Sixteen Thousand Three Hundred and Twenty-Five Times

The plump little bird flapped its tiny wings and finally flew to the large cloth. It pried open a gap with its beak and squeezed inside.

Inside the cloth, it transformed back into Anton.

But he was clearly in bad shape. His face was pale, cold sweat streamed down his body, and he panted heavily.

Anna hurried over to support him.

At that moment, the Old Wizard floated up from underground as well.

"Go back immediately!" Anton's voice was urgent and decisive. "Don't delay for even a moment!"

"Mm."

Anna nodded firmly. Her little hand disappeared into thin air, grabbed the valve of the Time-Turner, and pulled hard.

Blue smoke spread out, enveloping them all before abruptly contracting.

Splash.

The torrential rain thoroughly soaked the patch of dry ground that had been covered by the large cloth, washing away every trace.

Anton only felt as if he were traveling through a dazzlingly colorful passage, spinning madly like clothes in a washing machine drum.

In the end, he was squeezed out with a pop.

They all fell to the ground.

Anna looked delightedly at the giant snake scrambling nervously into a corner. "Did we succeed?"

Pedro the Goblin laughed heartily. "We succeeded! I checked with a secret method! This is the first time I've changed history! For hundreds of years, I've wandered through the currents of history, and this is the first time. This feeling is incredible."

Anton pursed his lips. "I noticed just now that countless wounds suddenly appeared on her body. Obviously, time corrected itself automatically and treated her as Nagini after thirty-eight years had passed."

Anna climbed to her feet and looked at Anton with a beaming smile. "Thank you."

The Old Wizard looked equally astonished as he stared at the Time-Turner in the factory, which stood a full ten meters tall. "Time, fate... truly wondrous."

After everything they had been through, everyone was exhausted, yet no one wanted to rest.

Holding Anton's Old Wand, Anna eagerly used the Levitation Charm she had just learned to bring up Fruit Wine and food from downstairs.

Clink, clink.

Their glasses rang together.

"Cheers!"

They gathered around the small round table in the hall, all wearing expressions of inexplicable relief.

Pedro looked proud. "It was because I found Nagini first and brought her before you that this whole plan was possible."

Anton looked disgusted. "Give me a break. You barely did anything. You're so powerful, yet I was the one who had to risk my life."

The Old Wizard chimed in as well. "Exactly. My foolish teacher is truly old now. Slow movements, slow thinking—he's so dull that he can't react in time."

Pedro was thoroughly displeased. Clearly, they had hit the mark. Not wanting to deal with those two, he turned to Anna. "Don't run into time by yourself again in the future. It's extremely dangerous."

Anna nodded seriously, then smiled at everyone. "Okay."

They celebrated all night.

Anton was the first to give out. He had exhausted too much energy and nearly collapsed beneath the table from the alcohol.

Pedro raised his glass to mock him for a while, but still carried him back to his room.

After returning, he helped send Nagini back to her room and reinforced the spells on her door.

The Old Wizard floated back to his own room as well.

In the end, even the streetlights outside the floor-to-ceiling windows went out. Anna was the only one left, hugging her knees outside her mother's room, sleeping soundly with a smile on her face.

Everything seemed to have returned to how it was before they entered the Time-Turner.

And yet, everything had quietly changed.

The next day, Anton gathered everyone again. Their faces still bore traces of exhaustion.

Lupin listened in amazement to the Old Wizard's heavily embellished tale, his expression a sight to behold.

"I was locked downstairs for one night, and you all went through an entire month?"

Everyone laughed, and Lupin laughed along with them.

Anton tapped the table with his wand to draw everyone's attention. "Pedro has confirmed it. Nagini's soul is now somewhere between human and snake. She can be saved!"

"So the most important thing now is to find the memories of the Blood Curse and cure Nagini and Anna of their blood curse."

"That will depend on luck. Pedro has far too many memories."

With a Cigar clenched between his teeth, Pedro snorted. "Stop secretly learning my wisdom. That belongs to Goblins!"

Anton shrugged. "I really didn't mean to, but this is a problem for both of us to solve. You have too many memories. I don't know how long it'll take to find it."

