On a small path outside Hogwarts, leading toward the Hogsmeade village station.
Umbridge was riding inside a thundering, fast-moving Thestral carriage.
The Thestral carriage she was in had no guards at all, and no driver guiding it.
Only inside the carriage, close to where Umbridge was sitting, stood a dense row of gemstones radiating magical light.
These gems were set into the doorway of the carriage in a mysterious formation.
The magic flowing from them formed an invisible cage, firmly trapping Umbridge inside.
The interior space of the carriage was already small, and after being constrained by the magical cage, Umbridge's range of movement was reduced to less than one meter.
Umbridge curled up pitifully, her fat body squeezed inside the invisible cage, with both hands shackled by a pair of mithril-alloy handcuffs.
From time to time she craned her neck, struggling to glance out the window, her face filled with venomous hatred.
If it weren't for Link Flamel and Percy Weasley colluding together, she should still be the headmistress of Hogwarts right now.
She had a bright future ahead of her, she might even have become the youngest Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the history of the Ministry of Magic.
And all of that had been ruined by that brat, Link Flamel.
How could she possibly accept this?
What made it even worse was that there was clearly a Floo Network fireplace inside Hogwarts Castle that led directly to the Ministry of Magic, yet Link Flamel deliberately chose to escort her using something as primitive as a Thestral carriage, making her suffer this pointless jolting along the way.
She understood Link's vicious intentions all too well.
Link Flamel was doing this purely so more people at the Ministry could see how wretched she looked right now.
He was trying to humiliate her.
Umbridge ground her teeth until they creaked.
At this moment, her heart was completely consumed by rage.
Suddenly, she struggled upright and twisted her head with all her strength to look toward the still brightly lit Hogwarts castle in the distance. The corners of her mouth slowly curled upward.
Despite all this humiliation, that arrogant Link had still not killed her in the end.
This was Link's greatest mistake.
What Link probably didn't realize was that over her many years in officialdom, Umbridge had already carefully prepared what could be called a perfect escape route for herself.
As long as she could return to the Ministry of Magic and stand trial, she was confident she would never truly be thrown into Azkaban.
When she finally regained her freedom, that would be the moment Link would regret everything.
Thinking this, the expression on Umbridge's face gradually twisted.
However, at that very moment, the Thestral carriage that had been speeding along suddenly came to a halt.
The abrupt jolt snapped Umbridge out of her fantasy.
Rubbing her forehead where she had slammed painfully into the magical cage, she glared furiously at the curtain of the carriage and shouted, "Damn beasts, can't even manage..."
Umbridge's curse cut off abruptly.
Because she was shocked to see several figures outside the window rapidly approaching the carriage.
In the next instant, the curtain was violently flung aside, and a brutish, heavily muscled, vicious face appeared before Umbridge.
The sight made her eyes widen. She suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility.
Her mouth opened wide, as if she wanted to scream.
But overwhelming fear forced her throat to produce only a hoarse "hhk, hhk" sound.
The owner of that vicious face seemed even more excited than Umbridge.
After only a single glance at her, he suddenly turned his head and shouted excitedly, "Boss! We've found the target!"
"Oh? Is that so? Then what are you standing around for? Hurry up and throw her out!"
Another voice rang out, sharp and aged.
Hearing this, the big man who had lifted the curtain let out a ferocious grin at Umbridge and reached straight into the carriage.
Umbridge kept shrinking backward. Driven by her survival instinct, her originally bulky body miraculously curled into a tiny lump.
But it was useless.
The golden bracelet on the man's arm flashed faintly, and the magical cage confining Umbridge inside the carriage instantly dissolved. That arm then easily grabbed her by the hair and flung her straight out of the carriage.
"Ah!"
The intense pain finally pulled Umbridge out of her terror.
She screamed wildly, scrambling with both hands and feet as she tried to flee.
But she hadn't run very far when a short, stocky, one-eyed cyclops house-elf blocked her path.
At the same time, other hunters dressed in hunting gear and armed to the teeth had already closed in, surrounding her tightly.
Umbridge seemed to recognize the person in front of her and raised a finger as if she wanted to say something.
Unfortunately, Krell clearly had no patience to hear her nonsense.
He raised his arm, lightly hooked the trigger with his finger, and a thick crossbow bolt shot out from the hand crossbow, thudding straight into Umbridge's forehead.
The momentum of the bolt knocked Umbridge backward, slamming her to the ground.
Her eyes, already beginning to lose focus, still stared at the sky, as if she couldn't believe she had died so easily.
At this moment, another hunter quickly walked over.
They clicked their tongues in amazement as they examined Umbridge's corpse, and the leader leaned over to Krell and said, "Boss Krell, this is the old woman who's always been going against our young master, right?"
Hearing this, the murderous look on Krell's face suddenly softened into sorrow. Gazing affectionately in the direction of Hogwarts Castle, he said, "Yes… my poor young master. Didn't he just want to do some things that would benefit all of us? Why is it that there are always so many blind idiots who insist on opposing him? It's really pitiful!"
Seeing how saddened Krell looked, the faces of the surrounding hunters immediately flushed red with anger.
They were all veteran hunters employed by the Flamel family.
Ever since Link had taken control of the Flamel family, their treatment had improved by who knows how many times.
From barely having enough to eat, constantly being chased by Aurors and forced to flee into deep forests to survive in the wild, to now living comfortably and securely, so much so that even their descendants enjoyed preferential treatment from the Flamel family, they were filled with gratitude toward the Flamel family and toward Link.
For a moment, the hunters were seething with righteous fury.
Some even complained that Krell had let Umbridge die too easily.
In their view, Umbridge should have been killed over at least two days and two nights to properly vent their anger.
