Centaur Writing

Smack!

Hoffa grabbed Argeleia's pale wrist hard, his fingers brushing the bottom of the potion vial as he prepared to pull.

But the movement threw him off balance, and he fell from above, dragging Argeleia down with him.

A piercing scream rang out.

In midair, they struck an oak branch and flipped upside down.

Thud!

Argeleia's thirty-five kilograms landed on top of Hoffa.

The fall left Hoffa with a tight chest and shortness of breath. He propped himself halfway up, unable to catch his breath for a long while.

After exchanging a glance, it was obvious that Argeleia, cushioned by him, was in much better shape. She snatched back her wand and pointed it at her own leg.

"Finite Incantatem!"

Once the Full Body-Bind Curse was lifted, she took off toward the school.

The potion was still in her hand. Hoffa refused to give up. He rolled over, grabbed her calf, held on tightly, and dragged her to the ground.

They began wrestling again.

Among eleven-year-old girls, Argeleia was considered tall. Girls generally developed earlier than boys, too, and in their struggle, the still-undeveloped Hoffa actually found himself at a disadvantage.

Then—

Clop, clop, clop!

Hoofbeats came from the dark Forbidden Forest. Joey rode swiftly out of the woods on his white horse and stopped outside his home.

When he saw the scene before him, Joey froze.

Hoffa was half-sitting on the ground, clutching a girl's leg, while the girl hugged her own thigh and struggled to break free from Hoffa's grip.

If not for the deep disgust written across both their faces, Joey might have thought they were acting out some tragic farewell.

Joey asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Seeing a staff member, Argeleia instinctively wanted to complain.

But she immediately remembered that Hoffa had been brewing potions in Joey's house. The two had to be in league with each other. Maybe this man had even encouraged Hoffa to brew potions and sent him to steal her recipe.

All sorts of conspiracy theories flashed through Argeleia's mind.

She quickly put away the potion and put on a pitiful expression.

"Sir, Hoffa Bach is bullying me."

Mist welled up in her eyes, enough to make anyone feel sorry for her.

Hoffa barely pushed himself up from the ground and rasped, "Joey, stop her. She saw everything."

Argeleia's expression changed at once, all traces of vulnerability vanishing from her face.

"Hmph. A staff member covering for a student breaking school rules. Snakes and rats in the same nest. Hogwarts really is a garbage school!"

With that, she struggled free and prepared to leave.

But Joey had no intention of dealing with Argeleia. He merely shrugged indifferently, then turned to Hoffa. "Hoffa, do you understand centaur writing?"

Hoffa nearly jumped in frustration. Argeleia had taken his potion and was about to report him to Gorshak, yet this guy was asking if he understood centaur writing? Was he serious?

"What the hell?"

After cursing angrily, Hoffa limped after Argeleia himself.

But something even more surprising happened.

After hearing Joey's words, Argeleia actually stopped and turned to stare at him in disbelief.

"What did you say? Centaur writing?"

Seeing that she had stopped, Hoffa reached out to snatch the potion.

Argeleia simply twisted aside, avoiding his hand. "The centaurs left writing behind?"

Joey nodded. "That's right. I need someone who understands magical creature writing."

"I do. Take me there."

Argeleia dodged Hoffa's hand again as she spoke.

Hoffa snapped, "What are you even talking about? Go see whatever centaur nonsense you want, just give me back my potion!"

"Don't touch me!" Argeleia pressed herself against a tree trunk, one hand hidden behind her back while the other pushed Hoffa away.

"How could an ordinary mortal like you understand the true value of precious prophecy? I'll go see what the centaurs left behind first, then I'll report you all to the school!"

With that, she lifted her chin and told Joey, "Lead the way!"

Joey's eyes widened, but he was not angry in the least. If anything, he found it amusing.

"Is she your friend, Hoffa?"

"No!"

They answered in unison.

Joey could not help laughing. "Little girl, do you really understand centaur writing?"

"I understand everything," Argeleia said.

Joey said with interest, "What an assertive girl. Come with me, then."

With that, to Hoffa's astonishment, he led a horse out of the stable and handed it to Argeleia.

Argeleia swung into the saddle, her movements no less practiced than Joey's.

Joey mounted his own horse and said to Hoffa, "Why don't you go back first? I'll try to persuade her on the way and get her to return your potion."

Hoffa looked at the eager expression on the girl's face as she sat on horseback. Joey was thinking too simply. He did not understand Argeleia at all. If she were someone who could be reasoned with normally, world peace would not be far off.

Without a word, Hoffa led out the little black horse he usually rode. No matter what, he had to get his potion back himself.

Joey shrugged, tugged the reins, and turned his horse around.

Thus, beneath the setting sun at dusk, three people on three horses entered the Forbidden Forest along a narrow path. None of them spoke. Other than the sound of hooves snapping branches, there was nothing else.

The trees grew denser, and the daylight overhead gradually disappeared.

Only when even the path itself was no longer visible did Hoffa realize they had long since strayed from the usual route. This was completely different from the road he had taken when he went to see the Thunderbird Talas.

The three traveled deeper and deeper into the forest, and the horses gradually slowed as low branches and thorny vines crowded around them.

The long hem of Argeleia's school uniform was snagged to shreds by the barbs on the vines, but she did not care in the slightest. Her eyes were wide with excitement.

Clearly, she was incredibly curious about this so-called centaur writing.

