HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

Volume 1: The Path of Magic

In 1991, Britain

8 month 15 number.

Teach Carl, with his long, reddish-brown hair, received orders from his adoptive mother, 'Maggie,' a few days before his 18th birthday.

Teach Carr

He was asked to go to London, kill a gang leader named 'Rumen Duns' who had taken goods without paying, and retrieve the payment.

Machi said this was a test for Teach, and only if he passed it would he be recognized as having the qualifications and ability to grow up.

To ensure safety and to be absolutely sure, Teach called his uncle Corey Bab, who was driving a taxi in London to earn his retirement money, and asked him to give him a ride.

Maggie, the foster mother, is a retired mercenary who is now a nun in a small town... and an arms dealer.

The reason March decided to retire was because she found Teach Carr, a baby, in a trash can. Tempted by Teach's adorable appearance, the 30-year-old March's maternal instincts kicked in, and she ultimately decided to retire and become a peaceful nun.

Corey Bab, on the other hand, harbored unrequited love for March, so he also retired. Unfortunately, March never reciprocated his feelings.

As for the reason, Teach was extremely curious, but never dared to ask.

Subsequently, over the next seventeen to eighteen years, Teach Carr learned a great deal of skills under the guidance and instruction of March.

In his spare time as a student, he also worked as a hitman.

......

Baker Street, London.

Teach Carr spent fourteen days lying in wait, observing and learning about the target 'Rumen Duns' travel routes and daily routines.

Then, in the hotel, Teach intently drew attack routes and multiple retreat routes on a map with a pen, before taking out his watch to check the date.

Having decided on the time to strike, Teach waited quietly in his room for nightfall to arrive.

Time flies, and the full moon is already high in the sky.

Teach put on a black trench coat, picked up his suitcase, and secretly left the hotel. After tossing and turning, he arrived at the platform of a high-rise building, opened the suitcase, and began assembling weapons.

The MSG90 is a sniper rifle developed in 1987 and produced in 1990. It is 7.62 caliber and has an effective range of 1,000 meters.

This is Teach's favorite sniper rifle, for no other reason than that it's the latest model.

Times are progressing, and technology is being developed. This makes Teach sigh that new generations replace the old, and the newest is always the best.

After installing the final silencer, the moment of battle was ready.

After the clouds obscured the moonlight, Teach aimed at a gang henchman and pulled the trigger.

'Thud—' The bullet left the barrel with a dull thud. As the recoil generated, the bullet shattered the building's windows at the same time, and a sinful life was thus redeemed and exonerated by Teach.

The death of an accomplice in the stairwell alerted the gang members present.

As expected of a gang that frequently engages in shootouts, upon realizing that an enemy had opened fire and locked onto them, they immediately moved away from the windows and leaned against the wall to avoid deadly danger.

Teach had anticipated this situation and quickly reaped the benefits from the gang's underlings who were caught off guard and hadn't completely hidden themselves.

After emptying several magazines, the gang henchmen finally located Teach and stormed downstairs.

At this moment, Teach Carr calmly packed up his weapons, placed a time bomb in a corner, and then quickly ran away.

When a dozen or so gangsters, fully armed and menacing, arrived on the rooftop, Teach had already safely descended. He looked up at them, gave them a friendly international hand gesture, and then whispered mockingly, "May you meet Almighty God in heaven."

Teach's incredibly arrogant gesture instantly enraged them, and just as they were about to raise their guns to fire, a rapid series of beeps suddenly rang out clearly.

Before all the henchmen could react, the time bomb exploded. Then, countless screams echoed throughout the entire Baker 108 block.

......

Outside the block, a taxi is parked on the side of the road.

Corey Bab lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and murmured with a smile as he looked in the direction of the explosion, "Baker Street is really noisy tonight."

He parked the car here to deal with the possibility that Teach Carr might carelessly leave something behind that the London police could trace.

......

The black trench coat fluttered in the early morning wind as Teach stood beneath the 'Rumen Duns' building, reaching behind his waist to pull out two handguns.

Beretta 92FS.

With two guns in hand, Teach entered the building, whistling as he began his search with great interest for tonight's main prey.

The building is the gang's headquarters, and to make it easy to defend and difficult to attack, it has only one exit.

Teach walked slowly, searching floor by floor. Along the way, he would mercifully send any henchmen who were struggling to survive to meet God.

Finally, after a long search, the target, 'Rumen Duns', was found in a basement.

After easily dispatching the henchmen hiding behind the door, ready to ambush him, Teach pointed his gun at the composed but sweating Rumen Duns and said, "Mr. Duns, I'm here on orders... to collect the money from you."

"I'll give you ten seconds to organize your thoughts. Tell me, where did you put all the money?"

Looking at the bottomless black barrel, Rumentons swallowed hard, his body trembling, and said with difficulty, "It's...it's in Barclays Bank. All my money is in the bank. Give me some time, I'll go to the bank right away and transfer it to..."

Before he could finish speaking, Teach suddenly fired, a bullet piercing Rumendons' ear. Ignoring Rumendons' agonizing screams, Teach pressed the gun firmly against his forehead, warning, "Ha, Mr. Dondons, you're quite the clever one..."

"Five seconds, I'll give you five more seconds."

As Teach counted down, the imminent threat of death finally broke down Rumentons' defenses. He weakly uttered, "The vault is... in the hidden compartment beneath my feet."

"This is the key."

Teach didn't take the key; instead, he took a small step back and ordered Ruman to open it himself using his gun. Once opened, a golden light illuminated the basement under the lamplight.

Gold, gleaming gold, gold piled up neatly.

After confirming that there were no traps in the gold in the hidden compartment, Teach looked at Rumen Duns and, as he begged for mercy, decisively pulled the trigger.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Daylight broke, and the noise subsided.

Following a pre-planned route, Tichy Carl bypassed the large number of police officers who had come to investigate.

They found Corey Bab waiting outside the block, offered him a huge reward, and asked him to deposit the gold bars into a bank and transfer the money to March's account.

After finishing his work, Teach went to a roadside phone booth and called his adoptive mother, Maggie, to report that his work had been successfully completed.

After receiving a caring greeting from Maggie, Teach hung up the phone and then picked up her suitcase to head to the station to buy a ticket home.

But as soon as he stepped out of the phone booth, a tall and enormous figure caught Teach's eye: [This person must be three to four meters tall, right?]

Before he could even be surprised, a childish male voice entered Teach's ears, causing him to be greatly shaken.

Then, the boy with glasses read aloud, "All students must prepare a standard-sized pot."

"A portable owl, cat, or toad."

"And... a magic wand."

After reading it aloud, the bespectacled boy looked up at the giant and asked in confusion, "Hagrid, I seriously doubt whether these things can really be bought."