At Gringotts.
The goblin behind the counter looked at the few wizards in black robes outside with surprise and confirmed again.
"Gentlemen, are you sure you want to mortgage your properties, wands, and the few magical items you have?"
"If you fail to repay by the due date, according to the agreement, all of these will belong to Gringotts."
The dark wizards said impatiently.
"Yes, that's right, stop asking, just give us the mortgage Galleons quickly."
While waiting at the counter, their eyes occasionally looked outside, appearing quite anxious.
After all, who knew if any of their peers would also target Charle, this big fat sheep?
If someone got there first, they would have truly wasted their efforts.
Seeing their appearance, a strange look flashed in the goblin's eyes.
It chuckled.
"Gentlemen, don't be anxious. Looking at you, you must have a big business to do, which is why you are here for a mortgage loan."
"I want to congratulate you on your fortune first."
"But honestly, wands, properties, and a few magical items can't be mortgaged for many Galleons. Are you sure it's enough?"
"After all, you all look like people doing big business. If the Galleons are too little and you can't make ends meet, wouldn't that be troublesome?"
Hearing this, the few dark wizards exchanged glances, feeling quite hesitant.
Indeed, to trick Charle out of the Leaky Cauldron and get him to go with them, they would definitely need to produce quite precious items.
Such things could be found in Knockturn Alley, but the prices were more expensive than the last.
They weren't entirely sure if the mortgaged Galleons would be enough to buy such items.
At this moment, an eager look appeared on the goblin's face.
"How about this, Gringotts recently launched a new service called leverage loan."
"Through this method, you can obtain far more Galleons than usual."
"As for the cost, the interest will be slightly higher, and the consequences of not being able to repay by the due date will also be more troublesome."
"But as long as you can repay, it's not a problem. This is the best way to solve a funding shortage."
Under the goblin's persuasion, the hesitation on the faces of the few dark wizards gradually turned into determination.
Indeed, as long as they kidnapped Charle, tens of thousands of Galleons would likely be easy.
Would they still be afraid of not being able to repay Gringotts' loan then?
"Leverage, right? Starting at five times?"
"No, five times is too little, ten times..."
"Forget it, max it out, max it out directly!"
Soon, the dark wizards who had signed the Gringotts agreement left Gringotts with bulging money bags, their faces filled with excitement and anticipation.
"With this money, we can buy truly good things to lure Charle out!"
"We're going to be rich!"
...
That night.
Charle was still in his room, flipping through the many magic books he had bought from Flourish and Blotts.
From time to time, a prompt from Deep Blue would flash in his mind, telling him that he had obtained material in a certain field and that deducing the corresponding knowledge could reduce the consumption of deduction points.
At the same time, next to Charle, an assembly line was running.
This assembly line was transformed by him using Transfiguration, with the raw materials being the vases, tables, chairs, plates, and so on in the room.
And now, they had been transformed by Charle into an assembly line that continuously transported the magical items in the box to Charle's mouth.
In this way, Charle could obtain materials by flipping through books while opening his mouth to swallow magical items and gain deduction points.
This was much more convenient!
Charle couldn't help but exclaim.
"As expected, magic changes life."
However, the only pity was that these magical items were all common goods, mostly Quick-Quotes Quills or prank items similar to Nosebleed Nougat. Their magic was weak, and there were none that contained powerful magic.
Although the continuous input still caused Charle's total deduction points to soar significantly compared to before, reaching nearly eighty thousand points again.
But remembering the pleasure of drinking the Elixir of Sublimation in large gulps and feasting in the dream R'lyeh, Charle still felt a bit of a gap.
"I wonder when I can go back to those days."
"Dak, my Dak, I miss you so much."
"And R'lyeh, my holy land in dreams, let me eat there again... Ah no, let me see it again."
Just as Charle was reminiscing with emotion, there was a knock on his door. It was a message from old Tom.
"Mr. Charle, there's someone in the lobby looking for you. They said they might have something you'd like."
Charle raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
He didn't seem to know anyone in the wizarding world, nor did he have any friends.
Coming to find him so late?
A hint of vigilance rose in his heart.
However, after a moment of thought, Charle still walked out of his room.
If this person could really produce something that interested him, then meeting them wouldn't hurt.
With so many trump cards in hand, even if the other party had some scheme, Charle wasn't afraid of ordinary wizards.
Immediately, Charle arrived at the Leaky Cauldron's main hall and saw a middle-aged wizard who looked honest and simple.
The wizard's face was full of humility and nervousness, revealing a fawning expression. He looked like the kind of honest person who was often bullied.
At this moment, seeing Charle come out, the wizard carefully took out a package from his bosom and said with a flattering smile.
"Are you Mr. Charle?"
"I heard you bought a lot of magical items in Diagon Alley, and I remembered that my family seems to have a few inherited items. I wanted to see if you'd be willing to buy them."
