A thousand years ago, the magic world was different from what it is now. At that time, the British society was in chaos, the territory was not unified, and the whole European continent was in the wilderness and darkness.
Besides wizards, many magical creatures were also prosperous.
They didn't live in seclusion like they do now. On the contrary, they frequently appeared in the wizarding world, making frequent exchanges and transactions with wizards, and even being hired by them to participate directly in the Muggle war.
Among the many magical creatures, the goblins were absolutely unique.
Because of their natural greed and love of gold, they were most closely related to humans. They directly opened stores in wizarding societies, providing wizards with a large number of well-made magic props, weapons, armors and other services.
But the innate pride and deceit in their character kept them from believing in humans.
In the eyes of goblins, they and the human wizards were cooperating on equal terms and had the same status. Putting it in a more direct way, it was purely about money and how to use it in their relationship.
In case they were not satisfied, they could launch a riot and make a fuss.
In this environment, many powerful wizards and pure-blood wizard families did not believe in goblins, and they were skeptical about the Gringotts established by the goblins.
In their view, they preferred to bury family treasures in their castles or in hiding places, rather than in Gringotts which degree of security was questionable.
This prevailed in the Middle Ages and before that, and this was the main reason why many precious magic relics were discovered in later generations.
After centuries of excavation, the remains of these magical relics had become very rare, and the remains that had not been found or successfully excavated were the remains of very powerful wizards. For example, the Pyramids of Egypt, Gringotts and Egyptian wizarding authorities had long worked together to excavate and decipher the ancient magic monument, where Ron’s brother Bill Weasley worked as a Curse-Breaker.
Thousands of years ago, Egypt’s rulers, powerful elders and wizards, laid out countless powerful magic and curses in the pyramids, and cracking through them was progressing very slowly.
Like the pyramids, the once eminent Gryffindor and Hufflepuff families did not preserve their wealth in Gringotts, as Slytherin and Ravenclaw did, but in other places and had not been discovered so far.
How much wealth did Godric Gryffindor have? Evan was not sure.
But in the related history books of magic, Helga Hufflepuff's description was accurate: her hobby, besides cooking, was collecting gold.
With her strength, the property she left should definitely be an amazing astronomical number, but it was not known where she hid it, and the Hufflepuff family also had no descendants. Evan suddenly thought: "She would not hide her wealth in the Hogwarts common room! This is really.."
What if, after facing all the hardship he had to face in order to get to the Secret Treasures left by the founders, he would find a great amount of gold left by her?
Evan grinned bitterly and hurriedly removed the idea from his mind. Although gold was good, it had no use at all in defeating Voldemort. He could not kill Voldemort with gold.
After observing for a while, Evan discovered that in addition to these family emblems, there were many strange implements on the islands above the lava in the distance.
They were all made of metal, and they looked so grand and spectacular, like weapons left by some ancient civilization.
Evan knew that those things were not weapons, but instruments used by the goblins to forge and refine magical objects.
It's known that, in addition to greed, the goblins are also famous for being good at creating excellent magical equipment.
Historically, many legendary magic items had been made by them.
One of the most famous is Excalibur, made by Merlin and the goblins, which was the most famous magic sword in history. At that time it decided the ascendancy of the British throne and the future direction of the magic world.
It was also since then that many non-human magical creatures had gradually withdrawn from the magical "public".
Of course, there is also the Sword of Gryffindor, which Godric Gryffindor purchased from the goblins while he was alive. He put magic on it, and only a true Gryffindor could find it. Last semester in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry used the sword to kill the Basilisk.
Evan regained his gaze, and by his side, Harry was still looking around and shouting, “It's incredible. How did they do it?”
“Goblins have strong magic power, and they have their own unique magic culture.” Hermione then exclaimed, “If you look closely, you’ll find that all these islands are floating on lava, but not melted by magma, which requires extremely powerful magic. To tell you the truth, I don’t know how the goblins built such a huge institution. In my opinion, it should be impossible to accomplish all of …"
“Nothing is impossible!” Griphook said proudly, “The goblins have their own special Magic, which is much more advanced than that of the human wizards.”
He took the key from Sirius and walked up to the carving that marked 68, which was covered with the Black family's emblem. The most striking thing was the two leaping black dogs carved from obsidian.
There was a narrow gap above the bronze door below the statue, and Griphook went over and put the key in and turned it gently.
An organ like sound was made, and there was a loud rumbling on the ground.
The gate was slowly opened, and a stone staircase appeared in front of everyone. The vault of the Black family showed its true face, with a large rectangular room in front.
Evan, Harry, and Hermione rushed in excitedly. They all wanted to see what it looked like in the vault, and how shocking was the Blacks' wealth!
Just looking at the environment where the vault was located, the dangerous hot magma and the frightening emblem of the ancient pure-blood wizard family on the island, all this was enough to get everyone more intrigued.
They all wanted to know what was in the Black family vault, though Sirius had said it was boring and full of gold. But filling a whole room with gold was, in a sense, a remarkable achievement.
Evan, Harry and Hermione rushed in, thinking they would see mountains of gold, silver bars and other valuable antiques.
But there was nothing in front of them. The vault was very empty, as if it had just been robbed, and not a piece of gold could be seen.
It was shocking alright, but it was exactly the opposite of their expectations.
It was not so much a vault, but more like a storeroom for an evil black wizard.
The shelves on both sides were full of strange and eccentric black magic items, of which they did not know the specific use.
For example, on the shelf on the left side of Evan, there was a black skull with a crown.
That slightly sunken bone, with its ornate ornamentation, exuded an eerie air that looked horrible and disgusting.
In the corner of the room, a huge white skeleton of an unknown species of fire dragon was magically rearranged standing there. Every bone was engraved with the emblem of the Black family. It was not known which ancestor in the Blacks’ history had left such an "amusing" collection.
What in the world was going on there? And what was really the wealth of the Black family?!
Everyone scratched their heads and turned to look at Sirius who had just walked in, waiting for his explanation.
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T/N: Hey there, this is Translating_Wizard. I hope you like the story so far and are happy with the releases, I just posted chapter 338 in Patreon! If you’re interested in supporting me and reading more chapters, hit the button below ^^
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