touchnovel Chapter 27 Factory Affairs Completed
Chapter 27 Factory Affairs Completed
"Proceed as planned. Go into the factory, appease the house-elves, and then go visit dear Mr. Malfoy."
Reggie offered a different perspective: "Malfoy Estate is over 300 kilometers to the southeast. You've just been through a fierce battle, and I don't think your physical condition allows you to go through another one."
Lynch looked at Reggie: "First of all, there is no second battle waiting for me. Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater. I saw him with Voldemort in Glencoe Valley. He will not ambush me, even if it is someone who cannot distinguish between the real and the fake."
Secondly, what just happened... wasn't a fierce battle.
Reggie paused for a moment before continuing, "If you were standing here in person, I wouldn't doubt the truth of your words in the slightest."
But what's standing here now is just a puppet you're controlling remotely.
Thirty-odd powerful wizards, not thirty-odd pigs that wouldn't fight back.
In fact, I was quite surprised that you took care of them without getting hurt.
I thought they could at least cause you some trouble.
But you have proven your strength once again.
To your enemies and allies.
But I'm not just anyone, Lynch. I've known you for over a decade. You don't need to pretend in front of me.
Lynch remained silent.
The crack running through the cane in his hand widened with a slight cracking sound.
He moved his fingers, dispelling the transformation spell cast on the cane.
The cane transformed back into a magic wand.
The magic wand silently disintegrated into a handful of dust the moment it returned to its original form.
Before the fragments could fall away, a ball of flame appeared out of nowhere and swallowed them all.
The flames turned into wisps of smoke and disappeared into the air.
Lynch pointed to the thirty-two wizards hanging in mid-air and said, "The mist has taken away their vision, the Silence Charm has taken away their sound, and the Confusion Charm has confused them."
They continued to intimidate them by tapping the ground with their canes.
Defeating them really didn't take much effort.
He then pointed to the wizard lying on the ground: "This one is a bit tricky. He's quite determined, and it took me quite a while to make the Confusion Charm work on him silently."
He looked at Reggie: "It's because of that potion."
While it successfully extended my magic to hundreds of kilometers away, it also made the magic more difficult to control.
Furthermore, I need to conserve enough strength to deal with the backlash from the poison.
Lin Qi held his finger out in front of him, and a tiny glow appeared at the tip of his finger.
He extinguished the tiny glow in his palm and said, "I still have the ability to cast a few small spells before reaching the final safety line."
Reggie paused for a moment, then pointed to the thirty-two wizards hanging in the air: "Why don't you put them down? Isn't it tiring to keep them hanging like that?"
“It’s really not difficult,” Lynch replied. “They are permanently imbued with a levitation spell that I use to float. It’s a skill I developed over a decade ago, since it’s exhausting to fight enemies while simultaneously manipulating corpses to levitate.”
"Okay." Reggie took out a pocket watch and checked the time.
He then pulled out a Stone Tower Merchant Guild badge with a clenched fist pointing to the sky.
He brought the badge to his mouth, said a few words to it, and then threw it at the middle-aged wizard lying on the ground.
Reggie explained, "The other side of this door key is Andrew and the others. I told them to keep a close eye on this future companion for a while."
"You don't believe me?" Even though the metal mask made his voice sound hollow, the flippant tone in his words still came through.
Reggie's voice was completely flat: "Just in case you don't win, I need a way to escape."
If there's one thing the past has taught me, it's to always be prepared for the worst.
I know you are powerful, but the world of magic is always full of surprises.
The once invincible Dark Lord, who could defeat you without a fight, also fell to a mere infant, didn't he?
"It's not a baby, it's Lily..." Lynch explained, "And I can still put up a fight... Okay, you're right, one heart, two plans, right?"
"What?"
"It's nothing," Lin Qi waved his hand.
At this moment, the middle-aged wizard on the ground twisted and shrank, rotating around the badge still on his body, and disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the badge behind.
