Chapter 202

While Nagini was engrossed in the film, Severus was thinking about what he had learned from Arnold. In fact, before that, the Prince had already visited his captive and while he was unconscious, calmly walked through his memories and found everything he needed, and that performance and the reaction of the wolves included in it were started only to scare and put pressure on the wizard a little, but at the same time, to give confidence that he had managed to hide a lot.

After all, only in this case, the leader of the "Black Star" will try with all his might to find a way to get rid of the mark, and this also served as an incentive to speed up the excavations in Egypt, in the hope of finding a solution in the past.

The man knew almost everything about the organisation itself, except for a few facts: who founded it and when, and where the mask passed from one head to another came from.

He couldn't find anything in the old records, so the day Severus mentioned that he had seen a similar one, Arnold immediately became interested in it. But still, he was able to find something, these were similar runes on one clay tablet found in Greece, at an auction.

It was a little over three and a half thousand years old, but he still couldn't figure out what was engraved on it, even after connecting the best Muggle and magical: archaeologists, linguists, historians and paleographers.

And even Flamel couldn't help him, the wizard also wanted to contact Amon himself about this, through Severus, after he established closer contact with him, this was another reason why he immediately gave Severus the position of deputy of the "Medi" department.

Arnold devoted long decades to studying the mask and the runes on it, he was sure that something great was hidden behind them, something that could make him even stronger, help him overcome the human limit and reach a completely different level of power, comparable to the wizards who lived in the past.

And his intuition certainly did not fail him, but the way to become stronger was always right in front of his nose, on that very tablet.

It had a theory about the core and a method by which it can be strengthened, and even a ritual specially designed for this, similar to the one used by Severus himself, but several times worse, but quite capable of pulling a wizard two hundred to two hundred and twenty years to the peak of the "Master" rank, which for this world was a real miracle, because Arnold is already two hundred and forty-five, and he is only in the middle of the "Master" rank, and in order to reach the peak, he will need to overcome another stage and this may well drag on for another hundred years.

But it is not a fact that he will simply live to see this day, because the effect of the elixirs, thanks to which he lived to his age, with frequent use tends to weaken and even if the wizard can live that long and reach the peak of the rank, he will earn a maximum of another twenty years, because due to the improper development of the core, it almost does not prolong life as it should.

In the world from which Severus came, wizards who had just stepped onto the rank of "Master" could already live up to three hundred years.

Those who reached the peak of the rank, could all live nine hundred years, and some unique ones even exceeded a thousand, although more often, the majority did not live to such years, not of their own free will.

"Archmages" could live to about two and a half thousand, but the exact limits were unknown, for the same reason.

The same applied to the "Great Archmages". There was very little information and much debate about the "Creators": some said they were immortal, others that they were no more than a hundred thousand years old, others about fifty, but there is no exact answer to this question.

But in addition to the slab, Arnold found a couple of books in the same language,and also several artefacts, only they were already in a non-working condition, and rather mediocre.

Judging by the quality, they were probably crafts of wizards, but from this world, therefore, they did not interest the Prince much, but the books, especially one, with only one word on the cover - "Istria", attracted his attention.

Therefore, he made a note to take it from him the next time they met.

For now he simply did not have time for this, for starters, Severus wanted to sort out the ritual, as well as other matters that fell on his shoulders, and only then could he allocate some time for this book.

The reason for the arrival of the leader of the "Black Star" in this country was to expand his influence by absorbing the "Golden Dragon", replacing the leader of the criminal organisation with the help of a mask, and through them, get to the rest of the groups, pitting the two largest ones against each other, and then, when they weaken, destroy them.

That was the plan, but Severus's intervention ruined everything, a whole year of preparation was flushed down the toilet and Arnold simply had no choice but to leave the country and return to headquarters, cursing one "pale-faced bastard."

As for the organisation itself, Severus did not learn much new, because the same Laurel, the deputy leader of the "Gold" department, the department engaged in intelligence and murder, already possessed a large amount of information, and from the memory of the recent "prisoner" he only clarified many points, mainly concerning the "Diamond" department, which was headed by another "Master" in the middle of the rank, a necromancer, only slightly inferior in strength to the leader.

But in addition to them, the Prince was able to learn something else interesting and it concerned the "Queens", the same organisation that recently attacked the Blacks and Macmillans and wounded his house elf.

And yes, as he had expected, they had attacked not without Arnold's permission, who had been given a very good severance pay so that he would not interfere with them, and this was only to the advantage of the second, because he wanted to check how strong Amon was, and in the worst case, the "Black Star" would have entered the battle, because during the attack on the house, the wizards of this organisation were only a kilometre away from him and were watching everything.

