Chapter 377 The little boy pretending to be lost (6K)

Baba Yaga, a powerful witch. Whether in legends or literature, she always appears as an evil and mysterious old woman. Her son-in-law was even said to be a ferocious dragon.

Based on the records he had read, Rogge knew that the crucible was very fast. Knowing that no matter how fast the target runs, they can't escape Baba Yaga's infamous crucible. Of course, those children who escaped were all thrown in and cooked.

Rogge signaled Bathsheda not to act rashly, and they must remain calm. In this forest, any inadvertent noise may attract Baba Yaga's attention. If one's own strength is exposed, the opponent is likely to disappear.

They must keep their whereabouts secret while finding the right time to approach Baba Yaga and explore the whereabouts of another phoenix.

"Let's go, let's follow quietly." Rogge whispered, and then recited the phantom spell. They stepped on the soft soil and quietly followed the laughter in the distance.

The forest became deeper and deeper, and the surrounding bushes were covered with sharp claws, constantly entangled in the hems of their clothes. Rogge had to give up his invisibility, draw the sword of Gryffindor, and open a path for Bathsheda.

"If Godric knew that his sword was used in this way, I'm afraid he would crawl out of the grave to settle the score with you." Bathsheda followed behind and couldn't help laughing.

"The old lion of Gryffindor?" Rogge replied as he walked, "Let's wait until he really crawls out of the cemetery." His clothes had been scratched by the bushes, but his footsteps did not move. Didn't stop moving.

Xanthium and other plant seeds are firmly stuck on human robes, and they are leisurely hitching a ride, preparing to see other strange lands.

"Shh!" Rogge reminded in a low voice, and they stopped at the same time.

The laughter from the distance gradually disappeared, replaced by waves of vibrations from the ground. A towering wooden house ran rampant in the forest. Its appearance was shriveled, like the skin of a persimmon whose pulp had been drained.

There are two windows above the roof, with a narrow wooden door in between. The house staggered like a drunken man. Doors and window sashes swayed with its movements, as if laughing.

"Haaah..." Baba Yaga's sharp laughter kept coming. She seemed to be brewing some kind of magic potion inside, and colorful flames shot out from time to time between the windows.

The light coming through the window reflected distorted shadows, and under the flickering candlelight, a thin figure was busy. The stone pestle pounded the ground, and the shrill laughter was mixed with the frightening sound of bone cracking.

boom!

Suddenly, there was a roar, and a thick cloud of colorful mushroom smoke erupted from the crucible.

Baba Yaga was extremely happy. She scooped up the soup from the cauldron with a long-handled spoon, and the smile on her face revealed evil satisfaction.

Her slender nose was covered with warts of different sizes and colors. The whole nostril was almost covered with the wooden spoon, and he took a full breath of the aroma of the broth.

"Ah, there's still a little bit of bat juice left," she said, kicking the table. The wooden house seemed to be alive, and she immediately lowered her body so that she could pick the bats hanging upside down on the wooden beams.

"Hey, little baby, let's add some spices to my mother-in-law's soup." Baba Yaga groped randomly among the dark bats, and soon caught a fat flying mouse.

The other bats fled in panic, rushing out of the window into the darkness.

She bit off its neck and squeezed it slowly with her hands, letting droplets of blood drip into the crucible. The broth became more delicious as a result, and the aroma alone was enough to intoxicate the entire wooden house.

Orange firelight continuously shot out from the cracks in the windows and doors, drawing beautiful arcs in the air like fireworks.

"Let my mother-in-law taste the taste of my grandson." She said, inserting the wooden spoon into the bottom of the crucible, stirring slowly, and then scooping up the full broth.

Baba Yagaba smacked her lips and slurped up the meat paste from the spoon bit by bit. The last remaining bone residue was ground bit by bit by her steel teeth.

"Well, my grandson has absorbed the seasoning from my mother-in-law, and she is very satisfied with it. But his bones are not tasty enough, which she doesn't like very much." Baba Yaga took out a wooden bowl from the cupboard covered with cobwebs and looked up. The beam was empty, and all the bats had flown out.

