Ministry of Magic Meeting

No wonder Eugene trusted Adam so unconditionally. After all, Adam had brought back Eugene’s parents when they were trapped in the Hanging Gardens Ruins.

There was something Eugene had never told Adam: during the holiday after his parents had been rescued and he returned home, Mrs. Lauren had told him about his parents…

Everything.

Mrs. Lauren could allow her grandson to cling to fantasies while his parents had not returned, but after her son and daughter-in-law came back, she did not want her grandson to live in self-deception.

A lie was a lie in the end. If one became immersed in false happiness, one would only grow weak when faced with cruel reality.

Of course, letting Eugene know the truth did not conflict with breaking her son and daughter-in-law’s legs if they dared run away. Mrs. Lauren believed that, over time, they could develop genuine father-son and mother-son feelings.

And if Eugene could not bear the cruel truth, Mrs. Lauren would not force him to accept it. An Obliviate was no difficult matter for the former head of the Auror Office, and she was confident she could make her son and daughter-in-law’s performance flawless.

Fortunately, Eugene had not disappointed her in the end. Once he understood his parents’ attitude toward him, Eugene was only despondent for a while. Then, after a wistful sigh, he asked Mrs. Lauren to let his parents go and pursue the dreams they truly loved.

He was grateful that his grandmother believed his heart was strong enough, and grateful for everything Adam had done to protect his fantasy. But he would make his own choice.

Eugene really was stronger than he had imagined.

Standing before Eugene, Adam could not help sighing inwardly.

Though he had no intention of prying into his brother’s memories, Eugene recalling these matters before him was no different from placing those memories directly in front of him.

Without showing that he knew things he should not know, Adam casually asked about Eugene’s current progress.

Well, although they had only reached the stage of clearing out dark wizards and dark creatures, the results were already quite encouraging—especially some of the issues that had arisen during the process.

For example, some more intelligent dark creatures, such as vampires, actually demanded that the Ministry of Magic try their crimes with the treatment afforded to "people" when they were arrested, rather than simply exterminating them.

Those bastards certainly knew that the British Ministry of Magic had no death penalty, and now that the Dementors had followed Voldemort in causing trouble, Azkaban could not possibly continue employing Dementors as guards.

Without Dementors, Azkaban was nothing more than a small room with food and lodging to them. For vampires in particular, even a sentence of several decades was no more than a nap.

Unfortunately, they had a little education, but not enough. They did not know that the Ministry of Magic’s laws had changed.

Azkaban truly had no Dementors now, but it did have Bernard.

How should he put it… for those who committed crimes and ended up behind bars, Adam felt the two had their own merits. It was hard to say which was worse.

Setting that aside, dark creatures like vampires had overthought one thing: even if they were magical creatures classified as "beasts," they might still have to stand trial before the Ministry of Magic.

Eugene was handling those documents when, as he spoke with Adam, he prepared to head to the meeting room.

"Can I sit in?"

"Of course. Do as you like."

Eugene shrugged and pushed open the door first, heading toward the meeting room.

Once inside, Eugene saw Adam conjure a chair in the corner and sit down directly. Everyone who arrived afterward simply turned a blind eye to him.

After everyone had gathered, Eugene had his assistant distribute the documents while inwardly marveling at how much more impressive Adam’s illusion magic had become.

"It’s not illusion magic. It’s psychology."

Eugene’s eyes widened slightly. Hearing the voice come from behind him, he did not turn around.

"Just like before: your attention was on those documents, so you didn’t notice me stand up from my seat and walk behind you. I merely adjusted that effect a little, so they won’t notice me."

As Adam spoke, he circled the nearly full conference table, occasionally pointing with a finger.

"This one isn’t very loyal to you, but it doesn’t matter. He’s just a fence-sitter. Whoever becomes Minister for Magic is who he’ll obey."

"This one wants you to call back the people beside the Hanging Gardens Ruins as soon as possible. Once the waters are muddied, he wants to seek a chance at promotion. Find an excuse to send him on a business trip to the African savanna."

"Oh~ this one… hmm… it’s nothing. He just has a crush on you."

"Pfft—"

Eugene somewhat regretted using a sip of water to conceal his expression upon hearing Adam’s assessment.

For a moment, everyone in the meeting room looked up at Eugene.

"Cough, cough, I’m fine. Keep reading. Let’s try to resolve every agenda item in this meeting."

Eugene thumped his chest and finally managed to catch his breath.

"Why are you getting so worked up? Looking around, quite a few people have crushes on you."

Adam casually pointed out two more witches, making Eugene’s eyelid twitch violently.

"Not planning to consider that sort of thing so early? Fine, fine. I’ll go sit in the corner and listen to your meeting."

Adam picked up a cup of tea and returned to his seat in the corner. After taking a sip, he fell silent for two seconds, wondering just how much tea had been put in the pot to make it so bitter. Then he turned it into milk tea.

"Mmm~ now this is fit for human consumption."

Eugene could not help wondering what degree Adam’s "slight adjustment" had reached for so many people to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to everything he did and said.

But the meeting beginning at once left Eugene no time to think further.

"Time is short, so I won’t say much. Let’s move directly to the first agenda item—the Ministry of Magic’s previous definition of creature classifications needs to be re-established."

As soon as Eugene finished speaking, quite a few people in the meeting room raised their hands.

"Speak one at a time. You, start."

Eugene pointed at the first person to raise a hand on his left.

"Minister, we understand your intention in raising this issue at this meeting. Presumably, you mean that some magical creatures currently classified as ‘people’ have failed to shoulder their corresponding responsibilities."

The man waved the document in his hand, which contained records from the recent clearing operation and previous arrests of dark creatures under Voldemort.

"But I must remind you that, for these highly intelligent creatures, it is very difficult to presume guilt on a racial level."

The Ministry of Magic defined "people" as "creatures with sufficient intelligence to understand the laws of magical society and bear some of the responsibilities involved in formulating those laws."

The condition for classifying a magical creature as a "beast" was proving that the creature, as a race, lacked the ability to overcome its savage nature.

As for how to prove that… questioning and testing. On one hand, they asked about the other party’s subjective wishes; on the other, they observed whether it could restrain urges such as preying on humans by itself.

The Ministry of Magic’s previous method had been that simple and crude. Beyond that, there was no other way that could convince everyone.

Since the Ministry of Magic’s attitudes and methods toward "people" and "beasts" were entirely different, most sufficiently intelligent magical creatures naturally wanted to be classified as "people," and would restrain their desire to eat humans during the testing phase.

As for ordinary times… well, that naturally depended on the circumstances.