Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 131 The Annihilated Damocles

Damocles wasn't lying. Making potions was a highly technical task, so he was very confident that even if Mr. Henry stood next to him, he wouldn't be able to tell what effects his potions had.

He wasn't a master in the field of potions after all, and he didn't take the other two first-graders seriously either. They probably couldn't even write the names of the ingredients in the potions they were using!

Mr. Henry intended to leave the room as a sign of respect, but when he realized that Rice had no intention of leaving, he simply stayed as well.

Over the next hour, Damocles took dozens of potion ingredients and processed them into powders of different colors using various methods. Then, he set up a cauldron and, as if by magic, added the ingredients into it. Every now and then, he would take out a bottle of prepared potion from his robe and add it to the boiling cauldron.

Rice, who had been standing by watching the potion-making process, couldn't hold back any longer: Damocles' potion was not much different from honey water, except that it contained some sleeping, appetite-stimulating, and metabolism-enhancing ingredients. If he wasn't mistaken, Damocles had also added some dragon fruit juice, the sole purpose of which was to turn Astoria's excrement pink a few hours later.

He could tell that Damocles was there to scam funding.

Drinking the medicine will certainly not do any harm, but its effect on the blood curse is only at the level of psychological comfort.

"It's ready, please use it!"

After fiddling with it for over an hour, Damocles handed a bottle of blue potion to Mr. Henry.

"If Miss Astoria's excrement is blue after taking the potion, it means the potion has not worked. If it turns red, it means the potion has reacted with the curse in your soul and has taken effect," Damocles said. "If it has no effect, then I will change the formula."

Overjoyed at receiving the potion, Mr. Henry decided to have his daughter drink the potion prepared by Mr. Damocles on the spot.

However, his good upbringing prevented him from rushing to give his daughter the medicine. Instead, he first asked Damocles what reward he wanted.

"What reward is needed? It's just healing and saving lives," Damocles said with a faint smile.

Mr. Henry was filled with respect, but Rice, standing to the side, frowned: if a man who was clearly a swindler wasn't after money, it meant he was playing the long game and had a deeper scheme.

Should he expose him or not? After a second of hesitation, he felt relieved: since he was going to take action anyway, there was no need to worry about alerting him.

"This medicine, if fed to a dog, will make it poop red poop." Rice directly tore off Damocles' disguise.

Damocles: !

A hint of anger flashed across his face, but before he could say anything, Rice used a spell to pull a peacock in from outside the window, and before he could react, Rice fed the peacock the potion.

Birds have straight intestines, and soon left a red stain on the lab table.

Rice made a "look" gesture.

"I have never been so humiliated, Mr. Greengrass. Since this young man distrusts me so much, I shall take my leave. Your daughter's illness is no longer my concern!" Damocles stood up abruptly and quickly left Greengrass Manor.

Mr. Henry: ...

After a moment, he let out a long sigh.

"I was too hasty, and that's how I fell into their trap." He smiled bitterly.

"What's in it for him?" Daphne asked, puzzled. "He didn't ask for any money."

"Perhaps it's to have Mr. Greengrass endorse his new drug," Rice said quietly.

Daphne suddenly realized what was going on and immediately felt a deep hatred for that Damocles: if she had believed him and given her sister a placebo every day, it would have definitely delayed her treatment!

"If you really want to take any medicine, I can make some calming potions and some nourishing potions." However, Rice did not recommend that Astoria use any tonics, because the curse in her soul would absorb the nutrients from the tonics in sync with her, which might cause the curse to erupt prematurely.

"Oh? You've really gone to a lot of trouble." Mr. Henry immediately perked up after learning that Rice was willing to make a few potions for his daughter.

Even though he had just been deceived, he still chose to believe Rice.

Rice made the potion very quickly, to Mr. Henry's astonishment. He placed two crystal bottles filled with the potion in front of Mr. Henry in less than half an hour.

"The first bottle is a sleeping potion, nothing special. The second bottle is more interesting. You can apply it to Astoria's forehead after she falls asleep, so you can see the state of her soul—which will help in analyzing her condition."

"This, I really..." Mr. Henry carefully put the potion into his pocket.

"Don't mention it, consider this a return for your warm hospitality these past few days." Rice didn't take credit and chatted with Mr. Henry for a few moments. After he left, Rice borrowed the key to the hourglass door from Daphne and found out Damocles' address from her.

"What are you going to do?" Daphne had a vague answer in her mind.

"Save the magical world."

……

Damocles sat at the table, his mind in turmoil, unable to calm down for a long time. He couldn't understand how a child could have seen through him.

Will failing to fool Henry Greengrass affect the promotion of the wolfsbane medicine?

A terrible thought arose in his mind, and then he banished it from his thoughts.

"Impossible, my potion really works, I will become a hero of the magical world, the greatest apothecary of this era, and the badge of Merlin's Knights will be my for the taking..." he muttered to himself, trying to comfort himself.

"No, it won't." A voice suddenly came from behind him, startling him so much that he almost jumped up, but was pulled back by several ropes that shot out from behind him. He was then firmly tied to the chair.

A crystal bottle was shoved to his lips, and a few drops of icy potion were poured into his mouth.

"What...what did you give me to drink?!" Damocles asked in a panic.

"Veritable serum. As a pharmacist, you can't even recognize this?" Rice looked down at him and began his interrogation.

"Have you shared the formula for the wolfsbane potion with anyone else?"

"no."

Rice considered for a moment and then rephrased the question: "Besides you, is there anyone else who knows the formula for the wolfsbane potion?"

"Yes, I know, they helped me improve this recipe."

Rice: !

Damocles' answer was somewhat different from what he had expected.

"Who is it?" Rice pressed.

Under the influence of the truth serum, Damocles instinctively wanted to answer Rice's question, but the word just wouldn't come out of his mouth.

Rice turned Damocles' head to face him, looked him straight in the eye, and said, slowly and deliberately, "Tell me."

Damocles' face contorted in rage, veins bulging on his temples, and Rice could clearly hear the grinding of his teeth.

Ultimately, Rice broke through the defenses set in his mind—a complex and ancient secret spell, but Rice happened to know how to break it.

He uttered a single word as if using all his strength, and Rice heard it clearly: Secret Order.

Damocles' soul vanished into thin air along with the word. After telling Rice about the forces that had helped him improve his wolfsbane potion, the apothecary showed no signs of life.

"Interesting." Looking at Damocles lying on the ground, Rice felt that things were getting interesting.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

This is the second update. Goodnight everyone, the next update will still be at midnight.

(End of this chapter)