"With this pair of shackles, I feel like my hands are still there. I don't have a finger, but it hurts, it hurts!" said Master McGonagall hung her head, her expression indifferent and desperate.

Siegel was also silent, the loss of both hands by a mage was a very terrible thing, even worse than the loss of both hands by a swordsman. In the past, there have been swordsmen who have embedded their longswords in severed limbs and re-emerged as strong with amazing perseverance, but it is difficult for mages to do so.

Magic requires fine control, combining sound and gesture to build the structure of the spell. The most flexible and easy to control in the human body are the throat and fingers, so spells are basically inseparable from these two parts. Only the caster knows first-hand: simply making sounds and waving arms does not build spells, and it is only through these actions that one gradually grasps their effect on the spell and remembers how it feels when it is successfully cast can one truly master the spell.

Without both hands, it is difficult to complete the spell casting action, and the spell posture that the mages learned before was based on the premise of having hands. To regain the ability to cast spells, you have to overturn almost everything, abandon gestures, and rebuild the foundation of the spell structure, both in terms of difficulty and time, which cannot be done in decades.

Faced with this situation, Siegel didn't know what to use to comfort him.

"You can't imagine that terrible feeling. Pain is only one aspect, it's the simplest. When I was learning spells, I didn't experience even more pain. Mage McGonagall's voice slowly spat out, lingering through the cell, mingling with the rattle of chains. "I get hurt a lot, and the classmates I was with often messed with my casting materials or scared me when I cast them. Causes spells to fail. Flames, ice, acid. I've been through it all. Almost every day I live with pain, but I know I'm improving, I'm going to surpass them, so the pain is nothing. ”

"I've been hurt a lot, but I've never been so humiliated, never so desperate, it's so much more terrible than physical pain. Day and night, there was always a burning sensation from the severed limb. It's been a long time. But I always felt like it was still when they had sealed the wound with a brazier, completely severing my connection with magic. ”

"Do you know what Puran says?' Make her a pair of iron hands, with long chains to hang, preferably five. It's an immortal finger that can be used forever.'" He laughed at me like that, you damn bastard, executioner!"

Siegel reassured her, "Some temples can heal severed limbs and allow hands to grow again." I have a dwarven friend, and that's how he healed his leg. ”

"Why should the dwarven priest heal me, I don't believe in his gods!" McGonagall sneered, "The priest of the temple is nothing more than a shadow of their god. It's just a channel of divine power, and it's the gods who really decide whether to heal me or not. And gods are not as easy to buy as priests. The cost of healing my severed limb is much higher than the cost of restoring magical abilities. You tell me, God, which one is not greedy?"

"I happen to know one. "I've met a priest who doesn't even know which god he believes in, but that doesn't stop him from using magic and people of all races, creeds, and professions can be healed from him," Siegel said. It's just that he won't be able to regenerate limbs yet, and I think he will definitely be able to master it one day, and it won't be hopeless at that time. ”

"It's just...... Felt...... At that point, you are lying to me, comforting me with falsehoods, trying to guide my mind and gain my trust. McGonagall let out a laugh, "I'm not going to be fooled, you don't want to get my secret!"

Siegel frowned, as he noticed that McGonagall had become mentally unstable from the prolonged agony. Although her severed hand was sympathetic, Siegel didn't have much time to counsel her.

"Master McGonagall, I don't need you to believe me, because facts are facts and don't change because of your subjective feelings. As for your secrets, it's your business if you want to keep them until you're old, and I just want "Moonlight Moya Volume". ”

"Oh, if I give you what you want, what can you give me? I want freedom, I want magic, I want revenge, I want them to die!"

Siegel shook his head and stood in front of Master McGonagall, letting the torch illuminate her face so she could see herself. Then he said, "You want too much, you want to fight for these things yourself, or exchange them with others, you can do it." But only if you return what doesn't belong to you first. Tell me where is the Moonlight Moya Scroll?"

"Phew, don't think! Plan, you bastard, don't think!"

She's crazy, Siegel thought with regret. How can you not go crazy in such a terrible situation? It's not like permanent madness, it's just a mental madness caused by the accumulation of stress to a certain extent. Somehow needed to be found to vent it, but that would require manipulation of Master McGonagall's thoughts. Siegel thought about it, and since that was the case, it was better to look for the answer directly.

He set the torch aside, raised his wand, and began to chant the incantation. It is very dangerous to use snooping spells on mentally abnormal individuals, and it is even more dangerous to use snooping spells such as mind probes. Siegel carefully spread the power of the spell and slowly penetrated into her memory.

It's best not to touch the part about spells, because that's the part where the mage is most protected, and most of the information is memorized with ciphertext symbols, and it takes a lot of effort to decipher it. Siegel is concentrating on finding memories of the object, where did she put "Moonlight Moya Scroll"?

