"Oh? Criminals?"

The Russian Minister of Magic made a dismissive sound from his nose.

He narrowed his eyes, a look of intense aversion on his face, and said softly.

"Goblin, you'd better understand one thing: no matter what crimes wizards commit, it's not your place to interfere. The only reason you're here is because the Magical Congress of the United States of America told us you have extremely important intelligence to report to the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards. I hope it's not just such a vague accusation."

"Yes, Minister! I am merely heartbroken that there are traitors among our goblin kind."

The middle-aged goblin straightened his body as much as possible, the viciousness in his voice gradually dissipating, and a servile look appeared on his face.

"Unlike those fellows who originally worked at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, we American goblins are very willing to serve the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards. We will do our utmost to assist in maintaining the stability of the magical world and upholding the authority of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy..."

"Enough! We don't care about your internal conflicts, goblin!"

The wizard commissioner from the International Confederation waved his hand, interrupting the middle-aged goblin, and said coldly.

"You say you have concrete evidence that someone is plotting to disrupt the balance of peaceful coexistence between the non-magical and magical worlds. So, tell us the name of the instigator and the evidence you have. We will verify it."

"Bronia," the middle-aged goblin's face stiffened, and he said urgently, "You should have heard of this name, the goblin queen who recently took over Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Since she came to power, she has done many terrible things. To consolidate her position, she secretly executed many innocent goblins—"

"Spare us the nonsense!"

The Ukrainian Minister of Magic impatiently tapped the table, and said mockingly.

"Wizard, understand? We want the names of wizards... If that goblin queen is indeed an accomplice of those who attempt to subvert the peace of the magical world, we will naturally deal with her together! Now, please say something we want to hear."

"—We don't know who is behind her—Since that goblin queen came to power, an extremely bloody purge has been launched within Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Core business information is tightly sealed—"

"It seems that this goblin queen is indeed very powerful, otherwise, she wouldn't have forced you to ask us for help, right?"

The Russian Minister of Magic chuckled and gave the middle-aged goblin in front of him a playful look.

"You said earlier that you knew the names of some wizards?" the commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards said coldly.

"Um—yes," the middle-aged goblin said nervously, "Those 'wizards' who are preparing to flee have recently withdrawn large amounts of cash from Gringotts' Russian branch and are dealing with some assets on the black market. We—I have a friend who personally saw a commissioner from Gringotts headquarters come to help them handle it. This is a very unreasonable situation, because their asset scale should not have reached the level where they can have an exclusive business commissioner—"

"Get to the point! And the names!" The commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards became more and more impatient.

The middle-aged goblin took a deep breath.

"Yermak Ivanovich, the son of the famous Novat Ivanovich. We personally saw him exchange a large sum of pounds at the bank not long ago—this is clearly a very abnormal thing."

"So… you are monitoring the daily financial activities of wizards?"

The Russian Minister of Magic narrowed his eyes, a slightly threatening hum emanating from his nose.

"Novat is dead," said the wizard commissioner of the International Confederation. "As for Yermak, his daughter has received an invitation to attend Hogwarts, and the British Ministry of Magic has submitted the corresponding explanatory documents, which we are evaluating."

"Is that so?" The middle-aged goblin's eyes widened. "That—that's really good news."

However, judging from its expression, this was obviously not a pleasant thing, because it meant that all the research and investigation work they had done on Yermak Ivanovich was meaningless.

The most direct impact of the change of power in Gringotts Wizarding Bank was that the tentacles that the American goblins had buried inside European Gringotts were almost completely severed. Behind every in-depth report mining effort, there were usually several internal personnel exposed and exorbitant intelligence costs, as well as the most valuable time cost in the financial market.

"Anything else?" the commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards asked coldly.

"Yes!" said the middle-aged goblin. "The Lomonosov family, the Sumarokov family, the Lermontov family... at least seven or eight families that were marked as 'sensitive personnel' by the former Soviet Union's magical community have experienced frequent capital flows during this period! I swear by galleons, more than one person has heard that they plan to secretly board a ship and leave at some time today."

Obviously, this time the information provided by the American goblin had finally worked.

The wizards sitting behind the round table exchanged glances and began to murmur.

"Lomonosov?" The Russian Minister of Magic turned his head, glanced at the Ukrainian Minister of Magic sitting next to him, and grinned maliciously. "The guy who planned to sue you to the Wizengamot International Court for crimes against humanity?"

"If I hadn't personally arrested Sumarokov, do you think you would still be sitting here?"

The Ukrainian Minister of Magic responded quickly, his tone tinged with mockery, "If that scene had really been dealt with according to a Level One Magical Disaster Response, most of your Magical Disaster Department would probably be gone by now, right?"

"Board a ship?" The commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards repeated thoughtfully.

"I'm sure that's the case!" The middle-aged goblin nodded eagerly. "To confirm this news, we lost three reliable goblin employees. They deliberately avoided magical means of transportation and planned to leave by ship—"

"I see, using Muggle transportation?"

The commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards nodded. "Very well, we will closely monitor the various ports in Muggle cities. This is not a difficult task. The time they spend on the sea is enough for us to catch them hundreds of times over. As for the wizard families you mentioned, we will verify them later. Let's end here for today."

