Harry, however, was a bit puzzled, as he knew Ethan's background.
Although wealthy, his family was a Muggle family, so how could he possibly have a house-elf?
When he first communicated with Dobby, he learned that house-elves were quite rare, only found in pure-blood families with high status.
Most wizarding families didn't qualify; when he visited the Weasleys, he heard Mrs. Weasley complain about how wonderful it would be to have a house-elf.
"Mrs. Warre gave me a wizarding house, and it came with a house-elf."
Faced with Ethan's explanation, Harry was speechless.
He was envious!
At his age, Harry was also experiencing a stirring of affections, and looking at the group of girls around Ethan, he wanted the same, especially since there was a sugar mommy in the mix.
"I'll be off then, see you at the Quidditch World Cup!"
With that, Ethan waved to the others, preparing to use a Portkey to return home directly.
"See you then!"
Harry also waved; he had already discussed with Ethan on the Knight Bus that Sirius had secured a box at the Quidditch match.
It wasn't far from Ethan's box; both were top-tier VIP boxes.
After all, neither Ethan nor Sirius were short of Galleons.
Chapter 217: Depositing Money at Gringotts
The next day, Ethan arrived at the towering white building in Diagon Alley.
Stepping through the gleaming bronze doors, the goblin guards standing at the entrance in scarlet and gold-trimmed uniforms immediately bowed to Ethan.
Although Ethan was just a Muggle-born wizard in terms of status, without a distinguished family or a high position in the Ministry of Magic, as a major client with a million Galleons in deposits at Gringotts, he deserved such treatment.
As for the inscription on the second door, Ethan simply smiled.
Arriving inside Gringotts, it was the same as when Ethan had visited before, still so busy.
Hundreds of goblins were working in their respective roles, checking documents, weighing coins on scales, examining gems with magnifying glasses, and dragging carts; of course, a goblin also jogged up to Ethan.
"Greetings, Mr. Adryan, how may I assist you?"
Seeing the smiling goblin in front of him, Ethan completely lost his appetite.
Didn't you know how ugly you are?
"I want to deposit some Galleons into my vault."
This was Ethan's purpose for coming.
After Sirius gave him half of the Black family's cash yesterday, Ethan had counted it all up, totaling over million Galleons.
Adding Ethan's deposits in Gringotts and the recent dividends, he had a total of over 5 million Galleons.
After all, Ethan had earned over a million Galleons just from the Slythe headquarters.
The smaller incomes afterward weren't insignificant either; although he had spent some, overall, he earned much faster than he spent.
Yet even with such an amount, Ethan still hadn't triggered the achievement reward, and he didn't know how much the next stage required.
Ten million?
Or thirty million?
To acquire such a large amount of Galleons, relying on accumulation alone would take who knows how long; he had to play it big.
So, Ethan was bringing money to Gringotts today.
"Mr. Adryan, would you be interested in any investment products? Gringotts has recently launched several investment projects that guarantee…"
"No need, just take me to my vault."
Ethan had no interest in that whatsoever.
Goblin investment products were just something to listen to; making money from them was practically impossible.
"Yes, I'll take you there right away!"
"Please present your vault key first."
Ethan's rejection made his expression stiffen for a moment, but he quickly recovered, revealing an official demeanor.
Ethan didn't mind; anyway, there would be a time for you to cry later.
After inspecting Ethan's vault key and confirming there were no issues, the goblin led Ethan to a counter.
"Mr. Adryan, how many Galleons will you be depositing this time?"
Deposits were recorded to avoid disputes.
Wizards didn't trust goblins much and understood the nature of this race; who knew if they would steal from the vaults.
If they turned around and claimed there was only that much in the vault, the wizards would have no recourse.
If the wizarding world didn't only have Gringotts as a bank, they probably would have gone bankrupt.
"Four million Galleons!"
As Ethan's voice fell, the entire Gringotts became silent; the goblins who were busy working turned to look at Ethan, their eyes gleaming with strange light.
Some wizards who came to Gringotts for business also looked at Ethan in disbelief.
They recognized Ethan; after all, the wizarding world was a small society, and Ethan was somewhat of a celebrity, having appeared in a few issues of The Daily Prophet.
But they didn't expect Ethan to be so rich; for a moment, various thoughts arose.
Ethan ignored them, even hoping they would act on their thoughts.
"Are you sure it's four million Galleons, not four hundred thousand?"
The goblin handling Ethan's transaction looked at Ethan in disbelief; the million Galleons he had deposited last time was already surprising enough.
Although he wasn't the one who handled Ethan's transaction that time, only one person had deposited a million Galleons in the entire last year, which everyone at Gringotts knew!
He didn't expect it to be four million this year, which made him unsure if he had misheard.
According to what he knew, Gringotts had never had a single deposit of four million Galleons since its establishment.
Even those pure-blood families had a slow accumulation process.
"It's four million Galleons!"
"Please come this way!"
After confirming that he hadn't misheard, the goblin immediately ushered Ethan into a nearby booth.
Then, Ethan took out four million Galleons, which had to be checked and verified before being deposited; if the amount was small, it could be done outside.
But the amount of four million Galleons, even with the help of magic, would still take some time.
At the same time, they didn't ask how Ethan got this pile of Galleons, after all, it wasn't within Gringotts' management scope.
