Chapter 8: The Shit-Refining Warlock

Diagon Alley.

The last time he came here was to hunt for a job.

Looking at the robes and pointed hats coming and going on the street, Murphy suddenly raised a smile.

Jumping out of this small Wizarding World, he could look at it easily, and even those shopkeepers who previously appeared hateful, stupid, and stubborn seemed to have become innocent and cute.

Sure enough, he still likes it here.

He likes magic, and by extension, he likes wizards. Most of them are quite stupid, but isn't that just another way of describing "simple"? A bunch of idiots, although sometimes they make you irritable, they are always hard to really make people hate them.

Speaking of which, that was only a week ago.

But his thoughts had already undergone such a huge change.

It can only be said that money is a man's courage.

With millions of pounds in his pocket, Murphy walked much lighter.

He first came to Gringotts.

At this moment, he had changed his appearance, and even he didn't know what this face was called. It was a man he had randomly pulled hair from on the street to transform into.

"Hello, heard that you can exchange wizard currency here, is that right?" Murphy pretended to be ignorant and asked a goblin who was weighing gold coins.

"Are you a Muggle?" The goblin raised his head slightly.

"Name?"

"Jim Stik." Murphy reported the sponsor's name directly.

The goblin wrote something on a piece of parchment with a quill and asked again: "Purpose?"

"Shopping?"

"Purpose?"

"Uh... what can it be?" Murphy wasn't sure and asked.

"Muggle-born wizard enrollment, it can only be this purpose." The goblin answered.

Then why the fuck did you ask.

The Wizarding World and the Muggle world are basically isolated. Unless it is a situation where a former Muggle who has no roots in the Wizarding World has to join the Wizarding World, currency exchange between the two is not allowed.

"Son's enrollment." Murphy continued to lie.

"Little wizard's name?"

"David Stik."

"Contact mentor?"

"Severus Snape."

Who told Snape to find fault with him all day when he was in school.

"Five pounds for one Galleon, how much do you want to exchange?"

"Ten thousand pounds?" Murphy said tentatively.

The goblin raised his eyes again, seeming a bit surprised, but soon lowered his head and continued his work. "The limit is forty Galleons, do you want to exchange?"

"Forty Galleons?" Murphy was stunned, that couldn't be used for anything.

"Forget it, I'll consider it again."

This path was obviously impassable. Murphy walked out of Gringotts, found an alley, changed his appearance again, changed into a robe, and walked into Gringotts again.

Seeing a goblin weighing gemstones, he walked over and said: "I have gold, can I exchange it for Galleons?"

"Of course!" This goblin was a bit more enthusiastic. "Gold, silver, gemstones, we all have exchange businesses."

"What is the limit?"

"Limit?" The goblin was a bit puzzled, then understood. "Gold and silver have no exchange limits, as for gemstones, we will buy them with Galleons."

No limit?

Murphy was refreshed.

Gold and silver are still precious metals in the Wizarding World, and as the casting material for wizard currency, Gringotts having an acquisition business is a matter of course, but no limit was a bit of a surprise.

This might be the simplest way to convert pounds into Galleons.

"May I ask your name?" The goblin asked.

"Patrick Duncan." Murphy continued to make things up.

"What is your vault number?"

"Hmm?" Murphy was stunned for a moment. "Why ask this?"

"To avoid unnecessary trouble, usually, this business is only open to families who have had long-term cooperation with Gringotts. Therefore, verification of your identity and vault number is required."

"..."

Patrick didn't have a vault.

"Are there any other requirements?"

"No, just that you also need to provide the source of the precious metals."

"I'll consider it again."

Walking out of Gringotts for the second time, Murphy Apparated to the door of a Muggle gold shop, bought all the gold in the shop, used Transfiguration to transform it into gold bars that could not be identified, and then Apparated back to Gringotts again.

This time he removed his disguise and walked into the main door in his original appearance.

Choosing another goblin, Murphy took out two gold bars from his pocket with an Undetectable Extension Charm. "I want to exchange them for Galleons."

