Werewolf Hunting Rules.

Chapter 534 Repeated Bad News
Clayton Bello still lent the money to Mr. Yasser.

Eight hundred pounds was no small sum, but he thought it was more important to use that money to preserve Donna's friendship, especially since Mr. Yasser had indeed brought him news that interested him.

The Oracle Cave must be resolved before the horse racing begins.

March has many important days, including a duel between George Silver's father and him.

For Clayton, today and tomorrow are also the most important days, because he wants to enjoy the family atmosphere at home.

After a few days of rest, his niece Donna finally had enough rest. She stopped sleeping during the day and resumed her daily martial arts training, which required Clayton's guidance.

In the servants' eyes, it was just that the two of them couldn't contain their unruly personalities and were gesturing wildly in the garden with wooden swords.

The difference between today's training and the previous ones is that this time they brought an extra copy of "Master Swordsmanship of Flying Dragon Castle". During the fight, they would stop from time to time to compare the postures and illustrations in the book, testing how to determine the standard posture of the sword moves and under what conditions they were effective.

Not only Donna, but Clayton himself also benefited greatly from the training.

Joseph was not allowed to watch their practice; he had to deal with the tutor Clayton had hired for him.

Even later, Clayton didn't expect Joseph to master any fighting skills. He brought the boy back not to have him do anything for him, and he didn't expect any reward. On the contrary, a comfortable and safe environment for Joseph to grow up in was his reward.

In the afternoon, he returned to his study and practiced his deviant ways and worked, accompanied by Clara, who was constantly chewing raw meat.

The client's investigation results arrived a few days ago, and he compared them with another intelligence report from Julius to study how the pharmaceutical industry in Sasha City operates.

Interestingly, despite the abundance of medicinal herbs growing in the forests surrounding Sasha City, Elder Gro Gloria and her followers do not engage in the pharmaceutical field. They merely act as suppliers of medicinal herbs, remaining uninvolved in the processing and pharmacy operations. These druids have a low desire for money and therefore do not want to complicate matters; controlling the medicinal herbs is sufficient for them to control everything that follows.

Because of the Druids' high environmental requirements, there are no pharmaceutical factories in Sasha City. Herbs produced in the forests on the outskirts of the city are collected and sent to other cities for processing. Of course, all environmental pollution is borne by these cities, and Sasha City only accepts the finished products.

The opium tincture, which was regarded as a panacea by the general public, did not have its main ingredient—the poppy flower—widely cultivated in the land of Gloria.

For druids, clustered plants give birth to what are called spirits, or gods.

Ordinary people, and even many extraordinary individuals, find it difficult to perceive these beings, but they can; they can both exert influence upon Him and are easily influenced by Him.

Poppies are frenzied and fiery plants; if cultivated on a large scale, the spirits they generate are quite difficult for druids to control, easily causing mental instability. For the same reason, druids strictly control the quantity of other poisonous or hallucinogenic plants they cultivate, ensuring they do not exceed their needs by too much.

In Sasha, where the city is under the covert control of the Druids, the only way for residents to obtain anesthetics is to import them from other cities.

Fortunately, tincture of opium is always very affordable.

Aside from anesthetics, procuring other medications proved more difficult, such as quinine, aspirin, and calomel. Neither Clayton nor Julius were industry experts, and the pharmacy's business model didn't support bulk purchases of the same drugs, making it challenging for him to secure a suitable price when ordering.

This good deed is more difficult to accomplish than imagined, but Clayton's enthusiasm is not so easily dampened.

He planned to wait for Charlotte to introduce her to her fellow medical student.

Although these fresh graduates may be penniless, they actually possess a valuable asset: their teachers and classmates, which constitute an important network of connections.

Of course, if that doesn't work, Clayton will have to try partnering with other pharmacies to see if joint purchasing can lower procurement costs.

This was a last resort, as Clayton knew that many pharmacies did not regularly dispose of expired medications and therefore did not need to regularly purchase medications, making the hope of facilitating joint procurement extremely slim.

As for contacting Orlanster Pharmaceuticals, let's just say that Clayton didn't want to trouble his friend for such a small business deal.

"What does this word mean?" After reading the document, Clayton suddenly pointed to a word on the paper and asked Clara.

The little devil, who was resting on the table, was caught off guard by the surprise inspection. Her demonic power stirred instinctively, and her originally blue eyes turned pure black, making her childlike face look eerie and terrifying. However, her expression was clearly one of panic, and her two little hands were nervously clenched together.

"Clara, I... I haven't learned it yet."

She gradually started using the first person more often, but that wasn't enough.