After all, in that regard, every one of them was an expert, skinning Umbridge alive wouldn't have been a problem at all.
Krell was rendered somewhat speechless by them.
He smacked his lips a couple of times, then pointed at Umbridge's body and said, "Enough chatter. Take care of the body and the carriage."
Only then did the hunters stop talking and quietly begin working.
Krell himself also raised a finger and fired a dark yellow signal flare into the sky.
———
At the same time, inside the Headmaster's Office at Hogwarts.
Link watched with his own eyes as the lamplight representing the carriage gradually faded away, followed by a signal flare slowly rising into the air and bursting into a dazzling display of light.
A smile spread across his face.
Letting Umbridge return to the Ministry of Magic for trial?
That was simply laughable.
How could Link ever do something as foolish as letting a tiger return to the mountains?
A disgusting creature like Umbridge deserved to be eliminated at the first opportunity.
What surprised Link, however, was that at the very moment Umbridge died, he suddenly felt a force surge into his body through the soft chair he was sitting on.
This force was so weak it was almost negligible, providing no real boost to Link's personal strength at all.
Yet its nature was extremely special.
Once this force entered his body, Link suddenly felt as though he could use it to drive and control various facilities within Hogwarts.
"New password for the Headmaster's Office…" Link tried saying, "Hufflepuff is the best house."
The moment the words left his mouth, Link clearly felt a brief disturbance ripple through the surrounding magic.
It was obvious that the password had been successfully set.
"Oh! You shouldn't set a password like that!"
Headmaster Black, who had been arguing with other portraits on the wall, suddenly said in displeasure. "The best house at Hogwarts is obviously Slytherin. That's where you truly belong. You're betraying your own blood..."
Halfway through his sentence, Headmaster Black suddenly seemed to realize something. His words stopped abruptly, and his expression turned shocked.
The other portraits on the walls had already stopped arguing as well, all of them looking toward Link.
The elderly witch with the silver curls frowned and said, "How can you change the password to the Headmaster's Office? That's a privilege only the Headmaster possesses, not a school governor!"
"Ha! Doesn't this just prove that little Link is destined for greatness?" Headmaster Black said excitedly.
"This is wonderful! After so many years, another member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight bloodlines has become Headmaster of Hogwarts! This proves that pure-blood wizards' talent and ability far surpass those of non-pure-bloods!"
Headmaster Black's speech clearly stirred up dissatisfaction among the other former headmasters.
But this time, they didn't continue arguing with him. Instead, they urgently pressed Link with more questions.
Unfortunately, Link had no intention of paying them any attention at all.
At this moment, he was fully focused on sensing the power inside his body.
As that power continued to grow, Link's perception and control over Hogwarts kept rising as well.
The location of the Room of Requirement, access permissions for all secret passages, control over every suit of armor and guardian statue, the authority to change the passwords of every common room entrance…
He even discovered that he could easily release the magical barrier placed at the entrances of all girls' dormitories, the one specifically meant to stop boys from entering.
If John, who had always been bitterly resentful of the rule that "boys can't enter girls' dorms, but girls can freely enter boys' dorms," were to find out about this, he'd probably be jumping for joy.
The image of John hopping around excitedly instantly appeared in Link's mind, and he couldn't help but laugh.
The only thing that left Link somewhat dissatisfied was that even with this power flowing into him, he still hadn't fully gained complete control over all of Hogwarts.
Some of the highest-level permissions within the castle were still locked away from him.
This was clearly an obstacle deliberately set by someone.
And that person could only be Dumbledore.
Still, this amount of progress was already enough for Link.
Because just as the power flowing into him reached its limit, several dark-gold notifications slid across his vision.
[Hidden Mission: Headmaster of Hogwarts! Currently Completed (94%)!]
[Segment Reward Issued!]
[Golden Skill Point ×1 Acquired!]
[Reminder: Full mission rewards will be issued upon reaching 100% completion!]
[Reminder: Hidden Mission, I Am the Headmaster! Activated!]
[Mission Requirements: Become headmaster of at least three magical schools, Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons. For each additional recognized magical school beyond that, reward bonuses increase by 100%.]
[Current Progress of "I Am the Headmaster", Durmstrang 100%, Hogwarts 94%, Beauxbatons −90%!]
["I Am the Headmaster" Mission Reward: Unknown!]
After reading through all the notifications on the data panel, Link's expression turned strange.
He could understand Hogwarts being at 94%, after all, he had noticed himself that some of his permissions were still restricted.
But what in the world was Beauxbatons at −90%?
Could a progress bar actually be negative?
Link had no way of understanding it. He shook his head and decided not to think about it, turning his attention back to the newly acquired golden skill point.
Including his previous stock, he now had two golden skill points.
That meant he could upgrade the water-control ability represented by the Sustaining Charm to LV7 at any time.
Based on his previous experience upgrading the Severing Charm, raising the Sustaining Charm from LV6 to LV7 wouldn't open up an entirely new combat style the way upgrading from LV5 to LV6 had.
At most, it would simply provide a significant enhancement on top of his existing combat capabilities.
But was that really the best choice?
Link didn't think so.
With the Death Eaters gradually rising, he didn't have much time left.
What he urgently needed now was to raise the upper limit of his strength and achieve a breakthrough, not just strengthen what he already had.
Therefore, upgrading his highest-level Severing Charm from LV7 to LV8 was the best choice.
The problem was that to do that, he was still missing one golden skill point.
Link stood up from his chair and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.
Making this decision wasn't easy for him.
Because he wasn't someone who liked to save things up in the first place.
If he only had a single golden skill point, it would be one thing, he wouldn't have had a choice anyway.
But now…
"Hoo~"
Link took a deep breath and said with resolve, "Then let's do it this way. Anyway, the next golden skill point should be coming soon!"