Following the arrangements made by the Director of the Department of Mysteries, Ethan walked past a crowd of hurried researchers, eyeing them with detached curiosity.
Not a single soul realized that the very culprit who had plunged the entire Department of Mysteries into a "working-overtime hell" was currently brushing shoulders with them.
That was right.
The "well-connected newcomer" who had just dropped into the Department of Mysteries was none other than the Dark Lord himself, whom the Ministry of Magic was guarding against with every resource they had.
Ethan Vincent in the flesh.
"Professor Slughorn's connections are truly formidable; he can even wedge someone into the Ministry of Magic... or perhaps, is this place just naturally riddled with holes?"
Ethan adjusted the mask on his face, lost in thought.
This mask was a modification of the "Professor Norn" persona. Originally, Ethan had intended to present himself to the world with a "bright, sunny smile."
However, under Professor Slughorn's dire threat—"If you wear that mask, I will drink a Draught of Living Death right here and now!"—Ethan had been forced to compromise.
"Honestly, the older generation just has no sense of aesthetics," Ethan sighed under his breath.
"Look at this modified face. No one even notices me! Sigh... I suppose I'll just have to wait until my identity is revealed before I can truly make them appreciate the beauty of art."
With those thoughts in mind, Ethan made his way to the very end of a corridor, reaching a narrow, neglected corner.
He looked up at the shabby door in front of him. There was a cardboard sign hanging on it, clearly a temporary addition.
Scrawled in crooked ink was:
[Light Source Research Department 13]
A faint smell of burning drifted through the cracks in the door.
Knock, knock.
Ethan curled his fingers and gave the door two polite taps.
Immediately after, a cry of pure joy erupted from within:
"Merlin's beard! Finally... someone is finally here! Help!! Cough, cough-cough!"
Ethan pushed the door open, and a cloud of thick smoke billowed into his face.
What met his eyes was a scene of explosive devastation. The floors and walls were scorched black, coated in patches of some sticky, unidentifiable liquid. Books, papers, test tubes, and instruments had been blown to bits. The already small laboratory looked like it had been hit by a localized tornado.
Ethan lowered his gaze and saw a charred, blackened figure lying on the floor.
The figure reached out a trembling hand toward him, eyes flashing with the relief of a person finally being rescued.
"Help... save me..."
Ethan arched an eyebrow. "I didn't know the Department of Mysteries had a recreation room."
The charred figure: "?"
Ethan began to slowly back away, a look of faux apology on his face. "Sorry to bother you. Please, continue with your fun.
"Hmm... an explosion to stretch the muscles and strengthen the bones. The people here really know how to enjoy themselves." Ethan nodded appreciatively, as if lost in deep, philosophical thought.
The charred figure: "???"
Seeing that Ethan was actually about to leave, she mustered every ounce of strength—and a lifetime's worth of indignation—to scream:
"Please just cast a Healing Charm on me! Who on earth treats an explosion as 'fun'?! Are you insane?!"
A few moments later.
Sasha stood in the now-tidy research room, pushing up her thick, round glasses. She peeked at the person in front of her and whispered, "Th-thank you... your magic is amazing.
"My name is Sasha Moss. I joined the department two months ago. I'm in charge of researching the light source issues for the Veil! You must be the newcomer the Director sent over, right? Welcome! We can do research together!"
She broke into a brilliant smile. It was as if she had instantly forgotten what had just happened, and she reached out a friendly hand toward Ethan.
Ethan took her hand in a polite grip. "Nice to meet you, Sasha."
This "senior" colleague looked incredibly young. She carried an air of "clear stupidity"—the kind that suggested she had probably only just graduated. She was small in stature, with a lively and cute appearance, sporting messy blonde-brown hair and those heavy, round spectacles.
Around her neck hung a uniquely shaped pendant that looked like a flute.
Sasha put her hands on her hips, puffed out her rather flat chest, and said proudly, "Hmph! We're going to achieve something great and give the other researchers a real shock! Er... although..."
