"Mr. Minister, I have a question," Audrey said, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. "Was this matter orchestrated entirely by Gringotts?"
Fudge wasn't annoyed at all by the change in Audrey's attitude—she was being coerced into doing something unwillingly; wasn't she allowed to lose her temper a little?
The fact that Audrey could be so composed already far exceeded his expectations.
"Yes, Audrey, Gringotts is very much looking forward to cooperating with you."
Audrey opened her eyes and looked at the guy in front of her who seemed more like a merchant than an official. She was quite speechless.
Just now, she had read Fudge's mind:
To persuade Fudge to come as a lobbyist, the goblins had given Fudge a thousand Galleons as a retainer.
Heh, the "leader" of British wizards, driven by goblins using money.
And those were the goblins wizards looked down upon\\!
Audrey even suspected that what Dumbledore said earlier about the Ministry valuing ancient magic might have been Gringotts' doing from the very beginning.
"I understand, Mr. Minister," Audrey waved her hand, and the tea set and tea on the coffee table vanished, as if they had never been placed there. "I agree."
Cornelius Fudge looked ecstatic. As long as Audrey was persuaded by him, the Gringotts goblins would give him another two thousand Galleons as the final payment!
"However," Audrey's transition made Fudge's expression change, but her subsequent words put him at ease again.
"I am very busy this term, you know. I still have to take my O.W.L.s, so can the date for excavating the ruins be set for the summer vacation?"
"It should be! It should be!" Fudge now found Audrey pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked. "I will convey your meaning to Gringotts. Actually, this is a very good business deal. The price they offered you isn't low, is it?"
Seeing Fudge off, Audrey snorted coldly, turned back to the living room, and dialed Mr. Waterman's number.
"Is this Mr. Waterman?"
"I have a favor to ask of you."
"Exchange all my savings for gold."
"Yes, all of it."
"I am certain."
"As soon as possible!"
...
...
Early morning on January 9th, Audrey descended upon Gringotts in Diagon Alley.
Puzzi received her warmly.
"Miss Astley, are you here to deposit money again? I've heard rumors outside that you are the richest little wizard in Britain!"
"Puzzi," Audrey's voice was icy, making Puzzi's brain twitch violently. "Did you tell others about the situation in my vault?"
This was a major taboo for Gringotts. Logically speaking, Gringotts should not disclose client vault information to others.
But now even Fudge knew she had over a hundred thousand Galleons in her vault, so Puzzi, the only one who had contact with her vault, was naturally the one who broke the rules.
"Please listen to my explanation, Miss Astley,"
Puzzi's forehead was covered in sweat. He felt that if he didn't explain clearly right away, not only would he lose Audrey, this big client, but he might even be kicked out of Gringotts, or chopped up and fed to the dragon in the underground vaults!
"I, I was threatened," Puzzi explained. "An elder from our Council found me. I, I couldn't refuse him!"
"Enough, I don't want to hear these disgusting words, but I don't wish for there to be a next time."
Audrey waved her hand impatiently. Puzzi immediately acted as if granted a great pardon, bowing and scraping.
"Puzzi, I have big business for your Gringotts today, very big business."
"Yes, yes," Puzzi bowed his back, as lowly as Momo. "May I ask what kind of business you wish to conduct? Puzzi will serve you wholeheartedly!"
"You?" Audrey shook her head. "You're not qualified!"
Audrey opened the small bag she carried with her and tipped it downwards.
Cling clang...
Gold bars shining with a clear yellow luster poured onto the floor. This move startled all the goblins and clients in the entire Gringotts into looking this way.
Unlike Galleons which were only mixed with a small amount of gold, these were genuine gold bars!
Here, what looked like less than a cubic meter of gold actually weighed at least over ten tons, which was already half of the British Gringotts' gold reserves!
To put it in perspective, the Federal Reserve's gold reserves in 2023 were only over eight thousand tons!
"Puzzi, can you make the decision?"
"I, I'll go notify the Council right away. Please wait a moment, Miss Astley!"
Goblins immediately rushed forward to re-stack the gold bars and place them on a flatbed cart—although goblins were greedy, they still had the bottom line bankers should have. They wouldn't embezzle even a bronze Knut in plain sight.
Audrey was led to a high-level conference room in Gringotts. Here, she met the Gringotts elders who had rushed over from all parts of Europe.
Her gold was piled in the center of the room. Audrey could feel the greed in those elders' eyes without even needing to use Legilimency.
"Miss Astley," Moristor, an elder of the British Gringotts, spoke respectfully. "Your financial power is impressive. On behalf of the other elders present, I would like to formally ask you a question:"
"What kind of business do you wish to do with us?"
"After all, although the amount of this gold is huge, if it is just depositing into a vault, ordinary bankers can accomplish it."
Audrey said slowly and calmly, "I want a loan."
Audrey's words caused a commotion among the elders, who began whispering to each other.
"Then, Miss Audrey, is there any necessary connection between your fifteen tons of gold and the loan you want?"
"Of course there is. I need a certain Muggle currency, a massive amount of Muggle currency, the value of which will far exceed this gold—I brought this gold merely as a display of my personal credit."
