364 Chapter 18, Old Place

After changing clothes, Miranda took Hoffa straight to the village without a word of nonsense. While running, Hoffa looked at the leaves on his body, they rattled with the night wind, like the feathers of birds. He doubted that he could get away with it this way. The old sheep herding man didn't look easy to fool.

They walked through the birch forest at night and approached the village from the other side. Before they could get close, they heard small conversations, getting closer.

Miranda stopped and gave Hoffa a wink, and Hoffa read her eyes and squatted on the ground and pretended to be a bush.

Miranda also leaned against a birch next to Hoffa, holding her breath.

After a while, two men with torches came slowly in the distance. One of the men was tall and bearded, with a bow and arrow on his back, and rubber shoes on his feet. With a pipe in his mouth, he looked rough and tough. The other man was wearing a robe resembling a gun, a pointed hat and a wooden stick in his hand.

The two got closer and closer, and the conversation gradually became clearer.

"...This rally might attract the attention of those lunatics. If they really come, I'm afraid we may not be able to guard against them."

"Will those members of the Order of the Phoenix come? Haven't they been exchanging letters with us recently?"

"Aberforth doesn't trust his brothers, well, if I don't either, their spirits have been worn out by noble lives, they live in the houses of pure-blood nobles in the city, and eat delicious house-elf cooking. Food, relying on those delicate guys can't restore the loss of the wizarding world."

Hoffa's ears perked up. This was the first time he heard the word magic so clearly from other people, which made him so excited that his body trembled.

Miranda noticed Hoffa's agitation, and quickly kicked him lightly to calm him down. However, this action caused the two people on the other side to stop suddenly.

The strong man with a bow and arrow turned his head, looked at the forest, frowned and said, "I smell something that doesn't belong here, the smell of a woman."

The man in the pointed hat twitched his nose twice, and said dissatisfiedly, "Your nose is like a dog's. There are no women here."

I said there is, this is the instinct of male animals. If you can't smell it, it can only mean that you are not a man.

Hoffa, who heard the conversation between the two, also twitched his nose. Indeed, he could smell the faint scent of violets. It's just that he often stays by Miranda's side and is used to this smell, but it seems that this smell is still very strong to other people.

Looking at Miranda again, she clenched her fists, her face flushed a little, obviously nervous and angry.

"I think you are simply suffocated. In my opinion, you have to find a wife." The man in the pointed hat muttered.

The strong man with the bow and arrow on his back was unmoved, he took down the bow and arrow, bent the bow and set the arrow at the dark woods, and said loudly: "Hey, people there, come out! Don't let me go over there to invite you!"

Hoffa looked at Miranda worriedly, and saw her take a few deep breaths, and then mouthed Hoffa.

"Do not talk."

After exhorting, she raised her hand and turned out from behind the birch tree.

Seeing that Miranda really came out, the two men on the opposite side were very surprised. The man in the pointed hat said in surprise, "There is really a woman, why can't I smell it?"

But the bearded man said in amazement: "Hey, this outfit really has personality. Who are you?"

Miranda brushed her hair and said calmly, "I'm from Ireland, and I received your leaflet saying that there is a magic gathering here."

Hearing what she said, the bearded man lowered his bow and arrow.

"Is Ireland Celtic?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Miranda asked back.

The bearded man was silent, he narrowed his eyes, thinking about something.

The pointed hat beside him was overjoyed, and he said excitedly: "Great. We need allies in different regions. It's really great. If all the wizards of the three islands join us, our chances of recovering the magic world will be great. increased."

"Wait a minute, Chris, don't get so excited."

The bearded man poured cold water on his companion's head indifferently, and pulled him down. He breathed out a smoke ring, looked Miranda up and down, and then moved his eyes to Hoffa who was holding bushes beside him. .

Hoffa noticed the man's sharp gaze, and couldn't help but look away guiltily. This attire was too shameful.

"What's this?"

the man asked, pointing at Hoffa.

"This is my pet."

Miranda replied without changing her expression.

"Your pet?" the bearded man was dubious.

"I'm a druid, is it strange to have a tree man as a pet?"

Miranda asked naturally.

"Oddly, Treant."

The rough-looking man put down his bow and arrow and walked up to Hoffa. I saw him puffing smoke and touching the leaves on Hoffa's body with his dirty fingers. Hoffa could bear it at first. But suddenly, the strong man stretched out his hand and slapped him hard between his legs.

Hoffa's pupils trembled, and he jumped back a big step.

The strong man clicked his tongue in amazement: "Hey, tree man, how do you give birth to a child, do you use a branch to insert a tree hole?"

"Hahahaha~"

His vulgar remarks made the man in the pointed hat laugh, sharply, which made Hoffa very unhappy. But he gritted his teeth and held back, silently standing behind Miranda.

Milanfa stopped in front of the strong man calmly, and stared at him indifferently: "Hey, please be respectful, I received a flyer from you, come here to participate in the rally, where is the Pig's Head Bar."

The strong man folded his arms indifferently, looked down at Miranda, and asked casually: "So, dear Miss Druid, I have many keys, but I can't open any door. May I ask, what am I?"

It's a riddle! Hoffa's heart was pounding. If you give him another chance, he will definitely not be wrong again.

However, Miranda seemed to be stunned. She was stunned, and then she said, "I don't know."

