Did You Kill Him? Why?

"Of course, it's just looking for someone, isn't it? There's nothing wrong with it!" Walker assured Ivan, thumping his chest.

"Then this is my test for you," Ivan said casually.

Walker nodded solemnly.

As they chatted, the trio returned to the temporary residence.

Ivan had just opened the door to find Alicia sitting in the hall, looking through a thick notebook.

"You're back…" Alicia looked up when she noticed the commotion at the door.

Noting their dirt and exhaustion, Alicia tapped her wand on the round table, and a plate of delicious desserts and glasses of milk juice were placed on it.

"Well? Did it go well? Do you want some supper?" Alicia asked with a smile.

"It went well! Hermione learned the spell much more quickly than I expected… and then there's Walker. He used a powerful thunderbolt, and it seems the spell suited him!" Yvonne said, looking at Hermione and Walker.

Hermione pursed her lips demurely, her eyes lighting up, and Walker rubbed the back of his head and laughed.

After practicing for so long outside, the three of them were hungry. Ivan casually stuffed a pastry into his mouth and gulped down most of the juice.

Although he did not have to practice casting spells, explaining for hours was tiring.

"By the way, there's something I haven't told you… Burke is dead!" said Alicia suddenly.

'What?'

Ivan nearly spat the juice out of his mouth as he drank it. He remembered Burke getting over it recently, having a good chat with him that afternoon.

'Is he suddenly withdrawn again?'

Ivan was disappointed. Burke seemed to have a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and he hadn't learned all of Burke's alchemy knowledge, so he wanted to keep Burke alive for a while longer.

"Come with me anyway!" said Alicia, putting down her notebook and standing up.

Ivan nodded and followed Alicia into the room where Burke was being held.

When she actually saw Burke's body, Yvonne realised that things were not as she had imagined.

Burke did not commit suicide, but was killed by some powerful Dark Magic, and a dark mist leaked from his corpse.

Yvonne frowned, half-expecting someone to have sneaked in and killed Burke for some reason, but thought better of it when she noticed an empty reagent bottle lying on the floor.

Ivan remembered that he had used it to store his truth-telling potion. After brewing it once, he had left it in the storage room.

If someone had sneaked in, it was unlikely that they would know where to store the truth serum, let alone use it openly. Did they really think everyone in the mansion was blind?

Therefore, there was only one possibility: Alicia had done it!

"Mom… did you kill him? Why?" Ivan looked at Alicia in confusion.

He knew that Alicia and Burke had been at loggerheads for many years, but the fact that she hadn't attacked him yet proved that she could tolerate him being alive…

"How dare you ask me why? It's because you told him so much that he shouldn't have said. Why don't you think about what might have happened if Burke hadn't spread the word about the door? How much would it have affected us?" Alicia pinched Ivan's cheek angrily.

Ivan was momentarily stunned, but then he realised what Alicia was talking about.

Because he knew he was in the wrong, Ivan did not argue. He did, without permission, share and discuss the core alchemical knowledge that Asia had taught him with Burke.

However, Ivan had no intention of letting Burke out alive, so he made a hasty judgement that Burke would not have a chance of escaping.

Now that I think about it, that was an inappropriate move.

After all, he and Alicia, as well as the werewolf wizards, were the only ones who had access to Burke.

With this in mind, Ivan assured Alicia that he would discuss it with her next time.

When Isia was finally appeased, Ivan brought up another matter.

"Mom, Fran and the others lost their jobs over our attack on Borgin and Burkes, so I've just agreed to recruit them to work for us.

Don't worry about the salary. I made a lot of Galleons at Hogwarts last year. I'll have enough for a while…"

In order to avoid Aesia's disapproval, Ivan directly took over the salary of Fran and the others. In any case, it would not cost much in a month. When the branch in Diagon Alley opened, he would be able to earn it all back!

Asia had guessed that Ivan would want to recruit Flun and the others, and would use them as a core force to develop his forces, so she agreed.

Asia had been observing the performance of Flun and the others over the past two years. Some time ago, she had investigated the background of those werewolf wizards. There was nothing suspicious about them, and they could be trusted!

However, at this thought, Alicia hesitated for a moment and could not help but rub Ivan's hair and say, "There are some things you don't have to be so anxious about. You can do them in a few years!"

Isiah thought Ivan seemed to be rushing things a bit too much. Even with the ideal of changing the wizarding world and the plan to target Dumbledore, it would take time, and it would be best to wait until he was of age before setting things up.

"How can we do that?" Ivan shook his head firmly.

The sooner he made money, the better!

Despite Burke's death and the deaths of the Dark Wizards, Knockturn Alley was not safe. It would be best if they could open the shop in Diagon Alley!

"Sigh… Have it your way!" Alicia sighed at the stubborn Ivan.

Since Ivan was so insistent, Alicia gave up and handed him the notebook she had been carrying.

"I got this from Burke with Veritaserum. I think he kept something he didn't teach you."

Ivan flipped through the thick notebook and found that it contained information on advanced alchemy and Dark Magic, which was presumably Burke's true trump card.

Ivan was pleasantly surprised. He had been mourning the loss of a mentor who could help him improve his alchemy quickly after Burke's death.