The next afternoon, the dusty Meilin held an ugly cat and finally found a bar that looked extremely ancient on the outermost side of this remote town.
A dirty iron sign that could hardly be clearly visible was hung outside the room, with a galloping horse jumping on it.
This is where Merlin's fate is about to be decided.
But just when Merlin wanted to push open the bar door, she was stopped by the old man sitting at the bar door and leisurely smoking a pipe.
The old man with gray hair glanced at Meilin with his confused eyes. He coughed a few times and said to Meilin:
“Outsiders are not welcome here.”
“I have an appointment with someone.”
Merlin said softly, and the old man asked again:
"who?"
"Mr. Arthur."
"Which Arthur?"
The old man was a little impatient. Merlin ignored the impatientness in the old man's words, and he replied:
"Mr. Arthur Weasley."
"oh?"
When he heard this name, the old man suddenly squirted out a breath of smoke. He looked at Meilin up and down with suspicious eyes. After a few seconds, the old man snorted and retracted his arm that blocked Meilin.
He warned:
"I don't know where you heard this name, but you'd better not lie to me. Although the Weasleys are in poverty and poor, and have a good impression of Muggles, they have also inherited the rules of the pure blood family, and hehe who dares to deceive them."
Merlin ignored the old man who was guarding the door. He held Crook Hill, pushed the door open and walked into the bar.
This time, it was not the time for the bar to open, so the decoration was very old, and there was no guest except a black barman in the small bar with deer heads on the walls.
Merlin sat on the bar and said to the bartender in front of him:
"Get a glass of wine, any wine is fine."
The bartender glanced at Merlin, and a moment later he brought a small glass of wine to Merlin. He placed the wine shining with amber light in front of Merlin, then hugged his arms and said:
"The 4-year wolf poison wine is priced at 1 gold gallon and 7 silver shiko. This face-born gentleman, how do you pay the bill?"
"Well"
When she saw the strange cocktail in front of her, Merlin suddenly realized a problem.
In New York, he heard the unreliable third-rate wizard Constantine say that the wizards in the magic world use another currency, which is only circulated among wizards, and Merlin does not have this currency at all.
And Merlin still remembers Constantine's exchange rate between Kingalon and pound.
1 gold gallon equals 5 pounds, or 7 US dollars.
Merlin looked at the wine glass in front of him that was too small to be smaller and the wine liquid that was only two-thirds of the wine glass, and he knew that he had been cheated.
“Cash is collected here?”
Merlin opened her wallet and looked at the bartender, who smiled coldly:
"No charge!"
Seeing the sneer on the bartender's face, Merlin knew that the guy in front of him was deliberately looking for trouble, maybe he was bullying others for the first time and never saw the world.
But Merlin had no need to be afraid of him. In the dark perception, he could clearly sense that the magic aura on the bartender in front of him was extremely weak, even worse than the old man at the door.
In other words, this guy is just pretending!
Merlin's face also turned cold. He took something out of his coat and slapped it on the bar.
"What about this? Do you accept it?"
The thing was square and emitted a cold and deadly light under the light. It was a large-caliber pistol, full of bullets and loaded.
Maybe you can't deal with a formal wizard, but with just one bullet, you can send the real "squint" in front of you to heaven.
The black bartender clearly knew what was in Merlin's hand. He subconsciously took a step back and saw the contemptuous smile on Merlin's face.
At this time, he knew that he had exposed himself.
This made the bartender a little embarrassed, but just as he was about to make things difficult for Merlin again, a low voice came from the door.
"That glass of wine should be worth $5. OK, Mr. Merlin, don't make things difficult for Jitter. He is just a little guy who likes to play tricks, let him go."
The appearance of this voice made the bartender who was about to cause trouble immediately become obedient and even a little flattering. He said to the visitor:
"Ri'an, Mr. Arthur, are you still going to drink the 'Three-Headed Dog' as you are?"
"Yeah, have a drink."
The man gave an order and sat on the chair beside Merlin.
He looked in his 40s and had golden hair, and it seemed that he had just taken care of it casually.
He was tall, about 1.85, wearing a black windbreaker, a slightly old gentleman's shirt, a purple tie, and a slightly worn handbag in his hand.
This man has bright eyes, a big nose, a wide forehead, and looks strong last year, and has a gentle temperament.
It looks easy to deal with, his voice is quite magnetic and always soft, as if he is afraid of disturbing something.
"You are Mr. Arthur? His Excellency Ron's father?"
Merlin looked at the man beside him, who nodded, but his attention was all on the silver pistol at Merlin's hand.
"The technology of steel, the reuse of gunpowder."
The man looked at the cold pistol and said with interest:
"In the world of Muggles, something so interesting will always be born. They are really smart but it is very dangerous, especially for the little wizards with weak experience and strength. A pistol can cause a disaster."
"Can you give it to me? Mr. Merlin, I am quite interested in these things. Perhaps through research on this dangerous thing, I can come up with a way to protect the young wizards from threats."
"certainly."
Merlin stretched out his finger and pushed his gun in front of Mr. Arthur. The latter was a little clumsy, but he picked up the thing with great enthusiasm. Under Merlin's teaching, the man who seemed to have never been exposed to a gun took less than 2 minutes to understand the use of the weapon.
He pulled out of the magazine, swung his fingers lightly, and the brass-colored bullet jumped out of the magazine. He hovered in front of Arthur in a suspended manner. Then the entire gun was quickly broken down under the control of the invisible hand.
"Excellent ideas!"
