"All right, Professor!"
Crystal, who had been waiting off to the side for quite a while, immediately answered happily.
As one of Percy's good teammates, she had also entered the Ministry of Magic after graduation.
It was just that, unlike Percy, whose backing was so strong that both opposing factions in the Ministry were trying to promote him, she had been stuck bouncing around minor departments the whole time.
Now that the professor had finally noticed her and brought her into this strange department, she had long been waiting for the day she could officially start work.
"Professor?" The confusion in Bruce's eyes was practically tangible.
He was puzzled not only by the way Crystal addressed him, but also by the relationship between the two of them.
"I forgot to mention it. Crystal is a wizard, and also my student. She came over early to help with setting up the office."
Tver explained as if only just remembering, utterly unaware of the shock a wizard who had hidden herself so well would bring to the office staff.
A wizard!
Everyone stared at the well-behaved-looking Crystal in astonishment. In the three days they had spent together, not one of them had noticed anything unusual.
They had only thought that aside from being a bit blunt, this girl was an indispensable help around the office.
Was this the terrifying power of wizard magic?!
The Chief Secretary ignored the suddenly noisy room and led Tver into a private office with a complicated look on his face. This would soon become Tver's office alone, even if he would not actually spend much time here.
"I never expected your people to be able to pull something like this off without anyone noticing..."
"We've always been particularly good at hiding ourselves," Tver said, in a tone that made it hard to tell whether he was boasting or mocking himself.
As for placing Crystal here, it served both to observe the office staff and prevent unsuitable people from showing up.
It was also a reminder to the Prime Minister.
If Tver could arrange for a wizard to infiltrate an office under close watch today, then naturally he could also make quiet contact with the Prime Minister himself.
It was to keep the Prime Minister from getting carried away just because the EU had lifted its blockade.
As the Prime Minister's right-hand man, the Chief Secretary immediately grasped the meaning behind it.
Whether or not Tver had intended to make it obvious, he could not help mentally raising Tver from a tool that could be used to a cooperative partner who could keep them in check in return.
But his expression did not change at all. Instead, he smiled ingratiatingly.
"That really was impressive. Our intelligence network inside the EU did not even have time to react before those officials all changed their minds in unison, and in the vote a few days ago just happened to..."
He deliberately emphasized those words.
"...reject the ban on British beef and related products by a margin of one vote."
Tver nodded in sudden understanding.
No wonder he, Hagrid, and Maxime had only just returned to Britain when they received word that the office had already been set up. So that was what this was really about.
"This is the will of the European people, isn't it?" he said, putting on a look of false sincerity as he met the Chief Secretary's gaze.
At that performance, neither of them could help laughing.
Once the laughter subsided, the Chief Secretary said in an offhand tone, "Unfortunately, with the general election approaching, support from the British people for the Prime Minister is not exactly high."
"Oh? I thought Britain's economy was already recovering better than the rest of Europe."
A British Prime Minister generally served a five-year term, and while there was no restriction on re-election, winning another term was usually difficult.
But the current Prime Minister was a little different.
Europe's economy had not been doing well these past few years, yet the current Prime Minister's series of livelihood- and economy-focused measures had achieved fairly good results. On top of that, the mad cow disease problem had been greatly alleviated. Logically, there should have been no way he would fail in his first attempt at re-election.
At that, the Chief Secretary sighed rather helplessly.
"The economy is doing well, yes, but Britain itself is not all that stable." He cast a subtle glance at Tver's expression. "I assume you've heard of the notorious Irish Republican Army?"
Tver politely nodded.
In truth, Britain's biggest domestic problem at the moment really was this group of Irish separatists.
To some extent, what they were doing was already tantamount to terrorism, especially after suffering setbacks in their fight against the British government. From time to time, they carried out attacks on British soil, even in London, causing no small number of civilian casualties.
"You mean that because of these rampant terrorists, the public is dissatisfied with the Prime Minister?"
Tver let out a derisive laugh.
Given the current situation, those terrorists were certainly troublesome, but after several strikes by the British military, they were already showing signs of weakening.
They could not possibly threaten the current Prime Minister's re-election. At most, this was simply a case of the man being greedy and wanting to accumulate even more political capital for himself.
The Chief Secretary answered with an awkward smile. He now understood why the Prime Minister had asked him to phrase their intentions tactfully.
He had not even said it outright, and the other party had already seen through them completely.
"I must remind you that wizards are not allowed to take part in Muggle affairs they should not be involved in. Even during the last world war, no wizard was permitted to participate."
"And this office will only handle incidents that threaten the lives and well-being of both wizards and Muggles. That is, the British people."
"Your Excellency, what I did about the mad cow disease was a personal gesture of goodwill toward the Prime Minister. Surely you would not want to see that goodwill fall apart?"
Even if he could have someone else do the work, there was no way Tver would agree so casually.
The relationship between the two sides had to remain one of equal exchange. Otherwise, it would be far too easy for that Prime Minister to start entertaining unrealistic fantasies.
Still, Tver deliberately played down the matter and framed it as the Chief Secretary's own idea, so that the Prime Minister would not feel humiliated when he learned he had been refused.
Hearing the absolute firmness in Tver's words, the Chief Secretary could not very well push further.
After all, they were not willing to fall out with Tver, the only wizard currently willing to help them, over something this minor.
"Of course," he said, forcing his expression into something less ugly. "I simply think those people have gone too far. I hope your office will keep a bit of an eye on them."
"That is only natural. Any incident that threatens the British people has to be checked for possible wizard involvement." Tver left the man a bit of dignity, allowing him to walk out of the office with some composure.
But he had not been gone long before Marvolio entered with Major Evans in tow.
"So, the talks fell through?" he asked casually, tossing a file in front of Tver.
"They just have too many unrealistic fantasies in their heads." Tver flipped open the file and found several aerial reconnaissance photos covered in drifting dust. "What is this?"
Marvolio stepped aside, revealing the slightly awkward Evans behind him.
"The assignment you had Crystal issue as a test. Major Evans got some leads from the Royal Air Force."
"Oh?" Tver's interest was instantly piqued.
Since he had arranged for Crystal to come here, he had naturally slipped in an extra task as well.
And of course, that task was to track the Giants' movements, because Hagrid's brother Grawp still had not been found.
"But what do these photographs show?"
Now that it concerned his own field of expertise, Evans immediately understood why Marvolio had brought him here.
"This kind of unexplained, large-scale dust disturbance can only be caused in the military by large airborne aircraft or heavy armored vehicles. Otherwise, the only explanation would be that an intercontinental missile struck British soil and somehow none of us noticed."
"Of course," he added, suddenly thinking of something, "if magic is involved, then that may be another matter."
The major had not actually said much, but Tver immediately understood what he meant.
"So you're saying this could not have been caused by normal activity?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Then where are these locations?"
"Western Britain!"
A delighted smile immediately appeared on Tver's face.
They had tracked Voldemort all the way back to Britain, only to lose all trace of him there. He had not expected Voldemort to give up using magic to conceal the Giants, which in turn had left Tver and the others unable to track them by magical traces.
But now, technology had pinpointed the area where the Giants were hiding.
...
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