She scratched her scalp, which was covered with spiders and lice, and pulled off a large piece of gray-black mud with bloody scabs. Then gently twist it open and throw it into the bottom of the bowl.

"Damn rats." She suddenly stomped on the floor in anger, making the whole house tremble with fear.

The mice in the nook and cranny were so frightened that they fled one after another. They were all driven out and landed tremblingly in front of Baba Yaga one by one.

"I'm not talking about these thieves!" Baba Yaga picked up the stone pestle and angrily knocked on the stupid wood.

From time to time, she stepped on mice that dared not move, and red mud appeared on the floor.

"You're really getting an advantage!" Baba Yaga saw the bat corpse that was just thrown into the slag and immediately picked it up.

"Haaah..." She laughed and kicked down the stone crucible, and the hot broth poured out. The wooden house drank greedily, until it was so thin that he swallowed it all together.

"Idiot, idiot! You are competing with your mother-in-law for food!" Baba Yaga yelled, hurriedly pouring the last bit of soup into the bowl. She rubbed the bat carcass vigorously with both hands, adding seasonings that connected the flesh and bones.

"Haaah..." She laughed again and drank the broth happily. She licked the bottom of the bowl with a satisfied smile on her face.

The group of rats on the ground finally started to move, gnawing at the corpses of other members of the same race that Baba Yaga had trampled to death. After eating in a hurry, they got into the cracks of the wooden house and disappeared without a trace.

"Meow!" Suddenly, a big black cat jumped on her lap.

"Damn it, my mother-in-law still hasn't had enough to eat, and here you are!" She cried and covered her face with a smile, and had to drag the wooden box out from under the bed while complaining.

Baba Yaga carefully opened a hole, groped for a long time, and took out a boiled child's humerus. The black cat opened its huge mouth greedily and swallowed the whole bone.

"Aren't you full yet?" Baba Yaga slapped the black cat away, pointed at the rabbit in the cage and said, "Why do you eat meat like your mother-in-law? Instead of just eating some vegetables like her?"

As she spoke, she grabbed the lettuce from the basket, threw it into the cage and yelled: "Long ears, eat it, eat it quickly! Sooner or later, you will drink up all my mother-in-law's water." She held up the stone pestle. Beating his chest, there were bursts of sounds of gold and iron.

"My mother-in-law wants to cook for you guys, hahaha..." Baba Yaga suddenly laughed. She kicked the box back under the bed, then leaned on the back of the chair and slowly closed her eyes.

The lights of the chicken-foot wooden house slowly went out, but it still wandered in the forest, making a thunderous sound with every step it took on the ground, leaving a line of deep footprints.

Rogge stared at the wooden house that was going away and said, "I have a way to get in."

"Sneak in?" Bathsheda grabbed Rogge and warned him: "No, it's too dangerous!"

"She is a cannibal witch. There is no wizard in Eastern Europe who does not know how terrifying she is." Bathsheda looked at him very worriedly.

"But we have to go in and talk to Baba Yaga to know the whereabouts of Phoenix." Rogge insisted, while his eyes turned to her shoulder, where Fox was still sleeping listlessly.

"It didn't react to the wooden house just now. This is different from Dumbledore's previous explanation. Did the principal say something wrong?" Bathsheda fell into deep thought. She thought about it over and over, and then took out a wool sock.

"You put it on."

"Wear woolen socks in the summer?" Roger took it, observed the fine stitches, and sighed that the principal was really good at doing housework.

"I think the witch is not in a normal state of mind, so she shouldn't have noticed." Bathshedda continued, "When activating the door key, she stepped on the ground three times in a row with her socked feet."

"It seems a bit big..." Roger tried on the socks.

"It's just the same if you put on your shoes!" Bathsheda looked at the darkness in the distance and asked, "How are you going to sneak in?"

