At noon, the witches' midday meeting was underway.
Having unpacked and tidied his room, Rai stepped into the kitchen, ready to help Spalding, who was making pastries, but was coldly refused.
With no outsiders present, it was clear that this old butler who had served witches for generations was not at all keen on Rai's arrival.
Obviously, he didn't want his position taken.
'That's what you get for not having a descendant of your own, you creepy doll fetishist,' Rai thought as he watched Spalding prepare the food on his own, leaving no room for him to intervene.
All the better.
As if he were eager to wait on others?
Since someone was willing to take on all the work, Rai felt no guilt about slacking off.
Seeing Rai fiddling with his phone to one side, Spalding's stiff lips twitched. After finishing the pastries in hand, he carried the tray out to the hall without a word.
Rai glanced at him once, then continued scrolling through his phone without concern.
He hadn't forgotten that he had a quota of "one supernatural entity contained every ten days."
For that, he had specifically searched his phone for New Orleans urban legends and horror tales, hoping to find clues among them.
After all, his impression of New Orleans was limited to New Orleans wings. As one of America's famous haunted cities, New Orleans indeed has many well-known urban legends.
If one speaks of the most famous, it would be the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau.
According to the legend, this powerful voodoo queen is now buried in Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, and it's said that if you draw three "X" on her tomb, you can receive a voodoo blessing.
Of course, that's nonsense.
Rai knew that the so-called Voodoo Queen was still alive, currently running a salon in the Lower Ninth Ward.
He didn't dare offend witches right now, never mind challenging the voodoo queen who'd fought witches for so many years.
So that target was a PASS.
However, online sources said Lafayette No. 1 had plenty of haunting rumours, and even stories of vampires appearing, which could serve as backup targets.
There were also other urban legends in New Orleans.
For example, the LaLaurie Mansion, and the Axeman of New Orleans, the jazz-loving axe murderer whose real identity remains unsolved to this day.
As for the former, the original owner still lived under a curse and was watched by the Supreme Witch, so Rai had no desire to make a move there.
As for the latter, he had long since been taken care of by the witches of the past; his evil spirit still lingered in that house.
The problem was that this spirit was extremely well concealed; even the witches hadn't discovered it after so many years.
Rai had no idea how to find it either.
If worst came to worst, he could have his little girlfriend channel it.
Of course, with a whole coven here, explaining and manoeuvring things would be troublesome, and on top of that, the Axeman's strength was a bit monstrous, so better to keep him as a last-resort fallback.
Rai looked over other urban legends as well:
Long-circulating swamp monsters, haunted hotels and restaurants, all kinds of vampire tales, etc.
After mapping out his exploration route through New Orleans, Rai, a bit hungry, found a sandwich in the fridge to fill his stomach, then turned to the most important point:
How to take down those supernatural entities.
A cross, a Bible, and holy water.
Though he had no faith, those props that showed up often in movies still needed to be prepared.
Anyway, they wouldn't cost money: if he went to a nearby church and said he wanted to join the faith, they'd give those items for free, and he could even get a decent church lunch.
In addition, a gun will be useful.
When facing corporeal supernatural creatures, bullets still had power.
Of course, most importantly, Rai needed a helper.
No matter how much he prepared, it wouldn't change the fact that he was a newbie who hadn't even seen a ghost.
When dealing with those supernatural beings, having a powerful supernatural helper at his side would definitely be the best guarantee.
As it happened, there was a whole group of witches around him.
Given his relationships and what was about to happen, he could indeed find a pretty good helper.
Thinking of this, Rai's eyes lit up, and he began to make preparations.
…
Afternoon.
Cordelia was imparting witchcraft knowledge to the young witches, while Spalding returned to his attic, put on adult children's clothing, and cosplayed as a doll.
With truly no work to do, Rai pocketed the few hundred dollars he had and walked out of the residence, following the map route on his phone to the nearest gun shop.
Since the major hurricane years ago, public security in New Orleans had gone from bad to worse; combined with high crime rates, the city had come to be called "the murder capital."
Just like how, if every child were given a gun, there wouldn't be any school shootings.
