Wade's eyes narrowed slightly.
The Magic Golem was shaped like a soldier, only two or three inches tall, wearing a gray-green military uniform. Its face was blurry, its legs thick, and its arms slender.
To a Wizard, the Magic Golem's crudeness would be laughable, but Wade's first thought upon seeing it was—
This image was specifically designed for a certain purpose.
He didn't voice his guess, just blinked, watching Marchioni continue the demonstration.
The Magic Golem soldier landed on the table and quickly scrambled up. Its thick legs ensured it stood firmly on the surface. Then, its head swiveled, finally "looking" at Wade.
Because its eyes were just two painted black dots, it couldn't move them as flexibly as other Magic Golems, but Wade distinctly felt as though it was "looking" at him.
"Idiot! Your master is over here."
Marchioni pinched the Magic Golem's head, turned it halfway around to face himself, then cleared his throat importantly and said, "Fetch me a glass of water."
Magic Golem: "..."
"I said—fetch. Me. A. Glass. Of. Water!" Marchioni enunciated slowly, word by word.
This time, the Magic Golem finally seemed to receive his command.
It spun around twice in place, then clanked and clattered towards the kettle.
*Bang!*
It kicked over the cup.
Then it grabbed the kettle's handle with both hands and dragged the kettle towards Marchioni.
*Thump!*
The kettle toppled onto the table, its lid fell off, and all the water spilled out.
Fortunately, the Wizards sitting around this table were all quite capable. They cleaned the water off the table with a single Spell.
The Magic Golem stubbornly continued dragging the kettle towards its master. Marchioni looked at the two of them and said, "See, it's just a little simpleton like this, which is why replicated Magic Golems are basically ignored..."
*Bang!*
The kettle nearly hit Marchioni's face. He dodged, but still got splashed with residual tea.
Two tea leaves were still clinging to his face.
Wade and Lupin had intended to remain polite, but they couldn't hold back and burst out laughing.
The Magic Golem, however, seemed to have completed its task, standing still and waiting for its next command.
Marchioni wiped the water from his face, took a deep breath, and tapped the dim-witted Magic Golem with his Wand.
Subsequently, the Magic Golem vanished from this world.
"—That's how it is!"
Marchioni stubbornly ignored their laughter, picking up the previous topic: "The flexibility of these replicas isn't even as good as the pieces in Wizard's Chess, so Magic Golems are currently our main business direction."
"But I heard the British Ministry of Magic is planning a big event, which Fudge claims is unprecedented... This is a great opportunity for our workshop, but if we only have one or two main products, it's too easy to fall behind..."
"I've actually been trying to get the Ministry of Magic to pass a law recently, prohibiting counterfeit and shoddy Book of Friends from entering Britain, but it hasn't been going well... If we miss this chance, who knows when another will come..."
Marchioni mumbled on, clearly bothered by this for more than a day or two.
"But now with the Communication Fava Bean, it's different—we'll definitely catch those guys off guard!"
"However, to prevent those unscrupulous merchants from replicating it, we might have to postpone sales by a year... at least half a year..."
"Actually..." Wade said, "There's a part in the Communication Fava Bean's design where a Disappearance Charm is added when it's sealed. If anyone tries to crack it, the Spell will activate."
"Disappearance Charm?" Marchioni's eyes lit up, and he quickly asked, "Can it be added? Will it conflict? Is there a chance of it being accidentally triggered?"
Wade simply took out the design blueprint and showed it to him.
He never worried about Marchioni leaking secrets. When it came to protecting intellectual property, the merchant was even more thorough than Wade could have imagined.
The Book of Friends had been on the market for almost two years, yet outsiders could still only infer its production method from the finished product, replicating some crude versions. Marchioni's protective efforts were evident.
Marchioni had once been Professor Murray's student as well. His Alchemy skills were no worse than those of an average Alchemist, so understanding the blueprint was no challenge for him.
After a while, Marchioni grinned. "Professor Murray helped you revise this?"
"Yes," Wade said.
The two exchanged a knowing glance.
"Then I need to speed up production," Marchioni said, putting away the blueprint and standing up. He smirked, "I can't wait to see those guys suffer."
"It's a chained Spell," Wade explained. "A regular counter-Spell will only make the Fava Bean itself disappear, but if they try to dispel the Disappearance Charm, that's when the counterattack will be triggered."
"I understand." Marchioni nodded and said, "Don't worry, I'll arrange everything... So, as for the contract, should Remus and I handle it?"
"Yes, of course," Wade said.
Signing a Magic contract was never as simple as just writing a name; there were many details to discuss. Over the years, Marchioni's Magic workshop had also become increasingly formalized, even adopting management methods from large Muggle corporations.
Wade had no patience for such things.
Fortunately, Lupin was diligent, meticulous, and extremely dedicated. Wade was completely at ease leaving the follow-up work to him.
Lupin saw Wade all the way out of the Hog's Head Inn before returning to his room upstairs.
Marchioni chuckled, "Remus, when you're with Wade, are you playing the 'mom' role?"
Lupin wasn't offended; he calmly explained, "The Hog's Head Inn has some dangerous patrons. I didn't want Wade to interact with them."
"I know, I wasn't mocking you... Actually, I think you did an excellent job."
Marchioni smiled, then grew serious. "Remus, since you're in Hogsmeade, you must protect Wade well—recently, several well-known Alchemists have gone missing from France, Germany, Italy..."
...
After leaving the Hog's Head Inn, Wade headed to the Three Broomsticks to find his friends.
As he got closer, he saw someone staggering toward him, looking dazed and unusually pale.
It was Carlyle.
He accidentally bumped into a girl, who shoved him away. Carlyle just sat on the ground, staring blankly, with no reaction.
The girl stomped off angrily. Wade watched for a moment, then sighed helplessly. He walked over, semi-crouched, and grabbed Carlyle's shoulders. "Hey, Carlyle, what's wrong?"
"Sea..." Carlyle mumbled.
"See?" Wade asked curiously. "What did you see?"
He looked around as he spoke.
Carlyle rubbed his face vigorously, then forced a smile. "The Halloween decorations in a shop just now were too scary... I suddenly saw them and got a fright."
"Really? I'll have to check it out later then."
Wade pulled him up with a tug. "But I remember you weren't such a scaredy-cat. You're a Gryffindor."
"Mainly because I've never seen these moving things in the Wizarding World before. After all, I'm just..."
A Vampire.
— Is that really true?
A huge doubt suddenly arose in Carlyle's mind, like a fog obscuring the truth from him.
— His whole family are Vampires, so why are all the delicious foods in his memories ordinary food, with no... no blood?
Is it because they all abide by the law?
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