“Hiss” After finishing, Eric stood calmly where he was.
Behind him came a chorus of astonished gasps.
The Monster Book that had attacked him moments ago was now as limp as a roll of parchment.
All of its earlier ferocity had vanished, and it lay obediently in his hands, allowing him to flip through its pages as he pleased.
Seeing how completely at ease he looked, the witches and wizards gathered around erupted in surprise.
Not a single one of them had genuinely expected Eric to be able to deal with one of those Monster Books flying wildly through the air.
After all, even the fully grown witches and wizards, including the bookshop employees, had been unable to subdue them.
How could a boy who looked so young possibly manage it?
The magical world was filled with all manner of strange and peculiar objects.
Carelessly handling a magical artefact one knew nothing about could be extremely dangerous.
Only those who truly understood such objects could properly control and use them.
The wizarding world had even developed specialised professions for dealing with problems of this sort.
Certain witches and wizards devoted themselves to handling troublesome magical artefacts, becoming highly skilled in spellwork and curse-breaking while also possessing some knowledge of alchemy.
For institutions such as Gringotts and the Ministry’s Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, witches and wizards with that sort of talent were always in high demand.
Every field had its specialists, and professionals existed for a reason.
The Monster Books currently wreaking havoc outside Flourish and Blotts undoubtedly belonged to the category of magical objects that were difficult to control.
They were highly aggressive and seemed to possess their own behavioural logic.
Although they weren’t especially dangerous, they were remarkably resistant to magic, leaving ordinary witches and wizards with few effective ways of dealing with them.
That was why the surrounding crowd seemed relatively accustomed to the chaos the Monster Books had caused.
In the magical world, strange incidents like this were hardly uncommon.
Since none of them knew how to solve the problem, they could only stand aside and enjoy the spectacle.
Yet they had just watched a young boy casually catch one of the books and, with what looked like nothing more than an absent-minded stroke, make the rampaging thing settle down completely.
No one had clearly seen what Eric had done.
Even so, the courage required to attempt such a thing was impressive enough on its own.
Ignoring the astonished reactions around him, Eric stood still and waited for a moment.
But unlike last time, no notification came from the System.
Is merely demonstrating how to subdue a Monster Book not enough?
Do I actually have to completely resolve the chaos for Mercer before the quest counts as complete?
After thinking about it for a moment, Eric understood.
He had originally assumed that, just like Hagrid demonstrating the method during class in the original story, showing them once how to control a Monster Book would be sufficient.
Apparently not.
The System had its own standards.
Eric had to personally accomplish the quest objective in his own way before it would issue the reward.
Which meant…
Eric narrowed his eyes as he looked at the hundred or so Monster Books still flying wildly in front of him.
Then he lowered his gaze to his current body, that of an eleven year old boy.
He didn’t own a wand yet.
Even if he did, he didn’t know any magic.
Eric usually paid close attention to getting enough nutrition, but he had very little pocket money, and the food at the orphanage could hardly be called good.
Compared with other boys his age, he was noticeably thinner and weaker.
If he had to calm these books down one at a time, it simply wasn’t feasible.
With his current physical condition, by the time he finished, the Hogwarts Express would probably have left the station and disappeared over the horizon.
“Looks like I can’t complete the quest by asking Tom and the other witches and wizards to help me,” Eric murmured with a smile.
He didn’t know exactly how the System judged quest completion, but what he had just done, personally subduing a Monster Book by hand, already counted as demonstrating how the magical object could be controlled.
Logically speaking, everything that remained was merely repetitive work.
These Monster Books weren’t actually all that dangerous.
At least, they posed no mortal threat to a wizard.
Once someone knew the proper method, any adult could deal with one easily enough.
Unfortunately, the System apparently didn’t consider Eric’s intervention sufficient.
Or rather, Eric had indeed stepped forward.
He simply hadn’t stepped forward enough*.* The System wanted more.
By that standard, Eric could think of only one way to solve the problem quickly.
He would have to repeat what he’d done in the Leaky Cauldron.
Another burst of raw magical power.
Nothing else seemed capable of satisfying all the requirements of the quest.
A time limit.
Personally resolving the problem.
And doing so in front of witnesses.
Not one of those conditions could be missing.
Eric was cautious enough not to act recklessly.
He could certainly release his magical power again immediately.
He wasn’t tired in the slightest.
But that only mattered if the method actually worked.
Eric knew very little about these books.
How were they made?
What governed their behaviour?
He knew none of it.
There was no way for Eric to guarantee what would happen if he carelessly used raw magical power against the Monster Books.
They clearly possessed strong magical resistance.
Before Eric arrived, several witches and wizards had already tried using spells to subdue them, and every attempt had failed without exception.
It was entirely possible that Eric’s magical outburst would have no effect on them whatsoever.
There was another problem as well.
If Eric released that much magical power here, then without question, he would find himself on the front page of tomorrow’s Daily Prophet.
He could already imagine the headlines.
Shock!
Young Wizard Possesses Astonishing Magical Power, Who Is This Mysterious Boy?
Or perhaps, Mysterious Boy Appears in Diagon Alley, Why Did He Destroy a Bookshop?
Something along those lines.
The wizarding community was small.
An incident like that happening in Diagon Alley would be major news.
Eric could think of no reason why people wouldn’t start paying attention to him.
Right now, he still needed time to learn magic.
Drawing the attention of every major faction this early could hardly be considered a good thing.
If only I knew more about these books…
Eric wrestled with the problem internally, his thoughts unconsciously beginning to wander.
But almost as soon as the idea appeared, he dismissed it himself.
Everything he knew about the magical world came from memories of his previous life.
If there had been more useful information about the Monster Books, he would already know it.
Why would he only remember now?
Eric gave a wry smile.
It seemed he had no choice.
Yet at the exact moment that thought crossed his mind, something unexpected happened.
Eric’s vision suddenly blurred.
A second later, everything within his sight turned grey-white.
Flourish and Blotts.
The Monster Book in his hands.
The crowd surrounding him…
At that moment, it was as though the entire world had been stripped of colour at once, leaving behind nothing but monotonous shades of black, white, and grey.
A stream of air seemed to surge out through Eric’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth before spreading around him.
Heat flooded his head.
His vision blurred further, and for a moment he could barely keep himself standing.
The strange current continued battering against his mind.
And yet his thoughts remained completely unaffected.
He was still perfectly conscious and clear-headed.
Two utterly contradictory sensations existed within him at the same time.
Then, through the haze, Eric saw a brilliant white light appear beside him as the colours of the world faded away.
[Ding!
Mental Field activated.] CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!