Chapter 49: Holy Temple Approval
More than ten meters away, at No. 2 Narcissus Street, in the study on the second floor of the house rented by the Moretti family.
Klein Moretti carefully used a silver knife to create a spiritual wall, sealing the room to prevent his subsequent actions from affecting his brother Benson and sister Melissa next door.
During the day, he felt two invisible forces enveloping him, just like when he used the "Lucky Change Ritual" to enter the gray fog space before, accompanied by bursts of illusory whispers and the appearance and disappearance of four black spots on the back of his hand.
He had determined that a Tarot Club member had successfully performed a ritual magic, using a spell he had created to contact The Fool. However, while at the Blackthorn Security Company, Klein didn't dare perform a change-of-luck ritual in front of the many night watchmen. Instead, he waited until he returned home at night, after his family had gone to bed, before preparing to enter the gray fog to investigate.
Reciting the spell he had memorized long ago, the Fool walked four steps counterclockwise and arrived at His temple.
The gray fog space has not changed compared to last time, but among the many crimson stars, there are two that are flashing a special light.
Is it the Hanged Man, or the other two ladies?
Klein pondered and spread his spirituality, touching one of the twinkling stars.
The images and sounds contained in it immediately entered his brain. Along with the unreal and distant voice of prayer, a blurry picture appeared, as if through a layer of fog.
It was a young woman in a black robe, sitting in a simple basement, facing an altar with four lit candles and four offerings, with her hands clasped together, silently reciting something.
From the surroundings and the wisp of golden hair peeking out from the hood of his black robe, Klein determined that this was a member of the Tarot Club, Miss "Queen."
It succeeded. This self-created ritual magic was indeed directed at himself, at the "Fool"!
Klein felt a surge of joy in his heart. The success of the ritual magic confirmed his authority within the gray fog space, which gave him more confidence in his subsequent actions.
He calmed his excitement and tried to answer the prayer of the "Queen" in the picture.
"I see."
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"I see."
The next morning, when Angel arrived at the Blackthorn Security Company in a daze and sat in the reception room enjoying the coffee brewed by Rosanne, the low, mysterious voice of The Fool from last night still echoed in his mind.
In the steam age without television or the Internet, Angel had nothing to do at night and had to go to bed early. But just as she entered the bedroom, a clear image suddenly appeared in her mind uncontrollably: the body of the Fool hidden in the gray fog, and His response to the ritual.
Compared to directly entering the temple in the gray fog from the real world, this kind of feedback that affected her own life made her feel more daunted.
There is no doubt that this is an extremely powerful being. Even if he is not a god, he is not far behind.
It seems that I have become the first believer of this powerful being?
Not sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, Angel quickly let it go. After all, resistance was useless, so he could only...
"Ah, Angel, there you are."
The captain of the Night Watch, Dunn Smith, walked out from behind the partition inside the reception room. Seeing her stirring the coffee in her hand and looking at the empty sofa in front of her with a distracted look, he greeted her.
"Captain, good morning." Angel regained his composure, put down his coffee cup, and returned the greeting.
"The approval from the Holy Church has arrived." Dunn briefly stated his purpose. He glanced at Luo Shan, who was pretending to read the newspaper carefully behind the reception desk but occasionally glanced over at him, and said, "Let's talk in my office."
"Roxanne, if Klein comes, have him come to my office as well."
Pretending to be focused, Roxanne quickly nodded in agreement, then watched Dunn and Angel disappear behind the partition one after another.
She knew that the Nighthawks had many higher-level secrets that could not be known to a civilian like her, but she couldn't help but prick up her ears, trying to listen to the conversation coming from deep in the room. Unfortunately, the sound of the door closing made her lower her head in disappointment.
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"Please sit down." After Dunn entered his office, he sat down directly on the high-back chair. After Angel closed the door, he did not hesitate to sit down opposite him and waited for him to continue the previous topic.
"The Holy Temple sent me a telegram yesterday morning in reply, but was delayed by the matter of the 'instigator' Tris, so they didn't tell you right away." Dunn explained as he took out a telegram from the drawer, cleared his throat, and read out the contents.
"Replying to the Nightwatchers' Tingen City Branch, your application to promote new member Angel Granger to a full member has been approved by our identity verification and qualifications review. We now reply and allow Angel Granger to become a full member of the Nightwatchers' Tingen City Branch."
After putting down the telegram, Dunn Smith said solemnly, "Become a full member, and your weekly salary of three pounds will immediately double to six pounds, and it will gradually increase with your years of service. You will also be granted the status of trainee inspector of Ahowa County."
"I think you're already aware of the regulations that need to be followed. Last time, I told you that you could wait until the Holy Church responds before making a decision. So, what is your decision now?"
Angel had already made up her mind and would not back down now. She nodded with a serious expression, took a deep breath, and replied, "I am willing to become an official Nighthawk."
"Congratulations, Miss Angel Granger, you are now an official member of our team."
Dunn Smith showed his familiar smile again, stretched out his right hand, and shook hands with Angel's right hand.
