Huck sighed as he considered the possibility.
Even though he had been appointed Prime Minister, he still felt as if he had no control over everything and was surrounded by more and more mysteries.
Sometimes, Hark even suspected that he was the protagonist of the Truman Show and that everyone around him was working together to play him…
"Shall I enlighten you, Mr. Prime Minister?"
Suddenly, a deep voice sounded in the empty office.
Prime Minister Harker, deep in thought, shuddered and nearly fell ill.
"Who is it?" Hark yelled, turning to look in the direction of the voice, his left hand already reaching for a button under his desk.
He was confronted by a strange man, or rather, a boy, and judging from his rather childish cheeks, Harker doubted he was an adult.
"How did you get in?" Hark didn't look down on Ivan because of his young age. He pressed the button without hesitation when he saw an unfamiliar face.
According to the Cabinet Secretary who had spoken to him at the time of the handover, all the guards and agents in the Prime Minister's office would immediately hear the news and rush in.
Hark waited for a while, but nothing happened. The man standing opposite him was still smiling gently, which made Hark's heart sink.
"I meant no harm, Prime Minister Harker. I'm here today to answer some of your questions," Ivan explained calmly as he approached Harker.
Huck naturally didn't believe a word Ivan said. When he found out that the button had failed, he began to suspect that Ivan's rival political party had sent assassins to assassinate him.
It was even possible that his own cabinet secretary had been bribed, otherwise it would be impossible to explain how the other party had managed to slip through layers of security, hide in his office, and disable the emergency button.
When he thought about it more deeply, Harker could already see how his victims would shift the public's attention after his death, and he was certain that they would link the incident to the recent terrorist attacks.
However, for a British Prime Minister to die in his office was a huge scandal…
Ivan was more or less speechless as he sensed Harker's thoughts. In case they caused unnecessary trouble, he spoke.
"You seem to have some doubts about my status, Prime Minister."
"Then, please allow me to introduce myself. I am a wizard from the British Wizarding World, and I am the Acting President of the International Confederation of Wizards. You may call me Harls!" Ivan said politely, bowing slightly.
"W-w-wizard?!" Harker was stunned. Despite his superior intelligence, he could not understand what was happening.
Was he imagining things? Or was he actually insane?
"As a matter of fact, you heard me correctly. It's…wizard, man of magic!" Ivan said, tapping his index finger on the thermos on the table.
As Harker watched in shock, the thermos rapidly transformed in front of him, and a moment later a black raven appeared in front of him.
The mysterious sight before him was beyond Huck's comprehension. The raven suddenly flapped its wings and charged at him. Huck nearly fell out of his seat, but the raven didn't seem to have any intention of harming him.
Ivan did not seem to notice Harker's distress, and his expression did not change. "Won't you try it for yourself, Mr. Prime Minister?"
Harker managed to calm himself and looked at Ivan. After a moment's hesitation, he reached out a trembling hand and gently touched the raven on his shoulder.
The feather was slippery to the touch, and to Hark's surprise, the raven gave him a friendly nudge on the finger.
"Is this magic? Or a trick?" Harker asked, hoping against hope that Ivan's claim would work. He was beginning to believe Ivan's claim, but years of knowledge told him that there was no such thing as magic, and he had never heard of wizards before.
There is also the possibility that the boy in front of him may have used some sort of trick to blind him, like some of the most incredible magic tricks he has ever seen, to perform a visual miracle.
Ivan sighed in exasperation. He understood that it was not easy for a highly suspicious and scientific Prime Minister to immediately accept the existence of magic.
Ivan, however, was not in the mood to explain much. The truth often trumps all words, so he quickly snapped his fingers, and an endless fire erupted from his body, enveloping Hark in it.
At that moment, Hark almost thought that the other party had tied some powerful explosives to his body and was prepared to die with him. However, when the flames reached him, Hark realized that there was something unusual about them. He did not feel any pain when his body was covered in flames. Instead, he felt very comfortable.
When the flames died down and Prime Minister Harker came to his senses, everything had changed.
It was extremely empty, and he was standing on a small platform looking down at a large square with tall buildings in the distance. The magnificent Eiffel Tower soon came into view.
'This is… Paris?'
Harker's pupils contracted, and he quickly confirmed his location. They were standing above one of the landmarks of Paris, the Arc de Triomphe!
During his time in office, he visited France once, and since he had been to Paris often, he was familiar with the city.
"Do you think it's a trick, too, Prime Minister Harker…" Ivan said teasingly, placing his hand lightly on Harker's shoulder to prevent him from falling off the Arc de Triomphe.
"No, no! I'll take your word for it, Mr. Wizard…" Hark shook his head quickly, afraid that if he said no, the wizard would cast another spell that would shatter his sense of reality, or transform him into a rabbit or a frog, as the wicked witches in the stories did.
Huck did not want to experience that.
Most importantly, he was now 100% convinced by Ivan's claim that he had managed to get him from the Prime Minister's office in Britain to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in just a second or two. This was beyond mere magic and diversionary tactics. The only explanation was—magic!