"Dusko, when are we going to play… no, judge another traitor?" Amycus complained, looking utterly bored.
Under Marvolio's leadership, they had been making quite a name for themselves lately.
True, ever since they drove Macnair mad, they had not been able to attack any more Ministry of Magic employees.
But sabotaging the Ministry of Magic was another matter.
Just that morning, Marvolio had led this group of Death Eaters in a raid on a warehouse and seized all the supplies inside.
Supposedly, those supplies had been meant for the Ministry of Magic.
However, for someone as exceptionally brutal as Amycus, after getting a taste of torturing Macnair, these little snacks no longer interested him.
Of course, he did not dare vent that dissatisfaction directly at Marvolio. So he simply followed the moment and set fire to the wooden crates piled inside the warehouse.
"Dusko" was the only person these Death Eaters could count on now.
Watching the flames rage before him, Marvolio stood quietly at the edge, the flickering firelight reflected on his young face.
The Tver workshop's herb consumption and potion output were far higher than the magic world's normal demand, yet those products had not entered circulation in the magic world. Any Ministry employee with access to those commercial records would be able to notice that.
So the workshop needed the occasional "accident" to block any trouble that might come from people with ulterior motives.
For example, the werewolf workshop's craftsmanship was worse than that of ordinary workshops, resulting in a higher survival loss and wastage rate for herbs.
Or, because the medicinal effect of certain cultivated herbs had changed, an entire batch of potions had to be discarded.
Or, occasionally, evil werewolves and dark wizards attacked the workshop and burned the herbs and potions stored there.
And now, there was merely one more Death Eater involved.
At that thought, even Marvolio felt helpless.
He had thought that after going to such lengths to infiltrate the Death Eaters, he was preparing to betray Voldemort at a critical moment.
In the end, he was being used to help Tver solve the follow-up problems caused by increased production at the Potions Workshop.
"What's wrong, Dusko?" Bella quickly asked when she noticed Marvolio's strange expression.
The more she looked at "Dusko," the more she felt he resembled the Dark Lord in his youth, both in appearance and in methods.
However, when she had followed the Dark Lord, he had already grown thin and gaunt from studying too much dark magic, so she could not be certain exactly how much Dusko resembled the Dark Lord.
Of course, even if Bella thought until her head split, she still would never understand the possibility that the Dark Lord had deliberately made himself young and disguised himself with another identity to lead them.
So she could only take this resemblance as "a common trait shared by all Dark Lords."
In other words, deep in her heart, she had already begun to regard Dusko as a fledgling Dark Lord.
And it was not just her. The other Death Eaters were actually thinking the same thing. Some were even considering Dusko as their fallback if they failed.
The reason they followed Marvolio so readily and worked so hard was partly to show their own presence, and partly to build goodwill with this young-stage Dark Lord.
So when Bella asked, the other Death Eaters who had been quietly paying attention to Dusko all gathered around in concern.
"Is something wrong?"
"Dusko, don't mind Amycus. He just forgets the pain once the scar heals!"
"It couldn't be Tver Fawley coming again, could it?"
Finally, one Death Eater asked this with some anxiety, instantly stirring up the Death Eaters' uneasy memories.
"I heard Fawley has a pretty good relationship with the muggle world. Maybe we should provoke muggles less in the future?" Alecto Carrow suggested carefully.
Amycus was still thinking about the grand promise the Dark Lord had made. How could he possibly be willing to give it up like this?
"If we don't provoke muggles, how are we supposed to enslave them?"
"We can't even beat the Ministry of Magic now, and you're still thinking about enslaving muggles?!"
Compared with her brother, Alecto was much more rational.
But clearly, Amycus was not someone who could be persuaded by reason. Or rather, he had his own perfectly airtight logic.
"We can't beat them now, but once the Dark Lord returns, with him and Dusko here, sooner or later we'll be able to counterattack the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix!"
The moment the Dark Lord, who had acted almost like a scumbag, was mentioned, Alecto's resentment erupted.
"Didn't you hear what everyone said? Even when the Dark Lord came back last time, aside from killing our comrades, all he did was discuss things with Snape."
"He doesn't care whether we live or die at all! And you still want to count on the Dark Lord coming back?! You might as well count on Dumbledore suddenly dying of old age!"
The Death Eaters' hearts tightened.
Back when everyone at Headquarters had been panicking, they had actually had thoughts like this for a long time.
They had only kept quiet out of fear of Bella and the Dark Lord.
Now that Alecto had suddenly voiced what was in their hearts, even Amycus fell silent and glanced at Bella, whose face had turned gloomy.
"The Dark Lord's actions are not for us to speculate on, Alecto. I am leading you in action now precisely so that when the Dark Lord returns, we will have a better situation waiting for him."
Instead, it was Marvolio who broke the silence first. Only after saying it did he suddenly understand what Tver had once meant by sounding full of tea.
Sure enough, after hearing his "understanding" words, the Death Eaters' guilt over thinking poorly of the Dark Lord eased considerably.
"But Amycus is right as well," Marvolio said, perfectly satisfied as he began balancing both sides. "How about this, Amycus? There are still many Death Eaters who betrayed the Dark Lord in the past. Pick out some of the ones currently working at the Ministry of Magic, and we'll find a time to strike back."
"That sounds great!" Amycus agreed in satisfaction, lifting his chin triumphantly and casting a glance at Alecto.
"But if we attack Ministry of Magic employees like this, are you sure it won't draw Tver Fawley's attention?" Bella asked worriedly.
If you did nothing, that would be when Tver paid attention…
Marvolio complained inwardly, though the smile on his face remained gentle.
"He is already watching us. Attacking the Ministry of Magic will actually throw them into confusion and leave them with less energy to attack us."
Thinking of the Hunting Plan, which had quieted down considerably lately, Bella nodded in understanding.
No wonder. So it turned out the Aurors had been so arrogant before because they had been passively taking the hits all along.