Just then, a hearty laugh rang out from the doorway.

"I can solve it!"

The front door quietly opened by itself. A handsome yet weathered Middle-aged Man stood in the doorway with a wand in hand, smiling at them all.

It was Rosier, who had disappeared to who knew where for so long.

"Father." Anna jumped down from her chair and happily threw herself at him, hugging him tightly.

Rosier chuckled and rubbed Anna's head. "My baby, I kept you waiting too long."

Unlike Anna, both the Old Wizard and Pedro were startled. Pedro in particular had complicated feelings upon seeing this old friend, remembering how Andre Rosier had nearly blasted him to pieces in that memory.

More importantly, this old friend was actually his son-in-law?

And this Andre Rosier was unwilling even to call him Dad?

Anton, however, keenly caught the important point and looked at Rosier in confusion. "What can you solve?"

Holding his daughter's little hand, Rosier walked before the group and took a necklace from his pocket. "The Lucky Pendant of the Goblin Explorer of Time and Memories. It can guide you into the depths of memories."

Pedro stared at the necklace in shock. "Damn it, that's mine."

He touched his neck. It was bare. "When did my necklace end up with you?"

Rosier smiled calmly and placed the pendant on the table. "That is quite a long story."

"I've waited thirty-eight years for this day." Rosier sighed and looked seriously at Anton. "Young Wizard, thank you for your efforts. The Rosier family owes you a favor."

Anton frowned at him. "You know what happened? Did you hear us just now at the door? You don't seem surprised at all."

"What sharp insight." Rosier chuckled. "I knew decades ago!"

"What?" Everyone stared at him in shock.

Anna brought over a chair for her father and sat beside him on a high stool, smiling happily.

"You all went on a journey through time, so you probably know what happened back then."

Rosier lovingly rubbed Anna's head.

"After that, I took Anna back to the family and froze her away, then searched everywhere for Pedro." He raised an eyebrow. "After a full three years, I caught him."

Pedro looked speechless. "I'm right here. What do you mean, caught him?"

No one paid him any attention. Everyone eagerly waited for Rosier to continue.

The old Goblin could only shut his mouth resentfully.

"Pedro is no ordinary Goblin. Among the ancient Goblins, he was a 'Collector and Traveler of Time and Memories,' a Wise One proficient in time."

Pedro's eyes widened. "How do you know I'm a Wise One? This..."

The Old Wizard lunged at him in annoyance, startling him into a shudder. "Damn it, foolish teacher, please be quiet!"

With one hand supporting his head, he gestured with the other. "Please continue. Ignore him."

Rosier smiled and nodded. "Pedro did indeed forget the memories of the Blood Curse. I forced him to take me to the time when the curse was cast, but unfortunately, Pedro had buried his own memories and set a powerful spell upon them. Unless he himself had a powerful instinctive desire to go there, it was impossible to pass through."

Pedro was dumbfounded. "I buried those memories?"

Rosier sighed and nodded.

"Since there was no way to change the fact that the Blood Curse had been cast, and no way to learn how to resolve it, I could only keep returning to the time when I killed Nagini and try to change everything."

"Wait!" Pedro truly could not sit still this time. "You kept going back?"

Rosier nodded with a smile. "Over the next thirty years or so, I forced you to travel through time with me sixteen thousand three hundred and twenty-five times!"

"You're insane!" Pedro shot to his feet in fury. "No wonder my memories became such a mess. I even felt myself constantly growing older. The me from the past was cursing at the people from the future for constantly coming back!"

A massive Purple Goblin Golem appeared behind him. "I'm going to fight you to the death!"

"Haha, don't be like that, Pedro." Rosier quietly took a step back. "Over those long years, we became very good friends."

Pedro burned with rage. "Who wants to be friends with you..."

Rosier continued, and the two spoke in unison, "You damned, foolish human wizard."

Pedro froze.

Rosier shrugged. "See? We know each other so well by now that we couldn't possibly know each other better."

The Old Wizard cackled from the side. "My poor teacher, forced into more than ten thousand journeys through time. How miserable. So miserable. Hahahaha."