The Master of the Strange Realm

Thanks to the 5,000 pounds compensated by the church, he can barely be called a rich man now. Today he plans to go shopping on the black market. After all, gold pounds have no value if they are not spent.

Maybe you can go to the church and donate some money anonymously. I heard that the death toll in the train accident in Shire City is already being counted. The train company has suffered heavy losses, and in this age without insurance, families who have lost the breadwinner of their family are even more miserable.

The air outside was still so bad that when I went to pick up the mail from the mailbox at the door, the carriages on St. George Street seemed to be wrapped in smoke.

Strikes and riots brought some changes to the city, but in the end it returned to its original state.

But the sacrifice does not come without any reward. The newspaper announced that the "Air Quality Monitoring and Protection Bill" has passed the final review process of the Parliament and is expected to be officially implemented in the Kingdom by the end of the year.

From this point of view, those terrible cultists have done a good thing - at least, that's what Jenkins can think of for the time being before he learns their true intentions.

The professor and his father will probably have to deal with the shield issue this evening. Jenkins plans to go to the antique store to take a look later.

"Due to pirate traces on the coast of Nolan City, the Silver Jasmine Opera Troupe has postponed its departure and is expected to continue to stay in this city..."

Jenkins read the news in a low voice, guessing that it was the appearance of the pirate king-destroyer Fermitio that prompted the municipal department to issue a warning to sailing cruise ships. The Silver Jasmine Opera Troupe's original plan was to take a boat to Eldron, the City of Thousand Trees, but they might be delayed for a while.

"Go to the church in the afternoon to take a look. First, visit the bishop, and then Captain Binsi will inquire about the mechanical germs."

He thought slowly and continued reading the newspaper.

Chocolate was lying in front of its food bowl. The milk had been drunk, and it looked thoughtfully at the glass in front of Jenkins.

"Chocolate, eating too much is not good for your health."

Jenkins was keenly aware of the chocolate's intention and bent down to carry it onto the table. The small one did not take up much space.

"Grow up quickly so you can eat more."

He gently stroked the cat's fur with a sincere smile on his face.

Chocolate is the creature he is closest to at the moment, even closer than his father. After all, cats will not reveal their secrets.

"Let's change the color!"

He ordered in a low voice, and when the cat turned to look at his milk, he pushed the cup over.

"Meow~"

With the milky cry, Chocolate's black and white fur quickly turned completely white, and then he immediately cupped Jenkins' hand with the tip of his nose and asked him to pour out the milk.

Since Chocolat drank the potion prepared by Old Jack, his intelligence has been improving by leaps and bounds every day, and the special ability he has shown is to freely change the color of his coat. This is very useful. When you ask Chocolate to help with something in the future, you won't be afraid of being exposed.

"The black cat status cannot be used. Too many people saw the black cat traveling with the saint that day. If it is a white cat, just call it vanilla. Compared to the first impression, it is a chocolate that is 'black' and 'hard' , a soft and fragrant vanilla, is a suitable name for a female cat.”

After saying malicious words, Jenkins wiped his mouth with the napkin on the corner of the table, went to the bathroom to tidy up his appearance, and then came back to read the newspaper.

"The steam pipeline renovation plan in Sabine District is proceeding in an orderly manner. It is reported that during the construction, workers unearthed some severely corroded human skeletons underground. The Nolan Police Department is currently investigating this time with enthusiastic consultants. Follow-up... ....”

The so-called consultants are detectives and other figures who assist the police in solving cases. For example, the Sherlock Holmes we knew before time travel can be called a police consultant in this world.

Dad also has a reputation as a consultant in the police station. As an expert in antique appreciation, he is sometimes invited to appraise the value of intercepted stolen goods, or to determine the origins of certain cultists based on seized ritual items.

But Jenkins felt that nothing could be found from those severely corroded human bones. Due to the octopus incident in the past few months, the police and the church are very sensitive to missing persons, but apart from the previous average and people who died due to strange things, there have been no large-scale vicious disappearances in the city in the past six months, so the matter of human bones Maybe it goes back a long time.

In this era where fingerprint identification is not even available, finding these things is more difficult than if chocolate can speak.

Turning her head and looking out the window, Lady Margaret, who lived alone next door, called the carriage at the corner of the street, gave instructions to the coachman, and the carriage drove slowly towards the east.

