Finally, Lucius was taken away.
Due to his use of private punishment against the Gringotts staff, he was fined an additional thousand Galleons and sentenced to two more months in prison.
Murphy felt a deep sympathy for him, hoping that he would get along well with the Dementors in Azkaban and reform himself.
As for Lucius's accusations against Murphy, they were all overturned due to insufficient evidence.
Murphy's vault was restored to normal use, and no further questions were raised about the source of his funds.
In return for Locket's courtroom turnaround, Murphy hired the elf as his personal agent to manage his wizarding world finances.
Afterwards, Murphy faithfully fulfilled his promise to donate to the Ministry of Magic and presented a "small" gift to the Minister, earning widespread praise.
In the days following the Wizengamot trial, Murphy became one of the most popular figures at the Ministry.
Millicent Bagnold personally processed his VIP visitor's permit, allowing him to Apparate into the Ministry at any time without prior application.
Reflecting on how he had to use a temporary pass to go to work just a few months ago, Murphy found the situation somewhat ironic.
I work diligently, so I face injustice.
I act unrestrained, so I encounter no obstacles.
If this is the rule of the world, can I be blamed for becoming what I am?
A few days later, the "Supreme Potions" shop opened in Knockturn Alley.
Renting the shop, decorating, buying raw materials, and stocking up on potions cost Murphy less than a thousand Galleons.
Finding it too cheap, Murphy opened another branch in Diagon Alley.
He didn't care about the money from selling potions, but it was nice to annoy Lucius.
On the opening day, Supreme Potions offered a grand discount, with all potions at 30% of the price, and members only paid 10%.
The promotion would continue until Slug and Jiggers Apothecary went out of business.
Burning money wasn't a problem for Murphy. With Umbrella Corporation's profitability, he could afford to do this for a year or even indefinitely.
Using internet marketing techniques from thirty years later to deal with a small wizarding potion shop felt like overkill to Murphy, but if it works, it works.
Supreme Potions also began recruiting, hiring thirty potion makers.
These employees weren't just for running the shop; they would be involved in the production line of Beautification Potions, starting their own bricklaying careers.
Murphy hadn't yet found a non-magical way to produce Beautification Potions, so increasing production was the next best thing.
Murphy wasn't worried about not finding enough workers.
The job pressure in the wizarding world was enormous. Even if he cut the salary in half, applicants would still line up from the Leaky Cauldron to Ollivanders.
Viewing his past job-seeking failures from a capitalist perspective, Murphy now saw them as inevitable.
The existence of magic meant most shops didn't need employees.
Why hire servers when magic can clean dishes and tidy up tables, and do it well?
Magic is so convenient it makes many low-skilled jobs worthless.
Look at Diagon Alley: nearly every shop is run by the owner alone because tasks like stocking and cleaning can be easily solved with magic.
In fact, the omnipotence of magic not only reduces job positions.
Looking broader, this omnipotence also stifles social specialization.
A wizard proficient in magic can easily meet their needs in clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
Forget about cooking a meal, cleaning, or tailoring clothes – even building a house, which would take many people and days for Muggles, can be effortlessly done by a wizard with a flick of the wand.
What Muggles achieve through social division of labor and standardized production chains, wizards can accomplish by simply learning more magic.
This results in wizards having much less need for material exchange and mutual dependence compared to Muggles.
Thus, wizards don't need to be social beings; they prefer and are happier living self-sufficiently in family units, like Muggles in the agricultural era.
This explains why wizards appear so peculiarly whimsical, naïve, and self-willed.
Because society doesn't constrain them as much.
This is why Diagon Alley, the shopping center of the British wizarding world, is just a few streets.
Because they don't need that many shops; they don't have that many needs.
This is why the Ministry of Magic seems so lax in controlling wizards.
It's more of a commune than a government, lacking strong enforcement reasons.
This is why wizards would entrust goblins, with whom they don't get along, with minting coins.
To Muggles, it's like handing a gun to an enemy, but wizards don't see it that way.
Even if the wizarding economy collapses, it's not that scary for them.
They won't go without clothes or starve.
This is a utopia.
A society built on magic, vastly different from the Muggle world.
In contrast, Murphy, accustomed to the competitive Muggle world, seems out of place here.
Just like Hermione, who was seen as an oddity for her efforts, she came from the Muggle society, used to the grind.
"I was too naive back then."
No wonder the potion shop owner disliked his methods, even though he used more advanced and accurate measuring techniques and his potions were more effective.
But progress isn't the primary value in this relaxed society.
Stability and tradition are.
That's why Ollivanders is the best wand shop – it's the oldest.
That's why Hogwarts is the most prestigious – it has the longest history.
That's why some wizards pursue pure-blood – it's the orthodoxy.
A potion shop doesn't need an innovative employee.
So... his job-hunting was doomed to fail.
This also explains Dumbledore's lukewarm attitude towards both Lucius and himself in the courtroom.
He's a gentle reformist, kind-hearted, with his own convictions, but not promoting his views aggressively. He's wary of evil and fights it, but not zealously, so sometimes his actions seem to be "good enough."
To Murphy, this seems strange, but it's actually the overall style of wizarding society.
Everyone upholds a gentlemanly politeness, living by unspoken, tacit rules.
In this world, reformers have little ground to stand on.
Grindelwald was doomed to fail, and Voldemort later seemed like a joke.
However, Murphy has arrived.
He's not like Hermione or Harry, who only spent their childhood in the Muggle world, thus able to be assimilated by the wizarding world's values.
He's a transmigrator, already an adult when he arrived in the wizarding world.
His worldview was already formed and unbreakable.
So, after trying to adapt to this world unsuccessfully in the first few years, Murphy has now realized that to continue living and to live contentedly, he must change this world.
He can't be assimilated, so he must transform the world to his liking.
He drew his wand at that moment.
It was truly his wand.
Aspen wood, fourteen inches, phoenix feather core.
A wand for a revolutionary.
From the moment he transmigrated, it was destined that he would make a big splash in this world.