Hoffa kept his eyes on the potion vial in her hand, wondering whether there was some curse that could make this white-haired crow shut up forever.

But Joey knew nothing of Hoffa's worries. Still on horseback, he explained to them, "There used to be a centaur tribe here, seventeen centaurs in all. Their leader was called Nannu. You've met him, Hoffa. But yesterday, they sent me an arrow message."

As he spoke, he drew a short-feathered arrow from his quiver and handed it to Hoffa.

In the fading sunlight, Hoffa saw a line of writing carved into the shaft.

[Leave the Forbidden Forest. Leave this land quickly.]

Leave the Forbidden Forest?

Hoffa did not understand.

After he finished reading it, Joey handed the arrow to Argeleia.

To his surprise, she merely glanced at it before tossing it aside.

"Give me a break. Centaurs would never write you a letter in English. That species only leaves behind one kind of writing."

"Huh?"

Joey looked utterly confused.

At last, after Joey led the two of them with difficulty through a defensive barrier of thorny vines—

They arrived at a clearing carpeted with fallen leaves. This had once been a centaur settlement. Hoffa could still see simple tools scattered across the ground, along with pots, bowls, wooden bows, and arrows that had been left behind.

At the edge of the clearing, mottled sunset light filtered through gaps in the trees, casting shafts of golden light.

At the center of the clearing stood a gray rock.

It looked no different from an ordinary rock in the Scottish Highlands: round, with a few cracks and patches of moss.

The only difference was that it was covered in yellow symbols, unlike any human language Hoffa had ever seen.

Joey said, "After I got the message, I came here this afternoon to take a look. I found nothing, just this line of writing I can't read."

Argeleia did not care what Joey had found. The moment she saw the rock, her blue eyes lit up. She hurriedly stuffed the potion vial into her pocket, dismounted, and strode over.

Then she dropped to one knee and began stroking the rock's surface.

Hoffa had never seen that expression on her face before. It was a mixture of fascination and curiosity.

After feeling the rock for a while, Argeleia turned to Joey and said, "There's a great deal of information on this stone, but if I had to summarize it, it means panic, murder, and war! The emotions are stronger than anything I've ever encountered."

Hoffa looked at the symbols on the stone. He could not read them, nor could he understand how a line of writing could contain such intense emotions.

"That's too vague," Joey said with a frown. "Can you be more specific? What exactly happened?"

"I can't," Argeleia shook her head. "Centaur writing differs from human writing. It isn't a vessel for precise information, but more like a hazy feeling, something like musical notes. If you want to know exactly what happened, you'll have to find a centaur and ask."

Search for centaurs?

Joey frowned and looked up at the sky. It was nearly evening now. The sun had already sunk halfway below the horizon, and the clouds at the edge of the sky burned red.

"Forget it. Keep looking. Translate it if you can. If you can't, I'll take you back later. Don't stay in the Forbidden Forest too long."

Argeleia continued studying the rock.

Hoffa was not interested in what was written on it. Most of his attention was on Argeleia—more precisely, the potion beneath her robes.

If she took it back, then given Gorshak's cold habit of valuing rules over people, Hoffa would probably suffer again.

Joey wandered around the forest clearing, occasionally picking up a bow or arrow from the ground and examining it with a furrowed brow. Argeleia, meanwhile, was engrossed in the stone as though it contained jade worth millions.

Hoffa thought this was a good opportunity.

A good opportunity to retrieve his potion.

He quietly circled behind Argeleia and entered his Disillusionment state.

At the moment, Argeleia was kneeling on both knees. Sometimes she traced the rough surface of the rock with her fingers; sometimes she pressed an ear against it, closed her eyes, and seemed to be sensing something.

Hoffa did not care what mysterious nonsense she was doing. He stood behind her, bent down, and reached toward her waist. Holding his breath, he lifted her robe and slowly drew out his potion vial.

Argeleia did not react at all.

With the potion back in hand, Hoffa breathed a sigh of relief and was just about to destroy it immediately.

But then he noticed several faint footprints amid the fallen leaves. They were hard to spot; if he had not been crouching, he would never have seen them.

The footprints were large, left by adults, and somewhat messy.

That surprised Hoffa.

This was a centaur settlement, so hoofprints would not have been strange. But why were there human footprints? They could not have been Joey's.

Joey was alone, and both Hoffa and Argeleia were children.

But these footprints had clearly been left by several adults.

Could there be someone else here?

Hoffa slowly straightened and followed the footprints for two steps.

When he reached a fir tree, he stopped. The tracks split apart there, heading in different directions.

Hoffa had a bad feeling about this. Centaurs would not disappear for no reason. Chasing after them rashly was not a good idea. He had his potion back; it was time to leave.

The moment the thought arose, Hoffa began backing away.

But a faint hissing sound in the air stopped him.

He looked up, and his attention was drawn to several green fruits hanging from the branches.

The fruits were dark green, well concealed amid the thick canopy, yet somehow familiar.

They had sharp protrusions all over them, like green spiked balls hanging upside down from the branches, trembling faintly.

A strange, soft hissing filled the air.

Hoffa released his Disillusionment state, moved quietly to Joey's side, and whispered, "Joey, what are those fruits in the tree? Do you know?"

Joey followed Hoffa's finger.

But after just one glance, Joey shuddered and cried out in horror, "Damn it! Swooping Evils! Why are creatures like these in the Forbidden Forest?"