Volume 5: The Burning Golden Flame Chapter 406 The First Person to Be Eliminated
Understanding these things is not the main point, because Jon still doesn’t understand the most critical issue.
"Do you know why the Dark Lord wants to take control of Hogwarts Castle so much?"
But obviously, even the Sorting Hat itself cannot explain this problem.
"I don't know about that. Logically speaking, he shouldn't care so much about this castle, because even if the castle really belongs to him, it can't bring him any benefits or improvement. At most, it can only allow him to stay in the castle for a long time."
This problem not only troubles Jon, but also Dumbledore and other headmasters, who are all wizards who once owned this castle. No one has figured out what Voldemort's purpose is in obtaining the castle.
But even if he can't figure it out, it doesn't affect what Jon is doing now. The more the enemy wants to do something, the more he can make it impossible for him to do it.
As long as we can win the championship of this game, it doesn’t matter whether we know the answer to this question or not.
So John stopped thinking about Voldemort and focused all his attention on how to find the Triwizard Cup.
When he walked into the auditorium, he didn't find any obvious difference from the previous time he came here.
The flame on the candle was dancing, illuminating the dark place where the sunlight could not reach. The surrounding tables and chairs were clean and there was nothing on them. Only the ceiling that reflected the sky outside could feel the deflection of sunlight.
It was already past 11 o'clock and almost noon, and there was still more than an hour before Emil and the others entered the castle to start the game. If Jon did not find more clues within this hour, then all the advantages he had gained in the first two games would be wasted.
Jon first checked the hall around the auditorium. After finding nothing, he walked up to the podium where the long table was placed, where only professors were qualified to sit, and saw the seat that only Voldemort himself was qualified to sit.
There didn't seem to be anything wrong here, but Jon keenly noticed that there was a lit candle floating behind the long table.
At first glance, there was nothing wrong with having a candle here. There were many similar candles floating in other parts of the hall, but Jon noticed that this candle was suspended in the sunlight.
Other candles are used to illuminate places where sunlight cannot reach and to increase brightness.
Of course, it is also possible that the candle flew to the wrong place, but Jon is more inclined to believe that it was actually a clue deliberately left by Matthew and the others.
After observing the candle and not finding anything interesting on the surface, Jon raised the magic wand in his hand and gently tapped the wick of the candle.
The next moment, the candle flame suddenly swelled up, and the flame rose to more than half a meter high, but in the end the flame quickly faded, and the entire candle was shortened by half.
It was at this time that he discovered the real abnormality of this candle.
Although the wax on the surface of the candle was half burned dry, the wick inside showed no sign of being burned at all. It was on this standing wick that Jon saw a line of small words written vertically.
【School belongs to the essence of school】
Just after Jon finished reading the vertical line of words, the entire candle suddenly lit up, and then the candle was completely burned out, leaving only an extinguished wick that fell to the ground, and the line of small words on the wick also disappeared.
Jon picked up the wick and found nothing else special on it. Then he asked the Sorting Hat softly.
“So what is the essence of school?”
With the Sorting Hat following him, Jon certainly wouldn't be so stupid as to not use this help and solve the puzzle by himself. The Sorting Hat must know much more about this castle than he does.
"That depends on whether the school mentioned here refers to Hogwarts in a narrow sense, or all schools in a broad sense."
"What if it just refers to Hogwarts?"
"If it only refers to Hogwarts, then the purpose of the four wizards building this castle was to allow young wizards to escape the oppression of Muggles and allow them to control the magic in their bodies."
Jon clenched his chin as he continued.
"So, if it refers to the scope of a school, then the essence of a school is to teach and educate people and impart knowledge? One is to avoid oppression, and the other is to impart knowledge. If this clue is to lead to the location of the Three Strongest Cup..."
Jon looked down at the ground.
"Would Graves and his men really make riddles in such a way as to allude to the Dark Lord ?"
The Sorting Hat did not respond to this question.
If this puzzle refers to Hogwarts, then the castle under Voldemort's rule has actually violated its essence, because the place that liberates the oppressors has become a slavery site for oppression, and the key place used to enslave Muggleborn students is underground.
But the question remains. Jon can actually understand the position of the referee Matthew. Judging from the attitude he has shown from the beginning of the game to now, he can indeed be said to be impartial. So when it comes to the last game, will the project designed by him be presented with an attitude that is more biased towards Dumbledore?
But if this school refers to the whole of the noun "school", then the concept of teaching and educating people is too broad. All the classrooms in the entire castle meet the concept of the essence of this school. If you want to search every classroom, it is basically impossible without two or three days, and you may not be able to find the clues accurately during the search.
Jon felt that it would be better not to leave this clue with such a broad concept, because searching the entire castle would not take much more effort than just looking for the classroom.
Finally, he decided to go to the underground where the Muggles lived . Maybe Matthew really loved Dumbledore, but was unable to express it clearly due to the position of the Magic Congress.
He quickly found the stairs leading to the basement, which was located at the farthest corner of the entire castle, but it was the place Jon was most familiar with.
Two years ago, he spent more than half a year here, so there was no way he would feel unfamiliar.
