Chapter 838: The Priest’s Return
Priest Augustus departed from Tobesk Station in early autumn and returned to Tobesk Railway Station on a Sunday morning in late autumn. Although Xia De knew that Priest Augustus had experienced many dangerous things in Middlesburg, and the dangers he encountered during the Mi Fort incident were no less than his own.
But when Xia De put his hands in his pockets and joined the Dawn Church welcome party, seeing the Old Priest smilingly carry his suitcase off the train that spewed steam from its bottom to both sides, he was still momentarily dazed, thinking that the Priest had gone on vacation.
The Priest’s luggage was certainly not just a single suitcase; other large pieces of luggage were piled in the freight car and would be sent to the Dawn Church by a dedicated person.
The weather at the turn of autumn and winter was quite good, but the city was still permeated by a polluting heavy fog. The chaos of the platform made this very lifelike scene hazy and illusory, but at least Priest Augustus had truly returned.
A total of 7 local Old Priests, belonging to the Five Gods Church, returned with Priest Augustus. Although their faces clearly showed the fatigue of the journey, everyone was very happy to return to Tobesk City, the Pearl of the North.
“Even the polluted smell in the air is so familiar.”
Priest Augustus even said such a thing, and then choked and coughed. The air pollution level in recent days was indeed outrageous. Although Middlesburg, which was by the mountains, also had a steam industry, the overall air quality was far better than Tobesk City.
On the low and dim platform, filled with travelers carrying suitcases, and with a strange odor permeating the air, the Five Gods Church held a very brief welcome ceremony for the returning Old Priests, and then they all returned to their respective churches.
Priest Augustus certainly wouldn’t follow Xia De to Saint Delan Square Six, but he still knocked on Xia De’s door at two in the afternoon that day.
“Welcome back, Priest Augustus!”
Xia De said with a smile after opening the door, and the Old Priest outside also had a face full of smiles:
“Yes, Tobesk is good; I won’t be going on such a long journey again in the future. Oh, your gift.”
The gift Priest Augustus prepared for Xia De was a black hat with colorful feathers dyed with dye.
Xia De, holding Mia, led Priest Augustus to the second floor to talk. Tea was already prepared in advance, and Priest Augustus’s first sentence was a question:
“Have Joey Barton and Ms. Marilyn Handel already left Tobesk?”
“Yes, the last time I saw them was seven days ago at Tobesk Public Cemetery.”
Xia De replied, and the Priest nodded, not asking about them again:
“In Middlesburg, I promised you that I would tell you about my pair of wings. Detective, you already know that those wings belong to an Angel, but perhaps you don’t know that that Angel is—”
“The original Angel, the first Angel born in the world, the Death Angel.”
Xia De added, signaling Priest Augustus to take a seat. The Priest sat on the short sofa, looking at him in surprise:
“It seems you know more than I thought. Well then, I don’t need to introduce too much. I am, of course, human, just able to borrow the power of an Angel… Well, a long time ago, due to an accident, I obtained a part of the Death Angel’s remains.”
“Remains?”
Somewhat surprised, but not particularly surprised; compared to other possibilities Xia De had considered, such as Priest Augustus being an Angel, this answer was not particularly outrageous:
“That Angel, died?”
The Priest shook his head, smiling:
“It seems you don’t know everything, otherwise I would think you… Although Angels were not created by the great one, they also possess almost immortal life and are beings superior to humans and mortal creatures. Most Angels departed with the Ancient Gods, while the Death Angel left its body in the material world. That body disintegrated, and when I was young, I accidentally merged with a part of the remains, including the wings.”
The story of Priest Augustus’s youth should be the Tobesk Level 0 relic out-of-control incident that the Academy had mentioned. But the Priest still didn’t explain why everyone else died, while he not only survived but also gained power. This should be a secret Priest Augustus was unwilling to tell.
Fortunately, everyone, including Xia De, has secrets, so he wouldn't overly probe.
“So the right arm bone that Joey Barton had implanted by the Truth Society is—”
Xia De raised an eyebrow.
“Detective, you are very perceptive, yes. The Angel’s remains gave me part of the Death Angel’s power. With this power, I am not only incredibly sensitive to death, but I can also perfect that power by continuously collecting other parts of the remains.”
The Priest extended his right hand, and some gray mist pulsed in his palm.
“Meow~”
Mia’s fur instantly bristled, and she let out a low growl from her throat at Priest Augustus, startling both Xia De and Priest Augustus.
