Family Night Talk

Family Night Talk

After carrying his already-asleep little sister back to her bedroom, Bell went to another small dining room in the castle. William and Elena were already waiting for him there.

"Bell, how was it? Did you have fun tonight?" William asked with a smile.

Bell thought about it. Although greeting dozens of adults at the beginning had left him utterly exhausted, listening to a group of Little Wizards brag afterward had been quite interesting. So he answered, "I did."

William laughed happily.

"I'm glad you had fun. I called you here today because I want to introduce you to our family's situation. The family will be placed in your hands someday, after all. It may be a little early, but I still think it's necessary for you to gain a general understanding of our family first."

"You met all the wizards who attended today. Every one of them holds a position of great importance in the Magical World of Britain, or even in other countries. Yet today, they all attended our family banquet because of my invitation. Bell, that is proof of our family's strength. Our Menethil Family has a history of more than a thousand years and is one of the oldest surviving families in the Wizarding World. Even when the Dark Lord was running rampant a few years ago, he did not dare offend our family lightly."

William proudly introduced his family's glorious history to his son.

"Ahem... um..."

Seeing the pride written all over his father's face, Bell felt a little embarrassed to speak. Only a little, though.

"But according to the records I've read, there seems to be some discrepancy with what you said, Dad?"

William's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

"The records you read? You... where did you read those records?"

"Of course, they were records I had Lim find for me. He should have found them in the Library?"

Bell recalled the Library he had only learned about a few days earlier.

On the night they returned from Diagon Alley, Bell had gone to Mom because he wanted to see the family Library. The result had exceeded his expectations. He had forgotten that there was a spell called the Undetectable Extension Charm, so the Library was far larger than it appeared from the outside.

Bell had also learned from Elena that every Pure-blood Wizarding Family established a family Library. Some families only placed precious or exclusive magical knowledge within them. Other families, such as the Menethil Family, preserved every piece of magical knowledge they could collect in their Libraries.

"Some time ago, I became interested in our family's circumstances, so I had Lim find every record related to the family. According to those records, our family's verifiable history only goes back a little over five hundred years, and even its origins are vaguely described. Compared to ancient families with documented histories, like the Black Family and the Gaunt Family, our family doesn't seem particularly old?"

"And no family is one the Dark Lord wouldn't dare provoke. As far as I know, as long as they did not openly stand against him, the Dark Lord did not specifically target Pure-blood Families. No matter how powerful he was, he was only one person, and one person could not rule the Wizarding World. Pure-blood Families were the foundation of his power and rule. The Dark Lord may have been somewhat mentally unstable, but that did not mean he was stupid. So I don't think there is anything to be proud of in our family not being attacked by the Dark Lord. Not doing something does not mean not daring to do it. In fact, he could wipe us out at any time."

Ignoring William's pale face and the cold sweat dripping from his forehead, Bell rattled off all the information he had learned in one breath.

"Am I right, Mom?"

"That's right, sweetheart. Don't listen to your father's nonsense."

Elena rolled her eyes at William. She had not approved of telling Bell too much about the family to begin with. Bell was only five years old; it was far too early to discuss those things now.

As the saying went, wine gave cowards courage. Having drunk a little at the banquet today, William actually dared to disregard his wife's opinion and insisted on telling Bell these things. What Elena had not expected even more was that William would actually tell him false information!

That false information had been fabricated specifically to fool outsiders. After all, records kept within other families would not describe the Menethil Family's situation in detail. Besides, these were matters from centuries ago. Even if someone questioned them, they could simply say that the other family's records had been lost.

She did not know whether the alcohol had muddled his brain, or whether he had spent so much time making up lies that he had started believing them himself. Elena desperately wanted to kick William a few times.

"W-well... Bell, rest assured. Our family still holds a high position in the British Wizarding World. A shorter history doesn't prove anything."

William tried to salvage his dignity as a father. Having a lie exposed to his face, especially by his own son, was simply too embarrassing! Was there a crack in the ground he could crawl into?

"And even those families that are only a little stronger than us would not trouble us for no reason."

"Dad, I have always believed that placing your hopes in the hands of an enemy is an extremely foolish thing to do," Bell said calmly. At the same time, he lifted the tea on the table and took a sip, leaning back in his chair with the air of a big shot. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought he was the father and William the son.

Looking at the speechless William, Bell continued, "And as far as I know, our family can only be considered slightly above average in the British Wizarding World, let alone on a global scale."

"Uh..."

William had wanted to show off the family's glory to his son, but he had never expected Bell to know so much about the family's current situation. Was this really something a Little Wizard his age should know? William wanted to cry.

In truth, Bell had always been thinking about the family's present and future. Even setting aside the benefits to his own magical studies, if the family became stronger, Shanna would be safer too.

"Our family should have a lot of Galleons, right?" Bell asked.

"Of course!"

William regained some of his confidence.

"Our underground vault at Gringotts is piled full of Galleons and all kinds of treasures."

"Yet we don't use them, do we?"

Bell looked perfectly calm, as though he did not find that anything to be proud of.

"So what difference does it make whether the vault is filled with Galleons or dirt? They are both worthless."

William choked again.

"How could there be no difference? Those are Galleons! Galleons that can buy anything!"

"No. Galleons cannot buy everything. They can only buy what they can buy. And those things can be bought by anyone who has Galleons."

Bell stared seriously at his father.

"Dad, we are wizards, not Muggles. The only thing that can make us powerful is magic. If Galleons cannot help us gain more powerful magic, then they are worthless."

"No, no, no! Bell. For a wizarding family, Galleons are indispensable. Only with enough Galleons can our family continue to endure."