Chapter 7: Sir Oink, The Troll Slayer

Chapter 7

Today was October 31st, a day that was to be celebrated. Not only was it Halloween, but it also marked the end of a terrible war, as well as my birthday.

Yep, I had officially turned 12 years old… again.

Back in my past life, we had celebrated it by holding a large costume party at one of our mansions, surrounded by family and friends. My parents had taken every chance to flaunt their wealth, and I had received a total of 50,000 dollars' worth of presents all together.

This year however, I wasn't expecting much on account I hadn't told anyone.

Perhaps it was for this reason why I was surprised when Daphne had appeared in front of me early in the morning holding a present with bright green wrapping paper, a shiny silver ribbon placed on top.

"Well color me impressed, I didn't think you would figure it out this soon," I said with a smile as I took the offered present and gave it an experimental shake.

Daphne gave a haughty huff befitting of a pureblood, "You underestimate my family's connection Charles."

"Well, I thank you anyway. It's very thoughtful."

"Of course, we are allies after all," she said as if it was obvious.

Carefully untying the ribbon, I pulled the top off the present, part of me on guard for any unexpected traps.

However. what was inside was a black leather top hat with a blue silk ribbon at the base. I could honestly say this was not what I was expecting. Though I did recall that top hats seemed to still be in fashion on this side.

I used [Observe] on it just to make sure it didn't have any hidden 'surprises'.

I placed it experimentally on my head and gave the stoic girl a smile, "How do I look?"

"Surprisingly not completely hideous," she said stoically, though I detected a hint of warmth in her tone.

"Well I love it. Just the right amount of snazzy feel."

Crossing her arms Daphne raised an eyebrow, "Good, I expect something to reflect those same feelings when it's my birthday?"

Rolling my eyes, I took off the hat and put it away for the moment, "Don't worry Princess, I already have your present, and I'm sure you'll love it."

"Good, then I must be off," she said before turning around and leaving me alone.

She was adorable when she got shy.

However, I had no time for such sentimentalization when there was still work to be done.

I returned to my previous job of decorating the staircase banisters with black and orange ropes, to fit into the Halloween spirit. Ravenclaw house was raking in points as I and the other muggle-borns went around school with Halloween decorations trying to get others into the holiday spirit. We had already gotten approval from the teachers, well except Snape, and now we were currently in the lead with points.

Going to the seventh floor I got to work on cleaning the marble statues for any dirt with a rag and some water.

"Ah, I thank you, kind boy. You wouldn't believe how long it has been since I've been properly cleaned," spoke the stone pig as I reached under its belly.

"No problem, just trying to get into the holiday spirit," I told it as I placed a pumpkin ribbon around its neck. In truth, I was testing its foundation to see if it could be moved from the spot. Those that could would get a pumpkin ribbon while those that couldn't would get a bat one.

Next, I started dusting all of the paintings I came across, striking conversations with a few.

From an outsides perspective it must have looked like I just really enjoyed cleaning, but what I was actually doing was setting up a trap for tonight's event.

Special Holiday Quest: Troll Hunt

Do you have what it takes to consider yourself the top predator? Prove yourself by killing the troll. The prizes very depending on how many objectives you can complete before the event ends.

Objective 1: Kill the troll.

Objective 2: Do it under 10 minutes.

Objective 3: Use an unconventional weapon to deal the finishing blow.

Objective 4: Do it alone.

Objective 5: Don't use any magic.

Bronze Prize: Complete 1 Objective.

Silver Prize: Complete 3 Objectives.

Gold Prize: Complete 5 Objectives.

Seeing as this was supposed to be a special event, it was safe to assume that the prizes themselves had to be worthwhile.

Still, the whole no magic part, did make things significant harder. Though I was confident that I could still beat it so long as I was properly prepared.

Speaking of well prepared, I noticed the Weasley twins scurrying around with a box of pranking items.

A few whisper here and there was all it took for word of a muggle tradition called trick r' treating to reach the redheads' ears. The two looked absolutely ecstatic as they booby trapped the entire school.

