I have to say, the previous Kayson side story had me a bit traumatized, so now I have a habit. Whenever I write a side story, I will clearly remind you that the plot is short and has a clear outline, so please feel free to read it.
Also, regarding the Holy Blood Brotherhood that I came up with on a whim in the last chapter, after a reader reminded me, I specifically searched for it and found that Warhammer 40K really does have a Holy Blood Brotherhood. So I changed it to Holy Temple Brotherhood.
We work in the dark, [reader fill in the blank]
Okay, it's just a randomly made-up name combining the Knights Templar and the Assassin's Brotherhood.
Chew, chew, chew…
"Can the four of us really finish nine of the largest pizzas?" Harry asked helplessly, looking at the dense array of pizzas in front of him.
"No choice… Who knew we'd run into the Mafia when we came to eat pizza?" Lupin said with a bitter expression.
The story goes like this…
After Kayson and the others ordered the Italian high-blood pressure mini-meal, a Mafia godfather, who wished to remain anonymous and was enjoying an authentic Italian pizza in a corner, cordially invited the four to his table. He thoughtfully ordered nine of the most authentic and largest Italian pizzas for them, along with four large pots of Italian espresso.
He even kindly paid their bill, with the only condition being that they finish all the pizzas and coffee…
"I highly doubt… Holy crap? Where are the pizzas?" Harry was still complaining miserably a second ago, but the next second he saw three of the nine pizzas disappear in the blink of an eye.
"Huh? Do you think I drove all night without closing my eyes and am not hungry?" Kayson took a big gulp of coffee to wash down the pizza and explained.
"What about you two?" Harry looked at Lupin and Sirius, the latter saying helplessly, "You slept so soundly last night that you drooled, but we two were honestly blowing carbon dioxide at that damned sapling all night."
After Lupin finished speaking, he took another slice of pizza and said to the Mafia member standing behind him, "To be honest, it tastes really good. Brother, don't you want a piece?"
"No." The Mafia member looked at the three adults who seemed like they hadn't eaten in eight lifetimes and swallowed hard. This feeling was like slapping someone and making them enjoy it, with no sense of accomplishment at all.
"Alright then." Lupin devoured another slice of pizza like a whirlwind. In less than ten minutes, Kayson let out a final burp, and the four swaggered out of the pizza place.
The godfather sitting in the corner walked over and sighed, "Such is youth."
On the other side, the four, full from their meal, began looking for their next stop. At Kayson's request, they decided to find a place where they could enjoy a good drink. Soon, they found a quiet little pub.
"That pizza was delicious, but we ate it a bit too quickly." Lupin unbuttoned a few buttons on his pants, let out a sigh of relief, and took a sip of his drink: "Comfortable!"
"If you couldn't eat that much, why didn't you retreat? It's just a few Memory Charms, isn't it?" Sirius asked curiously, as he had thought Lupin could finish all that pizza.
"Please, Sirius, we didn't get proper approval to go abroad. If the Italian Ministry of Magic catches us, you'll be doing community service in Diagon Alley when we get back."
Sirius looked at Lupin with a strange expression, stunned.
"What's wrong?"
Sirius shook his head: "I was checking if you were already drunk. Where does Italy have a Ministry of Magic?"
Kayson poured himself another drink: "What do you mean? Italy doesn't have a Ministry of Magic?"
Sirius nodded: "Indeed, it doesn't. Lupin should know this too, but he probably didn't remember it right away. In short, it's a historical issue belonging to Italy."
"Did you learn bad habits from Dumbledore and become a riddle-teller too?" Kayson asked, puzzled.
"Haha, this is a very obscure piece of historical knowledge, the kind not tested in History of Magic. Of course, if you want to know, I can tell you." Sirius drank a glass of wine to moisten his throat.
"In the 11th century, in Southern Italy, there was a special magical organization called the Holy Temple Brotherhood. What made them special was that they worshipped deities."
"There's a fundamental difference between these deity-worshipping Wizards and us ordinary Wizards. After all, when we say 'Merlin's socks' or 'Merlin's underwear' every day, it's just an expression of surprise, but they truly need to pray to that deity every time they cast a spell."
Kayson nodded: "So, is the Wizarding world in Italy currently controlled by this Holy Temple Brotherhood? No Ministry of Magic?"
"Of course not. They only exist in history because they once helped the Church conduct witch hunts against Wizards…" Sirius stopped mid-sentence when he saw Kayson's strange expression and explained, "The reason they were hostile to adult Wizards was simply that they believed Wizards used magic but didn't show respect to the God of magic. Muggles had no magic, and Little Wizardss could still be molded; in their eyes, they were lost lambs who needed their protection."
"Oh, go on," Kayson nodded and said.
"They once participated in witch hunts, and this witch hunt indirectly affected the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy. After the Statute of Secrecy was implemented, the entire European magical society began to isolate the Holy Temple Brotherhood and the entire Italian Wizarding world. Beauxbatons in France even recruited students across borders, packing up all the Little Wizardss in Italy who had awakened magic, along with their families, and moving them all to France."
"Just like that, this so-called Brotherhood, with so few Little Wizardss left after Beauxbatons snatched them, gradually declined due to lack of fresh blood. They began engaging in activities like abducting and kidnapping underage Little Wizardss for brainwashing."
"Burp… Is it that dangerous here? And why isn't this part in History of Magic?" Harry just asked curiously, without any distrust regarding his own safety. After all, the three adults around him, you might say they are unreliable in their actions, perhaps, but unreliable in a fight, probably no one would believe that.
Sirius drank the last half-sip of wine from his glass: "Uh… wild history."
"So you… burp… told us all that? Just to… burp… mess with us?" Harry's voice instantly rose by eight octaves.
Kayson patted Harry's head: "Alright, alright, just treat it as listening to a story. We got nine big pizzas for free from that Mafia godfather, consider it for digestion."
Harry burped again: "You guys got high on food, but I'm… burp… stuffed."
"Why don't you… have a drink to help it go down?" No sooner had Sirius finished speaking than Lupin's big palm came down hard on his head: "It's bad enough you let him read dirty books, but now you're letting him drink alcohol! You're really a qualified godfather!"
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