Xia De comforted his cat, hesitating for a moment:
“But you don’t look like someone who pursues power, I’m sorry, what I mean is, usually when such extremely difficult to collect items are aggregated, unimaginable things happen. Priest Augustus, why do you want to collect the Angel’s remains? I’m worried that once you collect all of them, the Angel will... revive within your body.”
The Outsider had seen many similar stories.
The Priest shook his head:
“Detective, do you think the departed Ancient Gods will easily return?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why would the Angels who departed with them easily return?”
The Priest said, and Xia De was relieved; this indeed made sense:
“Then why are you collecting these remains?”
“They are very dangerous, extremely dangerous. Don’t look at me like an ordinary person now; in fact, I have paid a considerable price to suppress the power of the Death Angel. This is not a power that should be left in the material world, so I want to seal them myself. Moreover, with the return of this power, I can also learn more information, information about those Ancient Gods.”
He glanced at Xia De:
“Aren’t you also pursuing this Knowledge?”
Xia De smiled:
“Yes, I am also pursuing those ancient myths, learning past stories from the dust of history. This is what I, as an investigator of the History Academy, should do. So, in these years, have you found many remains of the Death Angel?”
The Priest shook his head, picked up his teacup, and leaned back against the backrest:
“I have been looking for information in this regard all these years, but you can imagine the difficulty. Besides the initial remains and the right arm bone taken from Joey Barton’s body, I accidentally obtained a small piece of leg bone 12 years ago, and two finger bones three years ago. Far from complete, far from complete.”
The Priest took out his pipe again, but only wiped it; he certainly wouldn’t smoke in Xia De’s house. Xia De, however, noticed that the Priest didn’t mention how many of the initial remains he had merged with.
“If you don’t have to worry about the risk of the Angel reviving in you, I will also help you look out for information about the Angel’s remains.”
Xia De then nodded. In addition to demons and fire, he now had another type of collectible.
“I knew you would help me, Xia De. As the Death Angel becomes more complete, I can also gain more Knowledge and information. I believe that compared to power, these are the most important. After all, Knowledge is priceless, Knowledge is power, and I am willing to share these powers with you. For example, this…”
He took a small glass bottle from his pocket. Xia De pushed away the cat that was stretching its neck to sniff, and after picking up the glass bottle, he shook it:
“holy water?”
“Yes, I made it myself. In terms of effect, it is roughly between No. 3 and No. 4 holy water.”
Xia De looked at the Priest with some surprise:
“I always thought that only the Natural Church could make… Wait, the Natural Church makes holy water by relying on five Angel statues, relics ranging from Poet Grade (Level 5) to Angel-level (Level 1). So, the creation of holy water is related to Angels?”
“Yes, the power of Angels can create holy water. Of course, this also requires Knowledge.”
The Priest smiled and pointed to his head:
“Now, I can produce No. 4 holy water in large quantities, with almost no extra cost except for material fees and time. This bottle of holy water in your hand, which is stronger than No. 4 and weaker than No. 3, is still a bit strenuous to make. But in the future, you can buy holy water from me; I will only charge you for the material costs.”
“That would be truly great.”
This peculiar magical potion, holy water, has effects such as expelling negative energy, dispelling curses, detoxifying, mental recovery, healing, and adding sacred effects. Although the effects of No. 4 holy water are far from comparable to the two bottles of No. 2 holy water in Xia De’s drawer, it is still quite valuable.
“In addition, I have also learned to create some magical items related to Angels and death. The most powerful alchemical item, the ‘death Horn,’ even has a wide-range instant death effect. However, I need to think about these magical items before attempting to make them, as some materials might be difficult to find in a short time. If you are interested, you can come to my potion workshop to take a look.”
The Priest added, it seemed that the arm bone really helped him a lot. Unfortunately, Xia De and the Priest couldn’t ask the Truth Society about the origin of that bone, otherwise, they might be able to find more Angel remains based on the clues.
And Priest Augustus opening up the sale of holy water and special alchemical items to Xia De also demonstrated the value of the Knowledge of those ancient existences. Now that he thought about it, Doctor Schneider should also be able to create some alchemical items with distinct demonic characteristics, such as the amulet that allowed Xia De to use demonic power in his dreams.
The reason the Doctor rarely mentioned his Knowledge to Xia De was obviously because demonic power could not be used lightly. Being discovered using Angel power would not cause trouble, but being discovered using demonic power would truly lead to big trouble.