Bang!

"Argh! Damn you Weasleys!"

"Hahaha…"

Almost to illustrate my point, a Slytherin stepped on a tile which caused him to be splashed with red and yellow paint. Everyone in the corridor laughed at his misfortune at being pranked, before cautiously looking at the ground. It was all in good fun as a simple cleaning spell would get rid of the paint.

I memorized the location of all their traps since I would need them later tonight.

After a week of planning everything was running smoothly. The only thing I was really worried about was the human factor, mainly the so-called Golden Trio.

But no matter, today would be the first step on my grand path.

Reaching my room, I took out my spirit stone.

It had already been two weeks since I took it from the gnomes. Unfortunately, I couldn't take the one that was protecting the village since it had already fused to the land. The jar of honey was completely gone at this point.

Fortunately, the dungeon would reset itself every 5 days, and I was free to raid the gnome village once more, for more honey and another spirit stone.

I had even gained a new title from my initial genocide.

[Overlord: Evil always finds a way. You have shown what it takes to be a heartless cold-blooded bastard… congratulations. You are ready to embark on the path of destruction and mayhem.

Effect: 200% boost to the dark arts.

Effect: It becomes easier to tame dark creatures, (light creatures are now cautious of you)

Effect: Territory Management Mode is activated. You can now control and modify any acquired territory remotely.]

Oh, yes, killing those gnomes was indeed the right decision. To bad I couldn't claim the area as my territory, since the dungeons were randomly generated each time, so any structures I built would disappear too.

I really needed to start looking for a place to call my own soon.

Taking a knife, I clenched it tightly enough for blood to run down the blades edge and fall on the white spirit stone.

The droplet of blood disappeared as they were absorbed by the stone, it pulsed with light in a rhythm similar to a heartbeat.

Since the description said that the type of spirit was determined by what I fed it, I decided to test this by feeding it a range of different things. Blood, potions, soul stones, plants, animals, weapons, basically anything and everything. I wasn't that overly concerned if this one proved to be a failure since I still had 3 blank spirit stones in my inventory.

Now then, classes would begin in only a few minutes, all there was left was to wait.

(Scene Change)

I watched the events unfold from my vantage point, looking down at the courtyard.

It looks like my needless meddling hadn't changed to much; Hermione was still the same insecure little girl that she was when she arrived. Maybe even more so, on account of my efforts to make her self-conscious for the past couple of days.

As someone that considered themselves my rival, the mean-spirited comment from Ron must have finally made her realize the stark contrast in position we held in our respective houses. I was the smart popular kid that everyone naturally flocked to, while she was the shy introvert that spent all her time studying. We were on polar opposites in the social scale.

"Watcha looking at," came the annoying voice of a certain Slytherin, as they joined my side.

Still I didn't let on to my annoyance as I smiled and turned to her, "Just people watching. What's up with you?"

"Nothing, just hear to give your present," she said taking out a pre-opened box of every flavored beans.

"Oh, and I'm sure you took the chance to take out all the foul ones, how kind," I said in a deadpan voice, throwing in an eyeroll for effect, then put the box filled with only foul tasting beans away.

We chat it for a few minutes before I decided enough time had passed, "Well it's been a pleasure Tracey, but I have somewhere to be and you have a class to be late to, sooo…"

Wide-eyed she finally saw that the corridor was mostly empty, "Wait, late? Crap what's the time?"

Looking at my watch, I showed her, "You're 8 minute late. I'd hurry if I were you."

She growled as she threw a narrowed glare at me and ran to her class, "I'll get you for this Charles!"

I just waved her good-bye. Now I had a couple more minutes before my own class started so I decided to double check everything one last time to be sure.

(Great Hall)

It was finally dinner time, and everything was going as planned.

Hermione was still in the bathroom crying and missing from the room.

I saw from the Ravenclaw table how Neville leaned in to tell Harry and Ron about it, with the later momentarily pausing in his shoveling of food down his throat to look guilty.

