His office was on the second floor; opening the window granted him a view of the distant Forbidden Forest and Hagrid's hut.
As for his Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, it was located right next door to his office.
Strictly speaking, it was a pretty good job.
At least his workplace was just a few steps away from where he lived.
Victor prepared lunch for Lucky and then sat back down at his desk.
A gentle breeze drifted in through the window, carrying a touch of autumn's chill along with the fragrant scent of herbs and wood from the Forbidden Forest...
Victor pulled a ring from his pocket—the one Grindelwald had given him.
The arrangements regarding Voldemort were basically complete for now; the next step was to figure out exactly what Grindelwald was up to.
'I still have to unlock the secret of this ring...' Victor frowned as he looked at the item in front of him.
The ring seemed to contain some kind of magic within it, but its material was mithril, which provided excellent protection for the magic inside.
This prevented Victor from clearly seeing the runic sequences, making it naturally impossible to determine what kind of magic the ring carried.
To see the magic within, he would have to destroy the outer layer of the ring, but that was clearly not the way Victor wanted to solve the puzzle.
It likely wasn't the way Grindelwald wanted him to do it, either.
'How am I supposed to unlock the magic on this?' Victor thought, feeling a bit troubled.
He was half-inclined to ignore Grindelwald's intentions and simply disassemble it by force.
However, he then remembered Dumbledore saying that this might be something Grindelwald had seen in a prophecy.
Victor didn't dare underestimate any prophecy. After all, he had seen with his own eyes just how miserable the Dark Lord had become because of one.
In fact, when Victor told Dumbledore that he had been to Aberforth's bar, he wasn't lying.
Back then, he had been sent to Dumbledore's side by Voldemort, successfully 'infiltrating' the Order of the Phoenix and 'earning' Dumbledore's trust quite well.
He just happened to be at the Hog's Head when Dumbledore was interviewing Professor Trelawney!
Of course, Snape was also there at the time. The difference was that Victor had been invited by Aberforth and was sitting in Aberforth's private room at the back of the pub, while Snape was eavesdropping and had been thrown out by Aberforth after hearing only half of the prophecy...
At that time, Snape was still a hardcore Death Eater. Victor had later spent a great deal of effort trying to gloss over the matter of the prophecy.
Naturally, that was also the start of the 'grudge' between him and Snape.
When Victor was doing everything in his power to stop Snape from telling Voldemort about the prophecy, he had steered the conversation toward Lily, hinting that Lily's child also fit the description in the prophecy. He had hoped that Snape, knowing this, would give up on reporting the news...
After all, the half of the prophecy Snape heard was: 'born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal.'
And Lily's child, Harry Potter, just happened to be born at the end of the seventh month.
However, Snape had been too sensitive at the time. He felt that Victor was only using the matter of Lily to sting him and prevent him from reporting vital information first, all so Victor could steal the credit.
In the end, Snape—who was a half-blood wizard and desperate to integrate into the Death Eater circle—still informed Voldemort of those partial lines.
By the time Snape discovered that Voldemort had truly targeted Lily's child, it was far too late for regrets...
And then, for some inexplicable reason, Snape began to find Victor unpleasant in every possible way.
Victor felt this was likely because Snape was so consumed by remorse that he desperately needed an 'enemy' to shift the blame onto, allowing him to vent his emotions.
In truth, if Victor hadn't tried to dissuade him, Snape might not have been quite so devastated or broken.
But because Victor had warned him and he had chosen not to listen, the weight of Snape's remorse was magnified a hundredfold...
Understanding Snape's mindset and knowing the man had already defected to Dumbledore's side, Victor simply let him be.
Otherwise, given Victor's methods at the time, Snape—who was constantly tripping him up—would hardly have survived until now!
In Victor's eyes, the Snape of that era was indeed both pitiful and loathsome...
...
Victor eventually gave up on the idea of forcibly dismantling the ring.
'Maybe... there's another way?' Victor muttered to himself, habitually sliding the ring onto his right index finger.
However, as soon as the ring was put on, a flash of bright light flickered across the runes on its surface!
Victor's eyes caught the glimmer, but the light vanished in an instant. He didn't even have time to clearly see the runic sequence it emitted!
Victor took the ring off, feeling puzzled. He could sense that some kind of magic within the ring had been activated.
But... what magic was it exactly?
'Tsk... I really am stupid! I know the greatest alchemist in the world, yet I'm sitting here trying to figure this out by myself for ages!' Victor slapped his forehead, preparing to write a letter to Nicolas Flamel.
But just as he reached for a piece of parchment, he stopped again.
'Wait! What if Grindelwald's actual target is Nicolas Flamel? The ring's magic is already activated; who knows what it does? If it's some kind of tracking spell, wouldn't Nicolas Flamel's location be exposed?'
Victor tossed the parchment aside and went back to contemplating the ring.
Nowadays, Victor found Dumbledore increasingly terrifying.
His plans were always masterfully woven, always anticipating every move... and how could Grindelwald, who had stood against Dumbledore for so long, be any less formidable?
Before he understood Grindelwald's ultimate goal, Victor wouldn't easily involve innocent people.
With that thought, Victor used Transfiguration to turn the parchment into a small wooden box and placed the ring inside.
He raised his wand, and a string of Ancient Rune letters emerged from the tip, restructuring themselves in mid-air into complex and profound runic sequences.
Before long, dense runic sequences covered the entire surface of the wooden box...
Having sealed the ring, Victor went to see Dumbledore once more.
However, although Dumbledore also perceived that the magic inside the ring had begun to operate, he too was unable to identify exactly what it was...
Returning empty-handed, Victor sat in his chair, feeling helpless.
He pondered for a long time until two figures suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Perhaps those two could see something. After all, those two had lived for a very, very long time...
And since the ring would always be on his person, it wouldn't easily bring trouble to them.
Thinking of this, Victor stood up, carrying the sealed ring.
"Lucky, watch the house. I'll take you for a run in the Forbidden Forest when I get back," Victor said as he headed for the door.
Lucky didn't seem to understand, but he gave a few cheerful barks nonetheless.
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