Chapter 223 - 223. Pebble
Chapter 223 - 223. Pebble
Severus stayed in the guest room of the house, as his mother was also at Magnus' place. The house was pretty big and already had enough rooms. There were more than 15 bedrooms, and only 3 were used by the small family, but now 6 were being used, still leaving plenty.
Magnus went to his dad to see what he was doing in his workshop these days, even though he used to stay at home a lot now since his status was slightly different, he was still in the military but didn't have to do the regular military things. He could just focus on his inventions, with just one request from the military that he would share some little crumbs from his big inventions. For example, if he develops a new engine, they would get a weaker new fuel injection system. Adam never gave anything too valuable to the army anyway. ??
"Dad, how is everything going?" He asked as he entered the workshop.
Adam was wearing coveralls. Beside him was another boy, the same one from Oxford that wanted to work for Adam.
"Magnus, come, watch this." Adam excitedly went to the car that he was working on. It was a similar model but its internal machinery was probably different.
Adam took out a small key from his pocket, it had a round thing attached which had a few buttons. Each button had a marking of the door of the car.
"Just watch this." Adam pointed the key to the car and pressed the bottom button that had 'All' written.
In an instant, all doors of the car opened fully as if an invisible arm pulled them or magic.
"I can also close or open them one by one." Adam demonstrated that too.
Magnus was amazed by this. He already saw the car his dad made as futuristic but this feature was over the top, "How did you do this, dad? This feels so futuristic and fresh."
Adam proudly laughed, "Haha, since we got nicer batteries, I reckoned we go overboard, after all, this is the time to try things out and see what works out because at this current state only the enthusiasts will buy it. So I just used infrared for the remote and put the necessary motors and chips in the machine. Bobby helped a lot with the whole computer thing."
"How much do you think this car can sell for? With profit." He inquired.
Adam thought for a bit, "Umm... I think twenty thousand pounds. (Equivalent to £214,166 today)."
Magnus nodded. This was the right price for such a car, it was like an art piece after all. And since Adam would be making it mainly himself, the small number of the cars that will sell will automatically become collectables.
"Let's crank it up to 30 thousand, and you know who would be crazy to buy these? Rich inventors of Silicon Valley." Magnus suggested.
But Adam wasn't very interested in the sales, "If they can sell, I would consider my work a success. I always wanted to make a perfect car in my life."
"Then don't worry, I will take care of the rest. Oh, by the way, mum was calling you." Magnus remembered.
"WHAT? But you've been standing here for half an hour... SHE'S GOING TO BE MAD NOW!" Adam threw away his overalls and ran. He was afraid of Grace's mood swings these days.
...
Magnus went to see Ragnar, but it turned out he and Severus were both doing some kind of magical experiment together.
"Never thought I'd see you two joining hands." He commented.
"We're not together, it's just a temporary truce because we both have something to gain," Ragnar explained.
"What are you two making anyway?" He inquired.
"We're trying to make Ragnar's invented rejuvenation potion through alchemy. I believe its effects will increase with this." Severus said.
"That's good, we should give it to mum and dad then. It will surely increase their lifespan by many times. Anyways, I'm going to Gringotts." He informed them.
Ragnar stopped him, "Do you have any tasks for us related to the Order? You may have inaugurated the order without us but we're still members."
Magnus shook in response, "No, no task. All you have to do is become as strong as possible because whether you like it or not, we're the muscle of the order and the round table. So we need to forever be prepared."
"What are you planning on doing in the long run? I still don't know what our current aim is?" Severus asked him. He had joined the Round Tabled without thinking and he would love to work with it but what was he even working for, that was a mystery.
Magnus replied in a cryptic way, but it was very easy to understand. "A lion that roars but has no claws is useless. Britain is like this lion. It roars a lot but got no claws. We need to grow them and polish them to become the most terrifying claws the world will ever see."
...
Gringotts
There was a reason why Magnus came here, it was to consolidate some wealth that had been lying in the bank without any owner. The goblins were greedy, they would never tell him about it unless he made them. So here he was.
He quickly found the manager of the bank, Novgor. He came to greet him while rubbing his hands like the greedy bastard he was.
"Welcome, Your Majesty, what can we do for you today?" The goblin asked.
Magnus, without waiting, took a page out of his pocket and handed it to him, "These are the list of names, all these accounts used to belong to Knights of the Round Table. All of them are dead and their families are long gone, I need to transfer all the contents of their vaults into a single vault under the name of Round Table. All these accounts come under the jurisdiction of Merlin, and now that I am here, mine."
~I thought I would make money today, but I'm losing.~ Novgor thought in his head but dared not to say it aloud.
