Manhattan Lower City.
This place is usually full of piles of old newspapers and garbage cans filled with cooked oil, and it smells of a mixture of bean dregs and sour water.
The young confidant who had followed Joseph to the woods in the northern suburbs several times happened to have his coat collar raised to his forehead, holding two cups of hot black coffee he had just bought on the roadside, and walked towards the back door of the office building with his shoulders hunched.
He was really frightened these days.
Every time he closed his eyes, he could think of the Kappa sound of those horned soldiers in the forest forcibly twisting the monster's neck.
He was afraid that one day when he was walking at night, a tranquilizer gun would be handed to him behind his back.
As soon as I took two steps, a figure turned around without any sound behind the old red brick wall in the back alley.
The confidant was so frightened that he almost threw the two cups of black coffee on the ground. He ran his right hand along the seam of his pants to touch the Wand in his pocket.
But before his fingertips touched the wood, there was a bit of cool breeze on his back.
Although he couldn't see it with his eyes, the hairs on the back of his neck had stood up straight.
That little invisible monster named Duke was definitely standing right behind his shoulder.
As long as he dares to take Wand, the back of his head will be pressed directly into the brick wall next to him by this little hand.
The young man was so anxious that he crushed the hot lid of the black coffee in his hand and stared dumbly at Edgar standing under the street lamp.
The big boss put his hands in his pockets and had an easy-going smile on his lips.
"Don't be nervous, young man. If you spill hot coffee on your coat and burn your hands, you'll be in trouble."
Edgar's voice was light, and he even took half a step forward, far away from the oil and water on the ground.
The young assistant's legs were spinning on the floor tiles, and he swallowed several mouthfuls of dry saliva:
"Ah... Mr. Edgar, I have always been very obedient. I picked up and delivered Linzi's drawings on time. I didn't want to cause trouble with you."
"I know that you are a good young man who understands the situation and knows how to protect himself."
Edgar looked at his scared look, but there was a bit more satisfaction in his eyes, "So I'm not here to trouble you today, I'm here to show you a clear path."
The assistant was stunned, and the hand holding the coffee became slightly steady.
"Your old boss Joseph's brain has been completely burned out."
Edgar looked at the broken cardboard box blown up by the wind at the entrance of the alley, and said in a calm tone, "He arranged for his daughter's family to leave New York by boat in the afternoon. As for himself, he is preparing to expose all the old people in the ministry and let us die together."
The confidants broke into cold sweat after hearing this.
Joseph has been moving bags of archives over the past two days to his home, muttering about making people pay the price. He was already frightened when he saw it.
"An old man who doesn't want to live and wants to die is his freedom."
Edgar took a step forward, and the pressure gradually spread over him with the sound of voices.
"But what he did was wrong. He wanted to tie all the staff in your building and the young people who have not yet lived a good life to his broken boat and sink them to the bottom of the sea together."
"You have been working as his deputy for six years, serving tea and water, sorting out important documents. Is it really just to accompany a crazy old man to take bullets on the street?"
The young man's lips trembled. "I... I don't want to die."
"Smart."
Edgar smiled, but his eyes turned cold at this moment, "Since you don't want to be dragged to death by him, then don't let him have the chance to go crazy."
The assistant was stunned and seemed not to understand the meaning behind this sentence.
"Joseph is a cautious person. It would be very troublesome for outsiders to touch him. It would attract a bunch of unnecessary police officers and Auror, which would be too ugly."
Edgar stretched out his finger and pointed at the two cups of steaming coffee in the young man's hands.
"But he believes in you. Only you in this world can come and go freely in front of his desk, only you can hand tea and coffee to his hand personally, and only you can stay less than three feet away from his back."
The alley was so quiet that you could hear the hum of the machine outside the building.
The confidant's pupils shrank suddenly, and he felt a chill down his spine. "Mr. Edgar... you mean..."
"Help me, and help yourself, clean up this mess."
Edgar took out a white document from the inner pocket of his suit. The seal had been stamped on it, but the name and supervisor's header were still empty.
"Let him go quietly. Use your Ministry of Magic method, a Nonverbal Spell, or a little bit of bitter medicine that won't end in the tea. As long as the old man sits in the chair and doesn't wake up tomorrow morning, there won't be any trouble."
"... Kill him?"
The young man took half a step back, his back sank, and he bumped into the invisible Duke.
"It's to take over his position." Edgar helped him correct his statement,
"Joseph only has to die. As the person closest to him and the person who knows the most about the core affairs of the department, you will be the best choice to take his place in the big leather chair of the supervisor. No one can fault him. From now on, you will get a generous share of the Fantastic Beasts business in the army."
Seeing the young man shaking so hard that he could barely hold the coffee cup, Edgar's tone became gentle again, with an irresistible temptation.
"Don't be afraid of risks. Go ahead and do it. Once it's done, you will be Magic Security Department's new executive."
Edgar straightened the cuffs of his suit,
"Even if the old diehards in your department are playing tricks on this matter and you are not allowed to secure your position smoothly, you don't have to worry at all. As long as you help Vought International get rid of this crazy old man today, there will always be a well-heated executive office reserved for you on the top floors of our tower."
"Stay in the dilapidated building and wait for death, or carve out a future for yourself? You are a smart man and you should know how to choose."
After saying that, Edgar didn't look at him again, stepped on the clean floor tiles, and led Duke in the darkness slowly out of the back alley.
The wind blew in from the other side of the alley, making the paper coffee bags rattle.
The young assistant leaned against the cold red brick wall, breathing heavily.
He looked at the executive letter of intent that was left behind on the back of his hand, and then at the cup of black coffee exuding strong heat in the palm of his right hand.
He raised his sleeves and wiped the cold sweat from his face. The fear in his eyes receded piece by piece, leaving only bloodshot eyes gushing out.
He slowly took out the right hand that had been holding Wand in his pocket, stuffed the white paper into his pocket, and walked step by step towards the back door of the office building with the coffee in hand.