Reggie walked over, picked up the badge from the ground, and put it on his chest.
He looked at Lynch.
Lin Qi then extended his right hand to him, with his five fingers spread and his palm facing up.
"I need to conserve my magic power, give me a badge."
Reggie pulled another badge from his pocket and threw it at Lynch.
He inserted the pin into his clothes at the front of his chest, and the badge was pinned to Lynch's left breast.
He started walking, with Reggie beside him.
Behind him, in mid-air, the thirty-two unconscious wizards maintained a constant distance, following Lynch's footsteps, their heads and limbs drooping limply from their bodies.
Lynch continued the conversation that had started earlier: "Going to Malfoy Manor is a must. We need the power of the pure-blood families, and the development of the Chamber of Commerce cannot be restricted."
"You know your situation better than I do. You already have a plan in mind. Tell me, what do you need me to do?"
A smile crept across his lips beneath the mask: "The Water of Life and Death, more of it, and then some more..."
The two walked towards the factory gate.
......
Inside the factory, inside the gate, Thomas led three team members to guard the area.
He had a full beard and was the captain of this guard team. He was sent by the Stone Tower Chamber of Commerce to be stationed inside the factory for long-term protection.
His usual calm and reliable demeanor earned him the unanimous trust of his team members.
So when the gray fog descends.
He instructed his team members to maintain formation and stand guard in pairs inside the factory wall.
Despite their anxiety, the team members obeyed his orders and carried out his instructions diligently. Even when they were suddenly plunged into a silent environment and panicked for a moment, they ultimately persevered.
He tried his best to keep his breathing steady, and his large beard provided perfect cover for him, so no one noticed the excited look on his face.
"He's back!"
"He's really back!"
The backbone who united them all, the man who had disappeared for almost ten years, he's back!
Thomas apologized for having once suspected Reggie of falsely issuing orders.
Reggie wasn't lying; the hangman had never gone far. He had been lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment.
Now that he's back, that means the plan is about to begin!
The metallic clanging sound that I had been hearing in my ears stopped.
Thomas was invigorated.
Footsteps could be heard outside the tightly closed door.
The guards looked at Thomas nervously.
Thomas gestured for them not to be nervous, then listened intently to the sounds outside.
A hoarse voice, devoid of any inflection, rang out: "Thomas, it's me. Open the door."
Thomas swallowed hard, excited at the prospect of meeting the man, but he suppressed his excitement and shouted, "Password!"
Just then, another hollow, distant voice, carrying a slight echo, reached his ears: "A wizard is a wizard!"
The password was correct, and the door was opened.
A much denser mist, thicker than inside the factory, flowed in.
Thomas looked outside.
Two figures stood in the mist.
He immediately spotted the figure wearing a bird-beak mask and a black trench coat.
The figure overlapped with the one who had saved him from the Death Eaters.
The only difference was that he had a badge on his chest with his fist pointing to the sky, the same badge as the one on his chest.
Thomas clenched his right fist and gently pressed it against the badge on his chest, bowing his head with deep respect.
His teammates, filled with awe, also lowered their heads in response.
But they looked down not only for that figure and that attire, but also for the dozens of wizards hanging in the air behind that figure, like tattered dolls!
With his gaze fixed on the bearded wizard standing at the front, and seeing his fist gently resting on the badge, Lin Qi realized that he was one of their own.
He raised his hand and pointed behind him, dispelling the levitation spell's following effect.
Lynch strode into the factory.
The gray mist surged and followed him like a living thing.
As Lynch walked past the bearded wizard, he reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
The force was light, but Thomas felt an undeniable power transmitted through his shoulder.
In the instant they brushed past each other, a voice gently slipped into Thomas's ears.
"You've worked hard, I'm back."
Thomas involuntarily turned his head, his gaze following his figure.
But a hoarse voice drew his attention back.
