Following behind, Baron hugged the wall by the patterned windows. He realized the light filtering in wasn’t moonlight, but came from a silvery-white jade stone set into the window frame.

Jack said this was called "Moonstone," a type of stone the Old Blood Clans often hung in places like collection rooms or wine cellars.

Placed in the sun during the day, it would absorb and store sunlight. At night, hung indoors, it would emit a gentle but not glaring light. A day’s worth of stored sunlight could last for a week.

The reason it’s called "Moonstone" and not "Sunstone" is that the stone is shaped like a crescent moon.

"Brother L, even though you’re a Bronze Knight, some things are best left to the professionals," Jack said. "They’ve laid sensor wires on the floor. We need to be careful, follow them to find the hidden main switch, and destroy it... OH! NO!"

He screeched to a halt.

But it was too late. His momentum carried him forward, and he instinctively pitched forward. Even flailing his arms and legs, he couldn’t keep his balance. He was about to fall right onto the extremely well-hidden sensor wire he had just noticed.

’How am I going to escape?’

As Jack watched the metal wire get closer and closer, this was the only thought in his mind.

’Well, screw it. I should think about what to have for breakfast tomorrow.’

He closed his eyes, accepting his failure with an expression of calm resignation.

Jack was the kind of person who, wherever he fell, would just lie there for a while.

Then, a sudden force yanked him from behind. Someone had grabbed the back of his collar.

Opening his eyes, he found himself dangling just above the sensor wire.

Baron pulled him up. Just as Jack was patting his chest and letting out a sigh of relief, saying to him, "Thank God you’re here, Constantine," the Golden Eye and Cross Scar simultaneously appeared on Baron’s face.

"Brother Constantine, what are you doing?"

Jack saw the light in the man’s pupils dance in the high-ceilinged collection room. The fire in his eyes was more dazzling than the Moonstones; looking at them for even a moment brought to mind a volcano erupting with lava.

Baron said nothing. Sparks danced on his fingertips as he moved to touch the sensor wire directly!

Jack grabbed his own face and, barely suppressing a scream, hissed, "Are you crazy?!"

But the words never left his mouth, because the moment Baron touched the wire, fiery light ignited along the sensor lines, erupting from every corner of the collection room.

Sparks cascaded from the wires like a crimson, multi-layered veil of gauze. A brief CRACKLE sounded from somewhere, as if something had been burned out.

"Let’s go."

Baron retracted his hand and strolled calmly into the main hall.

Jack stood stunned for a moment before hurrying after him. He quickly recovered from his shock and, transforming into an eager senior guiding a junior, began to recommend Taboo Items for Baron to "contain."

"A C Level Taboo Object, the [Mirror of Full Communication]. For a short time, depending on the amount of Spiritual Power you input, it can transmit the current image to all nearby communication devices with a ’mirror-like’ quality... But you can’t specify a location, it just covers the surrounding area, up to a ten-mile radius."

’It’s kind of like cross-screen casting from my past life, but the Otherworld version,’ Baron thought to himself.

"Whoa! A C Level Taboo Object, [Forged Clay]. It can create a perfect one-to-one counterfeit of any object for a certain period. The duration depends on the amount of Spiritual Power infused, with a maximum of three days."

"Holy shit! An A Level Taboo Object, the [Achilles Sunglasses]! It grants the holder a state of ’near-invincibility,’ making them immune to all physical and Law-based attacks below the Golden Level for 9 seconds. You just have to protect your heel, the weak spot."

"The downside is, you can only use it once every 9 months, and any part of your body that gets hit will ache for nine days... But all the numbers are related to 9. I wonder if it’s because the number 9 is a symbol of perfection in Greek Theology."

Baron glanced at the sunglasses. Because they were behind a layer of glass, his Glimpse of the Mysterious Crystal couldn’t reveal their specific details. However, judging by the strange and profoundly mysterious aura he could feel from them, what Jack said was probably true.

"So? L, how about we take this Taboo Object back to turn in? As long as you don’t use the sunglasses, no one will ever know..."

Jack persuasively cut through the glass with a tool in his hand and carefully took out the sunglasses from inside.

But Baron shook his head and refused. "There are only a few A Level Taboo Objects in this entire collection room. If we go too far, the Beowulf Family, as an Old Blood Clan, will surely be willing to pay a heavy price to get back at you."

