Chapter 681: 681: Exterminating the Acolytes

With Gringotts dealt with, John could finally turn his full attention toward the Acolytes.

The Acolytes’ previous attack on Gringotts and slaughter of the goblins had helped John, but it had also created consequences.

He needed a number of Acolytes to die in order to uphold the authority of the Ministry of Magic.

And now…

“This mission…”

Barty Crouch Jr., now Head of the Auror Office, had a cold gleam in his eyes.

“Kill the Acolytes!”

The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol joined forces with the Aurors.

A fully armed team appeared at the location where Acolytes had last been spotted.

It was a pub.

One of the wizards inside had reported the presence of an Acolyte.

The Acolyte, who was still preaching the doctrine of cleansing by sacred fire, had not yet realised that danger had arrived.

The next moment, the pub door exploded inward.

Immediately afterward, five or six beams of light struck the Acolyte.

He died on the spot.

Barty Crouch Jr. walked over and turned the dead man’s face to inspect it.

An Auror behind him came forward and said, “Probably smuggled in.”

“Find whoever owns the nearest Portkey and arrest them.”

He waved his wand, and the corpse floated into the air.

The wizards inside the pub stared at the scene in terror.

Barty Crouch Jr. stopped and swept his gaze across them.

“Any wizard found hiding or assisting Acolytes will be treated as equally guilty.”

“Their children’s eligibility for Young Wizard Cards will be revoked, and they will no longer receive benefits from the Young Wizard Fund.”

Hearing this, everyone immediately felt relieved that they had no connection to the Acolytes.

The pub owner’s expression changed.

He struggled internally, but in the end, concern for his child who was still attending school won out.

“Wait, I have something else to report!”

The owner opened the door leading to the cellar.

“I suspect an Acolyte is hiding down there.”

“Suspect?”

Barty Crouch Jr.’s gaze made the owner nervous.

Fortunately, Barty did not press the matter further and led his people into the cellar.

A short while later, they dragged another corpse upstairs.

As he passed the owner, Barty Crouch Jr. asked, “Any other leads?”

“No, that’s really all I know.”

The owner forced an awkward smile.

Barty nodded and left with his team.

It was not just happening nearby.

Operations like this were taking place all over the world.

The International Confederation of Wizards decided to establish a special team with the authority to enter other countries and conduct cross-border investigations.

Barty Crouch Jr. became the commander of this unit, which possessed cross-border law enforcement powers.

Acolytes who had only just gathered to prepare for a cleansing by sacred fire were taken down by Aurors descending upon them without warning.

This team acted ruthlessly and had no intention of leaving anyone alive.

It was also the only unit authorised to use the Unforgivable Curses.

Every wizard selected for the team was equipped with a complete set of the “Zhi-series” weapons.

They were also issued devastating equipment such as the Sovereign Authority, which could directly create an Anti-Apparition field.

Once they had you in their sights, there was basically no way out alive.

In just half a month, the number of active Acolytes around the world began to decline.

Three families were also implicated.

They were arrested for providing hiding places to Acolytes, all their assets were confiscated, and three generations of their families were stripped of the right to use Young Wizard Cards.

The punishment was severe.

Some family members had not even known that their father or elder brother had done such a thing, yet their own futures were affected all the same.

Once this punishment was announced, wizarding families everywhere began giving their members serious lectures.

They especially warned hot-blooded younger relatives not to bring suspicious people into the family home.

Some families were so afraid of their relatives being recruited into the Acolytes that they simply confined everyone to the house.

Even young wizards still attending school could not escape a round of lectures.

Of course, the policy also attracted some controversy.

Why should other family members suffer for one person’s mistake?

The Young Wizard Fund was supposed to serve young wizards. It should not deprive them of benefits because of someone else’s wrongdoing.

Whenever John encountered this kind of situation, he usually found out which newspaper had started spreading it and handed the matter over to Rita Skeeter.

As the dominant figure in the newspaper industry, crushing a few foolish tabloids was far too easy for Rita.

“The Young Wizard Fund was never meant to support people who endanger the stability of the wizarding world,” John said calmly when questioned. “They may hate someone for it, but they should hate the selfishness of their own family.”

Once those words spread, hardly anyone thought there was anything wrong with them.

Anyone who had not spent the last few decades hiding in the mountains knew what the Acolytes had done.