Hoffa bit his lip anxiously, and he was about to stand up and answer the puzzle, but thinking of Miranda's instructions to him before, he had no choice but to hold back his urgency and choose to shut up.

"have no idea."

The strong man muttered.

And the man with the pointed hat instantly became vigilant, he pulled out a small wooden stick from his waist, and looked nervously at the girl with weird patterns all over her body.

But the bearded man was the opposite. He put the bow and arrow back on his back and said easily, "Go in, Celtic. Remember not to go into the woods next time. There are many wild beasts, vicious beasts."

After all, he looked into Hoffa's eyes under the leaves and smiled slightly. Turn around and leave.

The man in the pointed hat said anxiously: "Kaymo, she didn't answer the riddle, so you let him in?"

"You can't expect a lion to turn into an eagle, so go."

He patted the buttocks of the man in the pointed hat under his robe, and the man in the pointed hat opened his hand nervously, and said awkwardly, "Don't be so vulgar outside."

The two talked and walked further and further away.

When the two walked away, Hoffa couldn't wait to whisper in Miranda's ear.

"It's a piano, don't you know it, key, key."

"Shut up!"

Miranda looked at him fiercely.

Hoffa covered his mouth.

"Do you think he is stupid or I am stupid. How can I, a Celtic who has never been out of the woods, know the piano? He is testing me." Miranda said.

Only then did Hoffa realize that he felt deceived by the rough appearance of the big man.

"I'm stupid." He muttered angrily.

Miranda didn't say anything more. After passing by the two patrolling men, they entered the village from the woods. It didn't take long for them to see the strange building with a wild boar's head stuck in the door. It was pitch black, with crooked chimneys, and even the glass was stained with yellow oil stains, which looked dirty.

But compared to other dark buildings in the village, this dark house is the only place with lights on.

Hoffa's heart was pounding, and even his head became heavy. Looking for magic? Want to get your memory back?

But Miranda didn't seem to have any intention of entering that building. She didn't even look at the Pig's Head Bar, and walked straight along the road.

Hoffa couldn't understand now, didn't he say he wanted to enter the place with the wild boar's head, why didn't he go in all of a sudden?

As if seeing the doubt in his heart, before Hoffa could speak, Miranda whispered, "Shut up, just follow me."

Hoffa had no choice but to shut up, but suddenly he thought of Xinshi.

Miranda once said that as long as you find the heart stone, you can find magic. But now she didn't mention the heart stone anymore. Could it be that she has confirmed that the heart stone is in this village?

What was that stone like?

He wanted to ask Miranda, but Miranda had already told him not to talk and pretend to be a bush, so he had no choice but to endure the doubts in his heart and silently followed behind him.

They left the Pig's Head Bar and went all the way into this dark village. The houses in the village looked very old, the cabbage in the field had dried up because they had been left unattended for many years, and some pumpkins piled up at the door of the house were also moldy and rotten.

Judging from the appearance of the village, this place should have been a very lively place, but it has been deserted now, and the people in the village have moved to nowhere, leaving only the empty signboard creaking and shaking on the door.

Miranda stopped in front of a dim building.

With the moonlight, Hoffa recognized the words on the signboard.

Honey dukes.

His head started hurting again.

He doesn't want to go into the building.

Inexplicably, he began to miss the unoccupied corners of London's garbage dumps.

Miranda pushed open Honeydukes' door.

Accompanied by the rustling of dust, the door that no one cared about was pushed open. She grabbed Hoffa's wrist and walked into the dark building.

The building used to be a store, but now the store is empty and dusty. Hoffa rubbed his head, suppressed the bursts of pain, and followed Miranda.

In the former storeroom, Miranda sprawled on the floor, groped for a while, and slowly pried open a board on the floor. A deep and bottomless hole behind the floor was exposed.

Seeing the hole, Hoffa trembled uncontrollably.

"Miranda"

Hoffa felt fear for no reason.

This fear had existed since the first day he saw Miranda, but his travels had gradually faded this emotion, and at this moment, the fear returned. He couldn't tell whether it was the dark hole or Miranda's suddenly tense face.

"Miranda, where are you taking me?"

"Go in, Hoffa." She pointed to the bottomless hole in front of her and said.

"It's too dark in here"

he begged in a low voice.

But Miranda didn't talk nonsense with him at all, and raised her foot to hit Hoffa's chest. He was caught off guard and fell backwards, falling into the dark hole. He was weightless and tried to grab something, but there was no grip. Accompanied by a plop, he rolled several times in the hole continuously, his nose and face swollen from knocking.

Great panic filled his heart, and he hurriedly stood up while leaning on the wall. Miranda jumped down the hole like a wild cat. Then, there was a light click. She lit the metal lighter in her hand.

The blue firelight illuminates the dark corridor, and also reflects the patterns on Miranda's face more mysteriously. She involuntarily grabbed Hoffa's wrist and dragged him into the passage.

An ominous premonition grew stronger in Hoffa's heart.

He instinctively felt that there was something at the end of the tunnel, but his brain didn't want to remember what was at the end of the tunnel. In order to prevent the memory from appearing, every cell in his body began to struggle with pain.

"No no. Miranda. I want to go back."

"Let me go back," he said.

He buckled the wall, trying to stop himself.

But the severe pain made his palm numb, and since Miranda came here, she has become extremely determined. She has no intention of stopping at all, and strides towards the depths of the passage.