Mysterious Journey

Chapter 708: A Different Kind of Conversation

In the three weeks that followed, Newt suddenly became the busiest person in the whole house.

Whenever he had a moment, he would grab his top hat and cash, heading to various cities in Russia and Ukraine to visit his old friends. Often, it was late at night when the old wizard would emerge from the fireplace, his face etched with fatigue.

There were no joyful reunions.

In most cases, Newt only experienced one sorrowful memorial after another.

During the First Wizarding War, the Soviet magical community suffered perhaps the most severe losses to magical civilization. As the last stronghold against Gellert Grindelwald's advance, Koldovstoretz School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was almost completely razed.

Tens of thousands of wizards sacrificed their lives in the war that lasted for over twenty years, leading to a severe break in the magical lineage.

Rising from the ruins and reclaiming past glory was no easy task.

Especially when this process was often interspersed with natural and man-made disasters, it became even more difficult.

If Voldemort's decades-long "shadow of black magic" stagnated the British wizarding world for nearly twenty years, then the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant six years ago almost extinguished the last spark of the former Soviet magical community.

Perhaps the death toll wasn't as high, but those old wizards who had survived the Wizarding War almost all fell on that land.

Just as the cause of death recorded on Ivanovich's tombstone stated, high-risk curses, or rather, nuclear radiation.

The magical community defined this situation as "Wizard's Woe," and the radiation zone was marked as the "Wizard Exclusion Zone."

Wizards are no stronger than Muggles in the face of high-intensity radiation—especially when cancer cells appear. Conventional healing magic not only cannot alleviate the condition but will further accelerate the wizard's death.

In fact, even without using healing magic, the magic within a wizard's body will spontaneously perform similar "self-healing."

High-intensity radiation is far more harmful to wizards than Muggles. This is a force that wizards cannot understand and is also the most unsettling force for Ministry of Magic officials. The influence of Gellert Grindelwald still lingers on the European continent, and many wizards still firmly believe that this is a weapon specially developed by Muggles to deal with wizards.

Therefore, after the Chernobyl accident, the International Confederation of Wizards immediately issued a recommendation for complete evacuation.

Most young wizards chose to leave the former Soviet Union or set up layers of magical and physical barriers around their homes to ensure that they would not be affected by the stupidity of Muggles.

Only a very few, some stubborn old fellows with special beliefs, chose to violate the Ministry of Magic's ban.

Naturally, they were eventually subjected to a joint trial by the Wizengamot International Wizarding Court. Even though they had erased the memories of most of their fellow Soviet soldiers, the charge of openly "violating the International Statute of Secrecy" was still found to be true.

Considering that most of these "foolish" wizards had already been infected with "Wizard's Woe."

In addition, most of these old wizards were "war heroes" who had participated in the First Wizarding War and protected the International Statute of Secrecy from being destroyed by Gellert Grindelwald. The magical community did not choose to send them to the death chamber or a prison like Azkaban for processing, nor did it conduct large-scale publicity about the trial.

During this process, all trials and pronouncements were conducted in secret.

Therefore, apart from a very small number of wizards, most people in the magical community only received news similar to "Pripyat has become a Wizard Exclusion Zone" and "Several Grindelwald followers have been arrested for violating the Statute of Secrecy"...

Ivanovich was just one of them.

The Aurors from various Ministries of Magic confiscated the wands of those obstinate old fellows, then placed them under house arrest, leaving them to fend for themselves. Their achievements were unknown, but their names were all recorded on the magical world's list of first-level dangerous individuals, alongside Gellert Grindelwald and others.

On the other hand, most of this group of wizards willing to stay in this land were also the torchbearers supporting the inheritance of magical civilization in Russia, Ukraine, and other places.

Their deaths and imprisonment were extremely detrimental to the magical civilization of this region.

Even in the eyes of many wizards who knew the inside story, Ivanovich and others' actions were still sacrificing the interests of wizards to help Muggles, especially those Muggles who were trying to play with the dangerous power of "Wizard's Woe."

