Goblins can be very arrogant, greedy, and unpleasant, but there is something even the most ardent defenders of wizards can't fault them for, and that is their diligence when it comes to money matters.
In the non-magical world, the record retention period for bank account management is 10 or 30 years, and some important documents are retained indefinitely. However, in Gringotts, whether due to the low number of clients or their craftsmanship spirit, goblins claim to have records of all transactions and lists of stored items.
This is incredible.
Goblins mean to say they have preserved all records from the day the Lestrange family's ancestors opened their account at Gringotts to the day the family's descendants were imprisoned in Azkaban, spanning hundreds of years.
Listening to the goblins speak proudly of this, both Scrimgeour and Tom were stunned.
If what the goblins say is true, then Gringotts must have dug several underground archive vaults. Considering that Gringotts' underground vaults extend several kilometers deep, this seems possible.
Tom, Scrimgeour, and the Aurors watched as goblins pushed carts and trolleys filled with dusty files, piled up like small mountains.
It seemed that the goblins were willing to roll up their sleeves to prove their innocence.
However, at that moment, deep within Gringotts, in front of the Lestrange family's vault, a stealthy figure appeared. It was Ragnok, who had just come out of a meeting of the Board of Directors. He was there for a simple reason: he needed to quickly send the gold he had behind.
The reason behind a greedy goblin appearing there to deliver money was also simple: he had actually diverted the gold from the Lestrange vault.
It's not that he was particularly audacious. In fact, who would have thought that the vault would open again someday? The Lestrange family was already imprisoned in Azkaban, and no one had the right to open the vault. To open the vault, the Lestrange family heir would have to personally present themselves at Gringotts. However, since all the family heirs were in Azkaban, theoretically, the vault was securely closed. So, what was wrong with Ragnok taking a little of the idle gold from the vault to make some investments? Gringotts' Deputy Chief of Investments had even said in an internal meeting, "Flexible investments are an effective complement to traditional formal investments. For example, if you take the idle gold from your vault and use it to invest in stocks to generate income, that's also a way to earn income."
After hearing this, Ragnok wholeheartedly agreed and thought it was a brilliant idea. After all, why not put the idle gold from the vault to good use in investments? In fact, at that time, Ragnok had a kind of enlightenment and understood that he could take the idle gold from the Lestrange family's vault and make some investments with it.
Now, all of a sudden, an investigation had to be conducted! It was as if the sky were falling for Ragnok. If it were revealed that he had diverted customer funds, he would be in serious trouble.
As for destroying records and such, it wasn't realistic in the short term. Gringotts' archives were rigorously protected, and not even Ragnok, as a member of the board of directors, could enter and destroy documents at will. But the good thing was that every time he went to "withdraw money," he was very careful and remembered all the transaction details clearly. Therefore, it wouldn't be difficult for him to adjust the accounts a bit and fill the holes.
Ragnok reached out and placed his hand on the wooden door of the vault. The door, which looked somewhat outdated, immediately disappeared, revealing an opening. The interior of the opening was filled with gold and silver coins, golden armor, skins of strange creatures, and valuable potions stored. It was truly a mountain of treasures, with only a narrow passage remaining.
Seeing this mountain of treasures in front of him, Ragnok couldn't help but have a greedy expression in his eyes. These treasures, sooner or later, would be his! For now, he restrained himself. Once all the heirs of the Lestrange family died, all this money would belong to the goblin!
Ragnok strained to drag the cart and brought it to an empty space next to the door, where he dumped the Galleons onto the open floor.
Throughout this time, he carefully controlled his movements, avoiding touching anything within the treasure. He knew that all the objects in the vault were protected by fire and duplication spells, and if he accidentally touched them, he could trigger a dangerous chain reaction.
"I can't believe you've actually taken gold from the vault!" A voice sounded behind Ragnok, startling him and making him break into a cold sweat.
"Who's there?" He spun around quickly, almost colliding with a golden suit of armor.
When he saw the identity of the newcomer, a wave of despair washed over him: his old rival, Bogrod, was outside the vault.
However, he soon calmed down when he saw that Bogrod also had a cart behind him. The pile of coins in his cart was even larger than the one Ragnok was carrying!
The two goblins looked at each other, both feeling a bit awkward.
Bogrod cleared his throat twice. "I'm not the only one, some other directors have also gotten involved a bit... If I had known you were coming, I would have asked you to bring it with you."
Ragnok: ...
The atmosphere became a bit uncomfortable.
"Excuse me." Bogrod gestured for Ragnok to step aside, his bulky body practically blocking the entire passage.
"Oh, yes, of course." Ragnok quickly exited the vault and watched as Bogrod poured the gold into the vault after addressing the deficit.
With the problem resolved, the two goblins hurriedly retreated from the underground.
The wizards on the ground watched as the goblins balanced the accounts.
"Could you bring some devices to detect dark magic?" Tom addressed Scrimgeour.
Scrimgeour looked at the Dementors filling the atrium and pursed his lips.
"The interference is too strong; they probably won't work properly."
Tom: ...
"They won't follow you." He suppressed his desire to taunt and firmly demanded that Scrimgeour bring some dark magic detectors.
"Alright." Scrimgeour shrugged. For the Aurors, that wasn't a big issue. He soon brought a batch of dark magic detectors.
At that moment, a goblin arrived with a scroll in hand and approached the two.
"We have finished the count. In the Lestrange vault, there is a total of twenty-four million seven hundred sixty-two thousand gold coins, thirteen suits of gold armor, golden cups..."
The goblin recited a long list of numbers, leaving Tom and Scrimgeour astonished. Scrimgeour quickly calculated how long it would take him to save up that amount with his salary, only to despairingly realize that he probably couldn't accumulate twenty-four million Galleons even in the era of Merlin.
"Gentlemen, the carriage is ready, and we can descend to count the Lestrange vault at any time." The goblin with the list bowed to Tom and Scrimgeour, indicating that Gringotts was prepared.
Scrimgeour felt a twitch in his face. How were they going to count over twenty million Galleons? However, beside him, Tom nodded without hesitation. After all, his goal was not to count the number of Galleons.