"Morning, morning..." Kael's eyes wandered, "The owl still needs time to deliver the letter."
"Does it make a difference?" Fleur looked more dissatisfied.
"The thing is, I didn't know the school would end early for the holidays." Kael shrugged and quickly changed the subject, "But why did you come to Hogwarts?"
"Oh, I came with Ms. Maxime; she's here to see your Headmaster Dumbledore."
As they spoke, another person walked over.
"Kael, I've contacted Gringotts in France." Bill ran over from not far away, "It's lucky, there's a goblin there who used to work with me. He agreed to swap the gold coins you provided for potion materials, and at a favorable price."
"Wait." Conna suddenly frowned, looking at Kael and asked, "Are you buying potion materials from Gringotts? Didn't I say you don't need to? Professor Snape has prepared enough for me, and buying materials now isn't very cost-effective."
Gringotts does have potion materials, or rather, anything that can make money, but the prices are steep, with no room for negotiation.
Plus, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are becoming increasingly rampant, causing potion prices in the wizarding world to soar, driving material prices up significantly as well.
"It's okay, the influence isn't significant in France." Kael said.
"Are you sure?" Conna looked at him suspiciously. "With the goblins' nature, would they miss out on such a good opportunity?"
"Of course not." Bill said, "Those greedy goblins would love to deduct all the Galleons from the wizards."
He walked over, and Fleur naturally wrapped her arm around his, showing a very close relationship.
"Oh?" Kael raised an eyebrow, teasingly saying, "No wonder you chose to stay in the United Kingdom."
"That's right, just as you thought." Fleur didn't refute, openly admitting it.
"Should I find someone else instead?" Kael pondered aloud.
He wanted to find someone to take Conna to France this time; the journey was long, and with an unfamiliar place, he wouldn't feel comfortable with only Conna going alone.
Fleur, being a genuine French person, was naturally the first choice. More importantly, during the Triwizard Tournament, she got along well with Conna.
But now... seeing the affectionate state of the two in front of him, Kael didn't have the heart to separate them.
"No problem." Fleur waved her hand, saying, "I happen to have something to do back in France, to help Ms. Maxime contact some of her friends, and besides, I can't offer much help here."
"Yes, yes, exactly." Bill nodded repeatedly beside her, as if afraid Kael would change his mind.
"Let Fleur take Conna; Paris is quite large, someone familiar with the place is needed to lead the way."
"Hold on, you two." Conna interrupted their conversation, "Kael, you haven't told me why you need to buy potion materials from Gringotts. I know you have Galleons, but this isn't wasteful, is it? You should quickly return them."
"Can't return them." Kael spread his hands. "I've already bought the stuff; do you think a goblin would return the Galleons once they've got them?"
"You're..." Conna was so angry at Kael's wasteful behavior that her face turned red.
"Don't worry, it really didn't cost much." Kael said with a smile.
But Conna obviously didn't believe him; the other party was a money-grubbing goblin, not a philanthropist. How could it not have cost much?
"I can vouch for it." At this point, Bill spoke up, and as he said it, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Actually, the goblin did make one request to agree to sell the potion materials at a normal price."
"What request?" Conna frowned.
Obviously, the condition proposed by the greedy goblin would be a high-demand one, with hidden value certainly not less than the surplus Galleons, possibly even more.
From what Bill implied, they agreed - are these people idiots?
"Ahem..." Bill cleared his throat and said, trying hard to suppress his laughter, "He requested to pick an item from Kael's vault."
"What?"
Conna blinked, almost as if she hadn't heard clearly.
"The goblins agreed to sell the potion materials at the standard price, but the catch is, for every five hundred Galleons in discount, he gets to pick an item from Kael's vault to take."
With this, Conna fell silent.
Only Fleur appeared furious, "Greedy, shameless..."
"It's fine, it's fine, don't get upset." Kael smiled, saying, "Actually, there's nothing in my vault."
"What?" Fleur was stunned. In her eyes, a young wizard like Kael, who made a name for himself at such a tender age, surely his vault must be abundant.
Not to mention, the prize money for the Triwizard Tournament alone was a thousand Galleons, and besides, Kael himself was an alchemist, which not many people knew about but wasn't unknown either. After all, he had invented many interesting magic tools while at school.
It's well-known that alchemists are quite wealthy.
"Actually, I keep my things elsewhere." Kael pursed his lips to stop himself from laughing, "My vault at Gringotts hasn't been used since second year; if I haven't misjudged, there should only be three or five Galleons and some Sickles in there."
"Please don't use 'only' to describe it." Bill quipped, "Our family's vault has only a pile of Sickles."
"That was before." Kael said with a smile.
"So, that goblin miscalculated?" Fleur raised her brow and said.
"Apparently, yes." Kael said, "I don't know where he got the idea that my collection had something valuable, but unfortunately, not everyone likes to keep their precious items in a Gringotts vault."
"How much did you trade?" Conna asked.
"Five thousand Galleons, with the same amount of discount… It's the best trade I've ever made. Even without the Death Eaters, it would have been hard to buy Dragon Blood and Mandrake for fifteen Galleons."
Kael smiled even wider, "By the way, Bill, remember to remind that goblin, ten items, not a single extra."
"What if it's not enough?" Bill asked, "From what you said earlier, there doesn't seem to be much in your vault."
"Then there's nothing to be done." Kael shrugged, "He's going to have to exert himself and chip off a few chunks of stone from the walls or pedestals, but I'm certainly not going to recompense him, not even a Knut."