He subconsciously stopped, and put the cat, which was wriggling desperately because he was uncomfortable being held by his waist all the time, back on his shoulders, blinked his eyes and looked in front of him.
The soft light of divine magic spreads in almost every corner of the church, even making the two demigods here and the team of scribes hiding outside the door waiting for orders seem to be glowing.
Of course, the old woman also had an aura, but it was not a black aura, but a dim golden yellow magic aura. In fact, it is not easy to distinguish between gold and yellow. Jenkins usually judges by feeling the nature of power, supplemented by the color of aura.
But the old woman sitting on the bench can't feel any power at all. Even if she can identify her identity through the spiritual light and mentally clarify whether the other party is human, she still can't feel anything wrong. This is terrible place.
"Jenkins."
Hearing footsteps behind him, Mr. Gilbert, who was crossing his arms, and Miss Kirshenna, who was standing beside him, nodded at him.
"People from the Office of Special Items Management haven't said exactly what happened."
He whispered, and then looked at the sitting old woman suspiciously:
"I didn't find anything wrong with her."
"Talk to her to find the problem."
Miss Gilbert said, looking around:
"We don't have a numbered item corresponding to such a humanoid creature in our memory. Bellini has already gone to the Gate of Vientiane to find the keeper to investigate. Now we only need to observe. I think it's better not to find someone to demonstrate her characteristics to you."
Even B-category numbered items are dangerous, and they are not things that can be experimented with. Of course, Jenkins will not cruelly force others to demonstrate it to himself. He is mainly curious about the characteristics of the other party.
"Once someone talks to her, the old lady's appearance will change. There were two priests who went to talk to her just now, and one of them saw her sitting there for a long time and wanted to ask if she was feeling unwell the other saw the frightened face of the first one standing there, and stepped forward to help. Of course, in the eyes of non-interlocutors, the appearance of the old woman has always been fixed."
"Because of the dialogue, did it change? Is the changed appearance someone familiar to the interlocutor?"
"At least the two priests just now didn't recognize the changed face I saw. The old lady seems to have the ability to read minds. According to the descriptions of the priests, the appearance she transformed into is the one that makes them feel the most intimate. faces, and when talking, they can also directly poke the secrets deep in their hearts."
Mr. Gilbert introduced.
"So the characteristic is to show different postures and talking styles depending on the person talking?"
"Probably so."
Miss Kirshenna nodded, and then pointed to the gas lamp closest to the old lady:
"One more thing, all 'lights' near her will be enhanced."
The gas lamp was indeed brighter than the others.
"Just now, I did a simple experiment with a candle in hand. Although the change in brightness is small, this phenomenon does exist."
Jenkins was slightly surprised, thought for a while and asked again:
"This matter won't be related to [Light Chaser Club]?"
The group of cultists whose goal is to turn themselves and all mankind into light are experts in similar phenomena.
"If it's a numbered item that those people got out of nowhere, I think the characteristic of the old woman should be to turn the interlocutor into a torch and burn it directly, instead of letting them go after the conversation."
Mr. Gilbert sarcastically.
The main hall of the church was temporarily closed, leaving only three people standing at the exit of the corridor to monitor. The secret keeper also encountered a problem. It took more than ten minutes to send the apprentices to inform the three that they had not found any information yet and asked them to continue monitoring.
The church also sent someone to deliver a letter to the Evergreen Forest. Although this incident has not shown any danger at present, no one can tell what will happen in the future.
Of course, it is impossible to settle this matter safely. Before the keeper found the relevant information, the three who were still talking in low voices suddenly stopped talking. They saw that the old woman changed from sitting with her hair lowered in a daze, to propping herself up on the bench with her hands, and slowly stood up.
"If she wants to enter the back of the church from the corridor here, we will stop her."
Jenkins said in a low voice, the other two nodded slightly, watched intently as the old woman stepped into her basket, and then actually walked towards the three of them.
Behind them is the corridor leading to the back.
Jenkins took a step forward, but Mr. Gilbert was quicker to meet him. At the same time, Miss Kirshenna stopped Jenkins:
"You find someone to come over, and talking to the other party can effectively stop it from advancing. As long as we have enough people, it will be enough to stop her here for a long time."
