That faint twinge in Wade's conscience actually made him a little uncomfortable.
Sigh… clearly, having a conscience was a mistake. Without one, he wouldn't feel this pain.
"Ha! Found it!" Tom's delighted voice cut through Wade's thoughts as he held up an intact core and presented it to him.
Apparently, the previous Slytherin descendants who had made it this far had also discovered that destroying the battle constructs' heads was the key to defeating them.
So, almost all of the constructs here had their heads blown off.
Because of that, it was nearly impossible to find an intact core.
The fact that Tom had managed to find one now was surprising even to Wade.
"This one should be enough to buy a shop in Diagon Alley, right?" Tom asked earnestly.
"If you're renting, then yes—about a month," Wade said after a serious assessment.
"What? Why? Isn't it complete?" Tom said in disbelief.
"It's missing something inside."
"What's missing?"
"A mature and complete soul," Wade said calmly.
"W–what?" Tom stared at him in shock. "A soul? What kind of soul?"
"A human soul—the soul of a powerful Muggle knight. That's why these battle constructs fought with such refined technique. And once the core is exposed and the magic fades, the soul dissipates quickly. So, a core that could once buy a whole shop can now only rent one for a month—because it's lost its spirit."
"You mean Slytherin used human souls to create these battle constructs? One soul for each construct?" Tom's voice trembled as he looked at the scattered remains all around them.
Wade sighed. "What's so surprising about it? This is Dark Magic, after all."
"Then… were the people whose souls were taken guilty of something?" Tom asked.
"What are you thinking? Where would he find so many guilty knights?"
"Then… did Slytherin collect them from Muggle battlefields?" Tom asked, still holding on to a faint hope.
"Tom… those souls were taken while they were still alive. How could they have been gathered from a battlefield? And besides… these were just a few Muggle knights. If what people say about Slytherin is true, then as long as it served his Dark Magic, do you really think he cared whether a few Muggles lived or died?"
Tom let out a quiet sigh, reluctantly accepting that harsh reality, while a faint sadness rose in his chest for reasons he couldn't explain.
"It seems that naïve Nokto Gaunt must have been disappointed in the end…"
From what they'd seen so far, anyone capable of doing such things could only be a stubborn and absolute believer in pure-blood ideals.
If Slytherin despised even Muggle-born wizards, then what would he have thought of actual Muggles?
Perhaps, in his eyes, Muggles weren't even human at all.
As for his devotion to Dark Magic, there was no more room for debate—the battle constructs were proof enough.
"Tom, now that you know your ancestor wasn't exactly a good person, how do you feel about it?"
Tom shrugged. "Not much. I'm used to it."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, before I met you, I was the only 'bad person' around. But after meeting you… there's not a single good person left near me." Tom gave Wade a meaningful look.
"That's slander!" Wade jumped up. "I'd never do something like extracting living souls to make battle constructs! I… at most would take a bit from animals. Or bad people!"
"Oh, right, right… Wade Reynolds, savior of the world, the kindest man alive! Everything he does is purely for the happiness of humankind!" Tom said loudly.
"Absolutely, but hey! Tom! Keep it down! I'm just telling the truth—no need to exaggerate it like that!"
Tom: "…"
"Your shamelessness truly has no equal."
"You always misunderstand me, Tom. I really am a good person!"
Tom said nothing. He simply sat back down and quietly kept eating chocolate to regain his strength.
"Forget it…" Wade said helplessly, turning his head toward the two weapons on the ground.
Just moments ago, those weapons had been able to deflect spells—clearly, they were valuable too.
He bent down, grasped the hilt of the greatsword, and tried to lift it.
But he was just a scrawny little wizard… he didn't have that kind of strength.
No matter how hard he pulled, the greatsword remained stuck to the ground as if welded in place, not budging an inch.
"Ha…" Tom couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just remembered something happy… like how we're about to see the legacy our ancestor left behind," Tom said quickly, trying to explain.
