Mysterious Journey
Chapter 685: The Finest Ingredients...
With Aik's 'death', this training match quickly came to an end.
Under the "wolf pack tactics" devised by Erina, the "Wings team," which was outnumbered, was defeated one by one—seeker Luna was completely marked, and Hannah couldn't find a suitable angle of attack to reduce the opponent's numbers.
In less than a quarter of an hour, only Hannah Abbott remained on the field.
"Alright, that's enough. This training match is over!"
Erina glanced at the panting, unwilling Hannah, and suddenly said.
"Everyone come down and rest for a while, listen to my review of the game just now. I won't be directing the next few training matches on the spot. I hope everyone can understand where they should be without anyone reminding them."
Knocking down everyone is indeed a hidden winning condition in Quidditch matches.
However, since it's just training, there's no need to be too serious.
After all, the Quaffles now have a Gripping Charm cast on them. As long as you can withstand the impact, you can theoretically be immune to attacks.
If you accidentally push Hannah too hard, this little witch who also knows how to "rua" will go into a frenzy. Except for Luna and Erina, the wizards present may all have to prepare to be knocked down.
On the other hand, although Erina intends to give Hannah some setbacks, it's not good if she goes too far and causes a harem overturn.
"Cough, now listen to me analyze your mistakes just now, as well as the comeback points you missed."
Erina glanced at the players gathered around her, sat sideways on her broom like a swing, her feet dangling in the air, tapped the tactical board in her hand, cleared her throat, and began to explain in a serious manner.
"First of all, Hannah, you shouldn't be too obsessed with directly knocking down the target. You wasted too many attack opportunities! Now I'm going to pass on a tactical concept from an ancient country—attack where they must defend, you have to force the opponent to make a choice..."
"And you, Lexi! You're the seeker!"
"The seeker's pressure on the offensive end mainly comes from searching for the Golden Snitch. Don't forget your duty in order to cooperate with team offense and defense. After temporarily gaining a numerical advantage, you should immediately look for the Golden Snitch to end the game, instead of continuing the full-court press and knockdown hunting like before..."
It must be said that with the opening of Pandora's box, many players have shown a certain degree of combativeness.
Compared to winning the game in a conventional way by scoring, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction brought by 'killing' the opponent's players is too easy to become obsessed with. It's like a brown bear tasting meat for the first time.
But in Erina's view, this is not what she wants to see.
Whether it's scoring with the Quaffle, catching the Golden Snitch, or knocking down the opponent's players... these are just different channels to victory. If it were in a game from later generations, it would just be different tactical systems.
Looking for opportunities to knock down the opponent's key players is just a means to win, not the ultimate goal.
In competitive games, victory is the only thing that matters.
Since she is the tactical coach of the team, she has to send this team to the world stage. Only real achievements can create a new storm of Quidditch tactics around the world.
She is destined to completely stir up the Quidditch environment.
…………
Noon, lunchtime.
"I'm so hungry, I'm so hungry, I'm so hungry..."
After comforting her a few words, Hannah quickly forgot about the unpleasantness just now and asked curiously.
"Erina, what are we eating for lunch? Why did you ask everyone to wait at the Quidditch field?"
"Don't worry, I won't let you down."
As she spoke, Erina looked around at the equally puzzled players and explained with a smile.
"You probably haven't tasted the elves' cooking yet, right? As a partner of Hogwarts and an investor in *A Bite of Hogwarts*, Gringotts Wizarding Bank will be responsible for providing our team's lunch for the foreseeable future."
House-elves are not suitable for leaving the castle they are attached to too far.
Even Hogwarts house-elves are not suitable for conducting business in the magical world too frequently. Except for industries involving students, Erina doesn't intend to let house-elves intervene too much in her business empire. First issue...
In any case, the power over Hogwarts still belongs to Albus Dumbledore for the time being.
As the head chef of Hogwarts, her power is not as great as she imagined.
