Puzzi felt that his luck was simply too good.
Gringotts had fallen, but he, Puzzi, had taken flight.
Miss Astley had taken him in, along with some other goblins who were willing to continue shining for the cause of wizarding finance, and Puzzi had become their leader.
Before the new bank was established, Puzzi served as the head steward of the Gringotts ruins, albeit under the leadership of Mr. Grindelwald.
What? A goblin being led by a wizard was shameful?
You only had to look at that surname to know what an extraordinary person that was\! Gellert Grindelwald was Puzzi's idol when he was young\! Working under the leadership of his relative was not shameful in the slightest\!
Being able to know Miss Audrey Astley was the luckiest thing in his entire life.
On this day, Puzzi was comfortably drinking afternoon tea in his office.
Days like this were wonderful; there was little work, yet he still received his salary\!
"Manager Puzzi\!"
A goblin stumbled as he ran in.
"People from the Ministry of Magic are here\!"
"What? Again?"
"This time it is Minister Fudge personally leading them. You had better go and take a look, quickly\!"
Puzzi hurriedly stood up, accidentally knocking over his teacup. Tea flowed down the coffee table onto the expensive carpet.
But Puzzi was in no mood to care about such trifles; he rushed out in a hurry.
Fudge stood at the very front with a group of Ministry employees. He maintained that amiable appearance, looking more like a neighborly uncle than a Minister for Magic.
"Are you the person in charge?"
Fudge did not have a pleasant expression for goblins; his kind face was reserved only for those who could bring him benefits. As for the goblins of today... hehe.
"Yes, Minister, sir. You may call me Puzzi," Puzzi bowed, neither humble nor arrogant. "I wonder what official business brings you here this time, Minister?"
Fudge waved his hand, and the follower behind him handed over a thick stack of documents.
That follower was a woman, dressed entirely in pink, looking suspiciously like a toad that had assumed human form.
"After the inventory of the Gringotts vaults, we discovered that the ancestral vaults of some Ministry officials were classified as ownerless vaults. Therefore, we have come this time to retrieve the property that should have been inherited by our officials\!"
Fudge shoved the pile of documents at Puzzi. "These are their proofs of identity and relevant documents regarding ancestral bloodline inheritance."
Puzzi looked respectful on the surface, but inwardly he was completely dismissive.
As expected, Miss Astley had predicted this. No, he should call her 'Boss' now.
One really should not overestimate Fudge's moral baseline.
Puzzi glanced at the documents. Hehe, forgeries.
Families that were confirmed to be extinct after repeated verification back then—where did a bunch of grandsons suddenly pop out from now?
And they all just happened to be Ministry employees?
"Minister, sir," Puzzi smiled ingratiatingly. "I am very sorry, but the gold in those ownerless vaults was moved away by the Gringotts Elders on the very day Gringotts went bankrupt."
Fudge froze. The toad spirit behind him jumped out first, her voice shrill. "What? Moved away? You are lying\! Goblin, do you know who you are speaking to?"
The toad spirit looked very agitated. "This is the most brilliant Minister in the history of the Ministry of Magic\! How dare you deceive him\!"
Fudge found Umbridge's flattery quite agreeable; he looked at the pink toad with newfound appreciation\!
However, it would be better if she could improve her aesthetic sense; that pink dress with the ruffled hem caused Fudge some physiological discomfort.
"Dolores, there is no need for this." Fudge smiled and pressed his right hand downwards. The pink toad tactfully lowered her head and stepped back. "Mr. Puzzi, regardless of the facts, you should at least take us inside to have a look, don't you think?"
Immediately, Hit Wizards controlled the surrounding goblins to prevent them from sending messages or actually moving the gold from the vaults.
But even so, the facts seemed to be exactly as Puzzi had stated. Those vaults were empty, as clean as if they were brand new.
Could those Elders really have moved the gold ahead of time?
"How is this possible\!"
Fudge spent a full half-day inspecting all the ownerless vaults. "You must have received news in advance and emptied the vaults\!"