However...

"...Ivanovich betrayed the magical community! I will never forgive him!"

"My grandpa is not a bad person! He is not that kind of person you say!"

During these weeks, Newt Scamander would often hear the indignant voice of the middle-aged wizard and the naive, stubborn rebuttals of the little girl, which made him look much more haggard than usual.

Worse, this was just a microcosm of over two hundred "criminal" families...

However, no matter how much Tina asked, Newt didn't reveal the reason.

More accurately, whenever Tina started pressing him about what had happened these past few days, Newt's mind would be filled with those cold tombstones. This approach was effective, although it made him look increasingly absent-minded, as Tina Scamander began to worry that her husband might be suffering from senile dementia.

Newt Scamander was very clear about what he was facing and the significance of that answer.

This was not a small problem that could be solved by defeating one or two evil wizards or arguing with the Ministry of Magic. Perhaps Aileen's approach was more gentle than Grindelwald's back then, but the resistance they faced was essentially the same.

If the Ministry of Magic had long been like a high wall between the non-magical and magical worlds, then Aileen and Grindelwald were like people on either side of the wall, with completely different goals and ideologies ultimately leading to the same result: breaking down that wall between the two worlds, with one seeking to rule and the other to integrate.

As time passed, Newt's heart became more and more wavering and anxious...

On the one hand, he was afraid of becoming an accomplice to the next dark lord. On the other hand, he was worried that stories similar to Ivanovich's would continue to repeat themselves. In fact, judging from the current situation in the non-magical world, people's lives were reaching their limit.

"One more, one more...this world shouldn't be so difficult..."

Newt seemed to be in some kind of trance, constantly wandering on that land, searching for information about his old friends, hoping to find one or two pieces of evidence to refute Aileen, or rather, a glimmer of hope that even he didn't know.

Finally, that day arrived.

During the daytime, Newt's work of visiting friends finally came to an end.

It was still a journey without a meeting, but it was slightly different from before.

The Lotnikov family, who had previously lived in the suburbs of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, had not suffered any impact from the disaster six years ago. On the contrary, their lives had become better than before.

According to the information Newt Scamander had gathered, the Lotnikov family had moved away from Ukraine six years ago.

The last time Lotnikov appeared in the magical world's records was in that shocking "illegal gathering in Pripyat" involving hundreds of well-known wizards...However, he was there as an informant and important witness.

In any case, after that, the Lotnikov family completely disappeared from the former Soviet magical community.

It was said that someone had seen Lotnikov in the countryside of Louisiana in the United States, but it seemed that the family had also changed their names when they moved, so the person couldn't be sure if they had seen the Lotnikov family.

But in any case, the Lotnikov family should be doing well now.

After all, they had received a substantial reward from the International Confederation of Wizards a few years ago, and it was even said that they had also received a Merlin Order, Second Class—this was an award for Lotnikov's protection of the International Statute of Secrecy.

"Heh, Merlin Order, Second Class..."

Newt stood in the study, turned his head, and glanced at the Merlin Order, Second Class, that belonged to him on the bookshelf. It was an award issued by the magical community to recognize his "contributions to the study of magical creatures and magizoology."

For some reason, for the first time in his life, he felt that this medal looked a little dim.

And next to this glittering medal, there was now a pile of medals that looked a little rough and old.

Most of them were Great Patriotic War medals with the hammer and sickle symbol. These mostly came from Ivanoff and the hands of his comrades-in-arms. A small part of them were Chernobyl rescue medals with a drop of blood and three curves printed on them. These came more from the descendants of those deceased old wizards.

Newt Scamander raised his hand, his index finger sliding over the medals, a hint of hesitation flashing in his eyes.

Can the non-magical and magical worlds really coexist in the sunlight?

If you want to get something, must one side make a sacrifice?

Or rather...

