章 649: Chapter 649: A Small Village with Simple Folk Customs (Edited)
Tom: ???!!!
Instinctively, his hand went to his wand, but seeing that the man named John, the former owner of the slaughterhouse, didn't make any moves or reveal any "ambushes," he decided to restrain himself and not draw his wand.
Hermione's reflexes were a bit slower; she first saw the wands and then noticed the familiar emblem. After a moment, she realized it was the badge of the "Scourers" organization, a group of witch hunters.
Hermione was also shocked, not understanding why she would see the emblem of this organization that hated wizards. After all, the Scourers are extremely hostile towards wizards, and practically all wizards captured by them end up on the gallows.
By associating the name of the town, Tom and Hermione's faces changed.
The origin of the town's name, they feared...
Furthermore, by combining it with the two wands hanging on the wall, Tom and Hermione felt a deep malevolence.
For most wizards, if they lose their wands, they simply become regular people. It's very likely that the owners of these two wands have already been executed by the Scourers.
Hermione was very tense, but then she remembered something and suddenly calmed down. She recalled that she was wearing the ankle bracelet that Tom had given her, and the bell didn't ring.
That meant the people around her didn't harbor hostility towards her.
At least she hadn't been exposed, which reassured Hermione to some extent.
Tom discreetly looked at Yuri, who was chatting with John, and didn't notice anything strange about the two of them.
And he was right; it didn't make sense for Yuri to attack him, either emotionally or logically.
"What's this? I've never seen a cross like this before." Tom pointed to the Scourers' emblem and asked.
"This is an heirloom that has been passed down from my great-grandfather's generation." Seeing that Tom and Hermione were interested in the objects handed down by their ancestors, John told them its history. "To be honest, my great-grandfather once joined an organization that hunted witches, and this is the emblem of that organization and their trophies... As it was a cherished item of my ancestor, I have never discarded it."
John felt a bit embarrassed saying this. After all, the witch hunt his great-grandfather participated in was seen by regular people as a persecution of other human beings, and it was not an honorable act. These objects hung in the living room of his house since he was a child, and John had not disposed of them due to tradition.
When Tom and Hermione exchanged glances, they approved of what John said. As for Yuri, when he heard "witch hunt," his face went blank, surprised by John's ancestors' "side job."
He knew he had two wizards around him, so he was a bit worried, but seeing that Tom and Hermione didn't show any violent reactions, he was reassured.
Tom approached the wands hanging on the wall. He wanted to carefully examine the Scourers' artifacts, but before he could take two steps, the pocket watch that was on the desk beneath the emblem suddenly exploded, scattering shards of glass across the floor.
"God! Are you okay?" John rushed over to him and apologized repeatedly. He couldn't understand why the pocket watch left by his great-grandfather suddenly exploded today.
"I'm so sorry..." After cleaning up the floor, John invited Tom and the other two to his kitchen and prepared a hearty meal.
"All the meat comes from our own factory, very fresh!"
The theme of today's meal was roast beef and beer. It was evident that John put a lot of effort into this meal, trying to make everything as good as possible; the beer was of high quality, and the beef was the most exquisite.
After three rounds of drinks, John finally began to speak more freely.
"My friends! Although I've sold you the business, theoretically, I have nothing to do with it anymore, but there's something I need to remind you of: you must find a way to handle the waste and animal blood; recently, the regulations in Texas have changed, and the methods we used to use are no longer acceptable... the cost has increased significantly."
From this point, you can see that John is a straightforward person since he directly mentioned the biggest drawback of his slaughterhouse. Of course, this is also related to the fact that the contract has already been signed, and he would be penalized with a large sum of money if he breached it.
"We have cutting-edge technology for eco-friendly waste treatment," Tom lied without changing his expression or showing signs of nervousness.
"Oh, good luck," John said plainly, not putting much belief in Tom's words.
"So, what do you plan to do with that money?" Yuri asked.
"Go back to my real hometown and settle there," John said as he poured himself another beer, "the people here are a bit strange."
Tom looked up and set aside his steak. "I'd like to hear more."
"Haha, indeed, it was only a few years ago that I moved back to my ancestor's house," John said as he drank half of his beer, "The people here are very warm and sincere... it's just, uh, how should I put it, they have some strange beliefs about the world."
"It's not a cult, is it?" Hermione realized that what John was saying was important, so she acted skillfully and pretended to be scared while seeking information.
"No! Definitely not!" John suddenly woke up, "It's not that serious; I'll specifically show you what I mean when we go to church together tomorrow; you'll understand. They're a bit like those people who believe in the flat Earth theory and that the Earth is the center of the universe, a bit anti-intellectual, but very simple in their daily lives."
Tom and Hermione thought for a moment and decided to go with John the next day to investigate.
So, the next day, Tom and Hermione arrived early at the church as devout believers, awaiting the arrival of the pastor.
The pastor of Firetown was a young man who didn't fit the traditional image of a pastor. From his temperament, he seemed more like an office worker or a museum guide.
Tom and Hermione acted as if they were ready to hear the history of magic and listened to his sermon.
Then they found that this guy wasn't actually much different from other pastors; the only difference was that he genuinely seemed to believe in the existence of wizards in the world. He believed that wizards were evil and were teaming up with some big merchants to form a "deep government" that controlled Congress and the president. Fortunately, there was a group of civilian heroes who formed the organization of the Scourers to fight against the deep government. The residents of Firetown are descendants of these heroes...
The pastor spoke with conviction, leaving Tom and Hermione dumbfounded.
"Did the United States Magical Congress really do those things?"
"I don't know..."
For a moment, they both thought that wizards in the magical world of the United States had actually done these things.
After the pastor's sermon, Tom noticed two strong men entering the church.
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