"Mr. Weasley."
Matthew jogged over and greeted him.
Vaughn nodded at him. "You've worked hard. The residual magical fluctuations in the space are very intense. Did more escape?"
"Yes. I did my best to restrain them, but those..." Matthew considered his words before continuing, "those specimens understand nothing. There's no way to communicate with them. You were right—they... only look human. In essence, they're some kind of animal... no, more accurately, living tools."
Matthew's expression was complicated.
As a werewolf, he was no stranger to such words.
That was how wizards had once described werewolves who lost control during the full moon.
If possible, he certainly did not want to use the words wizards had once used to humiliate him to describe another group.
But...
As he followed Vaughn toward the plains, looking at the blank-faced "wizards" in the iron cages, their limbs thrashing in furious agitation...
He truly could not think of any other description that fit them so precisely.
Paying no mind to the conflict in Matthew's tone, Vaughn asked as they headed toward the experimental area, "How many escaped? How were they dealt with?"
"Two. I'm very sorry, sir. To avoid greater losses, I had no choice but to use some Dark magic... They were seriously injured. I've temporarily placed them in the cultivation area and am barely keeping them alive with the batch of biological cultivation tanks you made."
As they spoke, the two had already arrived amid the densely packed iron cages.
At the sight of them, the wizards in the cages grew even more agitated, slamming against the bars with tremendous noise.
Vaughn drew his wand.
"Silence Charm!"
Powerful magic spread out in an instant. Wherever it passed, sound itself seemed like tangible ripples, smoothed and erased by an invisible force.
To Matthew's senses,