Chapter 107
The scene before Soren was unbelievable.
Inside the storage room, there were at least a dozen iron cages, each containing a completely naked woman—with a noticeable yellow mucus at the junction of their eyelids, indicating they were afflicted by the Eye Disability Curse. Their lips were tightly shut in an unnatural way, clearly under the effect of some sort of tongue-locking spell. Their hands were bound behind their backs, and their feet were tied together with another rope, making them appear like worms lying on the ground.
Even with Soren's two lifetimes, he was dumbfounded by this scene.
His magical eye revealed that the vast majority of these women were Muggles or Squibs, with nearly zero magical fluctuations in their bodies; however, one was a genuine witch, and he was certain that was Griffith, the one who had been abducted.
Scrigmeour and Robaz had also entered, their expressions equally grim.
They all knew well what the Black Sin Square was about and had mentally prepared themselves for what was inside, but witnessing it firsthand stirred a deep turmoil within them.
"Those bastards…" Robaz couldn't help but curse. "How can they do this? Don't they have the most basic sense of morality and shame?"
"Uncle Scrigmeour…" Soren said slowly, his tone chillingly cold, "Is this the evil that the Ministry of Magic has tolerated all these years?"
Scrigmeour already bore a simmering anger in his chest, and upon hearing Soren's words, his eyes widened like brass bells. "I must admit, the Ministry may have been too lenient in the past, Soren," he said firmly. "Now, I promise you, I will correct this mistake, even at the cost of my entire fortune and life!"
This time, even Robaz dared not say any words of counsel.
After all, the cruel and evil nature of the Black Sin Square had greatly shocked him.
Soren had not misjudged Scrigmeour.
He was a profound person, an ambitious man, and also a Slytherin, well-versed in the essence of self-preservation and unscrupulous means; however, he did not lack the sense of justice and integrity that an Auror should possess. Although he made many mistakes in the original work—such as arresting a ticket seller to act as a Death Eater, or resorting to unscrupulous means to maintain the Ministry's reputation—he ultimately chose to sacrifice his life for Harry's safety.
He still had a bottom line in his heart, and the scene before him undoubtedly crossed that line!
The two guards were arrested on the spot.
Scrigmeour used a special communicator to call in other Aurors and rescued the women one by one. They would have their memories modified and then be handed over to the Muggle government for processing.
Soren did not participate in the proceedings afterward. He declined Robaz's offer of escort, choosing to return to Diagon Alley and then used Floo Powder to get back to school.
He believed that, given the circumstances, Scrigmeour would surely handle the mastermind behind this severely. Moreover, once his Auror subordinates had witnessed the scene, it would not be so easy to completely suppress the matter—let's not forget, one of his Auror subordinates was Kingsley Shacklebolt, who hailed from a Sacred 28 pure-blood family.
Two days later, on Tuesday morning, Soren received two letters delivered by owls.
The first was from his partner Philbert Devril at the Puddlemere United team. Devril had been panicking since Griffith's disappearance and had no other option but to cling to Gwen Jones, even knowing it might be futile, in the hope of recovering at least a bit of compensation to mitigate his losses.
His losses were not merely the transfer fee of 1,000 Galleons.
His recruitment efforts this season had already shown initial results; Puddlemere United had finally bid farewell to the downturn of the past few years, showcasing a brilliant performance this season that propelled them to second place in the league, closely following the Ballycastle Bats.
This was still during the team's adjustment period, and he felt confident that the team would absolutely have a chance to challenge for the championship next season.
Accompanying this success were rapidly increasing fan numbers, hot sales of tickets and merchandise, and skyrocketing team value (and the shareholders' fortunes)...
Unfortunately, after Griffith's disappearance, everything likely became a bubble...
And his troubles were piling up: the rapid loss of fans and supporters, a sharp drop in ticket demand and prices, the team's market value shrinking, and investors with strong backers expressing their dissatisfaction with him...
When he received Soren's letter, advising him to hold off on going after Gwen, he felt a sense of resentment! To him, it seemed that Soren did not personally feel the pain (Soren's contract clearly specified the transfer of such risks), which gave him the impression of someone speaking without understanding the ache.
Unexpectedly, less than three days later, Soren rescued Griffith—his surprise far exceeded any financial gains because he, with his sharp business mindset, had keenly sensed the power Soren wielded. To be able to contact the Auro office director and use their influence to rescue someone in such a short period required an immense amount of energy!
As clever as he was, he also realized the value Soren represented—his vast network of connections and his hidden intelligence capabilities. Such a person was definitely worth his effort to befriend.
Thus, in this letter, in addition to the usual thank-you note, Soren also received a great gift—the share transfer agreement for Puddelmere United.
Yes, Devril clearly understood the importance of tightly binding Soren to his chariot, and he decided to make their interests even more closely aligned, so he transferred some of his shares to Soren for free. Now, Soren held one-third of Puddlemere United's shares!
