He Can't Hide for Long!

Ivan held his breath as he approached the reception desk and entered the reception room.

It was spacious inside, lit by faint blue candles. In the middle of the room was a round black-grey table, in which several figures could be seen.

Yvonne looked around and saw eleven people in the parlor! That was a lot more than he had expected.

Burke, whom she had not seen for some time, sat hunched in a large chair.

He did not look much different from a year ago. His greasy hair was neatly combed back, and he had an unusually kind smile on his old face. He looked straight at the wizards opposite him, and in his withered and slender left hand, he was casually playing with his eyeball-like Probing Eye.

From Ivan's vantage point, he could see the two dark rings that were affixed to Burke's ring finger and pinky finger.

Two wizards in old wizarding robes stood behind Burke, while the rest split off to face the blog.

Shortly after entering the room, Ivan heard a middle-aged wizard across from Burke speaking to him with an unpleasant expression.

"Mr. Borgin… you promised us nothing would go wrong! Now you're telling us the target is unknown?"

"Don't ever say that, Hines!" Burke continued, his expression unchanged by the middle-aged wizard's questioning.

"My information is that Alicia was killed in the attack, and that a young wizard was seen escaping with her body, which means our plan worked…"

"And how do we know you're telling the truth? And if your spy saw it, why not just bring back the witch's body and her child?" Hines sneered.

Hines was not happy with Burke's statement. Without a body, who knew if Burke was lying to him?

Moreover, they had sent so many people, but none of them had returned. All of them had died in that magical shop. This was different from what they had discussed!

Therefore, after Hines spoke up, the rest of the group also joined in, demanding an explanation from Burke!

Burke had a headache as he sat at the head of the table. In fact, he did not expect to see all of his men wiped out.

Burke believed that his years of experience with Alicia had given him a good understanding of her abilities, and the fact that she had a child with her should mean that she would not survive this attack!

Burke was initially assured that he would soon receive good news, but he did not expect to see no one but the explosions and flames.

The news of Isiah's death was later heard by his spies from nearby households, and even the truth of it remains to be determined…

What was even stranger was that when his men went to the shop again, they were surprised to find that someone had used the Restoration Charm to repair the damage caused by the previous battle, and the blood and corpses on the ground had all disappeared.

Not far away, the mansion of Alicia's best friend, Dougett, had been destroyed.

After so many strange events, Burke had a feeling something was wrong, so he invited Hines and the others to discuss what to do next.

However, when faced with Hines and the others' aggressive questioning, Burke became angry. He pulled a long face and looked around at the crowd.

"All right, that's enough! I made a mistake in judgement this time, but don't forget that I was there too! And as I warned you, it's not a good idea to go up against the owner of a wizarding shop…"

None of the Dark Wizards looked pleased to hear Burke's words, and they found it difficult to argue. Three of the ten men who had been sent were indeed Burke's men, and Burke was unlikely to cheat his own people.

More importantly, Hines and the others heard the threat in Burke's voice and remembered that they were sitting in the reception room of a Dark Arts shop.

Therefore, even if they had more people on their side, they did not dare to push Burke too far. Otherwise, they might not be able to win!

When Burke saw that everyone had calmed down, he cleared his throat and started talking about the arrangements.

The most urgent task at hand was to continue to send more men to find out what had happened, and to find out if Alicia was really dead… and where her child Ivan-Hals was now hiding.

The empty wizarding shop would also need to be searched for any useful clues…

Unbeknownst to Burke and the others, one of the targets they were looking for was nearby, quietly listening to their conversation.

Ivan, who was hiding in the shadows, listened for a while and found that the Dark Wizards in front of him did not seem to be united, but more inclined to cooperate temporarily.

There were even arguments over who did more, but sadly, they did not have the will to fight…

This disappointed Ivan, who had been wondering if he could just sit back and reap the benefits.

After observing them for a while, Ivan was able to sort them out based on their positions and words.

It went without saying that Borgin and his two henchmen were divided into two factions, with the middle-aged wizard, Hines, presumably in the same camp as the grim-faced Dark Wizards who had escaped the Auror attack the previous year.

The last three were large and muscular, with a hint of madness in their eyes. This reminded Ivan of Adrian, who had died at his hands.

As Ivan watched, the leader of the group argued with Burke for a while, then spoke impatiently.

"What about what you promised me, Mr. Borgin? You told us that if we helped you get rid of your old enemy, we'd get the recipe for the Wolfsbane Potion! According to you, the woman is most likely dead. Where's the stuff?"

Burke grimaced and used his left hand to spin his Probing Eye.

"Don't be too hasty, Wright! You should have read the papers. Isiah's son, Ivan Hals, was the one who developed the Wolf's Bane. Now that his mother is dead and unprotected, he won't be able to hide in Knockturn Alley for long…"