"Incredible! Simply incredible! Mr. Lynn has defeated a Merfolk warrior using pure physical force, without using any magic!"
On the shore, Ludo Bagman's voice echoed across the stands.
"Especially that final flurry of attacks! Blow after blow, each one as heavy as a mountain! That battle-hardened Merfolk warrior was forced into retreat by his strikes and even had its blade knocked away!"
Meanwhile, at the edge of the screen, on the stone pillar where the 'treasure' was tied, Lynn's fishing rod was untied.
A Merfolk warrior swam to the top of the stone pillar, untied the rope from the broken fishing rod, and then respectfully carried it toward Lynn.
Lynn waved his wand impatiently.
The fishing rod 'whooshed' out of the Merfolk warrior's hands and landed steadily in his palm.
Lynn looked down at it, his eyes filled with complex emotions.
"Forty minutes and seven seconds!" Ludo Bagman announced loudly, looking at the timer in his hand. "Mr. Lynn is the first champion to find his treasure! Now he just needs to bring the fishing rod safely back to the shore, and this task will be complete!"
A burst of enthusiastic applause erupted from the stands.
Those who had bet on Lynn had already begun celebrating in advance.
However—on the giant screen, after retrieving the fishing rod, Lynn didn't seem to intend to leave just yet.
He simply stood there, staring at the stone pillar, then at the figures tied to it, his gaze shifting back and forth.
On the judges' podium, Karkaroff's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
That ominous feeling shot straight from his tailbone to the top of his head.
He stared at Lynn's thoughtful expression and at his wandering gaze, his heart pounding.
What is this kid... trying to do?
He wouldn't be thinking of...
No, that's impossible... He shouldn't be...
Karkaroff desperately tried to mentally prepare himself.
But that ominous feeling refused to go away, no matter how hard he tried.
Sure enough.
Just as Karkaroff feared—underwater, Lynn turned around and spoke to the Merfolk leader.
"Respected Merfolk leader," he said, his tone as polite as could be, "may I touch that stone pillar again?"
The Merfolk leader scratched its head, its ugly face scrunching up.
It was trying hard to recall the instructions Dumbledore had given earlier that morning when he brought several humans to the Black Lake.
"There will be several champions coming to your village... Each champion will come to find their own treasure... You just need to let them undergo the test..."
Hmm...
He had said, "Each champion will come to find their own treasure."
He hadn't said, "Each champion can only take one treasure."
Hmm... If it wasn't forbidden, then it was allowed.
The Merfolk leader nodded.
"You may."
The corners of Lynn's mouth curled upward.
He turned around and swam toward the stone pillar.
On the shore.
Karkaroff's eyes widened.
He watched Lynn's back as he swam toward the stone pillar on the giant screen, his lips beginning to tremble.
"No... no..." he prayed frantically in his heart.
Take the Beauxbatons champion's treasure! Take the Ilvermorny champion's treasure! Take the Uagadou champion's treasure!
Anyone is fine—just don't take...
"Hermione! Rose! Lisa!"
Lynn's voice clearly reached everyone on the shore.
Karkaroff's world collapsed because every name Lynn called belonged to a Durmstrang 'treasure.' Not a single one was from another school.
Ludo Bagman's commentary rang out at the same time, filled with irrepressible excitement.
"Oh! Mr. Lynn has chosen not to leave! He has touched the stone pillar again! He has called out the names of three other 'treasures'!"
On the giant screen, the stone pillar seemed to pause for a moment before, after a brief hum, bursting into colorful light once again.
Immediately afterward, a huge ball of light fell into Lynn's hands. His wand disappeared again, transforming into three large blades.
Lynn: "..."
Does this stone pillar only know how to turn things into blades?
Five minutes later.
Three more Merfolk warriors were lying on the ground beside the stone pillar.
The first one to rush forward was knocked away by Lynn's blade, embedding directly into a distant coral reef, where it couldn't pull itself free.
The second one was a bit smarter, attempting to launch a sneak attack from the side. But Lynn didn't even turn his head. He simply swatted it across the face with the flat of his blade. The Merfolk warrior spun 720 degrees through the water before thumping into the mud, unable to get up for a long time.