Reggie stood before him, his face obscured by his grey robes as always, with only his monotone voice emanating from beneath them.
"Thomas, call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Tell them we've apprehended a group of thugs who attempted to storm a factory and steal valuable magical artifacts. They've been captured and are tied up. Have them come and take them away."
Reggie relayed Lynch's words to Thomas.
Thomas did not reply.
Reggie looked up and saw his puzzled look.
A great deal of doubt appeared in his light brown eyes, the meaning of which was very clear and straightforward: He's not dead?
Reggie sighed silently to himself, and nodded very slightly under his gray robe. His voice remained flat, but the volume had decreased significantly.
He said to Thomas, "From now on, things will be different."
Then he resumed his normal volume: "Now, contact the Ministry of Magic."
Reggie's meaning was only vaguely understood, and Thomas's confusion deepened. However, this was not a situation where an explanation could be obtained immediately, so Thomas chose to follow the instructions.
He called to several team members, and together they went outside and pulled the more than thirty wizards that were floating in mid-air down from the sky.
Their wands floated around them and were then collected in unison.
He waved his wand and cast a binding spell, sending ropes shooting from the tip of the wand to bind the wizards tightly.
Although Thomas thought the ropes were completely unnecessary, because none of the thirty-odd wizards woke up during the process, he wouldn't have doubted their deaths if he hadn't checked them himself and found they were still breathing.
......
at the same time.
Inside the factory, a group of house-elves formed a semi-circle.
They surrounded Lynch, with a thin mist flowing beneath their feet.
Before the gray fog descended and Lin Qi appeared, they were all extremely excited, waving their hands and feet wildly.
But now, when Lynch was truly standing in front of them.
They quieted down instead.
They clenched their fists together in front of their chests, their tennis ball-sized eyes fixed intently on the figure wearing the bird-beak mask, tears welling up in their eyes.
Finally, a shrill voice, thick with sobs, burst from the corner: "The adults have come to see us! The adults haven't abandoned us!"
The sound was like a stone thrown into still water, instantly breaking the silence.
Immediately afterwards, a second, a third... a series of cries erupted.
Lynch did not speak up to stop the group of house-elves.
During the nearly ten years he was gone, it was only through the hard work of these house-elves that the factory was sustained, enabling the Stone Tower Merchant Guild to open up the market and develop to its current state with its flagship product, Wizard Battle Cards.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were the foundation of the Shita Chamber of Commerce.
The reason they worked so hard was to repay the debt of gratitude they owed them for saving their lives.
To repay this kindness, they suppressed their reluctance and worked day and night in the factory they didn't like.
House-elves are creatures that are typically bound to ancient wizarding families, serving their masters for generations and regarding the wizarding family as their own home.
Owning a house-elf is a very prestigious thing for a wizarding family, so very few house-elves end up living on the streets.
Even if a house-elves occasionally wander off, they are quickly taken in by wizards with ulterior motives and find a new home.
Therefore, before this, no house-elves had ever worked in a factory.
This is a feat that has never occurred in the wizarding world before.
These house-elves broke with the traditions of their own kind, so you can imagine the torment and anxiety they felt.
Because he was imprisoned at Hogwarts, he was unable to appear before them to calm them down.
No wonder the turmoil among house-elves was so intense some time ago after the pure-blood families produced the Ministry of Magic's contract transfer document, and Reggie was unable to calm them down.
Because deep down, they still yearn for a family-like work environment.
So at this moment, Lin Qi did not speak to stop him, nor did he make any gestures to comfort him.
He silently watched these house-elves, who had devoted themselves to him and the Stone Tower Merchant Guild, through the cold bird-beak mask.
I just watched them cry one by one, venting their inner emotions.
After a long time, Reggie's figure appeared silently on the outskirts.
He waved his right hand at Lin Qi, and a handbag was in his hand.
Lynch raised his hand, his index finger pointing steadily at a one-eyed house-elf: "Krag, you verify the token."