Poor public security had contributed to a widespread gun culture in New Orleans.
Correspondingly, all kinds of gun shops did good business.
When Rai walked into one such shop, he happened to see the owner pitching a just-arrived "child version rifle" to a father and son, more precisely, to the son, who looked elementary-school age.
Having merged with the original body's memories, Rai was no longer surprised by such bizarre phenomena.
Rai shook his head and stopped paying attention to such vexing matters, turning his gaze instead to the dazzling array of long and short guns on the racks.
Pistols, rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, general-purpose machine guns, everything was there.
Though most were civilian "neutered" versions, as long as you spent some money under the table or modified them yourself, you could make up for the neutering.
Also, buying guns was very easy; just show the relevant permits.
Many shops would sell you a gun even without the permits.
This was especially pronounced in New Orleans.
The original body had already obtained a gun license, so Rai didn't have to worry about that.
Limited by funds and the inconvenience of going out, though he longed for those firepower-heavy rifles or even machine guns, Rai sensibly set his eyes on pistols.
After some selection, he chose a Glock 17, one of the most popular pistols on the U.S. market.
Chambered in 9mm, it's a mid-sized handgun that can carry 17 rounds.
Easy to use, highly reliable, accurate, powerful, durable, and reasonably priced, it's the first choice for many people.
As for why not buy a higher-calibre pistol like the Desert Eagle that could kill an elephant with one shot?
Setting price aside:
With arms like his, after a bout of shooting, he probably wouldn't have killed the enemy before breaking his own arm.
So better to be practical.
After a fierce bout of haggling with the owner, Rai, having spent almost all his savings, bought a Glock 17 and six magazines.
Using the training range behind the gun shop, Rai emptied two magazines to reacquaint himself with the original body's feel for shooting, then holstered the pistol in the free holster from the owner, clipped it to his waist, and headed to a nearby church.
By the time he walked in with a "pious" expression and came back out, an hour had passed.
Enduring such a long spiritual baptism, the harvest was still pretty good.
Looking at the cross, Bible, and holy water in his arms, blessed personally by the priest Rai, felt more at ease, even if he wasn't sure how effective they really were, and set off back toward the witches' academy.
Next would be the most important helper.
-
Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies.
After lounging around all day, Rai finally remembered his work came evening. He entered the kitchen, ignored Spalding's look of displeasure at someone trespassing in his domain, picked up pots and pans, and, after a burst of sizzling sounds, fried up a plate of tomato and scrambled eggs.
It was one of the few dishes he knew how to cook.
Fortunately, everyone had their own speciality.
Whoever tried his tomato and scrambled eggs praised it without exception.
He just wasn't sure if the young witches would like it.
After all, American Asian food and authentic Asian food were two completely different things.
Rai divided the tomato and scrambled eggs into four plates. As he carried them toward the dining hall, he happened to hear Madison making fun of Spalding's missing tongue.
That girl was bound to ruin herself one day with her sharp tongue.
But at the moment, Rai wanted to say she'd done well.
Watching Spalding's dark expression as he stormed past him, Rai smiled faintly.
'Serves you right for keeping that stiff face all day.'
'What's so proud about serving witches for generations?'
'Addicted to being a servant?'
'Being a master is the true path!'
'Of course, that will have to wait until I'm strong enough.'
For now, Rai went to the dining table and said to the young witches, "Girls, this dish was made by my own hands. See if it suits your taste."
"My dear Rai, you're so thoughtful!"
Madison, who had casually mentioned it in the morning and was now seeing it fulfilled by evening, was in high spirits. Especially when contrasted with Spalding's ugly scowl, she gave a radiant smile:
"Rai, I have to say, you're the ideal boyfriend template."
"This woman's burning up again," Queenie muttered from across the table.
Nan also smiled: "Madison's interest in Rai is growing stronger."
At that, Zoe, who had risen to help Rai set down the plates, frowned.
To prevent a fight before dinner even started, Rai quickly said, "Try it and see how it tastes?"
Queenie was the first to pick up her fork.
Soon, her eyes lit up: "Delicious! I didn't expect tomatoes and eggs stir-fried together would taste like this."