Little was known about the organisation itself, even to him, because they hid their secrets too well, but he still knew something, it concerned the team number one, the strongest in their ranks, which the commander of the "Diamond" squad had to face on one of the missions and in that battle he almost lost.

Besides them, he also knew of seventeen more teams, which were mostly headed by wizards, not inferior in strength to the captains of the "Black Star" squads, and in the first three there were only monsters, equal to the squad commanders and deputies themselves.

But even Arnold did not have any more detailed information, for example, about the plans or the exact location of the headquarters, which did not upset the Prince much.

After all, he was not going to rush at full speed and beat the "Queens" in the face anyway, he had his own affairs, which were much more important,than some organisation located on another continent.

"What are you thinking about?" Nagini asked him, tilting her head to the side in confusion, just as the film was coming to an end.

"Has it been an hour and a half already?" - Severus couldn't hide his surprise as he watched the credits on the screen.

"Apparently, I was thinking too much…" he muttered embarrassedly, and then answered the maledictus, with a soft smile on his face. "I was thinking about tomorrow's meeting, nothing more."

"Okay, then as a penalty we'll watch another film." the snake firmly demanded, pointing her tail at him, making a very displeased face. "And you'll watch it too!"

"~ Ahem! Ahem! Okay, okay, my little tyrant." he answered, barely holding back his laughter, and another cassette appeared in his hand, also with only one title: "Kidnapping, Caucasian Style"

"I was told that the same actors play in it as in the last film, I think we can watch it…"

"I'm all for it! The film really was very interesting and funny!" the snake nodded cheerfully, which looked very touching and, unable to restrain himself, he stroked its head, simultaneously inserting the next cassette into the VCR...

***

The next day, early in the morning, the Prince left the hotel, leaving Nagini to finish her sleep after the night movie marathon, and headed towards a store that sold magical creatures.

They had visited it the same way yesterday, but the creatures he was looking for weren't there, and when he asked "where can I buy them?" the seller replied that they weren't sold "here" at all, focusing on the last word and the opening time of "7:17," although the sign hanging on the door clearly said 6:30.

And then, having read his thoughts, he learned about an underground shop under the store with a large selection of various "animals," which opened exactly at "7:17" and not a minute earlier or later.

As for the Phoenix and Qilin, they were forbidden to be sold in Magical China, because they were considered some kind of sacred animals that could not be touched, and dragons were dangerous magical creatures of the third level, the highest in the country, and they simply would not be given to an ordinary wizard without special permission.

Severus didn't care much whether they were selling them legally or not, although most likely, if the market owners were not in on it, as was the magical part of the government, they would hardly have allowed such a thing to be done behind their backs.

It was a simple "semi-legal" business, nothing more, the same as the slave trade that existed in his world.

That's why he was so indifferent to poaching and animal trade. Severus reached the store rather quickly, and stopping in front of it, he took out a pocket watch, which showed "7:16" and there was exactly a minute left until the appointed time.

And while he was waiting, another person approached him, a man, wrapped in a robe, like himself, and silently stood next to him, from which after a few seconds, a barely noticeable smile appeared on the Prince's lips.

"Apparently this place is not rotten through and through and there are still worthy wizards ... eh ... but why am I getting into someone's showdown again ..." a tired sigh escaped from his lips and he entered the store, which greeted him, as last time, with a variety of animals and sounds, from barking to chirping and croaking.

Various reptiles and even insects were sold in this place.

For example: in one of the cages there were ten St. Bernard puppies of different colours; in others, kittens; snakes; strange birds resembling parrots, but with a beak like a crow; strange toads standing on their front legs with a crystal in their foreheads; fire and simple salamanders, the size of a palm; and in an aquarium, on a small "island", lay several turtles with shiny precious stones inlaid in their shells.

This was only a small part of the living creatures in this bright store, completely hung with cages, behind the counter of which sat a good-natured-looking elderly man in a green robe with blue patterns and a leather bag over his shoulder.

He had: a short white beard, a small bald spot in the forehead area, and on his neck hung a vial of shining yellow liquid, somewhat reminiscent of a luck potion.

His wrinkled face was adorned with a pair of dark, warm eyes, and the picture was completed by a small bird resembling a bullfinch on his shoulder.

It was the perfect image of a good-natured old man, and no one would have ever thought that under his guise there was a real poacher, who would stop at nothing to make a profit.

"Good morning, I'm here to talk about our conversation yesterday…"

"Oh-ho-ho, I remember, I remember." the seller nodded, grinning, and two magic contracts were placed on the table.

"Sign a non-disclosure agreement and follow me, you are very lucky today, just yesterday there was a delivery of new pets…"

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