Alex quickly washes up in the small but functional bathroom, showering completely in the dark. He can’t help but glance into one corner of the room, using Gyo out of reflex.


    “...”


    …


    ??


    Alex stretches out his hands, and Jewel slowly descends into them. He then gently washes off Jewel’s hard, metallic carapace-like body.


    Alex stops the shower and grabs a few towels, drying himself and Jewel.


    Still carrying Jewel, he walks toward his room and immediately lies down, while Jewel climbs onto his stomach.


    — [Scene Break] —


    Alex slowly opens his eyes. The sun is already shining through the small window in his room. Jewel, still lying on his stomach, shyly looks at him.


    Alex quickly dresses and goes downstairs. To his surprise, nobody is there, aside from a plate of food Menchi obviously left for him.


    Alex knows his pet is right, but he can’t help shedding a tear. He can’t laze around like usual.


    — [Scene Break] —


    During dinner, everyone has already finished, but Alex is still sitting at the table, slowly eating his food.


    “What’s wrong, Alex? You slept so long, but you still look tired,” Tereza says, hugging him from behind.


    “Jewel is so energetic. We were hunting for hours in the forest. Nothing to show for it aside from a few [Gems of Corruption],” Alex responds, still exhausted.


    “Jewel is more like a dog than a spider, huh?” Tereza responds in a smug voice, using every opportunity to jab at Jewel.


    “You guys are so silly, stop it,” Menchi chimes in before Jewel, sitting on Alex’s head, can respond in kind. “Anyway, let’s open the chest from yesterday. I’m curious!”


    “Wait a minute,” Alex says, slowly waking up. He turns around and looks at the group. “Tell me what’s going on. Any reactions? What’s the situation in the castle?”


    “Didn’t read your newspaper? You fed your reporter friend so much gossip and even subscribed to the Daily Prophet. You might as well read it,” Rishi comments, slightly amused.


    S~ea??h the N?velFire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Alex grabs the copy of the Daily Prophet and begins to read. Immediately, he sees a moving image on the front of the paper, showing a broken cage, some agitated dragons in cages, and a burning forest, along with the headline: Terrorists Target Triwizard Tournament! Dumbledore Humiliated!


    Alex begins to read, Jewel sitting on top of his head, doing the same, her many eyes quickly scanning the paper:


    “Hmm, written by Barnabas Cuffe, the editor-in-chief himself,” Alex notes, flipping to the other pages.


    “Then there are articles about Dumbledore’s failure, all written by Rita Skeeter. The task itself is praised, with Harry getting a lot of attention. Hmm. Looks like the more serious and fact-based journalists think terrorists kidnapped the dragon and want ransom. Rita, however, is speculating that Dumbledore himself kidnapped the dragon to steal its heart, to create powerful dark wands using dragon heartstrings to build his own army. Heh, that’s pretty funny, though I wonder if people will believe this crap. It’s so out there. It’s slowly getting ridiculous,” Alex comments while reading the newspaper, unexpectedly excited and enjoying the experience.


    “So, what’s going on in the castle?” Alex finally asks the group.


    “Sev is no different than usual. He’s seemingly unaffected by these events. However, he gave me tasks and left me alone, even letting me take over classes because he went to Dumbledore for various meetings. I think he also left the castle to check out the forest at one point,” Menchi says.


    “I can’t tell you much. The only thing I noticed was Harry participating in classes again. I’m actually sitting next to him in some,” Tereza says.


    “Tell him he can visit any time, but he needs to keep up his Nen training. Of course he can take a small break, but he should keep up his daily Ten and Zetsu training,” Alex says, Tereza nodding at him.


    Everyone now stares at Rishi, the man who spends his time either in the library or with Dumbledore himself.


    “Dumbledore is panicked. He tries his best to hide it, but he’s clueless. After the first task, he was focused on Cedric, contacting not only St. Mungo’s but other acquaintances, solely focused on finding a way to help him recover. He took a long time to arrive at the scene and noticed nothing. He has no idea why the dragons were targeted. Dragon parts are valuable, but this incident is just illogical to everyone… aside from us players, of course,” Rishi explains.


    “The good part is, since not a single wizard died, and the only thing missing is a single dragon, there won’t be a large investigation. The Ministry is treating this as a simple case of theft of a dangerous beast—it’s punishable by only up to five years in Azkaban, by the way. Of course, there’s still the case of using Garroting Gas on the Dragonologists, but it isn’t that rare or hard to make. Also, they also only suffered light injuries. It’s also hard to prove that such a gas was used in the first place, since the Dragonologists are already out of the country. My guess is they won’t be cooperating with any investigation. Surprisingly, we’re fully in the clear.”


    Rishi now stares at Alex. Tereza grabs his right shoulder, Menchi his left shoulder, while Jewel stares down from his head toward his hand.


    “... Okay, fine. Let’s open it,” Alex says.