The two rested for a while.
In the distance, the faint sound of cursing drifted over again.
“…Damn it all!
…That kid must be on a bounty list…”
“…Whether we take them alive or not, we can at least sell them to the mines…”
“Merlin’s saggy left sock, they actually got away!
Move!
Find them!…”
Ivan and Lupin exchanged a look.
“Are they looking for you?”
“Most likely.
Which is why I said I might need a bodyguard.”
“How long do you need protection for?”
“That depends on the situation.
Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks.
Who can say for sure?”
The two were silent for a moment before Ivan looked at him.
“If I gave you ten Galleons a day for this job, with food included, would you take it?”
“How much?
Ten Galleons?
A day?”
“Too little?” Ivan raised an eyebrow.
“No…
it’s too much.
Even elite Aurors don’t make a daily wage that high!” Lupin shook his head with a bitter smile.
“Then consider it a high-risk subsidy.
After all, you heard them; the price for taking us alive is higher.
Following me, you might not live to see tomorrow’s sun.”
Lupin fell silent.
He looked down at his tattered robes, then at the paper bag in his hand.
The bread inside was still warm, giving off a faint wheat aroma.
“I had something I didn’t finish saying earlier.” He looked up, meeting Ivan’s eyes.
“We have time now.
Go ahead.”
“I…
I am actually a werewolf.”
After speaking, he stared intently at Ivan’s face, waiting for him to show fear, disgust, or to turn and run immediately.
To his surprise, Ivan merely gave an indifferent shrug.
“Wow, you’re certainly candid.
But so what?”
“A werewolf is just a werewolf.
I’m a Squib, anyway.”
Lupin was stunned.
This was the second time he had encountered someone who could treat being near a werewolf with such composure.
The first time had been back when he was in school—it was a beautiful memory.
Ivan interrupted his thoughts, continuing, “At least you only transform on the night of the full moon, right?
I’m a ‘Squib’ twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year.”
“How is it different?
Aren’t we both part of discriminated groups?
Living like monsters, like rats in the street.”
“No, you might not understand what being a werewolf implies…”
“I know.
On the night of the full moon, you turn into a low-intelligence large dog.
You have to take some potion to keep your sanity, or just find a deserted place to howl for the night.”
“Oh, right.
I’ve heard werewolves are quite tough?
Is it true that your physical defense is maxed out?
Someone like that makes for the perfect bodyguard.”
Lupin truly didn’t know what to say.
He had lived for over thirty years, and this was the first time he had heard someone describe a werewolf as a “low-intelligence large dog.”
“…Aren’t you afraid I’ll hurt you when I lose control?”
“Will you?” Ivan countered.
Lupin was silent for a moment, then shook his head firmly.
Ivan smiled.
“So, will you take the job?
Ten Galleons a day, room and board included.
I’ll give you a day off for the full moon, and I’ll pay for the potion.”
Lupin looked at him.
He looked at this child, who didn’t act like an eleven-year-old at all, for a long time.
“I’ll take the job.”
“Excellent.” Ivan turned and pointed deeper into Knockturn Alley.
“Now then, Mr.
Bodyguard, lead the way.
We need to buy a few bags enchanted with the Undetectable Extension Charm first.”
“Understood, Boss.
Follow me.”
Lupin adapted quickly, even changing how he addressed him.
Ivan and Lupin walked through Knockturn Alley.
The place was even more dilapidated than he had imagined.
Putting aside the filth and disorder of the streets, the shops on either side were crooked and leaning, to the point where the signs were illegible.
The air hung heavy with a strange odor whose origin he had no desire to investigate.
Lupin was clearly very familiar with the area.
He led Ivan through several twists and turns before stopping in front of a shop hanging a sign that read “The Leaping Pixie.”
“They sell bags with Undetectable Extension Charms here.
The owner’s craftsmanship is decent, though it’s a bit expensive,” Lupin said.
Ivan pushed the door open and went in.
Immediately, his eyes landed on all sorts of suspicious-looking items: biting alarm clocks, candles emitting green smoke, and a set of rusted…
torture implements?
The shopkeeper was a withered old witch with drooping eyelids and long, blackened fingernails.
“Proprietor, I’d like three Undetectable Extension bags,” Ivan said.
“Extension bags?” She glanced at Ivan and Lupin—specifically at Lupin’s ragged robes—and let out a snort.
“Kid, those things are incredibly expensive.
Do you even have the money?”
He pulled a bag from his robes and opened it, revealing the golden Galleons packed inside.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, he intended to use Galleons for this transaction.
The old witch’s expression changed the moment she saw the gold.
“Well now, I misjudged you!
What capacity do you want?
The standard five-cubic-meter model is two hundred Galleons each.
Ten cubic meters is five hundred.
I don’t carry anything better than that.”
Lupin frowned.
“That expensive?”
“If you think it’s expensive, go to Diagon Alley.
It’s cheaper there, but the Ministry requires registration.
I don’t,” the old witch said with a curl of her lip.
Ivan understood.
Black market prices.
“I’ll take three of the five-cubic-meter ones.”
He counted out six hundred Galleons and handed them over.
The old witch produced three unremarkable gray cloth bags, roughly the size of a wallet, and handed them to Ivan.
“Access them with your intent.
But you can’t put living things in there,” she added curtly.
Ivan took the bags; they felt very light.
He tested their performance on the spot.
He pulled a few small items from his system inventory and shoved them into a bag, pulled them out, and put them back in.
No problems.
Then, he stacked two of the bags together, tucked them into his robes, but actually stored them in his inventory.
He checked the inventory interface, which displayed: [Undetectable Extension Bag (Misc.
Items) × 3].
The three bags actually only occupied a single slot in his inventory.
Just as he thought.
The “matryoshka” container experiment was a success.
This was his next major discovery following the inventory’s time-stasis property.
From now on, he could put items into an Undetectable Extension bag and then put that bag into his inventory to achieve infinite nesting.
And according to his game settings, items of the same type could stack up to ninety-nine per slot.
This opened up a massive amount of operational space.
“Where to next?” Lupin asked.
“To buy supplies.
I want to fill these bags to the brim.”
The two left the shop and visited several other stores.
Ivan used copper Knuts to purchase a large quantity of food—bread, dried meat, cheese, fruit—as well as some basic daily necessities.
He intended to take the nesting doll strategy to its limit.
Every time he bought a pile of goods, he stuffed them into an Undetectable Extension bag.
Lupin watched silently, helping carry things and handling the payments.
He noticed that the copper Knuts Ivan spent seemed to flow like water, yet that Undetectable Extension bag seemed like it could never be emptied and never be filled.
“Don’t stare.
You couldn’t learn it even if you tried,” Ivan joked, patting the bag.
“Let’s go.
We need to find a place to stay.”