"The boy pretending to be lost." Roger said in an innocent tone. "Baba Yaga likes little boys and will invite them into his cabin."

"But...she can also eat children."

"It doesn't matter. According to the records of other wizards, she will give the conditions first. If she fails to fulfill them, she will be put into the pot and pounded into a pulp."

Seeing that Rogge said it so easily, Bathsheda's worries eased a little. She could only cheer for Rogge silently in her heart, and told him to step on the ground three times in a row when he encountered danger.

Getting lost is a very difficult thing, especially for Rogge who is wandering in the forest with a compass in his hand. The textbook says that the foliage is denser toward the south. In fact, in this tall and dark primeval forest, you can't tell whose leaves are whose.

Rogge put on a dark hunting suit instead of his original robe. He also carried a basket and picked some red mushrooms and threw them in from time to time.

"Chicken-leg cabin, aren't you coming?" Rogge muttered, and finally decided to throw away the compass. He circled the forest a few more times, and finally on a morning filled with white mist, the sun disappeared and he successfully lost his way.

There was a rumble of thunder in the distance. Rogge glanced around and quietly transferred the wand to his cuff.

This pair of strong chicken feet is as tall as a three-story house and as strong as the pillars of a temple. They were covered with black and purple chicken skin, with a texture similar to dragon scales, which made Rogge wonder whether they were transplanted from prehistoric dinosaurs.

"Girl, you must be careful of men." Before Rogge could push open the bone fence, Baba Yaga's friendly voice came from inside.

Immediately afterwards, Rogge met someone he never thought of: Bathsheda.

As soon as Bathsheda saw Rogge outside the fence, her face immediately flushed with shame. She subconsciously touched her head. Whoever let Rogge leave would cause her to become lost.

The short Baba Yaga was hunched over, with a loving smile on her face, and she tightened the red headscarf on her collar. She is like an ordinary old lady or an ordinary witch, kind-hearted and kind-hearted.

"I think you still can't tell the direction, and you may even get lost in the forest again." Baba Yaga said, hugging the black cat over and comforting: "Follow it, it is very smart and can take you to nearby places." small town."

"Thank you." Bathsheda looked at Rogge and continued: "This child seems to be lost too. Why don't you follow me..."

"Who...who is lost?" Rogge shouted stubbornly, "I'm here to hunt."

As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slingshot made of a tree branch.

"Did you see that? This is Ivan... Ivan Smaug's artifact." Rogge hesitated, and a certain surname related to the dragon flashed in his mind.

"Oh, can I let my mother-in-law take a look?" Baba Yaga was more interested in the little boy than the girl next to her. She trotted over, revealing her teeth that were shining coldly.

"Don't be afraid. My mother-in-law's teeth are broken and she can only use dentures to replace them." She said, picking up Rogge's slingshot and pulling hard.

"What an amazing weapon!" Baba Yaga praised. At this time, there was no trace of evil in her body: "So, kid, who is Ivan Smaug?"

"It can't be you, right? Oh, what an amazing talent. You will definitely become the most famous weapons master!" Baba Yaga continued to praise, completely ignoring Bathsheda who was standing aside awkwardly.

"Uh..." Rogge's eyes wandered in her sincere eyes, and he couldn't help but have a little doubt about the authenticity of what was stated in the book.

He secretly looked at the old witch with a pointed nose. Her teeth and breasts were indeed made of iron. It is undeniable that Baba Yaga's appearance is indeed unflattering, but her words of praise are full of sincerity and truth.

Truth be told, it makes anyone who receives the compliment warm to her a little bit.

Fortunately, he is not a real child, and he will not become complacent because of his slingshot or other people's praise.

"Can you tell me how to use it?" Baba Yaga asked sincerely.

"Of course!" Rogge patted his chest, pointed at the white skull on the fence, and said confidently: "I can hit it!"

"Hit?" Baba Yaga's eyebrows slightly raised, and his eyes gradually widened. She smiled and shook her head, "I don't believe it. Even Deucalion might not be able to hit it from such a long distance."

