Chapter 159 - 159 Back to Castle Dracula.
Chapter 159: Back to Castle Dracula.
Half of the sun had set beyond the distant skyline, a bright haze of great beauty coloring the sky red in the afterglow of the setting sun.
A line of mist floated over the forest below, reflecting the vexations on the ground and adding to the brilliance of the sky.
The silver luxury car flew silently in the half-light, half-dark sky, and its body was also colored by the haze with a splash of crimson, rendered interlaced with the curtain of stars that were gradually rising in the sky.
Now that the car was no longer exposed to ultraviolet light, the ink tint on the glass had been manually turned off by Dracula.
He looked through the car window into the twilight of the Albanian forest, which was slightly reddened by the setting sun, and his brow furrowed slightly.
Even at the end of the day, Dracula hadn't noticed any unusual sights in this forest or any more unusual locations.
'Maybe it's just that I'm overthinking it?'
He thought silently as he held onto the steering wheel and took one last look at this forest below him that was about to fly over the end.
Newt sat in the passenger seat with Sniffy Teddy in his arms, stroking his plush fur.
This Sniffy had just done a great job and managed to poke his little paws out of the box and release Newt from inside the tightly closed lid.
As for Dracula, the culprit who had closed the lid and fastened the snap button, he butchered out of the box with his Dark Moon magic early on, and lifted Newt with the box directly outside the Rolls Royce before the two of them once again embarked on their journey to Romania.
The car sped off in a northeasterly direction.
Time passed, and as the stars rose high in the sky, a steep mountain appeared at the end of Dracula's field of vision.
Black as ink, the walls of the castle stood darkly above the crest of the mountain, and an overcast cloud hung between the peaks, obscuring the outline of the castle's molded lake.
Like a hook of the bright moon hanging above the gloomy clouds, the cold moonlight was cut by the clouds into layers and pieces of trivial shapes, messy sprinkled on the walls, vaguely illuminated a few flying bats shadow, a gloomy scene.
But amidst this eeriness, there was no lack of an alternative atmosphere and prosperity.
"Then ... welcome to Castle Dracula, Mr. Scamander."
Dracula hooked the corner of his mouth and said to Newt beside him.
Newt raised his head a little sleepily to the treacherous mountains shrouded in overcast clouds and illuminated by the messy moonlight, and the castle standing on the crest.
"Is this the legendary Castle Dracula?" He couldn't help but see a flash of surprise in his eyes as he muttered, "I always thought that Castle Brown was the home base of the Romanian vampire community, but I didn't realize that there was another, even bigger, castle hidden behind it."
Newt sat up straight and moved his somewhat sore waist and neck.
Still old after all, Newt felt a little woozy after a few hours of sitting in a car, even if the seats had been transformed by Dracula's magic.
Sniffing Teddy, who was curled up in his arms, was sleeping soundly, and after being woken up by Newt's movement of his body, he gave him a grumbling look, grunted and rubbed his eyes, and unfolded his two short arms and stretched his waist.
Teddy then crawled up Newt's legs to the windshield of the car and pressed his two little eyes against the glass, looking out the window with a curious expression at whatever glitter was caught in the moonlight.
"The truth is, Castle Brown is just a front, Mr. Scamander."
Dracula had one hand on the steering wheel and the other casually rubbed Sniffy Teddy's head, earning a disgruntled look from Teddy before he smiled at Newt:
"Let's see how to describe it ... Castle Brown should count as a Castle Dracula's foreign office, right? Some of the peripheral vampires would be on duty there while overseeing the behavior of other vampires."
"After all, vampires are still creatures of darkness, and there are always some unruly ones who like to sneak off and suck muggle blood. We're the ones who are responsible for the law and order in the area."
Dracula introduced himself to Newt.
"Responsible for law and order?" A very ridiculous emotion surfaced in Newt's eyes.
Even a magical zoologist like Newt, who had no discrimination or disdain for any creature, simply could not associate the term vampire with policing.
Newt, unlike other wizards, did not have a stereotypical image of vampires, who were classified as "human beings" by the Ministry of Magic, and knew that there was no lack of vampires among the vampire group who could communicate with normal people.
Even in this group, there are also vampire singer Lorcan Deuis and other very good and successful people.
But as a magical zoologist, Newt also knew that most of the vampires at the bottom of the hierarchy hadn't escaped their old habits after all, and still maintained the impulse to suck human blood indiscriminately, with no way to control their own desire to feed.
This kind of vampire tends to be, as the stereotypes of the wizards suggest, a destroyer and stirrer of law and order in the magical world.
Therefore, he had no way to imagine that this Dracula Castle actually had a special external office of Castle Brown, which was used to maintain the stability of the magic world society!
"Don't be so disbelieving, Mr. Scamander." Dracula laughed softly, "Let me ask you a question first: in this area of Romania, there is a place where a large magical accident that jeopardizes law and order suddenly occurs, what would be the first thing you would think is the cause?"
