Chapter 735: The Owl-Woman and the Bizarre Murder
“Madame Maxime, you are really a rare visitor. Welcome, come on in!” As soon as the carriage stopped, Barr, the bar owner, a wrinkled old man in his sixties, smiled and said, “What brings you here to Dijon?”
“We’re just passing by. We’ll leave tomorrow morning,” said Madame Maxime, stepping down from the carriage. “Please prepare dinner for us and open four rooms.”
“There are many rooms. Under the present circumstances, not many people dare to come to Dijon.” said old Barr, sighing.
“What happened?” Madame Maxime asked, stopping at the door of the bar. “Why do you look sad? Last time I came here, your bistro was very prosperous.”
“Don’t mention it. The situation has been terrible recently. It’s all caused by that terrible Owl-Woman. People are in a panic, not to mention foreign tourists, even local wizards don’t go out much!” said Barr, waving helplessly.
“Owl-Woman, what is that?!” Evan asked, looking at the bar owner in surprise.
“To be honest, I don’t know what monster it is. I haven’t seen it. But according to eyewitnesses, it’s something about the size of a human woman half covered with feathers, with pointed ears and long hands with black pincer-like claws. Its feathers are silver-gray, and its eyes are bloodshot. It looks like a human being turned into a terrible owl …”
Listening to his description, Evan thought of a monster in his mind.
“This thing is said to have run out of the Owl Fortress. The castle is very famous and attracts many wizards to visit Dijon every year. At first, everyone thought it was a joke or a publicity stunt. They didn’t pay attention to it,” Barr continued. “Until later that incident happened, and all of us realized how serious it was.”
“A witch died. Poor Mary… she was the last member of the oldest family of pure-blood wizards in Dijon. That family is considered the only surviving descendant of the Duke of Burgundy, and even the Owl Fortress is the property of their family. She was found dead in her family’s mansion, and was not discovered until a few weeks later…” Barr sighed again and continued, “The Aurors who came to the scene saw a picture like hell. Mary’s skin had been abruptly stripped off, leaving only blood and flesh… It was like a pile of rotten meat. The window of her room was open, and owl feathers were everywhere on the ground. Some witnesses swore that it was the Owl-Woman who killed her…”
There was a moment of silence. Evan and the others did not expect to hear about such a bizarre and sensational murder as soon as they stepped off the carriage.
“To tell the truth, Old Mary’s popularity was not very good. If she had died in a normal way, this matter might be a good post-meal talk, and by the way, we would have discussed how to distribute the huge family wealth she left,” said Barr. “Ah, but now in this situation… especially that more and more people have seen the Owl-Woman later, Dijon is completely dead. We can’t count on the useless Ministry of Magic and those worthless Aurors. They are hiding far away in Paris, regardless of our lives.”
“I will write to the Ministry to reflect on this situation!” said Madame Maxime. “I’m sorry, Barr, I can’t help you for the moment.”
“Never mind. I’m glad to have you and your friends here!” Barr bowed, then raised his head and curiously looked at Evan, Sirius and Hagrid behind Madame Maxime. “Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Before that, what would you and your companions want to drink, beer or brandy?”
“Three glasses of brandy, and a glass of juice, that child cannot drink… yet,” said Madame Maxime. She paused and added, “If it is convenient, give my horses some single malt whiskey… just put it in their forage.”
“Leave it to me, Olympe. I’ll take care of them.” said Hagrid, leading the Abraxans to the backyard of the bar.
Evan, Sirius, and Madame Maxime followed the owner into the tavern and walked through the narrow and dark passage. The scene in front of them was similar to that of the Leaky Cauldron; even the decoration style was generally similar. The living room was gloomy, the space was very small, and the ground seemed to have accumulated dust for centuries.
Evan did not understand why the pubs and inns run by wizards and witches seemed to stay in the ancient Middle Ages. If he could choose, he would prefer to stay in hotels or guesthouses run by Muggles, but the other three would definitely not go.
As the bar owner said, apart from them, there was no one inside.
The mood was inevitably a little dull at the thought of the terrible murder, and everyone avoided talking about it.
At Madame Maxime’s recommendation, Evan tried three French specialties in Dijon, namely, eggs in red wine sauce, mixed fish soup and stewed beef, which tasted very good.
After he finished, he left the table and went back to his room. Sirius, Hagrid and Madame Maxime seemed to want to have a few more drinks.
Evan was going to have a quick look at the information Hermione had collected for him about the giants and the whirlpool of Charybdis.
He didn’t know much about them before, and he had to seize the time to grasp the information as soon as possible.
The tavern’s room was located on the second floor and was not very big. There was a comfortable bed inside, some very bright oak furniture and a small desk. The fire in the fireplace was crackling.
Evan nodded. Compared to the ground floor, it was obviously carefully tidied up and looked much cleaner!
He walked to the window and looked outside the bar’s backyard. Their huge carriage was parked in the middle of the yard.
Evan drew the curtains, took out his wand and applied some protective magic, and then lay down to see what Hermione had collected for him.
It was well known that giants were powerful humanoid magical creatures. They usually had a huge body and unparalleled brute force. They could reach 30 to 50 feet in height, had strong magic resistance, and could use weapons.
Because of this, the giants had been considered as a horrific tool of war since ancient times.
A giant could fight more than ten well-trained wizards. They were cruel by nature and extremely loathed magic.
In ancient times, they were killing machines on the battlefield, and in recent history, there had been several appalling giant slaughter of Muggles.
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