"Newt! What are you doing dawdling upstairs?"

Just then, Tina Scamander's roar came from the living room downstairs.

"The kids are all waiting for you at the dinner table! If you don't come down, you can forget about eating at home for the next week and go find your old friends in Russia and Ukraine to eat with!"

Today was also the last weekend that Aileen and the others would spend at Newt Scamander's house.

Tomorrow was the last day of August. After the girls said goodbye to the British Quidditch National Team, they would start packing their luggage and then return to their respective homes to hug their parents. Then they would board the train to Hogwarts.

Tina Scamander had prepared a lavish dinner for this, with four or five kinds of fish alone.

In fact, several days ago, Tina had already begun to prepare and collect the ingredients that Aileen, Luna, Hannah, and the others wanted to eat, including marinating in advance, as well as sauce preparation and fermentation.

Because of this, Newt had managed to get away with it these past few days without being locked in bed by Tina's barrage of questions.

However, judging from his wife's increasingly kind expression these days, it was clear that Tina's patience was nearing its limit, and she would probably start packing him up after seeing off the children. Newt had a lot of experience with this.

As a former Auror, Tina Scamander had considerable magical skills in interrogation.

Therefore, if possible, it was best to resolve anything while the children were around.

Otherwise...

"I'm coming down, don't rush..."

The thought of the possible scene made Newt shudder. He quickly closed the medal box and hurried downstairs.

And on the desk behind him, the address book containing the contact information of Newt Scamander's old friends in the magical community was slowly fading, gradually disappearing from the parchment.

***

The last night's dinner was exceptionally lavish, with nearly ten dishes in total.

Considering that they would be leaving tomorrow, Aileen rarely commented on the slightly extravagant preparations. Anyway, the Scamander family was not short of small animals to clean up, and Little Stew could be enlarged at any time if necessary.

On the other hand, Aileen also wanted to take advantage of this last time to demonstrate some everyday dishes to Mrs. Scamander.

Therefore, when Newt arrived in the kitchen, the cooking for the evening had not yet finished.

"Honey bread has been baked, and today's side dishes are stir-fried carrots, crab cakes, spicy vegetable crisps, sour milk cheese...um, let me think, there's still a pan-fried Portobello mushroom missing, that should be about it."

Aileen, wearing an apron, counted the dishes that had already been cooked while mentally calculating the remaining ingredients.

Unlike the common shiitake mushrooms in China, the British culinary world prefers to use larger mushrooms like Portobello, which have larger caps, flatter shapes, and more juice. However, due to the limitations of the times, the British culinary world, which has not yet awakened, is still quite rudimentary in the development of Portobello mushrooms, often limited to the simplest pan-frying.

"When preparing side dishes, sliced Portobello mushrooms are undoubtedly the best choice to complement meat dishes..."

Along with the girl's voice, Tina Scamander flicked her wand lightly, commanding the kitchen knife to cut the mushrooms into perfect semi-circular slices. After a month of getting along, she had become quite skilled in this kind of delicate operation.

In the frying pan, two tablespoons of butter and olive oil that had been placed in advance had already melted over medium-high heat, emitting a hint of tempting buttery aroma. The fresh sliced mushrooms jumped into the pan one by one under the command of magic. After being stirred and fried in the butter and olive oil for a few minutes, most of the butter and olive oil were absorbed into the thick mushrooms.

"So, I'll leave the next process to you?"

Aileen glanced at the slightly shrunken mushroom slices, turned down the heat, used a spatula to create a small space in the middle of the frying pan, and then added the cream, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme that she had prepared in advance. While waiting for them to mix together, she turned to look at Mrs. Scamander standing next to her.

In fact, Aileen would not choose to complete all the processes alone in the later part of this month.

As a food lover, she could very much understand the pain of tasting delicious dishes cooked by others, especially after witnessing the cooking process, only to find that she could not cook the same delicacies by following the recipe.

