In the early morning of Thursday, after being woken up by chocolate, Jenkins counted the phases of the moon and planned to configure the elf potion next week, while worrying about what he should do in Dolores' salon today.
Then the bedroom was knocked by a servant, and the voice outside the door told Jenkins that Miss Miller and Her Royal Highness had something important to ask him.
After a brief wash, they came to the large living room on the second floor. The ladies were all sitting on the sofa, and there were light yellow document papers on the coffee table.
"What happened? Why did you get up so early?"
"This is the news I received last night, and Dolores just notified me this morning."
Alexia gestured to Jenkins to get the papers, and Jenkins picked them up with a frown, then sat down next to the short lady, and quickly scanned through the contents.
"Has Ruen also discovered that weird tobacco?"
"The samples you provided, Mr. William, were tested by Her Royal Highness. The old doctor who accepted the task said that he had seen similar things a few months ago. Only then did we know that this kind of tobacco had already been secretly popular in Loen. Reasons to believe that Ruen City is definitely not the only place where this kind of tobacco appears in this country... "
Julia, who was standing aside, said.
"Can you find the source?"
"It's hard, but we're doing it."
Hearing this answer, Jenkins nodded and looked at the document again:
"This kind of thing has appeared in Ruen and Nolan, which are thousands of miles apart, which shows that these tobaccos may have been secretly spread in every corner of the mainland. A few days ago, I sent a letter to a friend in Turin to help investigate, and there may also be Find something similar. Is the situation already this serious?"
It's not clear why this moderately addictive tobacco is being peddled, but it's certainly not for good. It is hard to say what role the [Scent Appreciation Committee], which specializes in the manufacture of high-end cigarettes and spices, played in this, but this kind of matter cannot be resolved by Jenkins alone.
After thinking about it for a moment, he decided to directly report the tobacco matter to Loen's church in his own name. Dolores and Alexia naturally supported him, but the latter was still a little worried. She believed that even if the church searched with all its strength, Jenkins might still be involved in this matter in the end.
It was afternoon in the salon, so Jenkins went into town after breakfast. He came to the church with a clear goal. After explaining his purpose, he reported the information about the tobacco.
As for the source of the news, it was naturally Dolores. Her Royal Highness has gradually changed from "assisting" the reform of the financial department to actually managing the financial department. She has quite a lot of sources of news, and it is not surprising to be able to detect the news of the small townspeople in the market.
The Ruen Diocese attached great importance to the situation submitted by Jenkins. After learning the details and taking some samples of the tobacco, they began to contact the Holy See of Beldilan.
It also happened to be at the same time that Nolan's five churches all got similar news through brokers who resold information on the black market. Although the source of information this time has been resold many times, and the number is exaggerated, judging from the content, the reliability of the information is still very high.
Any small matter that is happening in Nolan City now will not be a small matter, and the major churches have already reached such a consensus. Nolan's news was delivered to the church almost at the same time as Ruen's report.
And Ms. Stillwell, who was carrying out the "lurking" mission in Turin City, saw Mr. Black Cat again just after returning to Turin from Nolan, and she also reported the information she bought from Mr. Black Cat .
These three reports, whose arrival times were less than two hours apart and all of which had a significant relationship with Jenkins, immediately caused an uproar. The situation is obvious, similar tobacco has appeared in the important cities of the three kingdoms, and tobacco itself has quite a lot of doubts, which has evolved into a worldwide hidden danger.
On this gloomy Thursday afternoon, Jenkins was awkwardly coping with unfamiliar social situations in a salon where he was the only man, and it was considered his first public appearance in Loon (Note). During this period, the information of the Twelve Churches was intertwined, and the tobacco-related matter was passed on and confirmed again and again. The surging undercurrent was not as simple as the jealousy of girls in the noble salon.
There will be no news about the results of human trials and identification of those tobacco samples, but it is already certain that this tobacco has problems.
Therefore, when Jenkins left the salon party that ended, he didn't know what kind of chain reaction the information he submitted from multiple parties caused, but at least the peaceful days were not over yet. He still has plenty of time to spend his "vacation" before everything explodes.
(Chocolate is running... )
"I like the story you told yesterday. The princess, who was far away from government affairs and diplomacy, embraced freedom for the first time, and fell in love with a newspaper reporter who had other plans but found out with conscience, and finally had to part with each other. Jenkins, this short story, It's much more sincere than the story of sisters' affection you wrote."