Bathsheda stood nearby and interjected curiously: "Is the Deucalion you are talking about the son of Prometheus?"

"Yes, that fool who misunderstood the oracle." Baba Yaga waved his hand in disgust, signaling the other party to leave quickly, "Girls, they are all grown by the stones thrown by the daughter of Pandora. On your bodies..."

She shook her head in disgust and continued, "It's full of sin and temptation."

"Okay Ivan, don't pay attention to her." Baba Yaga saw Rogge's attention being distracted by Bathsheda and hurriedly called him: "Listen to mother-in-law and show your weapons quickly. Mother-in-law believes in you, you must be better than Deucalion is much more powerful.”

"Why don't you leave?" She turned around and said sternly, but it was a rebuke to the black cat. "Don't you know that the guests in the forest are lost and need to go back to reunite with their families?"

"Meow..." The black cat responded hoarsely. Bathsheda stood beside her very awkwardly, but still had no intention of leaving.

"Hey, you lazy idiot, you eat and sleep all day, and you can't even lead people." Baba Yaga scolded and raised the stone pestle, pretending to hit her, and Bathsheda had to follow. The black cat leaves.

"Haaah, hit! Look, my good Ivan, that bone is still spinning in circles!" Baba Yaga smiled happily, and her voice did not sound as sad and scary as at night.

"Ivan, can you perform for your mother-in-law again?" Baba Yaga pointed to the branch growing on the roof, with a lonely green leaf on it. "Try to knock it down?"

"It's a bit too far, and it's shaky." Rogge shook his head, "Mother-in-law, forget it, Ivan still has to go home!"

"Try again." Baba Yaga encouraged, "I promise, it will stop moving in no time."

As soon as he finished speaking, the branches on the roof drooped. The green leaves were completely still, like a silly target waiting for Roger to shoot.

Baba Yaga's expression became a little angry. She stared at her wooden house and wanted to smash it with the stone pestle in her hand.

As the slingshot slowly gained strength, the wind in the forest became stronger and stronger. With a bang, the stone flew out quickly, but missed its target.

Just as he was about to miss, the branch suddenly flicked, and the stone hit the green leaf.

"It's better to catch well than to hit well." Rogge raised the corner of his mouth, pretending to be happy.

"Haaah..." Baba Yaga laughed and praised: "Ivan, you played so well!"

Looking at her happy look, Rogge always felt that the old witch in front of him was like a kind old grandmother. However, the fact of the Bone Fence reminds oneself that this is only one side of Baba Yaga.

She turned to look at Roger, her pointed nose almost brushing his face: "Are you tired? Do you want to go to your mother-in-law's cabin to take a rest?"

Rogge's eyes flashed, and he replied calmly: "No, mom is still waiting for me to go back."

I thought that Baba Yaga would save him. Unexpectedly, she nodded and agreed to let herself go: "Oh, what a pity. My mother-in-law is alone and can't find anyone to accompany her. You go back, wait a little longer, it will be dark. Can't you see my mother? When you come to Ivan, your heart will be confused.”

"Am I being discovered?" Rogge thought to himself, secretly observing Baba Yaga's expression. There was a trace of tears in her eyes, as if she really didn't want to let the little boy in front of her leave.

Rogge hurriedly recited his identity in his heart: "I am the lost little boy." Then, he lowered his head and said like a child who made mistakes: "Mother-in-law, actually, I am lost."

"Ah?" Baba Yaga was surprised at first, and then said: "I would have known that I would have made you leave with the witch just now."

"What, a witch?" Rogge's eyes widened, and he deliberately took a step back, pretending to be shocked, "Why...why are there still witches now?"

"Witches exist all the time. They dress up beautifully to seduce men. Only an ugly mother-in-law like me, Baba Yaga, can treat people sincerely." She stretched out her hand and motioned for Rogge to hold it.

Rogge swallowed and put his hand on it despite the intense discomfort. He yelled in his heart: "For Phoenix!"

