Chapter 257: Selling To The Goblins (1/2)

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The link is also in the synopsis.

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Riphook stilled in shock as he turned to stare at his newly identified seller. The story of Wests was infamous in Gringotts. How over the years, little by little, the Wests had pulled out their money from their vaults and transferred it into another one overseas. In the history of the British Isles, where their bank had been the singular option with no alternatives, an account like Wests pulling all of their money out had never happened — the only times an account left Gringotts was when they didn't have enough money to maintain their account and pay for Gringotts services, such was never the case for Wests, it was as far as that.

It was a black spot in their history. They were the human's entire banking industry, and even if the human's never allowed them wands, they couldn't take the banking away from goblins — it irked the humans much, but there was nothing they could do about it — ironclad contracts had been inked more than a millennium ago, and even without that, the humans couldn't deny their excellent services.

”.. . West, you say.”

”Yes, Quinn West.”

”I see. Let's proceed to the meeting room.”

Riphook looked at the exit he was going to take before he knew who Quinn was — it led to a lower-grade meeting room, that room was, of course, out of the question now, even if Gringotts saw minimal business from Wests, they couldn't treat them like any other random that person that walked in the bank.

Moreover, this was an opportunity. Riphook glanced at Quinn from the corner of his eyes. Walking beside him was a younger member of the West family, and young meant future — if he could somehow form a good relation with this child, that could see Gringotts get more business from Wests in the future, and as a bonus, he would get recognition and praise for making it happen.

'Time to hammer the gold into galleons,' he thought and chose another exit, this one leading to one of Gringotts fancier meeting rooms that they used to entertain their high-profile clientele.

”If you'd wait in here, I'd be back in a bit with our appraiser and Bloodpike,” Riphook opened the door to the meeting room.

Quinn smiled at the goblin as Riphook closed the door behind him. He turned back, and instead of the typical meeting room, the room was more of a lounge setting. There was a gilded chandelier illuminating the room with a fully-stocked bar, beautiful paintings on the walls, luxurious furniture — the entire room glimmered with posh in its every corner.

He sat down on a very comfortable sofa and looked at the room. ”They sure are going all out,” he said with a chuckle in his voice, ”and here I thought they would be upset with me. Well, I am bringing them a part of their history and culture.”

Quinn took out the velvet coin case with the old galleon. Instead of melting down the old, outdated galleon into a gold brick that would sit in a bank vault, selling it to the goblins for its historical value was much more beneficial.

As he set down the case on the low-table in front of him, the door to the meeting lounge opened.

Quinn looked up at the door and asked with a slightly tilted head, ”Who might you be?” The girl, no the young woman, standing by the door wasn't the goblin he was expecting.

”Good morning,” the woman stepped forward with a cultivated grace, ”my name is Thalice.”

”Hello, Thalice. My name is Quinn. It's nice to meet you, but I'm confused as to why you are here.”

Thalice smiled, revealing her perfect pearly white behind her rosy lips, ”Teller Riphook told me to come here to keep you company while he goes fetch your vault manager.”

”How nice of him.”

Thalice smiled before pointing at the bar in the room. ”Would you like to drink something? The bar is stocked with all kinds of beverages, even some goblin drinks if you'd like to try them. I recommend that you do give them a try — they're a different taste from what we have in our pubs and shelves.”

Quinn shook his head with a polite smile, ”Thank you for the offer, but I'm not feeling to drink something right now, maybe some other time.”

Thalice nodded understandingly, walked over to the sofa set, and sat right next to Quinn, bringing over a pleasant scent of tastefully sprayed perfume with notes of citrus over a woody vanilla along with a floral tone that he couldn't make out.

”So Quinn, tell me about yourself.”

”Hmm, something about myself.. . I like magic. Would you like to see some?”

”I would love to, but it wouldn't be wise to draw your wand in the goblin grounds. It goes against both Gringotts' rules and the treaty terms,” said the Gringotts employee, her meticulously maintained brows furrowing.

”It's alright,” said Quinn, mischief flashing in his eyes, ”I don't need my wand to perform this magic; I don't even need to cast a spell. It's a special sort of magic, completely safe and not in violation of any treaty agreements.”

