#214 - Magical Creature Smuggler

On the corpse at the scene, Anduin saw several claw marks. A large chunk of flesh had been bitten off from the neck and abdomen. At the same time, there were traces of Cutting Curses on the back. It seemed that the victim was severely injured by the spell attack first, and then brutally murdered by the werewolf.

Even for him, it was the first time seeing such cruel means of killing. No wonder the wizarding world was so hostile to werewolves.

After examining the corpse, Anduin picked up the debris of the nearby cargo box. Most of the fragments had nothing but dirt on them, so it seemed that Kiki had cleaned it up very cleanly.

However, in addition to the large pieces of the small shelf wreckage, there were also small drawers scattered all over the ground. After collecting these small drawers, he found that although they had been emptied, there were still some residues.

Anduin casually picked up some, brought it to his nose and smelled it, basically recognizing the herbs that were stored inside.

"There's wormwood, an ingredient for making Draught of Living Death, but without the corresponding asphodel powder, and lavender, Flobberworm mucus, and valerian, these are herbs for preparing sleeping draughts. It seems Kiki didn't lie to me."

Afterwards, he used the Tracking Spell to survey the scene. It was indeed consistent with what Kiki said: one human footprint, six werewolves. According to the movement of their auras, the human was leading five werewolves in the direction he came from.

However, one of the werewolves ran in another direction, and judging from the depth of the footprints, the other party was moving at full speed on all fours, running very urgently and very fast. Was it going to gather companions, or was it assigned other tasks?

Anduin frowned and pondered, looking at the clues left at the scene.

But before he could think for long, he was awakened by the 'bang bang' sound coming from the side.

He saw Kiki standing next to a large tree with tears streaming down her face, constantly hitting her head against the tree trunk, while shouting.

"Kiki is useless, Kiki is a house elf without a master. Why is Kiki so stupid, unable to protect her master? Kiki deserves to die!"

After saying that, she actually picked up a sharp stone from the ground, aimed it at her head, and after a moment of nervous hesitation, still slammed it against it.

Clang!

A spell suddenly appeared, knocking away the sharp stone in Kiki's hand. Then, Anduin, with an angry face, was seen walking towards her.

"What are you doing? Your master is dead, and instead of thinking about avenging him, you want to commit suicide? How spineless!" Anduin said angrily.

"But Kiki can't beat those monsters, and Kiki doesn't have a master anymore. Kiki is useless. Master said that useless guys should die." Kiki sat on the ground and wailed.

Hearing you say that, your master doesn't seem to be a good person either, Anduin looked speechlessly at the heartbroken Kiki in front of him.

Anduin despised those who didn't know how to be self-reliant, so he didn't understand creatures like house elves at all, who didn't have any self-esteem.

While he was distracted, Kiki stood up again and tried to harm herself again, which made Anduin's anger rise.

Immediately, he picked up Kiki and stopped her behavior. But in response to Anduin's actions, Kiki instead pleaded timidly.

"Wizard, please let me die. Kiki's master is gone, and Kiki without a master is nothing. Kiki's beloved cargo box is also gone, please be kind, Wizard."

Geez, the way you put it, me not letting you die makes it sound like I'm committing a crime.

"Stop arguing. You'll follow me for now. You can't die without my permission. I'll need you later. Now, accompany me to chase those werewolves."

"What? You're willing to let humble Kiki follow you, Wizard? Are you willing to take in Kiki and become Kiki's master?" After hearing Anduin's words, Kiki's expression suddenly became excited, staring blankly at him.

"Think what you want." Anduin couldn't help but curl his lips at Kiki's sudden change in attitude.

"Yes, Master. Do you want to hit Kiki? Do you need Kiki to find you a cane?" Kiki looked at Anduin excitedly.

"No one wants to hit you. Hurry up and tidy up. I'll bury your master first. We'll be busy later." Anduin couldn't understand the house elf's thought process at all, and directly ordered.

"Sorry, Master. It's Kiki's fault for not understanding Master's thoughts." After saying that, Kiki kicked the stone next to her, making her hop in pain.

"Sigh." Anduin sighed speechlessly, squatted down and looked at her, saying, "Kiki."

"Kiki is here, Master, please instruct." Kiki grinned and quickly responded.

"You are not allowed to harm yourself again in the future, understand?"

"Sorry, Master, Kiki did wrong." Kiki's eyes were filled with tears and she was about to break her fingers again, but was immediately glared at by Anduin, and stood拘谨 on the spot.

Seeing this, Anduin could only shake his head helplessly. He really didn't know what to do about Kiki's situation, but if he ignored her directly, she might just die on the spot to show you.

Afterwards, he had to order Kiki to stay by the side first, and he quickly buried the black market merchant's body, since it wasn't good to let a human corpse be exposed in the wilderness.

Then, he picked up Kiki and Apparated back to the crossroads he had located earlier.

The scene had previously split into two routes, one converging with the lone werewolf and most of the werewolves, and the other leaving alone. Anduin had considered which route to pursue.

The werewolf who left alone was very fast and had an unknown goal, while the group of werewolves was heading straight for the centaurs, and the werewolf wizard who was suspected to be the leader was also heading in this direction.

In the end, he decided to catch up with this large group first to see the situation.

Judging from the information collected earlier, these werewolves seemed to have come to the Forbidden Forest for the unicorns. At least that was the werewolf wizard's initial goal, which immediately made him think of magical creature smugglers.

From Moody, he learned that the various smuggling businesses in the British wizarding world were repeatedly banned, and there were even more than doing legitimate business.

The werewolf that appeared on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest was likely there as an advance team to scout. Due to its untamed nature, it attacked those magical creature colonies, but it may not have found any trace of unicorns, but accidentally discovered the centaurs on the way, and followed them, while notifying the werewolf wizard via signal.

They bought Draught of Living Death, a sleeping draught, which clearly meant they wanted to capture them alive, but now they only had second-rate sleeping draughts. Although the hypnotic effect was not bad, it might not work on magical creatures like unicorns with strong magic resistance.

Plus, not finding any trace of unicorns, this werewolf wizard would likely shift his target and aim at the centaur force ahead.