area51novel Chapter 189 The longing that has been silent for a long time
Chapter 189 The longing that has been silent for a long time
"There's someone behind them," the hunter said.
Hermione subconsciously asked: "Who could it be?"
Alice poked Hermione's head with her illusory finger and said, "He must be a well-informed, authoritative, and powerful person."
"That's the rat trader. This market is his territory, and most of the people who settle here serve him." The hunter nodded slightly and said cautiously: "It can only be him. It seems that he concealed what we have." News about a wizard. Even if I am wrong, I will have to ask him for news next, unless..."
"Unless what?"
"The Imperius Curse," the hunter asked, "can you do it?"
Hermione didn't answer directly, she said: "Why do you ask?"
"The news here has to go through rat traders before it can circulate. People here know that only loyalty and teamwork can survive. If you can't control it... you probably won't be able to find out anything."
"Since you call yourself mercenaries," Hermione suddenly said, "Do you have guns?"
"No need," the hunter said, "Although everyone is basically a squib, anyone who uses Muggle things will still be looked down upon."
The girls left the slaughterhouse and returned to the temple market. Following the hunter's directions, they came to the intersection of sewage and garbage.
This is the territory completely controlled by the rat dealers. It is a city made of waste and garbage. The waste produced by Muggles and wizards have reached coexistence here. The music box that can sing Katyusha is jumping and screaming on the refrigerator, and it is tattered. The tea sets are biting each other, and the various bags have long lost their color luster and are entangled with each other in the green sewage, and the sewage is the water flow of this city, gathering in front of the final "throne" - the so-called The throne is actually just a seat taken out of an abandoned car. It is placed in the middle of a high ground where old appliances are piled up. It holds the Mouse Trader, allowing him to look down at every guest who comes to see him.
The Mouse Trader is a man with sinister features and evil eyes. He wears a dirty robe made of spliced rags. The original color of the robe can no longer be seen clearly. What stands out is a black mouse about the same size as a human head standing on the Mouse Trader's shoulder.
The black mouse has smooth and shiny fur, a sharp beak and round eyes that exude a human look. When this thing is paired with a rat dealer, it presents an inverted scene - a human has a rat state, and a rat has a human aspect.When the rat trader actually spoke, Hermione had the illusion that it was a rat talking. She seemed to hear a rat shouting in a high-pitched voice: "Rare visitor, rare visitor, a ghost, a mercenary, a warrior, And the cutest little witch, welcome! Welcome! Everyone, what are you doing?"
Hermione put her hand into her robe and held her wand to gain some sense of security. She said steadily: "I'm here to consult on some matters."
"Please tell me," the mouse trader shook the slender curved beard on his upper lip, squeezed the tip of his nose upward, and said with a sneaky smile: "Dear wizard guest, I am happy to serve you."
The overly greasy and flattering answer made Hermione frown. She suppressed the annoyance in her heart and said calmly: "We encountered an attack - an attack from mercenaries."
"That's right..." The mouse trader nodded, and the mouse on his shoulder screamed a few times, as if laughing.
Seeing that the rat trader didn't speak for a long time, Hermione repeated: "I said, we were attacked, and the mercenaries here are all under your control."
"So that's how it is." the rat trader continued.
"Let's ask for an explanation." Hermione's face turned gloomy.
"There's nothing I can do about those low-lifes taking private jobs," the rat dealer said sincerely: "I just register...I just take care of the general idea. What commissions I accept is other people's business."
Hermione was silent. She really couldn't think of any more legitimate questions.
So the rat dealer saw an exploitable side in her silence - being disciplined and principled became a shortcoming in this place, which made the rat dealer think that he could benefit from it, and at the same time determined the direction of the subsequent dialogue.
"But you can talk about anything," he said smoothly: "Everything that happened will leave traces, and I... and my children happen to be very good at looking for traces, but it's too tiring to do so. Even if I am willing to serve you, my children have to eat, so I can’t do it in vain..."
Hermione asked, "What do you want?"
The rat dealer licked his lips, and an impatient look passed between his brows and eyes: "Exchange news for news, for example...about a certain fog door, about certain fungi..."
When he thought about the fact that the information about the Fog Gate was at his fingertips, and when he thought that someone could come back alive from behind the Fog Gate, the Mouse Trader's long-dead heart became active. He remembered his origin - not all wizards can find a way to go to school. Wizards without schools can only find some ancient inheritance in the countryside and mountains. They spend a lot of time and can only make some progress in some aspects. In the end, they will not be recognized by the mainstream magic society. Instead, they will fall behind. In this era, even a normal life is not possible.People like the Mouse Trader are not wanted even if they join pure-blood families to compete with house elves for jobs. Even if they work as a clerk in a grocery store, no one wants them. In the end, they can only end up where they came from. Return to a remote place and use the wizard's longevity to make a name for himself...
Who wants to spend all day with rat trash?The Mouse Trader longs for a decent life, gorgeous robes and exquisite food. However, if he wants to change all this, he must produce something convincing enough - he believes that the secret of the Fog Gate is something convincing enough. In the past, During his research and attempts, the Rat Trader sent mercenaries into the fog gate more than once, but in the end no one survived. The biggest result was that he was able to determine that the power of the fog gate was linked to time. There was nothing he could do about it, but I feel unwilling to give up just yet.
So one day after this, Hermione suddenly appeared.
From the description of the cured ham, the Mouse Trader immediately analyzed the little witch's temperament and childish and benevolent way of dealing with problems. This was a learned little witch.Generally speaking, he always stayed away from such people.But when Hermione returned safely from the fog door, the burning desire was rekindled, overwhelming his reason, and the mouse dealer couldn't help but start to fantasize about the grand scene after he studied the fog door and developed time magic - the wizard They will treat him as a guest, gold galleons will flow into their own money bags, and magazines and periodicals will put themselves on the covers... The price is just a gamble, bet that you can cheat this Little witch, I bet you can control her even if you are exposed...