Nurmengard was the castle Shen Fei had seen before, and also the prison holding Grindelwald. It had been built during Grindelwald's rise to power and had once served as a gathering place for his faction.
In this regard, Grindelwald was far superior to Voldemort. Voldemort did not even have a base of his own; whenever the Death Eaters held a meeting, they had to borrow the Malfoy family's manor.
Was I lucky, or unlucky? While Grindelwald and Dumbledore went upstairs, seemingly to discuss something, Shen Fei continued muttering to himself.
Although Dumbledore was not in front of him at the moment, Shen Fei had no intention of running. Nurmengard was protected by wards, and without spatial teleportation, he could not outrun Dumbledore.
Shen Fei was not particularly worried about his own safety. Dumbledore would not casually kill people under normal circumstances. What Shen Fei feared most was a Memory Charm.
Before long, Dumbledore and Grindelwald came downstairs. The two stood on opposite sides, forming a triangle with Shen Fei.
"Can you tell us where you came from?" Grindelwald asked first.
"I'm from the east. There was an error during spatial teleportation." Shen Fei gave them the story he had prepared. He absolutely could not reveal that he had come from another world, at least not yet. With his Eastern appearance, pretending to be Chinese was possible, but it would not withstand investigation. Claiming to be from the east, however, was different.
The Wizarding World had very little contact with the outside world. Hogwarts might have been famous worldwide, but it was still only a magical school in England. It could not possibly know whether there was someone like him in the Eastern magical world.
If it had been anyone else standing before Dumbledore, who was extremely skilled at Legilimency, a lie would have been exposed immediately. But Shen Fei was not afraid of his Legilimency. Kamar-Taj's magical system was highly effective at countering that sort of ability.
"You should know that wizards are not allowed to use ordinary people's possessions freely," Dumbledore said.
"I know, but I think that rule is utterly unreasonable. Perhaps it did not matter a century ago, but now? The final result of such a rule will be the destruction of the Wizarding World."
Shen Fei knew what Dumbledore and Grindelwald disagreed over, so all he had to do was play to their preferences. No matter what, he absolutely could not let Dumbledore use a Memory Charm on him. Otherwise, he might have to live in this world as an ordinary person for the rest of his life.
In theory, with Shen Fei's current strength, an ordinary Memory Charm would no longer affect him. Even if it did at first, his memories would soon return. But Dumbledore was different.
"I believe you should know that the Wizarding World's living space is becoming increasingly limited. As technology continues to advance, the possibility of the Wizarding World being exposed will only grow. Only by understanding ordinary people's things can we better protect the Wizarding World."
Shen Fei's words made Grindelwald nod approvingly.
"This would lead to a war between the Wizarding World and ordinary people." Naturally, Dumbledore disagreed with what Grindelwald agreed with. This had also been the source of their disagreement back then.
"Hasn't that war already broken out once? Both sides made it through safely last time, but if there is a next time, I'm afraid they will not be so fortunate."
Without waiting for Dumbledore to speak, Shen Fei continued, "Don't say you have always tried your best to avoid war. What the Wizarding World is doing now is nothing more than running away. The Wizarding World has been running for a thousand years. How much longer can it keep running? One hundred years? Two hundred years? One day, the Wizarding World will no longer remain hidden. When that time comes, war will begin."
"You see more clearly than a child. If you and I had joined hands back then, we could have changed all of this," Grindelwald said excitedly.
"A lot of people would have died. Too many people already died back then."
"That would still be better than the complete extinction of the Wizarding World."
After that, Dumbledore and Grindelwald both fell silent. They were both among the Wizarding World's foremost figures, so their beliefs would not be easily shaken. It was precisely because of that that they had dueled all those years ago.
"I believe everything will get better in the future." After a long while, Dumbledore drew his Wand again.
"Better? What a laughable notion. You said that to me back then. Now tell me, what has changed?" After Shen Fei took several steps back, Grindelwald stepped between Shen Fei and Dumbledore.
"In all these years, the only thing that has changed is ordinary people's weaponry."
"The Wizarding World refuses to interact with the ordinary world, yet hopes the two sides will someday communicate peacefully. Isn't that absurd? If you truly want change, you should gradually tell ordinary people about the Wizarding World and let them know about it, rather than using Memory Charms whenever something happens."
"What was the catalyst for the first contact between east and west? War. Although many people died back then, at least both sides can now communicate as equals. If ordinary people are never allowed to know about the Wizarding World, how can the two sides communicate?"
Shen Fei's words made Dumbledore hesitate. In terms of magic, Dumbledore's knowledge surpassed Shen Fei's by far, but when it came to certain ideas, Shen Fei surpassed Dumbledore by far.
He had not read Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lecture Room, the Hundred Schools of Thought, and The Book of Lord Shang for nothing, though he had originally learned about them entirely because of Qin's Moon.
These words were merely broad principles. In Shen Fei's previous life, hardly anyone would have cared about them, but in this world, they were fresh ideas.
Both Grindelwald and Dumbledore wanted to change the Wizarding World's current state. As two of the few people in the Wizarding World with exceptional wisdom, they saw farther than ordinary people.
In the eyes of most wizards, how could ordinary people—Muggles—possibly harm wizards? It was simply needless worrying. They had always been content with the fact that they were superior to ordinary people. Even though the International Confederation of Wizards had protections for ordinary people, the wording of its laws alone showed that its members still considered themselves superior, because their term for ordinary people was Muggles. Even in legal language, the word Muggle was used.
At this moment, they had completely forgotten the wars between wizards and ordinary people during the Middle Ages, as well as the First and Second World Wars.
In this world, both the First and Second World Wars had erupted because of the Wizarding World.
However, because of his personality, Grindelwald was a radical. He wanted the Wizarding World to seize control of the entire world, so it would not matter if it was exposed.
Unfortunately, Dumbledore was an idealist. As their personality clashes grew increasingly severe, the pair of lovers ended up on opposing sides.
Come to think of it, they were the two most powerful people in the Wizarding World, and both were homosexual. Such a coincidence was rare even in a hundred or a thousand years, yet it had happened to them. In the end, it could only be called fate's cruel joke.
Compared to Grindelwald, the Dark Lord, Voldemort was nothing more than a powerful terrorist.
"Wait, I think you've misunderstood what I mean." Seeing that Dumbledore was still preparing to act, Shen Fei hurriedly said, "My method for resolving the issue between the Wizarding World and ordinary people is different from what you two have in mind."
Before you continue