"Is that so? Well, that's worth being happy about," Wade replied casually, giving his wand a flick.
The greatsword immediately began to shrink in size.
Tom watched in disbelief as Wade effortlessly reduced the sword's proportions and then picked it up with one hand.
His expression looked as if he'd just seen a ghost.
"Wasn't that sword supposed to be immune to magic? How did your Transfiguration work on it?" Tom asked in shock.
"Don't pry into advanced magic, brat!" Wade said smugly.
Wade used the same method on the halberd, applying ancient magic through Transfiguration to make it smaller and lighter, then took it into his hand.
Swish!
The shrunken halberd was easily thrust by Wade into the corridor wall.
"It really is a fine weapon," Wade said with satisfaction.
Tom couldn't help but swallow nervously again.
Just moments ago, that same razor-sharp blade had been only a centimeter away from his nose.
"You're a wizard, Wade. What do you need weapons for?" Tom asked.
"These are weapons that can nullify magic! I can study the enchantments on them and replicate the effect wherever I want. Kekeke~~ Can you imagine what that means?" Wade said excitedly, gazing at the two weapons in his hands.
Tom's eyes lit up at those words.
If he could apply that same magic-resistant property to his own clothing, then in future duels he wouldn't have to fear other people's spells at all!
"Besides, who said wizards can't use weapons?" Wade said as he set down the halberd and casually swung the now-shrunken greatsword in his hand.
Though Wade had never trained with a sword—and even shrunken, it still had some weight—so…
Swish!
The greatsword 'slipped' from Wade's hand.
Tom flinched instinctively.
The blade flew right past his scalp and embedded itself in the corridor wall behind him.
With trembling hands, Tom touched his head—his hair, already cropped short earlier, was now completely bald.
Trying to stay composed, he brushed at the few strands still clinging to his forehead.
"What a fast sword…"
How many times had he almost died tonight?
"Pfft~ ehm.. Sorry! I haven't practiced much!" Wade said quickly under Tom's furious glare, hurrying over to pull the sword out from above Tom's head. "I'll make sure to practice properly next time."
"Doesn't matter. Just don't practice anywhere near me again," Tom said, struggling to his feet. "Let's go… we've wasted enough time already."
If they stayed here any longer, he was afraid he wouldn't die from Slytherin's trial—but from Wade's hands instead.
Wade nearly killed him just playing with the sword… and there was still a halberd he hadn't tried yet.
"Fine…" Wade said helplessly as he packed the halberd and sword into a box created through Transfiguration, then stuffed it into his seemingly bottomless pocket.
Still, from the faint look of regret in Wade's eyes, Tom could tell he was disappointed he didn't get to try out the halberd too.
For the sake of his own life, this cursed place was no longer safe to linger in.
Of course, there were still other weapons scattered around the corridor—ones that had probably belonged to the other statues.
But the enchantments on those had almost completely faded.
Perhaps it had something to do with how long those battle constructs had been left stored here.
…
After walking only a short distance, they reached the end of the corridor.
In fact, during the earlier fight, Tom had already retreated this far while defending himself.
It was only now that they finally took a good look at the door before them.
The door was carved with the same serpent pattern as the entrance.
Which meant it could be opened directly with Parseltongue, without any puzzles this time.
Tom's eyes suddenly lit up as he bent down and picked up a piece of parchment from the ground.
"This seems to be the Gaunt woman's fourth letter!" Tom said.
"What does it say?" Wade asked casually.
"Hmm…" Tom skimmed through it quickly. "She wrote that although the journey was full of hardships and dangers, there were also many gains and rewards… and that the descendants of today are simply biased against Slytherin, something she firmly refuses to believe."
Putting the letter down, Tom said, "Looks like she never realized the truth behind those battle constructs."
Wade nodded. "Seems so. It was well hidden. Without certain special abilities, even I wouldn't have noticed that the cores of those constructs contained human souls."
_________
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and read 12 Chapters ahead of WN at-
Patreon/Captain69