If I was going to pull it off, then I would need to act now.

I waited until Terry who was just about to take a sip from his goblet to spring my trap. A rubber spider jumped out of a pile of sweets onto the unsuspecting boy's plate, causing him to jerk back in surprise.

I was drenched in pumpkin juice from head to toe the next second, a small sacrifice.

"Oh damn, sorry Charles, I didn't mean to," he stammered trying to hand me a napkin.

I took the napkin to wipe my face, "Hey don't worry about it, the Weasley twins have been pranking people all day, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Besides, I was going to the bathroom anyway."

Terry looked relieved that I wasn't mad at him as he continued to apologize.

I stood up from my seat and headed to the entrance, passing the Slytherin table where Tracey pointed and laughed at me. I could have simply used a cleaning charm on myself, but that was a second-year spell that I wasn't expected to know yet, and seeing as no one had offered, it meant that everyone was too caught up eating to pay any attention to me.

I decided to leave the pumpkin juice on as I strolled to the second-floor bathrooms, all the others were indisposed on account of all of the dung-bombs that I had planted earlier today.

The map function in my vision showed that there was no one nearby, meaning I at least had a couple minutes before the troll came.

I walked up to the girl's bathroom, hearing sniffling coming through the large door. I knocked on the door, making sure to speak in a voice loud enough for her to hear, "Granger, it's me, Charles. I noticed you weren't at the feast."

No response.

"Granger, I know you're in there. Come out."

Still nothing.

"Okay, if you don't come out in the next 5 seconds I'll take it to mean you're in the middle of your business and leave," I announced boldly, "5. 4. 3.-"

The sound of a stall door being flung open greeted my ears before hurried footsteps could be heard coming closer. The door was finally opened by small fraction, enough to see the red-faced girl peek out.

Adopting a caring smile, I greeted her, "Hey."

"…Hey. What are you doing here?" she said, still hiding behind the door.

"You weren't in class today or at the feast so I was umm…" I trailed off, pushing blood into my cheeks and looking away, "Anyways, mind explaining what has you in such a mood to lock yourself in the bathroom for half the day?"

"…no," she said cautiously before then asking, "why are you covered in pumpkin juice?"

I rolled my eyes at her attempt to change the subject, "The Weasleys pranked our table, and Terry ended up spilling his entire cup on me."

"Why didn't you just clean it up then," she said widening the opening slightly.

"It gave me a good enough excuse to leave," I told her with a smile, "So you mind telling me what was so important for me to walk all the way here drenched in pumpkin juice?"

Hermione response was to shut the door again.

I stayed silent for about a minute before she finally spoke again, "…Are you still there?"

"I'm still here."

I heard her lean against the door and slide down, which I copied so we had our backs to each other.

"I thought it would be different," she said with a melancholy feel, and I could almost picture her sitting against the door with knees tucked to her chest.

"What do you mean?"

"I had just started my first year of Secondary School when I got visited by Professor McGonagall you see, and at the time there was a really mean group of girls that took turns picking on me. When I was told I was a witch and could study at Hogwarts I had been so excited, not because I found out magic was real, but because it meant I could get away from all the teasing at school. I was hoping this time it would be different, that I could have friends, that people wouldn't be the same… but I guess I was wrong."

"Oh Granger, I thought you knew better. You shouldn't let what other people say affect you, your too smart for that."

"I can't help it. Normally I can just ignore it, but today when Ron said-"

"Wait, your listening to Ronald, see now I know you've gone mental."

"No! I mean yes. Sort of, don't interpret me. My point is that what Ron said made me finally realize, its been months since school started yet I'm still in the same position I was back then. I have no friends, my housemates think I'm annoying, and worst of all I've just realized that I forgot to return a book back to the library."

"Look Grang- Hermione, while I can't exactly say I know what you are going through, I can sympathize at least. What you need to understand is that there will always be a Ronald where ever you go saying mean things to you. But you shouldn't listen to them, you should pity them. Pity them for being too stupid to understand just how great you really are. Trust me, when I tell you this, but you're something special. Chances are that you will graduate Hogwarts and the go out to do something amazing in the world, what ever it might be. Then you will look back to this moment and curse yourself for being stupid enough to let someone's passing comment make you doubt yourself."

