Tens of thousands of Galleons just flew away like that, and Kael felt a sharp pain in his heart.
But there's no choice; compared to this gold, Hufflepuff's Golden Cup is still more important.
Like Ravenclaw's Diadem, the cup is something left by the four founders.
That squanderer Voldemort turned it into a soul artifact and entrusted it to Bellatrix for safekeeping.
However, Bellatrix didn't do as Lucius Malfoy did by keeping Voldemort's things at her own place; she chose to store them in what she considered a safer Gringotts Vault.
Speaking of soul artifacts... besides the Golden Cup that can't be obtained right now, there's one even closer, so close it's within reach.
This is the main reason why Kael agreed to come to 12 Grimmauld Place with Sirius.
As for that box, it was a complete unexpected gain. In fact, Kael never expected that the key to opening the box would actually be Sirius Black himself.
He originally intended to try some ordinary spells first, and if they couldn't open it, he'd just use the Fiendfyre Curse, or wait until his next visit to Devon to ask Nicolas Flamel for help.
Thinking of this, Kael glanced at Kreacher, who was still tied up on the ground, casually lifted his own Locking Spell, and then turned to ask:
"Sirius, can I take a look around here?"
Just as Kreacher was about to leave, he froze in his tracks when he heard this.
"The degenerate master brings back a little demon; Kreacher has never seen such an evil wizard. He's not content with blowing up the drawing room, and now he wants to blow up other places. Kreacher must protect the mistress's house; no one will destroy it..."
"Shut up, Kreacher!" Sirius couldn't help but shout, "No one wants to destroy this place, and if anyone would, it would definitely be me!"
He then turned to Kael, "There's really nothing to see here, but if you're interested, of course it's fine, just be careful not to wake those portraits.
Also, you better not go alone to the basement second floor and the upstairs beyond the third floor; Lupin and I haven't checked those places yet and we're not sure if they're safe."
"Don't touch that locked cupboard in the drawing room." Lupin suddenly spoke up, "If I'm not mistaken, there might be a Boggart inside."
He still hadn't forgotten how exaggeratedly Kael had dealt with the Boggart before, and if it happened again, the place might really be destroyed.
Kael smiled; last time was purely because he was unprepared. Now, Boggarts were nothing more than that to him.
However, he didn't explain anything and just pulled out his wand, restoring the drawing room that looked like a wasteland.
Sirius and Lupin also helped out.
With the three of them working together, the room quickly returned to its original state.
Kreacher finally stopped mumbling, but he still followed closely behind them, watching their every move.
"I wanted to ask earlier." When they came to the hallway, Kael looked at Sirius, "Did you buy a new wand?"
"Oh, you mean this?" Sirius raised his hand, shaking the wand adorned with gold and jewels, "Of course not, I'm still a wanted man, how could I possibly go to Diagon Alley to buy a wand?
This is an old wand I found in the storage cabinet. It's not very good to use, but there's no other choice for now."
Accompanied by Sirius, Kael toured every room on the second floor.
The lights here were dim, casting their shadows on the walls, almost blending with the darkness, looking like the lair of some evil wizard.
"The first thing I do when cleaning the house is to throw away all these lamps." Sirius said with a frown.
He hated dark places because Dementors always floated out from the shadows with no warning.
When the surroundings were too dark, he couldn't help but recall those unpleasant memories.
Hearing his words, Kreacher, who was following behind, started to mutter again.
But this time, Sirius couldn't be bothered to pay attention to him. Before Harry moved in, he wanted all the old gas lamps to be replaced, and the rooms to be brightly lit, leaving no dark corners.
After making a round, they arrived at the drawing room on the second floor.
It was a very large room, even bigger than the one they were in previously.
Kael found the cupboard Lupin mentioned, right next to an armchair. Its original purpose must have been to store some important documents, but now it was occupied by a Boggart.
From a distance, it could be seen trembling softly.
Kael wasn't interested in Boggarts; he just glanced at it and shifted his attention to a larger glass cabinet on the opposite wall, which contained some strange and peculiar items.
Kael walked over.
"If I ever do a thorough clean-up of the house, the first things to go would be the items in here."
Sirius came forward, speaking with a tone of disgust, "Almost all of them are Dark Arts Items. They liked them, displaying them as if they were treasures..."
Kael examined the glass cabinet; displayed in the center was an open, dusty box containing a medal from the Merlin Knight Order. Kael had one too, but his ribbon was purple, whereas this one was green.
The First Class Merlin Order Medal was awarded to Sirius's grandfather for "contributions to the Ministry of Magic."
"Which means they gave them a bunch of gold." Sirius said contemptuously, "At that time, a Dark Wizard had disrupted the Magic Realm, and they needed gold to recruit more Aurors."
"To exchange for a First Class Medal..." Kael murmured, "The amount of gold must have been enormous."
"I don't know the exact amount." Sirius said, "It's said to have cost half of the Vault's gold. He thought that this would elevate the Black Family's honor and status."
"Half the gold, quite generous!" Kael clicked his tongue in surprise, continuing to look down.
Beside the box was a silver snuffbox. Kael poked it with his wand, and it immediately split open from the middle, turning into a large mouth that bit towards the wand, while spraying a grayish-brown powder.
This powder resembled a joke product from Zonko's, which would form a hideous crust when it stuck to the skin, but wasn't very harmful, as a simple Scouring Charm could remove it.
On the left was a particularly ugly silverware resembling a spider with tweezers, and it moved like a spider when it ran.
When the cabinet door was opened, it attempted to run but was smashed by a thick book that Sirius threw at it.
There was a music box painted with a twisted group of shadows, which probably wasn't a good thing either.
A heap of antique seals, which seemed quite normal,
And then... Kael's heart suddenly skipped two beats.
He found it, in an inconspicuous corner, there lay a golden pendant box.
...