Salomon would not simply throw Sherlock Holmes into a portal without a word. Not only would that be rude, it would also make him seem insecure. This was quite different from when he had brought the Malik family under his wing. The Malik father and daughter, because of their faith in the Hydra cult, found it easy to accept overwhelming supernatural power. But Holmes was precisely the sort of person Salomon admired most—someone who thought through reason and science. The Arcanist had no desire for him to develop an aversion to magic because of some crude display.
In Salomon's eyes, Sherlock Holmes was even better suited to the position of Sorcerer Supreme than Steve Strange. Putting the two of them in competition would certainly give the Vishanti a headache, something both The Venerable One and Salomon would be delighted to see.
He caught sight of the book spines on the sitting room fireplace and immediately knew that Sherlock Holmes had already researched medieval magical legends. He had even consulted a history professor at Cambridge University who specialized in the history of medieval magic. Salomon knew the details because he had once spoken with that professor about the history of Latin in medieval alchemy. Sherlock Holmes believed that his brief research had already "disenchanted" magic, stripping away superstition and fear so that he could examine it through a rational lens. Yet Salomon knew all too well that the many magical texts passed down through the ages were either full of lies or utter nonsense. Many so-called mages who claimed to have completed some great research were really nothing more than charlatans. While it was not impossible that someone had truly learned magic through rituals and training—refining life and Aether, as explained several chapters ago—those who could obtain such knowledge were vanishingly