"Of course not, Shade. This is just a bottle of potion, not a book. Besides, the formula of this potion is mastered by the fishmen, and the few materials known to humans are completely extinct. It is impossible for anyone in this era to be able to mix it again."
The priest said.
"So is it possible to exchange this potion for credits from the academy?"
Shade asked again, and the priest shook his head again:
"Absolutely not. Only college missions and relic recovery can earn practical credits. This is a matter of principle. No matter how precious the potion is, it cannot change that."
Shad shook his head in disappointment and put the cat, who was very energetic today, on his shoulder. Mia rubbed Shad's face happily, completely unaware of what was written in the book he brought home.
"Don't be disappointed. This potion can fetch four figures of gold pounds no matter who you sell it to. Drinking this potion at any age can make your body return to its most youthful age from the inside out. It is equivalent to rejuvenation without any side effects. It is said that witches in the Fifth Age add a drop to their afternoon tea every day. Tsk tsk tsk..."
The old priest couldn't help but exclaimed, and then explained:
"According to the records in the book, this bottle of yours will probably be effective for at least a week."
"It turns out there is a time limit. I thought that after drinking it, I would be able to live forever..."
This made Shade even more disappointed, but when he thought about it, it was just a bottle of magic potion. If it could make people permanently young, then the Fifth Era would not be the Era of Witches, but the Era of Magic Potions. However, just this effect alone was enough to be called precious, because it had no side effects.
"Priest, are you interested in this? If you are interested, I can sell you this bottle of potion at a low price."
Shade asked, and the old priest shook his head for the third time:
"I am very happy with my body, and what's the point of experiencing youth for a week? It will only make me feel unnecessary nostalgia. Besides, I can't afford that much money even if you sell it to me at a low price."
"Is it valuable? Can you give it an estimate, priest?"
“It’s difficult.”
Father Augustus placed the potion on Shad's coffee table:
"There have been ancient potions on the market, but they are all ineffective. The ancient potions that occasionally appear and can be used for various reasons are not sold publicly... ... They are worth at least four figures in gold pounds. If I were to sell them, I would set the price at 2,300 pounds."
"Understood."
Shade nodded slowly. He planned to show this to Miss Carina. The Witch Council was very persistent in collecting items related to witches, and they were also quite rich. They might be interested in the potions that the aliens offered to witches in the last era.
The priest came to see Shade today, mainly to help him solve a troublesome matter. There was a 50% chance that it was caused by evil spirits, and a 50% chance that it was caused by some rarely recorded relic.
After talking about the potion, Shad invited the priest to have a cup of tea, and after leaving Mia at home to look after the house, the two went out again.
This incident actually had something to do with Xia De. On the Saturday after God's descent occurred on Thursday two weeks ago, the doctor was being investigated by the church, so he asked Xia De to inform the other members of the group that the study meeting would be suspended.
When Shad informed the priest Augustus and said goodbye, a man asked the priest if he had a specific type of souvenir for the Holy Prayer Festival (Chapter 287). Shad paid no attention to the man, and Augustus did not pay any attention at the time.
But a week later, the priest who was busy preparing for the Holy Prayer Festival unexpectedly heard the news of the man's death.
The man's name was Myerson Freese. He was not a senior believer, and his accidental death by falling down the stairs did not attract much attention from the church. The rest of the man's family moved out of the house after that and put an ad in the newspaper to sell the house.
"The cause of the incident was this: on the surface, there was nothing wrong, but out of curiosity, I went to the man's family to inquire about the news. After all, few people would go to the church specifically to ask for a small statue of a priest."
"Did you give it to him?"
"Of course, this is not something valuable."
The priest and Shad took a carriage to Hangleton Garden Street where the house was located. This was an ordinary residential area in the east of Tobesk. Each household had an independent small garden and a two-story building of the same style. The people living here were generally decent middle-class families. The deceased Mr. Myerson Freeman was a well-known painter when he was alive.
The so-called "modest fame" means that the paintings can be sold at a good price.
After getting off the carriage at the street corner, Father Augustus and Shade chatted as they walked:
"I was curious about why the family moved out of the house after the man died. I thought his family didn't want to live in a sad place, but after finding Mrs. Freese, who was temporarily living in a rented apartment, she told me that Mr. Freese had some mental problems before he died, and sometimes claimed that there were invisible people in the house."
The priest shrugged and walked towards a middle-aged woman with a pet dog, looking curiously at the stranger who appeared on this street. The residents here know each other and even have a residents' committee, so they are very sensitive to strangers.
"Since Mr. Freese had this problem when he was alive, why didn't he seek help from the church?"
Shad asked.
"Detective, do you think that if people occasionally hear hallucinations or have terrible nightmares, they will immediately think that it is a haunting or something like that?"
The priest sighed. He had worked in the church for many years and had a lot of experience:
"Of the people who have truly encountered mysterious events, less than one in ten can immediately realize the danger they are facing. Of this one in ten, more than half will choose to solve the problem themselves, and one in three will seek help from various strange methods. Most of those who seek help from the police will turn to the church, seek help from strange books or street scammers... Only a very small number of people will be very rational and go to the church for help."
In fact, going to church for help is "irrational". Although people believe in God, most people do not believe in the existence of ghosts.
This is the reality. The church cannot make public the affairs of mysterious existence. People in this era are very superstitious and ignorant. Only senior believers understand that the church is the most reliable "police" in the dark world.
"So priest, do you know what happened to Mr. Freeman?"
"There is very little information because, apart from Mr. Freeman himself, his wife and children did not encounter any strange things. Before his death, the gentleman claimed that there were other people in the house and would wake up in his sleep. A week or two before his death, in addition to painting, he suddenly became interested in wood carving. Mrs. Freeman gave me a wood carving she made herself, but the technique is really not good."
The priest said as he took out a small wooden sculpture about the thickness of two fingers from his pocket. It was obvious that the carver tried to carve a male image and even colored the facial features and clothes. The coloring was excellent, but the carving technique could only be described as "poor".