"Excuse me, do you know where the black market is around here?"
Goku stopped a witch who was browsing the shops and asked politely. It was eight o'clock in the evening, and while the crowds on the New York Wizarding Street had thinned out, there were still a few people lingering.
"Listen, kid, don't go poking your nose into things like that. It's very dangerous there. Just go home," the witch replied with a frown. Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away.
"Thank you, I understand now," Goku said to her retreating back. He didn't need to press her further; he already had the exact location of the New York black market.
While he was asking the question, he had cast Legilimency, catching the fleeting mental images of the black market that had flashed through the witch's mind at the mere mention of it.
He had learned both Occlumency and Legilimency a month ago. Though they were high-level spells with extreme difficulty ratings, and he hadn't fully mastered them yet, he was getting better.
His Legilimency was currently limited—he could only read what a target was actively thinking at that moment, unlike Grandpa Dumbledore, who could delve into the deepest, hidden layers of a person's memory. But for finding a hidden door, the witch's surface thoughts were more than enough.
Following her memory, he soon found a concealed trapdoor tucked beneath a shadowed corner of the magical street.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
Goku rapped his knuckles against the door. A portrait painted on the wood shifted, its eyes narrowing as it glared at the small boy standing outside. It let out a low, threatening growl.
"Scram! This isn't a place for children!"
"Sir, please open the door. I'm looking for someone inside," Goku said, pulling out Nigo Hunigo's wanted poster.
The sentry behind the door paused when he saw the face of the high-profile fugitive. A predatory grin spread across his face as he creaked the door open. "Looking for him, are you? Come on in. I'll take you right to him."
"Thank you. You're a very kind person," Goku said, handing the man a "good person card" in his mind as he stepped inside.
The wizard sneered under his breath. "Business walking right through the front door... you'd be a fool to say no."
He knew that many dark wizards needed human subjects for their twisted experiments. Since No-Majs lacked internal magic, they didn't provide accurate results for magical trials. Consequently, dark wizards would pay a king's ransom for young wizards to use as lab rats.
...
"Whoa! This place looks interesting!"
Behind the door was a lavishly decorated bar. Compared to the dingy Leaky Cauldron, this place was palatial. High above the floor was a stage where a shapely siren sang while she danced. With every movement of her body, tiny specks of white light coalesced into miniature sprites that danced in synchronization with her.
Below the stage, wizards in various attire—from traditional robes to sharp New York suits—sat at round tables. Some drank and chatted while watching the performance, while others leaned in close, whispering over illicit business deals.
At one end of the bar, a House-elf sat behind the counter, snapping its fingers repeatedly. With each snap, cocktails were stirred and shaken by magic, floating across the room to land perfectly in front of the customers.
Standing in front of the bar was a particularly stout, middle-aged goblin puffing on a thick cigar.
"Boss, he's looking for Mr. Hunigo."
"Hunigo? Why are you looking for him?" The goblin turned, exhaling a cloud of pungent smoke.
Goku held up the wanted poster. "I'm going to arrest him and give him to Nymphadora."
"Arrest Hunigo? Hahaha!" The goblin laughed so hard he nearly choked on his cigar. He waved a dismissive hand at the sentry. "Take him to see Hunigo."
"Yes, Boss," the sentry replied with a cruel smirk. He knew the boss didn't mean a social visit; he meant to throw the boy into the dungeon until he could be sold to the highest bidder.
"Come on, kid. Let's go find Mr. Hunigo." The wizard reached out to grab Goku by the shoulder of his robes, intending to haul him away, but his hand closed on empty air.
Goku was already walking toward a private door near the bar. While talking to the goblin, Goku had used Legilimency again. He knew for a fact that Hunigo was in that specific room.
"Dunce! Grab him!" the goblin barked, his brow furrowing. Important clients were in that room discussing big business; he couldn't have a child barging in.
"Stupefy!" The sentry whipped out his wand and fired a red bolt of light at Goku's back.
Goku shifted his weight, the spell whistling harmlessly past his ear. He turned, pointing a finger back at the wizard.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
The sentry froze instantly, his body becoming as rigid as stone before he toppled over like a felled tree.
Dumbledore had instructed Goku that when hunting dark wizards, he should try to use magic as much as possible to familiarize himself with the spells.
He was only to use his martial arts if magic failed, and he was strictly forbidden from using ki blasts unless it was an absolute emergency. Thus, Goku used the Full Body-Bind Curse instead of a roundhouse kick.
"I know Nigo Hunigo is in this room. I'm here to arrest him. It would be better if you didn't try to stop me."
"Wandless magic!" The goblin boss stood bolt upright, taking a frantic step back.
Several wizards and goblins—the bar's hired muscle—moved in, drawing their wands.
Two minutes later, Goku pushed open the heavy doors to the private room. Behind him, the dark wizard "muscle" and the goblin boss were all standing in various poses of frozen shock, victims of the Body-Bind Curse.
In terms of raw magical skill, Goku was currently only at the level of a fifth or sixth-year student. In a fair, one-on-one magical duel, he might have struggled to suppress an experienced mercenary.
However, Goku's physical speed and reaction time were off the charts, and his wandless casting was instantaneous. No matter how powerful their spells were, they simply couldn't hit him—whereas Goku's aim was perfect. He had cleared the room with the efficiency of a natural disaster.
"Who is that kid? How is he so strong?" The patrons who had been watching the fight from their tables were stunned. A twelve-year-old using wandless magic to dismantle a notorious black-market security team was something no one would believe—yet they had seen it with their own eyes.
"Nigo Hunigo, you're under arrest!" Goku announced as he pushed into the private suite, addressing the dark wizards mid-negotiation.
"It's you... the Hunter!"
A Black wizard in his sixties, sitting on a plush velvet sofa, turned pale the moment he saw Goku. He leapt to his feet, wand already in hand.
***
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