Chapter 146: Holy Water Machine
In the Black Tower Hall, more than thirty magical items were scattered on the ground.
Inside, besides the magical items obtained from the dragon-slaying battle, there were also many pieces of equipment that Anse had accumulated before, such as Fungal Weave Armor, Feather Fall Ring, Blade of Empathy, Azure Poison Blade, and so on.
Anse sat on a chair, with a tall and cold Construct Shield Guard behind him.
“Everyone worked hard in the last battle. Pick one or two useful ones each. Once the black dragon is sold, I’ll distribute some more to everyone.” He waved his hand grandly, full of boldness.
“So many?” Brat crouched down to check the appraisal document next to the magical items.
Salian scanned around and didn’t see those two anti-magic arrows, but almost everything he had seen while cleaning the battlefield was there, which meant that female castle lord had taken almost nothing.
He gave Anse a meaningful look but didn’t point it out.
“The black dragon has nothing to do with us.” Kalenno shook his head and picked up a pair of black short blades.
“Exactly.” Colin pulled out an ornament made from three black dragon scales from his collar, tapped it with his fingernail, and chuckled, “I have this, that’s enough.”
“We’ll talk about the black dragon later. The equipment is what everyone deserves for participating in the battle.” Anse waved his hand.
Strictly speaking, Treant Guta had contributed the most, but it couldn’t use these things and didn’t want them, so he could only compensate it later when there was a chance.
“I want this.” Giant Tail didn’t stand on ceremony and selected a handsome set of armor.
Anse looked up and saw that it was the splint heavy armor seized from the Half-Dragon back then, rare quality, but with slight damage and not quite the right size.
“Alright, find someone to fix it for you later.” He didn’t refuse.
“I can go myself.” Giant Tail shook his head in refusal. He had just become guard captain and would spend most of his time outside, so he had plenty of time.
“I’ll pay for it.” Anse laughed.
Salian chose a kinetic bowstring that doubled the range and increased damage.
Kalenno took the pair of Blade of Empathy from the Shadow Thieves assassin, Colin chose a rare shortbow, and Finn took the Feather Fall Ring.
Brat chose the Fungal Weave Armor. It had some side effects, but as long as he didn’t take it off, it was fine. The 2 points of constitution and corrosion resistance were a huge boost for a warrior.
The others watched from the side, some envious, some curious, regretting only that their strength was insufficient and they hadn’t been able to join the battle.
“Good eye.” Anse teased and put away the rest of the items.
Everyone had picked good stuff. They said they didn’t want it, but their actions were honest.
“This is for you.” He tossed the Alchemist’s Jug to Brat as well.
He often forgot to use it, so it was better to leave it to Brat, the big butler, to replenish supplies daily, like honey, vinegar, wine, and such.
Brat caught the Alchemist’s Jug, unable to put it down, grinning with his canine teeth showing like a wolf that had stolen a chicken: “I’ve had my eye on this thing of yours for a long time.”
Anse was amused by him, waved his hand, and went upstairs.
Today he hadn’t returned to Jacqueline Castle. After handling things, he had brought Giant Tail and the others back to Hollewen.
Back on the top floor, dozens of round-bellied glass water bottles were placed in the corner of the room, each able to hold a pound of water, with two large jars of silver powder beside them. These were the materials he had prepared for the Ceremony.
The Ceremony was ritual magic that required performing a certain ritual according to the requirements of a religious ceremony, with continuous spellcasting to complete, without consuming mana or spell slots.
The Ceremony included various rituals such as atonement, holy water blessing, coming-of-age, dedication, funeral, wedding, etc. Besides casting ability, it also came with quite a few folk customs, etiquette, and knowledge.
Every qualified cleric must know the Ceremony!
For clergy, the more solemn the ritual, the better, but simplifying it didn’t affect the final effect.
For example, holy water blessing could involve holding holy light and devoutly chanting or praying in front of a church or statue of god at a selected time, or simply holding the water bottle and meditating intently without interruption.
