Chapter 336

Dumbledore had actually been distracted just now.

For some reason, looking at these noisy wizards, he suddenly felt a bit weary.

According to Grindelwald, at this age, wouldn't it be better to enjoy the rest of his life? Why trap himself in these matters, laboring for these wizards he doesn't actually like? Is it really worth it?

Grindelwald said he was greedy for power, but Dumbledore didn't think so. He didn't actually have much obsession with power. Looking at these wizards, what emerged in his heart was a kind of... pity, sympathy, compassion, and care.

They were all still too young. Just like the wizards shouting to exterminate Murphy's people, Dumbledore saw the shadows of his younger self and Grindelwald in them. And in those moderate opposition members, he saw his middle-aged self, or those silent, serious neutrals who rarely spoke—they were so much like Aberforth.

Standing from the perspective of an elder with over a hundred years of life, he could almost see his former self in everyone. He could understand them, sympathize with them, and therefore, he could tolerate them.

He could accept their mistakes because he had made mistakes himself. He could accept their burning ambitions for power because he had also felt the deadly attraction of power. Even for some Death Eaters, and even Voldemort, he had deep sympathy and pity.

He knew the fragility of human nature, the insignificance of humans, and the selfishness and fickleness of the heart. Therefore, he understood the complexity and helplessness of others.

He saw everyone struggling hard on their own battlefields. He wanted to reach out as much as possible, but too much experience told him he had better stand by.

Yet, he couldn't do nothing.

As the individual with the most information and the individual with greater capabilities, he had to shoulder more responsibility than others. At the very least, he had to avoid the worst outcomes.

"Yes, if you mean whether Murphy Darkholm is that powerful, that is correct. He is already one of the most powerful wizards in this world."

If Gellert were here, he would definitely mock him for telling the truth again.

This truth would only bring pressure, bring fear to the wizards, make them feel threatened, and thus lead them to make decisions unfavorable to the outcome he wanted to guide them toward.

But honesty was one of the few beautiful qualities he could adhere to. He couldn't sacrifice these "small insistences" for the "greater good."

Sure enough, the wizards became restless again.

"If even you can't defeat him, who can?" someone asked in a panic.

"Perhaps we should avoid direct combat with Murphy; that would be suicide," someone retreated.

But others wanted to gain something else, "We heard that the prisoners of Nurmengard have been released. Some even say that there were others present at that battle between you and Murphy."

"The President is not here to be interrogated by you! Sir!" An American Auror stood up and scolded, "Let's return to the most urgent question. President, what are your thoughts on how to handle Murphy Darkholm?"

"I don't believe all of Murphy's followers are absolutely loyal to him. We don't need to exterminate them. Narrow the scope, reduce the number of enemies, punish only the ringleaders, and let the rest go," Dumbledore said.

This was an idealized proposal, but he would have preferred an even more idealized one in his heart. However, as the President of the Union, he couldn't act according to his own preferences. He had to come up with a feasible plan to avoid people continuing to argue over this issue.

"I second that!"

"Seconded!"

Before long, the moderates raised their hands one after another to express their agreement.

But half of the people present still didn't raise their hands.

"Those British Aurors and Watchers won't think we're innocent. If we want to stop Murphy, we'll inevitably have to fight them. Are we just going to make them surrender with these few words?"

"When necessary, self-defense with force is, of course, appropriate," Dumbledore said.

After saying this, that feeling of weariness struck again. He knew that someone would definitely use this sentence as an excuse to launch an all-out war against British wizards.

And there would definitely be people who, under the pretext of striking at Murphy, would take the opportunity to try to annex Murphy's industries.

Murphy's massive wealth and the methods he used to accumulate it stirred their greed. All the ambitious people felt they could become the second Murphy.

Murphy had really set a very bad precedent.

The meeting eventually sentenced Murphy on fifty-six charges, making him the world's most wanted criminal with a bounty of thirty thousand Galleons.

But beyond that, no substantive decisions were discussed.

International pressure? The British Ministry of Magic had already withdrawn.

Use Muggle society to strike at Umbrella? The Muggles wouldn't listen.

So, all that remained was the path of force, but the President was clearly unwilling to ignite the flames of war in the UK.

As for attacking Murphy's Muggle factories and the like—wizards attacking a group of Muggles who didn't know their own crimes, is that something a decent wizard would do? Privately, of course, some would think so, but no one mentioned it openly.

Thus, the meeting ended hastily without making any effective decisions.

But this clearly didn't align with the wishes of some people.

After the meeting, many wizards connected in twos and threes. Finally, in another ancient castle, a small joint meeting that excluded Dumbledore and the moderates was held in secret.

There were only seventeen or eighteen people present, but each was a high-ranking official in their respective country's Ministry of Magic.

"Dumbledore is truly senile!" someone bombarded the President as soon as it started, "At a time like this, he's still thinking about reducing enemies. How is that possible? Is there anyone in the UK who still listens to him?!"

"I heard some of his subordinates are still active," a wizard said, "but they're barely hanging on."

"Enough, stop talking about that. Did you come here to discuss how to protect the peace of the Wizarding World?" a wizard sneered.

The rest of the crowd fell silent.

Another bald American wizard stood up, "Gentlemen, you are all big figures in the Wizarding World of your respective countries, and some are nobles who have inherited their titles for hundreds of years. I would like to ask you, how many gold coins are in your vaults?"

No one spoke. The American wizard asked again, "Then do you know how many gold coins are in Murphy's vault?"

"Ha, he doesn't need to hoard gold coins in a vault anymore. Now Gringotts—oh, it's called the British Wizarding Central Bank now—the whole bank is his. In the British Wizarding World, whatever he says, it turns into money the moment it hits the ground."

"That's right," the American wizard said, "And the origin of all this is the Umbrella Company. Honestly, I don't care about the Statute of Secrecy or anything like that, and I don't think selling a little watered-down magic potion to Muggles will cause any big problems. If there's a way to bypass the Ministry of Magic to earn Muggle money, I'd be happy to do it too. This Murphy is clearly a kindred spirit."

"But he made things too big. Now that it's attracted attention, Murphy must be eliminated, but what about his Umbrella?"

"You want to swallow Umbrella?" someone sneered, "Aren't you afraid of choking to death?"

(End of chapter)