Early in the morning on Friday, Jenkins, who was sleeping drowsily, was paralyzed on the sofa with the cat in his arms. Alexia was reading the newspaper while evaluating Jenkins' performance in the salon yesterday afternoon.
He originally thought it was a serious social event that Dolores had to invite him to because of government affairs, but he didn't expect it to be a tea party for a group of noble girls.
He had to tell one story after another to satisfy the enthusiasm of the girls, otherwise he really didn't know what he should do.
Alexia also appeared at the scene. Although her age was different from other girls, but thanks to her small figure and beautiful face, others thought she was a girl she didn't know.
"I didn't write this story, I copied it."
Jenkins mumbled that he was really sleepy. Last night's salon ended very late and almost turned into a pajama party.
"I'm still not used to such an occasion, although chocolate is very fond of it... In addition to the food, it is probably allergic to the perfume, and it has been staring at me all night."
"Your cat probably knows you better than you do."
Alexia hid her face behind the newspaper so Jenkins couldn't see her expression as she said it.
An important event is happening this coming weekend when Dolores invites Jenkins to give a public lecture that draws a larger audience than they expected. So I made an impromptu decision to hold this speech in the House of Representatives that is being renovated. This way, on the one hand, it can encourage people to come out of the disaster, and on the other hand, it can better expand Dolores’ influence—the newspapers are already building momentum. Well, Jenkins Williams came to Loen from Nolan specially at the invitation of Princess Dolores Stuart.
The newspaper Alexia was reading was writing about it. The headlines on the front page were still post-disaster reconstruction and disaster relief in the north of the kingdom, and the second page was a photo of Jenkins and Dolores posing, accompanied by a full page of text describing Jenkins, and then a quarter of things Make it clear that he is going to give a speech in Loon.
Of course, this is not a public speech, and those who can be invited are all important figures in the kingdom. Although Jenkins regards this as a pass time, everyone other than him attaches great importance to it.
He did not go to Nolan all day, but went into town to meet Dolores' followers. This was the first official meeting between the two parties, and the atmosphere was friendly and harmonious. When Jenkins hinted at his church background and stated that he had certain jurisdiction over the Church of the Sages during his stay in Loen, the relationship between the two parties became even more harmonious.
Among Dolores' followers, apart from those young men and women who admire her, more are mature and stable nobles, businessmen and civilian officials. Apart from that face, what makes Dolores better is her ability and affinity, these are the key.
After this meeting, Jenkins was already regarded as "one of his own", and the intimacy that Dolores showed just right also showed that his relationship with Her Royal Highness was unusual. Since then, Jenkins Williams has officially joined the dispute over the throne of the Kingdom of Hampavo. This is also one of the few changes he thinks he actively participated in to change the world.
"Do you think this moment will be remembered in the history books?"
As he was getting into his carriage to go to church, the preoccupied Jenkins asked the ladies. They are all nodding, and they all look very confident.
Only Jenkins looked at the frozen city outside the window with apprehension, because he didn't know what the world would look like if he added himself as a variable.
After dinner, I met with Dolores and several congressmen in the study, and the two sides exchanged information on banking reform. Dolores pointed out the opinions in it with dignity, and finally agreed to sign one of the two documents.
Her young sister has now found her own job in the manor. She will be in charge of recording every conversation between Dolores and the guests in the dark room of the study. This job needs to be performed by someone who can be trusted without influencing the decision-making, and it is very suitable for the young princess to do it.
Dolores' brothers and sisters are all on the move, and no one is the first to make a move in the undercurrent, because everyone can't figure out what their father means.
This "calm" will continue for a while, until the first fool jumps out on his own initiative.
Near seven o'clock, Jenkins finally got some free time to do some things of his own. He still remembered the reading tasks that Miss Audrey had assigned to him, so he greeted the girls in the manor and thought about going home to get the books.
The home on St. George's Street was deserted, the lights in the house were out, and the curtains were all drawn so that even the moonlight could not penetrate.
There seemed to be rain outside, but it was not very clear. Jenkins didn't pay attention to these, and went from the bedroom on the second floor to the study on the first floor, and then rummaged through what Miss Audrey asked him to read.
PS: It refers to participating in this kind of social interaction. In the past, walking on the street was not considered a public appearance.