was wary, Barnard knew about the candle he had been given, and wondered if the church would ask him to hand it over for “reasonable” reasons. Moreover, it was a bit too harsh to keep track of all the things that had happened in the mysterious realm. It seemed that the people who had attended last night’s meeting were not only reluctant to be associated with the Church of the Righteous because of their status as followers of the false gods, but also because they did not want too many people to know their secrets.

Rather than walk out of the building, Bincy turned in another direction and told Jenkins to simply return the way he had come, but to remember to see Papa Oliver tomorrow.

Clutching the wad of notes, Jenkins greeted the overly enthusiastic caretaker before walking out of the small building. The young man watching the door probably thought someone could take his turn, but Captain Bincy never mentioned this to Jenkins.

Surprisingly, Bishop Parrold was standing in the corridor not far from the small building, quietly watching the evening sun, which was already faintly red in the sky. He looked like an ordinary old man at the moment, and who would have thought that this was the most powerful man in the Kingdom’s Norland diocese?

(TN : A diocese is a district under the pastoral care of a bishop)

“Bishop Parrold.”

Jenkins stepped forward to greet him, but felt a little stiff from sitting for too long.

“How was it, are things going well?”

The old man asked with a smile, while inviting Jenkins to sit beside him.

“It went well, I became a scribe and ended up choosing Pop’s Antiques. By the way, I have to thank you for this.”

“What are you talking about ? , I did nothing.”

The old man smiled and said, “It’s good that little Jenkins has finally grown up. I can sense that you are behaving much differently today than you have in the past, and it seems that last night’s events have given you some insight. Don’t forget the teachings of the Goddess, my son, and don’t give up the pursuit of knowledge. You may not have the talent that your brothers have, but you have a talent that they don’t have either.”

The former talent refers to studying,and the latter to being an enchanter.

The old man seemed to be geninely sincere to Jenkins . He had invested his whole life in the work of the church and still had not married at this age. So Bishop Parrold was extremely concerned about the children, whom he himself had seen growing up .

“Sir, I was missing last night, and the home ……”

Jenkins thought for a moment.

“Don’t worry, I sent a message to your father last night,that I met you in the street last night and invited you to stay at the church, hoping to persuade you not to be as debauched as you have been.”

The latter part of his sentence was somewhat harsh and Jenkins immediately took a stand.

“Yes sir, the experience of nearly dying last night has made me realise how precious life is, and I will try to make it worthwhile!”

He paused, feeling that he couldn’t change too quickly and had to take things one step at a time.

“I’m hoping to work myself out of those habits, but there are some hobbies, aren’t there ……”

He smiled and rubbed his hands together.

Instead of showing disappointment, the old man felt that this was normal. Young people have a lot of time, they can improve step by step.This was a good enough start.

“Never mind, go home then, your father will be happy to know that you have a stable job.”

“Goodbye then, sir.”

Jenkins rose to take his leave, but the old man suddenly took his hand and slipped him a silver brooch. This brooch was adorned with a small, finely expanded book outlined in silver wire, and on the front cover of the book could even be seen a string of flowery hyphenated words:

Knowledge leads us Forward.

Author’s note (also the tl’s) : The new book needs support and recommendations.