Chapter Thirty-Five: The Curious Object

Amidst a flurry of enchantments, the hat flew to a passageway beside the great hall. Then, the hat expanded, merging seamlessly with the corridor. Outwardly, the passage appeared unchanged, but when Louis perceived it in four dimensions, he found it had transformed into a Klein bottle. Anyone entering would find themselves lost in a labyrinth, almost impossible to escape unless they had mastered the art of Apparition.

That hat belonged to those three people—they knew how to dispel its magic and how to Apparate. Yet even so, they did not manage to escape. In terms of skill, these four were actually quite capable—certainly stronger than the two unlucky fools from earlier that day. Even after succumbing to a nightmare curse, they managed to break free and launch a counterattack.

At first, they had merely played along with Louis, but after a few exchanges, they realized something was wrong. They discovered the Faceless Man was learning their spells—and with each use, growing more adept! Most terrifying of all, their killing blows were either batted aside with ease or landed inexplicably elsewhere, the result of four-dimensional twists. That person was not fighting, but toying with them!

The four tried to flee. But the labyrinth had changed—the Klein bottle was now so distorted that even its owner couldn’t find a way out. One of them was rather skilled at Apparition, executing the spell with consummate ease. Yet, whatever foul trick the Faceless Man had used, the wizard found himself in exactly the same spot after Apparating—and his body, like a pile of blocks, was jumbled and misaligned. More horrifying still, upon inspecting himself, he found nothing amiss!

Then Louis gathered them all together and finished them off. In their final moments, they gazed up to see a writhing mass of serpents in the sky. Many black snakes seemed headed for the heavens, yet burst apart within their own bodies. The high hat was the spoils of this battle.

It was a mid-tier magical artifact, quite effective. Without knowledge of four-dimensional structures, it was nearly impossible to detect. After playing with it for a while, Louis returned the hat to his pocket and took out a pile of miscellaneous trinkets.

First were various magical materials, all of excellent quality and very expensive. For instance, a small bundle of Nightweaver spider silk was worth over thirty gold Galleons—there were five or six bundles here. There was also venom from the Eight-Eyed Spider—a pint (500ml) of it was equivalent to two months’ salary for an ordinary professor, a full hundred gold Galleons. Here, there was an entire jar, about two pints in all. There were plenty of other valuable materials.

He found a trove of fine potions as well, including a highly effective restorative that could regrow lost limbs, along with antidotes and curse-breakers. There were also various magical powders: Floo powder, Obliviate dust, Sleeping powder, and more. Among them was a particularly sinister exorcism powder called "Beheaded Toad-Lark," concocted from a living magical creature through a cruel process. When released, it produced the cry of a toad-lark and could drive away evil. The four had even tried to use this stuff on Louis during the fight.

With these supplies, his stock of wizarding essentials was now complete. After sorting everything, Louis took out some small trinkets—magical tools or low-tier artifacts. He kept the interesting ones and tossed the rest into the mirror.

The "Louis" in the mirror sorted through the discarded items and reported, “Master, if we sell these through Underrealm channels, they’d fetch about two hundred gold Galleons. But the Underrealm’s prices are rather shady. By my estimation, just these wands alone are worth more than two hundred.”

“Hmm. Their skills were mediocre, but their equipment was impressive. See to it for me,” Louis replied. Then he looked up, “How about those four prisoners?”

“All wanted criminals!” Stewart said excitedly. “Their total bounty exceeds eight hundred gold Galleons. I’ll claim it for you under my name.”

Eight hundred gold Galleons—Louis was a bit surprised. If he could earn that every week, he’d be rich! After all, a head professor’s monthly salary was only sixty to eighty gold Galleons, and professors at Sacred Oak were paid handsomely.

“Eight hundred Galleons’ bounty,” Louis mused, stroking his chin. “Those four must have committed quite a few misdeeds?”

“Indeed! One of them has even been in and out of prison—he was known as the Seven of Spades in the Black Prison of Hexagonal Tower. His name is Fern. I’d never mistake him. Years ago, he was the Dean of Discipline at Sacred Oak Academy. After his crimes, he turned to villainy, becoming a notorious criminal! His life story is fascinating—I can’t wait to examine his soul.”

Louis nodded; this "Fern" must have been the one highly skilled in Apparition. Of them all, he alone had put up a semblance of resistance.

“Seven of Spades? What sort of criminal is that?” Louis asked curiously.

Stewart explained, “It’s a ranking system the Black Prison wardens use to evaluate outside wizards. We don’t just assess prisoners—any well-known wizard who’s made the papers gets a ranking.”

“Many wizards have numbers, but only a select few are marked with suits: Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, or Clubs. J, Q, K are the kings, of course.”

At this, Louis nodded. In this world, J, Q, and K represented famous kings and queens of history—J as the youthful figure, K the elder.

Stewart continued, “J is the uncrowned king, a title earned solely on individual merit. Q and K are from great families that have produced witch-queens or wizard-kings—each with their own legendary techniques, formidable all. Only the most famous among them bear all four suits. As for Aces, they’re the leaders of the Magic Council, Parliament, or the academies. And the Jokers, well, you know.”

Stewart elaborated: aside from the Ace and Jokers, the rankings were fluid, especially in the Black Prison—today someone might be the Three of Clubs, but if they take out a big shot tomorrow, they move up. Q and K were rarely challenged, given their noble lineage and power, with countless followers. J, the uncrowned kings, were often of humble birth, and to bear the title was an extraordinary feat—their strength rivaling any K. Especially now, J’s have held their positions for over a decade, and any appearance of theirs would send every wizard in places like Blackhorn Alley trembling.

After hearing all this, Louis understood: the higher the rank, the greater the power and influence. Lower ranks might have less prestige, but not necessarily less strength.

“Master, any wizard with a number is well known, those with a suit even more so—their bounties are exceptionally high. According to reliable sources, there’s still a notorious dark wizard active in Blackhorn Alley, worthy of the lowest cells. Many of our people have fallen to him. If you were to capture him, the reward would be immense.”

“Stewart, you can handle that yourselves,” Louis replied, counting the coins he’d taken from the four. What a joke—this sounded like a major boss! He was only interested in testing spells—battling weaklings or great sharks was all the same for practicing magic, so why pick a fight with the biggest fish?

That was terrifying.

He planned to play with the Voodoo Gang next—they sounded like hapless fools. He’d deal with them before considering anything else.

Stewart wasn’t bothered by Louis’s refusal. After all, this man could reduce a dragon to a sieve, and the spell that turned people’s bodies into jumbled blocks was so bizarre Stewart couldn’t even fathom it. Stewart was certain that the super-shark known as the Jack of Diamonds, Magician Harold, would sooner or later fall to the boss as well.

Compared to Magician Harold, Stewart was more curious about his boss’s own past exploits. If his boss ever ended up in the prison, Stewart would make sure, just as he had for the lad who slew the thousand-year-old dragon called Skum, to reserve the boss a private cell in the lowest level.