The clothes she wore today were a little too thick, even though it was October, but the temperature probably hadn't dropped enough yet to require a fox shawl.

"What does it have to do with me?"

Shaking his head, Jenkins smiled to himself.

"The Westminster River is undergoing its annual dredging work. Citizens are asked to avoid the bridges in the following neighborhoods..."

"Fortunately, I moved out, otherwise I would have to take a detour to go to the antique store."

Nolan City is a seaside city with developed water and land transportation. There are many rivers passing through the city. The most famous and important one is the [Westminster River]. This river is not only the most important source of water supply in the city , and it is also an important starting point for the kingdom’s inland river shipping.

Every summer, travelers from major cities in the Kingdom are happy to enjoy the sea view of Nolan City and the city's scenery on both sides of the Westminster River.

On summer nights, the smog covering the city will reach the lowest level of the year. It is extremely enjoyable to watch the noisy city gradually become quiet on the river bank.

The above is the statement published in the newspaper by the Nolan City Hall in order to promote the city and attract summer tourists. But the citizens of Nolan City do not have the habit of traveling at night. Especially dangerous river banks.

PS: Over the chapters, I realized that the story development was too compact, and there were still some unfinished geographical backgrounds.

Chapter 158 Chapter 154 Letter

Along with the newspapers, some letters appeared in Jenkins' mailbox. One is a reply from Miss Mary, a pen pal in a distant land of ice and snow. She sent a large package this time, and the others are bills and letters from readers forwarded by the publisher.

With the publication of Tales from a Stranger throughout the kingdom, fairy tales became the focus of discussion among intellectuals, or gentlemen and ladies who considered themselves intellectuals. Perhaps this world without the Internet and TV is too boring. Operas, concerts or horse racing cannot fully meet the spiritual needs of the idle little aristocrats and petty bourgeoisie. Reading is a good choice to spend time in this era.

Judging from the "Nolan Daily" report on this matter, the name Jenkins Willamette has been extremely popular in recent weeks, and he is probably going to make a fortune.

“I don’t know when I will be able to live a life without worrying about gold pounds.”

He sighed with expectation, but when he thought of those expensive ritual materials and even more expensive ABC items, he felt that life was full of pressure.

"It's better to be a cat."

"Meow?"

Chocolate looked at Jenkins inexplicably, and then carefully rubbed the back of his hand with his furry face.

There wasn't much valuable news in the newspaper, so Jenkins read it for a while and then put it down. Hesitating between the reader's letter and Miss Mary's package, open the reader's letter first.

The number of letters this time was significantly greater than last time. The postman responsible for delivering letters found that the capacity of the mailbox was not enough, so he placed some letters directly in the yard through the gap in the fence. He also kindly put a layer of expired newspapers to prevent the letters from getting dirty. It can be said that he is very responsible.

As you can see from the mailing addresses and colorful stamps, the letters come from all over the country. In fact, most of them simply sent letters to Jenkins to express their love for the book. These words of praise made him feel uncomfortable when he read them, so I won't repeat them again.

Two letters expressed the hope that Jenkins could rewrite the "Mermaid" chapter in the story collection. They did not like such a sad ending. Even if the mermaid did not live with the prince in the end, they did not want her to die.

Jenkins expressed understanding of what readers were thinking, but would not change the ending because of it. He would seriously write a reply to both of them, explaining his views on the tragedy.

As for letters like last time, there are also many letters with incomprehensible rhetorical techniques and metaphors. This may be some novel literary device, or it may be some metaphor that Jenkins does not understand. But he really couldn't understand why those girls with elegant handwriting would moan and write long meaningless poems.

Although Jenkins had already published a book in this era, his literary ability (other world) was not yet at the level of fully understanding the meaning of such a long poem. Those enthusiastic readers should be trying to express some passionate emotions, but unfortunately, Jenkins cannot see it for the time being.

"Maybe I can ask Miss Hesha to take a look at it for me."

With this thought in his mind, he put away the letters he had opened in a hurry, intending to read them slowly when he had time.

Lifting the package on the chair, he patted the chocolate's eager paws away to quiet it down. The package itself is wrapped layer by layer with waterproof kraft paper, and the outermost part is tied with a red cloth strip for fixation.

