The Vampire's Secret

"As for Lockhart's Voyages with Vampires, it was more interesting, but you should just treat it as a novel. Lockhart claimed he made a vampire live on nothing but lettuce—what a joke!" Ryan suddenly remembered this and pointed it out.

"Eldred Worple? Who was he?" Kate asked.

"A ruthless man who would risk his life just to write a book. He personally lived among vampires for a while, as a Muggle," Ryan said with a trace of admiration.

"And he was a member of the famous Slug Club. Lately, he had been visiting Dumbledore, hoping to get permission to visit Harry Potter and write a Biography of Harry Potter."

"Okay, do vampires only drink blood?" Kate suddenly asked, half a Chocolate Frog still in her mouth.

"Vampires could actually eat plenty of food. Drinking blood wasn't necessary; the act of drinking blood was more like a curse. Kate, would you believe it? Vampires could even eat garlic. They just hated it and deliberately kept their distance from it, which was why hardly anyone knew. Oh, and Honeydukes sold a blood-flavored lollipop that was very popular among vampires."

"They can do that?" Kate exclaimed.

Time flew by, as if he and Kate had hidden away in a crack between moments.

Before they knew it, two hours had passed. At eight in the evening, gentle music began to play from the bat lamp's mouth.

The tables in the lounge split apart down the middle, and a small black coffin rose from the gap.

Hiss, hiss, hiss. Red gravy flowed from the coffin's seams. The coffin slowly opened, revealing beef stew, surrounded by several pieces of bread.

How should he put it? The dish now reminded Ryan of goose stew cooked in an iron pot, with the bread looking like flatbreads stuck around the edge of the pot.

"Good evening, Mr. Ryan. After you have finished dining, press the bell on your left, and the table will return to normal," the Hook-Nosed Wizard's voice suddenly said.

The beef stew tasted like tomato-braised beef brisket to Ryan. The only difference was the addition of some Romanian spices and the creamy flavor brought by butter.

Kate frowned. The sudden dinner made her regret eating so many snacks earlier.

Unlike Kate, Ryan had known dinner was arranged, so he had only eaten a few Chocolate Frogs. After indulging his mischievous side, Ryan suddenly placed his hand on Kate's fluffy little belly.

"What are you doing? Be careful, or I'll tell Penelope." Kate's face turned bright red.

But after a moment, she understood Ryan's intention. The feeling of fullness ebbed away like a tide, while hunger continuously welled up inside her.

"Ryan, how did you do that?" Kate asked.

"That's a secret. Come on, eat," Ryan said with a mysterious expression.

That little brat! Kate grumbled inwardly, but soon began eating heartily.

After dinner, Ryan took out a copy of A Guide to Medieval Sorcery and read it with Kate. Every so often, they discussed some impractical spell.

At eleven that night, the bat lamp dimmed. Kate stood, stretched lazily, and headed for the washroom to clean up before bed. Ryan remained energetic. With his constitution now at thirty-one, he could already go without resting indefinitely. The only thing that could tire him was something as intangible as the heart.

Keeping both mind and body at their peak for long periods was a piece of cake.

But the source of magic in this world came from the heart. Ryan still deliberately maintained certain mortal habits, such as eating, washing up, and resting.

Ryan took his own toiletries from his pocket and headed to the washroom as well. He washed his face and briefly rinsed his mouth.

Rather than wait for Kate, who was bathing in the bathroom, Ryan changed out of his Wizard Robe, put on pajamas printed with an Opaleye Dragon, and walked into the bedroom.

The bedroom also followed the coffin theme. Its silk bedding was crimson as blood, and the coffin was large enough to hold at least four or five people.

Ryan ran a hand over the coffin—or rather, the bed—and a wandless Scourgify swept over it. Leaning against the pillow, he resumed reading The Daily Prophet. It could not be helped; there was little entertainment in the wizarding world that interested him.

There was no Wi-Fi or internet. Though the wondrous magic sometimes gave him the feeling of entering a virtual online game, Ryan still found himself bored now and then.

The carriage's decorations might have seemed fascinating to wizards, but Ryan came from the information-explosion era of the twenty-first century. To him, they were only somewhat novel.

Sometimes, Ryan even had the urge to create games and build a network in the magical world.

But aside from researching magic, Ryan was just a couch potato in every other respect. He did not have that kind of drive.

If he had truly possessed strong initiative, he would have achieved fame and success in his previous life. A couch potato who transmigrated would most likely remain a couch potato.

Before long, Kate took a change of clothes from the bag she had brought with her: another fluffy sleeping robe. Hugging an enormous lion plushie, she slowly walked in.

Don't worry. There's only a seven-year-old little brat in here, Kate secretly encouraged herself.

"Kate, do you really like fluffy things that much?" Ryan could not help teasing when he saw her outfit and the plushie.

"What's wrong with that? They feel nice to touch." Ryan's teasing made Kate forget her worries. She lay down on the other side of the coffin, took out a copy of Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century from the lion plushie, and began reading like Ryan.

For the time that followed, they did not speak. There was only the sound of pages turning. Ryan did not know why, but the atmosphere felt especially peaceful. Looking across, he saw Kate lying facedown on her book, using it as a pillow, asleep.

Ryan stretched, lay down in an odd posture, and closed his eyes. His magic continuously transformed into tangible vitality, surging around his body.

This was The Times Are Calling, the meditation version of the Body Modification skill: a stillness exercise, another application Ryan had developed so he could train even while sleeping.

Romania was a country in southeastern Europe, with Bucharest as its capital. To the west, it bordered Hungary and Serbia; Bulgaria lay to the south, while Ukraine and Moldova were to the north and northeast.

The castle Ryan and Kate were heading to was located in Bucharest, Romania. It used magic commonly employed by wizards: whenever Muggles approached, they would suddenly remember something urgent, and they could not see the castle either. This made things immensely convenient for wizard tourists.

The castle in Bucharest was also an attraction on Terror Trips that required extra payment to visit alone. It was filled with interesting traps and permanent vampire actors.

Behind the castle was the Romanian Longhorn's natural habitat, the largest and most important dragon sanctuary in the world. From the top of the castle, looking out over the habitat and watching Romanian Longhorns—with their blackish-green scales and two gleaming golden horns—hunt and play was also something visiting wizards often did.