Chapter 247: Shopping! Shopping!
"Holy Water! And high-vintage Holy Water at that!"
The stall owner looked shocked.
"Judging from the fluctuation of Holy Power, it's at least of ten-year vintage quality."
William put on a look of "Surprise."
"Fluctuation? You're from the Church."
The stall owner was momentarily speechless, realizing he had said too much.
"Hmph, although Holy Clergy Members setting up stalls is forbidden by the Church, in the Exorcist Guild, this is inherently a tacit understanding." He put the stopper back on.
"If you plan to use this to blackmail and report me, save it."
William smiled slightly: "Don't overthink it, doing such things is meaningless to me."
"Is this bottle of stuff enough to cover the cost?"
"Of course." The black-robed stall owner stroked the glass bottle on the table, "However..."
There seemed to be some hesitation in his tone. A moment later, he still asked: "Where did you get this thing?"
Hearing this, William's gaze grew much colder.
"This question seems meaningless to our transaction as well."
The stall owner hurriedly waved his hands: "Don't misunderstand, it's just that high-vintage Holy Water is a controlled item in the Church, hard for ordinary people to get."
"If I accept this, it won't bring me trouble, will it?"
William said: "This belonged to a Holy Clergy Member who died during a commission, so I picked it up."
"So that's how it is."
The stall owner nodded, unclear if he truly believed it.
A moment later.
"You can take this material now." The stall owner said, about to put the Holy Water away.
But William pressed his hand on it a step faster.
"What does this mean?" The stall owner frowned.
William smiled: "Are you bullying me for not being from the Church?"
"One portion of remains material and you want to exchange it for a whole bottle of Holy Water?"
The stall owner said: "Then you?"
A few minutes later.
William walked out of the cubicle with a calm face.
Leaving behind the stall owner's resentful gaze.
"Ten-year vintage Holy Water exchanged for four evil spirit materials, what's the difference between this and picking up free money," William thought secretly.
That stall owner seemed very obsessed with high-quality Holy Water, so he added an extra portion of material.
With the surplus William had, he estimated he could sweep all the goods in the material area today.
But he just thought about such things.
A large amount of high-quality holy artifacts suddenly appearing in the Guild in a short time—such a high-profile behavior would be hard not to get noticed.
And the purchased materials, William had already stored them through the conveyor belt set up in the Guild.
These devices existed everywhere in the Guild, aiming to facilitate transactions for exorcists.
After all, not everyone wants to carry a large backpack around.
After buying materials from a few more stalls, William turned around and headed to the intelligence area.
Here gathered information from all over North America.
Commission contents, sacred history, major factions' news, exorcist gossip, methods for dealing with evil...
As long as it could exist in written form, it would be sold here.
And the reason William came here was to look for clues about the materials on the Holy Chapter.
This item, said to be able to summon angels, had been left in a corner since he got his hands on it.
Although he didn't know where the third piece of the Holy Chapter was.
William still intended to start looking for the existing materials first.
From the surface, almost all factions were certain about the invasion of evil into the human world.
Therefore, William had to prepare a few more methods.
Even if that Holy Chapter didn't have such a strong effect, he wouldn't lose anything.
But if the ritual recorded on it truly worked, then he would possess an extremely terrifying power.
The intelligence area was also divided into different sections.
The information William wanted to know was too ancient; it was unlikely to appear among real-time intelligence dealers.
So he chose a historical text stall and walked over.
Upon entering, he smelled the scent of printing ink.
Sallow chandeliers illuminated the environment inside.
In a relatively large space, five or six wooden shelves were placed on the ground, with books randomly piled on them, and quite a few even fallen on the floor.
At the entrance sat an old man wearing a white robe, dozing off with his head drooping.
Knock... Knock...
William knocked gently on the door.
The old man suddenly woke up.
"Is it time to eat..." He rubbed his eyes.
"Hello, I want to buy some books."
Terence only then realized a customer had arrived and was momentarily stunned.
"What's wrong, are the books here not for sale?" William frowned slightly.
"Oh, no no, please choose freely." Terence squeezed out a smile and stood up.
"I'm really sorry, there aren't many people willing to buy ancient books these days."
William said: "Although evil spirits and demons have varied methods, many have occurred in history. Reading more texts might come in handy at crucial moments."
Terence clapped his hands.
"Young man, well said!"
He sighed with emotion.
"Rarely do I see such an ambitious exorcist like you."
Terence sighed.
"Nowadays everyone is pursuing more ancient evil spirit commissions and more valuable materials. Not many people are willing to calm down and learn exorcism knowledge."
