Half of the sun had already set beyond the distant horizon, and a beautiful bright glow dyed the sky red in the afterglow of the sunset.
A thin line of mist emerged from the forest below, reflecting the roughness on the ground and making the brilliance of the sky even more prominent.
The silver luxury car was flying quietly in the half-light and half-dark sky. The body of the car was also dyed a touch of crimson by the sunset glow, which was interlaced with the stars gradually rising in the sky.
Now, the car is no longer exposed to ultraviolet rays, and the ink on the car windows has been manually turned off by Dracula.
He looked out the car window at the twilight of the Albanian forest, which was slightly reddish due to the setting sun, and frowned slightly.
Even at the end, Dracula did not find anything unusual in the forest, nor did he find any special places.
'Maybe I'm just overthinking it?'
He held the steering wheel, took a last look at the forest below which he was about to fly past, and thought silently.
Newt sat in the passenger seat holding Niffler Teddy and stroking its fluffy fur.
This Niffler had just performed a great deed by successfully reaching out of the box with his little paws and releasing Newt from the tightly closed lid.
As for the culprit Dracula, who closed the lid and fastened the buttons, he used the Dark Moon Magic to slip out of the box early, and lifted Newt and the box directly out of the Rolls-Royce, and then the two of them embarked on the journey to Romania again.
The car sped off to the northeast.
As time passed, bright stars hung high in the sky, and a steep mountain appeared at the end of Dracula's sight.
The inky black city walls stood darkly on the mountain ridge. Clouds of dark clouds shrouded the peaks, obscuring the outline of the castle.
A hook-like bright moon hung above the dark clouds. The cold moonlight was cut into layers and pieces of trivial shapes by the clouds, and scattered messily on the city walls, vaguely illuminating the shadows of a few flying bats, creating a gloomy scene.
But amidst this gloom, there is also a unique kind of grandeur and prosperity.
"Well... welcome to Castle Dracula, Mr. Scamander."
Dracula curled his lips and said to Newt beside him.
Newt raised his head sleepily, looking at the steep mountain covered by dark clouds and illuminated by the messy moonlight, as well as the castle standing on the ridge.
"Is this the legendary Dracula's Castle?" He couldn't help but murmur with surprise in his eyes, "I always thought that Bran Castle was the base camp of the Romanian vampire tribe, but I didn't expect there was another bigger castle hidden behind it."
Newt sat up straight and stretched his sore waist and neck.
After all, he is getting old. After sitting in the car for several hours, Newt felt a little uneasy, even though the seat had been transformed by Dracula's magic.
The Niffler Teddy, curled up in his arms, was sleeping soundly. After being woken up by Newt's movement, he looked at him with some complaints, rubbed his eyes with a hum, spread his two short arms and stretched.
Then, Teddy crawled along Newt's legs to the windshield of the car, pressed his two little eyes against the glass, and looked curiously at any flashing spots outside the window illuminated by the moonlight.
"In fact, Brown Castle is just a cover, Mr. Scamander."
Dracula held the steering wheel with one hand and rubbed Teddy's head with the other hand. After Teddy looked at him with dissatisfaction, he smiled and said to Newt:
"Let me think about how to describe it... Brown Castle should be considered an external office of Dracula Castle, right? Some peripheral vampires will be on duty there and monitor the behavior of other vampires."
"After all, vampires are dark creatures. There are always some unruly guys who like to secretly suck the blood of Muggles. We are responsible for the local security."
Dracula introduced Newt.
"Responsible for public security?" A very ridiculous emotion appeared in Newt's eyes.
Even a magizoologist like Newt, who has no discrimination or contempt for any creature, cannot associate the word vampire with maintaining law and order.
Newt certainly does not have the same stereotype as other wizards about vampires, who are classified as "humans" by the Ministry of Magic. He knows that there are also vampires who can communicate normally with ordinary people.
Even within this group, there are some very outstanding and successful people such as the vampire singer Lorcan Deiss.
But as a magizoologist, Newt also knew that most of the lowest-level vampires had not escaped their old habits after all, and still maintained the urge to suck human blood indiscriminately, and had no way to control their desire to eat.
This kind of vampire often becomes a destroyer and troublemaker of the order of the wizarding world, just as the stereotype of wizards has been.
Therefore, he couldn't imagine that this Dracula Castle actually had a special overseas office of Brown Castle to maintain the stability of the wizarding world!
"Don't be so unconvinced, Mr. Scamander." Dracula chuckled, "Let me ask you a question first: In this area of Romania, a large-scale magical incident that endangers public security suddenly occurred in a place. Who do you think was responsible?"
