Chapter 199. The Magical Market. Part 1. The Medical Shop.
Having changed his appearance, Severus returned to the magical market, exchanged his Galleons for Chinese Qian, and booked a room at one of the hotels for the entire next week. Then he decided to take a proper walk through the local equivalent of Diagon Alley. There were three such markets in the country, belonging to the three largest factions: the Golden Dragon, the Green Dragon, and the Fiery Phoenix. The first two were nearly identical, but the last one had genuinely surprised Severus. According to one barman, from whom he'd bought a thorough briefing on the country's wizarding affairs, it was composed entirely of women who'd bite your hand clean off.
As it happened, things in China were currently surprisingly quiet. The three largest factions were roughly equal in strength and served as mutual deterrents. The smaller gangs' conflicts barely merited their attention, unless one of them was foolish enough to start a fight on their territory.
For that reason, Severus could spend the week relatively at ease, without fear of being dragged into some faction's back-alley politics or the squabbles of minor gangs.
As for Arnold, Severus intended to deal with him that evening once the man regained consciousness. The Hollowing Potion, dispersed through the air, could incapacitate even a high-ranking Magister for at least a few hours, and the organization's leader was only at the mid-rank. He wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. Removing the potion from the body was trivial, of course, but Severus wanted time to look around properly first and saw no reason to rush. By evening, Arnold would be back on his feet regardless. Additionally, Severus wanted to give him a little time to think and cool down, so that their conversation would be more productive.
After all, he had never intended to kill him. The last thing he wanted was to take over an organization with roots spanning nearly all of Eurasia, and leaving it without a leader was even less appealing.
After gathering his information, Severus left the bar and decided to walk through the local magical market. Almost immediately, his attention was drawn to a medical shop situated almost directly across from the establishment he'd just left.
Against the backdrop of neighboring businesses with their bright, gleaming signs and street callers, mostly pleasant-looking women standing outside to attract customers, the two-story building looked remarkably plain. It was a weathered wooden structure with a simple white sign bearing only two words, "Medical Shop," and a modest entrance with no embellishment. That very simplicity caught his interest. He stepped inside.
The shop turned out to be considerably smaller inside than its exterior suggested, almost too small, yet very clean and well-kept. It was immediately obvious that its owner took great pride in the place.
Three cabinets stood along three walls around a small table. Two held perhaps a few dozen vials of various substances, several books, and even a human skull. The third and largest had no shelves at all, only forty small latched compartments of unknown contents, plus a couple more vials on top. Behind the table, which held a simple scale, a few books, and several small jars, stood an elderly Asian man in a red robe and matching cap. Deep wrinkles lined his face, and he had a small beard and round-framed spectacles. A pair of dark eyes studied the arriving guest with quiet interest.
"Good morning. May I help you with something?" said Wong, watching as the young man finally turned toward him at the sound of his voice.
"Good morning. Yes. I need herbs." His gaze moved to a small dried bunch of plantain hanging inside the cabinet. The herb had calming properties, but what caught his attention was its freshness, as though it had been gathered that very day. The other shops had offered only wilted, yellowed, dried-out specimens.
"Which ones specifically?"
A scroll appeared in Severus's hand, and he passed it to Wong. It listed twenty-seven varieties of herbs, most of them nearly impossible to obtain in Britain and absent even from the Magical Jungle.
"These. And if you happen to have Aconite, Goosefoot, Cinquefoil, and Knapweed as well, I'll take those too." Severus watched the wizard study the list with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes. I have all of them." Wong nodded, not particularly surprised by the quantity. "How many grams of each?"
"Let's say five kilograms." Severus stroked his chin thoughtfully, and the wizard across from him stared in open astonishment.
"Five. Kilograms?!"
"Yes. That should last a while."
"Will you have enough Qian to cover all of that?" Wong composed himself and gave the young man a scrutinizing look. An order of this size was extraordinary, the sort of thing typically arranged only by the Golden Dragon, and the young man standing before him was a complete stranger.
"Yes, of course." Severus smiled slightly and swept his hand over the table. Before Wong's eyes, small, open pouches of gold appeared one after another, leaving him visibly shocked once more. Almost immediately, Wong made a sharp motion toward the entrance, and a soft click followed.
"Young man, have some mercy. I'm old enough as it is." Wong placed his hands on the table with a weary exhale and rubbed his chest. "If anyone outside had seen that, I doubt you'd have left this place in one piece."
"I made sure of that first."
"And you're not concerned that I might rob you, or tell someone?"