As he spoke, a bitter expression appeared on his face.
"It's quite shameful to say, but my daughter is also starting Hogwarts this year, and I can't even afford to buy her a new wand."
"If you could take my things, I could buy her a new wand and a new robe."
Charle listened to the middle-aged wizard's words, nodding repeatedly, his expression seemingly moved.
However, Charle's heart sneered.
This kind of story might have worked in the nineties, but he had heard this kind of story thousands of times in his previous life. How could he believe it so easily?
He firmly believed one thing: truly suffering and nervous people rarely show their difficulties and pain to others.
Generally, those who are eager to tell a stranger about such things, especially when related to money, are ninety-nine percent scams.
Charle believed in the existence of truth, goodness, and beauty in the world, but he never hesitated to assume the worst intentions of the other party.
Immediately, his gaze fell upon the package.
When the middle-aged wizard opened the package, Charle's pupils slightly contracted.
Inside was a small horn.
Charle had read quite a few papers on Animagi these past few days, and coupled with the fact that Transfiguration also involved many animal characteristics, Charle recognized it at a glance: this was the horn of a young unicorn.
Although it had been stored for some time, and the magic within was far less than when the unicorn had just died, this item was still a treasure.
Most importantly, the wizarding world had passed a resolution long ago prohibiting the hunting of unicorns for their horns, so unicorn horns were extremely rare and prohibited items.
As soon as this item was taken out, Charle was completely certain that the honest-looking middle-aged wizard opposite him was by no means a good person.
This unicorn horn was clearly bait to lure him.
It was truly difficult for the other party; facing such a young wizard, they still went to the trouble of setting up such a scheme, and their acting was quite good.
Charle's expression shifted, and he chuckled.
"Oh, this is a Horned Beast's horn, it's not worth much."
"However, sir, I truly sympathize with your daughter. How about this, three Galleons, I'll take your Horned Beast's horn, and you can go buy your daughter a wand?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the middle-aged dark wizard opposite him clenched his fists, a look of disbelief flashing in his eyes, and he was already cursing inwardly.
Horned Beast's horn?
This was clearly a unicorn horn! He had bought it in Knockturn Alley for five hundred Galleons!
As a result, this Charle opened his mouth and called it a Horned Beast's horn, and only offered three Galleons?
Damn, this little wizard was even darker than a dark wizard!
However, this also confirmed it. This shameless style was either from a noble family, a big merchant family, or a family of Ministry of Magic officials.
After all, normal people wouldn't do such a shameless thing!
Then, the middle-aged dark wizard felt a wave of relief.
Fortunately, he had leveraged everything at Gringotts, gotten a bit more Galleons, and bought a few more items.
Otherwise, just buying a unicorn horn wouldn't seem to satisfy the greed of this little wizard, Charle!
Immediately, he quickly put on a look of surprise and said.
"Three Galleons? This is truly wonderful, this way my daughter can buy a new wand!"
"However, the money for a new robe and new textbooks is still not settled, but I have a few more things like this at home, all passed down from my ancestors. They are just bigger than this and inconvenient to bring over."
"Mr. Charle, my home is nearby, why don't you come with me to take a look?"
Charle sneered in his heart.
As expected, they want to lure me out. It seems I've been quite conspicuous in Diagon Alley these past two days.
It's really quite something that they went to such lengths to set this up. If it were another young wizard, they might have been easily tricked and led away.
However, Charle still had a question in his heart.
Unicorn horns are quite valuable. Even a young unicorn's horn would be worth at least several hundred Galleons, and you'd need connections to even buy one.
Looking at the situation, the other party seemed to have prepared other bait as well, likely no less valuable than a unicorn horn.
Adding it all up, it would easily be over a thousand Galleons.
That's not poor in the wizarding world. Why would someone so rich take such a risk to do this?
But after a moment, Charle suppressed the question in his heart.
Who cares? Since they're targeting me, if I don't take this bait, wouldn't it be a waste?
Consuming a few magical ingredients like a unicorn horn would definitely push my deduction points past a hundred thousand, maybe even a hundred and fifty thousand.
That way, even if I forcefully perform a second deduction on the Animagus transformation, I'd have plenty of points.
So Charle pretended to be hesitant, first pulling the unicorn horn from the other party's hand and stuffing it into his embrace. Then he thought for a while longer before finally sighing.
"Alright, I'll go with you and take a look."
"No choice, I guess. Who told me I have a kind heart?"
The middle-aged wizard opposite him was practically grinding his back teeth.
You call this a kind heart?!
Kind my ass!
But he still gritted his teeth and squeezed out a tearful expression of gratitude.
"Yes, yes, yes, Mr. Charle, you truly have a kind heart."
"I thank you on behalf of my daughter."
However, the middle-aged dark wizard had already made up his mind.
The moment Charle entered Knockturn Alley, he guaranteed he would show Charle what cruelty was!
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