The Shopkeeper of All Worlds in the British Wizarding World

Chapter 171 Past Events

Ryan looked up at the place where the sound came from, and was surprised to find that it was Fernando, the principal of Castrobruso Magic, who came hurriedly on a broom.

Seeing Principal Fernando flying into the yard, hurriedly saying hello to Ryan, and then immediately walking towards the shop owner, Ryan asked in surprise: "What about the misunderstanding you just mentioned about our own people? He brought me here and I was attacked by him directly. Now you say it's a misunderstanding. What's going on?"

At this time, Principal Fernando applied some herbs to the wound and used his magic wand to treat the wound. Ryan could feel the strong natural force released. Soon, the wound on the owner's waist slowly healed. Principal Fernando stood up and was about to answer this question, but the shop owner next to him stopped him and said, "Let me answer this question. My attack on you just now was a test. The wooden thorn was just an ordinary sleeping pill."

"Test?" Ryan suddenly remembered that the shopkeeper seemed to have given up several opportunities to attack. At that time, he thought that the shopkeeper was too old to keep up with the action, but this was a bit unreasonable for a warrior who had experienced many battles. But now this explanation made much more sense.

"Yes, it was a test. But I didn't expect you to react so strongly, with such a dangerous magic weapon in your hand. I have to admit that I am old and careless." The shopkeeper said weakly. "But I just want to know one thing, your reaction is completely beyond the normal range. Can you tell me why?"

"Well, because I saw the symbol of the saint on your notebook, I suspected that you wanted to kill me and silence me." Ryan answered helplessly.

"Ah, not many young people know about saints nowadays. Yes, I was a saint when I was young. But you seem to have misunderstood one thing. Saints don't need to hide themselves, at least not in this place."

"What? The information I looked up showed that after Grindelwald's defeat, the saints also disappeared, so I always thought they changed their identities because they were being hunted." Ryan said in surprise.

By this time, the old shop owner had almost recovered. He helped Principal Fernando to stand up slowly, then tried to straighten his chest, lowered his head and looked at Ryan and said, "Before I answer your question, can you tell me what kind of person you think Grindelwald is?"

"Grindelwald?" Ryan thought the shopkeeper's question might be very important, so he went through all the information about Grindelwald in his two lifetimes. Then he said, "I think Grindelwald's starting point is correct. When the development of the wizarding world cannot keep up with the development of the Muggle world, if we do nothing, we will just sit there and wait for death."

"From a historical perspective, after the outbreak of the First Industrial Revolution, the world of ordinary people entered a period of rapid development. This development achieved far more achievements than the previous dozens of centuries in just a hundred years. Grindelwald was born in that era and clearly saw all of this. In this context, I believe that his original intention was not for personal gain, but for the future of the entire wizarding world."

"In addition, the overly strict international Statute of Secrecy at the time made many wizards very dissatisfied. When Grindelwald first announced that he would break the shackles of the Statute of Secrecy, he gained the support of a group of wizards."

"But I think the solution he chose to solve the problem was wrong from the beginning. He thought that by provoking an all-out war between wizards and Muggles, he could gain the upper hand when Muggles were not fully developed, use the war to hinder the development of the Muggle world, and finally let wizards come out to rule the Muggles to solve the problem once and for all. To put it bluntly, when the opponent was developing rapidly, he did not choose to develop with it, but chose to kill all possibilities of development." "In the actions to achieve this goal, he was full of quick success and quick profit: he fanned the flames everywhere to induce war, killed wizards who did not support him, and tried to cause a massacre in Paris. This situation naturally triggered the resistance of wizards. When the world war broke out in the Muggle world, the wizarding world was also in a world war."

"Fortunately, Dumbledore stopped Grindelwald in the end, so that the wizards did not die out due to internal war before the Muggles discovered them." After synthesizing a lot of information he had read in his previous life, Ryan expressed his views on Grindelwald in front of the former saint. However, when he saw that the shopkeeper's face was a little ugly, Ryan added:

"But I think what Grindelwald did was not entirely useless. After all, it was because of Grindelwald's actions that forced the wizarding world to amend the Statute of Secrecy and abolish those harsh regulations. That's why today's wizarding world can absorb new blood and bring new vitality to the wizarding world."

"I'm surprised that you know so much about Grindelwald. I couldn't ask for better, especially for your age. But I have some things here that you don't know. Do you want to listen to an old man's chatter?" said the shopkeeper after listening to Ryan's summary.

Ryan nodded excitedly. After all, he didn't have many opportunities to learn the secrets of the magic world. Seeing Ryan's excitement, the shop owner cleared his throat and said, "I'm Frank Skorzeny, a second-generation Saint. My father was one of the first wizards to follow Grindelwald, and later became the commander of one of the Saints' elite action teams. Even when I was born in 1925, it was Grindelwald who baptized me."

"When Grindelwald tried to destroy Paris in 26, my father was there. He clearly saw Grindelwald predicting World War II for them, and because of the conflict with the Aurors, it entered a stage of open violent conflict."

"But as you just said, Grindelwald's policies aroused strong resistance. When I joined the Saints in 1942, just after I came of age, we had already fallen into a complete decline. Tobruk, Volgograd, Kursk, Palermo, Rome, Cherbourg, Paris, Bastogne. I experienced every major battle of the Saints in the later period, but our numbers were decreasing and our opponents were increasing. The initial excitement and excitement also turned into deep fatigue and helplessness."

"Most importantly, our leader Grindelwald also discovered the biggest loophole in his plan. The Muggles not only did not stop their development in this total war, but accelerated their development. And his war in the wizarding world further weakened the power of wizards as a whole. According to my father's memory, Grindelwald was no longer the passionate leader since 44. He just did some things as a routine."

"He chose to duel with Dumbledore in 45 because at that time he had discovered that his dream would never come true, so he hoped to stop the continued bleeding of wizards through the duel. At the same time, he also found a way out for the remaining loyal saints."

"After the duel, Grindelwald chose to isolate himself in Nurmengard. Most of the saints were pardoned, and many joined the Ministries of Magic in Europe and America after the war. My father and I, as well as some saints who killed too many people in the war, chose to go into exile overseas and vowed never to return home."

At this point the shopkeeper glanced at Ryan and continued, "Don't look at me like that. I swear we only kill in battle and have never had any record of attacking non-combatants. Otherwise, the Ministries of Magic of various countries would not have let us off after the war. But our test of you this time does have something to do with those former saints."

(End of this chapter)