"You don't strike me as a man driven by greed." Severus's expression didn't change, though his slight smile remained, and Wong exhaled again. "With your strength, earning that much wouldn't be particularly difficult."
"Oh-ho-ho. You flatter me. I'm just an old man."
"An old man who can visit Mount Tianzi alone without difficulty is hardly ordinary." The atmosphere in the room grew noticeably heavier. It was truly remarkable: a Magister nearly at the peak of the initial rank, running a small shop.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"All right. Forget I said anything. So, about the herbs?"
"I only have a few kilograms of each in stock, and I doubt I can spare even five hundred grams of Elecampane. You're welcome to take what I have now and come back tomorrow. I can send my people out this afternoon and have everything gathered for you." Wong's easy, friendly expression returned. "In the meantime, you're free to take back your Qian."
"Then I'll return tomorrow at midday, if that suits you." Severus tucked the pouches back into his coin purse.
"That will be fine."
"One more thing. I'd also like to take a walk on Mount Tianzi. Do you happen to have a map? I'm happy to pay for it."
"Young man, Mount Tianzi is an extremely dangerous place. I would strongly advise against going there alone." Wong's warning carried genuine gravity, coming from a man who knew the mountain as well as anyone. But when his visitor's expression didn't change in the slightest, he waved his hand casually, and a rolled parchment appeared in his grip. "Five thousand Qian."
"Done." He set a small pouch of gold on the table, received the map, and slipped it into his spatial artifact while Wong watched with mild surprise. "I trust your judgment." Wong grunted in response and tucked the ingredient list under his robe. "Thank you, then. Until tomorrow, Mister."
"Wong."
"Mister Wong." Severus turned toward the exit. "Have a good day." He snapped his fingers, dissolving the charms on the door, and walked out of the small shop, leaving the frowning wizard behind.
"Strange boy. No respect for his elders." Wong exhaled with mild irritation, resealed the door with his own charms, and lowered himself onto his stool. Five kilograms. Well, I'll have to close up after lunch. But still: how did he know?
Severus continued along the market, letting his gaze drift idly across the merchandise.
"If you're wondering how I worked all that out, it was simple. At first I only wanted to buy herbs and leave, but once I sensed his strength, I decided to read his thoughts." Severus satisfied Nagini's curiosity without waiting for her to voice it. She had a habit of poking her nose into everything.
"I see. But why do you need to go to Mount Tianzi?"
"Rare herbs. And the local wildlife."
"Wildlife? You want to bring someone else home?" she asked without any particular surprise. Wherever they went, someone always came with them. "Who is it this time?"
"A Qilin and a Phoenix. And if possible, a dragon egg." Hearing that, she cast a distinctly odd look at the back of his head.
"Why do you need a dragon?"
"I want to study it up close and understand the difference between one of these Wyverns and a real dragon. Or more precisely, how far they've degenerated. And for the future, dragon meat is among the finest there is." He stopped in front of a stall selling talismans and looked them over. Simple items carrying weak charms, the kind that inspire trust, boost confidence, sharpen sight, and so on. "Greedy creature. Don't you want to try it yourself?" His gaze settled on two pendants shaped like Yin and Yang, which carried detection charms keyed to each other. Interesting.
"Just two Qian." The vendor noticed his interest and smiled. "I can promise you, your other half will love it."
"If you say so, I'll take it." He placed two gold coins on the counter, picked up the pendant, and moved on.
"Did you get that for the b... I mean, for Bella?" Nagini asked with studied innocence.
"No. The material it's made of caught my eye." He raised it to eye level and ran Scanning Charms across it. "The combination of gold, platinum, titanium, and magical iron produced some very interesting properties. None of the four conflict with each other, which is remarkable in itself. Gold and platinum are similar in some ways, but platinum is considerably purer and can only hold Light magic, while gold can hold both Dark and Light, though with lower hardness. Their fusion doubles the effect on Light enchantments, allowing it to hold charms a full rank above what either could manage alone. Titanium contributes its own strength and compatibility. Did you know, for instance, that titanium has a particular property that could be described as loyalty? If you enchant a ring made from it with the corresponding charm and wear it long enough while channeling magic through it, the ring becomes impossible to remove from its owner's finger. And if the owner dies, in ninety percent of cases the ring simply crumbles rather than being passed on. That's before we even get to what the magical metal adds..."
"I understand. That's enough. You don't need to explain everything," Nagini cut him off with a faintly wounded note, well aware he was doing it deliberately.
"Jealous?" He gave a quiet laugh, tucked the pendant into his coin purse, and continued on through the market.
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