Chapter 113. Treasury
They descended a hundred meters, winding through a twisting path and several illusions, until they reached a wide corridor with smooth walls. At its far end glowed a yellow passage, like sunlight trapped in amber.
Of course, the illusions were not the only defense. Traps with signal charms were set all along the route too. Severus spotted them easily, even without slowing down. They clearly were not laid by a master, and in some sections there were basic errors that could keep the charms from working at all.
He could roughly guess how these defenses had appeared, and why the workmanship was so sloppy. The Serpent King could not have done this. As for the illusions, Severus had seen similar ones only in the Illusion Forest, where monsters tried to lure travelers off cliffs or drown them in swamps with "gold" and "rare plants."
The local creatures did not have much physical strength, but they had plenty of magic and real skill with illusions. If an ordinary Magister had been in his place, he would not have had time to notice how he died. Several decades ago this territory had been marked red on official maps, a place where you simply did not go if you valued your life. Still, after studying the monsters' main tricks and creating countermeasures in the form of artifacts that blocked illusion charms, the danger had dropped to a blue level, but even now few people dared to visit.
Once they crossed the last illusion, they entered a huge, gloomy cave, lit only by two ceiling crystals. Even that weak light was enough to reveal the Serpent King's wealth: mountains of gleaming gold mixed with precious stones, jewelry, and artifacts.
What Severus could see from the entrance alone was ten times more than the Malfoys, Blacks, and Lestranges had combined in their vaults, and this was only a small part of the treasury.
Even so, gold did not interest him. He had seen too many piles of metal in his past life to be dazzled by it now. Almost at once he noticed, to the right, a mound of books lying on the ground, and headed there.
"If you need them, you can take them all," the King said cheerfully, waving its tail at the pile. It was delighted the human cared about books, not gold.
It did not believe him completely, but when it did not see the usual greed in Severus's eyes at the sight of such wealth, it relaxed a little.
Severus did not care about its feelings. The books mattered far more. He sorted through them and could not hold back a smile. Each was hundreds, even thousands of years old. Some were written in languages he did not know, but that did not upset him in the slightest. If anything, it excited him, because unknown writing usually meant old knowledge. They might contain information about the Magical Jungle. He wanted to learn who had created this place, who could force a real dragon to guard the crystal, a dragon whose strength almost rivaled a Great Archmage, and what exactly was sealed here.
One after another, under the King's surprised gaze, the books vanished from Severus's hands. Half an hour later, only one remained. Severus held onto it for a long moment, staring at it in silence. Watching him, the King tilted its head, puzzled.
"I tried reading it for a long time, but I couldn't. Maybe you understand something?"
"This book is called 'Tales of Entarakos,' a legend about a boy who managed to survive in a world full of despair and, after many trials, finally found his happiness." Severus swallowed and answered dryly, opening it to the first page. "Tell me, where did you get this?"
"I do not know. When I inherited the treasury, it was already here."
"I see." Severus flipped to the second page, then the third, the fourth, the fifth, letting the brittle parchment slide under his fingertips. He went through the whole book that way, then closed it and sent it into his pouch with the others.
The King did not understand his strange reaction, but it did not press the matter. It wanted him out of its treasury as quickly as possible.
"Is that all?"
"No. I want to see everything." Severus lifted his gloomy gaze to the stunned creature, then turned and headed deeper into the vault, scanning every item with magic, not missing even a speck of dust.
With a mournful sigh, the King followed. It hoped Severus would not touch its hoard, but if he wanted something, it would have to give it. The King had given its word, and it could not break it.
Meanwhile, chaos churned in Severus's head as he walked.
Damn. Could my guess be right? Could this world be connected to mine? Or did some mage, like me, once manage to cross here after death? If you think logically, the decline of the magical background began several millennia ago, and around the same time these three barriers appeared. Maintaining them takes a colossal amount of magic. Maybe the background did not weaken on its own. Maybe something is absorbing most of the magical energy, leaving almost nothing for people. With so little magic available, the overall level of wizards declined, and a huge number of Squibs began to appear. They simply did not have enough magic to form even a formless core. He shook his head, glancing right at a small mound of jewels. More and more questions, only guesses, and almost no answers. Wonderful. He rummaged through the pile and pulled out a dark, dull crystal. "I will take this."
"Take it," the King said calmly. It could sense stronger magical currents in the item, but human artifacts meant little to it, so the crystal had ended up at the very bottom, useless.
Severus put it into his pouch and continued on, discovering more and more artifacts. The runes and charms on them had long since lost their properties, or were only beginning to fade. Some still shimmered weakly, like dying coals. None of it truly interested him. Most were impossible to restore anyway.
He was looking for things like that one, maybe stone tablets, artifacts, or even memories. He had taken the crystal only because it could absorb incredible volumes of magic and store them, similar to the huge crystals that maintained the barriers. It could not compare to those, but for a house it would be enough. Severus needed a replacement for the crystal that kept the "House as an artifact" functioning.
In his world, such crystals were often used for staves, gloves, and even swords. But for them to work, and not explode in your hands, you also needed materials that could withstand their power, and he had not found any yet.
Of course, he could limit the volume of magic flowing in, but then the crystal would lose almost all its value. He did not use that sword often, and he had no interest in a staff. Casting without crutches was easier. Sometimes, for complex spells, he had used gloves in his past life, but materials for them might not exist in this world at all. Even if they did, he did not have the skills to make them. So he decided to limit himself to a sword.
For the next hour or so, they wandered the treasury. To his disappointment, he did not find any more books like that one, and no more crystals. He did take a few other artifacts, mostly to study the runes and weaves used in their creation, but there was nothing truly valuable.
He also chose several pieces of jewelry: two diadems, necklaces, hairpins, and rings, picking them out by weight and conductivity rather than beauty. Bella's birthday would be coming up soon, and he decided to prepare gifts a couple of years in advance. The mix of silver and gold, and the crystals set into them, had good magical conductivity, so they would make fine bases for future artifacts.
Of course, he did not stop there. He took a few swords, spears, and shields too, some so covered in rust and so decrepit-looking that they seemed ready to crumble at a touch.
He was not going to restore them and use them as weapons. He planned to take them apart. He intended to do the same with several sets of armor pulled from the bottom of mountains of gold. The King was happy to hand over that kind of junk, along with other equally shoddy things. In exchange, Severus left it several large bookshelves stuffed with books, so it would not be bored.
Finally, a little more than two hours later, they left the treasury. The King looked almost glowing with happiness that it was over. Severus, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. That book would not leave his mind, and most of all, he feared the three worst outcomes.
First, that those creatures truly existed in this world. Someone like him might have sealed them, but one day they would still break out. It would only be a matter of time.
Second, that this world was connected to the one he came from, and at the center of the forest there was a portal linking them. No one understood better than Severus how cruel those mages could be. One Archmage with a material core would be enough to destroy this small world.
Third, and worst of all, that somewhere, perhaps in the center of this very forest, those very monsters were sealed.
He still leaned toward the first possibility, but he could not rule out the other two.
When they returned to the cave with the bloody pond, Severus let out a sigh, a wry smile crossing his face.
And I just wanted to enjoy a peaceful life...
-------------------------------------------
"Chapters on Patreon progress: Currently at;
1. Harry Potter: Satan? Nah, Just My Family Crest = CHAPTER 193
2.Marvel: Cosmic Forger of Infinity = CHAPTER 129
3.Harry Potter: Beyond Good and Evil in the Wizarding World = CHAPTER 189
4.Harry Potter: Reborn as Draco Black = CHAPTER 56
support me on Patreon for instant access to the 80+ advance chapters: patreon.com/redofic"