In transporting prisoners, the German Ministry of Magic, like other magical governments, chose Thestral carriage.
From the moment Vincent was put onto the carriage, they flew north for hundreds of kilometers over the cold, dark Black Forest.
Along the way, they saw large swathes of fir tree trunks, blackened by the Fiendfyre, which looked like huge black charcoal sticks stuck there.
The delayed Fiendfyre had mostly been extinguished, but the damage they caused was irreversible. The five wizards escorting Vincent stared intently at him the entire time.
As the carriage passed through a thick fog, the forest ahead appeared to have a large, bald patch.
This destruction was not caused by Fiendfyre, but was deliberately created by humans.
The carriage slowly descended, Vincent saw what appeared to be a huge, round, metallic object on the ground.
As they got closer, a giant gear-shaped metal object became clearly visible.
It is about 50 meters in diameter, with a large area of rust on its surface, and the part exposed above the ground is more than ten meters high.
As Vincent pondered the purpose of the giant gear, it suddenly began to slowly rotate.
The Thestral pulled the carriage faster toward the gears, and just as a collision was about to occur, a dark hole appeared on the surface of the rotating gears.
It was just big enough for a carriage to pass through; it turned out to be a metal archway.
Inside the cave entrance is an inverted cone-shaped sinkhole, and something seems to be hanging down the rock wall.
The carriage finally landed on a narrow platform, and the tall wizard eagerly got up and pushed Vincent off the carriage.
"Schmidt, your good days are over."
The tall wizard and four other wizards escorted Vincent to the other side of the platform, where there was a Scabbers metal structure that looked like an elevator.
"Click-click-click—" The thing that looked like an elevator started moving, and it rolled up an iron chain.
Not only were the iron chains rolled up, but also a very tightly packed iron cage.
The tall wizard pushed Vincent to the iron cage, saying, "This will be where you retire from now on."
Vincent looked at the cage, then at himself, and then at the four wizards behind him.
It turned out that the things hanging on the rock wall below were these iron cages, so compact that an adult could only squeeze in by hugging their knees and curling up together.
"What are you looking at!" The tall wizard took out a crystal ball detection device and probed him back and forth.
Without a wand, simple artifacts like the Mithril Robe did not react, and Magical Communicator were deemed dangerous items.
The tall wizard removed the Magical Communicator from Vincent's wrist, then pushed him forward, saying, "Schmidt, stay down there and repent."
Vincent suddenly felt that the Death Eaters were quite happy.
Compared to Erkstag, Azkaban is simply paradise.
As soon as he crawled into the iron cage, the tall wizard immediately locked him up.
"Click-click-click—" The Scabbers elevator started moving again, this time lowering the iron chain.
The cages that Erkstag used to hold prisoners seemed to come in only one size, Vincent saw several large men, wondering how they got in.
As the depth decreased, numerous rusted metal pipes appeared on the rock face.
Some of them spew out high-temperature steam, while others spew out low-temperature steam.
The prisoners here endure the torment of extremes with numb expressions. They may have screamed and shouted at first, but now they are used to it.
Vincent's iron cage continued to descend, and in the dark environment, he smelled a odor that resembled sulfur.
Azkaban has Dementors, and Erkstag has similar guardians.
He remembered that Newt Scamander had mentioned a kind of incredibly ferocious Fantastic Beasts here called the Scorpion, which originated in Greece. Its shell had magical resistance similar to that of Dragon Hide, and it had two pairs of claws like a lobster. Being stung by its scorpion tail would kill you instantly, and the sulfurous smell was probably from its excrement.
Old Man Newt Scamander also mentioned that there is a manticore nest in Erkstag. Young manticores are easier to deal with; by imitating their movements, one can disguise oneself as one of their kind.
If you encounter an adult scorpion-tailed beast, there is only one rule for survival—run.
With a "thud," the cage, which had stopped descending, suddenly crashed into the rock wall covered in green slime.
Black smoke rose from the part of the iron cage that was in contact with the slime, which should be the secretions of an adult scorpion-tailed beast.
Vincent wanted the iron cage to corrode, but unfortunately, it didn't crash into the rock wall again after shaking it a few times. The previous impact was probably due to the chains securing it.
"Helmut?" A weak voice came from the darkness.
Vincent looked in the direction of the sound and could vaguely see an iron cage not far in front of him.
"It's me. Who are you?"
The voice was much louder, but still sounded very weak, "Bernd Cramer, how did you end up locked up here too?"
It turned out to be Old Kramer, one of the elders of the Wizards' Purity Party, who came from the Kramer Family, an ancient Pure-blood Wizard family in Germany.
Vincent squinted, trying to make out his face.
Old Kramer sighed, "Once you get used to the environment here, you'll naturally be able to see me."
Erkstag is pitch black, and the depth here is at least two hundred meters. Being able to see the cages not far away when you first arrive is already a sign of strong adaptability.
Vincent, in the darkness, stretched his hands, which were a little sore from being handcuffed, and said, "Actually, I came here to rescue you."
Old Kramer's eyes widened, but his gaze quickly dimmed again. "Old man, you were the fastest runner back then. Wouldn't it have been better to continue living a peaceful life?"
Vincent raised his handcuffed hands, trying to adjust to the darkness as quickly as possible. "You've been waiting in this godforsaken place for half a century. I can't let you down."
"Half a century?" Old Kramer sighed. "Half a century has already passed..."
He shook his head slightly, his eyes lowered. "It's no use, old man. There aren't even any jailers here. There's no way we can get the key to leave the iron cage."
With a crisp click, Vincent unlocked his handcuffs in the darkness.
Old Kramer suddenly raised his head, "You... how could you..."
Vincent rubbed his wrist. "I told you, I'm here to rescue you."
His fingertips traced the handcuffs, picking up drops of silvery-white, metallic liquid.
Old Kramer's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
This drop of liquid is liquid Mithril. Although the handcuffs specially made by the German Ministry of Magic for the Wizards' Purity Party contain a small amount of Mithril, even the most skilled Alchemists could not complete a series of complex operations such as gathering, extracting, and transforming the liquid in one go without a wand.
Old Kramer could only think of one Alchemists with such abilities: Nicolas Flamel, who, according to legend, created the Sorcerer's Stone, united the wizards of Paris to resist Grindelwald, and lived for over six hundred years.
Vincent reached his hand out of the iron cage and placed the liquid Mithril from his fingertips into the keyhole.
He gently turned his finger, and with another "click," the iron cage opened.
Old Kramer rubbed his eyes hard, and after confirming that he wasn't seeing things, he put on a look of disbelief. "Old man, did you catch Nicolas Flamel?"
Vincent had crawled out of the iron cage and was gripping the chain with one hand, looked puzzled. "Why am I grabbing him?"
"If you couldn't catch him, where did you learn your Alchemy from?"
Vincent smiled slightly. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself."
His entire face was contorting wildly. "I am Vincent Wayne, an apprentice of Nicolas Flamel."
Old Kramer's face was filled with terror.
Vincent, now back to his true self, had a mysterious and profound light in his eyes, like the brightest star in the night sky. "Gellert Grindelwald Grindelwald was also my teacher, but I am not his successor."