Chapter 3631

The autumn in Massachusetts is clear and crisp, with the colorful autumn scenery unique to cities in the northeastern United States. Large areas of beech, maple, and oak trees make the distant mountains look like they are dyed in layers. Dotted with enthusiastic red among the golden yellow, quiet green and dark gray flow together.

A Bentley drove to the entrance of the Greylock Nature Reserve. Strange and Shiler, both in suits, walked down from both sides of the car. Shiler took a deep breath of the fresh air in the mountains, rolled up his sleeves with his hands, and stomped his feet.

"Let's go," Strange pointed in a direction. The two walked towards the inside of the reserve.

"We bought a piece of land on the east side of the Greylock Nature Reserve that was originally intended for the establishment of a respiratory health research center, about 4,000 acres..."

"Is it that big?" Shiler asked with some surprise. He converted it in his mind, it was about 16 square kilometers. Then he asked with some confusion, "What were they originally going to build here?"

"A research center aimed at improving human respiratory health."

"Does researching human respiratory health require such a large place?"

"You really asked the right person," Strange turned back to Shiler and said, "The last time I came into contact with internal medicine knowledge of the respiratory system was in undergraduate school."

Shiler sighed and said: "This just shows that you must have excellent surgical skills."

Then he asked: "Then why didn't they build it?"

"I heard it seems to be because it is too close to the nature reserve, thus violating certain clauses in an environmental protection act."

"Then it definitely wasn't that reason," Shiler shook his head and said, "I guess it might be a big shot who was counting on recuperating here who unfortunately kicked the bucket early. Have they started construction yet?"

"Not yet," Strange said, "If they had already laid the foundation, I wouldn't have bought this land. We are not here to study the human respiratory system. A castle is a completely different thing."

"This place is indeed beneficial to the human respiratory system," Shiler nodded and said, "The oxygen content should be quite high. I feel that breathing is very easy and my spirit is very uplifted."

"Exactly. I require magicians to stay in places with better natural environments as much as possible. It's not just for them to enjoy the natural scenery, but high oxygen content helps them continue negotiations with demons and avoid talking themselves into hypoxia."

"And then you built your headquarters in the place with the thinnest air under the atmosphere?"

"This can reflect the power of the mages of Kamar-Taj. We can even talk to the demon gods for three hours at an altitude of 4,000 meters, and even they have to be convinced by our willpower."

"Alright, you are right," Shiler could only nod and say.

The two walked to the reception of the reserve. A man with a bald head and a small mustache received them.

"Havli Monte, the person in charge of the Greylock Mountain Nature Reserve, and also an environmental protection consultant responsible for the Berkshire area. If you have any questions in this regard, you can come to me."

Shiler stepped forward and shook hands with him. Strange followed closely behind. Shiler stood in the center of the lobby of the reception, with his hands folded in front of him and said: "Someone should have greeted you before we came. This is a big project. We must confirm all processes before construction, especially environmental protection issues. We don't want to bring any pollution that may cause damage to natural resources to the nature reserve, so we need to know what construction methods are acceptable."

"Thank you for coming," Monte said, "We are actually a small place here, and the only thing worth praising is the natural environment. So the local residents attach great importance to this."

"Yes, we have this concern," Strange said, "I heard that you had 13 protests in one month, just because the construction of a country road used too much mud and sand."

"In fact, this only works for some township-level projects. And you two—I know, you might be big shots from New York or Washington. The project you are going to build here is not something we hillbillies can stop."

"Don't complain, Mr. Monte. We came here in advance just to know how to build what we need without destroying the natural environment. If we didn't value environmental protection, we wouldn't have come to you."

Monte did not show resentment, he just said helplessly: "I am not that kind of extreme environmentalist, but I must tell you that as long as what you want to build is a modern building, it will definitely cause certain damage to the local environment. This is completely unavoidable."

"Are you sure you know what kind of building we are going to build?" Strange asked.

"I heard it seems to be a school? Is it a community college?"

"Far from it," Strange said helplessly, "It's a magic school."

Monte was stunned and said: "What?"

"A magic school. It will recruit students from different countries and regions, and even different universes. They study magic here and contribute to safeguarding the security of human civilization and protecting the Earth."