[Puddlemere United shares acquired!]
The second letter was sent to him by Scrimgeour. Under the effects of the truth serum, the two guards revealed that the mastermind behind everything was actually Dolphin Rowl from the Rowl family!
The rumors of Dolphin Rowl being lecherous were not a secret among the upper echelons of pureblood families. It was said that, besides his officially married wife, he maintained seven or eight mistresses.
He had been out gathering Muggle beauties, training them into slaves through magic; aside from selling them for profit, he also indulged himself in advance to satisfy his wicked desires.
With the testimonies of eyewitnesses, Scrimgeour understood the importance of speed in such matters, and he quickly gathered all Aurors, enforcers, and investigators into dozens of small teams to conduct a surprise inspection of the Rowl family's properties and secret hideouts across Britain (extracted from the guards). Indeed, they found many of Dolphin's private mistress, all fed with "Love forced Potion," the strongest of love potions, capable of causing extreme dependency and obsession towards Dolphin.
With both eyewitness and physical evidence in hand, there was no way Dolphin could absolve himself of his crimes, and it was a done deal that he would be sent to Azkaban.
On the same day, knowing that his deeds were exposed and fearing the consequences of entering Azkaban, Dolphin's first thought was to escape!
However, he was neither an Animagus nor skilled in human transfiguration, and after narrowly avoiding capture a few times using short-distance Apparition, he ultimately fell into the clutches of the Aurors. From the moment Soren stormed into Black Sin Square to Dolphin's capture, only two days had passed, demonstrating that without internal hindrances, the Aurors were indeed efficient when they dedicated themselves to their work.
Due to the public outrage caused by Dolphin's actions, the Ministry of Magic operated at maximum efficiency to address the situation. On the same day they captured Dolphin, the Wizengamot unanimously ruled to send him to Azkaban, executing the sentence immediately!
Dolphin Rowl's case garnered significant attention from the public, who could hardly believe that such evil existed in the wizarding world; demands for the Ministry of Magic to make a strong rectification of the Alley became the new mainstream opinion.
With public anger unabated, officials closely linked to the Alley chose to remain silent, refusing to say a word in its defense.
On the same day, the ancestral home of the Rowl family was attacked.
The direct descendants of the Rowl family at the ancestral home have mysteriously disappeared, and the collection of books, antiques, and valuable decorations inside the ancestral home has been emptied one by one. The Rowl family's assets in Great Britain have also unknowingly changed hands.
Remarkably, this incident did not attract much attention. The Ministry of Magic seemed to turn a blind eye to it, and major media outlets didn't report a single word.
The Rowl family's properties were divided among the pureblood families that came after hearing the news. However, for some strange reason, the news of the Rowl family's downfall spread slowly; by the time most pureblood families heard about it and arrived, only scraps were left.
Though they were unclear about the details, they harbored some apprehension towards the families that had taken the share.
Especially surprising was that the family that took the largest portion was not the prominent Malfoy family, but the traditionally low-key Greengrass family. Of course, the Malfoy family also performed well, coming in second.
It was only reasonable that these two families had such influence, but shockingly, the family that took the third-largest share was not the well-established allies of the Malfoys, the Parkinsons and the Blacks, but the Nott family.
From the perspective of the pureblood families, Greengrass, Malfoy, and Nott belonged to three different interest factions, which implied that there were at least three sources of intelligence behind it — all three families had superior information-gathering capabilities compared to others.
Of course, this was all orchestrated by Soren.
Ever since noticing Draco's abnormalities, Soren developed some complex feelings about his own family; having lived two lives, he understood how power corrupts, and he certainly would not naïvely let his guard down around his family.
Strictly speaking, the allies of the Greengrass and Nott families was Soren himself, not the Malfoy family. In the current situation where the family's stance was unclear, it was especially important to distinguish his resources from those of the family.
Ceding benefits to Greengrass and Nott could tighten his alliance while, according to their prior agreement, a portion of the assets they acquired would be returned to Soren, of course, under the veil of secrecy. This way, no one would know that Soren was the biggest beneficiary in this event.
Soren received the ownership of three shops in the southern area of Diagon Alley from Gareth; these shops were already rented out and tied to centuries-long leases, allowing Soren to comfortably assume the role of a landlord, enjoying the income from rent.
Old Nott was generous, after all, things came easily. Soren acquired an underground gambling den in Knockturn Alley from him, accepting various bets on the English-Irish league, the Hippogriff racing, and broom racing (which include ball games, horse racing, and car racing), as well as the ownership of a shop in Diagon Alley.
This shop was vacant, and when Soren saw the address, his brows involuntarily twitched. The address was 93 Diagon Alley, which was precisely where the Weasley twins planned to open a shop in the original story!
At that moment, four words sprang to Soren's mind — "This shop must thrive."
[Ownership of four shops in the southern area of Diagon Alley obtained!]
[Underground gambling den in Knockturn Alley obtained!]
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