"Roar—"
Lina, who had her sleep interrupted, was in a foul mood. She almost instinctively leaped forward. The Ukrainian Ironbelly was already the largest breed of Fire Dragon in the world, let alone Lina, who was a well-developed female dragon. Her hind claws were almost as big as the head of that Hungarian Horntail—
"Slap—"
The Horntail that got struck dumb hung suspended in mid-air, somewhat dazed, shaking its tail full of black spikes.
Norbert took advantage of the chaos to leap forward, snatching back the half-section of the carriage from the opponent's mouth. Hooking Sirius's collar with his dragon claw, he tossed Sirius and the big cheetah in his arms to the other half of the carriage. Then he flapped his wings, bypassing the other two dragons tangled in combat, and flew towards the chaotic crowd not far away—
The poachers now all desperately wished that the brooms between their legs weren't some garbage Cleansweep or Comet, but rather Firebolts. Watching the Fire Dragon enthusiastically charging towards them, these people couldn't muster any will to resist, hoping deep down that others would fly slower than themselves!
But Norbert was clearly not like those stupid dragons in western fantasy stories. With just two flicks of his wings, he was already ahead of the crowd. Then, "Roar—" A hot fire line spewed towards the wizards who couldn't brake in time. The two trailblazers instantly fell downwards—
The poachers behind quickly swerved their brooms to dodge, "Scatter!" With a loud shout, the poachers who came to their senses stopped gathering and began to flee in different directions along the avoidance route. This annoyed Norbert, who wanted another round and scratched his head in frustration.
"Stop playing."
William poked his head out from Norbert's back, looking at the wizards dispersing like a celestial maiden scattering flowers. He once again opened his Pandora's Small Leather Box, and one by one, Hippogriffs flapped their wings and flew out from the box. On the back of each Hippogriff sat several leprechauns with bows and arrows.
"Whiz whiz whiz—"
The Hippogriffs also began to scatter, and the arrows quickly sliced through the sky, speeding towards the dispersing wizards. William also picked a lucky target, prompting Norbert to speed forward, intending to surprise them.
…
Damn!
Damn damn!!
Damn damn damn!!!
Why? Why is that Fire Dragon chasing me?! Rod urged the Cleansweep Seven beneath him with all his might, instinctively turning his head to look back. When he saw the fierce Fire Dragon seemingly targeting him, he felt his heart sink—
Oh crap!
I don't have any cough syrup either!!
"Roar—"
Upon hearing the sound, Rod instinctively dropped down, and the next moment, the blazing flame swept past the man's scalp, instantly evaporating the cold sweat that had just formed. Breathing heavily after surviving the scare, Rod hadn't time to celebrate before another Dragon Flame rushed towards him—
"Ahhh—"
The poacher leader turned into charcoal and fell from the man, trailing black smoke and flames behind. The broomstick beneath him had long disappeared, and the man hit straight in the chest by a leprechaun's arrow happened to shield Rod from the blow—
No way! Can't drag this out!
Seeing the miserable state of that chunk of charcoal, Rod sniffled, grabbed the magic wand in his arms, and without hesitation, swung his body aside and jumped directly off the broomstick.
"Roar?"
Seeing its prey begin free falling, Norbert snorted in confusion.
"Chase!"
William wasn't planning on letting the target go, and now looking at the various poachers being chased to death by the leprechauns, he fell silent for a moment, then pressed Norbert's neck to signal him to chase downwards—got to catch one alive.
Otherwise, they wouldn't even know why they were being targeted.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Before becoming minced meat, Rod resisted the strong wind and swung his magic wand. A purple halo ignited around him, transforming into a light purple bubble wrapping him inside. His descending speed began to slow, and seeing his successful self-rescue, Rod couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Then, he instinctively looked up.
"…"
Damn you.
Rod felt lazy to run anymore, looking at the Fire Dragon charging head-on at him in the sky. He suddenly thought, why not just die?
Of course, the desire to survive soon overpowered the lazy thoughts, and he didn't continue to decelerate, but rather allowed himself to fall at a somewhat acceptable speed onto the ground. The thick lawn barely saved his life, and clutching his legs that hurt with a tearing pain but weren't broken, Rod instinctively chose a direction and was about to flee—
"Roar—"
The next moment, a huge shadow enveloped the man. The Fire Dragon landed on the ground, staring at Rod in the clearing with its orange-yellow eyes.
"…"
"Good afternoon."
