Faced with Grindelwald's fury, the group scurried away in disgrace.
They had come merely to give the public an explanation, to prove they had tried but failed.
No one actually wanted to go to war with Grindelwald.
For just a few dozen Galleons a month, why risk their lives?
It had to be said that after the painful lessons of the past, the wizarding world had grown increasingly spineless. Even if Grindelwald hadn't conquered the globe, most people wouldn't have cared if he had succeeded, as long as they could continue slacking off and muddling through.
Even many high-ranking officials shared the same appeasement mindset, constantly compromising.
Those who opposed Grindelwald were mostly just unwilling to lose their power or came from families with historical grudges against him.
Who cared about true justice?
Only the victors deserved to be called just.
After the Gringotts robbery, many Ministries of Magic were already preparing gifts to send over, hoping Grindelwald wouldn't turn his attention to their countries, which incidentally earned him a windfall.
Of course, that was all yet to come.
...
London, Diagon Alley.
Gringotts, usually bustling with activity, remained closed for business, its main gates shut tight with several Aurors and guards stationed outside.
Wayne arrived at the Gringotts entrance with a cold expression. His face was now a passport throughout the British wizarding world, and seeing his murderous aura, the guards didn't dare obstruct him, respectfully stepping aside to clear a path.
Inside Gringotts, a large group of Goblins had gathered, calculating yesterday's losses.
The more they calculated, the more it pained them. First, the compensation alone was an astronomical figure, and the cost of repairing the main gate and rebuilding the vaults was even higher.
The materials for the main gate and vaults were extremely rare and special. Though they had crumbled before 'Grindelwald', if any other wizard had tried, they would have exhausted their magical power without breaching them.
The combined costs were enough to bankrupt the British Gringotts immediately.
Fortunately, Gringotts in other countries wouldn't allow this to happen. If the British branch went bankrupt and failed to compensate the wizards for their losses, Goblins worldwide would lose all trust.
That very night, Gringotts headquarters had sent numerous personnel to assist with the aftermath.
The main door suddenly swung open. The already irritable Goblins were about to curse the intruder, but upon seeing who it was, they immediately fell silent, not daring to even breathe heavily.
Looking at the crowd of ugly Goblins, Wayne frowned. "Someone in charge, step forward."
A Goblin in a suit and tie approached Wayne. "Mr Lawrence, I am Larry, the director of Gringotts UK. How may I be of service?"
"Director? Then you're responsible." A cold smirk appeared on the young man's face. "I heard that yesterday, some Goblins tried to lead the ghost... Grindelwald to my vault?"
Larry's expression remained unchanged; he had anticipated this after reading last night's newspaper.
"Mr Lawrence, Burn has already paid for his recklessness with his life."
"Death clears all debts?" Wayne chuckled, his wand somehow already slipped into his hand. "Do you think I'm easier to reason with than Grindelwald, or that I'm easier to bully?"
"A single goblin dies, and you think that settles it?!"
By the end of his words, immense magical power erupted from him. The newly repaired glass partition shattered explosively, and all the goblins were pressed flat against the floor as if Death itself had descended.
"Mr Lawrence." Larry knelt before Wayne, his earlier composure completely gone, replaced by sheer terror. "I absolutely didn't mean it that way. Gringotts will definitely provide compensation that satisfies you."
"Let's hear it first." Wayne slightly withdrew his oppressive aura.
"Ten thousand Galleons, would that be acceptable?" As he said this, Larry felt as if his heart was bleeding.
Yet Wayne kicked him flying.
"Do I look poor to you? Ten thousand Galleons - do you think you're dealing with those pure-blood beggars?"
He didn't bother lowering his voice, and the Aurors and guards outside heard him clearly, their expressions turning peculiar.
This was the first time they'd heard someone call pure-bloods a bunch of beggars.
But there was nothing wrong with Lawrence saying this. Every witch and wizard in Britain knew that this young master currently had the largest deposits in Gringotts - rumoured to fill three entire vaults.
He had every right to call anyone a beggar.
"I'll give you two more chances." Inside the room, Wayne said coldly. "If you still can't satisfy me, I guarantee Gringotts will cease to exist within British borders."
"Fifty thousand, no, one hundred thousand Galleons!" Larry frantically increased the compensation tenfold, but Wayne remained unmoved, holding up two fingers.
"That's the second time."
"I really don't have the authority for any more!" Larry was now crying. "Mr Lawrence, even if you kill me, I can't produce more Galleons. Even for one hundred thousand Galleons, I'd have to borrow from headquarters at usurious rates."
"If you're still not satisfied, just kill me."
Wayne used Legilimency Spell to observe and found the goblin truly had a death wish.
'Indeed, they're all the type who value money over life.'
'Do I look poor to you? The number of Galleons means nothing to me.'
Wayne finally bared his fangs. "But... if you can provide equivalent goblin-made metal, I might consider it."
An hour later, two goblins, their expressions as if their family trees had died, escorted Wayne into the fireplace, travelling to the large goblin tribe in the Caucasus Mountains.
They reached an agreement: compensation worth three hundred thousand Galleons would be paid in goblin-made metal, and Wayne would receive a permanent twenty percent discount on all future goblin goods.
But the goblins also set one condition: next time Grindelwald robbed Gringotts, Wayne must intervene to stop him.
Wayne naturally couldn't agree to that. After much haggling, they settled on Gringotts paying one hundred thousand Galleons each time Wayne intervened.
