What did the pen do to Mori Tsukisa's father... this mystery will probably forever linger in Dumbledore's heart.
After displaying the Boggart, the "Mr. Skender's Great Treasury Operation" was basically over.
Oh, and there were a few unused, blank wands.
Dumbledore selected a standard, less expensive wand for Mori Tsukisa to try out a few times. As expected—after the wand was waved twice in the girl's hand, it seemed unable to bear it, and a dazzling blue light burst from the core, scorching the outer wood.
Scrapped.
Next, Nagini also tried it. Unfortunately, her spellcasting Ability had vanished completely. Unless she activated the "Renovate" on the magic-patterned fan, the wand held no meaning for her anymore.
It was actually a good thing for Dumbledore that the emotionally and mentally unstable Blood-Cursed Beastman had lost her spellcasting Ability, although thinking this way was rather dark.
Unstable factors will eventually explode.
"Well then, let us say goodbye here."
The man didn't say much after learning that the girl was going to search for Hamunaptra with her older sister. In his view, many legends circulated among humans: some were pure fabrications, while others were based on real events that became distorted through centuries of oral tradition, eventually turning into ambiguous mysteries.
In any case, as long as Mori Tsukisa didn't come back to the Sorcerer World to cause trouble, that was fine.
Yes, ever since his 'battle' with Mori Tsukisa, Dumbledore had consciously changed the term from Wizarding World to Sorcerer World.
"Goodbye then! Mr. Dumbledore!" Mori Tsukisa, along with the Little Sprite and Nagini, waved goodbye: "Please say hello to Mr. Skender for me, and thank him for the fan and the Galleons!"
Dumbledore:... His wand waved, and he Disapparated.
"Hmm... how much did we get?" Only after the man left did Mori Tsukisa ask Arrietty about their recent gains.
Nagini suddenly spoke up beside her: "I have counted it. Do you need me to hand over the fan?"
"No, you keep it. After all, only you can use it."
"There are also over thirteen thousand Galleons." Nagini stood straight with her hand pressed to her lower abdomen: "Do you need Arrietty to lead the sprites to melt them down?"
Gold and silver collected by the sprites had always met this fate.
"No." Mori Tsukisa hesitated: "Keep them for now. If we get another chance to go to the Wizarding World, maybe we can buy some fun local specialties to bring back."
Arrietty looked like an outsider, glancing at the questioning Mori Tsukisa, then at the fluent Nagini.
"I'm hungry! I'm hungry!" the Little Sprite suddenly shouted, trying to draw Her Majesty the Queen's attention to herself: "I want food! Your Majesty the Queen!"
"Hehe, alright, I'm hungry too. So... Nagini?"
"No problem, please wait a moment." The woman bowed slightly and gracefully swayed into the tent.
In the end, they still had to rely on that annoying, queen-seducing snake... Early the next morning, OConnell woke up early, clattering as he packed his firearms and personal equipment. He woke up Jonathan and told him to notify Evelyn to wake up the ladies.
They were ready to depart.
Mori Tsukisa was already sitting in front of the woods eating breakfast. Nagini had spread a large square blanket beneath her. Due to environmental constraints, there was no black tea in the Little Silver Pot, only some water sweetened with honey.
—Since the Boggart incident yesterday, Arrietty had 'educated' Nagini on why Mori Tsukisa had the "Many Mothers" issue. This morning, the woman's gaze towards Mori Tsukisa changed from respect to affectionate pity.
—She herself had inherited an Ability from her mother, but with only one curse, she was already living a life worse than death.
—What about Mori Tsukisa? Two have appeared so far, and who knows how many more there will be in the future.
—She is too pitiful.
—She must protect her better and accompany her more gently.
Arrietty didn't know that her Attendant colleague had misunderstood her words in a wonderfully strange way, leading to more things that would anger the Little Sprite later on: well... at least, she was quite happy right now.
Someone was serving Mori Tsukisa, and by extension, serving her too!
Several slices of bread and smoked meat were placed in the center of the tray. Arrietty's portion was cut very small and arranged neatly on a side plate.
Oh, there was also a black cat on the blanket, appearing at some unknown time, with a thoroughly unhappy face.
