7 CHAPTER 7
4.03 a.m.
Walking into the bar alone, John nods at the familiar faces he meets everyday in the Bar before heading to the counter. Once he was there, a woman bartender with the same mask greets him.
"Mr. Wick, your mentor is not with you?"
She notes as he just nodded.
"I need to see the Weaponsmith in the Mundane side. Business."
He said as he placed a Galleon on the counter. Nodding at the request, she took the coin before professionally leading him personally to a door at the back of the bar, going past countless rooms with paper and the overpowering scent of ink until they reached a room with 3 orbs.
The left one was a portkey keyed to transport a wizard to the Enchanter, a staff member that helps enchant objects with terrifying accuracy.
In the middle was a portkey keyed to the Mapper, a member who helps with transporting one over the globe.
And finally, the right one was to transport someone to the Mundane side of the Bar.
After the woman raised her wand and chanted a few lines of Latin while swirling her wand around in a circle, she bowed at him before leaving the room to him. Touching the stone, he immediately disappeared with a swish.
Landing on his feet, he breathed the fresh air of New York, ignoring the urges to vomit on the ground after using the portkey before heading into a normal looking hospital.
Walking to the counter, he dug into his robes' inner pocket before grabbing a black coin the size of a Galleon with the picture of a crow embedded on it and placing it on the counter.
The receptionist who was looking at her magazine glanced at the coin for just a second before taking it and dropping it into a charity box.
"Room 44, Floor 4."
"Thank you."
Thanking the lady, he took a trip using the lift to the fourth floor before entering a room labeled "44" on the door. Walking to the single vase in the empty ward room, he pulled on the flower as a click rang.
Suddenly, an entrance opened in the hospital walls with two parts of the wall separated, revealing black doors with a crow symbol in the middle divided on the doors.
Opening it, he sees a long hallway that led downstairs. He hears the doors close automatically as he entered the hallway leading to the Mundane version of the Bar, the Crow's Hospitality.
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"Mr. Wick. How may I help?"
A man wearing a black suit asked at an information counter. The area was filled with hitmen at all ages from youngest at 20 to oldest at 60. Leaning close so that no one could hear them talk, he confidently told the man.
"I need to see the Weaponsmith."
"Very well, sir."
Taking the phone on the counter, he presses an array of numbers before placing the phone on his ear.
"Good morning, sir... There's a customer... Yes, it is Mr. Wick... Very well."
Ending the call, he placed it back onto its stand before smiling professionally at John.
"Floor 7, Room 2. Mr. Dante will serve you."
"Thanks."
Walking to the vintage elevator, he opened the gates before pressing the "7" on the multiple buttons ranging from 1 to 20. Feeling the elevator shift, it starts descending downwards underground as elevator music started to play.
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"Mr. Wick! Come, come!"
A man in his middle age, wearing a clean suit with the insignia of a black crow on his breast pocket, comes up to him after he opened the door.
This was Dante, one of the 10 Weaponsmiths of Hospitality. Sitting down at the only seat available after closing the door, he looked around the room.
It was filled with guns and knives from all ages in display cabinets, and on the table that stood between himself and Dante were bullets of 9 mm scattered around the place.
"Is my food here?"
"Yes, yes. Give me a moment please."
He said, pushing all the bullets into a bucket to clear the table with a sheepish chuckle before taking a case that was behind him and placing it onto the table gently. Opening it, he turns it around for John to see the contents of the case.
"Glock 17, controllable, accurate even in rapid-fire, stable on the recoil for your size, perfect for an afternoon walk."
He said as John picks up the handgun. It was a Glock with some attachments and customizations that he requested after his discovery of the weakness of the Protego charm since the start of his apprentice-ship with Edwin.
The Protego spell shields its user from any attack. Any. That was the weakness of it. The Protego spell must be maintained by constantly feeding it Mana to continuously sustaining it, and one blow to the shields use up the Mana charged into the Protego.
See what he was saying? The more powerful the spell it blocks, the more Mana it drains from its user. And ordinary wizards, even adults, from what he got from Edwin, only use Protego and dodge to handle spells.
He had consulted Edwin about this decision, and he agreed, saying that out of all his missions and jobs he went, he'd only see exceptional wizards being creative with their spell usage for protection.
Holding the gun with both hands, he points the gun at a cabinet (Of course not to Dante, and it did not have ammo in its magazine) and tried different shooting angles.
"I've installed tactile octagonal patterned grips on the handle, should your hands get sweaty after an inspirational walk.
Added a flared mag well for easier reloads, more proactive thoughts during the walk.
Custom extended magazines for more bullets and quicker fire rate, 21 round 9 mm capacity, more walk time for you, Mr. Wick.
And I've gone ahead and added custom porting to reduce the amount of... accidental bumps with obstacles."
Placing it back into the case, he takes out two black coins before handing them to Dante for the work. Each coin is equivalent to about $500, so he just spent $1000 on a 9 mm pistol with ammo.
The case held the Glock, a holster for the gun, magazine holsters, and 5 customized extended magazines fully loaded. Reaching behind him, Dante brings out a bag before zipping it open, revealing an additional 5 magazines and a boatload of 9 mm ammunition.
