Chapter 142: Hogwarts Castle

Looking at the basilisk affectionately coiled around Kael's hand like an emerald bracelet, Kael couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. What he had just cast was a type of contract magic: a Blood Oath, a powerful magical contract used to ensure both parties wouldn't harm each other. Of course, what he had cast was his own modified version of the Blood Oath. It only ensured the basilisk couldn't harm him, while he himself had no constraints whatsoever. He had even made the basilisk the carrier of the Blood Oath. Unless the basilisk was killed, the oath wouldn't be broken. So now he could raise the basilisk with complete peace of mind. Under the Blood Oath's constraint, even if Kael didn't use Parseltongue to command the basilisk to close its eyes, whenever Kael appeared, the basilisk would instinctively close its eyes to prevent harming him. Even unconscious harm was impossible. "From now on, you'll be called Herpo." Kael was terrible at naming things. Following the principle of borrowing, he directly used the name of "Herpo the Foul," the first wizard in the magical world to breed a basilisk. Then Kael placed the basilisk in a sealed room and used magic to reinforce and lock the door, preventing the basilisk from escaping or anyone from entering and causing harm. After all, there were currently over a thousand dwarves outside the tower, plus villagers hired to prepare meals for the dwarves, and inside the tower was Edward serving as steward, as well as Legolas, who had just returned from Mirkwood. Kael thought that when the castle construction was nearly complete, he would simply build a chamber beneath the castle in the mountain and keep the basilisk there. Time passed again. Soon the castle construction entered its final phase. At this time, a magnificent giant castle appeared atop Weathertop. The castle's outermost perimeter was a high, thick wall built along the edge of the peak's cliffs, forming a huge circle that surrounded all of Weathertop. Above the wall was a wide road allowing people to walk around the entire perimeter. Both sides were built with brick and stone, with the outer side having lookout holes and arrow slits and watchtowers at regular intervals. Above the castle gate was a tall tower used for observation and attacking enemies. The castle gate consisted of two massive bronze doors. The bronze doors embodied the wisdom of dwarf craftsmen. Not only carved with exquisite, complex patterns but also equipped with intricate mechanisms. Once the gates were closed, unless opened from inside, outsiders couldn't enter at all. The bronze doors' raw materials were found by Smaug from the distant north; they are extremely hard and only meltable by dragon fire. Through the gates was a broad grassland, with a straight white stone path crossing the field to reach the fountain pool in front of the main castle. The fountain's water came from deep underground beneath Weathertop. The dwarves had dug nearly a thousand meters down to bring up the underground spring water. Above the fountain was a majestic dragon statue forged from gold. This was the result of Smaug's strong insistence, for which he had even voluntarily contributed some gold from his treasury. As for the dwarves' original plan to carve a statue of Kael, that had been rejected by Kael. The image of placing his own statue at the entrance for every guest to admire was something he couldn't quite accept. After the fountain water overflowed, it flowed toward one side of the main castle, toward the garden area, passing between the mallorn and White Trees, gathering in a hollow to form a small lake. Finally, it passed through the wall, cascading down the western cliff directly into the Midgewater Marshes below. Back to the main castle side, the dwarf craftsmen had expanded around the original Amon Sûl Tower, using giant stones to build a magnificent square main castle that included an eight-story main building and multiple towers and auxiliary structures. Amon Sûl Tower remained the tallest building, with all other structures at its feet. From a distance, it looked like a giant rocket with many boosters attached. Besides this, within the walls were also greenhouses behind the main castle, as well as stables in the castle corners and houses for servants and attendants. Amon Sûl Tower remained Kael's living quarters, but when he came out of the tower, he entered a very spacious great hall. The hall could completely accommodate thousands of guests and would be used for hosting banquets, balls, celebrations, and other large events, as well as serving as a place for Kael to receive subjects and handle government affairs. Around the hall were also kitchens, storerooms, meeting rooms, guest rooms, and other chambers. "Kael, what do you think? If you have any suggestions, we can still make changes." As the chief supervisor of the castle construction, Balin asked Kael after leading him on a tour of the castle. "The dwarves' construction abilities are indeed exquisite. I have no objections!" Kael nodded with great satisfaction, his expression joyful. "But the only problem is, how can I alone live in such a large castle?" The original Amon Sûl Tower was already very tall and large, and now the expanded castle was even more magnificent. After touring around with Balin, Kael felt his legs were numb. Hearing Kael's words, Balin immediately laughed heartily. The current castle was indeed spacious. Such a large castle could completely accommodate