Leonard froze for a moment, then scratched his head.
"What gave you that idea?"
"Aren't you planning to marry into her family? I figured you should probably start making an effort," Londo said with complete seriousness.
Leonard: ...
"Don't let your imagination run wild. I'm just going over as a guest," Leonard said helplessly. "Anyway, you head back by yourself."
"Oh? Then what about your luggage?" Londo wore a smug expression that said he had already seen through everything. "Don't tell me your luggage has already been sent ahead to the place you're going to 'visit.'"
Leonard rolled his eyes, stopped talking to Londo, waved a hand, and left the station alone.
That so-called visit was naturally just an excuse. Leonard's real purpose this summer was to make a trip to Germany and investigate the place where that suspected Obscurus had appeared.
But speaking of visiting...
Leonard remembered that this summer he seemed to have agreed to visit the Delacour family in France.
He would have to write a letter later and explain that something had come up and he could not make it after all.
Ten minutes later, Knockturn Alley's werewolf compound.
The werewolf wizards responsible for security were patrolling the area. This was the most important core territory of the werewolf wizards, the residence of their leader, Midgard Greyback.
And yet the silence of that stern place was shattered by a roar.
"Have you lost your mind? You're trying to get yourself killed!" Midgard shouted furiously, slamming her palm onto the table with a series of loud bangs.
Claudia shrank back in Leonard's arms in fear, at a loss as she looked at Midgard, who was rarely ever this angry.
Leonard stroked Claudia's slightly faded golden hair. As she grew, her hair was gradually changing toward the silver color of adulthood. Right now it was in a somewhat awkward stage, like a pet in the middle of shedding, with gold and silver strands mixed together in a slightly messy way.
Still, it felt excellent to the touch.
Leonard just kept stroking Claudia's hair and said nothing about Midgard's outburst.
The moment Midgard heard that Leonard intended to personally travel the smuggling route to search for clues, she had fallen into this state of fury.
So far, none of the Apparition points along the smuggling route had reported anything unusual, but that did not mean the route was safe.
Who knew whether the enemies who had attacked the werewolf squad were still lurking around those points, waiting in ambush? If Leonard ran into them, things would get troublesome.
"It's not as dangerous as you think." Leonard shook his head. "You know what kind of person I am, don't you?"
Midgard froze, then fell silent.
What kind of person was Leonard?
Midgard had understood that the first time she met him. When it came to caution, this guy was practically insane.
There was only one explanation for someone like that deliberately stepping into a trap. He was confident he could counter whatever was waiting there.
"There's still no need for you to put yourself in danger. Leave it to me. I can go scout the way," Midgard said.
"You're the leader of the werewolf wizards. The bigger the tree, the more wind it catches. If you go, you really will draw the enemy's attention, but our goal isn't to draw fire. It's to drag those people out into the open. Understand?"
Leonard tapped the table, signaling for Midgard to calm down. "Besides, you're not that much better off than Chercy and the others. If you ran into the same attack, you'd be in trouble too."
"And what makes you different? Do you think that Obscurus you mentioned would just spare you?" Midgard shot back.
"Whether it's a wild Obscurus or one controlled by someone else, there's no such thing as it sparing anyone. But I have ways to counter it, and maybe I can even get a little extra research material out of it. Besides, I suspect those smugglers have a problem."
Leonard continued, "Chercy and the others got their route from those smugglers, right? I plan to start there and pick out the most suspicious target."
Midgard frowned. "But if you do that, you're very likely to run into other dangers too."
If Leonard did not use the werewolves' channels, then the dangers he would face would not just be that unknown enemy of unknown identity and location. He would also have to deal with greedy smugglers, and possibly even poachers.
"Have a little faith in me. You really think they can hurt me?" Leonard smiled. "Just wait for good news. This time, no matter what, I'm tearing off whatever mask the enemy is hiding behind."
...
In the past, Knockturn Alley had been a filthy, corrupt place, the hideout of choice for criminals wanted by the Ministry of Magic and dark wizards carrying out evil experiments.
So back then, smugglers only used Knockturn Alley as a temporary stop for trading. Nobody stupid enough to value their life would choose to live there permanently.
It would have been like dropping a piece of roast meat smeared with honey into an anthill. It would not take long before it was gnawed clean to the bone.
But things were different now. The werewolves had cleaned up Knockturn Alley so thoroughly that it was almost comparable to Diagon Alley. If not for the werewolves' curse, the place would probably have become even more prosperous.
Even smugglers who had no actual dealings with the werewolf wizards were happy to rest and resupply in Knockturn Alley, because doing business and exchanging goods there was easy, and they did not have to worry about being caught by the Ministry of Magic's hounds.
Schneider was one of the smugglers who rested up in Knockturn Alley.
He was a German wizard who had been smuggling for more than forty years, going from a strong but inexperienced young man to an old but crafty professional smuggler.
For years he had specialized in the route between Britain and Germany, making a fortune by taking advantage of the two countries' differing lists of banned goods. He also had more than a dozen underlings who ran smuggling jobs with him.
Of course, besides smuggling goods, they also helped people cross borders illegally on the side.
The sort of people who needed that kind of help were naturally those wanted by one country's Ministry of Magic, but whose crimes were not serious enough to earn a worldwide warrant.
Getting wanted by a single Ministry of Magic was easy. Schneider's own line of work was enough for that. But getting wanted by every Ministry of Magic in the world was much harder.
Schneider watched his men sort through the goods while he sat on top of a stack of crates drinking liquor, half-squinting as he thought about that legendary wizard who had come out of Germany.
That had been an almost mythical feat. Only someone who made Ministries of Magic all over the world feel threatened could end up with an international warrant issued through the International Confederation of Wizards. Up to now, only one person had ever received that honor.
Compared to that man, this country's so-called You-Know-Who seemed a little small-time. Even the Ministry of Magic here, which had nearly been forced to dissolve under You-Know-Who's pressure, felt somewhat contemptible by comparison.
Just as Schneider was reminiscing about the might of that legendary wizard from the past, one of his younger men came running over.
"Boss, someone wants passage," he called out loudly.
"Passage" was just a code word for smuggling someone across the border. Since it was hardly the sort of thing that could be discussed openly, using a euphemism was perfectly normal.
"Oh?" Schneider perked up at once, tucked away his silver flask, and called out, "Where are they? Let me have a look first."