Evening...
Kasen finally raised his head and forcefully straightened his back, producing a series of loud cracks.
"You're finally alive again," Dumbledore, who was sitting opposite him, said faintly.
Kasen looked at him with eyes that had become somewhat vacant after spending so long studying the pocket watch, calculating formulas, and thinking.
"How long?"
"About three or four hours." As Dumbledore spoke, he waved his wand, and a steaming dinner appeared in front of Kasen.
"Thanks. Stay here a little longer. I have something important to ask you once I'm finished."
Kasen immediately picked up his cutlery and began eating.
"Mm-hm... as long as it's something I know," Dumbledore said with a nod.
Before long, Kasen had devoured the entire meal. He raised his head and asked, "That pocket watch really was given to you by your friend? I'm becoming increasingly convinced that what you told me before had undergone some artistic embellishment. It wasn't entirely false, but it definitely wasn't the whole truth either."
"You know the person who gave me that pocket watch. I only remember that one day, when I stepped out of the Headmaster's office, I suddenly felt as though I had passed through a membrane of light or water."
The moment Dumbledore said this, Kasen understood.
"So you met him?"
"That's right... It should have been... a future version of you. He did not tell me much at the time, but that was the meaning he intended to convey," Dumbledore said with a nod. "He told me a few things and gave me a pocket watch. Unfortunately, it was already broken at the time. Still, I must say, with your intelligence, you repaired it rather well."
Kasen finally understood.
Clearly, travelling ten years through time was an extremely demanding feat even for the Watch of Flowing Time. So demanding that after returning from ten years in the future to this point in time, the watch had broken immediately.
Although calling it broken was not entirely accurate.
Perhaps it had been sealed.
The future Watch of Flowing Time had suffered some damage from travelling across ten years. The moment the laws of the world detected that flaw, they pounced like sharks smelling blood, using every possible method and occult power to completely damage and seal the watch.
The entire world had only detected a weakness in the watch for that single instant. If it had failed to seize the opportunity, the Watch of Flowing Time might have toyed with the world from its beginning until its final destruction.
Naturally, the world could never allow that.
This was also why the Watch of Flowing Time brought back by Civil Official Kasen existed as an occult object rather than an ordinary artefact.
"It seems you've thought about quite a lot," Dumbledore said faintly.
"Quite a lot."
Kasen lowered his gaze to the pocket watch.
Besides researching it throughout the day, he had divided the watch into separate sections.
The large dial was the time-management section, which could observe and control time.
The smaller dial was the time-storage section. Fifteen minutes of stored time could control fifteen minutes of time.
Unfortunately, the storage section currently contained only that tiny amount, roughly three seconds.
However, Kasen had already formed a few ideas.
If the Watch of Flowing Time now occupied the position of an occult object, then using other occult objects associated with the concept of time should further complete it, make it more powerful, and increase the maximum capacity of its time-storage section.
"Honestly, I thought I could use this thing to return to the past and witness exactly which Horcruxes Voldemort created."
Kasen attached a mithril chain to the pocket watch and hung it around his neck.
"We can still accomplish that without relying on the power of time. I found some clues through Horace's memory, such as... exactly how many Horcruxes Tom has."
"In the memory, Tom told Horace that he believed seven was a magical number. Of course, that was only true for him. Every wizard has a number they feel particularly drawn to. For example, I rather like eleven... Well, actually, I like them all."
Dumbledore had only made it halfway through the serious matter before he began rambling off-topic.
"You were just talking about Voldemort and the number seven," Kasen reminded him through gritted teeth.
"Oh, right, right. Therefore, I believe that if Voldemort created Horcruxes, he would have chosen to make six of them. Together with the soul remaining in his own body, that would make exactly seven parts. That is what he meant by dividing his soul into seven pieces," Dumbledore explained.
"Why couldn't he have made seven Horcruxes directly? What if we missed one?" Kasen asked.
"In fact, there are seven. Don't forget Harry. He was the final Horcrux Tom created unintentionally," Dumbledore reminded him.
"I've never forgotten..." Kasen removed his monocle and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just hearing about it makes me tired."
"Because Harry makes you hesitant to act against Tom?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You're using that idiom incorrectly. I could cut Voldemort into thousands of pieces hundreds or thousands of times without causing Harry any actual harm, so there's no question of being afraid to act. It's simply frustrating. You can't exactly hit Harry with something lethal first just so you can kill Voldemort afterward," Kasen said with a scoff.
Dumbledore, however, responded with silence.
"If you truly intend to do that, I absolutely will not agree," Kasen said, curling his lip.
"I thought giving Harry the Totem of Undying meant you had tacitly accepted that approach," Dumbledore said helplessly.
"It was merely insurance. Of all the young wizards at Hogwarts, Harry is the most likely to be hunted by Voldemort," Kasen hurriedly explained.
He spoke as though, if he failed to clarify himself, that old bastard Dumbledore might genuinely cast Avada Kedavra on Harry to see whether killing Voldemort's soul fragment would still allow Harry to survive through the Totem of Undying.
According to Kasen's calculations and simulations, the chances of success were extremely high.
Even so, he had not yet become deranged enough to use Harry as an experiment, especially not one involving his life.
"Of course I know what kind of person you are."
Dumbledore slowly stood up, clearly preparing to leave. After all, it was already quite late.
"Wait," Kasen called out.
"What is it?" Dumbledore turned back and asked.
"Could you bring me an apple? A green one."
Kasen looked at the battle-damaged Watch of Flowing Time hanging around his neck, already impatient to see what it looked like in its complete form.
...
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