chapter 31

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It was evening in the potted plant store.

Vison was under investigation. As a law-abiding citizen, he naturally cooperated fully with the Ministry of Magic's officials. Moreover, Vison knew that as long as the Biting Cabbage wasn't seen by Muggles, the Ministry would likely turn a blind eye.

"Name."

"Eldrein Vissen."

"Occupation."

"I'm currently teaching at Hogwarts."

"About what happened to your house?"

"…It was just an experimental accident."

"Not some kind of magical creature?"

"No."

After several rounds of questions, the Ministry investigator had filled up an entire page with notes. Because Vison was very cooperative, the process moved exceptionally smoothly.

"Uh… Mr. Vissen? Are you really a Professor at Hogwarts?" the investigator suddenly asked.

Vison nodded calmly. "Is there a problem?"

"No," the man shook his head, smiling slightly. "It's just rare to see such a young Professor."

"Actually, I only joined this year," Vison replied with a relaxed smile.

"A newly hired Professor?" The investigator raised an eyebrow, flipping through his records. "Let's see… which subject do you teach?"

"Care of Magical Creatures," Vison answered casually.

The investigator jotted down another note before standing up. "The investigation is over, Mr. Vissen," he declared.

Vison was a bit surprised. That was it? So simple?

"Is that it? Do I need to do anything else?" he asked, cautious.

"Uh…" the investigator explained, "Actually, you were suspected of raising dangerous creatures. But, you know, we didn't find any prohibited ones here."

He winked at Vison. "And honestly, we trust you, Mr. Vissen. After all, you're a Professor at Hogwarts."

Vison couldn't help but nod to himself. So, this identity carried weight in the magical world. More than he expected.

"Alright then," the investigator said, adjusting his windproof hat as he headed to the door. "You're welcome to come to the Ministry tomorrow to make a formal statement. Of course, it's fine if you don't."

With that, he left in a hurry.

Vison had no intention of stepping into the Ministry voluntarily. That was just asking for trouble. Especially since he'd done more than a few illegal things behind the scenes. Just the fact that he privately raised a Dragon could land him in Azkaban for life. But he also knew that unless they found concrete evidence, the Ministry couldn't touch him.

After seeing off the investigator, Vison glanced at his pocket watch. It was already six o'clock. Seeing the man leave so quickly, he figured the investigator was just eager to get off work.

Harry had left the Biting Cabbage with Vison before leaving, afraid it might grow uncontrollably again. If his aunt's house got destroyed, fixing it wouldn't be so simple for Harry. Unlike Vison, who could restore damage with a wave of his wand.

Turning his gaze to the Biting Cabbage sitting on the table, Vison noted it had regained some energy. No longer as wilted as it had been after its last gigantification. As he approached, the Biting Cabbage opened its mouth wide—asking for its favorite Dragon dung mixed fertilizer.

Vison frowned. His stock was running low. "I didn't prepare this much Dragon dung fertilizer," he muttered, pulling out some regular magical fertilizer instead. "You'll have to make do with this for now."

When he fed it to the Biting Cabbage, the plant made a few retching sounds and spat the fertilizer out.

"Cough cough… cough cough…"

It looked genuinely disgusted.

"You're picky now, huh?" Vison said, a black line appearing on his face. "Keep that up, and I won't feed you at all."

Sensing his displeasure, the Biting Cabbage stopped its antics and begrudgingly accepted the ordinary fertilizer. After absorbing the nutrients, it seemed to settle down and return to normal.

"Can you control your size now?" Vison asked.

The Biting Cabbage swayed up and down, as if nodding. A faint black light shimmered over its body as it began to expand again—but this time, in a controlled way.

"Stop!"

When the plant grew to about half a meter, Vison ordered it to halt. That size was enough to scare most people.

Wanting to test its strength, Vison fetched a chunk of refined steel from his warehouse and placed it in front of the Cabbage.

The plant didn't move—just stared at the iron lump.

"What are you standing there for? Bite it," Vison urged.

"…"

The Biting Cabbage seemed to say, Are you serious?

But under Vison's stern glare, it reluctantly lunged forward and chomped down on the steel. It managed to leave a clear tooth mark—though it lost a tooth in the process.

Afterward, the Biting Cabbage shrank back to its normal size, clearly exhausted.

"Not bad," Vison praised, genuinely impressed. Refined steel made with authentic goblin craftsmanship wasn't easy to damage. Yet the plant's teeth had done it.

The Biting Cabbage, meanwhile, whimpered pitifully over its lost tooth.

"Alright, alright." Vison fetched a small vial of growth potion and poured it down the plant's gullet. The Biting Cabbage stopped crying, visibly soothed.

Once it calmed down, Vison retrieved the fallen tooth and brought it to his Tree of Wisdom for analysis.

"Eldra," he called out.

[Species: Biting Cabbage Tooth]

[Characteristic: Gigantification]

Just as he suspected—the tooth inherited the plant's gigantification trait.

With this, Vison realized he could brew a special growth potion that would transfer the gigantification property to other plants. However, it wouldn't work on everything. Only plants compatible with the trait would absorb it successfully. Which meant a lot of trial and error lay ahead.

But that wasn't a problem. The Biting Cabbage's teeth were renewable. Whenever he needed more, he could just… harvest them. Sure, the Biting Cabbage would need to suffer a little. But Vison believed the plant wouldn't mind.

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