Rita Skeeter is absolutely obnoxious as a newspaper reporter. She can distort the facts without hesitation, taint the pure white, uglify the beautiful, and then add various gimmicks to it, using false topics to attract people who know nothing about the truth by any means.
But as a voyeur who gets first-hand secret information, she is very capable.
Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus. Her Animagus form is a very small beetle. In terms of concealment effect, it is even better than Maka's hummingbird form.
Therefore, even Maka was looking forward to it. He wanted to hear what new news this woman had gotten from other places. Because he knew that since this woman had the confidence to open her mouth, she must have some quite weighty secrets in her hands.
"...Hurry up and say it and listen!"
With a wave of her hand, Maka cast a silent spell on the outside of the rest area, and then gestured to Skeeter. When the latter saw this, he was still worried. He looked around for a while before lowering his voice and speaking.
"Mr. McClain, the thing is like this..." Skeeter said mysteriously, "Look, there has been news that the Indian magic community is sending a delegation to compete, right? But they haven't shown up yet. You do not think so… "
"You want to talk about the Indian delegation's stay in Iran?" Maka waved her hand and said, "I already know about this, so you don't need to provide anything special."
"Oh?" Skeeter paused after hearing this, but her expression became more mysterious, with a hint of pride in it, "So, Mr. McClain... do you know which other countries have wizards in Iran?" ?"
"What other ones?"
After Maka heard this, she couldn't help but frown slightly.
If one or two families meet together, it is not a big deal. After all, this game is full of disputes about power and interests. But if there are too many, it will be easy to get out of control.
He did get the news that the Indian delegation had settled in Iran, and even knew that the two parties were getting together for some unknown negotiations. But if there were wizards from other countries, he didn't know.
"Yes," since this was originally a transaction of intelligence and interests, Skeeter did not intend to be overly pretentious. She quickly continued, "mainly the countries around Iran, and Egypt. There seem to be some wizards... However, except for the Indian delegation, those wizards should avoid the Ministry of Magic in their own countries."
"In other words, is it mainly the personal actions of certain forces?" Maka said thoughtfully, "Well, what about the joint Mesopotamian delegation? Since the wizards of Egypt are involved..."
"No, as far as I can see... As far as the information I have received, there are no wizards in Mesopotamia." Skeeter has always refused to admit her Animagus abilities, even if she knew Maka is in the know is no exception.
"Yeah?"
Since the old wizard Bosa left a good impression on Maka, he didn't want him to get involved. After all, it is unlikely to be a good thing no matter how you think about it, in which wizards from many countries are involved - the more friends the better, even Maka thinks so.
"Then did you find out what they were discussing?" He asked, "Also, who is the leader?"
Although the magic circles of many countries are excited about this alchemy competition, there are also many countries that have not shown much interest from the beginning. Maka is now worried that although some people are indifferent on the surface, they want to secretly cheat and cause troubles that are difficult to deal with.
"The security there is very tight, and I don't have any specific information..." Skeeter shook his head, but said cautiously, "However, I got some fragments of their plan to attack the game... As for their final plan, The goal is naturally the legacy of Mr. Nico Flamel.”
This woman said that she had gotten "some pieces", but she didn't say it right away. She was obviously planning to wait for Maka's promise here.
Seeing that she was showing off her attitude, Maka didn't bother to argue with her and nodded immediately.
"Exclusive right to collect materials, for the first day - I agree." He said, "Of course, the premise is that these so-called 'snippets' of yours are true! Let's make an agreement first, and I will also investigate carefully. ,do you understand?"
"Oh, of course! And I guarantee that the information is reliable, because this is what I heard directly from the mouths of those wizards -" Skeeter said happily immediately, "Then, the first point is to 'coordinate inside and outside'..."
There was no need for Maka to lie to her, Rita Skeeter knew that very well. If Maka was willing, she could even directly use violence to coerce her into telling the truth, not to mention that Maka seemed to have a handle on her.
Therefore, after she received Maka's promise, she immediately began to tell the latest information she had obtained. Although it was only a small part of the other party's plan, it was undoubtedly very useful information, and Maka listened carefully.