"But to live long in such a world, one must keep learning constantly."
"Sigh, why couldn't I think of such reasonable words, otherwise everyone would definitely come to my shop to buy books."
This old man kept sighing, seeming quite regretful about it.
William was stunned. He didn't expect a casual remark could make the other party so emotional.
However... regarding no one coming to patronize.
He looked at the messy environment around.
"Probably has nothing to do with young people's pursuits..." William mentally complained.
Seeing this stall owner about to speak again, he hurriedly spoke up first.
"Do you have any texts related to wizards and the Church here?"
The angel summoning ritual requires ancient olive branches, Saint's Remains, Cleansing Salt, Holy Apostle Silver Badge, and high-vintage holy artifacts.
Most of these items are related to the Church.
And the reason for looking for wizard-related texts again, besides not wanting to expose his purpose too much, William also planned to understand the origins of wizards.
After all, the clue for the Saint's Remains was related to wizards.
Understanding it in advance, William could also make arrangements according to the situation.
"Let me think."
Terence scratched his graying hair.
"Church... Wizard, Church... Wizard."
He shuttled between the wooden shelves, constantly flipping through the books on them.
"Not this one... not this one either."
William followed behind, watching the other party throw book after book onto the floor.
A moment later.
"Aha! Found it."
Terence held up a thick book in each hand.
"This True Record of Church History records the stories from the Garden of Eden all the way to the establishment of Protestantism in recent decades."
He blew the dust off it.
"Compared to crappy books like the Bible that only know how to flatter, this one should be the Church's holy relic."
"Cough cough..."
William touched his nose.
"And this Thousand-Year Passion of Wizards, recording the birth of wizards two thousand years ago to the origins of several wizard factions in North America recently."
Terence blinked his eyes as he spoke.
"It also has the romantic affairs of those beautiful miss witches~"
William covered his face. It was hard to imagine this guy just made a "Wise man's" speech not long ago.
"Uh... what's the price for these two books?" He brought the topic back on track.
Terence smiled slightly.
"If it were anyone else, they would have to buy them. But your remarks just now really resonated with me, therefore..."
He stretched out three fingers: "Three hundred Resentment Points, read for three hours."
"What's the difference between this and robbery!"
William instantly froze.
"Only an idiot would pay this!"
A moment later.
William sat in the corner, picking up that Thousand-Year Passion of Wizards.
According to the book's records, the earliest wizards originated along the Mediterranean coast over two thousand years ago.
At that time, this group of people mastered the ability to communicate with supernatural powers, similar to prophets, and were therefore always highly respected by commoners.
However, entering the Middle Ages, the Church began to promote "The Lord is the One True God," and the wizard lineage naturally became the target of suppression.
Persecution, heresy, burning at the stake...
This group of ability users was forced to leave the European continent and ultimately settled in North America.
And today's organizations like the Witch Association and the Rosicrucian Order are basically the descendants of those people from back then.
Among them, some witches possess "Bloodline Inheritance," inherently having special abilities like elemental manipulation, healing arts, etc.
If William remembered correctly, the Rosicrucian Order seemed to only recruit female wizards. Besides that, he also found another organization—Voodoo.
This is a wizard organization originating from North Africa but established in North America.
Because the wizard lineage immigrated to this continent, they also participated in the oppression of black slaves.
Voodoo was born in such an environment, formed by people born with the ability to call upon natural forces, resisting the oppression of the wizard lineage.
The struggle between the two has lasted for many years and continues to this day.
"Another example of the dragon slayer becoming the dragon." William shook his head helplessly.
However, he also found the information he wanted.
According to the clue on the note, the Saint's Remains are in a manor in New Orleans.
And that city happens to be the stronghold of Voodoo.
"Speaking of which, the father and daughter I met before during the 'Wrong Turn' commission seemed to be heading to this place."
William thought to himself.
After flipping through some other information and understanding some abilities related to Voodoo, he picked up the other book.
"...Mount Sinai is located south of Jerusalem. On its peak, there is an olive grove that is over a thousand years old..."
He quickly found the information he wanted, but there was also bad news.
Today's Mount Sinai has long become a forbidden area for the Church.
Except for daily maintenance personnel, only big figures of the rank of Cardinals and the Pope can enter it for a short time.
Other than that, even diocese-level Holy Clergy Members have no right to approach.
Not to mention bottom-tier personnel like William.
Every year on the Grand Holy Day, the Church takes a section of an olive branch from Mount Sinai and conducts a divine blessing in the Vatican.