Moreover, compared to Gringotts goblins, Erina doesn't have much trust in house-elves who lack independent thought, can't be tied to interests, are timid, have too many tool-like attributes, and have extremely uncertain factors.
Dobby and Kreacher are prime examples of negative cases.
Hannah pouted with some regret upon hearing this.
"If the goblins from Gringotts Wizarding Bank supply the lunch, it probably won't be comparable to Hogwarts..."
Gringotts Wizarding Bank is indeed financially strong, and no one in the entire magical world would deny this.
But on the other hand, the goblins' stingy nature is also well known.
In Hannah Abbott's opinion, if the goblins were to pay for their lunch, then the actual cost of the ingredients might not even be as good as Uncle Tom's dinner for the drunks in the bar... although that's already very bad.
Glancing at the worried Hannah, head coach Brandon Dunne leaned over and said with a smile.
"Lunch supplied by goblins? Well, it's better than nothing. For the sake of Hogwarts and Dumbledore, they won't make it too shabby. Speaking of which, I heard from a friend who works at the Ministry of Magic that since the new Goblin Queen took office, the standards of meals that Gringotts Wizarding Bank provides for VIPs are very high, no less than Hogwarts now."
"No less than Hogwarts? Goblins always like to exaggerate and boast, just listen to it..."
At the edge of the field, goalkeeper Aik, who had finished his treatment, rubbed his shoulder and shook his head.
"And no one knows where that legendary Goblin Queen came from. She's never given an interview in *The Daily Prophet* for so long. I guess she's either too ugly to be seen, or the goblins made up the character out of thin air..."
"Mr. Aik, wouldn't it be a bit bad for you to say that..."
Luna Lovegood hesitated for a moment and poked Aik carefully with her broom.
"After all, she provided free lunch for everyone, and if the goblins of Gringotts heard it, it might cause bad effects. I heard that Gringotts goblins are very vindictive, so if you say that..."
"Heh, little Luna, don't take those cheapskates too seriously."
Aik waved his hand dismissively and sneered with his mouth open.
"We are wizards! You will understand when you grow up that those goblins dare not offend wizards - just a group of dwarfs whose situation is slightly better than that of house-elves. Could they jump up and hammer my knees? As for magic, if a goblin dares to attack a wizard at will, then Gringotts will be sealed by the Ministry of Magic the next day."
After a slight pause, Aik turned to look at Erina and continued.
"The real people to thank are Coach Caslana and Professor Dumbledore. Goblins are not so kind."
Erina glanced at the young wizard out of the corner of her eye and remained silent.
Although she knew that this guy wanted to flatter her, she was still annoyed by this tone of wizards being superior.
It seems that this goalkeeper Aik is recovering well and can still talk now.
After eating and drinking enough in the afternoon, perhaps it is appropriate to increase the intensity of training, such as organizing the team's shooting practice, as well as becoming proficient in the cooperation of multiple players in long and short-range strong attacks, and resistance to strikes and physical training...
As a generous and lovely Dark Lord, she will not retaliate because of some unknowing slips of the tongue by others.
However…
In order to prevent Mr. Aik from being ambushed during the World Cup because of his foul mouth, some appropriate defensive and psychological endurance counseling should still be strengthened - after all, he was the first player to 'die' just now.
As for Hannah's worries...
"Don't worry, Hannah, these are definitely delicacies you've never tasted before."
Erina smiled inscrutably and swore, patting her chest gently, "Think about it carefully, when have I, Erina Caslana, ever shortchanged you in terms of food... I'm the head chef of the school after all."
The best ingredients often only require the simplest cooking.
If Hogwarts Kitchen still needs Dumbledore's approval in terms of procurement, then Gringotts Wizarding Bank is completely Erina's territory. Perhaps she is slightly lacking in cooking skills, but the goblins who own mountains of gold can almost max out the ingredients to the limit that money can reach in this world.
Once Hannah tastes these Gringotts special supplies, she will understand what a wealthy wizard life is like.
