Lure them in, then kill them

As for Millicent Bagnold, given the nature of the Order of the Phoenix, these actions were not the kind she couldn't refuse; they were purely things she chose to do herself.

They were doing something extremely risky; in previous Order of the Order of the Phoenix operations, more than one or two Wizards had died on the spot. It's unreasonable to attribute Millicent Bagnold's accident entirely to Curse.

If Millicent Bagnold chooses not to go and instead stays at Hogwarts as the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts...

Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs".

In fact, judging from the fact that Millicent Bagnold resigned from the Ministry of Magic to become the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and was tasked with acting as bait to provoke Voldemort and lure Voldemort out, that's exactly her personality.

If she had stayed at Hogwarts to attend classes because of the Curse or fear of death, she wouldn't have come to Hogwarts to become the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the first place.

From this perspective, everything seems predetermined, and nothing happens in a completely reasonable way.

However, the fates of the previous Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, taken individually, all seem quite reasonable. At least the fates of the other three Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts Manus knew of were all plausible.

Katria was already afflicted with the Beastman Blood Curse, which she herself had inflicted by digging up someone's ancestral grave. She wouldn't have lived much longer even if she hadn't come to Hogwarts.

The Beastman Blood Curse is a vicious Curse that intensifies with each attack, aiming to kill. It's not like it only became deadly after Katria came to Hogwarts and became the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Kreigs's group of four was similar; they targeted Manus because of Manus paper published in "Transfiguration Today" and approached him to try and recruit Manus.

This would have happened even if Kreigs hadn't come to Hogwarts as the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts; at most, Manus wouldn't have noticed their anomaly and whereabouts so sooner.

However, on the other hand, they came to Hogwarts because they were hired by the Greater Good to find something Hogwarts, and this was not because Kreigs came to Hogwarts as the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"So, my previous thinking was somewhat off? Rather than the Curse causing the problems in those with issues who come to Defense Against the Dark Arts to surface, it's more like... from the very beginning, it's those with problems who come, or at least are more likely to become Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts?"

This seems to confirm why, despite the long-standing controversy surrounding the position of Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, people continue to vie for it.

People who are clear about their career path and have no problems will naturally be more selective in their career choices, avoiding potential risks.

Only those who are inherently problematic would come to Hogwarts as the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts for various reasons beyond professional considerations, only to become the next case of the Curse.

This location is Curse, and it's also the only open, visible entrance to Hogwarts.

For anyone with ill intentions who wants to enter Hogwarts legitimately and without conflict, this is the only way. And those who enter Hogwarts with such thoughts, even without Curse, would not have a good ending in such a fairytale-like world.

"Could this be the reason why this Curse could exist?"

Manus put away his newspaper, got up, and headed to the classroom for the first lesson, which happened to be Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Under Flitwick's watchful eye, the students, who had already completed the year's curriculum, reviewed a lesson on their own.

After class, as Bellows packed up his notebooks and textbooks, he glanced at Flitwick, who had closed his book and was walking out of the classroom, and said:

"The Curse this year doesn't seem as severe? Is it because Professor Millicent Bagnold ran fast enough?"

Upon careful consideration, the only injuries they knew of Millicent Bagnold during his time as Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts were those he sustained while temporarily away from the school, during which time he was injured while investigating something and ended up in St. Mungo's's.

They didn't know that Millicent Bagnold had used herself as bait to lure Voldemort into attacking her, nor did they know that Millicent Bagnold had participated in several operations as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and they were even less aware that Millicent Bagnold was now most likely lying in a hospital bed.

Manus began to reflect on whether his judgments on these matters were also greatly limited by his perspective.

He knows more than his classmates, but there are also many things he doesn't know, not to mention many things he's unaware of.

"To see clearly with my current eyes... in exchange for my Third Eye."

Manus felt an even greater urgency for the exchange ceremony.

"Don't rush, it'll be ready soon."

To complete this ceremony, the other parts are not too difficult to solve, such as the arrangement of the venue and the design of the process. The special nature of this world makes it much easier to complete these steps than in other worlds.

Only the most core parts have relatively high technical requirements.

Manus is not Odin, and what he needs to sacrifice in exchange is not one of his own real eyes, but simply to gouge it out. To truly and manually complete the step of "removing the Third Eye," Manus's Alchemy needs to make a further breakthrough in the conceptual realm.

However, we are not far from achieving this goal, since it is not about completely completing the Concept Armament of the alchemical kingdom, but about operating on ourselves, whom we know best.

After having the idea of rituals, Manus shifted his Alchemy research focus to the conceptual realm.

If all goes well, this breakthrough can be achieved naturally within this year, without any urgency or ambiguity.

"Manus?"

Bellows looked at Manus, who was not responding, with a puzzled expression.

"Hmm? I don't find it strange at all. Not every Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the past has suffered a fatal accident, otherwise no one would dare to apply for this position."

There is a significant difference between a high-risk job and a job where death is certain.

The former might make people think it's just a coincidence, that many people have accidents, and these people just happened to be the ones who happened to be there.

But the latter is obviously a bit off.

Every now and then Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts appears, who may cause some minor setbacks but ultimately accomplishes nothing serious. This gives more people the confidence to continue their efforts.

In a sense, this is probably Curse strategy: lure people in first, then kill them.