Chương 44: Bulgaria
January 15th, 1994
Bulgarian Ministry of Magic
Magical district of Sofia
Until just over three weeks ago, Minister Oblansk had sat behind his desk, sagging into his chair. The amount of paperwork he had needed to get through had been ridiculous. It had been all because he needed help to strip the Ministry of its more useless departments and hire better-qualified people for his workforce.
Stupid pureblood laws had stopped him from hiring the more intelligent and superior half-bloods and muggleborns. The amount of inbreeding in his country had been ridiculous, with so many families having ridiculously weak magic due to a lack of fresh blood and a tiny magical population.
Only Britain was on its way to becoming a close second in terms of magic loss caused by constant intermarriage.
His most prominent opposition to all the laws he wanted to pass had been the Vulchanov family, who claimed to be descended from the founder of Durmstrang herself.
However, their influence had waned now that the minister had the support of Lord Peverell-Slytherin. The man had contacted him barely a few months ago, but his plans have moved forward significantly since then.
After gaining the information from his ally, he had already fired half the department of magical law enforcement, which he knew was corrupt.
The more entrenched parasites within the Ministry, which he had been unable to fire, were silently dealt with by a new group of enforcers under his direct command.
His new Auror office had much stricter standards, with their training program now among the best in the world after bringing in some ex-muggle army squibs to train the Aurors.
All his new Aurors had sworn loyalty to the minister and Lord Slytherin through magical contracts, not that they had been informed.
Crime had suffered for it and now the only crime occurring was Ministry sanctioned, such as smuggling illegal products banned by the international confederation of wizards that the Ministry still needed.
There was, of course, now a tax on such products.
With the new law enforcement securely under his thumb, he had turned his attention to his own administration, starting with his own senior undersecretary.
A ghastly little man who thought himself the natural leader of the country, he had built up a small personal army and was the most significant source of corruption.
He was also the second son of the current head of the Vulchanov family.
Ivalyo Vulchanov was not a man to be messed with lightly. He was as close to a mafia boss as you could get in the wizarding world and loved both his sons with a fervour few could match.
So, when Andrian Vulchanov was arrested, there was an immediate outcry from the still corrupt Wizengamoat members of the Bulgarian Ministry to release him immediately.
On that day three weeks ago, Ivan Oblansk secured his position in the history books.
Nearly three-quarters of the Wizengamoat were arrested on corruption charges. The remaining members were only too happy to sentence their fellow members to jail or death.
That blow had given Ivan the power he needed to push through the laws he wanted.
After an intense siege of the Vulchanov family estate, Ivalyo was captured, his entire family was killed, and his illegal empire was destroyed.
The man had been offered up to the I.C.W to be trialled in a show of good faith. However, unknown to the rest of the confederation, the man had slow-acting poison in his system, and even if the crime lord wasn't sentenced to death, he would die.
With the Wizengamoat behind him, he fired or demoted several hundred employees and hired nearly a thousand well-qualified muggleborn and half-bloods. The purebloods who were good at their jobs were allowed to keep them; the rest were dealt with.
Several new members loyal to him had been appointed to the Wizengamoat, and with a new civil service, he began the massive changes he had planned.
Nearly all laws favouring purebloods were revoked, and he faced no opposition.
The magical district was renovated and improved with new wards and shops. The Dark Lord Peverell-Slytherin had been given control of a significant portion of the community, and nearly all apothecaries and potion brewers were buying their ingredients from Peverell Industries.
It was a fair reward for ridding Bulgaria of corruption, at least it was in his eyes.
With all the new trade and investment, Magical Bulgaria's previously stagnant economy was snowballing, and with it, his popularity.
The magical people of Bulgaria were willing to overlook the mysterious disappearances of corrupt individuals.
With Bulgaria becoming a rising power, it now had more influence in the International Confederation of wizards than ever before.
The United States Wizarding Congress, Magical China and Japan were looking to open talks about potential alliances.
The Muggle government was also pleased; with the magical market doing well, some of the tax was going to it and inadvertently boosting the muggle Bulgarian economy, although not nearly as much.
He had already instigated several plans to increase the magical population from 9,000 to at least double in the next decade. In addition, the Ministry was offering massive benefits to new parents, especially muggleborns or, as they were now going to be called, 'first generations', which was a much nicer term.
He had already planned to change the education system for a few years. He had several new buildings built dedicated to teaching certain levels of students, depending on their capabilities.
Below-average students would go to one kind of school, average students to another and above-average students would be given the best facilities possible. He had run the Ministry into debt preparing most of his plans, but it had all been dealt with when he used the family fortunes of all the wizards he imprisoned or had killed to repay the debt. He even had some cash left over to improve departments.
With all that he had accomplished in the past few months, Ivan was incredibly pleased with himself.
In front of him sat the self-styled 'Mr Chung', one of the most dangerous men currently in Bulgaria to the Ministers knowledge.
"The Dark Lord is very pleased with your results Minister and wishes me to pass on his congratulations. I will be leaving soon for my latest mission but rest assured, if you need to contact my lord, Basilisk 6 will be in the office down the hall." Mr Chung informed Ivan in a light British accent.
Basilisk 6 had taken the position of Advisor to the Minister of Magic so that there could be constant communication between the two parties.
After Oblansk had shown his understanding, the man silently disappeared in a flash of flames.
Ivan sighed in relief and pulled open his bottom drawer, taking out a bottle of Ogden's fire whisky.
Now that the meeting was over, he planned to finish the bottle.
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