The bottle of ten-year vintage Holy Water from the old priest at the exhibition incident earlier was made this way.
One can imagine, the olive branch is an existence at the level of a holy relic in the Church.
"At least I have a clue for this item..." William shook his head secretly.
Currently, he had no idea how to get his hands on this item.
Since he already possessed the clue for the Saint's Remains.
He skipped that part directly, searching for information on the "Holy Apostle Silver Badge."
But William flipped through the corresponding chapters and didn't find relevant content, only seeing another similar item—Apostle Badge.
According to the book's records, two thousand years ago, the Son of God displayed miracles around Jerusalem.
During this period, twelve "Old Testament" Jewish believers had the fortune to witness the Son's descent.
And they became the latter's apostles, spreading the stories of the Son along the Mediterranean coast.
Many years later, evil descended upon the human world.
To protect civilians everywhere from harm, the Son prayed to God, bestowing upon the apostles the power to defeat evil—the Apostle Badge.
As long as one held this item, they could possess god-like power.
Having received divine revelation, the twelve apostles traveled everywhere, heading to places with the densest evil aura.
Ultimately, evil was driven out of the human world.
And the apostles also left the badges there to seal the gaps in the human world, preventing evil forces from flowing in again.
Throughout Church history, the Apostle Badge has appeared several times, the most recent being a few decades ago.
A priest named Merrin, who was also an archaeologist.
While conducting excavation work in the Middle East, he discovered the ruins of an evil god.
A statue of an evil god was unearthed from the ruins.
Besides that, there was also a silver badge engraved with a pair of angel wings.
Father Merrin brought the two items back to North America.
But during a commission, Father Merrin unfortunately died, and the whereabouts of those two items became unknown.
William narrowed his eyes.
If he remembered correctly, this Father Merrin should be from the story of the old version of The Exorcist.
This is a very classic American work; he didn't expect to see it here.
At the same time, when William saw the description of the silver badge, he could almost be sure this was the material for summoning angels!
Even if it wasn't, it was definitely related.
"This trip wasn't in vain." He raised an eyebrow, although the traces of the Apostle Badge were currently hard to track.
But regarding Father Merrin's files, the Church might still have records.
"I'll look for it when I get back." William closed the book.
The clues for the remaining materials were not mentioned in the book, so he could only give up temporarily.
He even tried looking for the Holy Chapter, but there were no relevant descriptions in the books either.
After saying goodbye to that thick-skinned stall owner, William headed to the final destination of this trip—the stall rental office.
He planned to sell all his low-vintage holy artifacts and exchange them for corresponding Resentment Points.
According to Exorcist Guild rules, the exchange rate between Resentment Points and Bucks is 1:10.
But this exchange is one-way; you can only use the former to exchange for the latter.
This is also to prevent individuals from using vast wealth to acquire a lot of resources in a short time.
And due to the gold coin given by the Guild, William didn't need to pay any stall fees or commission fees.
He even received a spot in a relatively central area, although only for one day.
However, the necessary items on the stall were already prepared by the Guild.
Therefore, William's little shop quickly opened for business.
At the same time, at the entrance of the trading venue.
Two figures walked in.
One of them wore a dark red robe.
Although using a hood to cover her head, from the faint lipstick revealed and the various ornaments hanging on her body, this was obviously a witch.
The person beside her was shorter, but clearly also a female.
"Wizard Catherine, I've already been here once today. The shops here only have five-year quality holy artifacts at best; we can't find anything higher."
Doria's tone was sluggish.
She clung to Catherine's arm, almost leaning her whole body on it, seeming quite reluctant to come to this place.
"But the negative effects of that witchcraft will relapse soon. The Holy Water saved from last time is definitely not enough." Catherine said.
"Didn't that Mr. Bellon say he could provide plenty of high-quality Holy Water?"
"Still talking!" Catherine gently tapped the former's head. "Don't you know why he's pestering us?"
"I was wrong." Doria pouted. "Who told you to be so charming."
"What did you say?"
"N... Nothing!"
Catherine sighed: "Previously, due to the tight schedule, I had no choice but to buy from that person."
"But we can't rely on him completely, you must remember that!"
Doria sighed helplessly, thinking inwardly: "But Miss, you always wander around for so long every time!!!"
After venting a bit, she could only accept her fate and keep up with Catherine's pace.
But at this time, an annoying voice came from behind the two.
"Ms. Catherine, Ms. Doria, what a coincidence to meet you here!"
A man dressed in luxurious clothes walked over with a smile.
"I wonder if Bellon has the honor to accompany you?"
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