"My god," Monte exclaimed, "You mean the news about magic reported on TV is true?"

"It has always been true," Strange said.

"Does the church agree?" Monte asked again.

"We are not a cult," Strange shook his head helplessly and said, "If it weren't for the junior senator from Massachusetts revealing his intention to exercise a veto on the establishment of a magic academy at this week's Senate meeting, we wouldn't have come here to inspect it ourselves."

"Sounds like you are indeed big shots."

"Let's put it this way, my status in the magic world is equivalent to the Pope," Strange searched his brain to convert the professional terms in his mind into vocabulary that ordinary people can understand, "What we are going to establish now is equivalent to the Vatican Theological Seminary."

"Are you really not a cult?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why doesn't the senator let you build a school?"

"We want to know that too," Shiler said, "He means there will be problems with environmental protection, so we came here and came to you, wanting to know what problems there will be with environmental protection."

"Still the same sentence, it depends on what you want to build here. But no matter what you build, there will be environmental protection problems, it's just a matter of size," Monte led them to the backyard and said, "If someone grabs onto it and doesn't let go, then even the smallest problem is a big problem. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course. But we will never allow certain people to make a fuss about nothing to interfere with our plans. If the environmental protection problem he mentioned is that we destroyed a blade of grass here, this absurd statement will not be accepted."

"How do you guarantee it?"

"Then let me make it clearer. Our people have the ability to ensure that if he tries to find an absurd reason for his veto, he will be kicked out of the Senate in the second year of his term."

They stopped at the porch leading to the backyard, Monte folded his arms in front of his chest, spread his legs and said: "If you have such ability, then there is no need to come to me."

Shiler sighed, he stretched out a hand and said: "Listen, we came to you regardless of any political game. It's just that he, as a resident of Massachusetts, said there might be environmental protection problems, so we wanted to see if it would really happen. We don't want to harm the natural environment. Understand?"

"Oh," Monte suddenly realized and said, "So you are the kind of people who really care about environmental protection."

"Exactly!" the two said in unison.

"My point remains the same, no matter what you want to build here, it will definitely affect the natural environment. But this impact can be large or small, and it is also divided into acceptable and unacceptable. If it is a chemical plant or something, of course, it is difficult for local residents to accept. But if it is a school, it will be better."

They continued to walk forward. Monte looked out the window while walking, and then said: "The piece of land you selected has more than 1,000 acres of forest resources, and a small lake with an area of about 200 acres, which is connected to the water system in Canada. These two are obviously the top priority."

They walked into the elevator, and after leaving the elevator, they came to a circular viewing hall at the corner of the building. Monte stood in front of the window and pointed out the window and said: "You can see a corner of Greylock Mountain from here. Looks pretty good, right? Your land is over there. See that beautiful forest? That belongs to you."

"I believe you shouldn't need a 4,000-acre school. Then don't move the forest and the lake. There is a small hill to the south of this land, where you can also see a corner of Greylock Mountain. I think you can build the building there as a hillside building complex. Of course, this depends on your architectural style. If it is too modern, local residents may complain that you destroy the scenery of Greylock Mountain."

"We are going to build a castle," Strange said.

"Sorry, what?"

"A castle," Strange waved his hand, and a drawing appeared in his hand, but it was not a professional architectural drawing, just a painting with a castle on it.

Shiler had seen this drawing before. The castle in the picture was a Gothic castle just like Hogwarts, but there were no other similarities. The castle in the drawing was more symmetrical, used purple spires that were more in line with mysticism, and had more Gothic decorations than Hogwarts, as well as many narrow but gorgeous colored windows, less simple, but more gorgeous.

One look and you knew this was not Strange's aesthetic. Strange didn't like things that were too complicated, but in order to conform to the public's stereotypes and to give those students from other universes a stunning first impression, he still chose this one among many drawings.

"God," Monte exclaimed. He was even looking at Strange with the eyes of a mental patient. He pointed to the drawing and said: "You mean you plan to build a Corwin Castle here?"

"Much bigger than that," Strange nodded and said, "And I am sure that Dracula will not be locked up here."

(End of chapter)