—Bastet arrived a day early and waited in the wrong place: another local village far from here. This meant She had wasted an entire day staring boredly at the locals.
This made Her extremely dissatisfied with Mori Tsukisa.
It would take at least three servings of Milk-Flavored Grilled Small Dried Fish to appease Her.
"Everywhere you go, you look like a noble young lady." Jonathan yawned as he walked around his sister's tent, talking as he casually found an empty spot to sit down, pulling a piece of dried meat from his pocket.
"I say, where did this cat come from?"
The black cat wagged its tail, licked its little black paw, turned around, and presented its backside to the man.
"I don't know, seems like a stray cat." Mori Tsukisa stroked the cat's head: "I'm going to take Her with me to Hamunaptra."
"I wouldn't mind if you moved your entire house over, you're always so extravagant... Wait!" Jonathan suddenly sat up straight, "little forest, can you tell me exactly how much money you brought?"
Jonathan stretched his neck out sneakily, looking around, but failed to notice OConnell gripping the gun handle at his waist, and Evelyn, who had just finished tidying her curls, standing right behind him.
Staring at him helplessly.
OConnell: Does your brother often cheat little girls out of money?
Evelyn: Not often.
Evelyn: Since he found out little forest uses Gold Coins to buy things.
OConnell: Gold Coins?
Evelyn curled her index finger and thumb: This big... OConnell: Oh, then why are we still looking for Hamunaptra?
OConnell: We should adopt her.
Evelyn: W...e?
Looking from Mori Tsukisa's perspective, the pair of man and woman first stared furiously at the back of Jonathan's head—then, after exchanging helpless glances for a few seconds, both of them simultaneously... blushed??
What kind of maneuver is this?
Nagini knelt beside Mori Tsukisa. The slightly older woman naturally understood what kind of maneuver this was. In the eyes of passionate and telepathic lovers, they could understand each other's intentions.
"I can help you put it up, Your hair?"
Nagini leaned close to Mori Tsukisa's ear, completely ignoring Arrietty's dagger-like stares that pierced her countless times.
"Not today. We're heading to the Supply Station on the edge of the Sahara. We can deal with it there."
Waving her hand, Mori Tsukisa stood up holding the black cat... this was the final destination, and one of the starting points for entering the Sahara.
The already strong wind and sand became even more unbearable blowing through the desert.
Jonathan was gesticulating and shouting at the Camel Merchant in front of him, while OConnell was struggling over, burdened by a large pile of long leather water bags.
"I only need five! Five! Not a whole herd!"
"My God, can you believe it? He doesn't understand English!" Jonathan spun around in exasperation, while OConnell was completely exhausted.
"Will you just pay him?" The man gripped the gun handle at his waist: "These are all locals here. Do you want me to have a shootout with them like a cowboy?"
"No bargaining, no choosing. Otherwise, are you going to walk into the Sahara?"
"God... they're robbing us." Jonathan grumbled discontentedly, pulling a few banknotes from his wallet and handing them to the Camel Merchant: "Your camels aren't worth this price at all."
The local man couldn't understand what he was saying at all. He took the money with a smile and made a 'bless you' gesture.
"Not worth it! I said, your camels aren't worth this price at all!"
"You are robbing us!"
"Learn some English!"
Merchant: Bless you.
OConnell ignored his beloved's brother. After hanging the water skins on the camel, he took the reins and walked toward the tent where Mori Tsukisa and Evelyn were changing.
"A few smelly camels are so expensive."
Along the way, Jonathan continued to grumble incessantly to OConnell.
"Yeah, that's right. If you give your sister to him, you won't have to pay," the man joked hoarsely. "Bartering goods, bartering people—it's so thoughtful here, they've already designed a way to help you save money."
Jonathan rolled his eyes at him: "Would you be willing to part with her?"
OConnell was checkmated; he stiffened his neck, unable to say a word for a long time.
"Hey, if I'd known, I would have let Little Forest come along. She was clearly so curious; maybe I could have saved some money."
"Can't you stop trying to take advantage of that girl?" OConnell couldn't listen anymore and helplessly gave the greedy fellow an elbow.
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