After all, this kitchen would still belong to Ms. Tina Scamander after they left.

"Don't worry, dear...I'll take care of it here."

Tina Scamander glanced at her husband, who was walking down the stairs, signaling him not to come over and cause trouble for the time being, and then turned to look at Aileen with a smile and answered confidently.

They had eaten pan-fried Portobello mushrooms several times these days, and Tina was not unfamiliar with this dish.

According to previous experience, at this time, she only needed to continue stirring for about ten minutes, and the Portobello mushrooms would release a lot of fresh mushroom juice, and then sprinkle in two spoons of flour, patiently stirring and reducing the sauce little by little. When she could no longer see obvious lumps of flour, it would be almost half done.

"...Don't forget to add beef broth this time, and Worcestershire sauce!"

Aileen shrugged and added with a smile.

After more than a month of getting along, the relationship between the girls and Tina Scamander had become very familiar. Aileen knew very well how muddled this seemingly capable Mrs. Scamander was when it came to cooking.

Mixing up salt and sugar was just the most common situation.

More often, Mrs. Scamander would not realize that she had missed one or two key steps until the dishes were in the pot, or until the dishes were about to be finished cooking, and then she would start using all kinds of strange magic to remedy them.

Although a lot of ingredients were wasted, Aileen had also learned a lot of novel cooking magic from Tina on the other hand.

For example, if she found that she had accidentally added too much salt, she would immediately use the transfiguration spell to clear all the salt particles. If the purpose was clear, this kind of remedial efficiency could even ensure that the amount of seasoning she used each time was accurate to within a milligram error.

It had to be admitted that compared to the top chefs in the non-magical world, under the condition of not adding medicine, magical cooking might not improve the upper limit of dishes as much as imagined, but as an auxiliary correction method, it could greatly raise the lower limit of wizards in the kitchen, allowing most people to reach a level above the qualified line.

At least after Aileen's month-long "cooking class," according to Aileen's visual estimation, Mrs. Scamander's cooking level in daily British dishes was almost close to the chef level of most mid-level restaurants.

"Of course, of course, I won't forget this time...Chef Caslana's exclusive recipe."

Tina Scamander replied with a smile, her wand skillfully tapping.

"Beef broth, with a little bit of Worcestershire sauce, this is a cooking combination that I had never thought of before."

The Worcestershire sauce bottle on the condiment table not far away floated over lightly and landed next to the frying pan she was in charge of, ready to add the sauce at any time, so as to make the sauce of the pan-fried mushrooms thick and delicious together with the beef broth.

This Worcestershire sauce, which originated in Worcestershire, England, can be said to be one of the most iconic seasonings in England.

Although the taste of Worcestershire sauce is sweet, sour, and slightly spicy, and the color is dark brown, it seems to be somewhat similar to the soy sauce commonly used in the East, but in fact, there are still considerable differences between the two in terms of raw materials, uses, and taste.

Unlike the soybean soy sauce used in Chinese dishes today, Worcestershire sauce is undoubtedly much more complicated in the process.

If Aileen remembered correctly, a standard bottle of Worcestershire sauce needs to use nearly 30 kinds of spices and seasonings such as barley vinegar, white vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies, tamarind, onion, garlic, celery, horseradish, ginger, pepper, and star anise. After heating, boiling, filtering, and fermenting, it can finally be filled and finished.

In fact, the longer Aileen lived in England, the more she understood a truth.

Even England, which is known as "a desert of food" and "the dark culinary world of Europe," actually has many top-quality seasonings with imagination and care, such as Worcestershire sauce. What they lack is just a person who can discover all this beauty. Just like simple soy sauce is not delicious, it still supports a large part of Chinese cuisine.

And in this regard, isn't the magical community the same?

Aileen glanced at Newt Scamander, who was standing awkwardly outside the kitchen area, seemingly wanting to say something, but was afraid to approach because of his wife's authority, and the corners of her mouth curved into an arc full of expectation.

