Hogwarts and the Holy Grail War

"Heh, little roast chicken. You want to seduce me, right?" Ethan smiled disdainfully, his expression even carrying a hint of sarcasm. "But I'm sorry, I'm not interested in this type of person."

With his keen sense of dark magic cultivated by Snape's teaching, he could clearly detect that these sounds were mixed with a lethal amount of Confusion and Imperius. Moreover, it was likely that the mist was also mixed with gaseous potions such as Ecstasy as a further aid.

If it wasn't Ethan who was here, but someone else who wasn't on guard, he would probably be bewitched by the voice, and under the combination of a whole set of black magic creations, he would be completely controlled and fall into the trap, and then die. Moreover, the dosage of this thing was too large, even wizards who had prepared countermeasures in advance might not be able to withstand such a powerful attack.

But as luck would have it, this set of chain control had no effect on Ethan, a nearly weak and ineffective animal. Therefore, he was not affected at all, and even felt a little nauseous because these sounds were too artificial.

All I can say is that there is a world of difference between deliberate seduction and natural charm.

But now he was completely certain that this was definitely a man-made magic barrier. No matter how amazing nature was, it would still be too outrageous if such a thing was formed naturally.

Generally speaking, according to the method Snape taught him, the first reaction when encountering this kind of barrier is to find the gap in the barrier according to the magic fluctuations emitted by the magic circle, and then escape from here. Because this is the position set up by the enemy, his every move will be controlled by the enemy. The enemy is in the dark and I am in the light, so it is easy to fall into a passive position.

But...

"Yoshi, go see which bastard came up with this."

Ethan turned the handlebars and the motorcycle roared towards the direction where the sound came from.

No matter who came up with this thing and what his purpose was, since he chose to set up this kind of barrier with such a strong confusing effect that it can make people lose the ability to resist, it means that he definitely has no good intentions.

At the same time, this also shows that his strength in frontal combat is definitely not very good, so he uses the trick of charm. Otherwise, he can just use the barrier to debuff the enemy, then jump out and use magic to stun the opponent and take him away. Why hide and wait for others to fall into the trap?

Moreover, traps of this level are of no use to him. It would be better to take advantage of the situation and pretend to be trapped to lure the enemy out. This would be even easier.

What, what if you can't beat the opponent? Sorry, that doesn't exist. As soon as the enemy appears, just chop him. If you can't kill him, throw the light spear. At worst, just use the light cannon to destroy the ground. This is the confidence that ancient magic brings him.

However, before he had walked far, Ethan noticed something strange again.

In the limited vision in the white fog, the surrounding scenery became a little strange. The direction he was heading was equivalent to the direction of the hillside. The ground should be gradually climbing, but now there was no slope, just like driving on flat ground. Moreover, the ground under his feet gradually changed from the wasteland at the foot of the mountain to a country road paved with mud and stones. There were even green weeds and scattered flowers on both sides of the road. It was completely unlike the scenery in winter.

It was as if this fog was actually a space tunnel that took me to another place.

But this is unlikely. Even if the guy who set up this maze really has the ability to cast space magic, but the magic that can create a space tunnel is only used to abduct people, isn't it a waste of talent?

Could it be that the dosage of the black magic in it was too great, causing me to have such a slight hallucination?

Following the compacted dirt road, Ethan drove into a remote village. The fog that obstructed his vision dissipated after he passed the first house at the entrance of the village, allowing him to take a good look at the environment inside the village.

The village was not big, and one could see the end at a glance. Double-story peaked houses made of stone bricks were scattered on both sides of the dirt road. There were also electric poles and randomly built wires on the roadside. It seemed that he had not traveled through time again.

"here it is?"

Ethan frowned. The village was too quiet. There were no villagers walking on the road. Only the sound of his motorcycle engine echoed over the village.

Could this also be part of a trap?

He parked his motorcycle in front of a house at the entrance of the village, got off and gently knocked on the wooden door.

"Is there anyone?"

Chapter 169 I'm Not a Suspicious Person

crunch--

The door was not locked and slowly opened inwards when Ethan knocked on it.

"Hello, is anyone here?"

Ethan stuck his head into the house and shouted a few more times. When he received no response, he slowly squeezed into the house through the crack in the door.

The decoration in the house was simple, with white painted walls, a sofa, a coffee table, an old-fashioned CRT TV and a dial telephone. A few wooden doors with peeling paint connected to the rest of the rooms, and a brand new dining table facing the door.

There were two upside-down bowls on the table. Ethan gently moved the bowls away. Below was a half-eaten shepherd's pie that didn't smell bad. He touched the edge of the baking tray with his hand and found that it was still a little warm. It seemed that the person living in this room had just left.

"Ah ah!"

Hearing a girl's scream from behind, Ethan turned around and saw a girl dressed as a peasant girl standing at the open door. She covered her mouth and looked at the uninvited guest who broke into her home with horror.

"Uh, well, I can explain..."

Ethan was a little embarrassed and stretched out his hand to explain why he broke into someone else's house, but the frightened girl in front of him didn't seem willing to give him a chance to explain.

"Don't come over here!"