Newt froze for a moment, somewhat hesitantly:
"Although I wouldn't subconsciously associate it with what kind of person caused the magical accident, but if you think about it differently ... the wizards living in Romania, probably the first thing that comes to mind is what vampires and werewolves did, right?"
"I remember spending some time at the Fire Dragon Reserve in Romania." Newt's eyes flickered in thought, "At that time, whenever a fire dragon was harmed in any way, the dragon tamers at the reserve tended to look toward vampires for suspicion first."
"The Romanian werewolf packs were slightly better in comparison, as they were still infected by humans after all, and were only aggressive and uncontrollable enough when the moon was full."
"However, vampires are different, in the general opinion of witches, vampires need to drink blood no matter what time of the day, and have the uncontrollability of not being able to control the desire to suck blood."
While saying that, a surprised look gradually emerged in Newt's eyes, "So ... in order to prevent others from suspecting you, the vampire's group took the initiative to make the act of policing the magical world?"
"That's sort of one of the more important reasons." Dracula nodded gently, "In order to prevent other magical mishaps from jeopardizing the already not-so-positive reputation of the vampire's group, we naturally have to take responsibility for policing the Romanian magic community."
"Of course, that's not the main reason." Dracula's mouth suddenly quirked up in a fastidious manner.
"Have you ever dealt with the Romanian Ministry of Magic, Mr. Scamander?" He asked softly.
"Not exactly dealt with ...," Newt said, "but I've met a few officials from the Romanian Ministry of Magic before when I was at the Fire Dragon Reserve, and during the day when I was interacting with Minister Abbottel he talked to me about the Romanian Ministry of Magic."
"This is how Abbottel commented on it - he told me that those wizards from the Romanian Ministry of Magic were usually very arrogant, but as soon as the name of the Black Magic Defense Arts professor from Hogwarts was mentioned, they would immediately turn into a look of secrecy... ..."
At this point, Newt's words suddenly stalled.
His eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Dracula with an incredulous gaze.
"Could it be that ..."
"You guessed correctly, Mr. Scamander." Dracula smiled pleasantly, "Under the years of Castle Dracula's operation, the Ministry of Magic in Romania has long been occupied by high-ranking vampires for the majority of seats."
"By maintaining law and order in the Romanian magic community, we are also supporting the work of those companions in the Ministry of Magic, why not?"
"No wonder ... I used to think that Romanian wizards were all very enlightened, that they were actually willing to share a magical community with vampires." Newt showed a dawning realization, "It seems that under the influence of Dracula's Castle, the wizards here are already light on vampire prejudice."
"I actually had quite a profound experience when I lived in the Fire Dragon Reserve-" Newt said.
"Most of the wizards who stereotyped vampires were dragon tamers from other countries; those born and bred in Romania, on the contrary, had little else to say about the pack."
"I vaguely remember that whenever some foreign wizards from the Fire Dragon Reserve tried to question the vampires, the officials of the Ministry of Magic would always make a big deal out of it and take those wizards' questioning lightly."
Newt laughed out loud with emotion as he spoke.
"That's truly remarkable, Professor Dracula." He said with emotion, "To be able to do this, it should be hard, right?"
Looking at Newt's sincere eyes, Dracula's expression suddenly became a little unnatural.
"Ahem, it's not that uncomplicated ...," he coughed dryly.
How was this matter going to be explained to Scamander?
Is it hard to tell him that he hadn't paid much attention to the vampire community at all in the past few hundred years, and that the one who subconsciously changed the vampire's reputation was actually his own inexpensive daughter, Serena?
Dracula silently shook his head.
As a Dracula Earl Lord but as a shirker, that would be too disgraceful ...
In the middle of the conversation, Castle Dracula and the treacherous mountains below were getting closer and closer.
Trivial moonlight unconsciously sprinkled on the silver body of the car, and Castle Dracula loomed up in front of them, as if it were a heavy paperweight, firmly pressed on top of the mountains.
Just then, a figure suddenly leapt up from the walls below.
A pair of wings stretched out from his back and flapped gently, driving the figure to fly, eventually stopping in front of Dracula's Rolls Royce.
"Ahead is Dracula's castle, outsiders are exempt from entering!"
A cold voice came from the direction of the figure.
Dracula slightly raised his head, using his extremely excellent night vision to look ahead of the vehicle.
The figure that stopped in front of the vehicle was clearly a high-level vampire.
His face was not too evil with the evilness of a blood, but instead had a civilized look. His hair was meticulously combed into a neat quiff and seemed to have hairspray on it, with a well-trimmed goatee above his mouth.
At the sight of this image, Dracula quirked the corner of his mouth with interest and rolled the window down gently.
"Why are you the one on duty here, didn't I grant you a vacation?" He asked tantalizingly.
The high-ranking vampire who stopped in front of the vehicle had originally put on a cold, cruel demeanor, wanting to put up the demonic image of the vampire clan and directly scare the visitor away so that he would not have to do anything.
However, after hearing Dracula's voice, his cold expression instantly became taut.
