Vaughn seemed to have understood.
Crouch began talking to Vaughn about North America.
He said, "I've also been keeping an eye on the situation in North America in recent years... Don't look at me like that. No matter what, I'm the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation. It's part of my job."
"The North American No-Maj government has indeed been trying to crack the power of wizards, but countries around the world all know that they actually started back in the twenties and thirties. Decades have passed, and they've made virtually no progress. No-Majs..."
Crouch paused. "I'm still used to calling them Muggles... Muggles without magic cannot possibly understand the power of wizards. Their so-called science does have its merits—I've studied it in detail. Yes, nuclear weapons are tremendously powerful, but that's all."
When it came to the most terrifying achievement of Muggle technology—the nuclear bomb—Crouch displayed neither the ignorant contempt of ordinary wizards nor the fear of Muggles.
Instead, he had a distinctly detached attitude, as if he were merely discussing a novel oversized toy.
Vaughn knew that this detached attitude was precisely how the more perceptive people of the wizarding world truly viewed Muggles and Muggle creations.
It all came down to one thing: Muggles could not use magic!
The longer Vaughn was exposed to magic, and the further he traveled down its path, the more he understood just how fragile Muggles were in the face of wizards.
One fact had to be acknowledged: in terms of raw destructive power alone, Muggle technology used for weaponry was indeed beyond anything wizards could match.
But the problem was that, after abandoning ancient magic, the modern spell system developed by wizards had already discarded the notion of prioritizing power above all else and instead diversified in every direction.