Seeing the villain who broke into the house walking towards her with a ferocious face (from the girl's perspective), the girl hurriedly stepped back, stumbled over the door frame and fell onto the dirt road outside.

"Uh, are you okay?"

Ethan became even more embarrassed and stepped forward to help the fallen girl up.

But the girl ignored him, took two steps back using her hands and feet, struggled to get up, turned around and disappeared from Ethan's sight.

Ethan chased the girl outside the house and watched her figure disappear around the corner at the end of the road. He sighed helplessly.

The girl had obviously gone to call for help.

No matter what, I was in the wrong for breaking into someone else's house, so I should wait here for her to come back and explain.

Not long after, a group of people rushed towards Ethan aggressively, holding pitchforks and sickles used for farming, as well as several old-fashioned double-barreled shotguns.

"Don't move!"

The villagers surrounded Ethan, and the black barrels of guns and sharp pitchforks almost hit Ethan's body. The girl who had just escaped huddled behind a middle-aged man, trembling and sticking out half of her head to look at Ethan.

The situation became tense at one point, as if these guys would make Ethan more cautious in the next second.

"Don't be nervous, everyone. I'm not some suspicious bad guy." Ethan calmly gave a French military salute and explained, "I'm just a traveler passing by."

He now gradually understood why Dumbledore could remain calm and not show his emotions no matter what happened.

People always have an involuntary fear of unknown things because they don't know what kind of harm these things will cause to them.

For example, in the current situation where someone is pointing a gun at them, most people would definitely panic because they are afraid that the bullet fired from the gun would hurt them. After all, they have no power to resist the powerful kinetic energy carried by the bullet.

But if you are like Ethan, and you know that the thing in front of you can't pose any threat to you, and it's easy for you to block those bullets with deadly power. Then you have the confidence to chat and laugh with the good people holding guns and full of martial virtues, and even tease them if you feel like playing.

This is not arrogance, but confidence based on extraordinary strength.

"Oops, it turned out to be a misunderstanding! I'm so sorry, hahahaha!"

After Ethan gave a brief explanation, the middle-aged uncle who was leading the group laughed heartily, his voice like a bell, and waved to the people behind him, signaling them to disarm: "Alright, alright, this young man has no ill intentions. Everyone, go away and do your own things."

Upon seeing this, the villagers put away their weapons and dispersed, leaving only Ethan, the uncle, and the girl at the door.

"You can't say that. I should be the one apologizing. I'm really sorry for barging into your home and scaring you." Ethan took the opportunity to back off and bowed his head deeply to apologize to the girl in front of him.

"It's okay, as long as the misunderstanding is resolved." The girl smiled stiffly and shook her head at Ethan.

Although he could understand that Ethan had no bad intentions, he was, after all, an uninvited guest who broke into his home without permission. The resentment in his heart could not be instantly eliminated by just an apology.

"But young man, you said you were just passing by?" The uncle looked at Ethan again, "To be honest, our village is a bit remote and not on the main road to the big city. How did you get here?"

"I wanted to take a shortcut, but I got lost." Ethan scratched the back of his head and grinned, "Also, just call me Ethan."

"Okay, brother Ethan." The uncle patted Ethan's back in a familiar manner, put his arm around his shoulders and introduced, "My name is Mendes, and I'm the village chief. This is Natalia, the prettiest girl in our village."

Mendes pointed at the girl next to him who looked nervous and at a loss. The girl called Natalia nodded slightly and said with a slightly blushing face:

"Hello, Ethan."

"Ah hello."

Ethan responded politely, turned around, took out a map from the car, and spread it out in front of Mendes.

"Then Mr. Mendes, please point out the location of your village on the map."

"Let me see..." Mendes came over and pointed to a col in the northwest of Wales adjacent to the Irish Sea. "Look, it's right here."

"Ah, I didn't expect to come here."

Ethan rubbed his temple with a droopy face, feeling a little headache.

The route I was traveling was in the south of Wales, near Bristol Bay, but I didn't expect to end up in the north of Wales. It spanned almost the entire territory of Wales, so it was definitely not as simple as me running off the track.

Since I have been brought so far, as long as I try to leave, there will definitely be someone who can't help but come out to stop me.

"If that's the case..." Ethan began to index the route from the col, pointing all the way down to the location of the Red Tomb City, "Just go south from this route, and then southwest. Thank you, Mr. Mendes."

"Are you leaving now?" Mendes asked. "Why don't you rest in the village for a while before continuing on your journey?"

"Forget it, I won't bother you any more." Ethan smiled, got on his motorcycle, started the engine and prepared to leave.

"Mendez! Something bad has happened!"

A young man dressed as a fisherman ran over in a panic, shouting out of breath.

"The...the banshee appears again! Louis has been dragged away!"

Chapter 170 This is called professionalism

"What? Louis was... who told you to go into the sea!"

Hearing the bad news, Mendes was surprised at first, then his expression immediately turned into anger. He scolded the young man who came over: "Didn't I say that fishing is prohibited until the matter is resolved? Why don't you learn your lesson!"

"But...it's winter now, and there's nothing to catch in the mountains." The young man pointed his finger humbly, lowering his head and not daring to meet Mendes's gaze. "Let alone selling it for money, we can't even feed ourselves. There's no other way except to risk going out to sea to fish."