William smiled and jumped off the dragon's back, looking at the man seemingly suffering from loss of bladder and bowel control. William hesitated for a moment, deciding not to approach further—after all, no matter what, he still had some mild OCD...
"Hi, hello..."
Rod's face displayed a smile uglier than a cry. He took a deep breath, too late to care for his singed and curled nape scorched by Dragon Flame, and instead leaned against a giant tree that looked quite safe, watching William with a wary face.
"You poachers—"
"No, I'm not!!"
"?"
"I'm not a poacher, I was, I was taken by them. They threatened me with my family, forcing me to work for this group of bastards. I don't even know their subsequent plans, I'm just a marginal man, a passerby, plan b! You generous one, let me go like a fart—"
Rod felt that he was speaking faster now than at any other time in his life.
"...You don't know the plan?"
William raised an eyebrow, his expression somewhat odd.
"Yes, yes, yes, I don't know! I know nothing!"
Rod raised his hands and shouted.
"Really?"
"Really!!"
"If you don't know anything, then why should I keep you around—"
William didn't waste time, he turned and jumped onto Norbert's back, then directly signaled Norbert to burn him to death. Norbert cooperated by opening its mouth wide, and in its throat, flames with black smoke were ready to burst—
"Wait!! I know!"
"You know again?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I know, I know, I know everything!!"
"..."
"Speak."
"...Speak, speak what?"
"Burn him—"
"Roar!"
"Wait! I'll speak, I'll speak! I'm Rod Evans, Deputy Director of the Auror Office at the America Magic Congress, President of the 1898 Student Council at Ilvermorny School, Wampus House representative! Birthday August 29! Virgo! My favorite color is..."
"Who the hell told you to say that?"
William cut off the man who started announcing his lucky numbers, coughing twice, "Tell me, how did you know we were leaving today? And why attack me? Also... you're the Deputy Director of the Auror Office?"
"I, I, I, I... I don't know why we knew you were leaving today! The attack was to leave North America, yes! I'm the Deputy Director of the Auror Office!"
Rod hastily nodded, like pouring beans from a bamboo tube as he continued to explain, "I'm just, I'm just caught in a political struggle! Yes! Because I'm the new special assistant to Minister Graves, so they want to harm me, so I had to escape, but was caught by these damn Black Wizards—"
As he spoke, the man continued to add, "We were all led by Dante, only he knew why—"
"Dante?"
"Yes! The leader of these Black Wizards—"
Rod quickly nodded, but his gaze shifted to a nearby black unidentified object—not coincidentally, the poacher leader, turned into charcoal, had fallen not far from him, now a chunk of carbon.
"Attacking us lets you leave North America?"
"Yes, yes, yes, the Magic Congress is on lockdown now, I can't leave directly, and as a guest, you definitely have something to help pass through, so that damned Dante decided to let that Fire Dragon—sir, I'm telling the truth!"
The man knelt down without dignity, his head banging hard on the ground, his eyes flickering with light, he had no idea who this person in front of him was, nor did he know the other's likes and dislikes, so whether he packaged himself as a good guy or a bad guy, it could lead to trouble, so he tried to present himself neutrally...
So, Rod planned to add more fuel to the fire, "Sir! I really am the special assistant of the Graves family! If you let me go, I can bring you Golden Galleons..."
"Are you saying you escaped from the Magic Congress yesterday?"
"...Uh-huh."
"And then, because the Graves family was targeted by other factions in Congress, you had to escape?"
"Uh-huh!"
"Then—the news I saw this morning, about the Graves family being wiped out by Scourers three days ago, that's fake?"
"Uh..."
Rod fell silent, because the news was only released today, and the man who had been wracking his brains all night thought it hadn't been reported, and now... damn it, he could only think of another excuse, "It was a massacre! Sir, the massacre is real, but the ones who wiped out the Graves family weren't the Scourers, it was those bastards in Congress! They're just a bunch of beasts—"
"..."
"These people are still lying and disguising themselves in the newspapers and news! They really are putting their selfish desires above the stability of the entire America Magic Realm—"
"Here's a multiple-choice question for you—"
"...Sir, go ahead!"
"Listen carefully, the question: Who is the damn, selfish, real culprit that puts the safety of the entire Magic Realm at risk and wiped out the Graves family?
"Option A: A bunch of damn Scourers, Option B: Me, okay, take a guess."
"..."
"...Scourers?"
Rod raised a face crumpled into a "smile," his voice starting to tremble uncontrollably.
"Wrong." William suddenly grinned, showing a standard eight-toothed smile, and then he said—
"Guess again."