Arthur sighed and stroked the parts with his fingers, but after a moment, he looked awkwardly at the pistol that was reassembled but could no longer be activated.
He must have misplaced one or two parts.
Merlin smiled, he took the pistol, re-decomposed it in a dazzling way, and in a few seconds, re-assembled it. Then he handed it to Arthur, who said:
"Maybe you need a textbook that specifically explains the principles of firearms and gunpowder."
"Is that true? Is there such a specialized textbook in the Muggle world?"
Mr. Arthur put the pistol back into his handbag, he took his wine and chatted with Merlin.
This wizard was very talkative, from gunpowder to elevators, from cars to planes, from engines to ships, he was almost interested in everything he said about the "muggle world".
This also made Merlin a little confused, and he asked:
"Mr. Arthur, you can find any knowledge you want to know in any library. Is there no reason why wizards like you can't find these books?"
"I know they are in the library, but I can't get them, Mr. Merlin."
Arthur drank a little regretfully, and he talked to Merlin:
"I work in the Ministry of Magic, a department called the Department of Prohibition of Abuse of Muggle Products. I personally wrote the "Muggle Protection Act" with the encouragement of some enlightened wizards, but unfortunately, the stereotypes of wizards about Muggle are difficult to eliminate. My daily work is to prohibit my compatriots from overuse of the items you produce, so as not to impact the traditions of the wizarding world from outside civilization."
"There are billions of people in the Muggle world, but wizards around the world, even if they are squints, add up to 3 million. This means that once the window of exchange between the two sides is relaxed, the wizards have adhered to the tradition of thousands of years and may be completely annihilated in less than 10 years."
Arthur shrugged and said to Merlin:
"So, some of our persistence may seem a little closed to you, but it is necessary for the inheritance of magic."
"Oh, so that's the case?"
Merlin nodded in a clear way. He wanted to know more about the wizard. But Mr. Arthur took out a quaint pocket watch from his arms, looked at the time, then coughed lightly, and put down the wine glass in his hand.
His expression became serious, and he looked at Merlin:
"Okay, entertainment time is over, Mr. Merlin."
"I heard from Hermione, are you a squib from North America? Want to get some magical textbooks from me?"
"Yeah, yes."
Merlin tried hard to make himself look sincere, and he said sadly:
“My parents are”
"No!"
Before the lie he made up began, he was interrupted by Arthur. The wizard in front of him looked at Merlin and said calmly:
"You are not!"
Merlin's expression instantly solidified.
He heard Arthur say slowly:
"Children are always simple in their minds. They know some legends about squints and think they can take advantage of loopholes. But they ignore one thing. I have worked in the Ministry of Magic for more than 30 years, and I have seen more squints than they have read."
Arthur looked at Merlin and said:
"You are not a squin, Mr. Merlin, the gap between you and a squin is so big that if I were blind, I could easily tell it."
He pointed to Jitter, the bartender who was busy on the other side, and said to Merlin:
"That's the posture that the squint should have. He is sarcastic about Muggles and respects the wizards. But I can't see any humility and flattery in your eyes. You should also be a decent person with status in the Muggle world. Maybe you are still a public official. I guess Merlin, right?"
"The wizard's observation ability is indeed keen."
Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, he looked at Arthur calmly, took out his ID from his arms, and said to Arthur:
"You guessed it right, Mr. Arthur, I am indeed not a squib. I am a government official, responsible for security and protection. Believe me, if I have a choice, I would not want myself to be related to magic. So far, all it has brought me is pain."
"So, let's talk."
Arthur patted his handbag and said to Merlin:
"What you need is here. But you have to tell me your past so that I can tell if I should help you. Merlin, just like the gun you gave me, these teaching materials are not worth mentioning, but I also don't want it to be spread in the Muggle world. Being responsible for protecting these ancient secrets is my job."
"Also, Merlin, I have to warn you in advance."
Mr. Arthur's expression became a little dangerous, and he looked straight into Merlin's eyes, and he said:
"You have a close relationship with Miss Hermione. I don't know how you became her friend at the moment, but as a formal wizard, it is my duty to protect the little wizard. I hope you can handle your relationship with Hermione correctly. I am not asking you to leave her, but asking you not to approach her with evil intentions, nor to use her!"
"If she or her friend is hurt by you, then Azkaban or Neumungard's cage will be your destination for the rest of your life."
"Can you do it?"
Faced with Arthur's unceremonious questioning, Merlin said seriously:
"I can do it!"
"My duty is to protect innocent people and fight those hidden evils. My reunion with Hermione was just an accident, but I want to thank this accident for bringing my life to me. If you need it, I can make a vow. You wizards should have this magic that binds the oath, right?"
Merlin's question made Mr. Arthur hesitate a little. He coughed lightly and said:
"It does. But I won't allow you and Hermione to restrain each other in that way."
"Merlin, after you accept this set of teaching materials, you will be included in the British Ministry of Magic's surveillance list. If you use magic to do evil on British land, then unfortunately, all the Aurors in the whole UK will try their best to pursue you."
"What if it's in North America?"
Merlin asked, Arthur smiled and said:
"That's what the American Magic and French Association has. Compared to our style of conduct, our North American counterparts are a little rude and cruel. So no matter where you are, you'd better be able to restrain yourself."
"Okay, now, let's tell you the story."
Mr. Arthur leaned against the bar, he looked at Merlin, and he said:
"Use a real story to convince me, don't try to lie, I'm a formal wizard, and I have many ways to judge the authenticity of what you say."
"Now"
Chapter completed!