If a family lost a large sum of Galleons, they would naturally go to the Ministry of Magic, and then the Ministry of Magic would investigate; the goblins would never be blamed.
"Mr. Adrian, you…"
"No need for financial products!"
Ethan directly interrupted the Gringotts manager who came to promote them; from the moment he opened his mouth, Ethan knew what he was going to say.
Hearing Ethan say this, the manager could only leave dejectedly.
Although before coming in, he had heard the goblin in front say that Ethan didn't need financial products, he wouldn't be willing to give up without trying.
This was four million Galleons!
If he could sell financial products, he could eat his fill just from the commission alone, not to mention the other benefits inside.
Unlike Muggle banks, Muggle banks give interest on savings, mainly because the bank also uses the money for loans or investments to earn a certain profit, and then gives a portion of it to the depositors as interest.
But in the wizarding world's Gringotts, there is no interest on savings; on the contrary, you have to give them a sum of money as a storage fee.
At the same time, without the wizard's permission, the goblins cannot open the wizard's vault, which naturally prevents the goblins from considering the Galleons inside.
Although they can open the vault door, they don't know when the wizard will come to take out the Galleons, and there is also an agreement; if they are caught, the entire goblin community will be affected.
Therefore, in addition to collecting storage fees, Gringotts also likes to recommend various financial products and even has a series of service items such as curse-breaking.
After all, they can't directly misappropriate this sum of Galleons, but they can make you willingly take it out!
Here, vaults are divided into five levels.
The fifth level is the public vault, located on the uppermost level of Gringotts' underground, and is not fixed to belong to a certain family or individual; you can come at any time and just give an empty vault, charging according to the storage time, of course, this fee is also the lowest...
The latter four levels are private vaults, with the first-level vaults located on the lowest level, guarded by dragons.
The minimum one-time charge is 80,000 Galleons, with a storage time of one hundred years, and of course, you can renew in advance.
Upgrading to permanent costs 300,000 Galleons, and it will forever belong to a family.
This is the amount required for a first-level vault, and many pure-blood families choose this service.
For example, the Lestrange family, and some other prominent pure-blood families, of course, excluding the Weasley family.
Ethan also chose this one; after all, to fish, you must first bait the hook; you have to give to get.
After drinking a cup of tea and sitting for a while, Ethan's batch of Galleons was sorted out.
It must be said that the goblins' efficiency is quite fast.
Following behind the goblin, he came to the interior of Gringotts, walking downwards all the way, and arrived in front of more than a dozen minecart tracks.
Here, two minecarts were already ready; the one in front was filled with glittering Galleons, with two goblins on it, one guarding the goods and one driving.
The minecart for loading Galleons also used the Undetectable Extension Charm to expand the internal space.
Ethan and the goblin who led the way got into the minecart behind.
Sitting in the minecart with a look of disgust, Ethan didn't know what to say.
As the only financial institution in the wizarding world, Gringotts had already made enough Galleons.
From the outside, it looked bright and beautiful, with a much higher level of prestige than all the buildings in Diagon Alley.
But inside, they didn't know how to decorate it properly, only knowing how to do some superficial work.
Even the Ministry of Magic knew to keep up with the times and install elevators, but Gringotts was still using this old thing from hundreds or thousands of years ago.
"Mr. Adrian, please sit tight."
As the goblin's voice fell, the minecart full of Galleons in front started first; since the entire journey was downhill, the speed was also very fast.
After the car in front had traveled for a while, the one Ethan was riding in started to move.
After starting, the minecart began to gallop like a wild horse, speeding through the maze-like tracks; there were also many forks in the road; at every critical moment, the goblin could maneuver the minecart to change lanes, firmly following behind the minecart in front.
Due to the speed, sparks flew between the minecart and the rails; the roller coaster Ethan had ridden before was simply child's play compared to this.
Before long, the minecart took Ethan past a small waterfall; when the water flowed down, it also splashed a lot on Ethan.
Regarding this, Ethan also secretly intercepted a portion and put it in the container he had prepared in advance.
This was the Thief's Downfall, its only function was to wash away disguising magic on the body.
Whether it was a Transfiguration spell or Polyjuice Potion, or even someone controlled by the Imperius Curse, the magical effect would be dispelled when passing through the water of this Thief's Downfall.
Ethan was quite interested in this magical potion; he hadn't prepared well last time, and it would be a shame not to intercept a little this time.
Of course, Gringotts wasn't extravagant enough to use this kind of potion that could break magical effects as a disposable item, especially in the form of a flowing waterfall.
There were alchemical devices above and below that could collect these naturally flowing potions, recycle them, and reuse them.
This was also an important guarantee of the security of Gringotts' deep vaults; when he first came in, the goblin responsible for leading the way introduced this situation to Ethan.
Chapter 218: Money-Grubbing Goblins
After passing through the Thief's Downfall, the Gringotts vault's bottommost level, the first-level vault, was not far away.
With a "clang," the minecart that had been sparking and flashing all the way came to a sudden stop; if Ethan hadn't been sitting fairly steadily, he probably would have been thrown off.
Getting off the minecart, Ethan knew that this was the end, and it was also at a depth of three thousand meters underground.
"Hasn't your Gringotts ever thought about changing the way you travel, like elevators or something?"
