Strange creatures!

Strange creatures!

Chapter 44:money! Money! Money!

Vira: Still don't understand why the wizarding world would depend on goblins for their entire economic infrastructure.

Author: Mate, you're just mad because they're more charmed by money than you.

Vira: That's one part of it, but seriously, goblins are money-hungry, greedy, and rebellious creatures. Why would someone even want to stash their entire life savings with them? Heck, they're the ones creating money.

Author: Hey! They didn't give in to your charm and kept the money safe. And you're just mad...

The author would have loved to continue with the teasing, but the stare from Vira's grey eyes was a bit too intimidating, so he changed his words midway.

Author: Nah, just kidding. True though, giving funds to creatures that have rebelled a few times in the past is pretty dumb. Like, they're literally funding goblins to rebel against themselves.

Creatures that easily resisted him were a rare sight for Vira. After all, even humans were not completely immune to him.

Even babies were greedy and so insatiable that they could resist his charm for the sake of money.

And this was bad not only for goblins but also for other humanoid creatures. Let's just hope that others aren't as bad; otherwise, the future for centaurs, merfolk, and house-elves is looking pretty dim.

With how egocentric Vira was, they would suffer quite a bit unless they liked him. Even when he was unharmed, he still held a grudge against the wizarding world for the simple fact that Professor McGonagall had scared him.

Back to the wonderful and well-kept building that in no way blended with the environment.

The building looked like an imposing fortress made entirely of white marble. At its front was a humongous bronze door, as well as two little goblins who were staring intensely at Vira.

That event wouldn't have been strange for Vira, since goblins, while looking almost human, seemed closer to fat, ugly monkeys.

The goblins were super short, had super bald heads, and unsettling facial features. The pointy noses and ears were the reason Vira thought of them as magical ugly monkeys.

So, he didn't think it was strange that they were looking at him longingly. But he soon changed his mind when he was observing the first magical creatures in the world. The goblins were staring at him, for sure, but unlike normal animals or even humans who had eyes full of kindness, the goblins' shredded eyes had greed in them.

Concerned, he kept his focus on them and soon realized that their attention was on the briefcase floating just beside him.

Their eyes seemed to see through the entire briefcase and onto something inside it that triggered their greed. And that feeling became even more obvious as he followed Professor McGonagall inside the bronze door.

The interior seemed completely separate from the outside. If on the outside it looked like a fortress, then on the inside, it was a long hallway. Nothing else could be seen, and even he had a feeling that neither the size nor the shape matched what he saw from the outside.

His lack of knowledge about the wizarding world forced him to drop the thought and focus on the greedy eyes watching him.

There were greedy eyes laid upon him from both directions of the hallway, and the most intense of them came from the goblin up front.

Vira felt like he was on trial. The goblins on the side looked like they would give anything up to rip him to shreds and take everything from him. Especially the one up front—the goblin was seated at the back of the long hallway.

He wasn't alone; there was another goblin just beside him who was staring at him with the same greedy eyes. But when the goblin that looked like a manager stood up and slammed the desk, he became silent, lowering his head. However, the greed flowing out of him was still undiminished.

The same went for the goblins on the side; they seemed to have returned to their work as they picked up items on the desk and looked at them. Others were doing different tasks, but what remained unchanged was their overflowing greed, and well, their lowered heads.

Soon after all this, Vira and Professor McGonagall reached the head goblin. He was no different from the other goblins—same short stature and nearly bald head. If you wanted to nitpick about a difference, it would be that he seemed more greedy and, well, had a bit of an oppressive aura about him.

Not that the aura seemed of any use aside from ordering the goblins, since Professor McGonagall remained unconcerned, and well, Vira was a leader of a force far larger than Gringotts could ever dream of being.

It might be if they had ever succeeded in a rebellion, but even then, if Vira lost his innocent face and became serious, his oppression would suppress even the greed of the goblins for a while.

Aside from the time he came to this world, the only time Vira had been stomped or scared was when Professor McGonagall came for a home visit. Even the injuries or being bombed were not enough to cause fear, since he knew the opponent and, well, could—and had—easily gotten rid of it.

He bribed the senior members or high-ranking officials of the force against him and made their lives like hell, but now in this magical world, he was nothing aside from the facade of the innocent child he displayed. He didn't even have the right to speak first.

Proof of that?

Upon reaching the counter, or well, the work desk of the head goblin, Professor McGonagall spoke:

Professor: "We need to exchange Muggle currency for Galleons."

Hearing this, the goblin broke his stare from the briefcase and looked at the professor. After a while, he spoke.

Head Goblin: "How much?"

The professor looked at Vira at that point, who replied in a meek tone.

Vira: "Can you tell me the exchange rate?"

Head Goblin: "It changes based on the amount you want to exchange. Just name the amount, and you'll know how much you'll get."

Then, perhaps feeling the professor's stare was too much, or realizing his rudeness, he pointed at a small poster on the side and said, "If you want to know the details, you can look there."

Hearing this, Vira first replied, "One hundred thousand pounds," then went to look at the poster by the side.

Hearing this, the goblin seemed visibly disappointed. While Vira did not see that sight, he knew of it, as Silas was peeking around through the collar of the navy suit.

Vira was a bit concerned about the event, but the poster in front of him was more of his concern. The poster read:

The Exponential Galleon Exchange Rate

The exchange rate between British Pounds (GBP) and Galleons (ʛ) increases exponentially as more pounds are exchanged:

1 Galleon = £5 (for small exchanges)

As the exchanged amount increases, the rate rises by ≈186%, making large transactions significantly costlier.

This system prevents excessive Muggle-to-Wizarding transactions and preserves the rarity of wizarding currency. The more pounds exchanged, the higher the cost per Galleon.

After seeing the poster, aside from knowing that the value of pounds would get lower and lower per Galleon, Vira didn't understand much.

So, Vira took a picture with every camera in the suit and returned to the goblin's desk, who told him that he would get six thousand nine hundred ninety-three Galleons.

After handing all the cash in the briefcase—and well, enticing the greed by showing the gold—Vira was about to leave the place with the professor.

But before he could turn, he was stopped by the head goblin, who asked if he would like to open a vault.

Vira immediately rejected that idea, as he didn't think it was worth it to put his money in a bank that would neither give him interest nor even a sense of safety.

The greedy eyes of the goblins had yet to leave him, and the head goblin asked again, "Then, do you want to exchange the gold? We don't limit exchanges for it as we do with Muggle currency."

This piqued Vira's interest, and he said, "You exchange gold? And also, what do you mean when you say 'limit exchange'?"

Head Goblin: "You can only exchange once every year while you remain at Hogwarts, and you can only exchange 100k, since we don't have much use for Muggle currency."

Then he remained silent for a while, as if plotting something, but quickly added:

Head Goblin: "One Galleon's worth of gold can be exchanged for 10 Galleons."

Vira didn't need to think much, as he knew from the delay and the goblin's greedy expression that he would get ripped off if he actually exchanged it at that rate.

So, he simply said, "I will come next time with my grandpa. Bye!"

Saying this, he ran forward to catch up to Professor McGonagall, who was waiting for him near the entrance.