"No, Minister, sir," Puzzi's professional competence was top-notch as long as he wasn't facing Dementors. "In this matter, our boss is the biggest victim. She spent an extra one million Galleons, yet bought empty shells containing nothing."
"I feel that since the Ministry has proven that these vaults have owners, the previous transaction was unreasonable and illegal. Therefore, can the Ministry return the Galleons my boss paid for these vaults to us?"
"After all, you sold owned items to my boss, which violates the 'Wizarding Personal Property Protection Act,' so that transaction is invalid."
Fudge was stunned. He had only roughly scanned the relevant report on the auction of the Gringotts ruins. Having not read it carefully, he had no idea that the ruins had sold for an extra million because of these ownerless vaults.
Just as Puzzi said, if these vaults were confirmed to have owners, then the Ministry selling these owned vaults to Audrey would constitute fraud.
Not to mention asking Fudge to return this one million now; he simply couldn't pay it back—because the proceeds from auctioning Gringotts' real estate had already been carved up by those pure-blood families.
Even so, the pure-blood families were still very dissatisfied because their losses remained heavy.
Umbridge staged a scene of saving her master again. She shouted loudly, "This must be a mistake\! I think we should thoroughly investigate those insatiable fellows in the Ministry\! They deceived us\!"
"Minister, sir," at this moment, Umbridge put on a performance worthy of an award-winning actress, radiating the light of justice. "Let us return to the Ministry immediately. Those greedy parasites should be punished\! They must face trial\!"
"Correct, Dolores, you are right." Fudge turned his head and smiled at Puzzi—before this, he hadn't given Puzzi even a hint of a smile. "Mr. Puzzi, I think this is a misunderstanding. I am very sorry for causing you trouble."
The Minister for Magic was filled with righteous indignation. "I was deceived by those in the Ministry who delusionaly wanted to reap without sowing. These vaults are clearly ownerless\!"
Puzzi bowed and chimed in, "Yes, those people are truly too wicked, without a shred of a bottom line. They should be sent to Azkaban, or even given a Dementor's Kiss."
Puzzi thought of his experience going to Azkaban and couldn't help but shiver. He steadied his mind and continued.
"Under Minister Fudge's brilliant leadership, not only are these people ungrateful, but they also cause trouble for the Minister\! If it were me, I would have fired them long ago\!"
Fudge's eyelids twitched wildly. The people willing to help him compile these documents were all his trusted aides. If he fired them, he would become a commander without an army\!
He quickly waved his hand, stopping Puzzi's "extreme" remarks. "This is a matter for our Ministry; we won't trouble Mr. Puzzi to worry about it."
"Alright, we are leaving. Send my regards to Audrey."
Fudge tried hard to maintain a haughty posture, but no matter how one looked at it, he resembled a beaten dog slinking away with its tail between its legs.
"Cornelius," Umbridge leaned close to Fudge's ear and whispered, "If we didn't get the Galleons, the Ministry won't be able to pay salaries next month. The management fees from excavating the ruins aren't enough to support the Ministry's expenses, and those pure-blood families can hardly protect themselves, so they have no money to sponsor the Ministry..."
"Do not call me Cornelius."
Fudge got goosebumps all over from Umbridge's sudden intimacy. Seeing Fudge's resistance, Umbridge immediately moved slightly away from him.
"Not all pure-blood families were pitted by Gringotts. As far as I know, Malfoy and Lestrange were not involved in this incident, so their two families are still very wealthy."
Umbridge's eyes shone brightly. "You mean to ask these two families for sponsorship?"
"What ask? What are you saying?"
Fudge rolled his eyes at Umbridge. "This is a donation they are making voluntarily for the Ministry of Magic. Because their contribution is huge, we will also award them the Order of Merlin, Third Class. Second Class isn't impossible either; it depends on their sincerity\!"
Umbridge exclaimed in admiration, "Minister, sir, you truly see the finest details and have great foresight\!"
While accepting the pink toad's compliments, Fudge looked into the distance.
He snorted coldly in his heart: Want to open a bank during my term? Astley, you are dreaming\!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]