Chapter 32: Aragog: But I’m the Victim Here!
"We must do something!" Professor McGonagall said with a serious expression.
This was Fiendfyre!
If it continued to spread, even the castle could be affected!
"Alright," Dumbledore nodded.
He held up the Elder Wand!
In an instant, he transformed from a frail old man into...
A frail old man holding a wand!
"Finite Incantatem!"
The Fiendfyre curse has no counter-curse!
It can only be stopped with spells like "Finite Incantatem."
And "Finite Incantatem Maxima" is an advanced version of "Finite Incantatem!"
It requires an immense amount of magical power!
Ordinarily, it would take many people to cast such a powerful spell together.
But Dumbledore was able to perform it alone.
His immense magical power spread out!
No!
It wasn't just raw magical power!
Kael felt something different in Dumbledore's spell.
Perhaps this was why Dumbledore was known as the greatest white wizard of this century.
Far surpassing the likes of Snape!
The raging Fiendfyre, spitting out flames, was instantly subdued by the golden magic.
All that remained was a large expanse of scorched earth and hundreds of charred Acromantula corpses.
"Alright, Aragog, you come over here too."
"We need to understand exactly what happened!"
After doing all this, Dumbledore called out to a nearby area.
There, Aragog was leading a large number of his offspring, originally planning to retaliate against Kael.
But Dumbledore's display of power had cooled their rage like a bucket of cold water.
Hearing this, Aragog had no choice but to drag his old body over.
"And you, Kael, tell me what happened..."
Dumbledore sighed, rubbing his forehead in frustration.
He just couldn't understand it!
How could a child have so much energy?!
In the morning, he blew up the Transfiguration classroom and the Charms classroom!
In the afternoon, he experimented with a new potion!
And in the middle of the night, he set a fire in the Forbidden Forest instead of sleeping?
"Dumbledore, my children told me..."
Aragog was full of grievances.
He had stayed quietly in his lair, not provoking anyone, and suddenly his home was set on fire with Fiendfyre!
How was that fair?!
Before he could finish speaking, Kael interrupted him.
"Professor, I want to lodge a complaint!"
"Hogwarts is just too dangerous, really! Tonight, after dinner, I was just going back to my dormitory to sleep like a good boy!"
"But I was kidnapped and brought to the Forbidden Forest!"
Kael's voice was strong and confident, with plenty of evidence, even witnesses.
"My new centaur friends can testify for me—I was kidnapped here by these spiders!"
"Firenze, centaurs never lie, right?"
Firenze, who was suddenly called upon, froze for a moment.
Centaurs are proud by nature; they indeed do not lie, nor do they deign to.
The problem was...
He had just promised Kael that no matter what Kael said, he would agree!
This went against his usual principles.
On one hand, there was friendship; on the other, honesty...
But as he thought about it, Firenze suddenly realized something.
Wait, Kael's question was...
"Yes, centaurs never lie!" Firenze replied seriously.
…
"And what about the Fiendfyre?" Dumbledore asked.
"Professor, that's exactly what I wanted to say. These spiders were playing with fire in the Forbidden Forest, which is too dangerous!"
"For us little wizards, it's simply a safety hazard!" Kael said without blinking.
Next to him, Aragog listened to this, and his eight eyes widened!
He had lived in the Forbidden Forest for decades, mostly dealing with Hagrid, that big oaf.
This was the first time he had heard...
That black could be made to sound white?!
This wasn't right!
Clearly, the Acromantulas were the victims here!
Who was playing with fire?!?!
[Ding! resentful emotion detected!]
[Ding! Generating treasure chest for the host!]
[Ding! Congratulations, the host has obtained a Diamond Chest!]
…
"Compensation! There must be compensation!"
"I demand compensation from the Acromantula clan, Professor!" Kael said, ignoring Aragog.
He couldn't leave empty-handed, after all.
A lot of magical power had been wasted with that Fiendfyre curse.
"Alright, state your terms."
"I'm sure Aragog will agree!" Dumbledore replied, though he obviously didn't believe Kael's story.
Even though they had only been in contact for a day and a half, including last night...
He had already figured it out...
When this troublemaker spoke...
Trusting a few punctuation marks as a symbolic gesture of the remaining trust between people was already too much.
If he believed even a single word coming from his mouth, one day the Hogwarts castle might be sold off, and he'd be tricked into counting the money!
The Acromantula clan had been reproducing in the Forbidden Forest for so long.
They had indeed become a destabilizing factor affecting Hogwarts' safety.
And with Aragog already so old...
If he died one day, these spiders would lose control.
It was just as well to use this opportunity to suppress them a bit!