By all logic and reason, Allen had no desire to get involved in this mess.
After all, the Ministry of Magic wasn't exactly known for being righteous.
Sure, Slytherin's legacy was tempting. But with a system like his backing him, there was absolutely no need to mess with that kind of thing.
Yes, back then, Allen had still been so innocent, so naive, so… adorably optimistic.
Until the system decided to throw a wrench into everything.
To be precise, the system leveled up.
After taking down Voldemort, Allen's wallet had been so thoroughly drained that he couldn't even bear to look at the system interface. The sheer cost of things made his heart ache.
But after a certain "friendly exchange", a totally fair and mutually beneficial transaction, of course, Allen finally found himself with a nice stash of cash.
Delighted, he opened the system interface again.
And that was when he learned the true meaning of "no pain, no gain," or more aptly: no boss, no drop.
Yes. Defeating Voldemort had triggered a system upgrade!
Or rather, with Allen's increasing level, the system had unlocked a host of new features.
And to be fair, that should've been a good thing.
There were new abilities that didn't consume mana, and rune slots that didn't cost a single Knut to switch around.
But of course, if the system was giving something for free, it was definitely going to charge for something else.
After jumping straight to level four from the Voldemort fight, Allen gained access to four brand-new rune slots, each capable of providing different magical benefits. Better yet, he could swap them out freely.
And the price?
Oh, just 1,000 Galleons each.
A total steal! A mere thousand Galleons!
I mean, where else could you get scammed so efficiently?
Allen was furious.
"One thousand Galleons?! System, are you trying to rob me blind!?"
Still, he swallowed his outrage and went hunting for the best value rune he could find.
That's when he discovered the Gold Coin Rune.
Unfortunately, it was just like those shady self-help courses that promise you success while charging you more and giving you less.
Essence of Gold Coin: Each one increases the system's gold income (used for equipment purchases) by five per in-game day.
Price: 10,000 system gold.
You thought you were getting rich? No, the system just upgraded, and took your money with it.
Sure, things were pricier now, but that wasn't the worst part.
Even after Allen scraped together the funds, he still couldn't equip the damn rune.
The hero status hadn't gone up in price. The original abilities hadn't changed. And Allen really had made a decent pile of money.
Yet, somehow, it still felt like he was bleeding Galleons.
Which was why, though he'd originally intended to ghost the Ministry entirely, Allen suddenly found himself agreeing to help preserve "international cooperation and goodwill" between the two magical nations.
Out of sheer patriotism, obviously.
So, for the noble cause of wizarding diplomacy, Allen heroically threw himself into the joint experimental research initiative, signing an agreement that both parties were totally happy with.
••┈┈┈┈┈༓┈┈┈┈┈•••
Early the next morning, Allen was finally released from his so-called "detention", though that was more of a formality than an actual punishment.
In truth, his confinement had been limited to the castle grounds.
Sure, he'd caused a bit of a stir, but Professor McGonagall, acting Headmistress, and Professor Sprout, Head of Hufflepuff, were both fiercely protective. They had flat-out rejected most of Headmaster Charlide's demands.
Honestly, Allen only had himself to blame.
Even though he and Annie had faked looking all battered and bruised after the fight, it didn't compare to the Transfiguration professor who was still lying unconscious on the floor.
What could they do? Allen and Annie had gone way too hard.
Even though Allen had deliberately held back from killing the professor, he'd still hit far too hard out of instinct.
Had he been thinking clearly, he would've staged the scene better, showing himself and Annie as totally overpowered victims. A few minor injuries would've made it all the more convincing.
If they'd done that, McGonagall and Sprout would've had no problem wringing a massive payout out of Ilvermorny.
After all, a skirmish between students is one thing, even a senior picking on a first-year could be passed off as "training."
But when a professor takes action? That's a whole different matter.
It's no longer a "student exchange", it's a professor breaking the rules. That's like a referee jumping into the game and throwing punches.
Unfortunately, Allen hadn't been in the mood to consider politics. And even if he had the chance to do it over again, he'd probably still hit just as hard.
Because some things are more important than money.
That said, the fight was incredibly satisfying, so much so that Allen felt like he unlocked a new stealth skill mid-battle.
But there was no time to reminisce now.
Even though his confinement wasn't that harsh, getting officially "released" still felt like a reason to celebrate.
And the Hufflepuffs? They never passed up a chance to throw a party, especially not one like this!
Allen's "detention" had been for single-handedly taking down a whole gang of enemy wizards.
Legendary.
Right now, every Hogwarts student was absolutely sick of Ilvermorny. The American school was constantly ambushing them, treating Hogwarts students like enemies at war.
In fact, during Allen's brief detainment, over a dozen fights had broken out, serious fights. Ones that landed people in the hospital wing.
Now that the last of the freeloading wizards had finally left (some of them only here to mooch free meals), Allen finally had some peace.
To be fair, if not for the open access to Ilvermorny's library, most of those wizards wouldn't have gotten anything out of the trip.
And while the library was a goldmine for ordinary wizards, to Allen, it was all pretty useless compared to what was hidden beneath the surface.
That's why Allen turned down their latest idea: they wanted him to help escalate things, ambushing an entire upper-year house in a grand scheme of revenge.
To Allen, the books might've been disappointing, but those students should've just focused on reading, not starting an all-out war.
Unfortunately, they weren't planning to listen.
They just smiled and nodded at Allen, saying they "heard" him, then went on planning anyway.
To them, Allen was a trusted friend, but not some all-powerful leader. If he didn't want to join, fine. They'd still be pals.
And that was that. Nothing more to be said.•
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