Though the explosion drew the old woman's attention, it lasted only a moment.
Chaos was nothing new in Knockturn Alley. While an explosion of this scale was unusual, it wasn't unheard of when wizards clashed in the shadows.
Her focus snapped back as soon as she caught the sound of something slicing through the air.
She turned, horrified, as a Chomping Cabbage lunged at her, its gaping maw flashing rows of vicious fangs. Startled, she instinctively raised her wand.
The Chomping Cabbage clamped down, its teeth grinding against the wood, threatening to snap it in two. But a properly treated wand was far tougher than a stick, and it didn't break so easily.
Shaken, the old witch tried to cast a spell.
"F—" she stammered, when suddenly a child's calm voice sounded from nearby.
"Lumos!"
The pitch-black alley was instantly drowned in blinding white light. The old woman, eyes fixed on the Chomping Cabbage, was caught full-on. It was like staring into the sun—her eyes burned, tears streaming down her face until she couldn't keep them open. The half-formed incantation died in her throat, replaced by a scream.
Her spell failed. But standing against the light, the Chomping Cabbage wasn't affected at all.
After grinding at the wand for long enough, it finally bit through. Then it sprang again, slamming into the old witch's forehead, knocking her off balance and sending her sprawling. When it landed, its sights were already set on her sagging, fragile throat.
A wet tearing sound followed as its fangs pierced flesh.
Her body jolted. Her legs scraped against the ground as she flung aside her wand and clawed desperately at the Chomping Cabbage latched to her neck. But no matter how she pulled, it wouldn't come free—it clung like it had grown into her flesh. Every tug only widened the wound.
At last her body went rigid, her hands slid limply to the ground, and she fell silent.
[Quest Complete. You have gained 100 Experience Points and 3 Enhancement Points.]
[Your level has increased. You are now an Intermediate Plant Apprentice (61/500).]
[You have gained 1 Enhancement Point.]
[Your talent has gained an additional effect: Plant Resilience.]
[Plant Resilience: Ignores terrain restrictions. Enhanced plants can grow on any solid ground.]
As the system prompts echoed, Leonard squinted through blurred vision and realized the fight was over.
"Nox." He canceled the Lumos spell and rubbed his eyes, exasperated.
He hadn't expected his wand's enhancement to work so literally. He'd only meant to disorient the old hag with a sudden flash of light, but instead the Lumos spell had turned into a flashbang, flooding the entire alley.
That wasn't Lumos—it was blazing sunlight! If he hadn't shut his eyes in time, he'd probably be half-blind right now.
Forget what the old hag felt in her final moments—Leonard, without even looking directly into the light, had nearly thought he'd gone blind.
"Looks like I'll need to get used to this wand quickly. Best if I can practice controlling the strength of my spells," Leonard muttered, rubbing his eyes with a sigh.
He walked over to the corpse, used her clothes to wipe the blood from the Chomping Cabbage, then stowed it away.
After that, he began gathering the spoils. In his past life as a Scavenger, this had been routine.
Unless something was critical evidence or stolen goods, everything on a bounty target belonged to the "cleaner".
Two Galleons, ten Sickles, a wand, and two keys on a ring—that was all the old hag carried.
"Pretty poor," Leonard muttered, curling his lip as he glanced at the corpse on the floor, then at the Chomping Cabbage mines still lurking nearby. After thinking it over, he left them alone and instead began the exhausting task of dragging the body toward the mouth of the alley.
Outside, everything was silent. If not for the smoke still rising in the distance, Leonard might have thought the explosion had been his imagination.
"An explosion goes off and no one even bothers to check? Cold lot," he grumbled.
A prickling unease crept over him, urging him to hurry. He hauled the corpse faster, reaching the old witch's doorstep, pulled out the key, unlocked the door, and dragged the body inside.
Once the door was shut, Leonard collapsed onto the floor, panting hard. He was worn out. The old witch might have been skin and bones, but she was still an adult, and dragging her had taken a lot out of him.
"My body's just too weak. From tomorrow… no, from today, I need to start training."
Wizards needed strong bodies too—enough agility to dodge a hex in time.
After sitting for a while and catching his breath, Leonard pushed himself up and took in the surroundings.
Calling this place bare wasn't an exaggeration. A table, a bed, and a rickety old wardrobe—that was all.
"Wonder if this hag liked hiding things." Leonard slipped on the dragon-hide gloves he'd prepared long ago, ready to do what every adventurer did—rummage through an NPC's house.
The gloves weren't just about avoiding fingerprints. More importantly, he worried the old witch might have left some nasty curse on her belongings to catch anyone greedy enough to loot them.
Even in lesser magical worlds, treasures were poisoned as traps. Voldemort had cursed his Horcrux ring and ended up indirectly killing Dumbledore. Leonard had good reason to be cautious.
After turning the place upside down, he finally uncovered a hidden compartment beneath a floorboard in the corner. Inside was a pitch-black leather suitcase.
Using the other key to unlock it, Leonard was stunned to discover it was enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.