Jenkins cut the strip of cloth shorter with scissors and discovered it was silk.

"How rich is Miss Mary?"

He guessed in surprise, peeling off the layers of kraft paper. Inside were two brand-new books, still smelling of ink, and a letter.

Without opening the letter first, I started to look through the books. One of them was called "Probability and Mathematical Statistics" and the other was "A Brief Theory of Advanced Mathematics".

The first author of the first book is "Anonymous", and the second author is Peter Pan Warren, presumably Miss Mary's tutor Mr. Warren. After flipping through a few pages, it turned out to be the knowledge I wrote in my last reply. But it was clear that Mr. Warren had organized them and filled in the details appropriately.

"Mr. Warren is also very knowledgeable in probability."

He sighed softly, and then turned to the preface. The first paragraph read:

[The first author of this book provides most of the knowledge structure for this book, filling the gaps in contemporary probability research. But because the humble gentleman did not want to reveal his name to the public, the editor replaced it with "Anonymous". Thank you again Mr. J.W. Your contribution to probability will be remembered by every researcher. heart. 】

He shook his head with a smile and turned back the page. There were descriptions of the people who contributed to this book except the two authors listed first and second. There are many names here, and their contributions to the corresponding chapters are written down separately, so Jenkins can't find who Miss Mary is.

Jenkins did not know the two authors on the cover of "A Brief Introduction to Advanced Mathematics", but the picture on the cover was the curved trapezoid in the rectangular coordinate system that he drew to derive the integral method.

The title page specially marked that he thanked Mr. J.W for his great contribution to the book.

After flipping through it for a while, Jenkins guessed that the compilation of this book should have taken a long time. It might be that Miss Mary's tutor, Mr. Warren, handed Jenkins' letter to the editors, making the content of the book richer, so he specially thanked Jenkins on the important position of the title page.

An inexplicable sense of relief surged in his heart, and he gently stroked the "J.W" on the page with his fingers, and smiled with the corners of his mouth turned up. This can be regarded as a small mark left in this world. Even a hundred years later, someone will remember Mr. "J.W".

His forehead was faintly hot, and Jenkins subconsciously wanted to touch it, but he felt a cold air flow gushing out from there, and the gushing spirit quickly spread all over his body.

"Is this, the gift of the sage?"

He guessed carefully, feeling that he was very close to the truth. Could it be that the blessing obtained when becoming the Son of God is to be able to obtain spirit by spreading cultural knowledge?

He thought about it and discarded the idea of ​​continuing to copy knowledge. Since the essence of spirit is to be close to the world, it is better to be natural. If you do it deliberately, you will not have the feeling of being natural.

In a world where idealistic power exists, it is better to be idealistic.

He opened the letter next to him. It was still the fragrant snow paper and the elegant words in the flower font. If you can see the person by the words, then Jenkins thinks Miss Mary may be the most beautiful one he knows.

Chapter 159 Chapter 155 Unexpected Visitor

Dear Mr. William:

I am very happy to receive your reply, really very happy.

I read your reply with joy and admire your humble and cautious character. Together with my tutor, Mr. Warren, I read the complicated mathematical formulas and pictures you attached to the end of the letter. I want to honestly admit that I didn’t understand a lot.

But Mr. Warren was so excited that he almost fainted. Maybe it's impolite to say this, but I have never seen this old man so excited. He even pulled out a lot of his beard.

We discussed your decision for a long time and believed that a mathematical genius like you should not be buried. But we also respect your decision. Therefore, after Mr. Warren compiled a book based on the research results you provided, he used "Anonymous" as the first author.

Your letters also contain a lot of knowledge of advanced mathematics. Please allow me to call them advanced mathematics. This is indeed not a field that beginners or even ordinary mathematics enthusiasts can access. Your talent is so brilliant, and your wisdom is as vast as the sage in ancient legends. Mathematicians at the National Academy of Hampavo Kingdom have always hoped to publish a book containing the most cutting-edge mathematical knowledge of this era to encourage young researchers to move forward. Mr. Warren gave them your letter. My father told me that the institute held a meeting for two consecutive days for this, which even alarmed those people in the tower.

