Chapter 44

Stopping in front of a nondescript two-story building located behind Knockturn alley, and putting on a smile, he knocked. And after a few seconds the door opened slightly and a rough voice sounded: "Who?" 

"A horse in a coat ..." 'well it's a good phrase that I learned in the muggle world. Now don't ask me why it is a horse and that also in a coat.'

"What?" The person at the door questioned.

"Not "what", but who! Ignoramus." Snape said while looking at the man.

"What did you call me?" The man asked.

"I am the owner of the potions shop that opened recently and I came to meet your boss," and in a moment all dissatisfaction disappeared from the face of a bandit-looking wizard, who completely opened the door for him with a bright smile.

"No need to lay the carpet." The archmage joked and hearing the joke, the man fell into a stupor for a moment. "What kind of carpet?"

"Forget it, I'm just in a good mood: you earned a lot of Galleons, take them to your boss." As soon as he heard about the gold, imagining how much the Archmage earned in one day, sparks of greed danced in his eyes. "Of course, the boss is already waiting for you!" 

"Glad to hear that, then lead on…" with a smile that turned into a grin, the Archmage closed the door behind him. 

On the way to the basement, Severus also did not forget to ask about the number of people in the gang, and whether this is the main base, and how many people are here at the moment, and much more - the bandit told this with joy and even with some kind of pride and he didn't even lie, he answered honestly and to the point, causing genuine emotion in the Archmage, because he had not seen such honest person for a very long time. 

And within a minute they descended into a room resembling a bar. Animal skulls, shields and a pair of swords hung on the walls, and in the centre, in addition to the bar, there were three tables at which wizards sat having fun. 

There were twenty of them in total, not counting five more on top.

"Boss! Boss! He came!" the bandit-looking wizard with Severus shouted joyfully, waving his hand in the direction of a man sitting on a leather chair, who, sighing tiredly, covered his face with his palm. 

The others also stopped chatting and looked towards Severus with interest.

"Who is he"? but as soon as the leader finally turned his attention to Snape, his eyes immediately lit up.

"Severus Snape! What a person! I didn't think you'd come here!"

"Yes, I just finished with business and came to find out why you almost brought my employee to a nervous breakdown, the poor guy is already afraid to leave the store." 

In response to Snape's question, the man just laughed merrily, rising from his chair.  

"What are you talking about? It's just a misunderstanding, my people just wanted to discuss a couple of things with you on my behalf, but he refused to call you, so they scared him a little, and, you see, everything worked out!" Approaching Severus, the leader patted him on the shoulder a couple of times. 

"So, what did you want to discuss, "my friend"?" Answering him with the same smile, Severus also "softly" patted the leader on the shoulder, almost laying the astonished "boss" on the floor. 

"Not bad, not bad," the leader murmured, grimacing for a moment, but in order not to show weakness in front of his people, he quickly returned his confident smile, although his shoulder still ached. "About joint business." 

"Oh… well, I'm listening to you carefully," turning the beer bottle into a chair and sitting on it, Severus smiled businesslike. 

"Of course, we propose to unite… what are you doing?" the leader asked in bewilderment when he saw that Snape took out a notebook and began to write something down. 

"Yes, you continue, I'm just taking notes of your words." Hearing this, the bandit even straightened up a little and, clearing his throat, continued with a smile: "We will protect your business from the encroachment of others, and in return we demand only fifty percent of the profits, as well as some potions." 

"Of course, what if I refuse?" Snape questioned with a serious face.

"Well, it's unlikely that you will get out of here alive," and at these words of the leader, the laughter of the other wizards resounded throughout the room. 

"I see, I see, so you are going to capture me, and then torture me into giving out the potion recipes, as well as all the earned Galleons, unless, of course, I accept your conditions, which you are going to raise to sixty in a month…" looking up from the notebook to the shocked face of the leader, Snape again smiled innocently, lowering his head back. 

"So ... I see ... very interesting …" the young man nodded and, turning the pages back, began to count. "One, two… three, and the one that laughed like a hyena, that's fourth, and then we have you… fifth, and also in second place, the Buffalo group demanded seventy percent and all the recipes." 

"What…?" The leader questioned but only a second was enough for him to understand, and he quickly looked away, reaching for his wand, the laughter had also stopped long ago, and there was deathly silence in the room. But at that moment, a man in a dark robe ran in with panic on his face. 