thousands of people living there, yet the permanent population was only Kael, plus Legolas who was temporarily staying as a guest. Even Edward, who was increasingly acting like Kael's steward, spent part of his time living in Hogsmeade Village down the mountain. Especially recently, he had been getting close to Anna, Village Chief Luke's daughter, running up and down the mountain every day. However, Balin still said, "What's the problem with that? You're a lord now, and as a lord, you definitely need to have a proper ceremony. Servants, attendants, and guards—none of these can be lacking, not to mention there will be visiting guests. You'll definitely have use for it all in the future." Hearing this, Kael was somewhat tempted. Not for the ceremony, but because the castle needed people to clean it, the gardens needed tending, and the eaglet Thorondor, dragon Smaug, basilisk Herpo, and even the giant spiders needed feeding. Kael couldn't handle all these tasks alone, even with magic. Most of his time in the future would be spent on meditation, studying magic, researching alchemy, and such. He simply didn't have much energy to handle miscellaneous affairs. "Oh right, the castle's underground passage is almost finished too. Do you have time to take a look?" Balin added. Kael came back to his senses, and hearing this, his eyes immediately lit up with interest. "The underground passage is finished? Let's go look now!" Then Balin led the way, and the two came to the side of the castle's entrance hall, following a downward staircase to the basement. The basement also had a back door. Opening it, a cold wind rushed in. Behind the door was a bottomless cavern with a narrow, steep stone stairway extending downward along the cavern wall. Seeing Kael's surprised expression, Balin proudly introduced, "We've already dug the passage to the very bottom of the mountain. You could say that except for the main castle structure on the peak, all of Weathertop can actually be considered part of the castle. If anything happens to the castle above, you can use this underground passage to reach the foot of the mountain." Then the two walked down the steep stone steps. Kael released a bright orb of light to prevent them from falling directly off the steps. Going deeper and deeper, the two finally reached the bottom of the passage. A concealed small stone door appeared before them. "This is the back exit. The stone door is controlled by mechanisms. Whether going out or coming in, you can't push it open with brute force. You need a special key to open it." Balin introduced to Kael, taking out a golden key and handing it to him. Kael raised an eyebrow. This stone door looked very similar to the Lonely Mountain's back door. Then, under Balin's guidance, he inserted the key into a keyhole in the mountain wall that was hard to notice. As the key turned, a dull sound of gears and machinery came, and the small stone door slowly opened inward. Light from outside came in, revealing an exit leading outside. Kael was the first to bend down and walk through the small door to the outside. Balin followed closely behind. Outside the small stone door was still within the mountain, but it was a spacious natural cave with a river flowing toward the cave exit below. "This connects to the swamp outside. Later we can dig out the swamp to form a large lake, then keep a few small boats here as backup. In the future, it won't just be a natural barrier but also a crucial escape route," Balin said. Kael nodded with approval. Though he probably wouldn't need this passage, it was better to be prepared. Then he inquired, "How long would it take to dig out the swamp?" Speaking of this, Balin immediately smiled widely. "I think with Smaug's help, we could completely dig out the swamp in less than half a month." After all this time, the dwarves had also learned the reason why Smaug was so enthusiastic about helping build the castle. To prevent more treasure from flowing out of the cellar, Smaug had contributed the most to the castle construction. The stone, timber, and metal materials needed for the castle were almost all transported by him alone from distant places. The dwarves only knew of dragons' greed for treasure but didn't expect them to be so miserly. He was so miserly, in fact, that he'd rather come out to work than spend an extra gold coin. For this, Balin joked with Kael that he had gained a very dedicated accountant and would never have to worry about running out of money. Hearing Balin's words, Kael also laughed and nodded, saying, "That's indeed good news. I'll go tell Smaug in a bit. I think he should be willing to help." After all, Smaug couldn't wait to get rid of these dwarves quickly so he wouldn't have to watch them drink barrels and barrels of alcohol daily, causing him unbearable heartache. Because the money for all this alcohol came from the gold coins flowing out of the treasure he was guarding. Half a month later, a huge crescent-shaped lake appeared at the foot of Weathertop. The lake water half-surrounded the entire mountain peak, combining with the cliffs and precipices on the east and north sides to form natural barriers preventing enemy forces from approaching from all directions. Hogsmeade Village faced Weathertop across the lake. The only road to Weathertop had also become an arched stone bridge spanning the lake surface. After crossing the stone bridge was a broad road leading straight up to the castle gates. Thus, the castle that Kael named Hogwarts was finally completed.