Chapter 104. The Sneaking Kelpie
"Are you hurt?"
Duncan stepped forward to help Neville up from the floor and looked him over.
"N-no."
Fear still lingered on Neville's face.
"But if you'd come a bit later, they might have eaten me!"
While bending to shut the open case, Duncan asked, "How did they suddenly get out?"
"I came back earlier and meant to feed Kray," Neville scratched his head.
"But as soon as I cracked the case, those spiders shot out.
I didn't even have time to close it, and then it turned into what you saw…"
"Did any creatures get out of the dormitory?" Duncan asked.
"I don't think so," Neville said.
"But I'm not too sure.
I was so scared I didn't really look."
"Don't worry.
I'll go in and check."
Duncan reassured Neville, opened the case, and jumped in.
The workshop was a complete mess.
Books and all sorts of bottles and jars from the table were scattered across the floor, webbed over until it looked like a spider's lair.
Who knew how long those mischievous spiders had run riot to make things this bad.
Duncan frowned and muttered, "Weren't those Acromantulas usually well-behaved?
Why did they suddenly go mad today?"
He flicked his wand to restore the workshop to order, then strode out through the door ahead to check on the spiders.
Passing the Thunderbird's area on the way, Duncan called Kray down and asked, "Kray, the Acromantulas slipped out—why didn't you stop them?
You've been here long enough to know how dangerous it is to let them out, haven't you?"
"Huh?
The Acromantulas slipped out?" Kray said, startled.
"I didn't see!"
"Really?"
Duncan narrowed his eyes at Kray and pressed on.
Kray's acting was terrible—stiff movements, a nervous face—worse than Quirrell's.
Duncan saw through him at a glance.
Kray's gaze drifted aside, avoiding Duncan's eyes.
"Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.
Oh—right—earlier I was over there preening, cleaning the gunk off my feathers.
I wasn't watching outside.
They must've slipped out then!"
Seeing Kray still refusing to tell the truth, Duncan left him and jogged to inspect the other areas.
From Kray's behaviour, the creatures in the case were clearly plotting something, and it definitely wouldn't be small.
Acromantulas, Erumpents, Kelpie…
Duncan counted the creatures one by one.
Any one of them getting out would spell disaster for students in the castle.
But the dormitory and Hufflepuff corridor were undamaged, and the students were calm.
So the Acromantulas and the Erumpents clearly hadn't gone out.
If any creature had snuck out, it could only be Mori, the shapeshifting Kelpie.
But what would that fellow be doing out there?
It had never shown any urge to slip out and make trouble before.
"Duncan, really, it's fine."
Kray flew at Duncan's side.
"I just checked for you—those spiders all came back.
Not a single one ran off."
Duncan gave Kray a glance, planted himself in the Erumpent range, and called out, "Ari, Charlie—where are you?"
After a moment, the ground began to tremble.
A rumble of footsteps approached, and two enormous beasts appeared at the far edge of the green prairie.
"What were you doing earlier?
Did you see those spiders pass through?
Why didn't you stop them?
Did you let them through on purpose to cause me trouble?"
When Ari and Charlie thundered up, Duncan spoke in a hard voice.
"N-no—absolutely not—we didn't, it was because—"
Ari was frightened by Duncan's stern tone and blurted out.
But up above, Kray beat his wings fiercely, whipping up gusts that forced Ari to swallow the rest of his words.
"Kray, back.
Stop making trouble here!"
Duncan glared up at him, angry.
"I'm not making trouble…" Kray muttered, but under Duncan's forcing stare, he retreated to a distance.
Duncan turned back.
"Because what, Ari?
Finish what you were saying."
"Er…"
Ari hesitated a moment.
"Because Charlie and I were playing over there and didn't see the spiders pass, so we couldn't stop them.
Duncan, we really didn't mean it!"
"You didn't see either?
All of you are 'busy' at the critical moment?"
Duncan's anger rose.
"Tell me the truth—did Mori sneak out?"
"Ah?"
Ari and Charlie both gasped before they could stop themselves, and even Kray's wingbeats paused for a heartbeat.
"No, no!" Ari said quickly.
"Mori's been in its lake-nest, perfectly fine.
How would it go out?"
Duncan snorted.
Their reactions told him enough.
"What did Mori sneak out to do?
Did the lot of you cook up some bad idea together and plan to go out and make trouble?"
Ari and Charlie exchanged a look, then shouted helplessly up at Kray.
Kray, unwilling, glided back down.
"What now, still don't want to tell me the truth?"
Duncan stared at Kray.
He was certain the Thunderbird was the ringleader.
Kray sighed and said in a very small voice, "I talked Mori into slipping out.
I also set the Acromantulas to make a mess in the workshop and your dorm, so Mori could have a chance to leave."
Duncan frowned at him.
"What did you send him out to do?"
Head down, Kray answered, "Weren't you trying to deal with an evil wizard lately?
We discussed it—and since it's inconvenient for us to go out, we had Mori go instead, to give that wizard a lesson and help you out a bit!"
Duncan's voice rose despite himself.
"So Mori went to make trouble for Quirrell?"
"Mm…" Kray said.
"But don't worry—Mori promised us it would never harm other students."
"Honestly, why didn't you tell me beforehand!"
Duncan sighed.
Quirrell was already weak enough.
If Mori 'played' him to death by accident, that would be a fine mess.
"If we'd told you, you definitely wouldn't have let Mori go…" Kray muttered, utterly self-justified.
"How long has he been out?" Duncan asked.
"About over an hour…" Kray thought.
"He'll come back tonight."
"I'd better go look for him."
Duncan jogged back to the workshop and climbed the ladder.
He had just pushed up the case lid when Neville's head poked in.
"Well?
Everything all right?"
"Nothing major," Duncan said.
"Only—the Kelpie slipped out."
"Ah?"
Neville's face went white with alarm.
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