You call this the mastermind?

In the dim night, a swarm of light-seeking mosquitoes were flying outside the gas street lamp cover.

They were running around, and the crackling and crashing sounds were clearly audible, but they did not affect the two men and women sitting side by side under the street lamp.

One of the two was tall, wearing a slightly tight tuxedo and a white shirt. The top hat was taken off and placed aside, revealing short brown and yellowish hair and a face with strong features.

Obviously Arthur.

Beside him, a tall and graceful lady was chatting animatedly with Arthur with her head tilted and a smile on her face.

They looked like they were just chatting, but it was enough to make Melen wonder.

The cultural landscape of the country underfoot is somewhat similar to that of Britain in the early 19th century. Although men and women are not so strict, the overall style is still very conservative.

However, if it weren't for the fact that the clothes the two of them were wearing were very "retro", Mellen would have thought that he was seeing a couple who had traveled through time and were in an ambiguous period.

"It hasn't been more than five hours since Arthur and I separated, and sitting together so intimately makes it obvious that we have feelings for each other..."

After silently calculating the time, Meren looked in admiration, "In five hours, he won a young rich woman. He must be too awesome..."

Mellen didn't think that Arthur, who had a "big enemy", would be distracted by a wild flower during the mission, so the lady sitting with him was probably Jim's mother.

Although the image looks a bit different from the rumors, rumors are inherently unreliable.

In comparison, seeing is believing.

But if this really happened, Arthur's "revenge" would be too fast.

love at first sight?

Mellen doesn’t think so.

Because in this world, even if they fall in love at first sight, the progress between men and women will not be so rapid.

So the answer is very clear. Arthur has used the little skills he taught him to perfection!

The first time he practiced it, he was able to achieve such an effect. This talent made Melen a little envious.

Then, he looked at the little yellow-haired Kevin next to him with some caution. He still had a dull look on his face.

Kevin and Jim were good friends, Mellen already knew that.

And now that Arthur has captured Jim's mother, will Kevin inform Jim next?

After being notified, Jim must have become angry and done something, but no one can be sure...

Mellen was not sure either, because he did not expect Arthur's road to revenge to be so smooth, so he did not make this plan in advance.

"You have to stop Kevin's mouth first, otherwise the time to deal with it will be too hasty."

The thought flashed through Mellen's mind.

However, just as he was thinking about how to put a noose on the little yellow guy next to him to stop him from moving rashly, Kevin, who had been in a daze for a while, suddenly choked out a sentence.

"You must not do this - why is it you!?"

Kevin's voice was very low for the first half of the sentence, but when he turned his head to see Meron clearly, he was startled.

Mellen was very surprised when he heard this.

He felt that even though Kevin would be shocked that Arthur had hooked up with his best friend's mother, he wouldn't be so "uneasy" right?

It’s not like you fell in love with your mother. Are you so confused?

You didn't even notice who was standing next to you?

"I just said hello to you."

Because he was thinking about setting up a trap, Meren answered in a rather dissatisfied tone, hoping to suppress the opponent with his momentum first.

However, what he didn't expect was that before he could set the trap, the other party took the initiative to get in.

"Listen to me, you must not tell anyone else about this."

When he pulled Meron behind a building at the intersection and away from the tryst couple, Kevin said in a serious tone: "Especially don't let some newspapers know!"

Your attitude is a bit strange...

Mellen looked thoughtful at this, but looked confused on the surface.

"Why? Isn't it just a couple having a tryst? What's the big deal?"

…

It seemed like this sly bastard had no idea who these two were.

Kevin secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this.

Although her figure has become extremely different, once she has seen that beautiful face, she will never forget it.

So he recognized at a glance who the "lady" sitting with Arthur was.

It was precisely because of this that he was so nervous.

My friend Jim just kidnapped Arthur's fiancée not long ago, and now his friend's father has turned his malicious eyes on Arthur himself...

If this kind of thing were to be exposed, it would be a big joke in the wizarding world!

Although there was a lot of quarrel between him and Jim tonight, it was precisely because of this that Kevin took this matter particularly seriously.

Because he actually felt a little guilty about Jim.

After all, they have been friends since childhood, and now Kevin has chosen to deceive Jim because of his own interests. Although he didn't say anything on the surface, he didn't act like nothing was wrong in his heart.

At least, he didn't want to see Jim become the laughing stock of the wizarding world.

Therefore, Kevin naturally wanted to seal Mellen's mouth to prevent him from talking nonsense.

However, just when he thought that Meren didn't know the identities of the two people and that he could just tell a lie to get them past him, he saw that the other party suddenly looked like he had realized something.

"Oh, I remembered, that big man must be Arthur from the Meteorological Association, right? He is quite famous."

"The person sitting with him, um... seems to be somewhat similar to the one from the Ernest family..."

He seemed to be on the verge of discovering the truth.

Kevin's face tightened when he heard this, and as thoughts flashed through his mind, he suddenly said:

"Yes, he is Jim's mother, Ms. Susan Corian Ernest, who currently serves on the Wizarding Supreme Court. Her ex-husband is the deputy director of the Department of Magical Transportation."

"So you should know now why I told you not to reveal this matter just now, right?"

Mellen raised his eyebrows when he heard this.

If Arthur succeeded in seducing the mother of his enemy Jim, then this incident would indeed be a huge blow to the Ernest family.