On the last day, she finally waited for Newt to take the initiative to speak.

The goblins of Gringotts Wizarding Bank had already sent her Newt's bill. In this month, Newt Scamander had withdrawn cash from Gringotts Wizarding Bank 2-3 times a week on average, and in most cases, he had exchanged Galleons for pounds, dollars, and rubles. Connecting this with his recent movements, it was almost possible to know what was going on.

"Mr. Scamander, you've come just in time! Can you come over and give me a hand?"

Aileen turned her head and gave Newt Scamander a sweet smile.

"Eh? Me?" Newt was slightly stunned and pointed at himself hesitantly.

Although he did have some things he wanted to talk to Aileen about, but...

In his beast-like keen intuition, he always felt that the silver-haired Veela hybrid in front of him seemed to be emitting a hint of malice, just like the succubus in Muggle legends who spread their wings and swayed their tails.

However, apart from him, neither Mrs. Scamander nor the other two girls seemed to feel this way.

Without giving Newt Scamander too much time to hesitate, Aileen spread her hands and pointed around at the kitchen workbenches, and then explained in a slightly troubled tone.

"Well, look, there's still clam chowder and salmon flambé to cook. It's inevitable that there will be some oversights if I do it alone. But don't worry, what you need to do is not complicated. If you can help me keep an eye on the heat and do some simple timing work, that would be great."

"But I..." Newt Scamander glanced at his wife and murmured.

"Newt! The kids are leaving tomorrow!"

Mrs. Scamander was facing away from Newt, concentrating on her pan-fried Portobello mushrooms, and said in a calm tone.

"Um, okay, okay...so what do I need to do?"

Newt sighed helplessly, walked to Aileen, and asked warily.

In the previous few days, Aileen had rarely invited him into the kitchen area. In Newt Scamander's impression, most of the time, he would sit quietly at the dining table with Hannah and Luna, waiting for dinner.

Therefore, from any point of view, Aileen's invitation seemed strange.

Just as Newt was still hesitating, the little white fluffball seemed to be unable to wait any longer and hopped over to take his hand and walk towards the kitchen workbench, while introducing him like a general inspecting his territory.

"Oh, it's very simple, clam chowder can be said to be the best soup. The most important thing about this dish is to let the rich flavor of the salted pork and the unique aroma of seafood complement each other, so as to achieve a perfect balance..."

From Tina Scamander's perspective, Aileen began to talk about cooking with gusto again. This was perhaps one of the few things about the girl that made her feel helpless. Even if the other party was Newt, who knew nothing about cooking, this lovely and serious little chef would not miss such an essential step.

"I've almost finished the preliminary work for the soup. I've already spread the diced salted pork at the bottom of the pan, then covered it with potatoes, sprinkled it with herbs, diced onions, black pepper, and finally covered it with a layer of clams. I simmered salmon broth, added water to cover all the ingredients, and stewed it for almost thirty minutes..."

But...

The above was only what Tina Scamander and a group of little witches heard.

As Aileen's hand touched his palm, Newt felt as if he had passed through a thin ripple—no! More accurately, it should be that he was covered in a thin, invisible barrier.

In Newt Scamander's ears, this sound became much smaller.

Vaguely, it was like background music coming from a distant place. What was truly clear and audible was another passage, and at the same time, Aileen's mischievous, devil-like expression became clear.

"So, you've finally made up your mind? Mr. Scamander?"

"Huh? What are you..."

Newt shook his head subconsciously and looked worriedly at his wife, who was a few steps away from him.

Not far away, Tina Scamander was still concentrating on cooking the pan-fried Portobello mushrooms in the pot.

Because it had absorbed a lot of butter and olive oil in advance, the juicy Portobello mushrooms needed to be constantly stirred during the subsequent cooking process. Otherwise, it would easily lead to only one side of the mushroom juice being cooked out, while the juice on the other side would accumulate unevenly in the cap, resulting in a bad situation where half of the dish was greasy and half was bland when it was served.