"…"

"…"

"…God, I really hate you sometimes, you know," she said banging her head against the wall, "how are you so- so perfect?"

"Hahaha," I gave a short laugh opening up the window that had the count down timer for the event, "I flattered you think that, but I'm not perfect. I have flaws the same as everyone else, I'm just a lot better at hiding them."

"Being humble isn't helping your case."

"No really, even I have a couple things I'm bad at."

"…Like what?"

"Well, I can't stand gnomes for one. I have a major superiority complex. I have a minor case of OCD. And I've been told I can be overbearing on more than one occasion. So you see, I'm not perfect, you just haven't gotten to know me that well yet."

I really needed to hurry things along so I reached under the door with my finger and waited. I didn't have to wait for long as I felt another pair of fingers grab mine, "Besides, Ronald got one thing wrong. You do have a friend. So what do you say, want to get off this dirty floor already and head back to the feast?"

She gave an audible sigh, before the sound of her standing up prompted me to do the same.

Slowly the door creaked open and Hermione stood there looking uncertain, "So were friends now?"

"Weeelll, more like friends/rivals. I mean if you want?"

The bright smile she gave me could have put my lumos spell to shame, "I would like that."

"Great, then I should also mention that you're off to a bad start on the friendship scale."

"Huh, wait, why?"

"It's my birthday today, and you didn't get me anything?"

"What!?" she shouted in surprise.

"Just kidding!"

"Oh, thank goodness. So, it isn't your birthd-"

"Oh no, it is. I just wasn't expecting anything?"

Her next response was cut off short as I watched her eyes grow to enormous proportions as she stammered for a response.

[You sense danger!]

Perfect, right on time.

"T-t-t-t-"

"Huh? What are you trying to say? Your pulling a Quirrell," I continued as if nothing was wrong even as I tracked the troll turn the corner on my map.

"T-troll," she said visibly frightened.

"Troll? Oh, I get it. Trying to pay me back, not really funny though."

As the stomping got closer, I finally turned around, 'Observe'.

Mountain Troll LV 43

HP: 24,000/ 24,000

MP: 200/200

Slowly I backed away, putting on a scared expression.

It must have taken this as a sign of weakness as it gave an earth-shattering battle cry, raising its club high into the air.

I pushed Hermione fully into the bathroom before locking it from the outside. I dodged to the side at the same time that the club smashed into the old wooden door, making it deform slightly.

Hermione's frightened screams pierced my ears at the same time that I took out the box of every flavor beans and threw it at the troll's head to get its attention. I only had a few seconds to lead it away before more unwanted guest would arrive.

The box seemed to do the trick as it turned to roar in my direction, hefting its mighty weapon.

With a grin I took off.

Running through the hall, I carefully led the troll on a wild goose chase around the school, making sure to avoid the would-be paths of traveling students. I also made sure to be as noticeable as possible to gain the attention of the portraits. I needed them as valuable witnesses after all.

"Quick in here," a nearby painting that I had befriended earlier today said pointing to a door as the other chose to vacate their canvases as soon as I got near.

Entering an empty classroom, I shut the door behind me and made it to the other side just as the troll smashed his way inside.

When it tried to roar again, I threw jelly bean inside of its mouth.

As it turned turns out, I finally got a chance to use my newly gained knowledge of magical plants from the Plant Dungeon. That wasn't an actual jellybean but a super concentrated mixture of the most potent poisons I could find, shaped into bean form.

Even know I could see the beast's health slowly decreasing as the poison took effect.

I reached under one of the desks where I had hidden one of the Weasley's pranks earlier today and threw it at the troll's face.

A loud explosion rang out as the fire cracker exploded into a ball of colorful sparks, effectively blinding it.

It stumbled forward into the middle of the room, just under a large chandelier, waving its club in large arcs, turning the chairs and desk into splinters.

