HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 24 Departure, Albania

"Garian, how's the matter I asked you to investigate going?"

"I've roughly found out. Apparently, it's afraid of vampires, but where would you find vampires in the Albanian forest? We'll need to ask the plants for other details."

"I understand, Leila. Make more matcha cookies, you can put dark chocolate on top, Severe likes that flavor. How about matcha strawberry Swiss rolls? They sound great."

Under a tree at the very edge of Black Lake, there was a small round table. One of the boys, showing a complete lack of public spirit, threw bread crumbs into the lake, while a girl and another boy watched him speechlessly.

"You guys keep an eye on Professor Quirrell, I'm going to ask for leave."

Emeric couldn't find a way to move back to the cellar, and he had no reason to need to be taken care of. After searching for a long time, he finally remembered in a corner that the plants disliked Quirrell and the animals were afraid of him.

It's possible for animals to be afraid of a person, but it's highly questionable for plants to dislike a person; plants only seem to dislike people with cursed souls.

Young Master Emeric, who had always been an outsider, was now ready to get involved and deal with the thing on Severus's arm as soon as possible so he could take the man home and mark him.

"Lyra, I'm taking a week off. Could you deliver some small snacks to Severus every day? He doesn't like things too sweet. Could you research coffee-flavored cakes?"

Lyra and Gallian felt awkward looking at their young master's sweet expression. On one hand, they felt sorry for Professor Snape, who had been chosen by their young master, and on the other hand, they despised his love-struck behavior.

Emeric is not a good person. He has a terrible personality and especially enjoys embarrassing people. He once challenged someone to a duel if he was interested in them, and sometimes he even beat them so badly that they ended up in the hospital.

"Severus, I need to take a week off to go to Albania."

"Okay, remember to come back on time."

"Okay~, are there any herbs you're missing? I'll look for them while I'm at it."

Emeric started to get carried away. Severus was concerned for him; coming back on time was just a way of telling him to be careful. (Imagining things is a problem; kid, remember to take your medicine.)

"bang"

The heavy wooden cellar door slammed shut in front of him, nearly hitting his nose. Dust from the door frame fell onto his face. Emeric blinked; he had been thrown out.

Severus thought Emeric was cuter as a child; he wondered why he talked so much now that he was grown up. In the end, he couldn't help but throw him out.

"Pfft, so cute!"

The person outside laughed like a pervert. He had angered the man, but the man couldn't bear to punish him and simply threw him out the door to avoid further trouble. If he had just forcefully kissed him, would the man have slapped him in anger? Before the pain came the scent of Severus, who glared at him fiercely, wiping the saliva from his lips. Would he have blushed with embarrassment, his neck turning red from the kiss?

Emeric laughed for a while, tidied his face, and strolled to the headmaster's office to report his itinerary, and also to see if Dumbledore wanted to cooperate.

"Chocolate Cockroach Pile"

Seeing the two kissing in the principal's office, Emeric was in an even better mood. He quickly took out his camera, snapped a picture, and proudly waved it at Gellert.

"Eri, you just got beaten up, are you itching for a beating again?"

"Just kidding, here you go."

Not wanting to get beaten up and affect his next move, Emeric gave the photo to Gellert from the bottom of his heart.

"Gale, stop fooling around. Is something wrong? Otherwise, I think you'd rather stay in the cellar." Dumbledore winked at Emeric, knowing that Emeric liked Severus.

"Please keep this a secret, my dear Grandpa Albus. If he runs away, I'll sleep with you every day."

"I'm taking a week off to go to the Albanian forests. I'm really curious where the vampires come from. Oh, by the way, what's your opinion on the collaboration we discussed before?"

Emeric relaxed in the armchair, waiting for Dumbledore's answer. Once he became a child, he would have a reason to sleep in the cellar and share a bed with Severus—a sure-fire deal.

"Child, let me think about it some more. I admit I miss Ariana very much, but it involves too many things, and your father hasn't replied yet. Please forgive older people for overthinking things."

"Of course, this collaboration offer is valid indefinitely. We'll discuss the rest when I get back."

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"Semi, didn't you go on a trip with your father? Can they really live without you?"

"Young Master, please don't say that. I don't want to go on their honeymoon and be a third wheel."

In the Albanian forest, two men cautiously explored the area. One of them would take a few steps, bend down to pick some grass, and pluck some leaves.

"Young Master, if you keep going like this, we won't reach our destination today." The original plan was to complete the outer area in one day, but now half a day has passed and we haven't even reached the halfway point.

Hearing this, Emeric smiled sheepishly. He wanted to pick something of everything he saw and take it back, so he restrained himself and started to hurry on his way.

Finally arriving at the designated resting place before dark, Semi took out a huge tent and began to prepare for the night's accommodation and dinner.

On the other hand, Emeric also had a lot to do. He needed to find the lord here, correct his course for tomorrow, and see if he could find any clues along the way.

After walking for more than ten minutes, I was fortunate to have prepared an empty ring. I used a chew stick to exchange for tears from the crocodile, and used haystacks to exchange for nails from the rhinoceros. I was very safe in the forest.

After asking around, they finally found the Beast King in a mountain cave.

In the dimly lit cave, a pile of bones lay scattered in a corner. The pale bones reflected the moonlight, illuminating a small part of the deep darkness. The specks of blood on the ground made the wild beasts in the cave look even more terrifying. The beasts that were eating stared wide-eyed at the humans who had disturbed them.

Emeric raised his hands to show his innocence, channeled a little magic into the beast to appease it, and seeing that the beast had calmed down, tossed a rabbit over.

"I'll trade you a rabbit. I want to ask where that snake went." The surrounding plants told him that there used to be a very evil snake that had disappeared a long time ago. When that snake was around, many animals in the forest were eaten.

"Human, what do you want with that snake? It's been gone for a long time." A hint of fear flashed in Emeric's orange-yellow eyes when he heard that the snake was looking for him; clearly, the venomous snake had caused a lot of damage here.

"Do you know where I'm going? I need to talk to him about something, something that could be life or death for him."

"Human, I don't know about other things. You need to find the Beast King inside. There was a riot inside before that snake disappeared."

"Okay, thank you. Here, take this. It's for treatment." Emeric felt it was a good deal. He had found some clues, and giving it the mutated white dictamnus root might be useful someday. A merchant never misses a favor.