"Relax, Newt, don't be nervous. Unless you touch my skin, everything they see and hear within at least half an hour is an illusion created by me using 'Binary Reversal Reconstruction Architecture Magic'—"

Aileen said with a smile, spreading her arms and spinning around flexibly.

"With me as the center, within a radius of about one meter, it is completely under my control—all sounds and lights have been processed and isolated. Even the lip movements have been simulated and recorded in advance, there won't be any flaws."

"This is that extremely advanced illusion magic that you developed yourself...?"

Newt looked thoughtfully at the surrounding environment, unable to see any inconsistencies.

However, judging from his wife's reaction not far away, Tina clearly didn't notice what was happening here—unless Tina Scamander would cooperate with these little girls to play a bad joke.

Undoubtedly, even if Newt had raised his vigilance and assessment of Aileen countless times in his heart.

But countless facts proved that this little witch, who was personally trained by Gellert Grindelwald and Albus Dumbledore, had already reached a new realm of magical talent that he could not understand.

But...

"Sorry, I don't quite understand, what's the point of you doing this?"

Newt Scamander frowned, looking at Aileen, who was fiddling with the workbench in front of her from time to time, while looking at him with an interested gaze, which gave him the illusion that he was the salmon on the girl's cutting board.

"I mean...if you plan to chat with me alone, there's no need to take such a risk and chat about some not-so-appropriate content at a not-so-appropriate time—maybe we should sit down and discuss it properly after dinner."

Looking at the workbench full of various ingredients, Newt immediately felt another headache.

Cooking-related matters were indeed his weakness, so he really didn't understand why Aileen insisted on talking about serious matters when eating or cooking, especially such serious and sad important matters.

At least as far as Newt knew, the previous two dark lords didn't have such unserious bad habits.

"First of all, I need to correct one thing, talking about things while eating and cooking is the most appropriate time!"

Aileen raised her finger and shook it lightly, continuing quite seriously.

"More importantly..."

"Only in this way will Mrs. Scamander not be suspicious—if I'm not mistaken, you haven't told your wife about your whereabouts these past few days, right? If you don't explain it clearly tonight, your situation will probably be quite dangerous after I, Hannah, and Luna leave here tomorrow."

"Eh? Dangerous? Why?" Newt was slightly stunned.

"Isn't that obvious...sigh, forget it, just listen to me."

Aileen glanced at Newt Scamander, who was still a little confused, and shook her head helplessly.

What a hopeless guy. If it weren't for the fact that he had saved the world and was a powerful wizard himself, let alone getting married and having children, he probably would have been killed in a secluded alley before he reached middle age.

"Anyway, you have a quarter of an hour now..."

Aileen pointed to the clam and salted pork soup that had been stewing for thirty minutes in front of her.

In the interval when the two were talking just now, she had already added milk and soda cracker crumbs to it. It only needed to be stewed for about ten more minutes, and then added to the cream and wheat flour paste that had been melted and fried in another pan.

At the same time, a small and exquisite timer had appeared on the workbench.

The Binary Reversal Reconstruction Architecture Magic only changed the optical phenomena. Even though it could constrain the sound within a local area under Aileen's optimization, it was essentially just a more clever illusion magic.

On the other hand, she couldn't maintain this degree of "Aileen Time" for too long at the moment.

After at most a quarter of an hour, she would need to release the magic and restore everything to its original state.

"Therefore, if you have anything to say, I suggest you don't hesitate for too long...In this quarter of an hour, if you have any questions, I will answer you truthfully—as a reward for taking care of me and your wife this month."

Aileen's lake blue eyes glanced at Newt, and the corners of her mouth raised, saying meaningfully.

"But even if you miss this opportunity, I don't think it will have too much of an impact on your life, but I'm a little worried that those who have placed their expectations on you...may not be able to wait too long."