Newt was stunned for a moment, and said hesitantly:
"Although I don't subconsciously think of who caused the magical accident, if I put myself in their shoes... wizards living in Romania would probably first think of the actions of vampires and werewolves, right?"
"I remember that I stayed in a fire dragon sanctuary in Romania for a while." Newt's eyes flickered as he thought, "At that time, whenever a fire dragon was hurt, the dragon trainers in the sanctuary would often first suspect vampires."
"In comparison, the werewolf group in Romania is slightly better, because they are infected by humans after all, and they are only aggressive and uncontrollable enough during the full moon night."
"However, vampires are different. In the eyes of wizards, vampires need to drink blood at all times and have an uncontrollable desire to drink blood."
As he spoke, a look of surprise gradually emerged in Newt's eyes. "So... in order to prevent others from suspecting you, the vampire community took the initiative to maintain law and order in the wizarding world?"
"This is a relatively important reason." Dracula nodded slightly. "In order to prevent other magical accidents from harming the already not-so-positive reputation of the vampire community, we naturally have to be responsible for the public security of the Romanian magic community."
"Of course, this is not the main reason." Dracula suddenly raised the corners of his mouth with satisfaction.
"Have you had any dealings with the Ministry of Magic in Romania, Mr Scamander?" he asked quietly.
"Not really..." Newt said, "But I met a few officials from the Romanian Ministry of Magic when I was in the Dragon Sanctuary before. When I was communicating with Minister Abbott during the day, he also talked to me about the Romanian Ministry of Magic."
"That's what Albert said - he told me that the wizards in the Romanian Ministry of Magic are usually very arrogant, but as soon as the name of the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is mentioned, they immediately become very secretive..."
At this point, Newt's words suddenly paused.
He suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked at Dracula in disbelief.
"Could it be that… "
"You guessed right, Mr. Scamander." Dracula laughed happily. "After years of operation at Dracula Castle, the Romanian Ministry of Magic has long been dominated by high-level vampires."
"When we maintain law and order in the Romanian wizarding community, we are supporting the work of our colleagues in the Ministry of Magic. Why not do it?"
"No wonder... I used to think that Romanian wizards were very open-minded, and were willing to share the same magical world with vampires." Newt showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, "It seems that under the influence of Dracula's Castle, the prejudice of wizards here against vampires has been reduced."
"In fact, when I lived in the Fire Dragon Sanctuary, I had a very profound experience—" Newt said,
"Most wizards who have stereotypes about vampires are dragon trainers from other countries, while those born and raised in Romania have no different opinions about this group of people."
"I vaguely remember that whenever there were foreign wizards in the Fire Dragon Sanctuary who wanted to question vampires, the officials of the Ministry of Magic would always make a big deal out of a small matter and treat those wizards' doubts lightly."
Newt said as he laughed with emotion.
"That's amazing, Professor Dracula." He said with emotion, "It must be very difficult to achieve this level, right?"
Looking at Newt's sincere eyes, Dracula's expression suddenly became a little unnatural.
"Well, it's not that difficult..." He coughed dryly.
How should I explain this to Scamander
Should I tell him that I haven't paid much attention to the affairs of the vampire community in the past few hundred years, and that it was actually my adopted daughter Selina who subtly changed the reputation of vampires
Dracula shook his head silently.
As the lord of Dracula, I am too embarrassed to be a hands-off manager...
As they talked, Dracula's castle and the steep mountains below grew closer and closer.
The fragmentary moonlight unknowingly sprinkled on the silver car body, and Dracula's Castle also appeared before the eyes, like a heavy paperweight, firmly pressing on the mountains.
At this moment, a figure suddenly jumped up from the city wall below.
A pair of wings stretched out from his back, flapping gently, carrying the figure into the air, and finally blocking Dracula's Rolls-Royce.
"Dracula's castle is ahead, no outsiders allowed in!"
A cold voice came from the direction of that figure.
Dracula raised his head slightly and looked towards the front of the vehicle with his excellent night vision.
The figure blocking the car was obviously a high-level vampire.
His face didn't have the evil charm of a vampire, but rather a gentle and refined look. His hair was meticulously combed into a neat five-pointed ponytail, and it seemed to have been smeared with hairspray, and there was a neatly trimmed goatee above his mouth.
Seeing this image, Dracula curled up the corners of his mouth with interest and gently rolled down the car window.
"Why are you on duty here? Didn't I approve your vacation?" he asked indifferently.
The high-level vampire who was blocking the way of the vehicle pretended to be cold and cruel, trying to establish the demonic image of the vampire clan and scare the newcomers away directly, so that he wouldn't have to take action.
However, after hearing Dracula's voice, his grim expression suddenly broke.
"Lord Dracula?!"