"Dracula-sama?!"
His eyes widened in surprise, and through the window of the car with his equally very good night vision, he saw the demonic and handsome face, and the iconic silver hair that cascaded behind him.
"I was wrong, Lord Dracula, I really didn't know it was you." He flapped his wings and flew outside the car window, apologizing to Dracula somewhat awkwardly, "Why did you suddenly come back, and didn't let us greet you in advance?"
It could be seen that this senior vampire tried hard to bend down and salute, but the flapping of his wings in the hovering state needed to maintain balance, and he was not able to bend his body at will.
So he could only keep his head down and silently look at his toes hanging in the air.
"It's fine, it's not like you're to blame." Dracula lightly laughed and waved his hand, "Speaking of which ... time have I returned to the castle to inform you guys?"
"Eh ..." The senior vampire looked at Dracula dumbfounded, and silently moved his eyes back to his toes.
As a new young vampire who had been here for less than a hundred years, he was completely unaware of Dracula's behavioral habits, and he didn't dare to express any opinion at this time, so he could only continue to remain silent.
"There's no need to be so nervous, I'm actually quite easy to get along with." Seeing this subordinate's nervousness, Dracula carelessly pulled a family affair, "How was your recent vacation?"
Saying that, he suddenly hooked up the corner of his mouth with interest, "Did that old Auror named Robert remember anything about your memories, Tesla?"
That's right, the young senior vampire in front of him was the protagonist who had been written by Giedroyd Lohart in the book "Traveling on a Ship with a Vampire".
Lowhart had snatched the memory of the old Auror Robert, who had actually traveled with the vampire on the same ship, and had also unceremoniously erased the memories about Tesla from this rare wizard who was willing to make friends with the vampire, and that was how he had written that best-selling book.
However, Lowhart's proudest spell of forgetfulness was countered by Dracula a few months ago, losing most of his own memories.
He'll probably have to spend the rest of his life in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries. It was even more likely that he would be swept away by the hospital and become a brain-dead vagabond when the money he had accumulated from writing his books was completely spent.
Using the forgetting spell to do bad things all his life, Lohart got this kind of end, but it is also a kind of retribution.
However, Robert, who had his memory erased, lost the only friend he had in his life.
It was in order to salvage this friendship that was on the verge of breaking that Tesla gathered the courage to ask Dracula for a long vacation ...
"Lord Dracula, you were absolutely right at the time, Robert will probably never in his life remember the experiences we shared then." Tesla sighed.
Then, a hint of joy appeared in his eyes, "But I used this time to get reacquainted with Robert. It's just a matter of making a friend by stalking him, he didn't have to say no."
"So now you've become friends again?" Dracula asked, giving him a somewhat surprised look.
"Uh-huh!" Tesla nodded heavily, "Dracula-sama, and then I wasn't lazy at all and came back on duty immediately!"
Dracula nodded with a lost smile.
"Now that you've started your watch, let's give you a task." He arranged, "I've brought a guest this time, so go find a few peripheral vampires to arrange some meals for hospitality as well as a guest room."
"Alright, Lord Dracula, I'll just do these myself." Tesla nodded and said, "I don't feel comfortable letting those low level vampires do the work, what if they make your guest unhappy?"
"There is no need to be so polite." Hearing this, Newt hurriedly persuaded, "I'm already used to sleeping in the wind, so I'll have no problem with any kind of conditions."
"Kir!" Sniffing Teddy also stood in front of the windshield and echoed.
"How would that work!" Tesla immediately retorted, "You're a valued guest brought by Lord Dracula himself, it's my responsibility to make you happy!"
He then added in a low voice, "Lord Dracula, this kind of thing must be done by me personally."
"As the latest Blood Clan to arrive at Castle Dracula, I haven't made any outstanding contributions yet, yet I have taken the longest vacation ever among all the Blood Clans. Lord Alcott doesn't seem too happy with me ..."
"If I can show her that I'm dedicated, there might be a chance to redeem myself."
Dracula looked at Tesla's careful expression and held his tongue quite a bit.
"Since that's what you're thinking, go ahead." He waved his hand casually, "Also, if Serena is unhappy with you in any way because of the vacation, then just come to me and complain."
"I personally granted a vacation and this little ninny has the audacity to have a dissatisfaction, I think she's just being rebellious!" Dracula said viciously.
Tesla levitated in the air next to him, his mouth saying yes repeatedly.
But in his heart, he saw very clearly as to whom he should please -
Even if Count Dracula was the spiritual symbol of the vampire clan and possessed great power, he was too lazy to take care of things!
Usually, the matters of Dracula Castle, no matter how big or small, are all taken care of by Lord Alcott.
In this case, how dare because of the support of Lord Dracula to make Lord Alcott angry?
If by the vindictive Alcott adults remembered, as long as the front foot of Dracula adults just left, her revenge may immediately as expected to come ...
So despite getting Dracula's promise to let him complain at any time, Tesla still decided to go to work honestly!