My Hogwarts has a serious problem.

Chapter 184, Section 181: Oppression and the Oppressed

Without a Minister of Magic, the Ministry of Magic could not be declared to the world. As a result, the Ministry of Magic of Lan could not be established, and the magical governments that other minority wizards were preparing to establish were waiting in vain.

Therefore, Yelena's fate was intertwined with that of more than three countries, and Yelena's fate was in Lynn's hands.

Ivanov was indeed getting anxious.

The mole lurking in the Kingdom of Lan has received information that the Chur tribe is now divided. Some members demand that the rescue of Yelena continue, wait for her return, and then declare independence. Others propose to declare independence first, establish a basic government framework, and leave the position of Minister of Magic vacant for the time being, depending on whether Yelena can eventually leave the Kingdom of Goose.

Those who proposed the second plan actually had no ulterior motives. The Chur people had been oppressed for so many years, and now it was finally time for them to resist. Basically, all the reactionaries and saboteurs had been purged from within the country before the resolution to establish an independent state was put forward.

Although Yelena lacks political skills and is too kind-hearted, making her unsuitable as a politician, the newly established Ministry of Magic of Lan Kingdom needs not a politician, but a symbolic figure like her who can unite everyone's hearts.

They genuinely believed that the situation had reached a critical juncture, and if independence was not declared soon, the Soviet Commission was likely to take some negative actions.

The Soviet committee members were deeply uneasy upon receiving this news. Furthermore, they discovered signs of contact between members of the American Magic Congress and the Chur tribe. They ordered Ivanov to capture Yelena at all costs, regardless of his own safety.

They didn't capture her to prevent the Chur tribe from becoming independent, and they wouldn't do something so foolish just because Yelena was captured. The person isn't important; what's important is the information in her mind!

Whether dead or alive, magic will always extract things from people's minds.

As for Ivanov, whether out of his own conscience or orders from the committee, he was determined to capture Yelena.

"Do you know what you're doing right now?" Ivanov stared at Lynn with his frighteningly white eyes. "The magical world of the Soviet Union may be completely torn apart because of what you've done, and the country will perish as a result."

"Let's stick to the facts." Lynn met Ivanov's eyes without flinching. "If we set aside our personal grudges, I don't think the demise of this country is a bad thing."

"Did you believe what Yelena told you? Do you really think the Chur people are truly innocent and harmless? That they have always been the victims, and the Slo people have always been the oppressors?"

"Otherwise what?"

"If that's really the case, then where did the Obscurus within me come from?" Ivanov said this without a trace of sorrow, as if he were stating something completely unrelated to himself.

"I am a Slo, and so is my brother, but we were captured by the Chur sorcerers when we were young. My parents are not sorcerers; they live in the Muggle world. They are friendly and peaceful, but they were all captured and killed by those people just to vent their anger because my grandfather was a Slo sorcerer."

My brother and I were imprisoned by them and forced to live a life worse than that of pigs and dogs.

Later, we began to develop magical talents, but we dared not show them, because other children imprisoned like us would be killed if they displayed magical talents. We spent three years in that place in fear and despair.

Finally, my brother was driven almost insane by the torture. An Obscurus erupted within me, and in my unconscious state, I killed all the Chur people. The Magic Council discovered us, and we were finally rescued. My brother was sent to a sanatorium to recuperate, and the Obscurus within me was suppressed with a potion. As long as I don't let it awaken, I'll be safe for the rest of my life.

But later, Shayk reported my brother, saying that he had tortured and killed a Chur shaman, who was one of the shamans who killed our parents and tortured our group. He was released from prison early because his crime was relatively minor.

My brother was sentenced to life imprisonment in a Siberian witch prison for murder, where he later died.

Ivanov remained unmoved and asked Lynn.

"But did he really do anything wrong? He just wanted to take revenge himself. And what did we really do wrong? We were supposed to have a wonderful family, a happy childhood, and a fulfilling life. Everything was perfect, but because of those harmless Chur people you thought were human, I'm now all alone. Do you think I'm an oppressor? Was the Chur shaman my brother killed a victim?"

After he finished recounting his experience, there was a few minutes of silence, but Lynn remained unmoved.

"It's a tragic story, and I genuinely sympathize with your plight, but," he drew his wand, "what does that have to do with my reason for killing you?"

The two ethnic groups have reached a point where the rights and wrongs of each other are now a tangled mess, indistinguishable from one another. Perhaps there are scoundrels and scum among the Chur people who dare not resist the Slo people who hold high positions, but only dare to vent their hatred by retaliating against innocent people. However, the conflict between the two ethnic groups ultimately stems from the oppression of the Slo people.

But as Lynn said, it doesn't matter who is right or wrong between them, or Lynn's reason for wanting to capture Ivanov.

His ultimate goal wasn't to help anyone, but to dig out Ivanov's brain, to find out his identity, to know that he was still alive, and who else besides him was the one who killed his original parents and was now trying to capture him.

"So why won't you tell me what you really want to know?" Ivanov looked at the stubborn Lynn and tried to persuade him one last time.

"I'm telling you all this so you know that as long as you hand Yelena over to me, I'll tell you anything else, because nothing is more important to me than that."

"Some things can't be proven by words alone. If you're willing to drink the truth serum before answering my questions, I'll tell you where Yelena is right now," Lynn said, making her own request.

Ivanov, of course, would not agree. He wasn't stupid; drinking the truth serum meant he would be completely powerless to resist, and whether he lived or died would depend entirely on Lynn's mood.

"Then we really have nothing to talk about." Ivanov pointed the tip of his wand at Lynn.

Lynn replied in the same manner, "We've never had anything to talk about."

(End of this chapter)