Mr. Piscoe was really here to buy stories, and Jenkins' off-the-cuff little tale of a down-and-out aristocrat was just the man's appetite. He ended up paying £20 for a copper kettle that was on a store shelf.
But these are all fakes that Dad puts in the store, and the real good ones are on the shelves behind the counter and in the warehouse behind, and the cost of this thing probably doesn't even cost 10 shillings. Jenkins, who still has a businessman's conscience, is a little soft-hearted, but Mr. Pisco doesn't care.
"As I said, I am not for antiques, but for inspiration."
Although it looked desolate, the gentleman took out a deposit of 5 pounds at once. He asked Jenkins to have the jug delivered to his place by Wednesday of the following week, the last day of the month.
Jenkins checked the authenticity of the banknote suspiciously, and then nodded slowly: "Okay, sir."
By the time the young man left the shop, Jenkins thought the customer was as eccentric as writers might be.
"Hey, I seem to be a writer too."
He shook his head, opened a locked drawer under the counter, and stuffed the five-pound note into it. Turn the lock with a key, take off the notebook hanging on the wall, turn a few pages backwards, and write a reminder under the label of October 31:
Delivery to Mr. Mason Pisco's (label 103).
Put the pencil down, the blotter hangs back on the white wall waiting to be turned, and the deal is done.
"It's not too difficult."
He muttered softly, and sat back on the rocking chair in front of the fireplace, thinking about what happened to his father.
As the evening approached, there were some strange noises from the warehouse behind the antique shop. Jenkins originally thought that a thief was visiting, and nervously took a pistol to check, only to see a huge mouse running past.
He looked back at the chocolate on his shoulder.
"As a cat, if you see a mouse go by, shouldn't you react in some way?"
"Meow~"
It just called softly, ignoring Jenkins' cues.
Since kittens don't catch mice, Jenkins can only do it himself. Fortunately, the goods in the warehouse were neatly arranged, and there was no position where the mouse could pass but Jenkins could not, so he blew the mouse's head off with his last shot.
The corner of the mouth was twitching, the bloody scene was really disgusting, even at the second after the mouse died, the broken pink-gray tail was still twitching.
Rinse the rat's mark with water, check it in the warehouse, and finally find that the rat came from the drain. One of the iron fences in front of the pipeline broke off at some point, and that's how the mouse squeezed in from the ground.
Jenkins jotted that down in the blotter too, and Pop would get someone to fix it. Of course, since the cats in the store don’t know how to catch mice, in order to prevent the mice from gnawing on fragile goods, he moved a few heavy boxes filled with sundries and blocked them firmly.
Before dusk, there was no sign of Dad coming back, but Captain Bincy came in person. According to the instructions left by his father, Jenkins handed him a small box. While the two were checking the receipt, Captain Bincy mentioned something.
"Did you know that the twin demons reappeared on Sunday last week!"
"Yeah?"
Skillfully feigning surprise, he is used to such performances now. I thought I would hear this news soon, but I didn't expect it to be almost a week before anyone mentioned it.
"I haven't heard of it. I haven't been to church this week, and my father hasn't mentioned it."
"Not many people know about it."
Captain Bincy whispered, and after seeing the curiosity on Jenkins' face with satisfaction, he continued:
"The place where he appeared is very close to Ms. Yinyue's church, so the night watchmen are responsible for this incident. The church only received a complete report on this incident yesterday. The twin demons appeared to kill three illegal organizations The Bestower of the Witch. Yes, the Bestower of the Witch's House."
"Oh~ Goddess is here!"
Jenkins took a breath: "What is he doing this for? That man is not just killing people casually, is he? I heard that there are many serial murders in the Kingdom."
"Of course not. Except for lunatics like Fermixiu, such high-level bestowers rarely kill casually. The night watchmen are also investigating the motives of the twin demons, but they have not yet come up with a definite answer. They are now I'm wondering if there are any precious items in the hands of those three witches, that's why the twin demons were attracted."
The man shrugged, and then turned his gaze to the fireplace, "Heh~ Dad still likes the fireplace so much, when Stanford was still there..."
"Stanford?"
"Huh? It's nothing, I didn't say anything. Where did I just say it? Yes, the man code-named Twin Devil is almost certainly the companion of the man in black. Since the man in black likes to collect weird things, then the twin devils collect It’s a matter of course, right? Of course, this is all just speculation, we don’t have proof yet. Damn, whenever these strange guys show up, there will be problems with prophecy, psychic and divination.”
Captain Bincy deliberately diverted the topic, but did not show any embarrassment. Jenkins wisely didn't ask about the name "Stanford", but he also speculated whether this could be one of Dad's previous 'apprentices'.
It was also during the conversation with Captain Bincy that Jenkins learned that the three witches he killed had criminal records. In other words, they all had rewards on them.
"how many?"
He did his best to look like he was just interested, not particularly concerned.
"Well, let me do the math. The kingdom's official reward, the Orthodox Church's reward, and the victim's family's reward, the three of them add up...about 190 pounds, maybe 200 pounds, but I'm not sure."
"Gudong!"
Jenkins swallowed, 200 gold pounds in cash is enough for a wealthy family to take a fulfilling and happy long-distance winter trip. But he is very clear that those colorful pieces of paper cannot fall into his hands.
"I think, that twin demon won't go to claim it?"
With mixed feelings, he said so.
"Yes."
Captain Bincy put away the receipt, took the box in his hand, and put on his very old yellow hat: "That person seems unwilling to deal with the Orthodox Church. According to the general rules, the church and the police station will accept the reward if it ends like this." Keep it for one year, if no one claims it after one year, then half will go to the public and half will be donated.”