Going down the stairs, the place was no different from when Jon left, still dark, damp and cold, and no one was inside.
Of course, the Muggles had been transferred to other places in advance by Snape and Crouch, and would not stay here to meet John. Snape and his men had been fully prepared for nearly a whole year. Dumbledore had brought John and his party here for such a long time, but had not seen a single Muggle-born student in the castle. Obviously, this was the result of Snape and Crouch's strict defense.
Walking in the dark basement corridor, surrounded by the dormitories of the Mazhong students, it is estimated that no one among the participating students is more familiar with it than Jon.
He did not stop, and the first place he came to was of course the dormitory where he once lived under the identity of "Randy Smith".
Pushing the door open and walking in, it was obvious that there was a new owner here. The old, damp bed was neatly folded, and a linen robe was hanging on the hanger beside the bed. Jon did not touch anything in the dormitory. Whether there was a problem or not could be seen just by standing there and taking a look, because there were so few items in it, and there was no place to hide the trophy.
Jon spent half an hour quickly checking the remaining dormitories. Each dormitory had no door locks, so his progress was not slow. However, he did not gain anything until he had checked all the rooms in the basement.
This did not disappoint Jon much. If things were really going so smoothly, he would have become suspicious.
After making sure that there would be nothing more to be found here, Jon decisively left the basement. He started looking in the classrooms on the first floor, hoping to try his luck in the broad sense of the school.
There were not many classrooms on the first floor, and it only took him an hour to reach the second floor, and at the same time he walked up the stairs on the easternmost side of the castle.
It's 1pm.
Outside the castle, Matthew released Diane and Emile on time and allowed them to enter the castle.
But under the watchful eyes of the crowd, neither Diane nor Emile moved first. They stared at each other in front of the castle gate, obviously on guard.
It would be fine if the time was staggered, as no one would waste time looking for the trophy by waiting in front of the door, because if the waiting failed, it would be tantamount to a complete waste of all the advantages and efforts of the previous two games. But now that they have the same scores, the situation is different if they enter the castle together.
Both Diane and Emile knew that no one could guarantee that the person who entered the castle first would not launch a sneak attack on the other person and eliminate one of them on the spot.
In this way, when they were deadlocked in front of the door for a full five minutes, Emil finally gritted his teeth and knew that continuing to drag it out like this would be most disadvantageous to him, because every extra second of delay would increase the advantage for Jon who was already in the castle.
"Let's go in together."
He said, staring at Diane.
Diane didn't want to drag it on here any longer. It's not that she didn't see clearly that by holding Emile here, she was actually indirectly helping John, but her arms were starting to feel sore and numb from holding the wand like this all the time. With so many people watching her, she couldn't bear it any longer.
So she nodded and agreed to Emile's proposal.
Such a door was certainly big enough for two people to enter at the same time. They stared at each other, without putting down their aiming wands, and walked slowly towards the castle together until they were completely inside.
Just after they entered the castle, the open door closed again, isolating the castle from the space outside.
Diane did not relax for a moment, even after entering the castle. She stared at Emile, calculating in her mind how high her success rate would be if she took action immediately after the door was closed.
She didn't ask for Emile to be eliminated for sure. Even if both of them lost their qualifications at the same time, it would be a victory for her. There was only Draco left, who could not enter the castle until the sun set. He could not cause any trouble for John.
Just as the castle gate was completely closed and the hallway began to become dark, Emil, who was holding his wand and facing Diane, suddenly revealed a sarcastic smile on his face.
At that moment, Diane's heart suddenly jumped and she had a bad premonition. However, before she could recite the spell, a scarlet beam of light hit her back silently!
“Plop.”
Diane, who was hit by the stun spell, fell to the ground, and her smooth forehead was bleeding.
"Should we just leave her here or throw her out?" asked Emile.
The wizard who attacked secretly was modifying Diane's memory.
"Throw it out. We not only want to win the championship, but also let people know that you eliminated them with your absolute strength."
Hearing this, Emil did not show any shame on his face. Instead, he grabbed the arm of Diane, who had her memory changed and was unconscious, and then pushed open the tightly closed castle door and threw out the competitor who had walked in with him in public half a minute ago.
When the castle gate was opened from the inside again, many people outside noticed this scene.
They saw that it was Emil who pushed open the door, and they also saw him throw out Diane, who had fainted and was bleeding from her head. Then Emil closed the door again with a smile on his face without saying anything.
There was a brief silence among the students in the castle, and the next second they burst into loud cheers.
Apart from anything else, the fact that Emil had just entered the castle and eliminated an opponent within three minutes was definitely encouraging for the students of the castle who had been suppressed since the first event.
Of course, the faces of the students at Durmstrang were gloomy, but Rosier looked calm. She walked forward, helped Diane, who had fainted in front of the castle gate, and lifted the unconsciousness spell on her.
Diane opened her eyes in confusion, and her pupils gradually began to focus after she saw Rosier.
"I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't beat him in a duel."
Rozier just shook his head.
"You have done what you need to do. What happens next has nothing to do with us."
She supported Diane, who had not yet fully recovered her strength, back to the audience seats, and Matthew announced Diane's elimination at this time.
