Gathering Materials

Graham had finished cleaning up his messy apartment and used divination to find out everything he needed to know. He had gained information about the locations of his and Valentine's ritual materials as well as his client's details. He was now on his way with his neighbor, Luuk van der Meer, to the black market because it turned out that he could buy two of Valentine's materials there: the tongues of Leyaks and the hair strands of Gorgons.

"So what is that man's Deity?" asked Luuk quietly as the two of them were walking.

They had decided to walk to Oosteinde since it wasn't too far away. Besides, it would be safer to talk about sensitive information while walking rather than in a public motor carriage. Graham was carrying his briefcase to store the materials that he would buy later.

"He's an Astrologer and Transmuter. I guess that's why he needs people since his fighting ability might not be that good. But he makes a great detective with his abilities.

"No wonder he knows a lot about enhanced equipment and artifacts, then? He can do divination and he can create items," Luuk concluded.

"That's likely the case. And my divination told me that he's trustworthy."

The two men crossed the street once the crossing light turned green. The big, tree-covered street was quite packed with people that afternoon. The cold autumn had caused the leaves to fall from the trees, crushed beneath their shoes as they walked.

"So what's with that cane?" Luuk's eyes were locked into the walking cane in his neighbor's left hand. It looked like a normal cane except for the tiny bloodstain at the bottom of its handle.

"This? Just a souvenir from Hoorn. This has come quite in handy so far, so I'm not leaving without it," Graham smiled cheekily.

The detective didn't seem to want to share the secret, so he didn't pursue the topic any further.

"Anyway, in Hoorn, I met a crazy woman who could steal body parts. Not physically, but functionally. She's definitely a strong Thief, so you should be able to do something similar once you get stronger,"

Luuk's eyes opened wide in interest.

"Really? How did it work? Did the body part she stole just stopped functioning?" asked Luuk curiously.

If I could do that, I would indeed be very powerful. Just imagine stealing someone's heart directly and they just died... he thought.

"Yes, but it seems there is still some limitation. She stole one of my legs and it just stopped working, but after she returned it, everything became normal again. If she could, she would have stolen my heart or kidney or anything vital to stop me from running away, but she didn't. Maybe it's limited only to limbs?" Graham conjectured; his right hand was rubbing his chin.

"That still sounds strong,"

The farther east they went, the fewer people were walking in the street. After crossing the street one more time, they finally reached the Oosteinde area and they felt like they were in a different city. The colors of the building were somewhat paler than the colorful Central Sloten or the bright Westeinde area.

Graham increased his pace a little to catch up with the person walking in front of him. Once he was close enough, the detective concentrated and conjured a tiny fireball that was barely noticeable unless someone was within close proximity to him. Focusing on the flame, Graham began chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, ask to read the memory of that man!"

An image began appearing in the flame, showing scenes upon scenes of the man's interaction with someone closest to him, which turned out to be his oldest son. Once information about the man's son was transferred into his brain, Graham ended the divination.

"What is that?" Luuk pointed at the illusory flame that looked both real and not.

"Did you see any image in the flame?" he asked back. Divination was visible to other people close by, but he wasn't sure about Memory Reading.

"No. Should I have seen something?" Luuk's face showed doubt as he shook his head.

"Nothing. That's all good then," the detective replied shortly and then got rid of the tiny illusory flame in front of him with just a thought.

The bridge crossing Amstel River was now within sight, which meant the bazaar was just around the corner. The two men increased their pace and walked past the man whose memory Graham just read. The man, who looked to be in his mid-forties, didn't pay attention to the two strangers and kept on walking at his own pace, minding his own business.

After crossing the bridge, factory buildings, with their smokes and noises, started lining up on the right side of the street. Although the road had become more packed with vehicles, pedestrians were still scarce there.

The two men turned left to a secluded alley where the entrance to the bazaar was located. There were three people standing in front of a wall and once they muttered something, the wall opened and they entered, disappearing into the black market.

"I've never seen other people entering the black market. It looks really strange to watch," Luuk commented.

Graham was busy looking around, and when he was sure the alley was empty, he started chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby change my whole being into that of Milo de Jong!"

Luuk was watching his neighbor who was undergoing a transformation process. The man's height decreased several centimeters and his complexion became darker like someone who always worked in the sun. He also got a little thinner than before.

At the end of the transformation process, Graham had turned into Milo de Jong, a nineteen-year-old boy with dark blue eyes and brown curly hair whose face resembled a southerner.

Luuk was in awe at the display of ability that his neighbor had performed. No matter how many times he had seen it, it always looked magical to him every time. He himself didn't have any flashy ability that he could use for showing off, so he was a little envious.

"Are you ready?" asked Graham, whose voice was now higher pitched than before.

Luuk nodded and took out his Capricorn mask from under his sweater and wore it while Graham put on a common facemask just enough to cover his lower face. He also put on a pair of sunglasses, and now he was unrecognizable.

"Why not wear your Gemini mask?" asked Luuk curiously. His voice was muffled by his mask, distorting it a little.

