Chapter 147 - 147 The Secret Place at the Top of the Mountain
Chapter 147: Chapter 147 The Secret Place at the Top of the Mountain
How could one not embrace such a thick leg when given the chance?
But the problem was, Abbottel didn't find a suitable reason to hug his thigh, and he didn't think that his identity as the Minister of Magic of a small country would be put in the eyes of this thigh ....
Since this was the case, he could only borrow the identity of the other thigh beside him to fox around a bit.
"Your Excellency, don't rush off yet!" Abattoir called out to Dracula.
"Do you know who this one beside me is? This is the most prestigious magical zoologist in the magic world, Mr. Newt Scamander." He said in a serious voice, "Where he's concerned, no question about magical animals will be difficult for us!"
"One more is one more, especially with such a top-notch Pokémonologist. Wouldn't you say, Your Excellency?"
Dracula slammed on the brakes.
His interest suddenly lifted at the sound of the name.
"Newt Scamander?" Dracula poked his head out of the car window and looked with interest at the old man who still had some freckles on his face and a mottled head of disheveled hair, "So you're the one who was responsible for defeating the dark wizard Grindelwald fifty years ago?"
"That was all a long time ago." Newt smiled coyly, his hand squeezing tightly as he carried his suitcase.
Even after all these years, Newt still hadn't taken it for granted to put acknowledgement of his credit during the time of the Global Wizarding War.
In the humble magical zoologist's eyes, the man who had been under pressure to maintain order in the wizarding world, and indeed the Muggle world, had never been more than Dumbledore, who was admired by all.
"Don't be modest, Mr. Scamander, I've heard your stories." Dracula laughed softly and shook his head as he backed the car back up to Newt and Abner, "That old man Nicole used to brag about you a lot when I asked about those times."
"The old guy ... you're talking about is Mr. LeMay?" Newt froze.
He carefully measured Dracula's appearance once more, looking at Dracula's face that didn't look like it could be more than thirty years old in any way, with a rather bewildered expression.
"Can I take the liberty of asking, is your name ...?" Newt asked.
"Just call me Dracula." Dracula said.
Unless it was a particularly close friend, such as Nicole LeMay, or the four founders of Hogwarts back in the day, Dracula had never been in the habit of just giving them his last name, and didn't like to hear his first name called.
"Dracula?!"
Upon hearing this last name, Minister Abbottel, who was standing to the side, suddenly jumped up.
"You are the first Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts to be re-elected to a second term in decades at Hogwarts?!" He asked in surprise.
There was no wonder why Abbottel was making a fuss, it was really because Dracula's reputation had spread to the top levels of various countries during this period of time.
As the oldest magic school in the whole of Europe, and even one of the oldest magic schools in the world, Hogwarts had great popularity and wizard civilian recognition.
And the strange events at Hogwarts regarding the subject of Defense Against Black Magic had actually not only received the attention of the local magical community in the United Kingdom, but also the attention of the Ministry of Magic and magical schools around the world.
When a subject that had never had any professor able to be re-elected for decades suddenly had an additional professor who had successfully entered the second year, the world immediately became curious about Dracula, a character who had come out of nowhere, and immediately launched a great deal of probing and investigation.
Although the Greek Ministry of Magic wasn't strong, it could still do some simple prying on a daily basis.
As the Minister of the Greek Ministry of Magic, Abbottel naturally also learned about Dracula's identity through his own information channels.
In addition, Dracula's surname can be said to be extremely rare in the magic world, and then based on the most basic information such as silver hair, burgundy-eyed child, and cynical personality, the identity of the person sitting inside the Lausitz in front of him was very recognizable.
It suddenly occurred to Abner that just half an hour ago, before Newt had sent his grandson away with the door key, he had discussed the matter of Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor with Master Scamander.
He simply couldn't believe that the man he'd been talking about half an hour ago had appeared so hastily in front of him!
"Oh? Am I so well known now?" Dracula raised his eyebrows and looked at the surprised-looking Abner, "I feel like I've been keeping a pretty low profile lately."
