The Masterless Wizard Tower

Bright moonlight spilled through the window onto Tom's face.

Li Weide poked his face with a finger, but Tom showed no reaction.

"Following Young Master Weide's instructions, Toby added a drop of Draught of Living Death to Young Master Tom's supper. He will not wake before dawn."

Toby's shrill voice came softly from behind him.

The Draught of Living Death was an extremely potent sleeping potion, also known as Living Death Water. A single drop was enough to send a wizard into an unending slumber.

Li Weide lifted Tom's eyelids and checked his pupils. Only after confirming that he had fallen into a deep sleep did he nod in satisfaction.

"Very good. This is exactly the effect I wanted. Then... we can now discuss secrets that only the two of us may know." Li Weide's expression turned serious.

Toby swallowed nervously. "What does Young Master Weide wish to ask Toby?"

"Toby, can you tell me about the family you served before?" Li Weide asked.

Toby froze slightly at the question.

"Toby... Toby's former master belonged to the Somnolen Family. Master Sophic, the last heir of the Somnolen Family... Toby's former master, died in a duel not long ago..."

Li Weide frowned.

Somnolen... It was a very unfamiliar surname.

He had never heard of this family before.

Li Weide could not help feeling disappointed. It was a family he had never heard of, and its bloodline had completely died out. That likely meant the family had not possessed much of a foundation.

He had originally thought that since Toby's former master had been a Dark Wizard, and there was no one left in the entire family, he might be able to investigate the place.

Perhaps he could find books or notes that Dumbledore would not let him read...

Still, nothing was absolute. In theory, any family served by a House-elf ought to have a rather deep foundation.

"Toby, did your former master leave anything behind?" Li Weide immediately asked.

"By the time Toby's former master was alive, the family had already fallen into decline. Everything valuable had been sold. Other than an Old Manor, nothing else was left..." Toby said sorrowfully.

In truth, after losing his master, Toby should have remained in the Old Manor and quietly waited to die of old age. He should never have gone out to seek a second master.

But for some reason, that day he had wanted to take a walk, to go far away, and properly reminisce about the wonderful times he had shared with his master.

Then, lost too deeply in those memories, he had accidentally been struck and flung away by a carriage racing through the night.

After being thrown aside, he had the terrible misfortune of landing on a sharp fence, leaving several puncture wounds across his body.

In the end, he had struggled into an alley, prepared to meet the end of his life.

After all, his master was dead. There was no longer any meaning in his own life.

Yet when he opened his eyes again, he saw Li Weide. For some reason, his desire to make him his master had become incomparably intense...

After that, Li Weide became his current master.

When Li Weide heard that the Somnolen Family had left behind an Old Manor, his eyes immediately lit up.

"Who inherited your former master's Old Manor?"

"No one inherited it... Master Sophic was the last bloodline of the Somnolen Family. He did not even have any distant relatives." Toby sniffled sorrowfully again.

"So that Old Manor is masterless now?"

"Yes... Ever since Master Sophic died in battle, the poor Old Manor, like poor Toby, no longer had a master... Now Toby has a new master, so Toby can no longer return to care for that Old Manor. The poor Old Manor can only be left to fall into ruin..."

Remembering the place where he had once lived, which would grow ever more desolate, Toby was overcome with grief once more.

Li Weide waved away Toby's tears and asked very seriously, "Can I become the new master of that house?"

Toby's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "Young Master Weide... You... You are willing to take over that Old Manor? Of course you can become its new master!"

"You seem rather happy for me to take over that house?" Li Weide looked at Toby in surprise.

"Yes... Toby's former master has passed away. That Old Manor holds Toby's most precious memories of the past. Toby truly does not wish to watch it fall into ruin day by day. If Young Master Weide is willing to take it over... Toby can maintain that Old Manor again!"

"So that's how it is..."

Although Toby was a House-elf Li Weide had purchased from the system, he was an independent living being.

He had his own past, as well as beautiful memories that belonged only to him. Those memories were in that Old Manor.

Only if Li Weide took over the Old Manor could Toby, with a new master, have the right to return there.

For Li Weide, who had escaped the constraints of his guardian, this was a good thing.

He had already planned to find a secret base where he could conduct the little experiments in his plans.

This Old Manor had come at exactly the right time.

"Can you take me there now?" Li Weide was already eager to see it.

"Of course! Of course Toby can! But there is some Protective Magic arranged outside the Old Manor, so Young Master Weide must be careful..."

Only after Toby explained how to enter the Old Manor did he extend his hand.

"Please take Toby's hand. Toby will take Young Master Weide to the Old Manor right now!"

Looking at the familiar castle in the distance, Li Weide felt a little sentimental.

This Old Manor was actually in the Scottish Highlands.

He could even see Hogwarts from afar...

Judging by the distance and direction, the Old Manor appeared to have been built on a highland deep within the Forbidden Forest.

It was just that the highland was covered in all kinds of Protective Magic, making it impossible to notice from outside that there was a highland here, let alone an Old Manor atop it.

Li Weide turned to examine the building before him, covered in green vines...

In fact, the Old Manor Toby spoke of ought to be called a tower.

It was a tower, seemingly five stories tall.

Creak! Creak!

Toby had already opened the tower's doors with a face full of excitement.

"Young Master Weide, please come in!"

Most of the tower's Protective Magic was outside.

There was hardly any Protective Magic within the tower itself.

The moment Li Weide stepped through the door, he discovered that the inside of the tower was much larger than it appeared from outside. It had likely been expanded with magic such as the Undetectable Extension Charm.

Although the first floor was spacious enough, it was completely empty.

Only a filthy long table stood in the center, covered with a jumble of empty bottles.

The shelves around it, which should have stored all sorts of experimental materials, held nothing but dust.

From the marks on the floor nearby, Li Weide could tell that many instruments of unknown purpose had once been placed here.

But now, they had all disappeared without a trace.

"The first floor is the laboratory. The second floor contains the bedrooms and dining room. The third and fourth floors are where the books are kept, while the fifth floor is for stargazing... Since the family had fallen on hard times, in the years after Master Sophic inherited the Old Manor, he sold everything that could be sold. Not much of value was left behind... And Toby was too heartbroken at the time to tidy the house, which is why it looks so messy..."

The moment Toby entered, he began chattering endlessly as he introduced the Old Manor he spoke of.

But Li Weide immediately caught the key point in those words.

"Wait, you said the third and fourth floors were both for books? Were those books... sold too?"