Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit

With soft music playing, it was time for dinner.

Tonight's music was especially atmospheric, a melody made up of sacred, ethereal female voices.

Drenched in sweat, Kate first headed to the bathroom in the lounge behind the Great Hall on the first floor.

Tonight's dinner was still the familiar beef stew with potatoes, with the addition of tripe soup, stuffed roasted pumpkin, and roast lamb with cornmeal mush.

Kate had finally met her match. The tripe soup was made with tripe, plenty of garlic, sour cream, and hot peppers. It was so spicy that she had no choice but to drink several cups of Black Tea.

As for the stuffed roasted pumpkin, it was somewhat like stuffed lotus root slices: a baked dish of beef or turkey, rice, onions, herbs, and spices wrapped together, topped with a thick layer of sour cream.

The roast lamb with cornmeal mush could only be described as salty. It was practically lamb pickles.

After strongly requesting it, Ryan finally got to eat rice that evening. Romanian food already suited Eastern tastes well—heavily seasoned and somewhat like rustic regional cuisine—making it perfect with rice.

After eating their fill, Ryan and Kate headed for the lounge behind the Great Hall.

The lounge was decorated much like the carriage, only more spacious and luxurious.

The bathroom was more like a swimming pool or hot spring, and the bedroom was no longer a huge coffin, but a normal double bed.

After a quick wash, Ryan gave up meditation for the day, lest he accidentally exude charm the next day and lose his virginity here.

With Kate's breathing beside him, the next day arrived before he knew it.

The next day was bright and sunny. Since today's plan was to admire the view from the fifth floor, and the transportation coming to pick up Ryan and the others at six that evening would be landing on the castle roof, the primitive Weather Charm on the rooftop was temporarily canceled.

As a vampire, Salvatore could not conveniently be exposed to sunlight, so he courteously saw Ryan and the others off at the fourth floor before returning to the third to begin a new creation.

At the center of the castle rooftop stood a large parasol, beneath which food had been laid out. All meals today would be handled on the rooftop. The washroom and lounge were on the right side of the fifth floor, while dinner would be eaten aboard the transportation arriving that night.

With a cup of Black Tea each, Ryan and Kate sat on lounge chairs beneath the parasol, feeling as though they were by the sea.

The only difference was that instead of an ocean, there was a sea of trees before them, with deep dragon roars occasionally echoing from afar.

A pair of Omnioculars sat on the table as well, similar to those sold during the Quidditch World Cup in the fourth book. They could replay scenes in slow motion.

This sea of trees was not exactly the dragons' habitat. After all, an adult Romanian Longhorn was forty feet long, roughly twelve meters.

The forest was actually an obstacle to them. Beneath this sea of trees, Romania's Ministry of Magic had specially used magic to construct a strange underground sanctuary, much like the Forest of Menos in the anime Bleach.

However, not all dragons lived underground. Far beyond the sea of trees lay a canyon, which was also the exit of the underground sanctuary and its source of sunlight.

Within this canyon, which Muggles could not observe, many cattle and sheep were raised for the dragons to hunt.

After learning all this, Kate said speechlessly, "So we're just staying here and watching to see whether a giant dragon might come out of the canyon?"

"Not really. This service isn't included in what we paid for. It's free."

"And this way, that vampire has an excuse to rest too," Ryan said blandly.

"Ah! That guy! I'm going down there—forget it. I'll just go have fun on the fourth floor later." Kate abruptly stood up, then sat back down.

Ryan took a copy of Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit, which Hagrid had called somewhat outdated, from his pocket and read it with Kate.

"Kate, did you notice anything after reading it?" Ryan asked.

"Dragons are very profitable?" Kate was startled by the sudden question. She had barely read at all, spending all her time looking at this little brat.

"Mm, that's not exactly wrong."

"Kate, didn't you notice that this book shows that before the 1709 Wizarding Convention formally passed the bill banning dragon breeding, raising dragons was actually very common?" Ryan prompted.

"That's right. And afterward, dragonhide and Dragon Blood started becoming expensive," Kate suddenly realized.

"Exactly. Back then, raising dragons was like Muggles raising cattle and sheep."

"Wizards might not need money, but some magical materials and items still required currency. Raising dragons became a good way to make a profit, and dragons lived a long time. Taking a little hide and blood occasionally didn't cause them any harm."

"And Kate, did you notice that wizards actually can't do without dragons?" Ryan emphasized.

"That's right! Potions, clothes, and wands all need dragons!" Kate jumped up as she answered.

"The Ministry of Magic and some large dragon-breeding organizations would never allow such powerful and useful creatures to be privately raised, even if private dragon breeding had already become an organized and safe practice by then."

"Dragons are also powerful guardians. If every wizard household had a dragon, how could the Ministry of Magic manage ordinary wizards?"

"So?" Ryan prompted.

"So Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit became outdated, and private individuals were no longer allowed to raise dragons," Kate continued immediately.

"And Kate, did you notice that the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, also known as the International Statute of Secrecy, was signed by the wizarding world in 1689 and formally established in 1692? This law was formulated by the International Confederation of Wizards to ensure that the entire wizarding world would not be discovered by Muggles."

"Could it be?!" Kate cried.

"Exactly! That could it be. Dragons are too large, and private dragon breeding was also a risk—the risk of Muggles discovering the wizarding world. Though wealthy wizards' castles were still built in bustling cities and protected by all kinds of spells."

"If you've looked at Muggle maps, you'll notice how small the Muggle world's maps are. That's because many regions cannot be mapped or discovered at all," Ryan concluded.

"Why did the Statute of Secrecy exist?" Kate asked in confusion.

"Do you know Gryffindor's most famous ghost?"

"Nearly Headless Nick!" Kate answered.

"From the fifteenth century onward, all of Europe began persecuting witches and wizards. Many were imprisoned and sentenced to death for practicing magic."

"Nearly Headless Nick, for example, lost his wand and could not escape, so he was ultimately executed. Wizarding families were especially likely to lose their children, because young wizards could not yet control their magic and often attracted the attention of Muggles hunting wizards, while being unable to fight back," Ryan said seriously.

"Even now, many years after the Statute of Secrecy was implemented, Dumbledore's sister suffered persecution at the hands of Muggles and was unable to resist."

"Then the Statute of Secrecy really is necessary," Kate sighed.

Meanwhile, Ryan thought to himself, The Statute of Secrecy is long outdated. It should change. The information age isn't far off.

Thanks to Dlostin and Weimian Tingtao for their monthly votes.