"Wait, what about the Gringotts Wizarding Bank conspiracy—" The middle-aged goblin subconsciously widened his eyes.

"Didn't I answer you just now? If the verification results find that they are indeed deeply involved in this matter, the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards will naturally handle it, but this is not what needs to be done urgently now."

The wizard glanced at the names on the parchment and shrugged indifferently.

"But this is different from what we agreed on before! Gringotts Wizarding Bank illegally froze our assets. As the authoritative organization of the magical world, facing such a vicious commercial organization that blatantly violates the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, you should..."

"Huh? Goblin! Are you teaching me how to do my job?"

The commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards' face turned cold, and he snorted softly.

"It's just some wizards planning to smuggle themselves out. Similar things happen in the magical world every day. You wouldn't think that just this information is enough for us to interfere with the normal operation of Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Compared to these small problems, the stability of the magical world is more important. In short, thank you for your information. If there's nothing else, then we need to—"

"Wait, wait a minute!"

The middle-aged goblin gritted his teeth and stood up. "Wait a minute, there's one more extremely important thing!"

This representative from the American goblin kind subconsciously clenched his fists, the veins on his gaunt hand backs bulging, and sweat began to drip from his forehead. The pressure that Gringotts Wizarding Bank was putting on them this time was too great. Facing this kind of insane negative-sum game, the American goblins' current capital base couldn't sustain it for long.

In less than half a month, their investments in this land would all vanish into thin air.

Unless... they could put Gringotts Wizarding Bank into the same quagmire...

"Grindelwald!" it shrieked. "Gellert Grindelwald! There is Grindelwald's shadow behind Gringotts Wizarding Bank! I swear Gringotts Wizarding Bank has very close ties with Grindelwald's followers!"

"Grindelwald is still imprisoned in Nurmengard Tower," the commissioner of the International Confederation of Wizards said contemptuously. "Albus Dumbledore specifically submitted information about Grindelwald's recent situation to the Ministry of Magic a few months ago."

"No! You've all been deceived by him!"

A trace of viciousness flashed in the middle-aged goblin's eyes, and he said, throwing caution to the wind,

"In fact, Grindelwald is no longer in Nurmengard Castle. Dumbledore secretly released Grindelwald a long time ago. Anyway, apart from him, no one in the magical world can see Grindelwald anymore. Gringotts and Grindelwald's followers have long planned to create chaos today to cover up their actions..."

The American goblins did not know much about the news about Grindelwald.

Most of the content was actually an aggregation of news from various corners of the magical world, as well as some fragmented gossip that flowed out from the original Gringotts Wizarding Bank before that goblin queen took office.

However, with the establishment of [Hogwarts-Galleon], Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Gringotts Wizarding Bank have become a community of shared interests to a certain extent. Even if going against Albus Dumbledore is not a wise choice, they couldn't care less in order to drag Gringotts into the mire.

"Alright! Goblin, that's enough—"

The Russian Minister of Magic waved his hand, interrupting the goblin's words.

"Recently, various rumors about Gellert Grindelwald have indeed appeared in the magical world. We have repeatedly confirmed these matters. Moreover, just last night, another wizard of equal status to Albus Dumbledore entered Nurmengard and gave us feedback on Grindelwald's condition."

"As for what you said about Gringotts Wizarding Bank, or those with ulterior motives planning to create chaos, we have long prepared a response plan. That gentleman will arrive here today to maintain order with us."

"Equal status to Dumbledore? How could there be anyone like that in today's magical world—"

The middle-aged goblin's face stiffened, and his expression was filled with deep suspicion.

"You're right, that's what I think too... Minister, I told you not to introduce me like that..."

Just then, a helpless sigh came from the shadows in the corner.

"Newt Scamander" stood up, walked to the round conference table, and after thinking for a moment, continued,

"However, I think Mr. Rulinfran is right on one point: we should take action as soon as possible—the Muggle ports, those places where chaos is happening, and those highly suspected wizard families, it is best to investigate them separately to see if there are any dark wizards..."

Under the dim light, "Newt Scamander's" eyes flashed quickly, and a meaningful smile crossed the corner of his mouth.

Undoubtedly, in any era, dark wizards who attempt to subvert and create chaos exist...

It's just that...

Just as Albus Dumbledore is not the only one in this world who can be called a guardian of the magical world—similarly, the dark wizards in this world are not just followers of Grindelwald...

…………

At the same time, somewhere in Moscow.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank, Russian Branch.

An ugly gold ring inlaid with a black gemstone was placed on the open ground not far away.

Dozens of wizards, cloaked, hooded, and masked, stood nervously around it, their wands pointed at the ring.

If there were any students here who had participated in this year's Hogwarts "Defense Against the Dark Arts Final Trial," they would definitely be able to identify these people immediately.

Those Death Eaters who once spread terror in the British magical world!

Along with the chanting of these "Death Eaters," a blurry phantom gradually took shape in mid-air.

A masked wizard tapped the magical metal watch on his wrist and said softly.

"Time 1992.08.31, 09:45—"

"Special Containment Item-017, Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, temporarily unsealed—prepare for recovery!"

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