Laira stared blankly at Fontana's mouth opening and closing, as if she'd suddenly forgotten how to understand English.
—[We are sinners].
The sentence was like a nail heated to glowing, searing and sharp as it punctured a balloon named "hope."
Every expression on her face—resentment, calculation, anxiety, exhilaration—froze and vanished in an instant, leaving only a kind of blank, bewildered stupor.
If the Witch Pure Party had really intervened in this upheaval of the American Magic World, if instead of their past fanfare they had silently infiltrated the Congress's political games…
Laira's body began to tremble beyond her control. At first it was only a faint quiver in her fingertips, then it quickly spread to her arms, shoulders, and finally her whole body, as if a chill were rising from the depths of her soul, making the very thing that had always supported her collapse at once.
The things she'd always put her faith in—rules of power, exchanges of interest, manipulation of public opinion—looked laughably flimsy under the Witch Pure Party's pure, vicious, violent threat.
In a daze, Laira suddenly remembered something.
...
"Bloren plans to spin that video as a Witch Pure Party conspiracy."
Rex Grim stood in the study of Laira's home, gently set down the raven mask, and said with a mocking tone:
"Something like—the Witch Pure Party is deliberately creating chaos, looking to infiltrate the Magic Congress, that sort of thing, to draw focus away from the Scourers."
"He's planning to use the Witch Pure Party?" Laira laughed. "Is he suicidal? Grindelwald might operate a lot more mildly than before, but he's not exactly known for his good temper!"
Rex Grim said in a low voice, "Bloren believes that if the Witch Pure Party really shows itself, the ones who'll have to rack their brains dealing with them will be Hosone and Dumbledore."
"He thinks, hiding in the dark, he won't be the first target they go after."
Laira thought for a moment, then smiled. "Compared to them, aren't we even more deeply hidden?"
"Yes." Grim asked, "Do we need to interfere? If the Witch Pure Party really sends people to the United States, the situation might become even more chaotic."
"Isn't chaos exactly what we want?" Laira leaned back against the chair and let out a soft laugh. "If Grindelwald can light a fire in New York as well, then Hosone, as the highest leader of Congress, is bound to be driven off the stage!"
"Otherwise… how long are we supposed to wait for a good chance? I really don't want to keep watching that clown stand up there barking orders!"
...
The scene of memory cut off abruptly. Laira heard faint birdsong from the distance, and she also heard the tiny sound of her own teeth lightly chattering.
So the Witch Pure Party had come long ago… so their infiltration had gone far deeper than the lies Bloren fabricated…
Just then, a rush of footsteps sounded from the nearby woods. Leaves and dead branches were crushed underfoot with rustling "shasha" sounds, occasionally punctuated by sharp, crisp snaps.
Before Laira could react, she felt a sudden chill at the crown of her head, followed by icy liquid trickling down from her scalp, as if someone had cracked a raw egg over her head.
Fontana had reacted quickly and cast a Disillusionment Charm on both of them.
Their boots had barely vanished from sight when, in the next second, two Wizards in ordinary robes rounded the trees and strode briskly toward them.
Seeing the look on the two faces, Fontana's heart gave a jolt, and he flicked his hand lightly.
One of the Wizards suddenly said, "I'm getting a bit tired. Let's rest for a while, shall we? It's not like we need to rush this minute."
"All right."
The other didn't object. He casually found a tree root jutting out of the ground and sat down, then pulled a canteen from his pocket and handed it to his companion.
"…I really never imagined Headmaster Fontana would be that kind of man!" The brown-haired female Wizard took a few swallows of water and said with disgust, "Even if they're Muggle children, they're still children! How could he bring himself to do it!"
Fontana's body gave a violent shudder, and his Magic Wand nearly slipped from his hand.
He didn't remember there being two such plainly dressed people among tonight's guests… Could it be because of Rita Skeeter's report?
But then Fontana felt something was off.
—Just because of a third-rate reporter's accusations, these Wizards believed without hesitation? Not the slightest doubt?
His foundation in the American Magic World hadn't collapsed to that extent yet, had it?
"Anyway, thank goodness for the Flow Mirror livestream."
The other Wizard, a burly man, said in a deep voice, "Otherwise, compared with the Congress President turning into a wanted criminal right during the inauguration, I suspect this little 'incident' would've been conveniently ignored by the media."
"Ah…" The brown-haired Witch sighed. "Rappaport's Law was repealed thirty years ago, and some people still cling to those old rules like lifelines!"
The Wizard didn't comment on that. He only said, "Good thing you didn't tell anyone when you enrolled that the child's maternal grandfather is actually a Muggle… Anyway, for Evan's safety, we can't let him stay at Ilvermorny. He has to transfer!"
"Transfer where?" The brown-haired Witch fretted. "Most Magic Schools don't accept transfer students. Uagadou takes all comers, but Uagadou's style… sigh, I really can't accept it."
"What about Hogwarts?" the Wizard suggested. "Actually, when Evan was about to start school, I wanted to send him to Hogwarts."
"Oh please, did you forget all the news from the past two years? Dementors, fugitives, Vampires, Tree Demons… they even had Trolls and Basilisks on campus, and that… that… Voldy-something?"
"Voldemort," the man corrected.
"Who cares what he's called!" the brown-haired Witch said irritably. "Hogwarts is out of the question! Before today, I've always thought that was the most dangerous school in the entire Magic World!"
"Then let him go to Beauxbatons! I've got a distant relative who knows Beauxbatons' deputy headmaster…"
The two discussed it for a while, finally reached an agreement, then rose and once again hurried toward Ilvermorny.
The Disillusionment Charm lifted. Laira and Fontana's figures reappeared, both their faces extremely grim.
"How can it be this fast…"
Laira said in disbelief, "How could the news spread so fast? Even people in a remote place like this know already! Did you hear what they said? They said I've become a wanted criminal!"
On Fontana's face, there was an even deeper despair.
He had personally heard parents who once trusted him decide so effortlessly to abandon Ilvermorny, to abandon the school he had guarded all his life. That sense of faith shattering was more thorough than any political defeat.
Hearing Laira's shocked voice, Fontana gave a bitter smile; he was not surprised.
"Did you forget those reporters livestreaming the ceremony? Thinking back now… maybe the livestream never cut off afterward, not even when Rita Skeeter was reading out our charges…"
"…Livestream?"
The last spark of hope in her eyes burned itself out.
Laira's eyes were wide open, even wider than usual, yet they reflected nothing, as if even her gaze had become unfocused.
Fontana, on the other hand—perhaps because he'd already seen through everything while he was tied up, having lost all hope earlier—was now slowly collecting himself. He took Laira by the arm and led her toward the nearby Wizard Village.
"Our only path now is to flee, but before we go we have to learn more. Let's head to the tavern in Rockford Village and ask around, and also find some supplies."
At the very least… he needed a Magic Wand that felt right in his hand, even if it was second-hand.
Worried about exposing traces of Magic Power, they didn't dare use Apparition and could only walk, using a Transfiguration Spell to change their faces into common ones before heading toward the village.
Along the way, they occasionally saw Wizards hurrying toward Ilvermorny, but the road was still much quieter than usual.
When they passed a Hunter's cabin that had long since been abandoned, Fontana suddenly halted.
"Careful!"
He shouted in a low voice, swung his Magic Wand hard, and an invisible suit of armor instantly formed around them!
"BOOM—!!"
Scarlet firelight erupted from the ground beneath their feet!