"Mhm, mhm." Fuchsie nodded vigorously. "We have two local stores that act as agents for Silver Lightning Trading Company's products. Those magic lamps and record players sell really well, but they're very expensive, and they're always in short supply. I can't even buy them when I want to. The Ministry of Magic also purchased some; I saw them in the Director's office, so I can recognize the emblem on them."
After excitedly expressing her admiration, Fuchsie suddenly realized what the young man in front of her had just implied about the business.
"Could it be? You're the owner of the Silver Lightning Trading Company?" Fuchsie looked at Alan with some disbelief.
"That's right. The Silver Lightning Alchemy Development Company is indeed my industry. I came to Germany this time to discuss cooperation with local chambers of commerce."
Alan wasn't lying. The contracts he had signed with German merchants back in Egypt were somewhat conservative, mostly consisting of fixed orders rather than long-term trade agreements. This meant that once the goods for the existing orders were shipped, the contracts would expire, and it was uncertain whether he would continue to cooperate with those firms.
Apart from those knowledgeable and wealthy alchemy masters in Egypt, few countries dared to be so bold as to sign long-term cooperation agreements directly. After all, signing such a contract meant a certain volume of orders had to be placed every single year, regardless of whether there was enough business to sustain them. This was quite risky for many small companies and trading firms. At the same time, Alan didn't fully understand the actual operating conditions of the other companies, so he mostly preferred short-term orders. He had only signed long-term contracts with the Egyptian companies he knew well and the Romanian meat product merchant.
Alan's trip to Europe this time was also an opportunity to investigate local industries, weed out uncooperative partners with insufficient strength or poor credibility, and then establish stable, long-term relationships.
"Oh my goodness, I only heard that the owner of the Silver Lightning Trading Company was a young wizard, and that he had reportedly won the International Alchemy Conference's Gold Award for Pioneering Contributions. So it was you!" Fuchsie now looked at Alan excitedly, as if she wanted to melt him with her gaze.
"There's nothing to boast about. By the way, you haven't fully explained the division of Germany to me yet," Alan quickly steered the conversation back on track.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes." Fuchsie stuck out her tongue a little awkwardly. As a witch who had only graduated from magic school a few years ago, she didn't possess a high level of professional etiquette and still acted a bit like a student.
"The German wizarding world is currently split much like Muggle society, divided into East Germany and West Germany according to the country," Fuchsie composed herself and organized her thoughts before continuing. "And the Floo Network between East and West Germany is now treated like networks between completely different countries; it's not fully connected. As you know, countries cannot directly connect their domestic Floo Networks to one another."
Alan nodded in understanding. He was aware of this protocol. In Europe, the Floo Network between different countries was kept disconnected, as it involved complex diplomatic and security issues.
However, in the wizarding world, national divisions in many places didn't align entirely with those in the ordinary Muggle world. For example, although Spain and Portugal were two separate nations, their wizarding world was unified. Another example was Ireland and England; they were separate entities in the Muggle world, but in the wizarding world, they fell under the unified jurisdiction of the British Ministry of Magic. Conversely, Northern Europe was divided into three distinct nations in the Muggle world but was actually jointly managed by a single Ministry of Magic in the wizarding world.
But generally, countries were still distinguished much like they were in the Muggle world, and national borders were basically consistent with Muggle territories.
The reason for this was twofold. On one hand, most national divisions were rooted in cultural and linguistic differences, and a large portion of wizards in any given region were Muggle-born, so this division was more in line with local social conditions. On the other hand, the Statute of Secrecy needed to be jointly maintained by the Ministry of Magic and the local Muggle government. The Ministry of Magic had an obligation to protect Muggle leaders and establish steady communication, so matching one Muggle government to one Ministry of Magic was far more practical. The reason behind situations like Northern Europe, with three countries and a single Ministry of Magic, was mainly due to their similar culture and language, combined with a sparse population.
In fact, the main reason Grindelwald was able to rise to power back then was because World War I had led to chaotic changes in the borders and national lines of many European countries. At that time, Germany was annexing other nations far too quickly, which resulted in many Ministries of Magic nominally losing the Muggle governments they were supposed to contact. This made the situation for many Ministries exceptionally awkward. For example, during that time, should the German Ministry of Magic have directly taken over neighboring institutions, like the occupied Belgium? The German Ministry of Magic certainly thought so at the time, and their excuse was legally legitimate under their own framework.
Naturally, the countries whose territories were lost in the Muggle world didn't want that, which inevitably led to internal conflicts. There were many clashes among wizards from various nations back then, and some wizards even involved themselves directly in Muggle wars.
