Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 864 The Red-Haired Witch Officially Joins the Team (Second Update)

He paid extremely high consulting fees, enough for Sherlock Holmes to travel the world three times over and still have plenty left over.

The detective wasn't concerned with the consultant's fee; all he wanted were the puzzles. The sorcerer understood his thoughts perfectly, thus leaving enough puzzles to lead him to this place. The path to the final mystery was fraught with monsters—literally monsters—and Salomon hadn't completely hunted down all the vampires living in London's sewers; those creatures were too well hidden. These monsters weren't indifferent to the population decline, so Sherlock Holmes's investigation would be as convoluted and thrilling as a horror novel, and, in Salomon's prediction, there would be no happy ending.

Stephen Strange and Sherlock Holmes each have their flaws, and Salomon wants to use this case to teach him that an uncontrollable curiosity can ultimately lead to disaster. Salomon's clues will lead them to the sewers, and he only hopes they both have enough bullets.

The detective, now with Scotland Yard's permission, was rummaging through the rubbish bins. His woolen overcoat reeked of garbage, and John Watson lacked the frenzied energy to mask his olfactory urges. He could only awkwardly and listlessly rummage through the trash with his worn-out cane. The inhabitants here were either drug addicts or the poor, living in abject poverty. Coupled with the damp and cold London weather, even the patrol officers, draped in their overcoats and tasked with securing the scene, were reluctant to linger. They had long since moved off to drink hot tea, their fluorescent green coats shimmering with fluorescent stripes. Even the nearby residents paid little attention—thanks to Inspector Lestrade's secrecy and a small amount of help from Mycroft Holmes, the case remained largely unknown. The patrol officers and locals alike assumed a drug addict had died from an overdose.

This isn't a big deal, at least not in this neighborhood.

The sorcerer stood on the rooftop, taking one last look at the detective and his companions investigating the case, before turning and leaving. If Sherlock Holmes succeeded, the teleportation trap left by Salomon would activate, transporting the detective to the London Sanctuary, where the sorcerer would guide him to the Himalayan Temple, where he would learn the truth. If the detective failed, Salomon would have to return to collect the vampire remains, perhaps even the detective's own remains, erasing all traces of the London sewer vampire clan, and then declare the candidate ineligible. However, he didn't have much time to waste on the candidate, so he recruited an assistant.

When Salomon entered the London Temple, his apprentices had been waiting there for a long time.

The red-haired witch wore a knee-length, deep black leather trench coat, its collar adorned with exquisite Baroque-style brass embellishments. Gold thread inscribed her rank and title on the shoulder pads. Beneath the trench coat was a similarly knee-length, blood-red light jacket, both garments tightly bound to her body by a brass magnetic belt. A pistol and a longsword hung securely at her waist. She wore long black leather gloves that reached her arms, and on the middle finger of her right hand was a silver ring indicating her service in a special department of the Immortal City. This was no ordinary ring, but a magical artifact capable of instantly casting protective spells. It was one of Salomon's best prototypes, chosen by her as one of the many gifts for Wanda to wear.

Wanda Maximov looked incredibly capable, a far cry from the country girl she appeared to be when she first left Sokovia. She had volunteered for training under agents Victoria Hand and Natasha Romanov. Salomon didn't know the details of her training, but after the Battle of Finnbowent, due to manpower shortages, Wanda Maximov officially joined the force and donned this uniform. From her appearance, her training seemed highly effective, but the true extent of it remained to be seen until actual combat. In contrast, her blood relative, Pietro Maximov, had become a young man in tight-fitting sportswear and Adidas under the Avengers' tutelage, his nonchalant attitude practically radiating from his eyebrows, which infuriated Wanda.

She simply couldn't tolerate Pietro's carefree attitude. In her eyes, the petit-bourgeois lifestyle he was living was entirely a handout from others. Pietro should follow the path Salomon had laid out for him, becoming a scholar or a self-reliant employee, instead of hanging out with the Avengers. Especially Tony Stark; Wanda still harbored some resentment towards him. After all, as a member of the military-industrial complex, even if Tony Stark didn't intentionally sell weapons to Sokovia, selling weapons was still an indelible sin. Because of this recurring topic, Pietro and Wanda had another big argument, and he even missed the Christmas party.

However, this did not affect Wanda's mood, because the Immortal City gave her a goal worth striving for.

She stood at the sanctuary entrance with a faint smile to greet Salomon. Before the sorcerer could even say what task he had given her, she quickly stepped forward and embraced him. "Well, I must say the Immortal City's costume design is actually quite terrible, too focused on aesthetics and neglecting comfort," Salomon patted the witch on the back, then mercilessly criticized the little embellishments on the clothes for the discomfort they caused to the person being hugged. The sorcerer deacons on duty in the London sanctuary all showed disdainful expressions, then dispersed, no longer watching the spectacle. "This time we will fight side by side again, Wanda."

"I'm ready," Wanda shouted back.

"Don't be so tense, they're just vampires," Salomon said. "I need you to come with me to determine the number of vampires in the London sewers, but due to time constraints, I can't complete this task to the end. You'll need to finish the last part; I have other things to attend to."

He brought out a staff, the same staff that Wanda had used in New York City before the Battle of Finnbowent.

Judging from the kill count, Wanda did a good job, and Salomon believed this mission shouldn't be too much of a problem for her. Her current position mainly involves magical matters, and much of her future work will require her to cooperate with Kamar-Taj in hunting dark magic creatures, so this mission is actually within her scope of duties. Moreover, Salomon is accompanying her this time. As long as Wanda diligently studies the book "Anatomy and Ecological Habits of Dark Magic Creatures" compiled by the biology lab, as well as the numerous spy textbooks edited by Victoria Hand, this mission will be a routine task she won't bother mentioning later—not because lower-level angels are more powerful than vampires, but because the most powerful vampires in London were killed by Kamar-Taj over a hundred years ago, and the remaining low-level vampires can be killed with bullets. However, those creatures are too good at hiding. The sorcerers can at most summon some spirits to hunt them down; it's completely impossible to divert manpower, put aside the sanctuary's official duties, and clean up all the monsters in London's sewer system.

"Magic or technology, the means are unlimited." Salomon raised an eyebrow. "How's your marksmanship?"

Wanda Maximov laughed and pulled out a finely crafted pistol from the Immortal City's armory. "You can try it."

Writing this was exhausting because I had to keep pushing away the cat that kept rubbing against me.

(End of this chapter)