"Of course, Your Majesty. We shall do it at a moment's notice. Anything else?" Novgor tried to act well.
"How is the bounty hunting going? How many have you caught yet?" Magnus inquired.
"Many, sir. We have killed 2 Death Eaters and 12 followers of the Dark Lord. Of course, we could have caught them alive but we chose to kill them. The Hunting squad is very happy with your pay." Novgor said. Indeed, he was happy that the hunting squad was making money. This means higher earnings for the warrior goblins, meaning they could train better and more energetically.
Magnus was satisfied, slow but at least this would keep the death eaters busy for a while. But they probably already know my bounties have started to show their effect. They must go after the killers.
"Good, then I will go to my vault and get some things. Please finalise the documents by then." Magus instructed him and headed to the deepest level of Gringotts.
However, as he was heading down, he heard a loud roar, it was full of pain and sadness. Magnus was immediately angered. He called Novgor again.
"You did not release the poor dragon yet? I ordered you specifically." He exploded.
Novgor fearfully took a few steps back. "Y-Your Highness... W-We couldn't find a replacement animal to keep the vaults safe."
Magnus pushed him away and strode towards the big hall where the dragon was chained by her neck.
The dragon immediately raged seeing the sign of movement and blew out streams of flames from her mouth. But Magnus didn't even move. He kept on walking towards her. The fire just passed through him, leaving him unaffected by it.
The Dragon seemed shocked by this sudden display of strength by beings who usually ran away in fear. She instinctively stepped back, her eyes meeting Magnus'.
But Magnus' eyes saw the torture this dragon went through. She had so many wounds on her body, her neck was riddled with reddening bruises due to the chain. Her backbone was arched down due to being unable to completely stretch the body. Her eyes were hazy, nearly white due to not being able to see the sunlight. Overall, her whole size was smaller than normal dragons of her breed.
"HAAAA..." Another stream of fire engulfed Magnus.
However, instead of seeing a burned body, she felt something touch her nose.
*BOOP*
Then she felt the warm hand caress her face. She had never in her life faced even a tiny speck of kindness or love, so this was all new to her. She could not understand why someone would be kind to her.
"It's okay, I will free you from here today. You will fly in the sky again, eat to your heart's content, play with other Dragons." Magnus spoke in Dragon's tongue. The goblins were confused about what this grunting roaring noise was, but the Dragon understood it completely.
Though, unlike Duck, all other dragons in the world were inferior dragons, who only had 2 limbs. These dragons also didn't have as developed minds as Duck, so they could not make full sentences.
"Who?" The dragon also softly grunted. She was looking at his face up close with her big amused eyes.
Magnus gave the most vibrant smile and answered, "I am King Magnus Grant Emrys Pendragon."
"King?" she muttered.
Magnus nodded, "Yes, I, like you, can spew fire."
*WOOSH*
Magnus breathed out some flame from his mouth, shocking the dragon. Her face lit up, feeling that this little human was quite like herself, maybe a bit human-like and small but still similar.
So she growled, "We... same-same."
"Hahaha... yes, we are same-same. Okay, I will take you with me to a very safe space, another big friendly dragon lives there. He will be your big brother. Oh, you don't have a name, right?" He asked, and she tilted her head in confusion, what the word 'name' even meant she had no idea.
He caressed her face and replied, "A name is a word that stays with you forever. It will belong to you and if anyone wants to talk to you they will call you by that word. Do you want it?"
*THUD* *THUD*
Like an excited puppy, she jumped and fluttered her wings excitedly. She may be very weak and exploited, but she was still a strong dragon.
Magnus thought for a second, "Hmm, you are small... well as compared to others. So... Yes... a cute name for you. Your name will be PEBBLE!"
"Pe-bubble? I LOVE!" She immediately accepted it.
Magnus didn't correct her, Duck would teach her real name himself. He quickly untied her chains and freed her. Then he looked back. "Novgor, you have disappointed me deeply today. I will bring the next guardian of the vaults later. But, he will be ordered to kill anyone who tried to bully him, as he won't be your servant, but an employee of mine. Your job will be to feed him timely, and always treat him as an equal. Understood?"
Novgor shivered, "Y-Yes, Your Majesty. W-what will be the next guardian beast, sir? So we can prepare the food."
The next guardian was a beast not as big as a dragon, but many times dangerous, because the beast had such evasive and dangerous skills that catching them took more than a hundred wizards to come together.
Magnus put his hand on Pebble's face and called Abe to take them to the portkey leading to Camelot.
Before he vanished, he answered Novgor's question. "A Nundu."
*THUD*
Novgor fell on the floor in fright.
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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*