"An adventure?"
Adam opened his eyes and frowned at Bernard.
"You mean..."
"This is a huge, ancient magical castle! The areas we explore during our usual classes probably don't even make up half of it—maybe even less. Aren't you curious about the other parts?"
As he spoke, Bernard's eyes sparkled.
"...You said it yourself. It's an ancient castle."
Adam sighed.
"The places we don't go during class probably aren't places anyone usually goes either—some of them may not have been visited for centuries. They'll be full of discarded junk, and maybe rats and cockroaches too."
"..."
The vision Adam had painted dampened Bernard's enthusiasm somewhat, but it did not change his mind.
"But it might not all be junk, right? Just imagine finding treasures left behind by ancient wizards in those dilapidated rooms and secret passages..."
"Actually, if you really found treasures left by ancient wizards, they'd most likely be cursed—trust me."
As a descendant of Pharaoh, Uther naturally carried an extra layer of credibility when speaking about such matters.
"So Pharaoh's treasures really are cursed?"
Klon looked at him curiously and received a rather subtle smile in reply.
"Hmm, I hadn't mentioned it before because it felt a little offensive, but since we're talking about this..."
Adam could not help looking at Uther.
"How do you view all those Pharaohs' coffins and mummies in museums?"
"How do we view them... as artifacts, obviously~ The afterlife and the underworld are ultimately just myths that nobody knows are real or fake."
Uther shrugged.
"Actually, though it bruises our pride a little, it isn't entirely a bad thing for us... That's all I can say."
"Is that so?"
Though Adam was somewhat puzzled by what Uther meant, he merely nodded and did not press the matter after Uther said that.
"Wait, is nobody interested in my suggestion?"
Bernard was still a little unwilling to give up.
"Give it up. Hogwarts has never lacked students with a spirit of exploration. The areas that can be freely entered obviously won't have what you're looking for."
"So that means the forbidden areas do?"
"..."
Facing four pairs of eyes, Bernard innocently shrugged.
"I was just saying."
Adam sighed.
"...Where do you want to go?"
"Hmm..."
Bernard frowned and thought for a long while. It was clear that he had never seriously considered the question before; he had simply thought of it and immediately wanted to do it.
"I remember Professor Dumbledore warning us at the start of term not to go to certain places, right? That fourth-floor corridor?"
Adam's heart skipped a beat. He had just been thinking about petting cats, and now Bernard wanted to drag him into a direct real-life PvP match with Voldemort? Wasn't that a bit too exciting?
"I think the Dark Forest would be better."
Without showing anything unusual on his face, Adam stroked the cat and said,
"I heard there are lots of magical animals and magical plants inside, even unicorns and centaurs. I want to take a look."
"Adam, are you interested in magical animals?"
Klon looked at Adam and happily suggested,
"Then why not come visit my home during the holidays? I can take you to see several of our family's breeding grounds. There are lots of magical animals there!"
"Oh? Like what?"
Adam's eyes lit up slightly.
"Like mooncalves, Diricawls, Billywigs..."
Just as Adam was beginning to feel disappointed, Klon added,
"And Nifflers!"
"I'll definitely visit your home when I get the chance!"
Adam immediately sat upright and nodded firmly at Klon.
"Okay~"
"Is anyone interested in sphinxes?"
Uther stroked his chin and suggested,
"Why don't we all find a chance to visit Egypt together?"
"That sounds great!"
"But if we're going abroad, shouldn't we go with our families?"
"Uther, how will we contact you after you return to Egypt? By owl?"
"Maybe we can go through the Department of International Magical Cooperation..."
"..."
After everyone had more or less finished discussing it, Bernard weakly raised his hand and asked,
"So, are we still going to the Dark Forest?"
"Let's go."
Adam sighed. Otherwise, he was genuinely afraid Bernard would blunder straight into Voldemort and get hit by the Killing Curse. That was not something a few guns or White Phosphorus Grenades could handle.
Even for something as thrilling and nerve-racking as going to the Dark Forest, nobody planned to get up early the day after exams, including Bernard, who was quite interested in the matter.
So, after combining breakfast and lunch into one meal, all five boys from the dormitory finally gathered at the entrance to the Dark Forest.
"Come to think of it, I understand Klon coming along because he thought watching training alone would be boring, but why did you two come too?"
Adam looked at the one who claimed he needed to catch up on sleep and the one who had said he was going fishing.
"It's Hogwarts's Dark Forest, after all. After hearing you talk about it yesterday, I got pretty interested too."
Uther pulled out his wand with its Egyptian-style decorations, curiosity written across his face.
"And I went to bed too early last night, then slept straight through until just now. I can't fall asleep again, so I might as well get up and move around—do you think we'll be attacked?"
Why did he seem like a potential troublemaker too?!
Looking at Uther's eager expression, Adam felt there were too many things to criticize and nowhere to begin.
"I heard the Dark Forest is dangerous. I was worried about you."
Eugene also held his wand. His standout height and resolute face radiated an overwhelming sense of reliability.
If Adam had not seen Eugene, during that cockroach incident in the bathroom, hurl every object within reach at the cockroach while looking as though he wanted to take flight, that sense of security might have worked better on him.
"This is the first group activity our dormitory has had, right?"
Klon looked incredibly excited and even waved his wand.
"I can already picture us fighting monsters in the Dark Forest together!"
"Ahem, it would be best if that sort of thing didn't happen."
Adam could not help saying,
"Anyway, moving together is a good thing. At least we can look out for one another."
"Our first obstacle is avoiding the gamekeeper's notice—the half-giant who brought us to Hogwarts at the start of term."
Bernard skillfully cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself. His body immediately blended into the surroundings like a chameleon; unless someone looked closely, they would not notice anything at all.
"Does anyone need help?"
"I know the Disillusionment Charm."
As Uther spoke, he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself.
Just as Klon and Eugene helplessly prepared to ask the other two for help, Adam suddenly extended his hand. A wand taller than he was appeared out of thin air in it!
"Ahem, brothers, while we have the chance, I want to clear up a misunderstanding from before..."
He had originally wanted to get along with everyone as an ordinary person, afraid of scaring them. Who knew that after getting to know them, he would discover that every one of their identities and backgrounds was more outrageous than the last.
Since that was the case, he would stop pretending. He would come clean—
He was a magical boy—no, a Cardcaptor!
Before you continue