She looked around the lab he had just restored, her momentum instantly wilting. She scratched her head sheepishly.
"We're still a little way off from actually achieving anything... hehehe."
"Hmm."
Ethan remained noncommittal. His eyes drifted to a coal-black stone on the table; the residual magic within it was crystal clear to his vision.
A fusion of Serpent Stone and Refined Lava, paired with a Fire Spell, a Wand-Lighting Charm... and Time Magic?
The reaction between Time Magic and a Fire Spell had turned it directly into a time bomb. No wonder the place had been blown to smithereens.
It seemed Miss Sasha here wasn't exactly a Ravenclaw.
Ethan shook his head, sliding his hand into his pocket to touch a sphere of warm light.
That was a material dropped from the personification of Death itself: [Corpse Spark].
With a bit of processing, it would become the absolute best light source for exploring the space within the Veil.
To all the hard-working researchers out there: Sorry.
He was about to overtake them all on the curve.
"Let's work hard together," Ethan said, his eyes crinkling into a faint smile.
Despite his unremarkable appearance, Sasha found herself dazed for a moment. She felt as though the aura coming off this man was incredibly powerful...
It felt a bit like the "Ethan Vincent" she had seen in the newspapers.
But, she thought, that rising Dark Lord is probably busy causing destruction everywhere. There's no way he'd show up in the Ministry of Magic so openly.
"...Merlin, I hope this time, I can find some trace of my brother," Sasha murmured almost imperceptibly, rubbing the flute pendant around her neck as she closed her eyes.
Two weeks later.
Department of Mysteries, Director's Office.
The room was, as always, shrouded in a haze of smoke.
Saul Croaker had his feet propped up on his desk, slumped back in his chair. Clenching a pipe between his teeth, he stared at the reports from various departments, his brow furrowed deeply enough to crush a fly.
"Department 1 proposes using botanical light instead of mineral light... but the plants die the moment they enter the Veil? Department 2 thinks bio-electricity is viable, provided we sign life-and-death contracts with the Goblins??"
"What kind of rubbish is this!"
Croaker slammed the reports down and took two massive drags from his pipe, feeling his blood pressure skyrocket.
"Dammit, zero progress... I don't know when Ethan is going to attack, and the higher-ups won't stop pestering me..."
As his thoughts swirled, Croaker inexplicably remembered the newcomer he had pawned off on Sasha not long ago.
"I wonder if that kid is even still alive... Hah, maybe the two of them got blown up together?"
Director Croaker let out a dry chuckle, but his expression quickly darkened. He muttered to himself:
"Sasha Moss, have you still not given up on your brother? It's been so many years... anyone who enters the Veil can never come back alive!"
—And even if they were "alive," God only knew what kind of thing they would have turned into.
Sasha Moss and that newcomer were, in a way, both there because of connections. The former was linked to one of the Department of Mysteries' biggest "scandals."
Croaker let out a heavy sigh. "Anyway, as long as they don't cause any trouble for me, it's fine."
Just then, a frantic patter of footsteps approached the door at high speed!
With a loud BANG, the door was thrown open. A researcher scrambled in, practically crawling across the floor. Out of breath and bug-eyed, he gasped out:
"D-Department 13—Sasha and the newcomer—!!"
Croaker's heart skipped a beat.
He snapped his feet off the desk and stood up, glaring at the researcher. "What happened? Speak clearly!"
Did something really happen? Did an explosion take out the other departments too?
Dammit! I should have rejected that newcomer from the start!
Croaker swallowed hard, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. If an accident had occurred that slowed down the research progress, he might as well go find a Bubotuber to bash his head against.
"They—they—!" The researcher took a deep breath and then shouted in pure joy, "They've invented a stable light source that can enter the Veil!!"
Upon hearing this, Director Croaker's heart finally settled back into his chest.
He waved a hand dismissively, relaxing. "What? Oh, they just invented a light source. I thought something actually happened..."
"Wait, what?"
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