I calmly walked to the side of the room containing the hooks for the chandelier and untied it.

The large metal frame crashed on the poor troll's head, if the spikes just so happened to be sharpened that exact day, then it wasn't really anyone's fault. Its health dropped by another 10% bring it down to about 80 percent of its total health.

I then threw a smoke bomb for good measure before fast walking out of the room. I snapped my wand in half for added effect.

Well now, I think I had waited enough time for the others to go back to their dorms, it was time to finish things. I only had 4 minutes left if I wanted to complete all the objectives.

Once I was outside of the classroom I ran to the nearest suit of armor and took its weapon, a spiked morning star, and gave it a few experimental swings.

The grey beast finally managed to find its way out of the room and the chase continued once more.

I led it into all sorts of traps, the paintings cheering me on as they all tried to give me directions. I made a show of barely escaping the troll's attacks causing them to gasp every so often.

Finally, I made it to the moving staircase, with the troll at my heels.

I had memorized the staircase's moving patterns just for this occasion. Running up the steps I leaped toward a staircase just as it was about to move, bringing me further away from the beast that was surprisingly unaffected by the incline, probably from living in the mountains.

The troll however wasn't about to give up as it jumped and grabbed a hold of the staircase banister trying to pull itself up. I smashed the flail into its hand causing it to yell out in pain and let go.

The paintings cheered as it crashed onto the floor.

It wasn't down for long however as it was quickly got back on its feet, with the broken fingers mending themselves back again.

Mountain Troll LV 43

HP: 9,340/ 24,000

MP: 144/200

3 minutes left.

I unraveled one of the ropes wrapped around the banisters and tied one end to the staircase. As I began to make my way to the seventh floor, I connected the robes together, occasionally weaving them between the banister, forming what looked like a complex pully system.

The troll had left its club behind as it began to climb up the walls like a monkey, jumping from place to place. It tried to swipe at me a few times but I would always dodge the attacks and reply with an attack of my own.

Finally I made it to the top, just as I was running out of rope too.

"Oink, oink, what are you doing?" the gargoyle statue asked when it saw me coming.

"No time to talk, need your help," I said in a frantic and scared voice as I looped the rope around its marble stand firmly.

Two grey hands grabbed a hold of the staircase just at that moment, and I saw the enraged face of the troll peeking over the edge trying to pull itself up.

Timing was key here so I had to wait for the right moment.

50 seconds left.

Almost on cue, the staircases began to move once more, increasing the tension of the rope as they were pulled apart. The troll now fully over the banister stood there blinded by both rage and pain.

It tried to charge at me but was forced to step back as I smashed my weapon fully in it's face, using my real strength for added affect. It fell on all four as it grabbed it's face which was partially smashed in, blood, spittle and broken pieces of teeth falling on the tiled floor.

Mountain Troll LV 43

HP: 4,792/ 24,000

MP: 0/200

35 seconds left.

It looked up with it's one good eye at me with hate. I gave it a smile before calmly stepping to the side, letting the gargoyle statue hiding behind me rocket forward as the strength of the staircase pulled it off the ground.

"Jeronimo!" the pig statue exclaimed as it barreled into the troll's already abused face, sending both of them over the edge of the staircase.

As the big beast dropped to its death, it just so happened to snap the rope, causing the statue to fall as well.

It landed on the bottom floor with an earthshaking crash that caused some of the paintings to fall off their walls. It gave pitiful groan as it stared up at the ceiling only for the bottom of the statue to fall and squash it's head like a ripe grape.

I didn't have to wait long to see if it was dead as a new messages popped up in my vision.

[Gained 20,000 experience.]

Your level went up by 1.

[Special Holiday Quest: Troll Hunt] Complete!

[You obtained The Golden Treasure Chest.]

Seeing that I still had eyes on me, I decided to put on a little show, as I slumped against a wall and pretended to go into shock. The bloody weapon was still firmly in my hand. I set my internal clock for 2 hours and closed my eyes forcing myself to sleep, something that I just learned to do a few days ago.