"A total of 400 rounds and 10 magazines."
Slinging the bag after zipping it shut, he looks at Dante before nodding at his excellent service.
"I'll be back for more."
"I shall be waiting then, Mr. Wick. Please, enjoy your walks."
Thanking Dante for his efficient work, he closes and takes the case, walking out of Hospitality before Appariting a few miles away from the hospital with a POP sound.
He had learned it just about 2 months ago from Edwin who thought that it was a good spell to learn in case of an emergency at a whim, splinching himself in the process with minor injuries for far too many times already.
x x x x x
Congratulations.
You have learned Apparition, the Teleporting Spell.
Apparition, the Teleporting Spell: A spell allowing the user to teleport from a location to another in an instant, the more Mana used and clearer the desired location, the further the distance teleported.
x x x x x
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4.21 a.m.
Appariting to a deserted forest with a good clearing, somewhere that Edwin took him whenever he wanted to spar with him, he removes his robes and opens the case, wearing the holster on his hips before taking the gun out from the case.
Pressing the button to remove the magazine, he sits on the ground and zips open the bag containing the ammunition before slowly reloading all 21 bullets into the magazine.
Sliding the fully loaded magazine into the gun, John looks at the gun. He'd never learned how to use it, nevertheless shoot it, so this kinda make him a little scared.
Breathing in and out, he points the gun to one of the trees and rests his left hand under his right handfor more stability in his shaky arm. Focusing in the middle iron sight, he tries his best to get it level with the sights between the middle one and aimed the circle in the middle iron sight onto the tree.
The target he was visualizing was about 10 meters away, it was quite far to be honest with this gun.
Getting into a more natural stance with his left leg in the front while his right leg to the back, he takes another deep breath before pulling the trigger.
BANG!
The gun would have shot out of his hand if he did not hold it tight enough, but the recoil was manageable. With a THUK! sound, he quickly walked to the tree that he aimed at to see if he hit his mark.
It was a perfect shot. He had hit the target that he was visualizing perfectly.
"Huh."
He just muttered before looking at something else harder to aim at. Using a full powered Diffindo to cut down a small tree, he used another one to cut the trunk into smaller pieces the size of a water bottle.
Magic was so convenient.
Using Mana Tendrils to make it float into the air, he starts to make it spin around him in random speeds as he closed his eyes. After a mental countdown from 5, he quickly opened his eyes and raised the gun up into the air.
Reacting instantly, he fires the Glock, hearing a satisfying THUK! once again as he had hit another target. Pulling the trunk close to him, he sees that he shot the trunk perfectly in the center of the wood.
... Does + Talent in Combat Magic count a gun as a spell? Well, he was using it to counter a spell... Or maybe it was a natural talent of handling a gun?
Looking at the surrounding trees and rocks nearby, he decided to test his limit of handling the gun.
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4.54 a.m.
It seemed that he has the original talent in gun handling from his playi — testing of the Glock. Out of all 46 bullets that he shot, he had missed only 4 due to the inexperience of the weapon.
Reloading all 11 magazines to the fullest, he slotted the holes of the magazine pouch with all magazines on his chest and kept his gun in his separate gun hostler on his hip.
Slinging the bag and carrying the case without the gun in it, he Appariting to the Bar after patting all the dirt from his clothes and robes.
POP!
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4.59 a.m.
Meeting up with the group after tossing the case into a rubbish bin, Edwin looked at him before nodding, knowing that he had received the handgun from the bumps in his robes. Aria and Charles were already waiting for him there.
"Morning, kid."
"Hi, John!"
Nodding back politely to the two, he stood next to Edwin as he explains the situation once more with more details this time.
"So, the Greengrass has 4 members.
Jacob, 34 years old, the head of the House. Celine, 34 years olds too, the wife of Jacob, Daphne, 3 years old, oldest daughter of the House. And Astoria, 1 years old, youngest daughter of the House."
Handing them all pictures of the family, John took his time to memorise their faces as well as he could while Edwin continued.
"They're travelling to US for a conference. As you all may know, the Greengrass is one of the primary exports of Herbology equipment and materials in Britain, which makes them very powerful. That means they have many enemies or competitors that would kill to make them disappear.
That's where we come in. We are to protect them as best as we can. For 2 weeks straight, we will be with them 24/7 to avoid any assassination. The odds are quite high since You-Know-Who just died and the Death Eaters are frantic right now, meaning there wil be action."
Looking at Aria, he asks.
"John here has already completed 40 jobs and contracts while you've only completed 5. He has seen and fought with real people before, but are you prepared to soil your hands dirty? To be able to kill a man?"
With a deep exhale, she nodded, with her eyes looking into his. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Edwin nodded in acceptance. Charles proudly places his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it as a sign of pride.
"Good. We're supposed to meet with Jacob Greengrass at 5.30 sharp as their portkey is at 6, but we can head there early to scout out anything unusual around the premise in case of an attack at the house."
And with that, they got up from their seats before going to the Floo network that the Bar had access to.
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