"Yes, Master," Fang replied promptly, pushing his glasses up his nose in a deliberate manner. "Hello, everyone. The first phase of this combat meeting is about to begin. I am your host, Fang.
This operation will be a joint effort between the German and British law enforcement agencies. The code name for this mission is 'Concentric Circles.'"
At that moment, everyone on the German side, including Andre, was stunned. 'What was going on? A dog was speaking to them?' Andre was baffled. He thought to himself that no one would believe this story if he told his friends, they'd probably laugh him off.
His own subordinates looked at him with questioning eyes, since they hadn't been briefed on the purpose of this meeting before arriving. However, Andre noticed that the British Aurors weren't reacting at all, so he gave those around him a calm look, not wanting to seem out of place or foolish in front of the British.
It was clear that Fang was no longer the same as before. With Alex's growing influence and his well-known status among senior Ministry officials, it explained why Fang now spoke so confidently.
Seeing no signs of surprise from anyone else, Fang continued, "Since this operation involves sensitive international secrets, and to prevent any information from leaking to the German side, everyone will need to sign a confidentiality agreement."
With that, Fang waved his hand, and parchments and quills appeared before everyone at the table.
Andre quickly glanced over the magic contract and noticed that it only prevented those who signed from sharing any information they learned about the German Ministry of Magic and the Silver Wand. Reading this gave Andre a small sense of reassurance.
He realized the contract was meant to protect the German magical community. After all, some scandals involving the Ministry of Magic might come to light eventually, and if British Aurors were allowed to spread that information freely, it could ruin the Ministry's reputation completely. So when Andre's subordinates looked at him for guidance, he didn't hesitate to agree to the contract.
In truth, Alex hadn't really thought about protecting the Ministry when he signed it. His main concern was that there might be spies among Alex's own team who could leak secrets.
But regardless of everyone's reasons, they all signed the contract willingly. The terms weren't too harsh, but the confidentiality was clear and strict.
Once the contracts were signed, Fang started to lay out the plan. "First, I'll explain the objectives of Operation Concentric Circles. There are three targets, magical animal breeding bases run by the Silver Wand organization. Our mission is to destroy all three bases, capture the magical creatures inside, and apprehend all the wizards present."
Amelia looked at Alex with surprise. She had only just learned about this. "You already knew how many bases there were and moved quickly," she said.
"It was just lucky," Alex replied modestly. "But we still don't know much about the other two bases, so we're using the first target as a reference."
He then gestured for Fang to continue. Fang nodded and opened a manual in front of him. "Now, I'll share what information we've gathered so far."
As he spoke, Fang raised a finger, and a sand table in front of them lit up, revealing a simplified model labeled First Target.
"This is the model of out first target, the base we know best," Fang explained. "The breeding zone is located in West Germany.
The place spans roughly 300 acres, arranged in a circular layout. Within this area, there are 64 human buildings, 240 magical creature enclosures, and 22 dormitories for staff." Fang spoke as if he were briefing a leader, calmly relaying all the relevant details.
As he spoke, the sections he mentioned on the sand table would light up, making it easy for everyone present to visualize the layout, even though none of them had visited the place in person. The group stared at the sand table in the center, stunned.
Some were overwhelmed by the place's sheer size, others impressed by the detailed sand table, and many amazed that Alex had not only discovered the locations of the three bases but also managed to uncover their internal setups. Among them, Andre was the most shocked, he felt all these things at once.
As Fang activated the sand table, Andre couldn't stop gawking. Moody, who had been listening quietly, noticed Andre's wide-eyed expression and couldn't resist teasing him. "Hey stop looking like you've never seen the world. Do you know what this is? It's a sand table."
It was the first time Moody and the others had seen Alex pull out something like this, but having spent a lot of time with him, they were no longer surprised by his unusual gadgets. Compared to Moody and the rest, Andre was like a country bumpkin seeing the world for the first time.
Annoyed, Andre shot Moody a glare. "Hmph, do you really think interrupting other people's reports makes you polite? You're the cripple here!"
At that moment, Fang, who was leading the meeting, also gave Moody a sharp look. "Captain Moody, please don't interrupt. We haven't even started discussing the main points yet."
Realizing he'd been put in his place by Fang, Moody rolled his eyes but fell silent. The brief exchange caused a few around the table to chuckle quietly.
"Everyone, please settle down," Fang said, his tone serious as he resumed control of the meeting. "Now, I'll update you on the status of the personnel and magical creatures in the place."
After Fang's warning, everyone immediately fell silent, as if they'd just come face-to-face with the headmaster himself. He went on to explain that, after a thorough inspection, they confirmed that out of the 240 magical animal enclosures in the entire place, 153 actually housed magical creatures.
Each enclosure contained anywhere from one to eight animals, with the total number estimated to be between 300 and 350. Among the more dangerous creatures, they found at least eight Chinese Fireball dragons, two chimeras, one griffin, and four Nundu.
As Fang continued sharing details about the magical beasts, the group of wizards, who had just regained their composure, looked shocked again. Hagrid and Kettleburn, in particular, wore expressions of anger and disgust, how could so many lovely creatures be confined in such cramped spaces? What a terrible situation!
But Fang didn't stop there. He moved on to report about the staff at place No. 213, confirming there were currently 117 people stationed there: 96 wizards and 36 Muggles. Of these, 35 handled base defense, 25 took care of daily maintenance, 21 were medical wizards, and the remaining were mobile operatives.
The room erupted with questions…
"Wait, over 200 people here?"
"Are you sure there's no mistake? Why are there Muggles in this place?"
"You can't be serious, us alone are supposed to handle them all? And capture every single one?"
"Is this really a breeding zone, or more like a wizarding village?" "Are all these 200-plus people enemies? Criminals? Even the largest prisons in Germany can't hold that many!"
"Did you just say there are two similar place? So that means five or six hundred people in total? Are they really all criminals?"