He knew Jack was looking for a scapegoat. Ever since Baron had disabled the collection room’s security, Jack had only "contained" the Taboo Item needed for his promotion to a C Level agent and hadn’t touched any of the high-level Taboo Items.

Faced with Baron’s suspicion, he had explained, "In our line of work, you have to know when to be content..."

Although, to Baron, that explanation sounded remarkably similar to a thief’s philosophy.

Baron continued to weave through the various Taboo Items, with Jack trailing closely behind him like a salesman:

"Hiss... The Horn of Fimbulwinter, an A Level Taboo Object! Blowing the horn can summon a localized, hour-long, extreme winter... The Beowulf Family is just ridiculously rich. This is the second A Level Taboo Object I’ve seen!" Jack exclaimed in amazement.

You have to understand, the definition of an A Level Taboo Object is something that "can affect an entire city." Some of the more ancient Old Blood Clans might only have one, kept as a family heirloom. For most Old Blood Clans, the best Taboo Object they possessed was probably on par with what Master Bagins had.

This alone spoke volumes.

And the Beowulf Clan already had two, not even counting the areas they hadn’t explored yet.

"But the price is a bit heavy. Emotional detachment... Each time you use it, your emotions become a little colder and more indifferent, until you lose them completely."

’Then my heart would be as cold as my blade,’ Baron mused internally, his gaze then stopping on a display pillar.

Jack was still chattering away behind him: "Anyway, Brother Constantine, your mission is to complete the mission. You’ve already got so many black marks on your record, so what’s one more? In for a penny, in for a pound. Turning in an A Level Taboo Object would live up to your reputation as someone interviewing for S Level..."

Inside the pillar was an ancient war helm. It looked like a Renaissance-style full helmet. It opened and closed on a single front-to-back axis, leaving no gaps except for the breathing holes.

It was pure black. Strange, blood-red runes were carved on the Face Armor. Upon closer inspection, they were revealed to be crosses—no, on even closer inspection, it was the runes themselves that formed the shape of a Cross on the Face Armor.

Seeing Baron stop here, Jack also paused to take a look. But then he frowned. "This Taboo Object... I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before..."

He opened the glass case using the same method as before, took out the helmet, and examined it under the light of the Little Flame Demon.

The helmet’s metal surface was covered in mottled, dark red rust stains, resembling dried blood and tear tracks. Jack said the markings were in Aramaic and Latin, meaning "innocent" and "guilty" respectively.

Baron said, "You even know this stuff?"

Jack shrugged. "Classics major, Cambridge Trinity College, class of ’79."

’So he’s a scholar... My apologies, my apologies.’

"What’s this?" Baron asked.

He was pointing at the Cross on the helmet’s Face Armor. Jack handed the helmet to him, indicating that he should use his Glimpse of the Mysterious Crystal to see for himself.

Baron took the helmet, and lines of text naturally appeared in his vision:

[Pilate’s Helmet of Cowardice: This helmet originated from a fragment of the military helm worn by Roman Governor Pilate during the judgement of Jesus... The fragment later fused abnormally with the blood shed by Jesus during his passion and a shard from the Thorn Crown. After King Solomon forged it into a helmet, it was imbued with mystery and became a Taboo Object...]

That was all.

’A Holy Relic?’

Baron raised an eyebrow and looked at Jack. "Why are there no rules or costs?"

He meant that his Glimpse of the Mysterious Crystal didn’t show any more information about the Taboo Object.

Jack spread his hands. "Usually, a situation like this means one of three things. One, the Taboo Object’s level is too high. Two, the Taboo Object is incomplete. Or three, it hasn’t been imbued with enough of a Mysterious Law’s aura, making it closer to one of the alchemy items forged by an Alchemist than a proper Taboo Object... It might not even have a Tier..."

"The description below says an ancestor of the Beowulf Clan once wore this helmet to hunt a Dragon. It’s probably just a collector’s item... If you ask me, instead of this, you’d be better off taking this D Level [Collar That Can Make People Act Like Your Dog]. At least you could have some fun with it."

Baron held the helmet. It was metal on the outside but leather on the inside. He had a strange, inexplicable feeling about it.

"So what does the Cross on the Face Armor mean?"

Jack said, "It’s ancient Hebrew. Read from left to right, it translates to [Your sins are forgiven.]."

Baron picked up the collar as well and said, "I’ll take these two, then."

"Huh?"