Until Skeeter said everything he could, Maka half-closed her eyes and fell into temporary contemplation. But after he thought about it for a while, the woman Skeeter suggested that she should go back to the side hall of the auditorium.
"I understand," Maka said, "Your information is indeed very useful. When the time comes, I will let someone notify you on the day when the inheritance is opened."
He watched Rita Skeeter, who was quite sensible this time, leave the small hall, and then walked towards the dining table again.
No matter what the Iranian magic community wants to do, at least the competition itself must be fully prepared. The contestants are on one side, and the judges are on the other side, both of which need to be treated with caution.
"Mr. Hohenheim, everyone," Maka sat back in her seat and said with a smile, "I have kept you waiting for a long time."
…
If Maka's side is the intrigue of the adult world, then the conflict between Alexander and Enns can only be regarded as a simple play between children.
Because he wanted to test medicine with Neville, Alexander immediately entered the small circle of upperclassmen. Recently, he and Harry have had a lot of interactions.
Right now, they were in the auditorium, which was only separated by a wall from the side hall where the participating delegations were, enjoying a somewhat sumptuous lunch than usual. If it is said that it is borrowing the light of the competition, it is not a bad idea.
It's a pity that the richness is rich, but today's dishes always feel wrong.
"Ahem, I said, can anyone try this dish first? After you taste it, please tell me if you can eat it..."
At the Gryffindor table, Ron was holding up the fork in his hand, hesitation on his face. But what he was pointing at was a plate of unknown dishes that looked pitch black.
"Rather than that, you should take a look at this plate first..." Harry covered his mouth and said dryly, "What kind of insect is this? It's still moving... Is this... really edible?"
"These are special foods from the African magical world..."
Hermione's face was obviously a little blue. She didn't even pick up the knife and fork, but still placed them on both sides of the plate. But she still tried hard to show her extensive knowledge and introduce these suspicious dishes to her friends.
"Harry, those you are talking about are bamboo insects. The book says that they have high nutritional value..." She cleared up Harry's doubts, and then said to Ron opposite, "The plate in front of you is ... Um... I'm going to the bathroom first."
Hermione couldn't say anything after all, because she suddenly felt her stomach churn, and then she covered her mouth. Under the concerned eyes of Harry and Ron, she suddenly stood up and dragged her limp feet straight to the side corridor.
"Hey," Ron thought for a moment and suddenly looked diagonally across from him with a smile, "Alexander, how about... you come and help me give it a try?"
"... I... haven't offended you, have I?"
On the other side of the long table, Alexander, who was eating bread with his head down, didn't even raise his head when he heard this. Because today's lunch was too impactful, he didn't have the guts to look at the table anyway.
"Ron, don't bully Alexander -" Harry said, looking at the plate of worms again, and then he also grabbed a piece of bread and gnawed it, "Although I have no appetite anyway, I still have to fill my stomach. Right? By the way, Alexander, I heard that you plan to learn ancient magic script by yourself?"
"Well?"
Alexander, who stuffed his mouth with bread, nodded vaguely after hearing this. After he swallowed the food in his mouth with the juice, he continued.
"...Yes! But it's really difficult...there are a lot of things to memorize."
"When Hermione comes back later, you can talk to her, she should be able to teach you how to learn it." Harry mentioned this, but then asked doubtfully, "But why do you want to learn magic words? At the beginning, there were many people who wanted to attend Maka’s class, but not many of them really planned to learn it!”
"Um… "
Alexander took another sip of juice, obviously hesitating. He was hesitating whether he should talk about Enns in front of these seniors.
Although the relationship between him and Enns has deteriorated a lot in recent days, there is no friendship between the two. At least they still have the "shared secret" of lucky chocolate. The matter of testing the medicine with Neville must not be told, and in order to keep this secret, the best way is not to spread anything between the two to the outside world.
"The ancient magic text is indeed very complicated and boring..." Alexander thought for a while, and finally said slowly, "But since Professor MacLean is so powerful, it is definitely not wrong to study with him, right?"