"How do you know this?! Did you send someone to follow me?!"

Newt Scamander's pupils contracted violently, and a look of extreme shock appeared on his face.

"Follow you? Please don't misunderstand, I wouldn't do such a boring and inefficient thing, and I don't think I can monitor your movements without being discovered by you—it's just a little simple analysis based on big data."

Aileen stirred the cream paste in front of her, shrugged, and explained casually.

"The principle is very simple, every pound and gold coin flowing out of Gringotts is recorded with a number, and we can trace all the transactions it made after leaving and entering the scope of Gringotts' business. You wouldn't think that the industry involved by Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which has a history of nearly a thousand years, only includes the most basic currency custody business, right?"

"So...you actually knew all this, but you've been watching all along?!"

"Watching? No, I've been selling them potatoes at a reasonably fair market price. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to monopolize the market. In the past six months, Gringotts Wizarding Bank has recovered nearly 120 billion rubles."

Aileen shook her head lightly, saying with a hint of pride.

"Why?!"

Newt Scamander frowned, his face a little ugly, and blurted out subconsciously.

"Why are you doing this? You're already so rich..."

From his perspective, as the goblin queen of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, it would be easy for Aileen to save those people living in difficult circumstances. Twenty pounds could maintain a family's expenses for a whole week.

And what made him even more unacceptable was that even at this time, there were still people thinking about squeezing wealth from those poor people.

"So, do you think Gringotts Wizarding Bank should give them a subsidy every month?"

Aileen raised her head and gave Newt a rather strange look, raising her eyebrows.

"Mr. Scamander, the relief you have shown in the past month is extremely noble, but I think you should have gradually realized that that little bit of pounds is just a drop in the bucket for the whole world—"

"47 non-magical families, 29 magical families, this is the result of your relief this month."

"But the potatoes provided by Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Destiny Group, and Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the past six months allowed 10.24 million people to get through the most difficult winter and spring, only accepting ruble payments—of course, I don't think you understand now."

Aileen explained in a calm tone, with no trace of complacency or pride on her face.

"By the way, let me add that even now, about one-tenth of the potatoes and bread in Ukraine and Russia are still provided by Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Professor Dumbledore's personal mobile farm space."

1989 to 1990 was a year of global crop failure.

What followed was a sharp rise in international food prices. At that time, the tottering former Soviet Union no longer had the money to buy food from the international market. In order to break through this predicament, the only solution was to allow farms to freely sell food at market prices, and to motivate farmers to grow food through profits, thereby improving food production as a whole.

However, that largest country in human history ultimately failed to see the moment of dawn.

With the arrival of 1992, Ukraine, Russia, and other countries that had just welcomed freedom for less than a month began to face a very serious problem—their food reserves had become extremely short.

This was also why, although the collapse of the Soviet Union in the eyes of the world was somewhat incredible, neither most of the former Soviet people nor the rulers in the years that followed considered returning everything to the way it was before.

No one was willing to maintain a government that always made them hungry.

Compared with cherishing the glory of the past, more people first wanted to find a way to survive in this terrible world.

"I think...the idea that you are afraid of 'personal change' is because you and most people always have a strange idea that in order to get something, you must sacrifice or give up certain things. But..."

Aileen glanced at Newt Scamander, who was silent, and pulled out her wand and gently poked the pan in front of her.

The paste that had been stirred into a paste rose into the air and fell into the iron pot that was about to finish cooking next to it, quickly stirring into a thick and smooth soup. The aroma of seafood and salted meat blended together extremely beautifully, floating in the air.

"But humans, especially us wizards, as a small group of people who have mastered wonderful powers, we are so powerful, smart, and creative. We must be able to find a way to break through this rule of equivalent exchange..."

"Isn't magic just like that, a fairytale-like power?"

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Back on the second day!

Another ten-thousand-word chapter! Make up for the update!

ps: Tonight's chapter may make some people feel hungry, so try to watch it with food.