I sent you Probability and Mathematical Statistics and Advanced Mathematics, which have been published. I asked my maid to inquire about the speed of postal delivery. By the time you receive my reply, mathematicians across the continent should be able to read this knowledge. Thanks to the Church of the Sages, its knowledge is spread more quickly.

I would like to praise your generosity to knowledge and your humble character again. I never thought that I would meet such a great person in this life. Mr. Warren asked me to tell you that if you are interested in continuing new research in the field of mathematics, the National Research Institute of the Kingdom of Hampavo welcomes you. If you have any comments or suggestions on these two books, please send them to me with the next letter and I will pass them on to the editors.

The friends I usually come into contact with are always fond of social activities. Although I also like those glamorous balls or lively dinners, making new friends is still more interesting. Mr. William, I think it is difficult to express my respect for you in words alone, but you are really the most humble and knowledgeable person I know.

Male friends of the same age always like to brag about their achievements at parties. But you and I know that true humility should be possessed by people like you.

I don't know if a shallow person like me is qualified to be your pen pal, but I will seriously reply to every letter you send. I hope that talking with me will not waste your time, otherwise it will be my sin.

I really dare not discuss mathematical problems with you in the letter. Those mathematical marks like ritual symbols have become part of my recent nightmare. Maybe you will also be interested in literary issues. I know that people as wise as you will spend their time reading books on weekdays.

I wonder what kind of books you like? Do you hate the knight novels that critics have to spit on every day?

In addition to completing the requirements of my Chinese teacher Miss Sheppard on time, I also like to read some ancient classics. Maybe I should put it another way, that is, those magical stories that history professors find in ancient books.

They are really interesting, but it is a pity that only a few people can read such stories. The demons of fate and the strangeness of the deep sea, these stories that have disappeared in history with the passage of time are no less than any reading material of this era.

I know that there are many outstanding writers in the Kingdom of Hampavo. Although the languages ​​of the three kingdoms are not in common, I am very grateful to God for making our writing the same. I have rarely read pure literary books, but "The Cat and the Hound of the Black Forest" and "The Princess's Revenge" are very good. I wonder if you have read them. I also like "The Detective Knight's Biography", which is the best knight novel of this era. Although my father warned me not to indulge in such books, it is really pleasant to hide the kerosene lamp under the bed at night and secretly read a short paragraph before going to bed - as long as I am careful not to be discovered by the patrolling nanny.

A few days ago, I participated in a reading salon of my friend and heard that a very interesting fairy tale book was published in the city of Nolan where you are. Merchants from afar are deciding to cooperate with booksellers in the Kingdom of Hampavo. I wonder if you know the book I'm talking about. If possible, could you please mail me a copy in your reply? I'm really curious about this book.

Of course, if you have read it, I'd be happy to discuss it with you.

Thank you again for your humility and generosity, and I wish you good health.

Yours faithfully,

Mary

This is a really long letter, which took five pages of stationery to write.

"These honorifics are really a headache."

Jenkins complained softly, but his face was full of smiles. He folded the letter paper together and put it back into the envelope. He decided to reply to Miss Mary after reading the two books sent to him, and by the way, he would also understand what level of mathematics in this world has reached.

However, Mary's family background seems to be very impressive, otherwise, the tutor hired here would not be qualified to deliver letters to the National Academy.

He carefully thought about whether it would bring trouble to himself to make a pen pal with such a lady. But thinking that the two of them had never met, did not know each other's faces, and were half a continent apart, it should not be.

While thinking, the bell hanging on the fence suddenly rang. This is equivalent to a doorbell, but be careful not to be stolen by passing children.

Let the chocolate stay in the restaurant. Jenkins opened the door in slippers and saw an unfamiliar young girl standing outside the fence of his house, tiptoeing to look at the flowers in the yard.

This is the legacy of the previous owner. Jenkins watered them on time, and they are still alive and well.

"Hello, is there anything I can do for you?"

He walked into the yard and asked softly. While nodding to the girl as a greeting, he showed a smile that he thought was qualified on his face.

He secretly suspected that this was his book fan who got his address through some means.

Chapter 160 Chapter 156 Fortune Teller

"Hello, Mr. William. Sorry, I should introduce myself first. I haven't used my real name for a long time, but my friends usually call me 'Miss Audrey'."

The lady answered in a low voice, her beautiful eyes staring at Jenkins' face.