With that, she polished off her plate in a few bites, clearly not just being polite.
Zoe also tried a few bites, surprised: "Rai, how come I never knew you had such cooking skills?"
"I only learned recently. I wanted to surprise you."
That one sentence made Zoe beam with delight. Rai then looked at the other two and asked, "Madison, Nan, how is it?"
Nan said, "It's a very novel flavour. I think I'll like it."
"Not bad. Compared to the Chinese restaurants I've been to in Los Angeles, it tastes different, but I suppose this is what you call authentic. Spalding only ever makes the same few dishes. Rai, from now on, my stomach's in your hands." Madison gave Rai a sweet smile.
"It's my honour."
Without disturbing their meal further, Rai patted Zoe's shoulder and turned to leave.
Watching his departing back, Madison said eagerly to Zoe, "I didn't think you liked this type of guy. By the way, I've never dated an Asian guy. How does it feel, Zoe?"
Zoe's face flushed. "What do you mean, how?"
"I heard Asian men are smart, shy, not very funny, lots of bookworms without any charm. Is Rai like that? He doesn't seem the same. Oh, and does Rai know kung fu?"
Madison rattled off a string of questions, finally asking boldly, "How is Rai in that way? I heard Asian guys…"
"That's enough!" Queenie cut her off. "This is dinner time. If you want to burn up, pick another time."
Madison stopped, glaring furiously at Queenie.
At that moment, Nan suddenly spoke to Zoe, whose face didn't look so good, to reassure her: "That was just an accident, Zoe. Rai is still alive, and I believe in the future you'll find a love that may be a little different, but still fulfilling."
"Nan, you…" Zoe lifted her head, astonished.
"Nan can read minds, Zoe. You can't hide things from her," Madison explained, then turned to Nan with gossip gleaming in her eyes: "Rai's still alive? That's an interesting thing to say. Nan, quickly tell us what exactly happened between these two?"
"No!" Zoe, unwilling to revisit the past, cut her off at once.
Nan took it in stride, then turned to Madison and said, "Shall I instead talk about the time you killed someone?"
"What's there to say?" Madison curled her lip nonchalantly. "My agent couldn't stand me, pushed mistakes on me that weren't mine, and wouldn't hear a word of rebuttal. During one stage rehearsal, he said I was wrong again, so I gave him a little lesson. Who knew that light fixture would fall right on his head. Well, yes, that really was me."
At this, Queenie said sternly: "Your agent only wanted you to hit your marks. Couldn't you try doing something good for humanity, like actually taking an acting class? Washed-up, Z-list star! Botox queen!"
Bang!
Madison, unable to hold back any longer, made a gesture, and Queenie's plate instantly flipped, spilling food all over her.
Seeing this, Queenie, ruthless and wordless, immediately used her human voodoo doll ability.
Clang! Clang!
In an instant, a fierce fight broke out in the dining hall.
By the time Rai, hearing the commotion, came over, the fight was already over.
Nan was pulling Queenie away, leaving only Zoe and Madison at the table.
"Did something happen?" Rai asked deliberately.
Quickly regaining her composure, Madison, who had been telling Zoe, "Now we have no choice, it has to be you and me together", brightened at the sound of his voice: "I almost forgot about you, Rai."
"It was just a little secret between girls. I don't think you'd be interested." With that explanation, Madison held up her phone to the two of them: "I just saw on Twitter there's a frat party tonight. Rai, Zoe, interested in going together?"
"Of course."
That was Rai's goal to begin with, so he naturally nodded in agreement.
He then looked to Zoe: "Zoe, you've been wound too tight lately. It's time to relax a little."
Since her boyfriend said so, Zoe also nodded in agreement.
Finally, Madison looked the two of them up and down critically: "It doesn't matter for a guy. But Zoe, besides Gap, do you have any other brands of clothing?"
In America, Gap was a low-tier budget brand aimed at the mass market.
Zoe's family income was average, so she could only afford that kind of clothing.
She shook her head somewhat awkwardly.
Madison, however, was generous in this regard:
"To shine with charm at the party tonight, just borrow mine for now."
"Tonight, let's have a blast!"