(McGonagall)

The elder witch huffed as she ran threw the hall closely followed by Professor Quirrell and Professor Snape, who looked to be limping slightly.

Her eyes scanned the damaged corridor that looked like, well like a rampaging troll had gone through.

Only seconds ago, did she find three of her Gryffindor's out of there rooms at the entrance to the girls' bathroom. Miss Granger, who she hadn't seen earlier today had been hysterical as she told them that another student, a Ravenclaw this time, was currently being chased by the troll.

They didn't waste anytime as they followed the trail of destruction left behind.

The paints were being useful for once as they pointed to the direction of the troll.

They were just about to reach the bottom of the staircase when the body of the troll crashed in front of them. They immediately pulled their wands out, a spell on the tip of their tongue, but it was unnecessary as a gargoyle statue fell and flattened its head.

Each of them looked shocked as they were splashed with troll blood.

"From this day forth I shall be known as the Troll Slayer, oink oink" the pig statue said in a haughty voice as it looked expectantly at them.

Quirrell fainted.

(Hospital Wing)

I woke up on a hospital bed, but didn't let on that I was awake, as I tried to sense if anyone else was in the room.

The whole point of making friends with the paintings and statues was so that there would be ample amounts of witnesses for my little performance, as I didn't really feel like explaining everything myself.

From an outsider's view it would all look like I had just narrowly escaped the troll and defeated it with blind luck. Even if one were to review my memories it would only appear as a series of unfortunate events and lucky accidents.

I once again thanked my high WIS for letting me plan so well.

Truth be told I could have killed it much faster and with less risk, but this plan had the most desired outcome. By breakfast time tomorrow, I would be considered a living legend, raising my already high social standing even higher. Better still was that any and all strange behavior after today would just be seen as post traumatic shock after nearly escaping death.

However the best prize was that after tonight's events, I would forever have a loyal subordinate in the shape of Hermione Granger.

The 'Golden Trio' would still be allowed to form as they were more useful that way, but they would never be as united as they could be. Why destroy something when I could use it myself after all. I would guide them from the shadow's, using them to distract both enemies and allies alike, while I accomplished my schemes in the background.

Seeing as no one else was in the room I opened my eyes and sat up, calling up my inventory. A golden chest appeared in one of the boxes. I was tempted to open it right then and there, but quickly dismissed such thoughts as there was still a possibility of me being watched.

(Room of Requirements)

I pulled off the traumatized child act wonderfully, managing to earn Ravenclaw 50 points. My broken wand had been fixed by Professor Dumbledore, giving me the chance to use my [Observe] ability on the Elder Wand.

After answering some questions from the staff and given a clean bill of health from Madam Pomfrey, I was free to leave the hospital wing, though I was told to take it easy for the next couple of days.

When I entered the Great Hall at breakfast, I was treated to a hero's welcome from everyone.

I answered most of their questions trying to maintain my role of social butterfly and was only allowed to escape after saying I still needed to go to the Hospital Wing.

Now in the safety of the Room of Requirements I finally took out the event's prize.

The Treasure chest was beautifully decorated, made entirely out of gold and encrusted with different sized jewels. There was a Gemini emblem etched on the front top. It was big enough to fit a reasonable amount of things inside.

Lifting the lid, I frowned in disappointment when all I saw inside were gold coins. I placed them all inside my inventory hoping to find something at the bottom, but there was nothing else.

Getting an idea, I looked at the golden chest that had yet to disappear and used [Observe].

Gemini Treasure Chest- Rank: Legendary

This Legendary item has been blessed by the spirit of Gemini. Items of lower rank placed inside the chest will be duplicated permanently. The duplicate will be an exact copy and have all magical properties as the original. You can only use it a total of 3 times and can only duplicate 1 item at a time. (3/3)

I scoffed, it was almost as if the game was pushing for him to steal the Philosopher's Stone, not that he had any reason not to.

So much to do, yet such little time.