After that, Kael sat in the common room, constantly keeping an eye on the Marauder's Map.
About ten minutes later, Quirrell's name finally appeared on the Marauder's Map.
Kael's eyes lit up, and he got up to leave the common room.
On the Marauder's Map, Quirrell wasn't heading to the auditorium, but was instead making a large circle around the castle.
Kael followed him all the way, but to avoid being discovered, they— or rather the three of them— were always separated by just one corridor.
Anyway, with the Marauder's Map in hand, there was no fear of losing track.
After many twists and turns, Quirrell finally stopped, and Kael took a quick look around and ducked into a nearby empty classroom.
A few minutes later, Quirrell's name started moving quickly toward the auditorium.
After confirming that he had gone far, Kael immediately left the empty classroom, hurriedly crossing a desolate side corridor to rush towards where Quirrell had previously stopped.
Just as he turned the corner, a foul stench hit Kael's nose.
The smell was even more potent than the Magic Potion brewed by Mikel, and even though Kael was prepared, he felt faint.
He immediately heard a low growl and the sound of massive feet dragging along the ground.
Not far ahead of Kael, a behemoth, at least twelve feet tall, was moving in his direction.
Its skin was dull and gray, like granite, with a walnut-sized head on top, making it look massive yet clumsy.
Additionally, its short legs were as stout as tree trunks, with flat, rough, and calloused feet beneath.
The nauseating stench emanated from its body.
Kael recognized it immediately; this big guy was the Troll he was looking for.
And it was the largest Mountain Troll.
"Jackpot!" Kael excitedly took two steps forward.
The moment Kael moved, the Troll naturally noticed him, roared, and increased its pace.
Since both were moving toward each other, it didn't take long for them to confront each other.
The Troll roared again and raised the wooden club in its hand, as if it wanted to smash the obstructing ant ahead.
"Wait, I can take you to food!" Kael shouted.
The shout worked, and the Troll immediately paused, tilting its walnut-shaped head, trying hard to comprehend the meaning.
"You're hungry, I can take you to eat!"
Kael repeated.
"Eat! Food!"
This time, the Troll understood.
It put down the club, emitting a series of unintelligible murmurs.
"Yes, food!" Kael suppressed the stench, trying to appear friendly, speaking slowly: "Come with me, I'll take you!"
He attempted to step back, and the Troll immediately followed.
"Done!"
Kael was delighted inside, quickly pulling out a box, opening it, and placing it on the ground.
Next, he just needed to find an opportunity for the Troll to step into the box.
Kael held his breath, retreating two more steps.
...
But then, an unexpected event occurred.
"Ah!"
A piercing scream made the Troll instantly lower its foot, which it had just raised.
It clumsily turned its head, blinking dumbly, trying to identify what emitted that sound.
Soon, it saw it was a little brown figure.
"Ah!!"
Seeing that the Troll had noticed her, Hermione's scream grew even louder.
The Troll painfully smacked its own head with its hand. In its ugly little eyes, Hermione's figure slowly turned into a round Fwooper.
In an instant, the Troll's reasoning vanished.
It forgot about Kael's existence and started moving toward Hermione.
"I..."
"***!"
Kael was stunned.
Just one more step; the Troll would have been his. Who would have thought Hermione would show up unexpectedly and ruin his plan completely.
Wasn't she in the bathroom… why did she come out, couldn't she cry a bit longer?!
Kael angrily punched the wall, chasing after while shouting words like "food" and "eat" in an attempt to attract the Troll's attention again.
No matter what, he couldn't just stand by and watch Hermione meet her end.
But for some reason, the Troll seemed fixated on Hermione, ignoring everything Kael said.
Even worse, because of fear, Hermione, who wanted to run, went weak at the legs and fell to the ground.
She crouched against the wall, seemingly ready to faint at any moment.
The Troll approached her slowly, raising the club as it went.
"What a mess!"
Kael sighed, raising his wand.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The club suddenly flew out of the Troll's hand, rising high into the air, turning slowly, and then falling back to knock its owner on the head.
With a loud thud, the Troll wavered on its spot and face-planted onto the floor, causing the entire corridor to tremble with a boom.
Hermione sat there, stunned, and asked, "Is it… dead?"
"Spit, spit, spit, how can you repay kindness with enmity!"
Kael walked over quickly, checking the Troll's condition.
Thankfully, it still had a heartbeat.
Kael breathed a sigh of relief.
If possible, he really didn't want to do it this way.
The Troll, though dumb, could at least understand him. Who knew if this blow would knock out whatever intelligence it had left?
That wasn't the outcome Kael wanted to see.
But now, it was too late for that.
Kael summoned the box on the ground and, before putting the Troll inside, thought for a moment and raised his wand.
"Scourgify!"
"Scourgify!"
After casting several Scouring Charms in succession, the Troll finally looked much cleaner, and the stench faded a lot.
Kael had intended to continue, but the messy footsteps coming from not far away made him abandon the thought, hastily stuffing the Troll into the box.
"Remember, you saw nothing." Kael looked at Hermione, his expression serious: "There was no Troll; you fell by accident, understood?"
Hermione's eyes were wide open as she dumbly nodded her head.
"Good."
Kael lifted the box and, as if nothing had happened, helped Hermione up.
"Hermione!"
"Thank goodness you're here!"
Harry and Ron rushed over from the other end of the corridor.
"There's a Troll in the dungeons!"
Harry panted heavily, "Headmaster Dumbledore told us to return to the dormitories, you… huh? Kael, you're here too?"
"Yes, I was just heading to the auditorium and happened to run into Miss Granger here."
Kael smiled and asked, "You just said there was a Troll in the dungeons? What's going on, how could a creature like a Troll appear in Hogwarts?"
"Yes, I'm not joking."
Ron quickly said, "Professor Quirrell told us that at the Halloween feast; he fainted right after."
"Really… that sounds dangerous."
Kael said seriously, "Trolls are not something we can handle. I have to go; you guys should hurry back to the tower too."
Hermione hadn't said a word the whole time, her inner shock beyond words as she looked at Kael.
That calm expression, cool demeanor…
If she hadn't experienced it all herself just now, she would have believed everything Kael said was true.
How was he so skilled?
Is he really the top student in the grade?