Abbottel silently glanced at the silver Rolls Royce in front of him and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"You're afraid that you don't have any misunderstanding of the word low-key ..." he said helplessly, "And not to mention the other aspects of acting, the mere fact of being reelected to a second year is already in the spotlight! ..."
"Is that so?"
Dracula rested his elbow on the car window, supporting the side of his face with his right hand as he pondered in silence.
A strand of silver hair from his forehead hung over the back of his hand, gently ruffled by the refreshing mountain breeze that carried moisture outside the window.
Abattoir gulped as he watched Dracula's lowered eyelids and well-defined side of his face.
He looked like that for a few moments before he reacted that something was wrong and hurriedly raised his hand to slap himself.
"I'm still thinking of getting a wife before I'm forty, what's the point of staring at a man like this!" Abbottel took a deep breath, "Though this man does seem a bit too handsome for his own good ..."
He stole a glance at Newt beside him, only to find that Newt was also staring at the side of Dracula's face with immense concentration without moving.
"Mr. Scamander, don't you also think that His Excellency Dracula's handsome is a bit offending?" Abner asked quietly.
"Hm?" Newt reacted only after a long time, twisting his head to look at Abbottel in puzzlement, "Well ... right, Professor Dracula's appearance is indeed handsome enough."
He then turned his head once more to survey Dracula's face.
"Sins!" Abbottel slapped his bare head painfully, "Mr. Scamander, you're a big man for your age, and your wife is still waiting for you at home!"
Again Newt turned his head, his expression more puzzled.
"What are you talking about, Minister Abbottel?" He asked.
"Eh ... am I overthinking this?" Abbottel's tone stalled for a moment, "Aren't you admiring the looks of Lord Dracula?"
"Admiring? Not really." Newt shook his head, "I just wanted to confirm a suspicion."
Newt turned his eyes back once again, focusing on Dracula's fingertips, the corners of his mouth, the child of his eyes, and the outline of his ears, and then a hint of realization gradually emerged in his eyes.
Just then, Dracula suddenly opened his eyes.
"Forget it, there's really no way for me to lay low." He resignedly leaned against the soft car seat backrest, "Those kinda interesting guys who want to know about my deeds let them know about it, whatever!"
Dracula then turned his attention out the car window to Newt and Abbottel, "First things first, I actually know what's up there at the top of the mountain, and there are no magical creatures or anything like that up there to match Mr. Scamander's expertise."
"So are you two still planning on going?"
"Go on, come what may!" Abattoir said passionately.
On the one hand, he thought of himself as the big brother of the Greek magic world, and should practically know about the visions of Olympus, the meaningful mountain of the gods; on the other hand, he had never seen a thigh as thick as Dracula's, so he was waiting to go along for the long haul!
Newt, on the other hand, hesitated slightly, and then finally nodded.
He was also a bit curious as to what kind of situation could cause such a wide range of visions in the entire mountainous region.
"Then get in the car." Dracula casually waved his hand.
...
Mount Olympus was close to three thousand meters above sea level.
Compared to many of the world's mountains, Mount Olympus didn't seem to be too high; but as the first peak of Greece, with its great drop from the plains at its base, it wasn't low at all.
It was quite cold in November, and Greece, being a typical Mediterranean climate, had a wetter winter, so there were still quite a few hardy plants struggling to grow.
Sitting in Dracula's limousine, with his eyes looking out the window into the distance, he could see the green and dark underneath the mountains, stretching across the sky to the north and west in the misty weather.
As the vehicle continued on its journey and shifted its gaze closer, it was possible to see the surrounding colors gradually switch from the light gray of the mass of man-made pavement to the dark green of the vegetation, and then to the wood ochre of the rocks.
Finally, after the highway in front of them came to a complete end, the area as far as the eye could see was already filled with mist and snow.
"There's no road ahead, shall we come down and walk?" Abattoir looked at the mountain road that had reached its end and asked.