"You guys!" Mendes raised his hand to slap the young man, but after thinking for a moment, he put his hand down and said, "Let's go over and take a look first."

"Wait a moment."

Ethan turned off the motorcycle, got off the car, and asked, "What is this banshee you just mentioned?"

"Ah, brother Ethan." Mendes smiled apologetically, "This is an internal matter of our village. It's better for you not to get involved. Aren't you in a hurry to get on the road? You'd better leave here quickly."

"That's not the way to put it, Mr. Mendez." Ethan patted Mendez's shoulder. "You just showed me the way, so I can't just ignore your business. More people means more power. Maybe I have a way to deal with them."

"...Okay, come with us." Mendes hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "I'll take you there first, and we'll tell you the details on the way."

Mendes took Ethan all the way to the beach, explaining things to him.

"Our village is located in a remote area, too far away from nearby cities, so the communication with the outside world is not very close."

"We are generally self-sufficient in life. After all, we live by the mountains and the sea, so hunting in the mountains and fishing in the sea are our main sources of food. The excess can be brought to other cities to sell for money and exchange for daily necessities."

"But a week ago, a few young men went out to sea to fish and never came back."

"The next day we organized a team to search for them, but an accident also happened. In the middle of the night, only a young man came back, all wet, and told us that a monster appeared in the sea, making beautiful songs. The rest of the people who were traveling with us were bewitched, and they stood there stupidly, muttering words like 'beauty' and 'treasure'. The ship sank inexplicably without anyone to control it. He was not completely bewitched because his ears were not working well, and he managed to stay awake and escape back by chance."

"We didn't really believe it at first. But two days ago at noon, when I was fishing near the coast with a few young people, we saw it with our own eyes."

"Those monsters looked like human women, with pale skin with a hint of green. They were submerged in the water with their upper bodies exposed, and they were singing beautiful songs. I was quick to react and quickly blocked my ears with a piece of cloth, but the other guys were slow to react and were completely bewitched by the monsters. No matter how I called them, they didn't respond. Fortunately, after I moved the boat out of the range of their singing, the guys who were tricked gradually woke up."

"Monster?" Ethan trotted calmly beside Mendes, and frowned after hearing his description.

Mendes' description of the victim is almost exactly the same as the warning given by the fat police officer before. This is definitely not a coincidence. There must be some connection between the two.

If what Mendes said is true, this creature that uses singing to confuse people's minds is most likely a siren, a subspecies of mermaids. Compared with several other subspecies of mermaids, such as Melki and Milo, sirens have more beautiful appearances, and humans will also experience varying degrees of trance after hearing their voices.

Because of this characteristic, a hypothesis has recently emerged that the Sirens are actually hybrid magical animals produced by the combination of some other subspecies of mermaids and Veela. That is why they have unique beauty among the mermaid subspecies and can confuse people's minds like Veela.

But it didn't make sense. According to what he had learned about mermaids in the Care of Magical Creatures class, the Siren subspecies was the most gentle. They lived quietly underwater and would not actively provoke humans. How could they do such a heartless thing?

"Then you didn't seek help from the outside city?" Ethan asked, "Like calling the police?"

"Of course." Mendes sighed, "I called the police after I came back from the sea that day. Yesterday, the police arrived at the scene to investigate and said they had to go back to deploy manpower, so they told us not to go near the beach for the time being."

"The reinforcements were supposed to arrive tomorrow, and I also issued an order in the village not to go fishing before then, and wait until the police have investigated the matter thoroughly. I didn't expect that Louis, that troublemaker, still didn't care... Oh, what a sin!"

Mendes glanced at Ethan again when he said this: "So if you feel scared, just leave. No one here will blame you. Leave this matter to the police. There is no need for you to get involved."

"Mr. Mendes, you may not believe this." Ethan smiled and began to speak, "I am actually a person with super powers. I make a living by solving various supernatural events. Traveling around is just a side job. The things you encountered happen to be within the scope of my business. I am an expert in this field."

"You?" Mendes looked at Ethan while running, smiled and shook his head, "Brother, don't bluff me. Although you may really be a superpower, you are so young, probably only in your early 20s. I'm afraid you are not qualified to be called an expert, right?"

Ethan shook his head and smiled without saying anything.

Would you be more surprised if I told you that I'm actually only 15?

"We're here." Mendes pointed to the coastline not far ahead. A group of people had gathered on the beach, chattering and pointing at the sea in the distance.

"Get out of the way and let us pass." Mendes took Ethan to the front of the crowd.

"Mendez, why did you bring him here?" One of the villagers recognized Ethan, who had just been treated as an intruder, and said with some dissatisfaction.

"He is an expert in this area and can help us get rid of these monsters," Mendes said, "so I brought him here."

"Isn't this too much of a coincidence? What if he is a liar?" the man muttered.

"Okay, he's a liar. I'll drive him away now and let you deal with those monsters." Mendes glanced at the man and said, "Go ahead, Brad."

"I'm just saying a few words..." Brad stepped aside awkwardly, "Let the experts take over."