Baba Yaga's hands felt like dried centuries-old bark, rough as volcanic stone. When Roger held it, it felt like he was holding a piece of sandpaper, and his whole body began to itch involuntarily. It seems that he is not holding the old witch's hand now, but the dead branch of the thousand-year-old tree demon.

The old witch walked in front of Roger. Her hair was dry, yellow and white, hanging down to the crook of her legs. They were tangled and messy.

The sight of hair lice eating white flakes of skin and spiders chasing jumping lice can look both disgusting and creepy.

Rogge shrugged his shoulders back and forth uncomfortably, feeling like something was jumping around from his tailbone to his cervical spine. He wanted to reach out and grab it, but he was worried that doing so would make Baba Yaga unhappy.

"Hurry and squat down!" Baba Yaga beat the drumstick with a stone pestle, and the big wooden house squatted on the ground obediently, humbly inviting the two of them to enter.

Two rows of finger strings made of white bones hung on the door frame, swaying in the wind like wind chimes, making a creaking sound.

"Ivan, don't worry. When the cat comes back, I will let him take you back." Baba Yaga pushed him into the house, revealing a trace of his true colors.

She pointed to the broom in the corner and said, "As a good child of my mother-in-law, you will definitely listen to her, right?"

"My mother-in-law went to the forest to pick mushrooms and make mushroom soup for Ivan. You have to help her clean the yard." Her words were not a consultation, but an order.

Rogge's eyes turned involuntarily to the stone crucible next to the fireplace, and he understood that this was the first task given to him by Baba Yaga. If he couldn't finish it, he might be thrown into the crucible and mashed by her.

"Don't worry, mother-in-law, I'm a good hand at housework!" Rogge patted his chest decisively, put the broom on his shoulders, and said confidently: "When you come back, the house will be spotless!"

"Oh, what a good boy my mother-in-law is!" Baba Yaga laughed so hard that her nose swayed from side to side. She pushed open the door at the back, pointed to the yard and said, "The wheat that my mother-in-law threshed fell into the soil. Please pick it up and clean it for me if you can." Really? My mother-in-law knows that Ivan will never let a grain of wheat be contaminated with dust."

Rogge looked at the weeds on the ground and nodded: "There must be no dust."

"Oh, Ivan is such a good mother-in-law! Let her kiss me!"

"Uh..." Rogge held his stomach and pinched his thigh with his other hand.

He shook his head and said righteously: "Only when you have done this, you will be a good boy."

"Yes, yes! Haaaah..." Baba Yaga smiled happily. She picked up the basket, jumped off the wooden house, and disappeared into the forest.

"Little boy, you can't finish these things." The white rabbit in the cage turned to him and said, "If the gray bird is still there, it can help you clean the yard."

"Gray bird?" Rogge's eyes lit up, and he finally found the clue to the phoenix.

He stared at the rabbit in the cage, pretending to be frightened and asked: "But...but I promised my mother-in-law."

"Run away, haha, run away! Run away as fast as a rabbit!" It shouted cheerfully, with a dizzying magic in its voice. "If you can open the cage, I can take you to escape with me." !”

"Escape?" Rogge knocked over the cage with a broom and stepped on it domineeringly, "Damn rabbit, listen up, as long as I live here, I will be the boss.

If you dare to talk nonsense again, I will peel off your skin to make a waistcoat, and dig out your heart and lungs to make braised vegetables. Don’t let go of the head either and make it into a spicy rabbit head! "

"Do you know what spicy rabbit head is?" Rogge looked at the slightly frightened rabbit and threatened: "Cut off your ears, then add spices to marinate, stew over high heat, and finally stew slowly over low heat. through."

"Don't be afraid, this is just the beginning. Throw the cooked rabbit head into the oil pan, brush it, and you will turn from white to gold."

"Golden color!" Roger promised sternly, and knocked on the iron cage with a broom, asking: "Now, tell me, what is a gray bird?"