“I’ll talk, I’ll talk!”
The man swallowed hard:
“My name is John Thomas, and I live in Croft County.”
“Are all of you from Croft County?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you come here?”
“We are Squibs, not well-regarded—”
“But I know many Squibs, and they are all living well in the Muggle World now. None of them are like you, ragged and displaced.”
“How can that be the same?”
John suddenly became impassioned, his entire face turning an ugly purplish-blue:
“Those scoundrels, those degenerates, they clearly have noble blood flowing through them, yet they willingly debase themselves, associating with lowly Muggles…”
Seeing his three companions visibly show expressions of annoyance, Weilan, however, felt a subtle sense of unease from that statement.
Speaking of which… is there such a saying in the Wizarding World? Don’t those pureblood Wizards equally discriminate against Muggles and Squibs?
“Where did you hear that saying? Or rather, who was the first person to tell you that Squibs are nobler than Muggles?”
Weilan quickly asked John.
Upon hearing this question, John immediately lost his anger. He puffed out his chest proudly and said:
“It was the great Goblin King Gannag.”
“He bestowed upon us precious Goblin metal and told us the method to awaken our bloodline magic.”
“As long as we follow his guidance, we will soon obtain magic even more powerful than you Wizards!”
John became excited, attempting to break free from the magic’s restraint.
McCarthy had no choice but to cast several more Binding Spells on him.
“How did that ‘Gannag’ help you awaken magic?”
“Pah!”
John spat, which Weilan skillfully dodged:
“I won’t tell you! You must be afraid of us becoming more powerful than you…”
He hadn’t finished speaking when Hermione suddenly held a jar in front of him, interrupting him:
“Is it this thing? Did the Goblin King tell you that eating this thing can awaken magic?”
Inside the jar was a nauseating green paste.
Ron, standing nearby, told everyone what it was:
“I’ve seen something similar in Croft County called ‘Invigorating Pills.’ They are small pills made from devil’s powder, extremely harmful to the body, and hallucinogenic.”
“This stuff looks like ‘Invigorating Pills’ put in water and boiled over a fire…”
“Awaken magic? This stuff will only kill you! You must have eaten too much and are hallucinating about magic awakening, right?”
“That’s impossible!” John absolutely refused to accept this outcome. He swayed, trying to break free from the magic’s restraint.
But Weilan’s words shattered his last shred of fantasy:
“If you had truly awakened magic, why were you utterly defenseless against Mr. McCarthy’s attack?”
John stiffened his neck, looking like he was about to scream curses the next second.
But his mouth opened and closed, unable to utter a single word.
“So you were exploited by that Goblin!”
Although the truth was cruel, Weilan still had to tell John:
“Goblins are the most selfish and greedy race. How could that Goblin King give you precious Goblin metal for free? How could he tell you the method of magic awakening for free?”
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch. He’s doing this only to use you to achieve his own goals!”
“You thought this magic-awakening food was a gift from that Goblin to you.”
“But a week ago, Ron, who visited Croft County, can confirm that this stuff is already common in Croft County!”
As he spoke, Weilan looked at Ron, who nodded in affirmation.
“Many Wizards have been tormented by the addictive nature of these things. While it can enhance a Wizard’s magic, the harm to the body is catastrophic.”
“Let me ask you, after eating this green paste, did you feel your body improve?”
John slumped to the ground, shaking his head weakly in response to Weilan’s interrogation.
He looked at his trembling companions nearby.
“Many people’s bodies have developed various problems, so we had to send people to Fetterot to get them some Potions.”
“But many more people died. Gannag said it was because they couldn’t fully adapt to the magic within them…”
Weilan was not interested in Gannag’s process of deceiving them:
“Then why didn’t you go to Croft County and chose Fetterot instead?”
A shrill-voiced woman lying on the ground answered him shamefully:
“We are from Croft County. We know everyone there. How embarrassing that would be!”
“Then why did you only target Mr. Pippin’s delivery owl?”
“That profiteer, I know him.” Another man sitting on the ground said, “He is the most snobbish. I used to go to Hogsmeade with my father, and he drove me out of his shop with a broom!”
“He looks down on Squibs, looks down on half-bloods, looks down on Muggle-borns, and looks down on the poor. So few people near Hogsmeade patronize his shop.”
“To make money, this fellow can only expand his business. He allows Wizards many miles away to order Potions from him via owl, and then he delivers the goods to the customer via owl.”
“This snobbish bastard, his goods, even if they’re robbed, they’re robbed!”
McCarthy actually agreed with him with deep resonance:
“Pippin often approaches the Magical Enforcement Team because some Muggle-born or half-blood Wizards set foot in his shop, ordering us to imprison the Muggle-born Wizards.”
“If it weren’t for the significant impact of this robbery, Seven and I would never have bothered with him.”
Weilan patted his robe, stood up from the ground, and asked the final question:
“Given your addiction to this stuff, you probably won’t live much longer.”
“Tell us, where is your Goblin King Gannag?”
“We won’t!” John’s hazy eyes suddenly cleared, “If you don’t provide Potions to save us, we won’t tell you where he is!”
“Tsk, a tough nut to crack.” McCarthy instinctively turned to Weilan and asked, “What do you plan to do?”
McCarthy was surprised to find that he was certain this boy would have a way to solve the problem.
Weilan answered without hesitation:
“Two methods. One, the Great Memory Restoration Technique. Directly interrogate through physical torture, but it’s easy to cause fatalities.”
“As for the second… we just need to wait.”
Weilan confidently stood still, staring at the Squibs confined by the Binding Spell.
As time passed, many of them showed painful expressions on their faces, desperately craning their necks towards the green paste Hermione had poured on the ground, which had solidified into a block.
“Please, please…”
Muffled pleas came from deep within their throats.
McCarthy suddenly understood and, on Weilan’s behalf, pressed again:
“Where exactly is that Goblin King Gannag?”
He used a twig to pick up the green block on the ground and held it in front of the group, tempting them.
“I’ll tell, I’ll tell everything!”
A woman couldn’t hold back, giving in with tears and snot streaming down her face:
“He is imprisoned deep within the Goblin ruins.”
Not a very surprising answer.
However, Weilan and the others did not know the exact entrance to the Goblin ruins.
