Albania, a wizarding settlement in the western coastal region.
This torrential rain had been falling continuously for several months now. Dark clouds extended all the way to the horizon, and the raindrops fell almost in unbroken lines, cascading endlessly from the sky to the ground.
A middle-aged man, dressed in somewhat shabby clothes with a look of weariness etched across his features, stepped slowly out of the inn where he was staying, holding an umbrella condensed from magic.
Looking up at the terrible weather above, Lupin let out a helpless sigh.
Ever since arriving in Albania, he hadn't seen a single day in this wretched place without rain.
There was a reason he had appeared in this godforsaken location.
Just a few days ago, he had submitted his resignation to Dumbledore for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. This wasn't because he feared the curse Voldemort had placed upon the post.
The real reason for his resignation was that his identity as a werewolf was becoming nearly impossible to hide.
Prior to this, as the full moon drew near, he had been forced on several occasions to take leave and hide inside his office. Wolfsbane Potion only allowed him to retain his sanity; it couldn't suppress his transformation.
Snape had seized the opportunity to take over his classes and immediately began lecturing the students on werewolves.
Whenever the full moon approached, the professor would mysteriously vanish.
And the substitute professor who stepped in would skip hundreds of pages straight to teaching students about werewolves.
After this happened repeatedly, even two complete dunces like Crabbe and Goyle could guess the true reason behind Lupin's leave.
Thus, Lupin had wisely chosen to resign. He didn't want to cause trouble for Dumbledore once his identity was exposed—Dumbledore already had quite enough headaches to deal with.
When he handed his resignation letter to Dumbledore, Dumbledore assigned him a mission.
Unlike his old flame Grindelwald, who possessed an abundance of talent under his command, Dumbledore was increasingly feeling that he had no usable hands at his disposal.
Originally, as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and the leader of the Order of the Phoenix, he had never lacked talented followers.
The Order of the Phoenix had originally been founded to fight Grindelwald, and later the organization's objective shifted to opposing Voldemort.
More than ten years ago, following Voldemort's downfall, the Order of the Phoenix had entered a semi-disbanded state.
Even to this day, with Grindelwald rising once more, Dumbledore had not reassembled it.
Reforming the Order of the Phoenix to fight whom?
Grindelwald? Which Grindelwald specifically?
The old one or the young one? The first-generation or the third-generation?
Had Kyle not been around, Dumbledore might have reformed the Order of the Phoenix. But now...
If the purpose of Dumbledore reforming the Order of the Phoenix was to stand against Grindelwald once again, it was easily predictable that Dumbledore would lose Kyle as a son in a matter of minutes.
And precisely because Dumbledore refrained from taking action, the people within the International Confederation of Wizards no longer placed much trust in him.
Old Dumbledore's position as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards existed essentially in name only—though back when he was still an empowered leader, he hadn't really managed its affairs anyway.
After hearing rumors about what was transpiring here in Albania, Dumbledore harbored a foreboding premonition in his heart.
Because Voldemort was currently hiding in the forests of Albania, if this organization were to get involved with Voldemort, the situation would become exceptionally dangerous.
Voldemort could use the nation of Albania as a base to build up a force far surpassing his former Death Eaters to combat the Order of the Phoenix.
If that happened, a global wizarding war might repeat itself once again.
That was something Dumbledore absolutely did not want to see.
If Voldemort remained merely a village-level terrorist, the situation wouldn't be too troublesome.
After all, Dumbledore now had Grindelwald as an ally; as long as he was willing to put aside his old pride and ask his old flame to step in and help, the two Dark Lords—one light and one dark—working together could suppress Voldemort in a heartbeat.
However, if Voldemort kept a clear head and began expanding his foundational base, the situation would become vastly more troublesome.
Regrettably, Dumbledore currently had no available hands under his command.
A coup d'état within a nation should have been investigated by the International Confederation of Wizards, but currently, no one over there listened to Dumbledore's suggestions.
In any case, Albania was merely a small country, and given its state of chaos, it hadn't even joined the International Confederation of Wizards.
Since it wasn't a member state, why bother with it?
Yet Dumbledore still couldn't put his mind at ease, so he could only commission Lupin to come over here and investigate the so-called Akatsuki organization. After all, Lupin was the only idle person left under Dumbledore's command.
That was why Lupin had appeared in Albania.
Gazing up at the continuous dark clouds stretching across the horizon, Lupin, who intensely loathed this wretched weather, snuffed out the idea of using a Weather-Modifying Charm to clear the sky.
To clear rain clouds spanning such a vast area, the magic power required would likely drain him five times over.
Shaking his head, Lupin stepped forward toward the dark forest in the distance.
The path through the woods had turned into a muddy, unnavigable mess after days of heavy downpours. With every step he took, Lupin could feel an agonizingly soft, slimy, and slippery sensation beneath his feet.
Based on the rough investigation he had conducted since arriving in Albania over the past few days, Lupin knew that the Akatsuki organization's hideout was concealed deep within this immensely vast dark forest.
After gathering a large gang of outlaws, Akatsuki had established a village within this forest that resembled a wizarding settlement.
Ever since this village was built, torrential rain had poured over the region for several months without end.
Thus, this village was also known to outside wizards as Amagakure (the Hidden Rain Village).
What Lupin needed to do now was infiltrate this so-called Hidden Rain Village to conduct a detailed investigation.
Because the people under the Akatsuki organization needed to maintain contact with the outside world, the location of Amagakure wasn't situated too deep within the forest. Lupin quickly closed in within a three-kilometer radius of the village.
The trees surrounding Amagakure had been cleared away across a large area, leaving the surrounding terrain extremely flat with virtually no cover.
As the buildings of Amagakure faintly came into view, Lupin dispelled the magical umbrella extending from his wand tip and cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself.
Generally speaking, wizarding villages wouldn't hold too much vigilance against outsiders.
However, that applied to relatively peaceful places like the British magical world.
Amagakure, on the other hand, was still currently at war with the Albanian Ministry of Magic, so exercising caution was definitely the right move.
What Lupin didn't know, however, was that the moment he had approached within a ten-kilometer radius of Amagakure, he had already been discovered.
Atop a high tower at the center of Amagakure, Pain (Deva Path) slowly opened his eyes.
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