"BOSS! Something crazy is going on outside! Buffaloes, Darkmantle and Reapers are destroyed! Their bases are ablaze in terrifying fire, just like that day! This flame is also impossible to…" But, feeling the strange atmosphere hovering in the air, he stared in bewilderment at his leader, whose face was whiter than chalk, and the hand with the wand aimed at the young man was trembling, because at that moment, having added two plus two - the words of the young man earlier and his calmness - the leader realised the terrible situation and finally understood who was sitting in front of him. 

"Oh, he ruined the whole performance, and I had just started to enjoy it," the Archmage muttered displeasedly and even a little childishly, rising from his chair, which burned down in an instant, leaving no ashes, which only confirmed the most terrible thoughts of the leader. 

"Come on, I'm listening to you carefully, and yeah, put away this toy," Severus waved his hand, and the wand in the leader's hand, just like the chair, disappeared.

And the leader didn't even feel a shred of warmth from the flame which spoke of incredible control of the young man over the elements and the terrible fate that awaited them. 

"H-how…?" The leader asked in bewilderment.

"How is that possible? Well, I'm just a genius, nothing more, and I'll anticipate your next question: no, I won't let you live, you've seen my face…! I admit that it is a stupid excuse for mass murder."

"ALL! ATTACK SIMULTANEOUSLY!" The cry of the leader brought everyone to their senses for a moment, but it did not save them from the flames that engulfed them. 

Severus, of course, was not a sadist or a lover of torturing people, so after a second, only the two of them were left in the room. 

And the leader immediately fell to his knees, looking pleadingly into his eyes. "I-I beg you! I didn't know this was your store! I have a family! Children to take care of…!"

"Now you will tell me about your sick mother…" Severus sighed, closing his eyes.

"Confringo!" And at this moment, all of a sudden, the man pointed his palm at the Archmage, from which only a couple of sparks escaped and despair appeared on the man's face. 

"The idea is certainly a good one," Severus nodded as he approached the man. "But you made three mistakes: first, you should have realised that I am not a simple wizard, but a Legilimency master, and you looked me straight in the eyes! Are you an idiot?

Second - you tried to use an explosive spell against me, the main destructive power of which comes from fire, against me, a firebender, and I repeat: are you an idiot? And the third…" As soon as Severus reached the third point, a terrifying bloodthirsty aura began to emanate from his body, instantly enveloping the leader, causing him to tremble and experience real horror. 

The leader could not even think that by doing such an ordinary thing he would provoke a real monster, "... you coveted what belongs to me," after these words, the body of the trembling leader was engulfed in flames.

He did not even have time to notice how he died, after all, Severus immediately took his life and after that he burned the body. 

But, if it were the will of the Archmage, he would be glad to not kill anyone at all, but he grew up in a world where killing was a means of survival, it was a common thing, like breathing and eating. 

And if he had spared the leader and everyone else, they would have harboured a grudge against him and one day tried to take revenge, because such is the essence of a person with whom Snape was very familiar ...

After examining the room, Severus discovered a small box with an expanded space hidden in the wall, which contained a little more than twenty thousand Helleons, a couple of dozen artefacts, and all sorts of trinkets for another five thousand. 

In total, the Archmage collected about ninety thousand Galleons that evening, which was a huge amount, and if you add up with those that he earned from the store and took away on the first "campaign", Snape's fortune totaled a little more than two hundred and fifty thousand, which, of course, and it didn't compare with big families such as: Blacks, Malfoys and Lestranges, but he would certainly easily enter the top ten of the sacred twenty-eight families in terms of wealth …

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It took him almost three hours to get around everyone he tagged, and the fact that most of them were in gangs or small groups only made things easier. 

Of course, he didn't kill indiscriminately. Small groups and individuals were rendered unconscious by the Archmage, tested with Legilimency, and he then decided what to do with them. 

Fortunately, after moving to the rank of Master, his magical power increased tenfold, and he no longer needed eye contact. It can be said that he became a kind of telepath. It is just that he was unable to communicate with the help of thoughts, with the exception of Nagini, thanks to the connection of the familiar. 

Of course, this had its downsides: he had to spend a lot more mental strength, and the target had to be nearby, so it was still easier for Severus to use legilimency with the help of eye contact. 

Finally back to the store The archmage immediately noticed a broken cabinet to the right of the exit and two bound bodies in the other corner. "Apparently, it was not in vain that I decided to leave you here," he looked with a smile at Nagini, calmly lying on the table, and then at the nervous Karner in the other corner, and when Karner finally came out of his thoughts and saw Snape, his eyes tear well up…