I couldn't see much from the window of the Mercedes, so I couldn't make up my mind. In three days, I've only gotten a good look at the local shopping district, which I managed to spend a few hours in. Taking into account the shikigami and Ba-san, who saw everything I didn't, the shopping district is really well explored. Although it's traditionally called a neighborhood, there were actually a lot of different kinds of people gathered there.
It would be clearer if I said that the shopping district was the place where most of the local magic businesses gathered, otherwise it looked like some kind of oriental bazaar with only merchants. Banks and small loan companies, even a government service — "State Loan" — were located here.
There were also lawyers, appraisers, pawnshops, pawnbrokers, buyers, including the stolen goods, and, of course, workshops and various traders, ranging from private individuals to the growing strength of retail chains. Russia is a huge country, so to think that a magical life can have only one such neighborhood is complete folly. Therefore, and all sorts of companies and organizations, as well as banks here is much more than one and not two.
As for the Gabala Bank, which dominates the ball in Britain, there are no goblins here. As I learned from Sasha and Pasha, the world goblin uprising happened in very different ways around the world. In Japan, China, Korea, India, and a number of other countries, they never existed, and if they tried to get in, they were ruthlessly exterminated by the local magical races.
The main area of their habitat, Europe and neighboring lands, was in Russia, but at the time of their first attempt to seize supremacy, they were exterminated. It turns out that the tales of the kings have little to do with reality. This, you might say, order watches over the ancestral lands and protects the strongest magical sources from being taken over by mages or whatever... like the goblins, who are basically a parasitic race.
Like a fungal infestation: quickly invading new spaces, sucking life juices, destroying, invading new spaces. It is a good thing that the goblins, being a magical race, are bound by the laws of nature and oaths.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to deal with them without total annihilation. On the other hand, they are not an important part of nature, so the wizards did this so as not to raise this issue in the future, that is, let down on the goblins in the caves, after the victory of the wizards on Earth, all sorts of creatures and hungry spirits, and then piled dug tunnels.
The desire of the French, British and a few others to leave the defeated goblins alive, understanding of the Magi did not cause, from which not only governments, but also the ancient orders of Magi and Druids of Europe, significantly distanced, and relations cooled.
I was very interested in this subject, so I bought a complete "Great Encyclopedia of the History of Russia" in ten volumes, published in the tenth year of this century. A very serious work, very serious in price.
My guard also told me that in the local magic schools children learn from history textbooks written at the same time and by the same people who created the encyclopedia, so there is no distortion of information. Also, bought and "Great Encyclopedia of the History of the World" in forty volumes, which does not include the history of Africa, and Australia, South and North America are recorded only in the most important data from the sixteenth-seventeenth century. Nevertheless, a truthful history of Europe and most of Asia is not inconsiderable.
About the same truthfulness to doubt, as published these works of the ancient order "Eye of Thoth", which came from ancient Egypt, after entrenchment in Europe, and during the Inquisition settled in Russia, and still dwells here. Throughout the centuries of its existence, the Order has never been involved in politics or intrigues, always remaining a purely scientific entity.
However, it is said that they still keep an eye on them, just in case. Or what if they turn out to be another "Illuminati", "Freemasons" or some other scum like "Fire Worshippers" or "Children of Kali".
Speaking of history. It turns out that Mayumi-sama didn't just add those words back then. I have no idea what it was, but my seven plus months on the island in the real world turned out to be two weeks. When I found out, I fell out, and after that, I wanted to be a dragon. But that's just on the "dream" level.
Literature cost a lot, because I took a lot of things, you could say everything, except for very children's literature. It is clear that censorship is everywhere, but even the "available" was a lot and expensive, but the "forbidden" on the counter did not lie.
The way out was simple: I asked Ba-san to look for forbidden works and codes, and if he finds them, he will agree to sell them, and if they refuse, I will steal them, but only if the book is worth it. What do I need a book on black magic or sacrifice when there will be problems with them? If I come across something like that, I'll pick it up for general education, but I don't see the point in intentionally getting into trouble for their sake.
Especially since the first book Ba-san brought was a huge tome that weighed about eight kilograms, "Peculiarities of Clan Magic. Rituals and Evocations. Blessings and Curses." It was worth going to Russia just for this book. Not to mention the fact that I was able to arrange payment for the contracts in rough diamonds.
I didn't have those stones, and the book on substances and materials I was given mentioned that whole series of artifacts required diamonds. It was a shame that the most unique stones, the alexandrites, were only available in the simplest forms, which are also sold in the common man's market.
Full-fledged stones with an aura are considered state property and are kept for their own use, secret, really secret. I decided to acquire them through the "dark" personalities that Ba-san also found. But today is a day of unloading, we walked around Moscow, had lunch, visited the Tretyakov Gallery and the Kremlin.
They wanted to take me somewhere else, but I was so caught up in the arsenal that we didn't have time for anything else. Well, what can I do when jewelry has become my weakness and the Diamond Fund — its concentration — has turned into quicksand for me?
In the evening I was informed that the Three Wise Men wanted to meet with me, and that the meeting would take place tomorrow morning, after which we would fly to Peter. The rest of the evening was spent giving "first aid" seals, i.e. stopping bleeding, relieving pain and so on. I'll get to the ordered barrier seals and "evil exorcism" seals later, on a fresh head — they are too "overwhelming".