Chapter -3

Chapter -3.

Now, leaving aside the Polyjuice Potion and its lab rats, Edwin and Nikt arrived in front of the luxurious yet old mansion.

"Take it and pack some traditional noble wizard robes in it. You can wear the new ones too if you want," Edwin said after tossing the small suitcase to the house-elf. 

He was going on an "important business trip" but there was no way he wasn't going to have fun stressing out over that stupid guy who was going to get killed anyway.

And most importantly, even if that guy gets involved with the noseless bug, he didn't care because he was confident he had the power to handle the problem at the current stage. Although the risk of his identity being exposed is always a concern, he needs to get the thing before it's destroyed, so this mission is worth taking this inconsequential risk.

"Master Edwin, may I wear the suit Mrs. Green bought for me on my last birthday visit?" Nikt asked suddenly: hearing which Edwin was surprised, as he vividly remembered when Mrs. Green suddenly gave Nikt a suit made by her husband's manufacturing company, worth 300 galleons.

"I still don't understand why someone like her would want to ingratiate herself with you, but go ahead and wear it. Maybe you'll find a lost house-elf on the trip," Edwin asked, but at the same time he accepted Nikt's wish to wear that expensive gift, as he had already altered the old rules regarding house-elves' life.

"Mrs. Green is a fine woman, and she likes you, Master Edwin, much more than Nikt does." Nikt ignored the sarcastic remark and spoke its true feelings about the woman.

Hearing that Edwin cleared his throat in surprise as he was caught off guard.

'Does this thing even know what it's talking about?' Edwin shook his head, lamenting that he had taken Nikt too seriously.

Mrs. Green is a beautiful woman in her early thirties, the wife of a struggling businessman in the clothing manufacturing industry. Yet whenever he met them, he never sensed any discomfort between them. Their relationship seemed good and long-lasting.

But now that Nikt said that, he couldn't help but remember the scene where Mrs. Green used to come to his house alone, dressed a little invitingly, and used to stay with him until evening for some reason, unless he sent her away early.

'No... you're just overthinking it. There's no way Mrs. Green would think of me like that.' Edwin shook his head again, this time using a bit of his occlumency to stave off the ecchi thoughts that were trying to take over his mind.

"Master, is something wrong? Did Nikt say something wrong?" Nikt asked as Edwin shook his head twice in the space of a minute. It had been a while since it'd seen his master behave like that.

The last time Master Edwin had shook his head like that in front of him was when his master suddenly told him to put on some new clothes, which Nikt assumed meant his master didn't want him in the household anymore: and he was seconds away from smashing his head against the wall because of that misunderstanding.

"No, you did not. Anyway, you'd better stop worrying about me and pack the clothes. We have to leave before noon." Edwin said as he walked in the house, not wanting to think about it right now.

"Oh, I see," the house-elf bowed, and disappeared from his sight without making a sound.

"Okay, let's pack that thing too, it might come in handy. I know he's weak, but who knows what that vile creature might do if I try to get hold of him," Edwin muttered under his breath and headed towards the stairs.

Edwin was pretty confident, but at the same time, he knew quite a few important details because he had killed many dark wizards here and there while searching for the key locations.

Even though he got overwhelmed once, it was relatively easy to defeat them in the end, but he still had to be careful. 

Because he had faced multiple spells that were not easily countered unless he countered them with dark spells of the same level or used his high level of transfiguration skill to protect himself. Because the dark magic contained in those spells was very powerful and could even alter the spell casting proficiency.

"Even if I have to fight a weakened Dark Lord, I don't want something like that to happen again."

Walking through a gap next to the stairs, he arrived in front of a small portrait of the dead Grandma. 

Grandma looked at him, her old mouth opened, and asked: "Password?"

"Elegance." Edwin muttered with a toothy smile.

"Yes, Elegance is the real key to success," Murmured the grandma in the portrait, smiling broadly. Suddenly, her little portrait began to rotate around the wall, and in the next moment, a small hole appeared in the wall, just big enough for someone like Edwin to fit through. 

He sighed in defeat at having to use the same embarrassing password every time he entered his late grandfather's workshop, which was now used as his own workshop to create items and many other things. 

For the past few years, all he had was a job at a Muggle publishing company, back-to-back date nights with Amelia as a rich guy, and then some risky activities in his free time, killing Dark wizards and earning bounties along the way: while creating a good network of connections around the neighboring fellow bounty hunters communities.

Which was also one of the reasons he was able to find professor Quirrell in the perfect time frame.