Chapter 406: Someone’s Playing with Fire

Grave-robbing? For a top-tier wizard, that’s not even a problem—it’s about preserving the lost culture of wizardry while exploring... you know?

But that excuse obviously doesn’t fly with a bunch of kids, especially when the grave Allen and his friends dug up held tremendous significance in the Japanese magical world.

Who knows how many elder wizards would have stormed out of hidden corners just to give Allen and company trouble? If you looked at the hidden victims behind Lockhart’s books, you’d see that the wizarding world is full of experts.

Right now, though, Allen couldn’t avoid telling some story—ignoring the expectant eyes of the crowd would be impossible. This was a real test of his storytelling skills.

After some frantic thinking, Allen realized he didn’t have time to make something up from scratch. There was only one option left: plagiarize.

Given the current timeline, he couldn’t copy everything directly, so he blended bits and pieces from here and there.

A few minutes later, a completely fictional character was introduced—someone who had never existed in history.

This wizard was born with extraordinary talent but permanently lost his tongue during an experiment. From that point on, he became the laughingstock of everyone around him. To make things worse, the pure-blood family he was supposed to marry publicly annulled the engagement. Enraged, the wizard carved the words "Do not mock the young and poor" into the wall and stormed out of his family home, beginning his legendary years of showing off his prowess.

From the reactions around him, the effect was spectacular. Everyone was stunned.

It took a while before someone realized: What does all this have to do with Allen and the others?

Allen smiled faintly.

"This great wizard left behind a legacy before his death. Our group went to that place to undergo trials—that’s why I was injured so severely."

"Did you get it?" a kid blurted out, then quickly shut their mouth—duh, didn’t they just see the two magical items?

Allen’s answer, however, shocked everyone. He straightened his posture and said seriously:

"No. The actual legacy isn’t there. We weren’t fated to obtain it. The true inheritance remains in the Mahoutokoro campus, left by this great wizard for those destined to find it. We... have already lost the qualification to pass the trials again."

He only made up this story to add mystique, Allen thought, absolutely no revenge intended. It’s not because someone here passed along gossip about me. Really.

Stories like this could easily be fact-checked against magical history—they’d only waste people’s time. But by the time anyone came back to verify, Allen would have a perfect story.

Well... probably.

Unfortunately, Allen forgot one crucial thing: coincidences exist. Especially when he hadn’t even made up a year.

Not everyone present was idle, and a few stayed up late digging through records. Coincidentally, a wizard somewhat similar to Allen’s fabricated one actually did exist in Japanese magical history.

Most of Allen’s fabricated story wasn’t found in records, but a few plausible details gave the researchers enough confidence to think, Maybe these "failures" just kept their own deeds secret. People naturally interpret things in ways that favor themselves.

Unsurprisingly, the situation quickly spun out of control.

Don’t underestimate how passionate young wizards are about treasure hunts.

For a time, the entire campus was full of treasure seekers. Zongze, Allen’s classmate, complained that these kids didn’t even leave the toilets alone.

It made sense—just as Hogwarts had endless secrets to uncover, Mahoutokoro had its own legendary magical heritage. Discovering a hidden legacy wasn’t abnormal.

The only difference was that Allen pointed it out.

However, the wave of excitement came and went quickly. After a few days of unsuccessful searching, most people gave up, leaving only a few persistent adventurers.

Allen could only mutter, What the hell... and continue his campus studies. Even if a real legacy existed, he wasn’t interested. His gains from the recent adventure were already more than enough, and he was still adjusting to his suddenly amplified strength.

Unfortunately, things weren’t that simple.

Someone was stirring the pot.

According to intelligence from an Auror, someone in the Japanese wizarding world was feverishly spreading rumors about a legacy hidden within Mahoutokoro. Complete records and guides were being circulated, practically inciting a frenzy. Allen burned the letter casually, thinking:

Who has so much free time and guts? This was just a student prank, and now it’s escalated to the level of the wider wizarding community.

Anyone who would provoke this degree was almost certainly dead...

And if their goal was Allen’s two magical items, there was no need for such a grand scheme. Even if they were interested in the fabricated legacy, their methods were overkill. Stirring up the crowd was far less efficient than just confronting him directly.

No doubt, someone was trying to fish in troubled waters.

Strangely, what gave them the confidence to act in front of three school heads?

If nothing went wrong, the timing for their move would be predictable—either during next week’s break or the week after, at the championship finals.

The school would open the grounds to everyone, as required by the sponsor who bought naming rights. Ticket revenue would be partially shared. Normally, massive crowds were expected, but with the lure of treasure, even more people would swarm the campus.

At that moment, causing chaos would be trivial. It was a perfect plan. The organizers must be incredibly bold to pull it off.

And Allen?

Not a chance I’m waiting for them.

It’s always better to nip things in the bud. Especially when an organization clearly has a huge operating budget.

The sponsor was a good place to start investigating. Even if he wasn’t involved, Allen could gather clues bit by bit.

How dare they use me as a pawn?

Are you ready for retaliation?