Chapter 116 Slytherin's Backup Plan
"Although you're yelling loudly, I knew you'd do it."
Cohen looked at the Earl with sincere and fervent eyes.
"Why do you look so strange..." the Earl said suspiciously, then two sharp feathers on his head stood up, his eyes filled with terror. "Wait—how come there are two basilisks in the school! Damn it—wait—that laboratory—you—"
"So clever," Cohen praised.
"Am I going to die?" the Earl said calmly. "I already knew this ending the day you bought me—ha, snake, it was one thing to swarm into my lair before, but now it's still clinging to me..."
"Do you have paranoia?" Cohen asked.
"No, I have you."
The Earl seemed to have lost all strength and means.
"Thank you, Merlin. It's my blessing to be an owl who is a Dementor, a Nightmare, and a Basilisk all at once. If owls had a history, I would definitely be the bravest and strongest owl in history."
The Earl couldn't refuse Cohen, but Cohen didn't necessarily want him to go to his death—
"Just be blindfolded." Cohen tied a black ribbon around the Earl's neck. "You just need to hold your wand as a witness. Whether you see or not doesn't matter, and the Unbreakable Vow is unnecessary."
"Snakes eat birds," the blindfolded Earl reminded him desperately. "Being blind makes me even more insecure!"
"They won't hurt you. I'm here," Cohen comforted him.
————————
"Hiss…" (Son, you brought food already?)
In the secret chamber, Sissoko looked with great appetite at the blindfolded owl Cohen had brought.
"Hiss…" (This is my pet owl. If I eat it, will you deliver letters to me every day?)
Cohen moved the large serpent head that Sissoko had extended towards the Count.
"Hiss..." (It will bear witness for the Unbreakable Vow to take effect.)
"I don't understand! I don't understand!" the Count said in a trembling voice. "You're not talking about how I'd taste better, are you? Wait... are you still alive without hair? You haven't already been eaten by your own father, have you?"
"No, be quiet, it's about to begin," Cohen replied to the Count. "Grab the wand."
The Count was placed on a rock that had transformed into a table by Cohen. Blindfolded, it gripped the wand Cohen had bought for it, facing Cohen and the basilisk Sissoko.
It couldn't understand a word Cohen and the enormous basilisk were hissing about.
Cohen and Sissoko smoothly completed the Unbreakable Vow process—Sissoko wasn't as resistant as Ari had been, probably because it often wandered around outside, wanting only to laze around—Ari's desire for freedom was far stronger than Sissoko's.
"What about the old basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets?" Cohen hissed at Sissoko. "Where did it go?"
"Back to its den." Sissoko nuzzled Cohen's face—the cold scales gave Cohen a warm feeling—the blood ties of the magical world. "He's a bit depressed, he's never left the castle his whole life, helping that guy—what's his name—Salazar—guard this place, and he's even being hunted down by the wizards in the castle because of it…"
"Taking it with us isn't out of the question." Cohen planned his next move.
Voldemort definitely wanted to continue commanding the basilisks to launch attacks. Cohen would move the basilisk first; without a nose, it would just be shouting, "Where's my basilisk? Where's my big basilisk?" and then nothing would come of it—
but where would they keep two basilisks? They
'd have to be fed meat every day…
"How big of a place do you need to live?" Cohen asked. "I have a large territory hidden in a box, but there are many other small animals there, and if you move in, they'll die in large numbers—then I'll have to raise them all over again…"
Norber and Ari are unlikely to be killed by the stare; the dragon's immunity is due to its bloodline, and Ari's is due to curse immunity—powerful creatures are like that.
But Norber's food supply is a different story—those dwarf pig monsters and sheep die at the sight of them, meaning Norber will have to eat hundreds of sheep in one meal.
"Can I dig a hole?" Sissoko asked with remarkable adaptability. "Just a quiet place to lie down, son. I don't have high material demands. Can you get me a few female—" "
"I was thinking of arranging a house for you," Cohen said calmly. "Now you can live in the basement, the kind where you can't even wriggle your tail if you squeeze in."
Outside, you'd have to call the Desert Reaper (or
similar creature)—normal snakes would be instantly killed by its gaze. Where would Cohen steal a few female basilisk monsters for it? Besides, basilisk monsters might not even be able to reproduce, just like mules. Nobody can expect something hatched from a male egg by a toad to continue reproducing.
Sissoko, however, seemed quite happy—Cohen suspected it didn't care about the size of its dwelling or whether there were any female snakes; it optimistically believed that as long as it had food and lodging, it could just lie down and relax.
"Let's take that old basilisk along too, I can't stand watching it." Cohen told Sissoko to call out the old basilisk. Since it was already there, they might as well take it with them—after all, it was Sissoko sharing a room with it, not Cohen. They
could tinker around with it in their spare time and see if they could build them a burrow—
[Ding! Goodwill Value +100]
[Note: So touching!]
Why is the system note so… strange?
He didn't know if it was because of saving the old basilisk or because of his earlier idea to build them a burrow—but earning goodwill value was a good thing.
"Are they gone yet?" The Count felt as stiff as a stone.
"There's another round later." Cohen patted the Count's head.
Sissoko crawled through the hole in the giant Slytherin statue in the Chamber of Secrets, and soon after, the old basilisk was brought out.
"Come on, brother, the good days are coming!" Sissoko pulled the basilisk, who was a step slower, with his tail—arm in arm, from a snake's perspective.
"Really…" the basilisk asked hopefully.
Cohen suddenly felt a pang of conscience, like a pebble stuck in his throat, because this scene resembled a gang kidnapping a lonely old basilisk from Hogwarts, and this lonely basilisk even seemed extremely eager to become a slave.
However, this feeling was fleeting; conscience only bothers for a few seconds. Cohen now only saw the bright future of having two basilisks as secret weapons.
"It's true," Cohen said to the basilisk.
Cohen went through the formulaic process with the basilisk again—but this time the result was different.
The basilisk showed no resistance, even seeming impatient, but the magic produced no sparks or special effects.
Another spell shattered the Unbreakable Vow—the magic remaining on the basilisk.
"Don't even think about seizing Slytherin's property..."
a hoarse, aged voice rang out—Cohen had never heard this voice before, but without a doubt, the one who spoke it was Slytherin.
Ps..
I need your support, Thank you.
Read 50+ advanced chapters at P@treon
[email protected]/Horizons685
(End of Chapter)