Falsifying history is good business

Chapter 22 Gringotts' Technical Mistake

On the second day of Christmas, the eight-year-old Earl Goff still appeared in front of the fireplace; but this time he was not lying on the couch, but dressed neatly to welcome a guest.

A visitor from the magical world who had requested to visit before Christmas and finally came today.

Lin You is not tall. In his previous life, he could take the bus anywhere at half price. But facing the guest who walked out of the fireplace after a flash of green flame, he could be called a giant.

The person who came was a goblin, a director of Gringotts' board of directors, and was said to be this year's rotating elder.

The height of the goblins is generally only about 50 centimeters, so Lin You enjoyed the treatment of being looked up to for the first time in a year since he came to this dimension. Long and pointed noses, wrinkled skin; from a human perspective, it is difficult to accurately distinguish the differences in the appearance of the goblins.

"Good day, Mr. Earl. I am Laciby from Gringotts." Before Lin You could speak, the other party rushed to greet him; goblins are often impeccable in dress and etiquette, especially when facing someone who can bring them benefits.

"Please take a seat, Elder Lacibe; Gringotts of England and the Forrester family have been friends for generations, there's no need for us to be so polite." Although Lin You's words and actions were not very strict in terms of social etiquette, if an eight-year-old boy could deal with a distinguished guest calmly and freely, what more could others ask for?

"Of course, you are right. We are sincerely happy to learn that you have been conferred the title of Earl of Goff and that the Forrest family's business will have someone to carry on. Please forgive us for not being able to attend your consecration ceremony due to objective reasons."

Lacibee's attitude is warm and friendly, which is not at all like the stereotype of goblins in the magical world, such as mean, cold, and profit-seeking.

When Lacibi presented the gift and said, "This is a belated congratulations on your succession to the title of Earl," Lin You became even more alert.

That was a complete set of exquisite silverware made by goblin craftsmen, and a rare item in the wizarding world that was in short supply. The output was extremely small, and those that occasionally appeared on the market were mostly second-hand goods sold by pure-blood paupers who searched their inner capsules to maintain their respectability.

This is interesting.

For the fairies, as long as something is made by the fairies, even if someone else buys it with real money, the other party only has the right to use it but not the ownership - and even the right to use it is only time-limited.

But now he directly gave such a valuable gift?
The value of this gift definitely exceeds the so-called "gift for succession to the title of earl".

"The British say 'there is no free lunch in the world', and the Chinese say 'no reward without merit'." Lin You only glanced at the gift and said, "Before accepting the gift, let me ask you, why did Gringotts do this?"

"Please don't get me wrong, this is a pure gift for the sake of our long-lasting friendship," Elder Lasibi explained hastily.

Because of the special facial muscles and skin texture, it is difficult for fairies to make rich expressions, at least from a human perspective. But at this moment, Lin You saw many complex expressions on the elder's face, such as embarrassment, anxiety, and worry.

The only thing that can make a fairy anxious is related to money.

Lacibee had no idea that this "only" eight-year-old boy in front of him had seen and thought so much in just a few glances. Perhaps it was because he only regarded the Count as a child that he inadvertently exposed many flaws.

Lin You smiled meaningfully, his fingertips sliding across the polished silver surface; "If Your Excellency the Elder insists that this is a pure gift, then I will accept it with shamelessness; after all, with our traditional friendship of more than a century, this 'pure gift' is valuable, but I don't need to be too polite."

Lin You deliberately emphasized the words "pure gift" to make the eyelids of the goblin elder twitch. If Lacibi dared to agree to it, Lin You would definitely take the money and not do anything.

Such a slippery kid...is he eight years old?
"Actually..." Lacibi hesitated; he had said too much before, and now it was difficult to take back what he said.

The eight-year-old Earl Goff was very considerate and gave him an excuse: "Has Gringotts encountered difficulties in its operations? Is it related to the trade with the Muggle world?" The reason why Lin You immediately suspected that there was a problem with the trade between the two sides was because Gringotts acted as a settlement bank in the trade between the two sides. In addition to trade, the Forrest family and Gringotts had no other intersections.

Lin You's straightforward question was met with an ambiguous answer: "To be honest, this issue may be related to trade, but from a broader perspective, it cannot be entirely attributed to trade, although it does have a certain impact on the trade between the two sides..."

"Elder Lacibee!" Lin You interrupted the other party's rambling speech in time, "I have always believed that everyone in Gringotts is a financial practitioner, not a professional politician. It just so happens that I don't like those political animals either - no matter if they are wizards or Muggles."

Lacibi took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. It seemed that the sweat glands of fairies were not much different from those of humans, so it was inevitable that they would break out in cold sweats at this time.

"Because of some operational... uh, I mean technical errors in the business, Gringotts has a stockpile of Muggle currency. I mean, the amount of this currency... it exceeds our reserve needs."

"How much money and where did it come from?" Lin You was concise and to the point.

"If converted into pounds, it would be about..." Lacibi said a number that shouldn't have appeared at all.

Lin You frowned, "If I remember correctly, due to the huge differences in economic and monetary systems, trade between the wizarding world and the Muggle world has long been conducted in a reciprocal manner, with the import and export figures of both sides roughly equal. If it were just normal trade, Gringotts shouldn't have such a large-scale Muggle currency reserve."

Lacibi looked embarrassed and said, "That's right; that's why I said it was caused by a technical error."

"You just said that this Muggle currency needs to be converted into pounds?" Lin You found another key point, "How many currencies does this money contain?"

Lacibe wiped his sweat more and more frequently. "Pounds, dollars, French francs, Swiss francs, and German marks..."

"Don't tell me you still have Soviet rubles in your hands. That thing has become waste paper." Lin You's words were almost like a premeditated surprise attack, making the fairy elder see stars.

Lacibi's urgent defense made his voice change: "Of course not, we exchanged it as soon as possible..."

The eight-year-old boy's meaningful smile made the goblin elder swallow his words abruptly.

"They wanted to take advantage of the chaos in the Muggle world in Eastern Europe to take advantage of the Soviet wizarding world, but the result was... how do you put it, a technical mistake in business?" When he mentioned the word "technical mistake", Lin You deliberately dragged out his tone.

In this world, there were no time travelers from the wizarding world taking advantage of the collapse of the Soviet Union to cause trouble, but Gringotts took the initiative to cause trouble, and made it a big deal.

The history revised by the quill pen is revealing more and more changes in details.

"You already know?"

"I don't know!" Lin You smiled, it was hard to imagine such an expression on a child's face.

Again, what is this - is he eight years old?
"It's just that during the enthronement ceremony, the partners who came to visit vaguely mentioned that they were worried about some of Gringotts' actions. And what you just said, Your Excellency the Elder, proves that their concerns are not without reason."

　Second update
　　
　
(End of this chapter)