Char held the Goldfish Vine in his hand, eyeing the Troll sprawled pitifully on the ground. In its small, frightened eyes, there was a flicker of recognition—and fear. It still remembered the last time it had eaten several pots of Goldfish Vine. In retaliation, Char had given it a solid beating. The pain of broken bones from Char's baseball bat still lingered in its memory.
The Troll instinctively tried to inch away from the Goldfish Vine, its large body trembling.
Char frowned.
"Hm?"
"Did I tell you to move?"
"Stop right there."
At Char's sharp tone, the Troll froze and crouched on the spot, pitiful and weak. Char advanced toward it slowly, his frown deepening with each step. He had expected the Goldfish Vine to react as it did near Neville and Hannah. Back then, it had become noticeably more active. But now, even at such a short distance from the Troll, the plant remained unchanged—calm and unresponsive.
There was no sign of the rapid maturation he'd observed previously, when the Goldfish Vine had flourished in the Troll's hands. That moment had been clear in his memory. Something wasn't adding up.
Could I have been wrong? Char wondered. Does the Troll really have no catalytic effect on the Goldfish Vine?
But if that was the case, how could he explain the previous reaction?
"Maybe the Troll needs to be in direct contact with it?"
Thinking aloud, Char took another step closer.
"Behave," he warned. "Open your hand. And if you dare damage my Goldfish Vine again—I'll beat you to a pulp."
Reluctantly, the Troll extended its large palm. Char carefully placed the Goldfish Vine into it, making sure the leaves made direct contact with the Troll's skin.
Still—nothing.
Char's brow furrowed deeper.
There had been no mistake. He was certain the plant had reacted to the Troll last time. Back then, it had matured rapidly. But now, even with identical proximity and contact, there was no visible change.
What's different this time?
Could it be that the Troll needs to be beaten first?
Char glanced thoughtfully at the Troll. The poor creature shivered under his gaze, tears welling up in its eyes. Char shook his head, quickly dismissing the idea.
"Forget it. I'll try ruling out other variables first."
"I'm not a devil—Hogwarts doesn't promote violence."
"…But if nothing else works, I might have to give you a few more hits."
He turned away, ready to leave when Hagrid approached and began issuing stern reminders to the Troll.
"Don't leave the Forbidden Forest again!"
"Don't do your business wherever you want!"
"And for Merlin's sake—take a bath! You stink to high heaven!"
Hagrid repeated each instruction several times for emphasis. But the Troll merely stared blankly, as if trying to commit the words to memory.
Char, too, knew the truth. Trolls had extremely limited brain capacity. Even if they managed to remember something for a few seconds, it would be forgotten moments later. Their memory only retained information directly tied to survival. Everything else? Gone in a flash.
As Hagrid finished, he motioned to Char that it was time to leave.
But just as Char was about to walk away, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
His eyes widened in surprise.
"So that's it... That's it!" he muttered, a flash of understanding crossing his face. "Why didn't I think of this before?"
Hagrid tilted his head, confused.
In just those few seconds, what had Char realized?
Char turned his gaze toward the Goldfish Vine in his hand. Astonishingly, it had started growing faster. It hadn't been long since it was planted, and yet, its rate of maturation was rapidly increasing. Even more than it had when near Neville at the start of the school year.
Char's eyes sparkled.
"Even the most forgetful wizards—Neville, for instance—can subconsciously remember certain things," he said, thinking aloud. "At the same time, they also forget other things. That natural process of forgetting is what fuels the Goldfish Vine's growth."
"But Trolls are different. Their minds are so limited that they can only store essential survival information. Anything unrelated, they simply don't retain at all."
"If there's no memory, there's no forgetting."
"And that's why the Goldfish Vine doesn't mature near them—under normal circumstances."
He paused, eyes gleaming with insight.
"But last time... when I beat the Troll, I probably forced it to learn an important survival lesson—not to mess with me or the Goldfish Vine. In doing so, it had to forget something else."
"That forgetting was exactly what triggered the Goldfish Vine's maturation!"
"And just now, while Hagrid repeated those instructions, the Troll was again forced to forget other things to try remembering them. That 'forgetting' once more fed the Goldfish Vine."
Now that everything made sense, Char couldn't hide his excitement.
He finally understood how to cultivate Goldfish Vines using Trolls.
Turning toward the Troll, he gave it a clear command:
"Memorize these words for me: 'Abandon,' 'Ability,' 'Able.'"
The Troll looked at him with vacant eyes.
"Ah—Abba… Abba…"
At that moment, the Goldfish Vine visibly reacted, as though it had taken a powerful dose of magical nutrients. Its leaves fluttered, its vines thickened, and its growth visibly accelerated.
Char couldn't believe his eyes.
This Troll alone might be enough to double my Goldfish Vine yield!
Neville and Hannah were growing older, becoming more responsible and mentally stable. As a result, their unintentional forgetfulness was decreasing. But Trolls? Their forgetfulness was innate. Constant. Limitless.
In short, they were far better suited to cultivating Goldfish Vines than any wizard.
Char inhaled deeply. Even the Troll's awful stench didn't bother him now.
In fact, a dangerous idea crossed his mind.
If one Troll can double the harvest... what if I had multiple Trolls?
He recalled how, in the original story, Quirrell had released more than one Troll during Halloween. There had also been a Troll guarding the Philosopher's Stone. That one certainly hadn't been brought from far away—it had to have come from the Forbidden Forest.
That meant there must be more Trolls nearby.
Perhaps even an entire settlement.
Excited by the thought, Char turned to Hagrid.
"Hagrid, are there groups of Trolls in the Forbidden Forest?"
Hagrid, who knew the forest like the back of his hand, nodded instantly.
"Absolutely," he replied. "I've seen a group before. That place was a nightmare—worse than a Blast-Ended Skrewt's backside. The smell was enough to knock me out!"
"But they're wanderers. You never know where they'll be from day to day."
"If they ever stayed in one place, I swear the land would be barren."
Char's eyes lit up. "Hagrid, can you help me find them?"
"This is really important to me."
At that, Hagrid thumped his chest.
"Of course! Leave it to me!"
"But like I said, they move around a lot. Could take a while to track them—maybe a few weeks, even a couple of months."
Char nodded, relieved. A weight lifted from his shoulders.
His Magic Perception Enhancement was already close to reaching Gold-tier. Once the next batch of Goldfish Vine was harvested, he would definitely break through.
However, he also understood that once he reached Gold-tier, the cumulative benefits of the Bronze-tier rewards would diminish. He would need more Goldfish Vine to continue growing at the same pace.
In other words, his rapid advancement would soon plateau.
This was bad news for his studies in Potions, Herbology, and Charms.
But if he could find a Troll group and tame them for cultivation?
That would solve the problem completely.
Still, everything depended on Hagrid's search. The Forbidden Forest was vast, and finding the Trolls would take time.
For now, Char forced himself to calm down.
Gold-tier Magic Perception was already within reach.
When that moment came, he would finally be able to brew the Guardian Tree Potion.
And then begin the next phase of the Guardian Tree's development.
But there was still one hurdle—his Soil Loosening Spell hadn't quite reached Gold-tier.
He reminded himself,
"Don't ignore the bird in hand just to chase ten in the bush."
"Keep practicing."
"Gold-tier Soil Loosening is just around the corner."
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
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