Chapter 714: The Dramatic Performer
Chapter 714: The Dramatic Performer
Albert was determined to win the Magic School Potion Championship. Having secretly taken care of Guy Bernard, he felt no guilt as he hummed the Harry Potter theme song, strolling along the forest path. He occasionally paused to observe and collect magical plants by the road or find a place to sit and rest.
It was puzzling what the organizers were thinking, expecting the contestants to endure ten hours in such a place without any supplies.
While the slope of the hill wasn't steep, climbing it was still strenuous, especially while staying vigilant for toxic, dangerous, and deadly magical plants or magical creatures. They also had to search for potion ingredients, which was mentally and physically exhausting. Albert doubted if the contestants would have the energy to make their way back if they ventured too deep into the magical garden.
Suddenly, Albert seemed to sense something. He looked up towards the distant forest and noticed red sparks in the not-so-far-off distance. One of the contestants had encountered trouble and had to give up, seeking help from the patrolling team.
"Looks like something happened over there?"
A voice came from the bushes in front of him, and a girl from Castelobruxo appeared, speaking fluent Spanish.
"The patrol team should have passed by already. He'll be fine," Albert said, pulling out his wand and signaling for the girl to stop.
"I thought you'd be glad to have one less competitor," she said, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm. "I'm Daniela, Daniela Gonzalez, from Peru."
"Albert Anderson, from Britain," he introduced himself.
"I know. Everyone says you're a genius," Daniela said, sizing him up. "I'm curious, how many languages do you speak?"
"The more widely-spoken ones, at least," Albert replied.
"Wow, that's impressive," Daniela admired his abilities sincerely. To be honest, it wasn't easy to find someone to communicate with here.
The fact that Albert could speak fluent Spanish, was a genius, had a gentle and polite demeanor, and was handsome gave Daniela a strange sense of goodwill towards this competitor, making her willing to chat with him for a while.
Moreover, Albert's assurance that the troubled contestant would be fine left a good impression on her.
"I'm looking for Shrinking Figs. Have you seen any?" Albert asked casually, starting a conversation.
The Castelobruxo girl smiled and teased, "I thought you were so determined to win the championship that you'd have no time to sit and relax."
"No, it's not me who's determined to win at all costs," Albert shook his head.
"If not you, then who?" Daniela found a place to sit down as well, maintaining a safe distance, as a bit of caution was necessary.
"Guy Bernard," Albert answered without hesitation. "The contestant from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, or... well, the guy who wore silk and ranked right after me in the first round. He's a grandson of one of the judges."
"Do you know about the Extraordinary Potion Masters' Association?" Albert continued, seeing that Daniela looked thoughtful. "It's a rather famous European potion masters' association, a loose organization. Members can obtain some prohibited potion ingredients through official means. The Extraordinary Potion Masters' Association is one of the organizers of this Potion Championship, and more than half of the judges are master potion makers from the association. It's worth mentioning that the newly elected president is also named Bernard, and the contestant from Beauxbatons is Guy Bernard."
Daniela wasn't foolish, and she immediately understood what he meant.
While everyone was cheating in the competition, there were different levels of cheating.
"Then what's the point of this Potion Championship? They might as well just give the golden cauldron to that Guy Bernard directly," Daniela said, feeling a bit frustrated earlier about how he had achieved such a high score in the first round, and now it seemed he had an advantage from the start.
However, even with all that cheating, he was still beaten by someone, which made her feel a bit of schadenfreude.
This guy in front of her was truly impressive. Rumor had it that he was also the International Wizard Chess Champion this year.
If it weren't for this incident, perhaps he would have been the Potion Championship winner.
"Are you giving up?"
"Why would I give up?" Albert raised an eyebrow. "I think it would be quite interesting to beat him fairly and crush his dream of becoming a champion."
"You're so confident!"
Daniela could hear the confidence in Albert's voice.
She took out a Shrinking Fig from her bag and pointed in a certain direction. "The Shrinking Figs are over there. You can try your luck."
"Thanks."
Albert stood up, dusted off his backside, and walked in the direction Daniela had indicated.
He didn't know if the girl from Castelobruxo was tricking him, and he wasn't particularly interested in finding out.
In fact, Albert had known the exact location of the Shrinking Figs long ago. Before taking care of Guy Bernard, he had found a small grove of Shrinking Fig trees and left the task of collecting them for last. It was just a matter of killing time and creating a false impression.