Anse filled the water bottle with water, sat on the round platform holding it, placed the silver powder beside him, closed his eyes to meditate, with no prayer on his lips, no visualization of divine symbols in his mind, just purely sensing the oath to channel holy power.
A rich white-gold radiance bloomed from him, the silver powder swirled, intertwining with the holy magic, gradually seeping into the water.
An hour passed.
He opened his eyes, lifted the water bottle. The original water had turned white-gold in hue, with the light subdued.
‘Success. This one bottle alone is worth at least a hundred gold coins.’ He screwed on the cap and set the holy water aside.
The material cost for this one bottle was 25 gold coins, plus an hour of a paladin’s time.
Holy water was rarely given away for free; it was one of the church’s important sources of income. Clergy were human too and needed to eat; without money, it wouldn’t work.
Some orthodox churches, like Lothander’s or Tyr’s, priced it at 25 gold coins but only supplied limited amounts to faithful believers; others couldn’t buy it.
Dulag had only a few small churches, the church’s strength was limited, and with the magic net disrupted, they no longer had the ability to produce holy water, making the originally scarce holy water even more precious.
‘Continue!’
Anse didn’t feel tired and simply continued producing holy water blessing.
An hour for over a hundred gold coins wasn’t much worse than a mage copying scrolls; working a bit of overtime was nothing.
——
In the early morning, Anse woke up naturally, full of energy.
He had rested after making five bottles of holy water last night; the sleep wasn’t long, but it was enough.
He picked up the Dragonhide Pouch from the corner, opened it for a look. No surprise, just a small pile of coins added, various currencies.
‘From the black dragon, or some other dragon race treasury?’ He didn’t know, but he didn’t dare mess around anymore.
It would be trouble if he lured the Green Dragon Queen next time. He wasn’t even sure he could beat an immature green dragon, let alone one that might reach ancient dragon level.
Green dragons were notoriously insidious and cunning, rarely acting personally, and when they did, they had an extremely high chance of success.
After breakfast, he took Giant Tail, the Green Dragonborn, and Kalenno to “work”.
As soon as they teleported into the room, they saw Illyas and Quentin on the sofa.
“So early, something happened again?” Anse checked his pocket watch; it wasn’t even eight o’clock yet.
The Durag Union was somewhat lax; eight o’clock was considered early. For a slacker like Illyas, she wouldn’t come unless it was an important meeting.
“Why didn’t you go back last night?” Illyas crossed her arms, staring at Anse expressionlessly.
“Oh, it was too late, no need to bother.” Anse explained.
Quentin watched them and quietly kept his mouth shut.
Illyas glanced at him twice, didn’t pursue it further, sat back down, and gestured for Quentin to speak.
“Someone is causing trouble.” Quentin rubbed his brow, looking weary. “A lot of refugees from Claw Bay have come these past few days, including many from major families or organizations.
Early this morning, a few came to make a scene, saying Councillor Graham’s merchant guild owed them goods undelivered, demanding the warehouse be opened to settle with supplies, and they injured several guards.”
“Oh~” Anse understood.
Causing trouble was just a pretext; they knew Stol was gone and had their eyes on this unclaimed piece of meat in Dulag.
This somewhat looked down on him as the new president and Jacqueline Castle.
Perhaps these forces thought that since Anse, an outsider, could become president, they could too.
“Also,” Quentin opened the window and pointed overhead, “wyverns are patrolling the sky. They’ve come twice this morning already. I have a bad feeling.”
Anse leaned out and looked up, vaguely seeing two small black dots above the Toothed Forest, flying very high.
“Probably scouting the situation.” He speculated. “Didn’t we say yesterday that Beregost was surrounded by kobolds? Dulag isn’t far; it’s normal for the Wyvern Guard to expand their reconnaissance range.”
“Sigh, I hope so. I’m just afraid… they want revenge on us.” Quentin looked worried.
Stol had angrily slain the green dragon, Anse had explosively killed the wyvern and Half-Dragon; the hatred seemed higher than for Beregost.