Several goblins around looked over, and the goblin in charge of reception was also more enthusiastic than the previous ones. "No problem, no problem. May I ask your name?"

"Murphy Darkholm."

"Vault number?"

"1745."

The Darkholm family couldn't compare to pure-blood families like Black or Potter, and the vault number was relatively late.

The goblin searched in a thick book for a while and looked at Murphy with some doubt. "This vault hasn't had a deposit for nearly twenty years, and it's in arrears of sixteen Galleons in management fees to Gringotts..."

"May I ask, what is the source of your gold?"

This question did not exceed Murphy's expectations. "Dug out from under the old house, gold buried by ancestors."

"Please wait a moment." That goblin seemed a bit unsure, whispered with a few goblins around, and finally, a goblin who looked like a supervisor came to take over, asking: "How much gold do you have?"

"About thirty-five pounds (16 kg)." Murphy said.

The goblin supervisor was a bit surprised, and several goblins whispered again. The goblin supervisor said: "Because of the credit problem of your vault, you can only exchange five pounds of gold."

"Merlin's stinky dog fart! Old man's real gold and silver! Why can't I exchange it!"

Murphy was unconvinced and argued with the goblin supervisor for a long time. Finally, after agreeing to pay a breach of contract fee of one hundred Galleons, the exchange limit was increased to 10 pounds.

Subsequently, after a long inspection, weighing, calculation, and counting, a goblin handed a cloth bag to Murphy. "This is 6572 gold Galleons, please count them."

Murphy's mouth twitched.

He gave the other party an international friendly gesture.

10 pounds of gold, calculated at today's gold price, is worth nearly 45,000 pounds. If calculated according to the ordinary Galleon-pound exchange rate, he should have been given nearly 9,000 Galleons in gold coins.

But after such a turnover, he only got more than 6,000!

Nearly one-third of the benefits were swallowed by Gringotts just like that.

However, he couldn't reason with them. After all, Gringotts' gold-Galleon exchange rate is indeed that low, and as for the discrepancy with the rate of exchanging pounds?

What does the Muggle gold price have to do with Gringotts?

Murphy walked out of Gringotts, feeling slightly depressed.

This bunch of goblins are simply fucking vampires.

How many intelligence-lowering spells were cast on the brains of wizards to let them control their currency system?

But forget it, anyway, it was money that came for free, so being greedy is fine, the rest is enough to use.

Weighing the gold coin bag with the Undetectable Extension Charm, Murphy came to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary.

Entering the door, he saw a young wizard of about Murphy's age refining potions with a cauldron.

He watched for a while and suddenly said: "It is recommended to grind dried caterpillars into powder, slicing is not easy to mix, and the effect is not good."

The young wizard turned his head, looking dazed: "But, the book says slicing."

"You are refining Shrinking Solution, right? Actually, the method in the textbook is quite old-fashioned, squeezing juice from live caterpillars has a better effect."

The round-faced wizard with freckles looked at Murphy doubtfully. "You are?"

"Just a customer. By the way, you turned the fire too high, the cauldron is about to burn."

"Ah, oh! God!" The round-faced wizard added some water in a panic, and only then managed to brew the potion.

Murphy looked at the finished yellow liquid and curled his lips. "You refined a pot of shit, brother."

The round-faced wizard's face turned red, and the freckles became more prominent. "I, you, sigh, alright, this time the boss is going to deduct my salary again."

Murphy smiled. This guy is quite fun. He stretched out a hand. "Peter Parker, nice to meet you."

The round-faced wizard looked bitter. "Alex Wood."

Murphy patted the other's shoulder. "Do you know, a few days ago I just applied for your current position."

Alex looked at him in surprise. "Then why didn't they hire you, you seem to be an old hand."

Murphy smiled. "They are blind. But I must thank them; thanks to them, I can stand here and be their client-father."

"Now, Wood, go call your boss out and tell him I want to buy all the dittany in your shop."

(End of chapter)