Ever since Vincent and Hermione were inexplicably dragged into the small gathering of the Order of the Phoenix, their Magical Communicator have been specifically upgraded.
Unlike the Magical Base Station currently being deployed in cooperation with magical governments around the world, their Magical Communicator can connect to the base station equipment in the second-generation cellular mobile communication system that Wayne Enterprises is disguising as Muggle and is gradually building.
Although the coverage of the magical signal is not comprehensive, it can ensure the security of secret communications to the greatest extent.
The Goblins Hall's lair is located underground in a remote forest in Scotland, where there is obviously no strong signal.
Sirius Black and Lupin didn't go too far; a few minutes after leaving the tree hole, they found a relatively strong signal.
Vincent and Hermione did not rest while waiting for the two.
No matter how much Voldemort looked down on Magical Creatures other than wizards, he wouldn't have slaughtered the entire Goblins Hall for no reason. The hall here is almost half the size of the Hogwarts Great Hall, and if we search carefully, we're sure to find more clues.
Vincent examined the Magical Projection that he had somehow acquired, while Hermione walked toward the enormous pure gold round table, ten meters in diameter.
She counted the chairs on the table, which were also made of pure gold; there were 56 in total, which must be the number of Goblin here.
She then stopped and observed the body, which appeared to be the curator's.
The magnificent robe, woven from Adamantium, even bore Magical Runes inscribed by a wizard; judging by its exquisite detail, it appeared to be an alchemical artifact.
Hermione reached out her little hand towards the robe, but withdrew it just before touching it.
Since the Goblins Hall is a top-tier underground force in the Wizarding World, it's not surprising that they know some Alchemists.
"Hmm?" She looked at the rows of drawers next to the corpse with a puzzled expression.
This is the only spot on the entire round table with a drawer, so it seems to be the curator here.
Hermione drew her wand and gently tapped the top drawer. The exquisite patterns on its surface emitted a faint glow, clearly indicating that it required a special method to open.
"Vincent, I've found something!"
Vincent swung his Serpent Staff, reassembling the parts that were frozen in mid-air back into a Magical Projection.
He approached the Goblin corpse lying face down on the round table, and together with Hermione, they half-squatted down to look at the rows of drawers.
She glanced at the Goblin corpse beside her. "There must be something important here. Should we open it and take a look?"
Vincent raised his Serpent Staff. "You called me over here so you could open it and take a look, didn't you?"
Hermione watched nonchalantly as he pointed his Serpent Staff at the top drawer.
Not long after, the drawer opened automatically with a "click".
Inside were all IOUs with magical Contract applied to them; Vincent glanced at a few and then stopped.
With monthly interest at 10%, that's an annual interest rate of 120%—definitely usury.
The second drawer also contained IOUs, with slightly lower interest rates, but still falling into the category of usury.
The third drawer didn't contain IOUs, but rather letters written in Goblin script.
Vincent and Hermione didn't have time to translate, so they could only hope that the last drawer would contain something useful.
When the drawer was opened, both of them widened their eyes instantly.
The contents were none other than the Ministry of Magic's "《Magical Projection Maintenance Manual》," which was said to be lost but was later discovered to have been lost by Jorkins.
Hermione picked it up, looking utterly bewildered. "Why? Why is the manual here?"
Vincent frowned. "It seems things aren't that simple. I don't believe that the manual that Jorkins lost could have been found by Goblin by chance."
The two of them looked at the Magical Projection at the same time, as if by unspoken agreement.
Could there really be a mole within the organization?
So he was bribed by the Goblins Hall?
Is the purpose to obtain this maintenance manual?
In other words, the mysterious force that deliberately damaged the Magical Projection was the Goblins Hall?
Vincent slowly stood up, and instantly dismantled several Magical Projection, including the large one.
He quickly found detailed information about these devices by using the serial numbers engraved on the core components.
The equipment was manufactured between July and August of last year and was among the first batch supplied to the British Ministry of Magic.
Vincent squinted at the museum owner's corpse. "What exactly do you want to do?"
If they wanted to watch the Quidditch World Cup live, they could simply go to Diagon Alley or Gringotts; there was no need to go to the trouble of bribing Ministry of Ministry of Magic officials and then secretly bringing the Magical Projection and maintenance manuals there.
Unless you're planning to do something sneaky, like smuggling Magical Projection.
However, Wayne Enterprises has signed cooperation agreements with magical governments around the world, and soon a large number of magical home appliance brands similar to Prongs and Nobili will appear, making this smuggling business unsustainable.
Hermione also didn't believe that the Goblin were only after such short-term gains.
Just bribing officials in the Ministry of Magic would cost a lot of Gold Galleons. Even if it's smuggled abroad, how much can you ultimately earn after all this running around?
She looked down at the care manual in her hand, "Could the Goblin be planning to replicate your Magical Projection?"
Vincent shook his head decisively, "Impossible. No one will be able to successfully replicate it for at least 10 years."
Magical Projection and Magical Base Station are both advanced products based on the future mobile internet. The current Muggle internet is still in the wired dial-up stage, and the most advanced second-generation cellular mobile communication system is still far from global communication.
Adding to the difficulty is the fact that electronic signals can be interfered with by magic. Unless the Goblin can unite with Alchemists all over the world, they will have no choice but to honestly work on cracking the code.
The Magical Circuit were invented in recent years by the Alchemists Nicole Nicolas Flamel, and perhaps only Dumbledore in the world knows about them, besides him, his wife Vincent, and himself.
Ten years is a conservative estimate. If the Wizarding World continues to ignore Muggle technology, it will take even longer to successfully create a replica.
Moreover, Vincent's status speaks for itself. The Goblin at Gringotts treat him with utmost respect. The Goblins Hall is said to be a top force in the dark side of the Wizarding World, but do they really dare to challenge Vincent?
So the Goblin here aren't trying to imitate or break the Magical Projection; they probably want to use the Magical Projection to do something.
The two of them each brought over a solid gold chair and sat down in front of the ornate wardrobe neatly filled with magical equipment, deep in thought.
Even after Sirius Black and Lupin returned, they still couldn't figure out what the Goblin were trying to do with the Magical Projection.
What are you doing here?
Vincent tossed the maintenance manual over. "There is indeed a mole in the Ministry of Magic, but he was bribed by the Goblins Hall."
Sirius Black took the document and glanced at it casually. "I see... We'll handle the Jorkins matter properly. Do you want to stay here or go back to school?"
"Back to school." Vincent stood up. "Hermione and I aren't official members of the Order of the Phoenix, so it's not really appropriate for us to participate in operations with you."
Hermione could see the intense wariness in his deep blue eyes, and she lowered her head somewhat guiltily.
She really wanted to participate in the Order of the Order of the Phoenix's operations, and she knew that Sirius Black and Lupin wouldn't refuse her Vincent, but she also knew that participating in the operations meant officially joining the Order of the Phoenix.
Vincent's strong aversion to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, as his girlfriend, she should definitely prioritize his feelings.