Entry Application

The black silt at the bottom of the lake was rich in nutrients, causing the aquatic plants nearby to grow luxuriantly. According to the plan devised earlier, Kappas and Grindylows would be placed among these great tangled clumps of weeds to test the champions' courage and mastery of offensive magic.

Stone dwellings stood scattered around, mottled with algae. As he moved forward, more and more of these stone homes appeared, some of them even surrounded by gardens.

This was a vast merpeople village. Several thousand merpeople lived throughout the enormous area. Even in the dead of night, quite a few merpeople guarded the village. Upon seeing Amosta enter their village enclosed in a bubble, many of them raised their spears and beat their powerful silver tails, swiftly approaching him.

But once they made out Amosta's face through the distortion of the bubble, the merpeople all lowered their spears and nodded to him respectfully.

"I've come to inspect the place where the champions' confiscated treasures are being kept,"

Amosta said with a smile.

"Just an inspection."

The merpeople began whispering among themselves. One whose silver tail was set with several golden scales swished forward to Amosta. In a respectful yet hoarse voice, it said,

"I can take you there, Mr. Breen."

"Oh, no need—"

Amosta shook his head.

"Just point me in the right direction. I'm only having a look."

Having had its request refused, the merperson's iron-gray-scaled face looked somewhat surprised. Its dull yellow eyes flickered, then, as though it understood something, it bared its uneven teeth and pointed in a direction.

"We all hope Hogwarts wins, Mr. Breen."

With that, the merperson retreated into the group of its kind.

Amosta smiled and nodded. He knew the merpeople probably thought he had come to tamper with something, but there was