”.. . If you say so,” said Thalia, giving Quinn a silent look, doubtful if such magic existed.

Quinn reached into his pockets and took out a pattern-engraved silver card case gifted to him by Marcus. ”All I need are a deck of playing cards,” Quinn grinned, swiping the case open to reveal a deck with crimson-and-gold backs.

Thalice watched as the cards moved under the skillful movements of Quinn's digits. ”Wow~,” she said with fascination, clapping lightly.

”Alright, I'm going to spring the cards from one hand to the other,” he pressed the cards slightly, and they shot to his other hand. ”I want you to stop me at a point in the middle — any point you desire — and I'll stop for you to pick the top card, understood?”

Thalice nodded.

”Excellent, tell me to stop,” he started the spring flourish.

”Stop!”

Quinn stopped and presented the split deck in his lower hand, ”Good, now take the card, don't show it to me, but memorize it — suit and all. Done? Perfect, now place it back. Yeah, just like that.” He shuffled the cards a bit before hiding the deck between his palms. ”Now, do you think I know what your card is — know that I'm not using any magic, and this deck is as standard as it gets.”

”No, you wouldn't know what my card is,” she said, looking at Quinn with an amused smile.

”Wouldn't be impressed if I pick out a card from the deck and it turns out to be the one you chose?”

”Very.”

”And that's what I'm going to do,” he removed the deck from his palm and began looking through it, and somewhere in the middle, a smile appeared on his face, and he discreetly pushed a card up with his pinky, making it stand out from the other cards, and pulled out a gasp from his audience.

”I'm assuming this your card.”

”Yes! This is my card!” Thalice grabbed Quinn's hand along with the deck, pulling them close to her. ”How did you do that?! You must've used some magic; there's no other way,” she looked up from the cards and leaned closer, ”how did you do it?”

Quinn softly smiled, ”A magician never reveals his secret, miss. It's against our sacred code.”

”Aww, can you tell me, please~? I won't tell anyone else, I promise.”

”My apologies, but I can't. But, how about I interest you in another one?”

Thalice let go of Quinn's hand, ”Yes, please,” her eyes shining like an excited child.

”Alright, I will again ask of you to choose a card from the deck.” Quinn spread the cards in a fan with the cards facing Thalice for her to choose, who picked a card and looked at it before putting the card back as per Quinn's instructions.

”Now, I'm going to spread and shuffle them all over the table, just to make sure that I wasn't cheating in any way.” Quinn laid the deck over the table and thoroughly shuffled with his palms. ”How about just to be more thorough, you also give it a good shuffle?”

Thalice leaned ahead, her silver necklace dangling from her exposed neck and slightly low-cut top.

”Good, now, pay attention to my hands to ensure that I'm not using any trickery.” She nodded, and her eyes remained trained on Quinn's hand that hovered the mat of cards.

Quinn suddenly placed a finger on a card, ”I feel it; this is your card. I'm sure of it.” He lightly flicked the card's edge to flip it over and reveal an ace of diamonds.

”No, that isn't my card!” Thalice bounced in her spot, clapping her hands. ”Haha, you're wrong —” Her voice died when she looked up from the cards to Quinn and saw a queen of hearts loosely hanging off an edge from Quinn's lips.

”Really,” he grinned, ”a pity that I was wrong. Maybe, I'm not worthy of the beautiful craft of magic.”

”How.. . when.. . that's not possible,” said Thalice.

”It's magic, my dear; everything's possible,” said Quinn, mysteriously before continuing, ”You have beautiful eyes, Thalice.”

Thalice found herself staring into the pair of stone-grey eyes, and even though they were an uncommon color, there was something else in there that she couldn't look away.

The door to the lounge opened, and whatever it was broke as Thalice realized she was staring unknowingly. She turned to the door and saw three goblins — the third goblin made her eyes widen. She looked back at Quinn, who opened his card case for the cards to stack themselves neatly in a deck before packing themselves into the case.

”Mr. West,” said one of the goblins, dressed in clothes better than Riphook, ”my name is Bloodpike; I'm your vault manager.”