HP: Alchemy? Nah, It's Crafting

Chapter 397 - 397: 397: Polo

"Want to try some?"Kasenhis tore a drumstick off each of the two chickens and handed them to Lupin.

Lupin devoured both in a few bites and let out a burp.

"How do they taste?" Kasenhis asked.

Lupin smacked his glossy, grease-covered lips.

"How should I put it.... I couldn't really taste anything."

Kasenhis sighed helplessly and handed both chickens to Lupin. After all, Lupin was young and had a healthy appetite, so he could eat them sooner or later.

"But it really is strange. Why does an ordinary chicken become cooked just because you roast it like that or dip it in lava for a bit? And why does it become square? And gain flavor?"

"I've thought about it endlessly and still can't figure it out."

Lupin quickly finished both chickens and said somewhat dazedly.

"Don't worry about it.... the code is written that way."

Kasenhis shrugged.

"What? What code?"

Lupin asked in confusion.

"Nothing. Let's head upstairs. It's freezing down here."

After returning to the first floor, the two of them immediately headed for a pair of small sofas bathed in sunlight like cold-blooded creatures, quietly waiting for the sun to warm their corpses... bodies back up.

"You two!"

Sirius suddenly appeared behind them and patted them on the shoulders.

"What is it?"

Kasenhis turned around and glanced at him.

"I was just curious how the two of you suddenly turned into a pair of old men who like sunbathing, just like Dumbledore."

"We just came up from the cellar. Honestly, Black Manor is much colder in summer than it is in winter."

Lupin flipped over the hand resting on the armrest so the sun could warm the other side.

"It's a shame this place is so small and cluttered. If it were as large as your office, Kasenhis, we wouldn't be this bored. We could probably even play polo."

Sirius suddenly suggested.

"Polo...."

Kasenhis unconsciously tilted his chin upward.

"Polo is a sport, not a person's name."

Seeing Kasenhis's expression, Lupin instinctively felt the need to clarify.

Kasenhis shot Lupin a speechless look.

"I know. I just suddenly realized that if we're playing polo...."

A brownish-yellow pixelated egg suddenly appeared in his hand.

"An egg that big? An ostrich egg? A dinosaur egg? Or some kind of dragon egg?"

Sirius asked in confusion.

"A horse egg."

Kasenhis explained.

"... With a mouth that foul, how are you ever going to kiss my arse?"

Sirius replied with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.

"I'm not insulting you. This is literally a horse egg."

Kasenhis nudged Sirius with his elbow, then handed him the horse egg.

"Smash it."

Sirius nodded and smashed it directly onto the floor.

The next moment, accompanied by a loud neigh, a blocky horse appeared in front of him.

".... What the hell kind of species is this?"

Sirius asked in bewilderment.

"A horse. Haven't you seen one before?"

Kasenhis raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of horse is shaped like a bloody rectangle?!"

Sirius shouted.

"Forget whether it's square or not. It's still a horse, right? And you can still ride it, right?"

As Sirius listened to Kasenhis's sweet-talking nonsense, he noticed more and more people looking in his direction.

In the end, he decided that a man could never admit he couldn't do something.

The next moment, he leapt up and swung himself onto the horse's back.

Before the horse even had a chance to throw him off, Sirius toppled over on his own.

"Ah! That hurts!"

After hitting the ground, Sirius immediately grabbed the insides of his thighs.

"This horse.... is so sharp!"

Kasenhis sighed helplessly.

"You have to tame the horse first."

"Tame it? Will it become softer afterward?"

Sirius asked hopefully.

"No. After taming it, you can put a saddle on it, which will make riding it slightly more comfortable."

Kasenhis explained.

"Alright then. How do I tame it?"

Sirius climbed back to his feet and asked.

Kasenhis first looked around for a while before quickly spotting a large ceramic basin.

He filled it with pixelated apples and handed it to Sirius.

"Just feed it these apples. Once you feed it enough to produce hearts, you've successfully tamed it."

Kasenhis explained.

"Produce hearts? Is that actually a thing?"

Sirius asked, thoroughly confused.

"All I can say is that the hearts are very obvious."

Kasenhis replied succinctly.

Sirius picked up the basin of apples and began feeding them to the horse one by one.

Meanwhile, he stared fixedly into the horse's eyes, waiting for the moment they started sparkling.

However, the horse's eyes didn't change at all.

Instead, everyone else let out a startled cry.

Sirius instinctively looked up and nearly jumped out of his skin.

Above the horse's head floated several bright red hearts that hadn't yet faded away. They drifted upward one after another before finally bursting with a soft pop.

"Holy crap? When you said hearts, you weren't using a metaphor. You meant actual hearts!"

Sirius looked at the horse, then at Kasenhis, his face full of disbelief.

"Quite obviously."

Kasenhis nodded before turning toward everyone else.

"So, who else wants to play polo?"

The answer was heartwarmingly enthusiastic.

After all, most of the people in the house at the moment were Gryffindors.

And Gryffindors' spirit of adventure...

Well, everyone knows how that goes.

Very quickly, Kasenhis handed each of them a horse egg and a basket of apples, letting them spawn and tame their own horses.

Once everyone had finished taming their mounts, he distributed a square-shaped saddle to each person.

Although sitting on them was still just as uncomfortable as ever, given the circumstances, what more could they ask for?

As long as they could sit on it, that was good enough.

Lupin then ran down to the cellar and returned with a large bundle of polo mallets.

Although the first floor of Black Manor wasn't exactly small, having so many people play a game there, especially polo, was pushing things a bit.

"I think it'll be fine. Look at these horses. No matter how fast they can run, how fast could they possibly be?"

Sirius said with a grin, patting the horse's square neck.

Seeing this, Kasenhis nodded deeply in agreement.

Then he quietly moved behind the horse and pulled out a Splash Potion of Speed, smashing it against the horse's backside and granting the poor creature a ridiculously overpowered buff.

Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh...

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