During that period, the International Confederation of Wizards intervened, demanding that the Ministries of Magic in European countries maintain a stance of observation and avoid excessive contact with Muggle heads of state to prevent exposing the wizarding world. At the same time, to stop wizards from being dragged into Muggle warfare, the International Confederation of Wizards demanded that wizards hide themselves and sever their ties with Muggle society.
To be honest, it was a heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all approach. Many wizards found the demand completely unacceptable because they were Muggle-born, or had Muggle spouses and friends. Even pure-blood wizards harbored strong objections because many pure-blood families relied on cooperation with Muggles to accumulate wealth. Therefore, forcing them to completely separate from Muggle society naturally sparked immense dissatisfaction.
During World War I, Grindelwald exploited this widespread resentment, rallying those wizards who were unwilling to hide and longed to live openly in the sunlight to follow him, eventually training a formidable army. Furthermore, Grindelwald completely disregarded the instructions of the International Confederation of Wizards, openly contacting Muggle Germany at the time and attempting to provide assistance to the Muggle head of state by training super-soldiers with potions. Finally, he led his trained army, the Acolytes, to carry out terrorist attacks everywhere, attempting to directly expose the wizarding world to Muggle society. This triggered a massive manhunt by the International Confederation of Wizards, and he was eventually arrested. In fact, if Grindelwald's methods and goals hadn't been so extreme at the time, he might have actually succeeded.
Because of the precedent set by the Grindelwald incident, the Ministries of Magic in various countries later refrained from immediately engaging in disputes over Muggle wars and territorial shifts.
But by now, Germany had been divided for over thirty or forty years. Alan recalled that the German Democratic Republic was established in 1949, making it almost forty years of division. Yet, even though Muggle Germany had been divided for decades, wizarding Germany shouldn't have changed much on paper; after all, he hadn't heard of the German Ministry of Magic splitting into two independent governments.
At this point, Fuchsie explained the underlying reality to him. "The entire German wizarding world is currently still nominally unified under a single German Ministry of Magic, but there are massive internal conflicts. After all, the divided East and West Germany can basically be considered hostile entities, and nearly forty years of division have led to a large number of Muggle-born wizards growing up on opposite sides of the border, now spanning two or three generations. The political hostility in Muggle society has gradually bled into wizarding society. Even pure-blood wizards have disagreements based on whether their families cooperate with East German Muggles or West German Muggles."
"Initially, these conflicted wizards were only a minority, as most wizards at the time didn't believe the division would last very long. They assumed that unity would be restored soon, and even if it wasn't, the hostility between East and West Germany wouldn't continue indefinitely; relations would eventually ease."
Indeed, much like Ireland and Northern Ireland had experienced division and conflict, relations there had slowly normalized over time.
"But who could have guessed that decades would pass with still no sign of the two sides merging?" Fuchsie sighed. As a local and a half-blood witch from East Germany, she had never imagined that Germany would remain divided from the day she was born until now.
Alan also silently shook his head upon hearing this. East and West Germany truly had been hostile to each other for decades. After all, in Muggle society, the two divided countries represented two entirely different ideologies. How could the conflict not be intense? At the same time, Alan vaguely understood why the German Ministry of Magic was on the verge of fracturing. As expected, it was because the division of East and West Germany had lasted far too long—long enough for two generations to pass.
"So, because the division has been maintained for so long, the Floo Network has been split in two, just like two completely different countries?" Alan looked at Fuchsie with some sympathy. The wizards in this country were truly caught in an unfortunate situation.
"That's right. Wizards here, as long as they are Muggle-born or half-blood, are influenced by hostile or resentful ideas from a young age. This leads to increasing friction between wizards from East and West Germany. And the seemingly endless division has caused people to gradually lose their patience. After all, decades have passed now, and who knows if it will be permanently divided? Even Berlin was cut in half by the Berlin Wall. Although that physical wall means nothing to us wizards, the symbolic division is a huge psychological blow to everyone, and people are becoming increasingly impatient. It's entirely possible that Germany will truly split into two separate wizarding nations in the future."
Even Fuchsie felt uncertain, unable to see clearly what the future path would look like.
"Doesn't the International Confederation of Wizards care? When there were wars in the Muggle world before, didn't the Confederation always intervene immediately?" Alan asked, somewhat puzzled. Although he was highly influential in Britain, he didn't fully understand international political affairs, as he had only just graduated and his previous focus hadn't been on this area.
"We're just talking about a political split, not going to war with an outside nation. And to be honest, this is an internal matter that doesn't directly involve other countries, so the International Confederation of Wizards naturally can't interfere," Fuchsie pouted helplessly.