Chapter 407: Feeling Terrible

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

That was the result of Allen’s week of hard work.

After all, he didn’t have a pipe clenched between his teeth, nor a red bow at his collar—he was completely unskilled at investigating the darker corners of the magical world.

First of all, the suspicions surrounding that merchant completely vanished after the Auror’s investigation. While the result wasn’t surprising, Allen was still deeply disappointed. His dream of slowly uncovering this organization through other clues? Gone—puffed into nothing.

The whole idea of observing thugs in taverns? Completely useless. Allen wasn’t even old enough to enter a bar! On the way out, he saw a suspicious-looking man—but it turned out the man was just a bartender, sneaking around to ask if Allen wanted privately supplied alcohol.

Well... at least now I know where those guys get their booze, Allen thought. But what good does it do?

There were no mercenary guilds among wizards, no assassin organizations, and wandering wizards trying to make a living wouldn’t dare linger near a school. The magical society around Mahoutokoro was well-ordered—anyone causing trouble would be dead before sunrise.

With Apparition and the Floo Network, wizards didn’t care about geography. Before large-scale national-level protective magic was deployed, their movements were practically unrestricted.

This made Allen’s high-confidence investigation utterly devastating. Wizards moved too freely; his targets might not even be in Japan. Smuggling? For a wizard, that’s trivial.

Defeated, Allen had no choice but to report to his professor.

After expressing concern, their beloved professor calmly reassured him: Dumbledore will handle it well, and the other two heads are prepared for any unexpected situations.

"Uh..."

Well, he wasn’t the only smart one. Allen sighed as he left the office, realizing he’d accomplished nothing in a whole week—he’d even skipped classes. To be precise, his excuse of being severely injured kept him from attending at all.

Still, the one saving grace? He managed to keep his newfound strength firmly under control, and his daily life returned to normal. That was the only tangible gain from the week.

At the Hogwarts camp, Allen slumped lazily into his woven chair, chewing on a blade of grass while watching the sunset. He didn’t feel like moving at all—the disappointment of a completely wasted week weighed heavily.

Because of the big match tomorrow and the visiting wizards outside the campus, the entire school was being decorated. Even the Hogwarts camp wasn’t spared—Professor McGonagall herself had overseen it, and part of the decoration costs came from ticket revenue.

Allen didn’t care. These were tasks for the upperclassmen. He simply munched on sunflower seeds, watching the sunset, utterly lazy. This mood quickly infected Warlo. One seed, one crow, passing them back and forth, their crackling sound echoing amid the bustling weekend crowd.

After politely declining an invitation to watch the cheerleading rehearsal—which had caused quite a stir—Allen began planning his next move.

Those troublemakers will show up eventually.

Since his plan to flush them out had already failed, all he could do was trust Dumbledore and the other heads to handle defenses. Honestly, Allen wasn’t worried—he was only frustrated at his own defeat.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go smoothly.

He had completely forgotten a promise—and the worst part? While he spent the afternoon packing, Annie came over to ask where they could go out to play.

Allen froze. Oh right... that thing...

The consequences were predictable.

Annie arrived perfectly dressed, carrying a small basket of blueberry cakes—desserts for Allen. Warlo happily munched away, oblivious to Allen, who was fidgeting like an ant on a hot pan.

Annie carefully broke a piece of cake and handed it over, ignoring Allen completely. No tears, no tantrums—just silent defiance.

Finally, with the last piece of cake gone, Annie turned to him.

"Brother, have you decided?"

"Huh?"

Allen blinked, then realized what she meant—he hadn’t even thought about it!

Instinctively, a common name slipped out:

"Mount Fuji!"

Why common? Because apples...

"Eh? Is it fun there? Have you been?"

"No, but it’s a super-famous Muggle tourist spot. Let’s disguise ourselves and go for two days!"

Now he had to stick to his answer firmly, even though he wasn’t sure how fun it would be. Well, with that famous name, it should be fine.

Satisfied, Annie let him have the last piece of cake, squinting her eyes.

"When do we leave?"

"I’ll ask the professors now, and we’ll depart first thing tomorrow morning!" Allen replied at top speed—he was genuinely scared of her.

Weekends trips weren’t casual affairs. For safety and supervision, they weren’t technically allowed to just go anywhere—but in theory only.

Unexpectedly, Allen’s request was approved with ease. The Japanese school had no magical creatures in the area, making it a non-issue for wizarding travel.

And so, as evening descended and everyone prepared excitedly to cheer for tomorrow’s match, Allen, with very little foresight, began packing his luggage for the next day’s trip.

The twins arrived and immediately scolded him:

"Allen! You went on an adventure and missed the last match, fine—but tomorrow is our big battle with Slytherin! If you don’t cheer for us, that’s so unloyal!"

"Oh—sorry. But you know Annie is Slytherin. I want to cheer for you, but..." Allen spread his hands with a look of regret.

Communication done. Allen resumed packing.

For some reason, he had a sudden premonition—tomorrow was going to be very interesting.