If someone knowingly brought such danger into their home, then they had to be prepared to be condemned by everyone.

After that, several more families had their assets confiscated.

They were gamblers, betting that the new world would bring their families even greater prosperity.

It was a risky move, much like staking everything on supporting the eventual victor.

Unfortunately for them, they could not silence those who were afraid.

In one family, a brother reported his own relative.

As a reward for coming forward, the family was fined but avoided having their assets confiscated.

That woke many families up.

Yes.

Cut your losses in time.

Anyone who had become involved with the Acolytes was basically already lost.

A ruined family member had too little value to the family.

It was better to turn them over and preserve the family itself.

The Acolytes were driven out from one place after another, while corpses occasionally appeared in remote wilderness.

Perhaps someone afraid of being exposed had decided to silence them permanently.

Ministries of Magic across Europe became overwhelmed with the growing number of cases.

…

“This is the information you managed to get?”

John looked over the sheets of A4 paper, then at Gus, who looked as though half his body had nearly been crippled.

“More money. You’re paying me more this time!” Gus might have been barely able to move, but his mouth was still as stubborn as ever.

John walked over and lifted the coat that had been stained brown by dried blood.

John frowned deeply.

“How many times were you shot?”

“How am I supposed to remember?” Gus snapped.

“One hundred Galleons per bullet.”

“Do I look like someone who’s short five hundred Galleons? Fine, I am. Boss, I am!”

He had taken five bullets and was still full of energy.

If it had been anyone other than Gus, they would have died long ago.

John picked up the shattered fragments of protective amulets.

Even the five amulets Gus had been carrying had all been destroyed.

“Oh, right. There’s also this.”

Gus suddenly remembered something and pulled out a folder that had been digging into his back.

John took it and glanced at the cover.

His pupils contracted.

“Investigation into the Mysterious Land and Structures in Poland”

He opened it and quickly scanned through the contents.

By the time he finished, John’s expression had turned grave.

“The Muggles have already noticed the existence of wizards.”

It was a classified document.

John had not expected Gus to manage to steal something like this as well.

He felt somewhat helpless.

“This is only going to make the Muggles pay even more attention to wizards.”

John glanced at Gus and asked in confusion, “How did you get discovered?”

“How should I know? Everything was going fine, then suddenly they found me.”

Gus was full of complaints.

He had nearly died there.

“You did well,” John said calmly. “Here’s the payment I promised you.”

He placed a card on the table and slid it over.

Gus picked it up and tapped it a few times, then asked suspiciously, “Boss, I risk my life for you and this is what I get? You’re sending me out to beg?”

He had spent this entire period in the Muggle world, so he had fallen behind on the latest trends in the wizarding world.

John looked at him speechlessly.

“It’s a Magic Card. The Galleons are stored inside. Do you think carrying a thousand Galleons around everywhere would be fun?”

“Oh, right. It’s fifteen hundred.”

John took out his purple card.

The tree-shaped pattern on its surface projected outward.

He reached out and swiped across the tree toward the silver card on the table.

The value stored within the silver card…

The value rose to fifteen hundred.

“All right, I trust your reputation, boss.” Gus still chose to believe the man who paid his bills.

But then he looked at the silver card, then at the purple card.

“Why can’t mine project anything?”

“Oh, once you’ve saved up one hundred thousand Galleons, it can.”

John even demonstrated by transferring another hundred Galleons onto the card.

The number on the silver card changed to sixteen hundred.

Gus: “…”

So what if you’re rich?

Faced with his boss’s outrageous wealth, Gus had only one thing to say.

If you’ve got the ability, humiliate me with more money!

Five gunshot wounds would have put an ordinary person in intensive care.

But for a wizard with powerful healing abilities, injuries like these only required a trip to Silver Cross Hospital.

It was worth mentioning that, as one of John’s hired enforcers, Gus had been lucky enough to get health insurance.

Gus had always been reckless.

Now he was even worse.

After Gus left, Tommy came to inform John that the Quidditch Committee had arrived.

John nodded and was about to leave when he stopped.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “Call Lucius over for me.”

“Tell him his opportunity has arrived.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

Tommy was somewhat puzzled about what kind of opportunity he meant.

The Quidditch Committee was official business, so naturally John would not handle it at Silverhand Manor.

As the current Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, he still had an image to maintain.