"I'm wearing a different identity, so I can't wear that mask because it's associated with my real one," he explained.

"But why the double disguise?" Luuk was still curious about the detective's action.

"It's because I'm buying ritual materials. Although individually, they could be used for just anything, if someone saw me buying those specific ones for the ritual, they would know what I am after. It's just a precaution," he then turned his attention to Luuk, "Which means, later you should stay away from me as well. Just watch from a distance and see if there is anyone else watching me. That's why I need you,"

After that, Graham also explained something else that he needed Luuk to do in the bazaar.

Luuk understood and nodded.

Man, I really should learn from this man about this kind of stuff, the young man thought.

Once ready, the two of them said the password and entered Erbarmelijk Bazaar after the wall opened. The sounds of stone bricks rubbing against each other came from their back as the walls closed in behind them.

"We have fresh materials here! Come here!"

"Selling Murderer contract scroll! Selling it cheap!

"Fish! Crab! Scallop!"

The bustling noise of the bazaar welcomed them to the black market. At once, Graham walked forward to where his divination had shown him the location of the seller while Luuk walked in the other direction. The young medical student was excitedly looking around at the wares while occasionally keeping an eye on the detective's surroundings.

Graham approached a street vendor who was sitting behind a glass case. Inside the case, jars of various strange body parts were displayed, including tongues, eyeballs, and things that he couldn't identify.

Waving at the vendor for his attention, Graham asked straightforwardly, "I need the tongues of Leyaks, three of them. How much?"

The vendor was confused for a second about how the customer could know that he had the items. The one displayed was the tongue of another creature, so it couldn't have been because of that. However, business was business, so he didn't pay it any more mind.

"It's five guilders each, so fifteen for three," replied the vendor as he took out a jar from the chest behind him.

Inside the tall jar, elongated tongues were stored in a kind of liquid. The tongues were bright red, exactly like the those of the Leyaks that he had fought in Oostelijk Bos.

Graham pretended to be uninterested and started looking around.

"That's too expensive. Can't you lower the price?"

The vendor shook his head firmly, "No. These are difficult to get, so I can't lower the price. Besides, I'm sure you won't be able to find them anywhere else here,"

Seeing that Graham was looking around, Luuk understood the gesture and approached the closest vendor from him and shouted in disbelief, "Leyaks Tongues are four guilders each?! That's too expensive! I'll buy them for three guilders each!"

His sudden shouting attracted the attention of people nearby, including Graham and the vendor. The detective's face showed sudden interest and slowly, he started walking away from the vendor.

"Okay, four guilders each! I'll sell them for four guilders each!"

The vendor gave in easily enough. If he hadn't used divination, Graham wouldn't have found out the common market price for those tongues, making him unable to prepare beforehand.

Stopping midway and turning his attention to the vendor, he said firmly, "How about this, I'll buy six for twenty guilders?"

The vendor's eyes, which were not covered by his facemask, showed a conflicted expression.

"Twenty-two and I'll give them to you," he finally answered.

"Deal!"

Graham took out his money and received the tongues after paying the vendor. He then stored the wet tongues inside his briefcase just like that. He wanted to use Order to dry them first, but the restriction placed on the bazaar prevented him from doing that without being caught.

"Leyaks are basically people are performing a dark ritual. So does that mean these tongues are those people's tongues, Val?" he wondered.

He thanked the vendor and walked away, heading towards his next destination. Meanwhile, Luuk had sneakily escaped into the crowd after shouting, disappearing from the sight of the confused vendor who wasn't selling any tongues of Leyaks.

There was a store in front of Graham with the name 'Loo's Materials'. From the outside, the store looked very small and cramped. It was already full of people as well, so he had to wait for a while until someone came out so he would be able to have breathing space inside.

After waiting for about three minutes, two people came out of the store, and Graham walked in right away. He walked sideways to avoid bumping into the other people and just directly approached one of the three storekeepers there.

"I need hair strands of Gorgons. Six of them," he said.

This store had the items on display along with their price tags, so they couldn't jack up the price whenever they wanted. The price also matched what was shown in his divination, so he didn't think he could haggle there.

"It's seven guilders apiece. Six would be forty-two guilders. Anything else, Sir?" asked the female storekeeper who was wearing a cat mask.

"Nothing. Is there any discount for new customers?"

She shook her head right away.

"There is no such thing here, Sir,"

Dejectedly, Graham took out his money and paid for the items that he needed. After putting the hair strands that looked like dead snakes, he left the store much poorer than before.

"Val, we don't have a lot of money left. We need to quickly make money or we'll end up living under the bridge," he complained.

He now had two materials he needed for Valentine's ritual and only one more left. However, he couldn't buy the essence of Dybbuks at the bazaar according to his divination. The only way was to gather them himself. Luckily, Dybbuks could be found near Sloten, in the western woodland, so that's where he was going next. He was aiming for Valentine to be able to perform his ritual tonight, so tomorrow he could begin his mission right away.

"We should still have enough time. Dybbuks only appear at night time, and it will be dark in a few hours. Now we just need to find Luuk and get a move on at once."