It was precisely because of his unpredictable attitude that Charon didn't know how far he needed to go to meet Uncle Howl's expectations.
That's why he had to do his utmost.
"Then the prerequisite for this is..." Harry hesitated.
"The prerequisite is that he cannot bear the consequences, so he must do everything he can think of to the best of his ability." Howl nodded, finishing his sentence.
Watching Harry's thoughtful expression, Loreton and Huckleton exchanged glances...
What are you teaching this ten-year-old child?
"By the way, Mr. Loreton, do you know who that is?" Huckleton asked, pointing at the man eating with the dogs.
Loreton glanced, then sighed helplessly.
"This fellow... I don't know either. He's been here for many years. Everyone jokingly calls him Diogenes, or just 'Dog.' As for his original name, no one knows.
Whenever asked, he just says that a name is merely a designation, and since he already has 'Dog' and 'Diogenes' as designations, he no longer needs others."
Diogenes, a representative of Cynicism. This philosophy of self-cultivation, in today's context, has long changed its meaning.
Few who genuinely adhere to such a philosophy would truly live like a dog, scantily clad in winter, without a fixed abode.
"I didn't expect such a person to exist in this era..." he murmured, then his gaze lingered on Harry for a moment: "He seems to be holding a newspaper?"
"Yes." Loreton nodded: "That's what he uses to write on. Few people know what he writes; the handwriting and ink marks are always layered over each other."
"So that's how it is."
...
Soon, Howl arrived at the Greek Ministry of Magic again, only this time, he walked openly into the third floor.
Huckleton went straight to several researchers and began his investigation.
Upon reaching the sealed important artifact storage room, Howl himself looked at the protected artifacts one by one, feeling refreshed.
"Who usually comes here?" he asked first.
"There are only two keys to the storage room, held by the Director of the Important Artifact Protection Department and the Head of the Artifact Research Office, respectively. Normally, only people from the Research Office can enter.
The storage room undergoes a safety check and cleaning once a month, at which time some area monitoring spells are lifted, and House-elves perform the cleaning under the supervision of the Head.
After cleaning, the fixed protective spells and stability spells attached to each item are checked, and then new monitoring spells are set."
"As of the last cleaning until now, besides that thief, only three researchers, five Aurors, one Head of the Artifact Restoration Office, one Trace Investigator, and the four of us have been here."
After speaking, he added: "Oh, and that idiot Gilderoy Lockhart."
"Have the Cerberus you keep found any clues? Like scent or anything?"
"No." Loreton shook his head in distress.
Howl pondered for a moment, then raised his wand to his mouth. Immediately, a large golden mist flew from his wand.
Then, the golden mist slowly twisted in the space, forming a blurry shadow that walked directly towards the shelves holding the ancient texts.
"This is!" Loreton looked somewhat horrified; their tracking spell hadn't found a single trace.
With a whoosh, Howl raised his hand and dispelled the tracking spell.
"That fellow attached a Confundo to himself... His target was clear, lingering quite a while on the spells inherent to the texts... His height is around one meter eighty."
A very strange and difficult application of the Confundo, even exceeding the definition of Confundo in books.
No wonder the Ministry of Magic was helpless against it...
It was a pity that surveillance wasn't yet widespread in this era, otherwise, perhaps some clues could be found outside War God Mountain.
Thinking this, Howl walked out of the storage room and re-traced the golden mist. The blurry golden mist moved backward step by step, and when it was on the entire third floor, it almost directly entered the storage room without any hesitation.
"Very familiar with the third-floor Artifact Protection Department... Have internal personnel been screened? When was the last layout change?"
"We've already conducted a screening." Loreton quickly said, now that he had new clues, he quickly realized there were other investigative directions.
"I don't need to say more, do I?"
"What an annoying way to express yourself... Munkel, pull up the personnel change list for the Ministry from last May until now."
Howl nodded, looking at Harry. At this moment, the boy was still thinking, trying to analyze something.
"Let's go." Howl said: "Investigation and evidence collection take time; rushing won't help. If that guy was worried about how to run, he'd probably have run already."
After speaking, he walked out, intending to continue his Athens trip.
He walked out of the Ministry and onto a path, then Howl followed the path downwards.
It was a pity, though, that surveillance systems were not yet widely used. Otherwise, as one of the historical sites, War God Mountain should have surveillance cameras and related equipment, and then clues could be found from that aspect...
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