He planned to discuss with Grindelwald about occasionally collaborating to earn some extra income.
It wasn't money he was after, but goblin craftsmanship.
Many of the metals smelted by goblins were precious materials no inferior to mithril, making Wayne exceptionally envious. He'd certainly considered it before - he'd even used the Imperius Curse to control several goblins at the Firebolt company, attempting to steal their techniques.
But he later discovered that even the craftsmen themselves couldn't explain why they did certain things.
It could only be attributed to racial talent.
Carrying a small mountain of materials, Wayne sought out Nicolas Flamel, who had transformed into a construction worker.
Seeing it was all Goblin craftsmanship, Nicolas was also astonished:
"Did you rob a Goblin tribe?"
"Well..." Wayne thought for a moment, "You could say that it does count as robbery."
Originally, those Goblins intended to settle at market price, but he had stubbornly bargained them down by four-fifths, settling at cost price.
When he left, that Goblin tribe was wailing loudly enough to shake the heavens, with tears flowing like rivers.
"Remember to call me next time there's such an opportunity." Nicolas felt that young people's minds worked better—why hadn't he thought of robbing Goblins? This had solved most of the material problems at once.
"Perenelle, come help sort these out," Nicolas called out before diving into the pile of materials to pick and choose.
Perenelle also followed helplessly behind.
When she was young, she had been Nicolas's assistant. After they developed the Philosopher's Stone and gained endless life, Perenelle went to pursue other interests, leaving Nicolas to continue his research alone.
But the workload for the floating city was simply too great, forcing Nicolas to ask Perenelle for help.
Wayne also felt that dumping everything on Nicolas alone was rather capitalistic, so he helped create several alchemical puppets. Most were used for manual labour, while the more advanced ones could serve as assistants.
This helped relieve quite a bit of pressure from Nicolas.
After staying outside for two days, Wayne finally returned to school.
Keynes visited again, his ear still bandaged, hoping Wayne could stop Grindelwald's misdeeds...
"President Keynes, Grindelwald didn't kill anyone this time - oh, Goblins don't count as people. He's just short of money."
Wayne responded listlessly. He had been working continuously for two days and nights, creating puppets without even closing his eyes, having no energy for pointless arguments.
"Does being short of money justify robbery?" Keynes said indignantly.
"You could cooperate with Grindelwald," Wayne suggested. "As long as he isn't short of money, he won't rob."
"Isn't that just protection money?" Keynes blurted out.
Wayne looked at him strangely: "Isn't the money you give me... also protection money?"
Keynes fell silent.
Lies don't hurt people; truth is the sharpest blade.
Truly typical of a Hufflepuff graduate, speaking so bluntly.
Though the principle was the same, he'd rather give money to Lawrence than to Grindelwald.
But seeing the young man's indifferent attitude, he knew today's objective would be hard to achieve. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he left.
After dealing with Keynes, Wayne planned to return to his dormitory for a nap, but as soon as he entered the common room, Hannah and Susan pulled him aside.
"Wayne, is Gringotts still safe now?"
"Hmm? Why do you ask?" Wayne looked at them, puzzled.
"My aunt sent me."
"My grandfather wrote asking for your opinion."
The two girls spoke simultaneously.
Several more badgers gathered around. They were all from pure-blood families or mixed-blood families with some assets in the wizarding world. After this incident, a crisis of trust in Gringotts had begun to emerge.
Wayne thought for a moment. "For now, since Grindelwald has succeeded, it should be safe for the near future."
"If you don't have a suitable place to store what you withdraw, it's better to keep your money there for now."
"When my bank is established, you can deposit your money there, too. I guarantee there won't be any problems."
"You're opening a bank?" Cedric asked in surprise as he passed by.
Wayne puffed out his chest slightly. "Actually, my family opened a bank in Britain three hundred years ago. You could say it's our family tradition."
The Lawrence family held shares in banks like Barclays, Lloyds, and Standard Chartered - opening banks was essentially part of their family heritage.
"That's wonderful! Hurry up and prepare, we'll deposit our money with you when it's ready," Hannah said happily, with the other little badgers nodding in agreement.
Previously, they had no choice but to entrust their money to Gringotts, but now Wayne was definitely more trustworthy than Goblins.
"Of course, of course," Wayne agreed with a smile.
He planned to collapse the Goblin financial system completely.
They always said finance ruined nations while industry built them up. These Goblins only knew how to make money from money.
This wouldn't do.
Wayne intended to bankrupt them, forcing them to obediently return to metalworking and become part of his means of production.
Only then could society truly progress.
...
A week passed in the blink of an eye. Taking advantage of the 'Grindelwald' robbery incident, Wayne submitted a draft proposal to the Wizengamot seeking to expand Aurors' and enforcement officers' law-enforcement authority, granting them the right to use Unforgivable Curses against enemies.
With the Ministry's doves weakened and hawks on the rise, combined with Wayne's prestige and influence within the Wizengamot, the legislation passed smoothly and took effect immediately.
Aurors now had the right to use Unforgivable Curses, only needing to file a report afterwards.
If they killed a criminal, they would undergo a strict review. If it were determined that the criminal had threatened the Auror's life at the time, there would be no consequences.
On the evening the bill passed, a group of wizards gathered at the Auror training building.
Crouch stood silently on the high platform at the front. When the last person arrived, he slowly raised his wand.
"The feast of slaughter begins. Everything... for Lawrence!"