Over time, as the stomachs of Hannah, Luna, Hermione, and these little lolis gradually turn into her shape, then there will no longer be any blind poor boys who can easily trick Erina's little wings away.
You know, her Erina Caslana's layered routines are not so easy to crack.
However, compared to a year ago, Hannah has obviously become a lot smarter. She was not easily fooled by Erina's harmless appearance. According to her summarized reading of the hair, this white fluffy ball must be thinking about something bad at this time.
"But…"
"Oh, our lunch seems to be here!"
Before Hannah Abbott could ask, Erina suddenly turned her head and looked at the other end of the field.
A burst of commotion suddenly came from the entrance of the Quidditch field.
Dozens of goblins and wizards filed in. Leading the way was Douglas, who has now been transferred to the chief CFO of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Behind it were several goblin guards wearing red uniforms with gold trim, and a group of wizards with strict formations, holding up their wands, and with vigilant faces. These are the new wizards recently hired by Gringotts security personnel.
And on the left chest of these wizard robes is a unique mark:
【Three arrows pointing inward through a circle, and an outer circle wrapping them.】(Picture)
Erina jumped off the broom, walked to the middle-aged goblin, and looked down at Douglas.
As the Goblin Queen, Erina's most satisfying point is that she finally doesn't have to look up to speak.
"Mr. Douglas, it's nice to see you. Were there any problems along the way?"
"No, the source of this batch of goods and the delivery information are very tightly sealed, and the wizards of the Special Containment Procedures Foundation and the Gringotts Goblin Guard escort the entire process, so it is quite reassuring in terms of security."
"Well, that's good, but we still need to be vigilant about the situation of robbing takeaways later..."
Erina nodded, breathed a slight sigh of relief, and earnestly reminded again.
It seems that the folk customs in the magical world are still relatively simple now. It is not so easy to encounter organized theft and robbery, after all, in an era where every wizard may transform into Zorro, it is always right to be careful.
Preventing robbery of takeaways?
So many people escorting?
Looking at the goblins and wizards pouring into the Quidditch field, a trace of confusion appeared on Brandon Dunne's face, and the expressions on the faces of the players behind him, as well as Luna and Hannah, were almost the same.
Is this a new goblin language?
What are Erina and that goblin talking about?
Are they thinking too much, or is this world becoming more crazy?
It's just a normal lunch supply for a Quidditch team. Why does this posture look like several carts of Galleons are being transported to the Quidditch field? Is so many personnel and security measures really necessary?
Erina glanced at the wizards behind her with bewildered faces and smiled and stepped aside.
"So, Mr. Douglas, please give everyone a brief introduction to today's nutritious lunch menu first. If I remember correctly, some dishes have a lot of attention in terms of eating methods and portions and cannot be eaten randomly."
"As you wish, Ms. Caslana."
Middle-aged goblin Douglas bent over and gave Erina a very high courtesy that only goblins understood, turned around and patted the guards behind him lightly, giving them a stern look.
Immediately afterwards, seven or eight dining tables appeared out of thin air on the Quidditch field.
And on the table are exquisite, beautifully decorated silver plates, the number is exactly the same as the number of players in the Quidditch field - except for the head coach Brandon Dunne, his portion seems to be a little less.
"Cough cough, then let me introduce first..."
Douglas walked to the middle of the field, took out a parchment and cleared his throat and read softly.
"The main ingredient used for the Quidditch special meal is Re'em beef, a rare top-level ingredient whose price per gram of blood is equal to hundreds of times the Galleons. After wizards drink the blood of Re'ems, they will obtain a long-lasting effect of increased strength..."
"And on the other hand, according to research, long-term consumption of Re'em beef will cause a permanent increase in the strength of wizards."
"Therefore, today's menu is..."
"Charcoal Grilled Thick-Cut Re'em Tongue, Re'em Beef Belly Stir-Fried with Mixed Vegetables, Tomato Re'em Beef Shank..."
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Goo ya~ Super big chapter! Two-in-one update!
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