Nick spoke in fits and starts for quite a while before realizing he had gone off topic. He gave Shawn a rather insincere smile of apology.
"Ha, it's a common failing among old men. We always like to bore youngsters with the fading glories of our past.
"Why don't you ask the Pure Land Society about the Northern Europe Divine Kingdom?
"As for Herpo the Foul, hmm, that Dark Wizard really was secretly responsible for the Black Death that swept Europe back then.
"The greatest beneficiary of that disaster wasn't me, but the Church. You should ask them.
"As for the Double Serpent Society, I really don't know as much as you people in power, with your formidable intelligence networks. I can only offer you one suggestion.
"The problems you face now may seem difficult, but solving them isn't actually complicated.
"You must compete with your enemies for people's hearts. That is the advice history offers us."
This time, Nick's halting account had finally provided something useful.
In particular, he had hinted at a possible connection between Herpo the Foul and the Church. After all, there was some logic to suspecting whoever benefited.
As Shawn listened to the end, he somehow found himself thinking of Kirk, the clerk who had tried to assassinate India's Minister with a dagger before the Wizarding Association Conference began.
That complicated assassin seemed to have said something similar before his death.
To defeat those people, brute violence is useless. You can only start with people's hearts.
People's hearts? What exactly did that mean?
If it meant winning people over in the ordinary sense, a promising future and concrete action would suffice.
But this was the magical world, where so many things depended on the mind.
Shawn frowned, then thought of faith. That, too, was a