The third one had it the worst. Having learned from the previous two, it adopted a skirmishing strategy, circling around Lynn in search of an opening. Lynn simply stood there with his blade resting on his shoulder, watching it circle.
It circled three full laps.
Then Lynn moved.
He swept his blade horizontally, the flat striking the Merfolk warrior squarely on the backside.
The Merfolk warrior screamed and flew off, crashing directly into the first warrior, who had just managed to crawl out of the coral reef. The two rolled into a tangled heap, tumbling across the lakebed several times before finally stopping.
The three Merfolk warriors lay sprawled on the ground, groaning and unable to get back up.
The plaza fell into dead silence.
All the Merfolk stared blankly at the scene before them, watching their warriors get beaten senseless by the same person in exactly the same way—with the flat of a blade.
The Merfolk warrior who had dueled Lynn from the beginning stood at the edge of the crowd, watching everything unfold.
Its expression was incredibly complex.
From shock to confusion, from confusion to realization, and from realization to certainty.
Certainty that this human had been acting from the very beginning!
What "being knocked away," what "hands splitting open," what "being in a sorry state"—it had all been an act!
It recalled the moment when Lynn's blade had knocked it away, remembered its own shock and disbelief, and remembered thinking, This guy must be cheating.
Now it understood everything.
This person hadn't been fighting.
He had been toying with it.
The Merfolk warrior's face flushed red—if that iron-gray face could even flush.
It clenched its fists, wanting to rush over and demand an explanation, but after seeing the miserable state of its three companions, it silently relaxed them again.
Forget it.
It couldn't afford to provoke him.
Lynn shook his wrist, rested the blade on his shoulder, and looked at the Merfolk leader.
The Merfolk leader was silent.
It took a deep breath.
"Guest... do you still wish to obtain more treasures?"
Lynn thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"No need."
Although Lynn could be quite a jerk sometimes, he wasn't enough of one to offend everyone.
No one from the other schools had provoked him.
He still wanted to be a decent person.
The Merfolk leader was visibly relieved.
It waved the scepter in its hand.
At the top of the stone pillar, the three ropes binding the figures snapped in response.
The three figures drifted slowly down through the water.
Lynn swam over and looked at them.
The three girls were staring at him with wide eyes, their expressions filled with confusion.
Lynn waved at them.
"Yo."
Hermione: "..."
The brown-haired girl—Rose—was the first to react.
She recoiled sharply, staring at Lynn with open wariness.
"You are... Lynn from Hogwarts?!"
Her voice came through the Bubble-Head Charm, carrying unmistakable hostility.
Lynn raised an eyebrow.
"What about it?"
The brown-haired girl didn't answer.
She simply stared at him before suddenly beginning to struggle.
"Let me go! I don't need you to save me! Our Durmstrang champion will come to save me! Let me go—"
She never finished her sentence.
Lynn raised his wand.
Whoosh—
A Stupefy spell struck her squarely.
The brown-haired girl's voice stopped abruptly, her eyes rolled back, and she went limp in the water.
Lynn lowered his wand and looked at the short-haired black-haired girl beside her.
That girl—Lisa—was staring at the scene with wide eyes, completely stunned.
Her gaze shifted back and forth between Lynn and her unconscious companion, her lips trembling slightly.
"You... how could you..."
Whoosh—
Another Stupefy spell.
Lisa's eyes rolled back, and she went limp as well.
Two "corpses" floated motionlessly in the water.
Lynn nodded with satisfaction before turning his gaze toward the last one.
Hermione.
She floated there, looking at the two unconscious Durmstrang girls, then back at Lynn, her expression incredibly complicated.
Then she raised both hands and waved them frantically at him.
The gesture clearly said: I'm fine. I'm okay. Don't do anything to me.
Lynn looked at Hermione's nervous expression and couldn't help but smile.
"Why are you waving your hands? Do you think I'd do anything to my own friend?"
"That's not necessarily true."
---
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