Sagres calmly watched him do all of this, and only when Barnabas gave up struggling did he slowly speak: "As a wizard, you only thought to pick up your wand and face me at the very end…"
Sagres shook his head. "Tsk tsk. To be honest, I'm very disappointed."
"You... you think you can solve everything with violence...?"
A low chuckle escaped Sagres. "Solve? But of course, violence isn't an answer."
He slowly leaned toward Barnabas, "It's a question. And you know what my answer is."
His gaze turned cold. Lethal.
"B-But… you can't do this…" Barnabas Guffey stammered. "Once you do anything to harm me, you'll be dragged back to Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic, and this time even Dumbledore won't be able to save you."
"Harm you? Of course, I won't harm you…" Sagres said in surprise. "I'm just not very satisfied with your evaluation of me and my teaching methods~"
He reached into the flames and took out a burning, brand-new proof, then casually shook it, and the flames were immediately extinguished. The half-burnt newspaper was instantly restored to its complete form.
"For example, this part…" He pointed to a report on the newspaper. "'Shocking Teaching Methods, Dangerous Individual Could Lead to Hogwarts Closure.' I really don't title. How about we change it?"
The letters on the newspaper fell off in response and rearranged themselves on the parchment to form new words: "Daily Prophet Editor Mysteriously Dies, Reportedly Suffered Horrible Torture Before Death."
Gulp.. Barnabas Guffey's face was pale, cold sweat streamed down his temples, and he couldn't utter a word.
Sagres glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "It seems Mr. Guffey isn't very pleased."
"In that case, let's discuss a headline that everyone is satisfied with."
He placed the newspaper on the desk, and the letters on the newspaper rearranged themselves once again: "Hogwarts Pioneers Practical Charm Courses, Controllable Risks, Significant Results…"
Barnabas Guffey was stunned for a moment, then nodded frantically in agreement.
Sagres smiled and nodded upon seeing this. "Very good, it seems Mr. Guffey is also very satisfied."
He leaned back in his chair, watching the other party try to force a smile onto his face, and continued with a smile, "Now, I hope Mr. Guffey can tell me one thing…"
Barnabas Guffey's forced smile froze on his face, and Sagres's smile gradually disappeared.
"Who exactly asked you to do this?"
Legilimency was instantly activated, easily breaking through the opponent's clumsy Occlumency.
"Carbott Flint!" Sagres immediately got the answer he wanted.
However, to be safe, he continued by using three variant spells of Memory Charm—Memory Recall, Obliviate All, and Memory Weave.
First, he used Memory Recall to get the detailed circumstances of the other party's meeting with Carbott Flint, then used Memory Weave to create a false memory, and finally used Obliviate All to erase all memories of tonight's meeting.
After completing all of this, he Apparated away from the Daily Prophet's editorial office.
As soon as Sagres Apparated into the Flint family manor, the gargoyle Scarfella in the cellar immediately opened his eyes.
The tall figure raised his head and sniffed lightly, then his orange-yellow pupils suddenly contracted—like a beast locking onto its prey.
"Hunters of the Blood Moon Alliance!" Gargoyle's cruel and stern voice echoed in the darkness, and immediately, seven or eight more pairs of cold, glowing eyes appeared in the cellar.
"The prey has delivered himself!"
The ashen-grey, three-story Baroque building lay nestled deep within the withered beech forest, with the faded silver-green crest suspended above the wrought-iron gate.
This was not Sagres's first time here.
Two years ago, he had come here while pursuing an official wanted by the Ministry of Magic; he still remembered the man's name—Leonard Flint.
Without any intention of knocking, Sagres raised his hand and cast a Blasting Charm, and the heavy iron gate was immediately blown open with a large hole, all protective magic rendered useless in the face of the powerful Frenzy Reducto.
An elderly house-elf poked his head out of the broken part of the iron gate, and upon seeing Sagres's figure, he immediately jumped out of the hole with a distorted face.
"What have you done? You filthy half-blood!" He pointed at Sagres and cursed, "How dare you destroy the ancient architecture of the Flint family? Are you not afraid of the noble Lord Flint's wrath?"
The elderly house-elf angrily snapped his fingers. The iron gate opened, and two teams of alchemy golems holding weapons and wearing steel armor marched out in formation.
Sagres ignored them completely and directly shot a Severing Charm at the house-elf.
Just as the spell was about to hit the other party's neck, a circular Shield Charm appeared in front of the house-elf, blocking the rapidly approaching spell light.
"Corcian, get out of the way!" Carbott ordered the house-elf to leave without looking back, then waved his wand at the dark corridor, and more steel golems filed out.
"Who do we have here—isn't this the dangerous individual repeatedly criticized by the Daily Prophet?" Carbott sneered. "What, have you come with your filthy Mudblood lineage to beg for forgiveness from an ancient family?"
"Forgiveness is Merlin's business," Sagres said calmly, toying with his wand. "I can send you to him."
The smile on Carbott's face disappeared. The tip of his wand flickered with electricity, and he suppressed the urge to attack as he continued, "Two years ago, you killed my brother, practically destroying all the Flint family's foundations in the Ministry of Magic…"
"Are you talking about that madman who wanted to use his wife's brain matter to repair the family tree because she gave birth to a Squib?" Sagres smiled indifferently. "I guess the Flint family's tapestry is almost eaten away by Squib branches!"
"Sagres!" Carbott rose in a rage. "The Flint family's long lineage has crushed countless powerful enemies, and you—you don't even have the right to be a doorman in my family's cemetery!"
"As foolish as ever, huh?~"
Sagres paid no mind to the insult. He waved his hand to clear the poisonous thorn vines that had grown from the ground, then drew his wand and walked toward the other party.
"Filthy half-blood, I must say, you're very brave…" Carbott's tone was somewhat strange—suppressed anger mixed with sarcasm. "Do you think you can walk out of the Flint family's territory alive today?"
Sagres couldn't help but let out a soft laugh upon hearing this. "With just you?"
As soon as his voice fell, a conical light thorn rapidly flew toward Carbott.
"Protego!" Carbott quickly used a Shield Charm to block, but the huge impact directly knocked him flying until he hit the wall and stopped.
A piercing werewolf howl came from not far away, and Sagres looked at the werewolf rushing toward him in the distance, a strange smile involuntarily appearing on his face.
"I was wondering why you had the guts to bother me. Turns out you have these wolf cubs backing you up…" He calmly walked forward, his Everbloom wand lightly pointing at Carbott, who had fallen into the corner. "Do you know there's a saying—'leading a wolf into the house'?"
Carbott, lying on the ground, did not answer; the violent impact had broken all his ribs, but he still endured the pain and waved his wand to cast a spell.
"I hest the dead to cometh f'rth, arise!!" Carbott shouted with a ferocious expression!
Then came the sound—Nails clawing through rotted wood and packed soil.
The earth split open like dry parchment.
And under the withered central tree in the backyard, the corpses of Squibs executed and buried by previous family heads immediately burst out of the ground.
"So that's it," he said slowly, his tone like steel cooled in ice. "All those Squibs your family buried… turns out they weren't just stains on your tapestry... They were insurance."