"Official members are required to rotate at Chanis Gate. You can take one day off each week. You can choose, but it's best to stick to it. This week's shifts have been set, so you don't need to be on duty for now. However, we have other missions scheduled for today, so you might need to be on duty here to deal with any emergencies."
After a brief "regularization ceremony", Dunn Smith immediately resumed his identity as the captain of the Night Watch and began to give orders.
"Also, since you've become an official member, I'll be frank with you about some things. Old Neil once said that the caliber of the pistol you use is different from everyone else's, which increases logistical difficulties. I suggest you standardize the caliber as soon as possible. You'll go get a new pistol from him later, but you can keep this one for now and hand it in once you're familiar with your new weapon."
Angel wasn't surprised to hear Dunn's words. She'd heard Old Neil mention this earlier when she'd collected the ammunition, but she'd ignored it due to her own usage habits. Now that she was a full member, it seemed like it was time to make some changes and integrate into the group.
"If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave." Seeing the captain nod in agreement, she prepared to leave the office, but just after taking two steps, as expected, she heard a voice shouting "Wait a minute" from behind.
As expected... Captain, are you showing some signs of premature aging...
Angel turned around and gave him a questioning look.
"Did I forget to tell you that formal members need to complete a task individually to gain recognition from other companions?"
Seeing the other party shake his head to indicate ignorance, Dunn smiled and continued, "Normally, I would assign missions involving extraordinary factors, but considering your outstanding combat performance in dealing with Madam Sharon's attack, I think you can use a normal mission instead."
"Don't worry, this isn't a formal rule and won't affect your evaluation among the Nighthawks. It's just... well, some internal requirements within our Tingen team."
"Okay, Captain, is there anything else?" Angel secretly took note of this "team joining mission" and decided to go to other team members to inquire about the situation when he had time.
"No more, you can leave."
With the experience of being called repeatedly last time, she deliberately slowed down her pace and even looked back into the office when closing the door. Dunn was writing something in his notebook. Feeling his gaze, he looked up at the door curiously.
"It's really okay." He said helplessly.
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Angel walked to the armory with ease. This time, Old Neil did not continue to study the diaries of Emperor Roselle. Instead, he used a set of old cups to brew his hand-ground coffee.
Hearing that the other party was here to exchange for a smaller-caliber revolver, Old Neil explained with a wry smile, "I only mentioned this to Dunn when he went to the police station to pick up the next quarter's supply of bullets. I wasn't complaining to him about the logistical difficulties. You can continue to use the original caliber weapon."
"It's okay. In fact, I've wanted to change it for a long time."
Angel said insincerely, after all, the replacement of guns was a foregone conclusion. Although he felt it was a pity, there was no need to let Old Neil think that it was his slip of the tongue that caused this consequence.
Moreover, from the perspective of logistics management and replenishing each other's ammunition in battle, the advantage of using weapons of the same caliber is obvious. Angel had refused to change before because he was used to using a 0.45-inch pistol. In fact, he was a little hesitant in his heart. Now, it would be nice to take the opportunity of becoming a formal member to change to the same weapons as other Nighthawks.
Seeing that Angel didn't mind, Old Neil breathed a sigh of relief, took out the key to the armory, and quickly pulled out a brand new revolver. Perhaps as a compensation, it came with two boxes of ordinary bullets of the same caliber, as well as ten "demon hunting bullets" in a metal box, a corresponding underarm holster and a speed loader.
This exquisite silver bullet has intricate patterns on its surface. It is said to have a similar effect to Angel's homemade special bullet, but lacks the enhanced effect of repeated attacks, and instead has additional damage against spirits.
"You don't have to hand in your old gun. Just use it as a secondary weapon during the transition period. Last time you exchanged your old gun for a new one, so it wasn't actually considered as receiving your own weapon. I'll give it to you this time." Old Neil handed the revolver and all the accessories to Angel, and watched her sign her name in the record book.
"No... Fine, thanks. I'll hand over the old one once I get used to this one."
A revolver was only worth a few pounds, and Angel didn't want to leave a bad impression of being cheap in the minds of the old team members, so he wanted to refuse. But then he thought that what Old Neil said made some sense. It would take some time for him to get used to the new gun, so it would be better to keep the old weapon for now.
She held the new revolver to test its feel, then opened the cylinder and loaded the 0.38 caliber bullets one by one. This revolver could hold six rounds, one more than her previous large-caliber revolver, which might take some time to get used to, so as to avoid the habit of reloading after firing five rounds.
The armpit holster didn't fit well either, so Angel turned around and adjusted it for a long time before getting it in place. She stuffed the new gun into the holster, and put the remaining bullets into the speed loader and pocket. Then she said goodbye to Old Neil and left the armory.
Illuminated by the lights on both sides of the underground passage, Angel returned to the intersection connecting the church, Chanis Gate and Blackthorn Security Company.
"Pah-pah-pah" The sound of uniform footsteps came from the direction of Chanis Gate. She turned her head and saw an extremely funny scene in front of her.
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