"This wealth is just what I earned in a few years. And my current worth is far higher than a few years ago. I want to use the wealth I will earn in the next twenty or thirty years as collateral to apply for a loan from your Gringotts."
Audrey took out the intent contract from the American side regarding her appearance fee. "Take a look. As long as I want to, holding one concert can bring in at least six million US dollars. This pile of gold before your eyes, as long as I work hard for a month and a half, I can earn it."
This sentence truly shocked these elders. Where had these old antiques, who had lived for hundreds of years, ever seen such a fierce way of making money?
They began to whisper, discussing in groups of three or five. While discussing, they looked at Audrey—if Audrey went full throttle on a global tour, she would have an income of two billion US dollars a year! Calculated over thirty years, that would be sixty billion US dollars! Enough to buy two Gringotts!!
Audrey kept Legilimency on the whole time. She understood the old goblins' thoughts clearly.
'Hmph, make me hold concerts all year round without rest? You guys are dreaming!'
Now that the old goblins were tempted, she only needed to add fuel to the fire, and they would fall into the trap.
After listening to the thoughts of elders from various places, Moristor asked, "Then Miss Astley, how much do you plan to borrow? And which Muggle currency?"
"Karbovanets. The newly issued Ukrainian Karbovanets. The more the better."
Moristor continued to ask, "Would it be convenient for you to reveal what you plan to do with so many Karbovanets?"
"Ukraine is about to fully implement privatization. I believe everyone has heard of it," Audrey watched the elders nodding ignorantly and knew they had no idea what she was talking about. "I want to take this opportunity to acquire a large amount of high-quality Ukrainian assets, with no upper limit."
She continued, "I know you are worried that I won't be able to pay back this money..."
Moristor shook his head hurriedly. "No, no, no, we are still very confident in Miss Astley's ability to make money."
Audrey shook her head. "No need for polite words!
The basis of cooperation is mutual trust and mutual benefit. No one can say for sure how much I can earn in the future; that is unfair to you. So I won't make you bear too much risk.
After the first loan, I will use the assets I purchase in Ukraine, not limited to real estate, stocks, technology, and weapons, as collateral to apply for a larger second and third loan from your bank."
"I can pay 20% annual interest, but there is only one requirement: we can only settle in Karbovanets between us."
Moristor looked at the elders. They had known each other for hundreds of years and had great tacit understanding in their work. In fields familiar to them, they could understand each other's thoughts with just a few glances.
Moristor said, "This sounds like a good cooperation, but if we only settle in Karbovanets, we cannot guarantee the stability of the Karbovanets. If the Karbovanets depreciates significantly in the future, we will lose everything!"
Audrey had long expected Gringotts to raise this point; after all, they weren't fools.
In fact, the Karbovanets would indeed depreciate significantly in the future, shrinking by about a thousand times.
"Your concerns are very reasonable, but," Audrey said with confidence, making the elders look forward to her subsequent brilliant argument, "I don't think the Karbovanets will depreciate."
"The Soviet Union has dissolved. Ukraine is one of the states that inherited the most Soviet legacy."
The elders nodded one after another. This was true.
"With a very good foundation already, plus Ukraine's geographical advantages and abundant resources, as long as their leaders don't have brains full of knotgrass, they won't crash the economy."
Although the elders agreed, they still had concerns. After all, the amount involved was simply too large.
"In addition," Audrey said, "The United States will increase investment and aid to Ukraine. This is bound to happen. The US is doing this partly to contain Russia, and partly, like me, to harvest Ukraine's high-quality assets."
Audrey concluded, "Under these circumstances, how could the Karbovanets depreciate?"
She said, "To be honest, the one who should be worried is me! If the Karbovanets appreciates, I will be the one losing the most."
Reasonable and irrefutable. The goblins couldn't predict the future, so naturally, they didn't know how the Ukrainian government would play a good hand into a complete mess!
"Miss Astley," Moristor asked, "Since you have to bear such a big risk, why do you still want to do this?"
Audrey smiled. "How often does a major event like the dissolution of the Soviet Union happen in centuries? The good thing of acquiring assets at a low price—if you miss this village, you won't find this shop again!"
"To get those high-quality assets into my hands a day sooner, what harm is there in bearing some risk?"
The Gringotts elders engaged in another long discussion.
Half an hour later, everyone unified their opinions.
"Miss Astley, we agree to cooperate with you, only 20% interest is too low. We hope to raise it to 50%! And you must borrow for a full three years before repaying the principal!"
Heh, greedy goblins!
"Fine, I agree. Wishing us a pleasant cooperation!"
"Pleasant cooperation!"
Suppose Audrey borrowed one hundred billion Karbovanets for three years. Then she would repay a total of two hundred fifty billion Karbovanets.
However, three years later, the Karbovanets would depreciate a thousand times, so the value she actually paid would be merely one-thousandth.
Even if I give you 100% annual interest, so what?
Even without waiting three years, before this summer vacation, Gringotts would be unable to bear the loss and come begging her!
This was Audrey's goal.
Force me to excavate ruins?
Excavate, excavate, I'll let you excavate!
I'll dig up your roots first!
As for the acquisition of benign assets she mentioned... that was just incidental. Pitfalling Gringotts was the top priority.
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