Chapter 309: Price of Blood

As the only male present, Alaric was the first to finish getting ready.

He moved to the center of the cave, holding his wand high and slowly rotating in place, carefully examining the walls and ceiling.

"Yes, this is the place," Alaric concluded after a thorough inspection.

"How do you know?" Hermione asked quietly from behind him.

"Traces," Alaric replied succinctly.

"What?" Hermione didn't understand.

"There are traces of magic here," Alaric explained.

"Magic is a skill that wizards use to manipulate rules and alter nature through their will and magical power.

In other words, magic is a form of civilization, not natural.

If your magical skills are high enough, you can detect unnatural aspects of certain places where magic has been used.

Just as Muggle civilization modifies nature, but magic's traces are subtler. Only large and complex spells leave such obvious traces."

Hermione began to understand what Alaric meant.

She watched as Alaric continued to spin slowly, clearly focused on studying the "magical traces" that she couldn't see.

"This is just the entrance hall," Alaric said after a while.

"We need to go further in… The obstacles we face now are traps set by the Dark Lord, not natural barriers…"

Alaric approached the cave wall, running his slender fingers over it, then spoke a strange incantation that even Hermione couldn't understand.

Afterward, he stepped away from the wall and drew his wand again.

"The Dark Lord didn't forget to set up an anti-Apparation charm," Alaric said with a sneer.

"However, while we can't Apparate ourselves out, summoning help is not a problem."

He waved his wand lightly.

This was a summoning spell based on a contract, bypassing the principle of anti-Apparation.

Soon, with a crackle, a small white cat named Himari appeared before Alaric.

The kitten's mouth was moving, apparently chewing on something, but upon seeing Alaric, she seemed overjoyed, meowing and leaping into his arms.

"Oh, sorry," Alaric said as he caught Himari and held her, petting and comforting her.

"It's not that I didn't bring you, but we need to dive underwater to get here. A

ren't you the one who dislikes water most?"

After some affectionate purring, Himari was satisfied.

Alaric explained what needed to be searched for, and she promptly hopped down from his arms.

Himari circled the cave twice, sniffing the walls as much as possible, occasionally stopping to use her cute paws to explore a particular spot.

Finally, she stopped and sniffed a specific area on the wall, then looked back at Alaric.

Understanding, Alaric approached and placed his hand on the spot.

"Here," he said. "We'll go in from here. The entrance is concealed."

Although it was only the second time they had seen each other, Fleur found it particularly amazing.

She had never seen a wizard solve problems like Himari did: just by looking and sniffing, finding what needed to be found.

But she already knew that making a big fuss with smoke and noise was usually a sign of lower skill, not the way of an expert.

From this perspective, even if Himari never grew, her current abilities were far beyond those of ordinary magical creatures.

Alaric stepped back from the cave wall and pointed his wand at the rock.

Immediately, the outline of an archway appeared, radiating a blinding white light, as if there were strong lights shining behind the crack.

"Did it work?" the two girls asked in surprise. It seemed too quick.

"No, not yet," Alaric shook his head.

He lowered his wand, and the outline disappeared, leaving the rock as solid and featureless as before.

Next, he didn't attempt any other spells but stood there, intently staring at the wall as if it held some fascinating secrets, occasionally marking certain spots with his wand.

The two girls stood silently beside him, not wanting to interrupt his thoughts.

After a full two minutes, Alaric murmured, "Oh, the Dark Lord's trick is quite simple."

"What do you mean, Alaric?" the girls asked curiously as they moved closer.

"I believe," Alaric said disdainfully, "we need to pay a price to pass through."

"A price?" Fleur asked. "Do you have to give something to the door?"

"Yes," Alaric confirmed. "If I'm not mistaken, it's blood."

"Blood?"

"That's why I said it's too simple." Alaric shook his head with a tone of contempt and even disappointment.

"I believe you understand the reasoning: it's meant to weaken the opponent to allow entry

. But obviously, what does blood really count for?"

"Yeah, but if it can be avoided…" Fleur murmured, still finding the price quite daunting.

"Sometimes it can't be avoided," Alaric turned to Hermione and asked, "How do you think we should handle this?"

Hermione thought for a few seconds and then came up with an answer.

"Muggle hospitals!" she said cheerfully, as if she had personally defeated Voldemort.

"Muggle hospitals have blood banks, where they store enough blood. My dad took me to see one."

Since Hermione's father was a dentist, she was familiar with these things.

"That's right," Alaric said with a smile, looking at Fleur.

"You see, this is the result of underestimating Muggles.

Although magic is a very convenient skill, our current magical abilities are not enough to disregard Muggles."

Saying this, he closed his eyes, pointed his wand at his forehead, and began muttering.

"What are you doing?" the two girls asked, puzzled.

"This is a messaging spell," Alaric explained, opening his eyes.

"Like the summoning spell earlier, it's based on a contract. I was just speaking with Orianna, you know, the one with whom I also signed a contract."

After a while, Alaric seemed to hear something and then closed his eyes again before opening them.

"She's ready," he said.

With that, he used the same summoning spell to bring Orianna.

Another crackle echoed, and a cute maid robot appeared before Alaric.

Next to the robot was a metal sphere, which also wore a black-and-white lace maid's dress, complementing the robot's outfit.

"Good evening, Daddy," the pleasant mechanical voice of Orianna said as she adjusted her maid's dress and gracefully curtsied to Alaric.

Although it felt strange at first, Alaric had long become accustomed to this address after four years.

"You've come, Orianna," Alaric said, stroking the metal hair of the girl.

"Is everything prepared?"

"Of course, Daddy ," Orianna said cutely, tilting her head. "I even thawed it for you."

She extended her small hand, and the metal sphere floated perfectly to her side, opening its top to reveal the contents.

Inside were several bags of plasma, already warmed to normal human body temperature.

Orianna handed the plasma to Alaric and then curtsied.

"Then I'll take my leave, Daddy."

With that, the already closed metal sphere emitted a blue light, enveloping itself and Orianna.

After about a second, the blue light flashed, and both the maid robot and her metal sphere vanished from the cave as if they had never been there.

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