If it is not necessary, no one wants to fight with something of unknown origin. Of course, this is the Church of the Sages, even if there is a fight, there is a high probability that the church will not lose. But now there are many ordinary nuns, priests, citizens who come to attend evening classes, children in the choir, etc., so it is better to use peaceful means before finding out the origin of the other party.
Jenkins knew that the two of them were protecting him, so he didn't insist. After thanking him in a low voice, he trotted to find someone to help. The most important thing the church lacks is manpower, but considering safety issues, and worrying about talking to the other party, they will be infected with information-like curses that have no obvious manifestations, so Jenkins just called the benefactor instead of ordinary people.
At the same time, he also notified the keeper, who realized that the situation had changed, and sent his apprentice to help.
A group of people stood in the corridor leading from the main hall to the back courtyard, making sure that every step the old woman took, she would meet someone who came forward to chat. It is impossible for Jenkins to stay out of the incident, but Mr. Gilbert considered that the joint meeting of the church will be held in a few days. It is better for Jenkins not to take risks at this time, so he asked him to lead the team behind the old woman and did not arrange him in front Waiting to chat with each other.
Things were going well at first, although each person could only talk to the old lady once, but because there were enough people, and the length of the conversation was affected by both parties, this effectively "trapped" the old lady in the corridor .
But when she finished talking with the fifth person, and ended the conversation with the calm "I didn't kill her" of the freckled young man, the old woman didn't move on, but Just like sitting on the bench just now, as if turned into a plaster cast, he remained motionless.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mr. Gilbert seized the time to find someone to completely seal the exit on the other side of the corridor by manipulating the soil, and at the same time locked all the doors on the side of the corridor.
Sure enough, when the old woman started to move next time, she came across a dead end along the corridor, and without going on, or even stopping, she turned and walked back.
The people in the church avoided her line of action, watched nervously as the old man returned to the main hall of the church, and then slowly walked out of the church along the path between the benches on the central axis. At this moment, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but the church could not let this strange creature walk through the city, so after discussing, Ms. Kirshenna and Jenkins stayed in the church, and Mr. Gilbert led the team to chase after it. In addition to ensuring that the other party will not harm the citizens, he also wants to know where she is going.
"So what the hell is that?"
Seeing the figures of a group of people going away, Jenkins, who was standing at the door of the church, asked the secret keeper who had just rushed over, but he still did not find any records of similar things.
"Humanity's understanding of the world is still too shallow. Even the church cannot record all ABC items. Especially items without obvious characteristics or external characteristics, it is even more difficult to intervene. But there is probably no need to worry, at least for now. No malice was shown."
The keeper said earnestly, and then turned back to the church with Jenkins. After that, if there is no accident, this matter has nothing to do with them. After entering the city, the twelve churches are obliged to deal with this matter. Counting the time, the Evergreen Forest probably has already got the news, and they will make proper arrangements to house the old woman there. At least judging from the current nature of the opponent, this is not difficult at all.
"We'll be home in a little while, and Julia will have supper ready."
After bidding farewell to the Keeper, Jenkins walked along the corridor, preparing to return to Miss Bevanna's office to continue reading those documents. As he walked, he sighed that the world is becoming more and more dangerous now, and the frequency of encountering such emergencies may become higher in the future.
Talking to Chocolate about the next plan, while trying to touch his shoulder, guessing that Chocolate would be tired of this boring night, but his hands didn't touch anything.
He stopped in front of the door with some doubts, thinking that the last time he touched his cat was when he saw the old lady. That's when Jenkins slung the chocolate over his shoulder.
"I don't remember chocolate ever leaving my side."
He didn't panic, but thought silently. Looking around, he held the cold doorknob in front of him with his hand, and opened the door with light force. In the process that should have been silent, there was a loud "squeak~" sound, which was a bit creepy in the quiet corridor.
The gas lamps in the corridor and in the room flickered three times at the same time, and then went out with a slight bang. It was extremely dark around, and Jenkins, who kept pushing the door, held his breath and waited for a few seconds. He was about to call out his monocle in the darkness, but suddenly saw a cold light in front of him. .
Looking up, Tarquin, the proud man in brocade robes, stood in Miss Bevanna's office, with a terrifying expression on his face, the crown on his head and the clothes on his body showed a chilling green light.