The Ownerless Wizard Tower

Bright moonlight streamed through the window and fell across Tom's face.

Li Weide poked his cheek with a finger, but Tom did not react at all.

"Following Young Master Weide's instructions, Toby added a drop of Living Death Potion to Young Master Tom's midnight snack. He won't wake up before dawn."

Toby's high-pitched voice came softly from behind him.

The Living Death Potion was an extremely potent sleeping draught, also known as the Draught of Living Death. Just a single drop was enough to send a wizard into an unending slumber.

Li Weide lifted Tom's eyelids and examined his pupils again. 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 was slightly stunned by the question.

"Toby... Toby's former master's family was the Somnolun Family. Master Sophiek, the last heir of the Somnolun Family... Toby's former master, died in a duel not long ago..."

Li Weide frowned.

Somnolun... it was a very unfamiliar surname.

He had never heard of this family before.

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

He had originally thought that, since Toby's former master had been a Dark Wizard and the entire family was gone, he might be able to investigate the place.

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

Still, nothing was absolute. Logically speaking, any family served by a House-elf should have had quite a 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 behind..." Toby said sorrowfully.

In fact, after losing his master, Toby should have remained in the old manor and quietly died of old age. He should never have run off to seek a second master.

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

Then, because he had become too absorbed in his memories, he was accidentally struck and sent flying by a carriage speeding through the night.

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

In the end, he struggled into an alley, ready to welcome the end of his life.

After all, his master was dead. There was no longer any meaning to his living on.

Yet when he opened his eyes again, he saw Li Weide. For some reason, the desire to make him his master became incomparably strong in his heart...

And after that, Li Weide became his current master.

When Li Weide heard that the Somnolun 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 Sophiek was the last bloodline of the Somnolun Family. He did not even have any distant relatives." Toby sniffled sadly again.

"So that means the old manor is ownerless?"

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

Thinking of the place where he had once lived becoming more and more desolate, Toby was overcome with grief once more.

Li Weide waved a hand to stop Toby's tears and asked very seriously, "Can I become the new owner of that manor?"

Toby's eyes widened in delighted surprise. "Young Master Weide... you... you are actually willing to take over that old manor? Of course you can become its new owner!"

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

"Yes... Toby's former master has passed away, and that old manor holds Toby's most beautiful memories of the past. Toby truly does not want to see it fall into ruin day by day. If Young Master Weide is willing to take it over... Toby will be able to 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 still an independent living being.

He had his own past and his own precious memories, and those precious memories were in that old manor.

Only if Li Weide took over the old manor could Toby, now with a new master, have a reason to return there.

However, for Li Weide, who had broken free of his guardian's constraints, this was a good thing.

He had been planning to find a secret base anyway, somewhere he could conduct the little experiments he had planned.

This old manor had arrived at precisely the right time.

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

"Of course! Of course Toby can! But there are some protective spells set up outside the old manor, so Young Master Weide must be careful..."

After Toby explained how to enter the old manor to Li Weide, he held out his hand.

"Please take Toby's hand. Toby will take Young Master Weide to the old manor right away!"

Li Weide felt a little sentimental as he looked at the familiar castle in the distance.

This old residence was actually in the Scottish Highlands.

He could even see Hogwarts from afar...

Judging by the distance and direction, this old residence seemed to have been built on a highland deep within the Forbidden Forest.

It was just that this highland was covered in all sorts of protective magic, making it impossible to notice from outside that there was a highland here, let alone an old residence atop it.

Li Weide turned to examine the vine-covered building before him...

In truth, the old residence Toby spoke of should have been called a tower.

It was a tower, seemingly five stories tall.

"Creak! Creak!"

By then, Toby had excitedly opened the tower's front door.

"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 inside, he discovered that the interior was far larger than it looked from outside. It had probably been enchanted with spatial-expansion magic such as the Undetectable Extension Charm.

However, though the first floor was spacious enough, it was completely empty.

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

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

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

But now, they had all vanished without a trace.

"The first floor is the laboratory. The second floor has 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 fell on hard times, after Master Sophiek inherited the old residence, he sold everything that could be sold over the years. Not much of value was left behind... And Toby was too heartbroken at the time to have the mood to tidy the house, so it looks this messy..."

The moment Toby entered, he began chattering away as he introduced the old residence, as he called it.

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

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