"Thank you for your help, Cypher. If you hadn't withstood that monster's self-destruction, our mission would certainly have ended in failure."
At a dock along the French coast.
The Auror captain thanked Cypher, who was slightly shorter than him.
At first, he had not believed that Cypher's strength was as formidable as the rumors claimed.
But he was a steadfast supporter of Dumbledore's faction.
When he learned that Cypher was Dumbledore's successor,
he volunteered to accompany Cypher to France.
He had thought it would be an upperclassman looking after an underclassman, only to be helped by the other party instead.
He believed that even if he had known the Sea Dragon was going to self-destruct, he would have had no way to protect the others.
Under those circumstances, his only chance of survival would have been to Apparate beyond the blast radius.
Although casting water magic at sea came with an unparalleled advantage,
that thick ice wall which had completely covered the side of the cruise ship—
he believed that without lengthy chanting and guidance, he could never have cast magic on that scale.
Even if he could have matched its scale, its power would have been nowhere near comparable.
Cypher naturally saw that the enthusiasm and gratitude of the tall, burly wizard before him were entirely genuine.
Although the wizard was unusually talkative, once Cypher learned he was from Gryffindor, he felt fortunate that the man had not thrown an arm around his shoulders and treated him like a brother.
Cypher was not afraid of dealing with strangers. What he feared was strangers acting overly familiar.
In this dark era that was nearly every man for himself, Cypher remained wary of practically everyone.
Accompanied by the Auror captain, Cypher left the dock.
Then he hastily made an excuse that