So it's understandable that Kevin, who has a good relationship with Jim, is so serious now.

However……

He always felt that something was not quite right about this matter.     “What does this have to do with me?”

Mellen then said: "Do you know how hard it would be to not tell others such a big joke?"

"But if you say it, you will offend the entire Ernest family."

Kevin threatened: "You don't want to offend two senior political officials before you leave the apprenticeship period, do you?"

"That's true..."

Mellen blinked, with a look of timidity on his face.

However, just when Kevin thought he was scared and felt a sense of secret joy, he heard the person in front of him whisper:

"But, I heard that for this kind of thing, there is usually a hush fee..."

This guy is really a treacherous villain who exploits every opportunity!

Kevin cursed secretly when he heard this, but on the surface he nodded seriously, "Of course, of course there will be hush money, just look at this I'm holding in my hand."

As he spoke, he opened the suitcase he was carrying, then took out his wand and shook it inside.

The night was shrouded, and little white shimmers were born out of thin air like drizzle, and then spread continuously into the suitcase, reflecting the pair of black boots placed inside particularly clearly.

Mellen took this opportunity to look at it.

This pair of boots looks a bit like calfskin, with exquisite workmanship and slightly twisted golden lines on the textured surface.

Under the pure white magic light, it looks both advanced and mysterious.

"The Boots of the Wandering Soul, also known as the Boots of the Wandering Soul, were the item that became famous two hundred years ago for Saskia Bartusiak, a famous thief in the wizarding world."

Kevin explained: "After Saskia's death, this treasure fell into the hands of our Felix family. It is very valuable and can be used as your hush money."

With that said, he glanced at this once life-saving trump card with a little reluctance, and then moved the front of the open suitcase in front of Meren.

"What's it for?" Mellen asked casually.

"You can use it to enter a magical state where you can ignore any buildings and physical attacks in the world and disappear from people's senses."

Kevin said: "The upper limit is three times a day, and the duration of each time depends on your wizard talent."

"It won't only last a few seconds, right?"

"The average wizard can only do this, but for wizards with your level of talent, they can last at least five minutes."

Kevin couldn't help but "casually" revealed that he was also a genius, so as not to make the person in front of him too proud in front of him.

However, Melen had no time to pay attention to his little thoughts. After looking at the boots for a few times and playing with them with his hands, he shook his head under Kevin's incomprehensible gaze.

"You'd better just give me the money, I don't really want these boots."

"Why?"

Kevin was very surprised, "These are the Wandering God's Boots, a famous life-saving tool in the wizarding world. Any fool will come and grab it when they hear it!"

"Because these boots smell like feet," Mellen replied.

"...What did you say?" Kevin thought he heard wrongly.

"I mean, I don't know how many people have worn these boots, and they smell like feet."

Mellen gave him popular science: "You know, there are several ways to smell bad feet. Because feet sweat too much, foot odor will not be contagious, but if the feet sweat too much, bacteria will breed. My feet smell bad, but..."

He talked a lot in succession, and Kevin's face turned redder and redder.

This is angry!

He had just taken off these boots not long ago. Because his grandfather asked him to give them to Melen as soon as possible, he did not have time to send them to be cleaned.

However, now, a pair of life-saving trump cards that he regarded as treasures were actually rejected by the opponent with a look of disgust on his face...

Still using this...this insulting rhetoric!

Kevin was very annoyed and wanted to get the boots back, but he was too lazy to pay attention to this shameless bastard.

But thinking about what his grandfather had told him before, he never made up his mind.

So in the end, seeing that Mellen had finished the science popularization without any satisfaction, a very reluctant smile appeared on his face.

"Listening to what you said, taking out these second-hand boots that have the potential to spread the plague is indeed not enough to be used as hush money. I am being dishonest—"

"It's not second-hand, it's N-hand." Meren corrected.

"Okay, N-hand..."

Kevin was too lazy to get angry with him, so he decisively pulled out the magic pocket from his sleeve, took out a few blue keys and threw them into the suitcase.

"Then add these 600,000 grams of ghost dust. What do you think?"

"make a deal!"

Meren put it away when he saw it, quickly buttoned the suitcase and took it into his hand.

Kevin's mouth twitched a few times when he saw this, but he didn't say anything.

The guy in front of him obviously guessed that the boots he was carrying had been prepared to be given to him, so he made an excuse about foot odor.

The purpose is just to extort the hush money.

This made Kevin a little regretful. If he had known better, he would have paid directly and avoided the humiliation - what kind of cleverness could he do in front of such a cunning person?

However, he is not angry now, but feels relaxed.

This feeling did not come from the shameless man in front of me, but from Jim.

His current idea is very simple——

Jim, you see, in order to prevent your family's scandal from being exposed, I paid so much and was humiliated. You can't blame me for "cheating" you, right?

If you don't blame me, then I won't owe you anything for today's matter.

What? You think this is not enough and you still want to blame me?

Then this is not my problem, but your problem.

The guilt of "betraying" friendship was gone, and Kevin was quite satisfied.

But on the surface, he continued to give a few instructions angrily, telling Meren not to leak the news.

Meren hummed and agreed.

However, when Kevin hurried to find Jim, preparing to tell him about the scandal his father had done and "take credit" by the way, the expression on Mellen's face suddenly became serious.

"This is not an easy matter..."

He thought to himself, and when he looked at the two figures sitting side by side under the streetlight not far away, he was full of suspicion.