"I mean no harm." The elderly member of the Holy Church who had entered the carriage looked at the wary Magicians around him and immediately spoke up. He had not come to the Magic Eye Collection Train to hunt Magicians.
"Everyone, calm down. The auction hasn't begun yet." Lord El-Melloi II rose as he spoke. Though the Magicians remained highly vigilant after hearing him, they no longer seemed inclined to make a move.
"Black Keys. I'd forgotten about those."
Shen Fei looked at the red sword-hilt-like objects hanging at the old man's waist. They were Black Keys, the standardized Mystic Codes of the Church and the primary weapons of its Executors.
Though they were standardized weapons, they were far from weak. They were conceptual weapons. Their physical attacks were somewhat lacking, but they were exceptionally effective against Dead Apostles. They could even injure the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors.
Although they looked like swords, they were primarily used as thrown weapons in actual combat. Shen Fei had always been quite curious about this Mystic Code. After all, it was a weapon designed specifically against Dead Apostles—that was, Vampires. Having spent all his time studying magecraft at the Clock Tower, he had forgotten about them.
The Church was simply too exclusionary, and joining it was extremely difficult. If it had schools like the Clock Tower, he might have gone in to study a little. Ordinary Magicians could generally study at the Clock Tower as well, provided they could afford the exorbitant tuition.
The Clock Tower had not originally been an institution resembling a school. It had merely been an organization established jointly by magecraft families—the twelve Lord families of the modern Clock Tower. But as the era progressed and Mystery faded, the Clock Tower had been forced to change its approach.
Zouken