But after all, it was the only wand in the shop that dared to confront Coin. Not buying it seemed a shame for Mr. Ollivander, who had been running back and forth for so long.
After paying Ollivander seven gold Galleons, Coin and Edward left Ollivander's.
Coin pondered the wand for a long time before realizing that the soul within it seemed to consist of only a few simple emotions, such as "I like this wizard, so I'll spend my life with him," "I hate this wizard, so I won't help him," and so on.
Now, he had to add a new emotion: the fear of running away from a Dementor who came to pick up his wand.
Considering the concept that wands change their allegiance if their masters are defeated, Coin felt that these wands were like some kind of slightly intelligent door lock. But if they saw their owner being beaten at the door, they would immediately open the door for the attacker—
fence-sitters, in other words, some intelligence, but not much.
The subsequent process of buying textbooks, wizard robes, cauldrons, and herbs went smoothly. After all, books, robes, cauldrons, and herbs didn't scurry about in fear of Cohen sucking their souls away—perhaps with the exception of "The Monster Book of Monsters" in the corner of Flourish and Blotts.
It had been alone in its iron cage, tearing at its own pages, but when Cohen entered the store, the book instantly fell silent, shivering in the corner.
[Soul Strength: 5]
What a weak book—Cohen thought to himself.
A clerk who was helping Cohen pick up textbooks happened to see the book suddenly quiet and, concluding that Cohen was his lucky star, secretly gave Cohen two Galleons and seven Sickles, begging him to take the strange book, worth two Galleons, with him.
The clerk even showed him the healed scar on his hand.
"This book is horrible... I can't believe the manager would even have such a book in the store... They're as bad as the Cornish pixies—no, at least those pixies don't bite..."
As the clerk cursed, "This thing will become a Hogwarts textbook, and we'll have to stock thousands of them, and the owner will have to manage them all—because by then the clerks will have quit long ago," Edward pushed a cart of books and school supplies out of the bookstore for Cohen.
"Ah, okay. Next, it's time to buy you a pet,"
Edward groaned, glancing at the "Monster Book of Monsters" lying quietly in the cart, as if wondering why the book was so quiet, as if it were dead.
"I finally understand why your grandmother was so reluctant to bring me shopping. A young wizard's school supplies are a bit too complicated..."
"I hope the little animals aren't as timid as the wands..."
Cohen, who had just absorbed the soul of the monster book, suddenly had a bad feeling.
In the memories of his previous life, normal animals weren't afraid of him—as long as he didn't actively suck their souls.
But whether magical creatures would react differently to the aura of Dementors was unknown...
This question was answered when he entered the dark Eeylops Owl Shop.
The owl shop, previously bustling with hoots, fell silent the moment he entered.
"Hmm?" the female store manager asked, puzzled by the sudden hushed owls. Then she saw him enter alone, carrying a purse.
Edward had stayed outside with his loaded cart, as it wouldn't fit into the small shop, which only accommodated one person. Furthermore, Diagon Alley was notorious for pickpockets—even in the wizarding world, there were always greedy people seeking to get something for nothing. Perhaps the only place these people wouldn't steal was Gringotts.
"Hello, I'd like to buy an owl," Cohen said to the curly-haired middle-aged woman, feigning innocence.
No, these birds shivering in their cages had nothing to do with him, and Cohen hadn't sucked their souls dry... "Hmm... the owls here are all very... lively..."
The store manager's prepared promotional message got stuck in his throat.
The owls were now almost all frozen like stone statues.
"Can I pick one myself?" Cohen asked politely.
Initially, Cohen didn't want to buy any more owls—if they were so scared, it seemed like buying them would be considered animal cruelty.
The owls only had two or three points of Soul Strength, and the "Monster Book of Monsters" Cohen had just absorbed, which had a full five points of Soul Strength, had only increased his Soul Integrity by 0.5%...
In other words, killing a normal owl wouldn't give Cohen as much of a boost as stealing some children's lollipops.
What changed Cohen's mind wasn't the toffee he was eating, but two unusual owls among the group.
One was a pure white snowy owl with seven points of Soul Strength, and Cohen immediately suspected it was the "Hedwig" that Harry would later raise.
And the other one...
was a roughly brown, mixed-feathered screech owl with white eyebrows and black "feather-tipped ears."
Of course, owls' ears aren't pointed on top of their heads; their true ears are beneath the feathers on either side of their heads. Even if you part the feathers, you can still see their large eyeballs through their ear holes.
[Soul Strength: 10]
Is this the Soul Strength of a normal owl?
Cohen was filled with curiosity about this owl, and of course, the owl was also curious about Cohen.
Its eyes stared at Cohen, and its head turned 90 degrees clockwise, as if examining something strange.
For some reason, Cohen had the feeling that this creature would extend a black, slender arm from under its wings and pull a bag of chips from the bag nearby—wait, why would a bird have half-eaten chips in its cage? Are
there chips in the wizarding world?
"What's its name? How much is it?"
-
"This owl looks a little old
, doesn't it?" Edward frowned as he watched Cohen carrying a screech owl that was several times larger than the other young owls.
"It's called Earl. The manager said it's been in the store for three years. If it's not sold, it might be sent to the owl post office to work illegally..."
Cohen explained to Edward.
"Oh..." Edward nodded thoughtfully, "It sounds pitiful, and it makes me feel a little sad - is this why you bought it?"
"No." Cohen shook his head as a matter of course, "Because it only sells for ten Sickles, and other owls cost at least two Galleons."
Ten Sickles to buy such an owl with an extraordinary soul strength is simply a huge profit.
(End of this chapter)