After parting ways with Daniela, Albert quietly turned a corner and made his way towards the grove of Shrinking Fig trees.
It was already November, and the Shrinking Fig trees were in their leaf-dropping season. Some of the ripe figs fell to the ground along with the withered leaves, leaving only barren branches behind.
Albert's luck held as he spotted a few Shrinking Figs still clinging to the branches, though their numbers were limited.
He couldn't help but suspect that most of the Shrinking Figs were picked by the herbologists of the Magical Gardens once they ripened, as it would be a waste to let the fruits rot.
Just as Albert prepared to pluck the Shrinking Figs, he heard footsteps approaching from behind.
He turned to see a young black man emerging from the forest not far away.
"Your luck is good. There are enough Shrinking Figs for us to share." Albert raised his hand in a stopping gesture and knew that this contestant from the Wagardu School of Magic understood French.
"Thank you, I've been searching for a long time," the young man replied.
The black youth raised his hands to show he meant no harm and expressed his surprise that the other party could speak French, indicating that Albert should go ahead and pick the Shrinking Figs first.
As Albert turned towards the grove, his eyes fell on the task panel prompt, and a new task had actually been triggered?
Opening the task panel, Albert quickly scanned the title: "Wagardu's Trickery."
After swiftly reading through the task content, Albert felt a sense of foreboding, and a sense of crisis arose from within. Almost instinctively, he dodged to the side, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of red magic fly out from the other person's fingertip, striking the grove of Shrinking Fig trees in the distance.
The young black man was also taken aback, not expecting his sneak attack to fail. He immediately pointed his finger and cast the Stunning Spell at Albert, who was struggling to get up from the ground.
"Don't you know that attacking others will result in direct disqualification from the competition?" Albert dodged the spell clumsily and shouted in a shrill voice that sounded panicked and a bit agitated.
Albert finally climbed to his feet and reached for his wand in his pocket, though he appeared flustered, his mind was calm.
This guy's good.
Wandless magic.
And he's more proficient at it than I am.
Seems like they're good at that in Africa, casting spells with just their fingers or gestures, and they're also adept at Animagus transformations, I believe.
He'd make a perfect scapegoat.
"So what? They have no evidence," the young man said nonchalantly, continuing to cast spells at Albert without giving him a chance to draw his wand.
This guy's skilled in potion-making, but he's lacking in other areas. I've heard that Hogwarts is notoriously weak in defense, and the rumors seem to be true.
As long as I take him down, I can use his wand to erase the memory of what just happened, then toss him into the grove, and who would know it was me?
They'll just think that this British pretty boy stumbled into some trouble while picking Shrinking Figs.
"Do you plan to eliminate all the other contestants?"
"You talk too much."
The young man knew better than to waste time talking and continued his assault on Albert, aiming to defeat him swiftly.
The commotion they were causing attracted the attention of a nearby patrol team. After understanding the situation, one of the patrol members appeared out of thin air on a broomstick and put a stop to the violence.
"Stop! Don't you know that attacking fellow contestants violates the rules of the competition?"
The young man halted his attack, looking exasperated at the newly arrived patrol member.
"He attacked me first."
"Shut up! Do you take me for a fool?"
Just as the patrol member was about to reprimand them, a streak of red light flew towards him, and since he didn't expect anyone to be able to cast spells without a wand, he was hit by the Stunning Spell and fell from his broomstick, unconscious, just a meter or so above the ground.
Albert finally drew his wand and, looking at the assailant from Wagardu, said meaningfully, "You're quite bold, aren't you?"
Fortunately, the unlucky fellow had almost landed, so he didn't fall far, otherwise, he might have broken his neck.
"I didn't want it to be like this," the young man said, using the Summoning Charm to retrieve the fallen wizard's wand and continuing his assault on Albert.
With the help of a wand, his spells became more powerful and faster.
Unfortunately for him, Albert also had his wand and managed to clumsily block all the spells with the Ironskin Charm.
After a few exchanges, Albert very "coincidentally" allowed the other person to be hit by a "deflected" Stunning Spell, knocking him out instantly.
Looking at the unconscious young man, Albert twisted his mouth, "I almost got tricked just now, so don't blame me. Besides, you make the perfect scapegoat."
(End of Chapter)
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