"The Shitabe are a tribe of magical humanoid animals native to the swamps of North America. They lay eggs. From the time they break out of their shells, the juvenile Shitabe will maintain an appearance completely consistent with that of a human child. They usually shed their skin and enter the growth stage after 9 to 13 years. , and gradually transforms into a snake-like shape. After a few decades, the snake-like shape can grow to 25 to 35 feet and enter adulthood. After the body is finalized, it can change between human and snake forms at any time, and has the same characteristics. It depends on human wisdom. Since the Shitabe people are gentle and kind-hearted in nature and deal with things calmly and calmly, as long as they get along with each other sincerely, there will usually be no danger."
When listening to John talking about how he followed the Auror Vice-Captain and the others to meet the ancient underground cave where the Shtabe family lived, Hermione across the table habitually mentioned that she had been in a certain magical book in the Hogwarts library. I almost recited this passage that I had read in an animal book almost word for word.
Naturally, most of the other friends here are used to it, including Sarah and Safina. They have been with Hermione for a long time and have long been accustomed to her nerdy personality that occasionally reveals itself unconsciously.
On the opposite side, John, who was sitting opposite him, couldn't help but nod his head when he heard the recently famous Miss Granger in front of him talking about this Native American creature, which was no longer famous in the modern magical world.
"Yes, that's what Miss Granger said." He said, "The Shitabei people are very intelligent, and in human form there is almost no difference from us humans, so when the Shitabei people are in After adulthood, many people actually choose to go to the surface world and live silently in No-Maj cities—their lifespans are much longer than humans, and they also have insights comparable to Legilimency and abilities comparable to snakes. With powerful perception and memory that surpasses humans, Kroger decided to take us to find them for help, which was indeed a fairly correct idea."
But when he said this, John couldn't help but shook his head, and said rather sadly:
"It's a pity that although they are indeed very similar to humans in many cases, they are ultimately different from us!"
"What happened? What happened next?" Not far away, Ron had already been listening in rapt attention. Now seeing John's expression, he couldn't help but ask.
When John heard this, he immediately shook his head again, shrugged and said:
"The adult Shitabe tribe have mature minds and have already adapted to living with wizards like us, so even if one of us accidentally makes some rash and offensive actions, they can basically accept it reluctantly and will not There would be too much conflict. However, those Shitabe tribesmen who are still in the growth stage are not so easy to communicate with. However, it may be a deliberate arrangement of the Shitabe tribe. Almost all of those responsible for patrolling the shallow layers of the cave are Kroger, a member of the tribe who is still in the growing stage, was just one of the Aurors who was once responsible for guarding the Shitabe tribe's regular liaison team. He actually doesn't know much about them."
…
The encounter ten years ago made John remember one thing - if you suddenly encounter a child while walking through the water, you will never know that there is something hidden under the other person's flooded waist. Will it be a pair of human legs or a cold snake tail with cold scales
"Bang-bang!"
A long black shadow flashed past in the dim cave, and the next moment, the figure of Kroger, who had been talking just now, disappeared from sight. But just by hearing the two violent impacts in a row, John knew that the Auror deputy captain had probably been severely slapped on the uneven rock wall.
Is that the Shitabe tribe? What just happened? Why did the other party suddenly launch such a ferocious attack on Kroger
Because the incident happened suddenly, it had only been less than three minutes since the disheveled "child" quietly appeared in the darkness, and the situation has become like this... To be honest, this is comparable to what John recorded in his family books. What I read is a bit... no, it's very different.
Oh, I remembered, just now Kroger seemed to have said something like, "In accordance with the relevant regulations of the "New American Contract," we will complete this routine contact with the nobles in the future." According to what Kroger said earlier, this was the statement he wrote down when he was escorting the team. He also said that the person in charge mentioned at that time that this was an example sent by the Congress to conduct a meeting with the Shitabe people. The cliché of holding a liaison meeting—before you actually meet the adult Shitabe people, it’s best to say every word correctly.
But why doesn't it work this time? Did Kroger memorize it wrong
No, it seems to be just this sentence from beginning to end. In addition to the other party's racial name, there is no non-English vocabulary mixed in it. If he had memorized this wrongly, then Kroger might not have been able to graduate from Ilvermorny and become his Auror.
Fortunately... Well, actually I don't know if I should say "fortunately" now! In short, at least the "child" in front of him didn't continue to attack the remaining few of them after he whipped Kroger away like lightning.
John stood there, less than half a step away from where Kroger, who was now dead or alive, had been. The numbness on his face that had just been aroused by the strong wind carried by the snake's tail still vaguely remained. After hesitating for a moment and seeing that the other party was just looking at me and others in silence but neither moving forward nor retreating, I couldn't help but said cautiously:
"Um... may I ask, sir... why did you hit him just now?"
Communicating with humanoid magical creatures can actually be said to be familiar to every wizard. In today's magical world, there are short but cunning goblins, murlocs who love to sing and brag, slow and irritable giants, and even house elves who are obedient to wizards...many creatures already live with wizards. for many years.
However, no wizard dares to boast about how much he or she knows about these humanoid magical creatures, whose appearance is more or less similar to humans, but whose personalities and talents seem completely different.
Just like Auror Deputy Captain Kroger, who usually deals with vampires and werewolves, perhaps because he gained excessive self-confidence from that extraordinary experience, he is now suffering the consequences.
In comparison, John, who didn't know much about this aspect to begin with, naturally didn't dare to think too hard now that Kroger was teaching him a lesson.
"Since I can't say formulaic words, then... what should I say?"
Just as he was tentatively asking a respectful question and thinking hard in secret, he didn't expect to get a response from the other party, but he heard that the "child" in front of him actually opened his mouth to answer his question -
"Because he lied."
The pleasant words echoed gently in the dark cave.