The past turns into fragments, and little by little, it is revealed in front of us. Siegel saw McGonagall's laboratory and saw that she was experimenting with alchemy, and that there was a magic amulet on the table, exactly the same as the one he had bought from the old lady. However, the amulet in the memory looks ordinary on the surface, but in fact it exudes powerful magical fluctuations, like a heart full of power.

Turning your gaze back to the making of magical items would take a lot of energy - Siegel cautioned himself to control the magic spells and carefully avoid one trap after another. As long as he has the slightest curiosity about McGonagall's magic, it will probably cause the spell in his hand to fail. It was as if he was walking on a cliff. There was only a dangling steel rope underfoot.

He finally saw the book. McGonagall carefully placed it on the shelf. It's just below the lab. As she left there, she closed the door with a spell, allowing the dirt to hide the traces of the entrance, making it look like normal ground.

Now that the magic spell that opened the secret door was known, Siegel began to recite the end of the spell in order to get out of McGonagall's thoughts.

That's when things went awry.

McGonagall's memory conjures up a strange man, tall and thin, with a pair of pointed ears on his blurry face. Elf? Siegel was stunned for a moment.

The elf cast a spell on Siegel. He couldn't move his body, not even blinking his eyes and moving his tongue. At this time, a man with a long sword walked over, and Puran's hideous face was clear and terrifying, and the shining sword light was like a thunderbolt. What happened?

Siegel suddenly realizes that this is McGonagall's memory, and that he is not trapped. The memory of McGonagall's severed hands was too deep in her mind to come back to her at any moment. Siegel admonished himself to withdraw his curiosity, to draw his attention, and then struggled to withdraw from the spell.

What happened to the elves that appeared in McGonagall's memory? She had lost her hands after being spelled, but why did she never say why the elves' faces were blurry. And Puran's face is so clear?

He wiped the sweat from his head and slowly calmed down the fatigue caused by the fluctuations of magic. Also exhausted was McGonagall. Her body trembled on her chains, and she didn't even have the strength to lift her head.

Moore carefully handed over the water bladder and let the lord have a good rest. Hearing the sound of water, McGonagall raised her head and whispered weakly, "Before you go, let me have a full drink." ”

"You're finally awake again?"

McGonagall nodded, and Siegel gave her water. He then took out a few more elven biscuits and brought them to McGonagall's mouth.

The female mage frowned and said unexpectedly, "Take away the elven things!"

"You need to eat something, and that's the best food to restore your strength. "It's also good for wound healing and recovery from fatigue." ”

"No, I'd rather starve to death than eat elven food. ”

"Why?" Siegel asked immediately. "Why don't you like elves?"

McGonagall frowned, as if she was confused. Why? She was asking herself. It seemed that the meaning of the elves in her mind was darker and more terrifying than that of Pran, but she could not remember.

Siegel watched her expression carefully and knew that he couldn't push her any longer, or he would risk going crazy again. All he needed to know was that the elves had indeed played a role in the matter, and remind himself to be careful. Puran also has an ally who can instantly freeze the body of a powerful mage like McGonagall.

He put away the elven biscuits and pulled out a pie made of minced liver and rabbit meat. It only takes a little power of the fire elemental to make it warm again. He broke it off piece by piece with his hand and fed it to Master McGonagall.

The female mage devoured it, and quickly ate an entire pie. She looked at Siegel with complicated eyes, and only after a half-tone did she say, "You won't come back after you leave, will you?"

"The Moonlight Moya Scroll is very important to me, forgive me for not being able to let you go for the time being. Siegel said: "No one knows the reason for the expansion of the Ghost Mist Swamp, and I don't think you have such great power, so Viscount Puran's reason for wanting you is not valid at all, and it is not right for him to imprison you like this." I can intercede for you, but I can't simply swing my sword and cast a teleportation spell and settle the matter. ”

McGonagall chuckled softly, then louder and louder, and finally burst out laughing, "I didn't expect it, I didn't expect it, and there is a mage of your character! Why don't you become a paladin or an inquisitor? If you are a lord, you must be just and selfless, and you must distinguish between good and evil?"

Siegel couldn't answer that question because he had questions of his own. What if she was released and she hid and could never be found again? If there was no Moonlight Moya Scroll in the secret room under her laboratory, then the only person who had read the book was right in front of her, how could she get her out of control?

Is this an excuse to respect the rules or selfishness?

Siegel's hesitation didn't last long, he let out a long sigh before pulling out Stardust and severing McGonagall's chains. The sound of the tinkling bell is very pleasant, and it feels so good to be free. But the female mage, who had lost her support, fell to the ground, unable to get up at all.

More reached for help, but was stopped by Siegel. "Don't worry, let's get out of here first. (To be continued......)

PS: Happy last month of 2015, everyone!