Spider Shadows

Of course, Adam could not possibly lay everything about Clow Reed bare.

He merely explained that his parents were indeed ordinary people, but not Muggles—they were Squibs. He had only learned after receiving Hogwarts' letter that both sets of his grandparents were not ordinary people. Though he had been misunderstood before, he had never found a good opportunity to clear things up.

As for the Clow Cards, Adam explained that they were a family inheritance from China, which Uther accepted quickly and readily.

It seemed Egypt probably had traditions similar to the ones Adam had made up...

"So I'm the only one in the dorm who's really from an ordinary family..."

Bernard was somewhat disappointed, and Adam comforted him.

"Actually, I'm no different from someone from an ordinary family. I only came into contact with the Wizarding World after I turned eleven."

"That's true... But Adam, being able to adapt to wizard life so quickly probably has something to do with your bloodline, right?"

"That should have more to do with Adam's personality, shouldn't it? Can bloodline really affect something like that?"

"Alright, isn't the important thing now making the two of us invisible?"

Klon helplessly cut off the conversation between the two invisible boys.

"So, Adam, you chose to explain things now because you have a better method?"

Eugene looked at the wand in Adam's hand.

"You're right..."

Adam held the Wand of Darkness in one hand and pinched a Clow Card between two fingers of the other.

There were no people or animals on the card. Instead, it displayed something like the view through a kaleidoscope, with a gemstone at its center—the Illusion Card. It could create any illusion, and when left uncontrolled, it usually showed people the things they feared most.

"Release!"

The sun's pointed ray touched the card, and a gemstone detached itself from the surface, floating above the Wand of Darkness. At the same time, kaleidoscopic patterns that seemed to change without pause spread outward from the Clow Card, wrapping around them all before slowly vanishing from sight.

"Done."

Adam still held the Wand of Darkness and motioned for Eugene and Klon to look.

"While the Illusion Card is active, you'll be able to see an illusion of a gemstone floating above my wand. When the gemstone disappears, that means I've dispelled the Illusion Card's magic."

"Got it!"

Once they were ready, Bernard volunteered to take the lead, with Klon second. Adam and Uther followed behind them, while Eugene brought up the rear.

"It really does look like a rather primitive forest... There are plenty of magical plants and magical creatures living here."

Klon touched a Fluxweed plant by his feet.

"Mooncalf dung. Looks like we'll run into some cute little animals if we come to the Forbidden Forest at night."

"And the chances of encountering danger will be higher too, won't they?"

Uther's gaze swept warily across their surroundings, though there was not much tension in his voice.

Even in Egypt, where the ground was covered in yellow sand, it was the same. Most creatures active during the day that could threaten wizards were enormous and difficult to conceal, but nocturnal creatures were different.

Under the cover of darkness, even an animal smaller than a palm could easily kill a wizard with venom or similar methods.

"Look! There are tracks ahead!"

Klon's eyes lit up, and he quickened his pace toward them.

When the group of five reached the place Klon had indicated, Adam looked on helplessly as Klon crouched on the ground and carefully studied the marks.

"Look! These tracks are incredibly broad. They must have been left by some enormous magical creature—like an Erumpent, or something else."

After hesitating for a moment, Adam reminded him.

"Couldn't our half-giant groundskeeper have left similar tracks? Besides, these tracks lead straight out of the Forbidden Forest, and we're so close to its edge. Why would a giant magical creature be wandering around here?"

"Huh?"

Klon froze. He reconstructed Hagrid's size in his mind, compared it with the tracks here... and they matched perfectly.

"Uh, hehehe, I was just taking a wild guess."

They continued deeper into the Forbidden Forest. Perhaps because it was afternoon, they did not spot many magical creatures, only a herd of deer. But the deer noticed them from far away, glanced in their direction, and ran off.

"Should I erase the sounds we're making too?"

A Silent Card slipped out from Adam's fingertips. On its surface was a tall woman with her mouth and nose covered by a high collar.

"Better not. In a sense, the noises we make are protecting us."

Uther stopped him.

"Some very powerful magical creatures possess intelligence no less than humans. This is Hogwarts, after all. If they notice us, they may choose to leave on their own."

"Alright."

Adam followed Uther's advice, though he did not think those animals would voluntarily avoid humans...

After finding no surprises for so long, Bernard could not help asking,

"Are we just going to keep walking forward without any goal?"

He had wanted to explore the Forbidden Forest, but the situation seemed somewhat different from what he had imagined.

The group stopped, and the five of them gathered together.

"Have some water and take a break."

Adam conjured five cups, then conjured some plain water inside them.

"Bernard's right. We should at least have a goal."

Klon was somewhat tired. Holding his water, he found a large tree and sat on one of its roots rising from the ground, casually looking around in hopes of finding some clue that might point them in the right direction.

Suddenly, Klon's pupils contracted sharply, and he pointed in one direction.

"What is that?!"

His slightly trembling, almost cracked cry made Adam and the others immediately look that way, but they saw nothing.

"Look from over here!"

Adam walked over to Klon, crouched down, and looked in the direction he was pointing. Only then did he see the culprit behind Klon's loss of composure—a spiderweb.

It was stretched between the trunks of two trees, spanning more than ten meters. The webbing between two parallel strands was even as wide as a palm.

"What kind of thing spun a web like that? A spider?"

Uther's expression turned ugly.

"Do all British spiders eat this well?"

A single enormous spiderweb would have been one thing, but the gaps between its strands were palm-width apart. That meant prey roughly the size of a palm was not even on this spider's menu.

"I... I don't know either..."

Klon swallowed. Their family farm certainly did not raise such ferocious magical creatures.

But Bernard suddenly started walking toward the web.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

Eugene reacted quickly and grabbed him.

"Aren't you curious?"

Seeing Bernard's somewhat excited expression, Eugene frowned.

"Aren't you scared at all?"

"Scared of what? It's just a spider. At most, it's a little bigger."

Bernard looked at Eugene in confusion, took out his loaded gun, and cocked it.

"If you told me bullets couldn't pierce dragon hide, I'd believe you. But a spider can't be bulletproof too, can it?"