“I’m pretty sure I taught you, humph.” Clayton stared at her for a while with a stern face, then decided to be a little more lenient with Baal’s retinue. He taught her again, and then found her a rival.

"Clara, you should know that Joseph is much younger than you and has had less time to learn, but he can already read a book from beginning to end."

Clara's eyes widened, and she immediately stood up with both hands while biting the dictionary, walking all the way to the edge of the table and "jumping down" so she could find a quiet corner to study.

"That's great," Clayton thought. "At this rate, I'll be able to hand over some of the letter-reading work to Clara this fall."

In another year, she might be able to reply to his letters.

He couldn't help but think how wonderful it would be if Clara could have a complete body so she could enjoy a normal life and work. But to give her shoulders and hands, they held a Black Mass and sacrificed an entire church and most of Chud Osmar's power. To give Clara a full body, at least fifteen more churches with township-level influence would need to be sacrificed.

The church probably wouldn't allow that. Not even if you offered money.

At 3:30 p.m., he finished reading and replying to the letters, and then, as usual, continued to lead Donna in physical training. However, an uninvited guest disrupted his plans.

Joe Manny is here.

“Joe, you should have written earlier,” Clayton said as he met him in the living room.

"Please forgive me, but I really don't know when you're home. Maybe I wrote a letter, but no one read it for over a month. It's more convenient to visit you when I want to catch up."

"I'm not blaming you, I just need to prepare a gift in advance. You're coming to visit me, I can't let you leave empty-handed."

Joe shrank back in surprise.

“You’re too kind, Lieutenant, but I’ve never heard of such hospitality before.”

“That’s Briga’s rule.”

“Bliga is a really nice place,” Joe Manny exclaimed sincerely.

He and Clayton raised their teacups together to drink, their eyes darting around. Although his quality of life had improved considerably compared to last year, he still couldn't afford to live in a house like this.

The decorative murals alone were worth several years' salary for him.

Turning his head again, he suddenly noticed a beautiful young girl standing in the corner, quietly watching them.

“Donna.” Clayton waved to her.

Donna walked over, proceeding slowly with the demeanor of a lady, her seemingly gentle eyes carrying a questioning tone.

She waited in the garden but Clayton didn't appear, so she went back into the house to check on things. She then learned that a guest had come to visit unexpectedly, and she didn't know whether the physical training should continue.

“This is my niece, Donna, whom I’ve mentioned to you before,” Clayton said smugly to Joe Manny.

Joe looked at the girl in surprise: "Donna really exists?"

"Would I lie to you about something like this?"

The church volunteers shook their heads repeatedly in denial: "No, I believe there is such a person, but I only know that her name is Donna Bello! Just Donna! I thought you made up this name so I wouldn't know her real name. Who would directly name someone 'Beautiful'?!"

Donna blushed.

"Although she is worthy of the name," the guest added.

"She got her name because her mother had a keen eye," Clayton said with a grin, making Donna blush even more.

Instinct told Joe Manny to move his chair a little further away and quickly end the conversation.

"I need to talk to you about something, serious business, Lieutenant."

Clayton gestured with his chin toward Donna: "I'll train you later, you go back to your room and read for a while."

Donna nodded slightly and silently stepped back and left.

With no young girls around, Joe Manny relaxed considerably. He lit a cigarette and began to puff away.

“Recently, a religion called the Earth Mother Cult has been causing trouble in the city.”

“I know, they’ve already sent me their recruitment flyers.” Clayton lit a cigarette, his new werewolf nose readjusting to the smoke and no longer feeling any discomfort.

"This is an old religion, but it has never been very large. The church hardly pays any attention to it. However, recently a large number of homeless people have disappeared, and before they disappeared, people saw them communicating with people from the Earth Mother Cult. If there are people from the Earth Mother Cult active in the St. Benede Diocese, then you'd better be careful."

Clayton frowned; the mass disappearances reminded him of sacrificial rituals.

"Joe, you work in the Diocese of Saint Solot, right? Has the bishop there started investigating this matter?"

“No, I only reported this matter not long ago. I don’t know when the bishop will have time to see my report. Father Pete and I think more people need to know about this, so we are about to publicize it. Only when everyone starts to worry will the higher-ups be able to deal with the problem faster.”

"Are you trying to convince everyone to worry about the disappearance of homeless people?" Clayton didn't finish his sentence, but his meaning was clear: he didn't think highly of this approach.

Tomorrow is Holy Trinity Day, there's the Flower Dance Festival in mid-March, and the horse racing festival in late March.

In the most festive month of the year, March, it is not worthwhile for the general public to diminish their own happiness by worrying about a group of homeless people who are destined not to live much longer; they will simply hear about it and forget about it.