"Hmm~ It's honestly not bad at all, way cooler than bottled water," Kasen said, then even refilled his empty water bottle with some conjured milk—after all, drinking rainwater could give you a stomachache.
"By the way, you still haven't answered my question."
"Judging by our temperaments… who do you think is the big spoon?" Grindelwald turned his head to look at Kasen.
"…Judging by temperament, I'd say it's you," Kasen replied.
Grindelwald nodded. "Exactly."
"Really?"
Grindelwald's expression hardened slightly. "Really!"
"The Webnovel readers also said Dumbledore must be the little spoon, but the people from the Patreon think you're the little spoon! Ok, I shouldn't have said that—" Kasen started to say, but then noticed Grindelwald's hand drifting toward the sleeve that held his wand.
"Who are these people of Webnovel and Patreon..? What does those even mean?"
"Well, you were a famous dark lord.. maybe some people who are your fans..? Honestly? I don't know myself. Hey! Don't look at me like that! Alright, fine, I believe you!"
"Mhm, let's head back to the hotel," Grindelwald said, wiping the rain from his hair. With a hum and a roar, he vanished from sight.
A moment later, purple sparks scattered across the sky.
The next morning...
The two of them, traveling light, simply took a cab to the airport.
Once on the plane, Kasenhis, already familiar with the routine, pulled out an eye mask and earplugs, planning to catch some sleep.
To make sure he'd sleep well on the flight, Kasen had even stayed up until three in the morning the night before.
Grindelwald, however, was a different story.
Even though they had flown by plane from England to Africa before, he was still immensely fascinated by this massive, non-magical flying machine.
He patted the dozing Kasen.
Half-asleep, Kasen lifted his eye mask just a crack. "I studied civil engineering, not aerodynamics. You really shouldn't be asking me… just like last time, you asked me almost the whole flight and I couldn't answer you, remember?"
"No," Grindelwald shook his head and discreetly cast a soundproofing charm around them. "I was just marveling at the growing gap between Muggles and wizards. I've seen planes before, but the ones I saw were mostly tiny, barely holding one or two people, maybe able to drop a bomb or two."
"Actually, at the start of this century, Muggles already had large transport planes. But I don't know if they had commercial airliners like this..." Kasen mumbled, half-asleep. "And I'd like to sleep."
"Wizards are still too arrogant," Grindelwald said, shaking his head.
"That's mostly the wizards in England and Germany. Last year, I had some dealings with the French magical community. They're very open to Muggle science and technology. And then there's Ilvermorny, the magic school in America," Kasen explained offhandedly, filling in this out-of-touch old wizard.
"You know why that is?"
"England, because of Voldemort. Germany, because their magical schools basically never had Muggle-born wizards... though I've seen their Muggle Studies classes. Even though they're all pure-bloods, their attitude toward Muggle-borns and Muggles is still much friendlier than England's."
"You can tell just from the course names too. One is called 'Muggle Interaction Class', the other is 'Muggle Studies'. The English one already stinks of arrogance from the name alone."
"Have you ever thought about changing that?" Grindelwald asked.
Kasen took off his eye mask. "I knew you didn't come with me on this trip with good intentions. Finally showing your cards, huh? Well, I did have that idea once, but not anymore."
Grindelwald shook his head. "Timid. You'll never accomplish anything big like that."
"Achieving big things is a Slytherin trait. Hehe, I'm from Hufflepuff, remember?"
"Maybe we can take a gentler approach," Grindelwald suggested.
"Meh," Kasen shrugged. "Compared to killing a billion people, any approach is gentle."
"Directly giving magic to a billion people worldwide—that's something so arrogant, even the craziest madman wouldn't dare dream of it. And you actually tried it? No wonder you failed, and even got hunted down by your future self."
Kasen rolled his eyes. The Grindelwald in front of him was a natural seer, one who could truly see the future. So the fact that Grindelwald already knew the whole story of that timeline didn't surprise Kasen at all.
But still…
"Remind me, who was it that suddenly showed up on the roof of Hogwarts, trying to snatch the magic seeds?" Kasen asked.
Grindelwald shook his head. "Before you completely destroyed the magic seeds, there were still many branches in the timeline. Things could still be changed. That's why I tried to seize them."
"And now?"
"The timeline is starting to collapse into chaos. I can barely see anything clearly anymore."
Kasenhis sighed from his seat. Well, chaotic or not, it wasn't like he had any better options right now.
Or rather, this just proved he truly was a Hufflepuff. If he had been a Gryffindor or Slytherin, he probably would have pushed the magic seed project forward without hesitation.
Even if he had been a Ravenclaw, he could've calculated this problem thoroughly: the lives of one billion sacrificed for the rise of the remaining billions of new humans gifted with magic.
Of course, that was the conservative estimate. More likely, as the magically gifted humans gained power, the conflict would spiral into even bloodier battles.
With global war machines, ceaseless wizard assassinations, and deep-seated hatred fueling everything at full speed, it might end with only—what? A billion survivors out of tens of billions? Maybe even less.
The problem was, Kasen had studied civil engineering. His understanding of the deep mechanics of war was patchy at best, and far from complete.
So he really had no clear sense of just how far this war would escalate. After all, he wasn't a specialist.
If it had been someone else—say, Grindelwald, Dumbledore, or Voldemort—not to mention a billion lives, even if only a billion people were left alive, or even just a hundred million, they would have pushed the plan forward without hesitation.
Well, scratch Voldemort from that list. He didn't have that kind of grand vision.
In his eyes, even within the wizarding world, there had to be a rigid hierarchy of ranks. If everyone in the world suddenly became a wizard, and then heard of someone like him... Damn.
The brand-new Muggle-born wizards would immediately band together!
Form alliances upon alliances!
With Avada Kedavra in one hand and broomsticks in the other, they'd first wipe out all those brainless pure-blood fanatics before starting their own internal conflicts.
"What are you thinking about?" Grindelwald asked, watching Kasen's expression shift between dark and light.
"I was thinking about those idiot pure-blood families in England…"
"Dumbledore told me you always treat your students equally," Grindelwald countered.
"I've never looked down on any student just because they come from a pure-blood family. What I despise has always been that ridiculous pure-blood clique that thinks they own the place."
Kasen continued.
"Of course, maybe some of my pure-blood students will grow up to become like that... maybe not. In any case, I can only hope they'll manage to break free from the chains of their families and live as their true selves."
"And not as puppets with no will of their own, just mechanically running along for the so-called glory and continuation of their family," Kasen sighed.
"Do you think that's possible?" Grindelwald asked.
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