After circling back and forth on the mountain road for many times, this poor Greek Minister of Magic was already about to be turned around, and at this moment, when he made the request to get off, there was even a bit of hope in his eyes.
"Don't be in a hurry, this has just begun." Dracula waved his hand at him, the corner of his mouth curling up into an exuberant smile.
Only to see his slender fingers on the complex driver's panel strokes, do not know how to operate, the next moment, the front hood of the car looks like a "cherub" of the Rolls-Royce logo suddenly changed--- "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub", "cherub".
A pair of wings behind the "cherub" suddenly swelled, expanded, extended, and eventually split into two unconnected wings.
One wing is attached to the left side of the body, and the other is opposite to it.
Immediately afterward, the wings flapped gently.
A soft, yet powerful enough wind fanned out from underneath the wings, causing the snowflakes in the surrounding area to fly in the sky, and even the mist in the air was blown away.
Dracula watched the scene with satisfaction, and pressed another button-
One after another arcane ancient Ruyani symbols suddenly appeared on the body, windows, and even the bottom of the car, connecting with each other to form a glittering Ruyani circuit that wrapped the entire car.
In the next moment, the silver-colored car suddenly accelerated, flying like a bolt of lightning towards the place with the strongest visions at the top of the mountain.
"Mara ... this car can actually fly? And how can it fly so fast!" Abbottel was startled, the dirty words almost came out of his mouth, but fortunately reacted in time.
He subconsciously grabbed the handle on the door of the car, as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw, and never dared to let go again.
"Cough cough, Mr. Dracula, I have a question ... I want to ask boldly."
After a good half day, Abbottel barely recovered, and tremblingly looked at Dracula who was driving with great interest and asked.
"If you have something to say, just say it." Dracula, still in a good mood at the moment, casually replied.
"I just don t quite understand, since this car can fly ... then why did we have to go around the mountain so many times on the way up just now?" Abbottel asked weakly.
He had just gotten so seasick that he was about to throw up ...
Newt was sitting in the backseat, and a look of recognition appeared on his face, as if he had the same question in his mind as Abbottel.
"Oh, this question ah ..." Dracula glanced at the two of them from the rearview mirror, the corners of his mouth slightly hooked, "don't you guys think it's fun to drive in circles on the mountain road?"
"For ... that reason?" Abner's mouth dropped open.
"Of course, otherwise you'd think I'd have nothing better to do than drive in circles on a mountain road?" Dracula said.
'I think you just have nothing to do ...' Abbottel belabored in his heart.
He then turned his attention to Newt, "Mr. Scamander, you've never been in a Muggle car either, have you? How is it that you haven't noticed any signs of motion sickness?"
"I'm actually quite familiar with Muggle transportation." A hint of remembrance passed through Newt's eyes when he heard Abner's question, "I used to take Muggle cruises back in the day, traveling between England and many other countries ..."
"One of the places I went to most often was Amerika, when Tina was the head of the Auror's office over there, and often couldn't get away; and I had to look around for magical creatures, so I often had to take cruises to the US to meet up with her ..."
Looking at Newt, who was full of happiness, Abner was silent. Almost forty years old and still single, he was once again hit by a storm.
Listening to Newt's stories of his youth in the car, unconsciously, the mist in front of his eyes had become so thick that it was nearly impossible to see anything around him.
As the white light flickered more and more frequently, the black air that appeared from time to time became heavier and heavier, and the atmosphere in the car gradually became depressing.
Newt paused his words, and looked with a grave face out the car window at the thick mists, and the sight of white light interspersed with black gas.
"I am now able to determine that this is not a sight that any kind of magical animal could cause." He said softly, "This sacred, pure white light instead reminds me of a magic-"
"A daemonic spell!"
"You are correct, Mr. Scamander." Dracula nodded slightly, "You can tell that whether it's the mist, the white light or the black aura, it's all leaking from a gaping hole located at the top of the mountain."
"Then this gap is the entrance for us to find out the truth!"