Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 252 Just One Step Away

Priojorsk.

This is a small town located in northwestern Soviet Union, north of St. Petersburg, on the shores of Lake Ladoga.

Even though it's already May, the weather is still cool.

As evening fell, Murphy descended from the sky like lightning and appeared near a river bend.

After receiving the message from Barty Jr., Murphy rushed over immediately. Seeking a conversation was his original purpose, and he had also guessed some clues from Barty Jr.'s account.

This could very well be an opportunity for his plans in the Soviet Union.

Shortly after he appeared, a human face suddenly emerged from a white pine tree beside him, followed by a person who said, "Mr. Murphy Darkholm?"

Murphy glanced at the other person and saw that he was wearing a smart military uniform with a cloak with many blue and red stripes on the outside, which seemed to be a modern variant of shamanic clothing.

"it's me."

"Please come with me, His Majesty is waiting for you by the lake."

Murphy nodded, not too surprised, and followed the man along a path toward the lake.

"My name is Azir." The man walked a little ahead of Murphy, his attitude appearing very friendly. "A court shaman, roughly equivalent to His Majesty's scribe and errand boy."

"Murphy, an ordinary wizard," Murphy introduced himself.

"You're too modest," Azir said, his English sounding quite good, with almost no trace of a Soviet accent. "Your name is practically a household name in the British wizarding world. I heard you're teaching at Hogwarts now?"

"Your investigation was quite thorough."

"I apologize, I only briefly inquired about you. After all, we don't have many opportunities to interact with wizards from other countries, and our information network is limited. This is the only way we can find out about you."

“I understand, I would have done the same,” Murphy said. “However, compared to your country’s understanding of me, I know very little about your country.”

"Oh, so those wizards you invited as guests didn't answer your questions properly?"

"Perhaps I haven't been hospitable enough; they haven't opened up to me yet," Murphy said.

In fact, those Soviet wizards had been basically drained dry. With the addition of mind-controlling and truth-revealing agents, they had said everything they should and shouldn't have said.

It was thanks to them that Murphy learned that the current Empress Sofia Petrovna of Arkaim had a strained relationship with her uncle, regent, and consul, Grand Duke Ivan.

Her Majesty the Queen is about to come of age and wants to assume power, but her uncle is reluctant to relinquish the power in his hands.

Murphy was not surprised at all; similar scenarios had occurred dozens, if not hundreds, of times in Chinese history.

In particular, it is said that Grand Duke Ivan had three sons.

Azir glanced at Murphy.

He knew most of the people Murphy had captured, and his previous remark was obviously a sarcastic remark about him kidnapping a wizard from another country and doing something inhumane.

But to my surprise, Murphy readily admitted it, and even described the imprisonment and interrogation in such a refined and elegant way. This guy has a really thick skin.

No wonder he was able to rise from an ordinary Ministry of Magic employee to become the mastermind behind the scenes.

After exchanging a few more meaningless words, Murphy roughly understood the other party's attitude, and Azir also gained some understanding of Murphy as a person.

Finally, they arrived at a terrace.

A slender figure stood by the balcony railing, gazing at the distant lake. Only after Azir bowed and left did she turn around. "Hello, Mr. Darkholm, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Sofia was dressed in a neutral style today. She didn't wear a heavy headdress; her long hair was simply tied up, and she wore a blue-green military uniform.

She liked to dress like this, as it made her feel more capable and heroic, closer to an empress than a weak princess.

She took off her gloves and gently raised her right hand.

Murphy stepped forward, bowed, and took the other person's hand, lightly touching his lips to the smooth back of the hand. "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"You should kneel," the Queen reminded her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Murphy apologized, but made no move. "In my homeland, there is no longer a monarch; everyone is equal. I only kneel to my parents, heaven and earth, and my teachers, not to others. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

Whether he kneels or not doesn't really matter; it's just a formality. That's just an excuse he made up.

The key is to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and gain the initiative.

The Queen clearly didn't like the answer, and the two remained locked in a stalemate. The Queen didn't pull her hand away, and Murphy didn't let go either. They stood there like this for a while, until Sophia asked, "Has Mr. Darkholm always been this aggressive?"

"I apologize, Your Majesty, but my Su language is not very good. Are you saying I'm too gentle and refined?"

"..."

Sofia was speechless for a moment. This bastard speaks the Soviet language very well!

What are you pretending to be so important about!

And is this guy scratching his own palm?!

She was a little angry and amused, and pulled her hand away. "Mr. Darkholm, you're so funny."

"Your Majesty flatters me."

Sophia suddenly felt a little insecure. This guy was only twenty-two or twenty-three years old, how could he be so shrewd? She felt like she couldn't quite handle him.

We can't keep arguing with him here. The more we talk to this cunning guy, the easier it is for him to find something to use against us. We should use our power to intimidate him.

"Hmph!" She snorted, her face hardening. "Murphy Darkholm. As a British wizard, it's one thing to stir up trouble in your own country, but you even dared to extend your reach into the Soviet Union, plotting to assassinate the Soviet president, attempting to overthrow the Soviet regime, killing the high shaman, and arresting and imprisoning Soviet wizards. What is your punishment?!"

As soon as she finished speaking, more than a dozen pairs of eyes lit up in the nearby woods. They stared intently at her, and Murphy could feel a surge of magic, as if they would launch a thunderous attack and blast him to pieces at the Queen's command.

Murphy's smile remained unchanged. "Your guards are truly well-trained. I've heard that your country has so-called battle mages who specialize in combat magic, and the Royal Guard is the best among them. Now it seems that their reputation is well-deserved."

"Are you scared now?"

"May I ask Your Majesty, how long does it take for your country's fastest combat magic to kill a person?"

"What?" Sophia hadn't understood yet.

"As far as I know, the fastest attack spell of your country's shamans is Wind Blade, which can reach several times the speed of sound. The nearest guard to me is about twenty paces away. Even if Wind Blade doesn't require a spell, it will still take more than ten milliseconds from activation to decapitating me."

"And Your Majesty, do you know the speed of lightning?"

"You may not have a good grasp of it, but I can tell you it's roughly between 100,000 and 1 million meters per second."

As he spoke, his eyes gradually gleamed with a golden hue, and tiny electric currents flickered between his beard and hair.

"Ten milliseconds, one kilometer, that's enough for more than twenty round trips. If you want to kill me, you'd have to prepare at least a hundred-man squad."

"Oh, perhaps that's not enough."

"After all, I am now only one step away from you."

Sofia's heart suddenly clenched.

Even though she knew that Lady Yaga, a court lady whose strength was no less than that of a great shaman, was secretly protecting her, and even though she knew that she possessed no fewer than five magical items that could teleport or substitute for death, she still felt a trace of fear at this moment.

It's just that she was captivated by his harmless, handsome face and didn't realize he was a daring madman who dared to kidnap the president of the Soviet Union.

If a Muggle president can kidnap someone, how can we be sure he wouldn't dare assassinate him?

If I had known, I should have listened to Lady Jaga and asked him to meet me at the palace.

Sofia's heart pounded with nervousness, but her face remained impassive. "Are you threatening me?"

"How could that be?" Murphy smiled. "I was just discussing the weather with you."

He took a half step back and made an inviting gesture, saying, "I've always heard about the beauty of Lake Ladoga and longed to visit it. Now that I'm here, it would be a shame to just stand here."

"Your Majesty, may I invite you for a walk?"

(End of this chapter)