He opened his eyes wide in surprise, and with his equally excellent night vision, he saw through the car window that strangely handsome face and the iconic silver hair draped behind him.
"I was wrong, Lord Dracula, I really didn't know it was you." He flapped his wings and flew out of the car window, apologizing to Dracula awkwardly, "Why did you come back so suddenly? Why didn't you let us greet you in advance?"
It can be seen that this high-level vampire tried hard to bend down and salute, but the flapping of wings in the suspended state required maintaining balance, and he could not bend his body at will.
So he could only keep his head down, silently looking at his toes hanging in the air.
"It's okay. It's not your fault." Dracula smiled and waved his hand. "Come to think of it... When did I ever inform you when I returned to the castle?"
"Uh..." The senior vampire looked at Dracula dully, then silently shifted his gaze back to his toes.
As a young vampire who had arrived less than a hundred years ago, he had no idea about Dracula's behavior habits. He didn't dare to express any opinions at this time and could only remain silent.
"Don't be so nervous. I'm actually very easy to get along with." Seeing the nervousness of his subordinate, Dracula casually chatted with him, "How was your recent vacation?"
As he spoke, he suddenly raised the corners of his mouth with interest, "Did the old Auror named Robert remember anything about you, Tesla?"
That’s right, the young senior vampire in front of you is the protagonist written by Gilderoy Lockhart in the book “Traveling with Vampires”.
Lockhart obtained the memory of Robert, the old Auror who actually traveled on the same ship with the vampires, and ruthlessly erased the memory of Tesla from this rare wizard who was willing to make friends with vampires. Only then was he able to write that best-selling book.
However, Lockhart's most proud forgetfulness spell was countered by Dracula a few months ago, causing him to lose most of his memory.
He would probably have to spend the rest of his life at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Even when the money he had saved from writing books was completely spent, he would most likely be kicked out of the hospital and become a homeless man with a weak mind.
Lockhart, who had done bad things all his life by using the Oblivion Charm, ended up like this, which was considered retribution.
However, Robert, whose memory was erased by him, lost the only friend in his life.
Tesla plucked up the courage to ask Dracula for a long vacation just to save this friendship that was on the verge of collapse...
"Lord Dracula, your judgment at that time was completely correct. Robert may never remember our shared experience again in his life." Tesla sighed.
Then, a hint of joy appeared in his eyes again, "But I used this time to get to know Robert again. I just pestered him to make friends, there was no need for him to refuse."
"So now you are friends again?" Dracula looked at him with some surprise and asked.
"Yes!" Tesla nodded heavily, "Lord Dracula, I didn't slack off at all and came back to work immediately!"
Dracula nodded with a smile.
"Since you have already started your duty, I will give you a task." He arranged, "I have brought a guest this time. Go find a few vampires from the outer area to arrange some meals and guest rooms for the guest."
"Okay, Lord Dracula, I'll do all this myself." Tesla nodded and said, "I don't feel comfortable letting those low-level vampires do the work. What if they make our guests unhappy?"
"No need to be so polite." Newt heard this and hurriedly persuaded, "I'm used to living outdoors, so any conditions are fine."
"Chi!" Sniffing Teddy also responded while standing in front of the windshield.
"How can that be possible!" Tesla immediately retorted, "You are a distinguished guest brought by Lord Dracula himself. It is my responsibility to satisfy you!"
Then he added in a low voice: "Lord Dracula, this kind of thing must be done by me personally."
"I am the last vampire to arrive at Dracula's Castle. I haven't made any outstanding contributions yet, but I have taken the longest vacation in history among all the vampires. Lord Alcatel doesn't seem very satisfied with me..."
"If I can let her see my dedication to my job, maybe there's still a chance to redeem myself."
Dracula couldn't help laughing when he saw Tesla's cautious expression.
"If that's what you want, then go ahead." He waved his hand casually. "Also, if Serena is unhappy with you because of the holiday, you can come to me and complain."
"This little girl actually dared to be dissatisfied with the vacation I personally approved. I think she is just rebelling!" Dracula said viciously.
Tesla was suspended in the air next to him, saying yes repeatedly.
But he had a clear idea in his mind about who he should please.
Even though Count Dracula is the spiritual symbol of the vampire clan and possesses great actual power, he is too lazy to take care of things!
All the affairs of Dracula Castle, big or small, are usually handled by Lord Alcatel.
In this case, how dare you make Lord Alcatel angry just because you have Lord Dracula's support
If the vengeful Lord Alcatel keeps a grudge against her, her revenge will come as soon as Lord Dracula leaves...
So despite Dracula's promise that he could complain at any time, Tesla still decided to work honestly!
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