[Comprehensive] Road to Trench

Unlike Diagon Alley in the United Kingdom, which requires a trick to enter, Wizard Street in the United States only casts its magic at the entrance to make ordinary people ignore it.

Tony was dragged by Alex before he noticed this alley. Before stepping into it, he always thought that it was just a small alley with a length of no more than 100 meters that can be seen everywhere in American cities.

It wasn't until the two of them walked in holding hands that he realized that there was something strange inside.

It was like passing through a filter screen suddenly, and my ears were suddenly filled with noise.

Tony looked at the bustling street in front of him that was enough for four carriages to parallel, and then looked back at the small alley about ten meters long that he and Alex just passed.

"The one in England is... Diagon Alley, right?" He thought for a while before he remembered the noun, "That's how Diagon Alley came in, too?"

Alex was looking around to find the location of Gringotts, and said without turning back when he heard the words: "No, Diagon Alley has special entry skills, and you need the correct code to enter. Unlike Wizard Street in the United States, you can go directly. Come in."

"why?"

"Probably for the sake of the students of Ilvermorny?" Alex guessed, "If it is set up like Diagon Alley and requires a wand to tap a specific signal, there is no way for underage wizards in Ilvermorny during the holidays." Come to Wizard Street by yourself."

Unlike the British wizarding world, where students purchase all kinds of teaching materials and the most important magic wand before the start of school, Ilvermorny asks students to pay tuition fees, and then the school prepares all the things needed for learning. Includes wand.

According to what she just learned from her classmates, there is an auditorium with many wands in Ilvermorny, where a young wizard who has just entered school can find the most suitable wand for him/her.

And before the little wizards of Ilvermorny became adults, their wands could not be taken out of school—they needed to put their wands back in the auditorium before going home every vacation, and they would not be able to return to school until the beginning of school. To be able to hold his own wand again.

In this case, if the setting of Wizard Street is changed to that of Diagon Alley, there will probably be a large number of young wizards protesting that they cannot go to the street.

"Okay." Tony had heard a lot about the wizarding world recently, and now he understood the difference between Britain and the United States, so he put down the question just now, "Where do we go to buy what you want?"

He looked at the storefronts on both sides, all kinds of magical storefronts, what kind of broomsticks (oh, he knows this, Alex has one), potion materials (terrible, I hope Alex doesn't go in, at least he doesn't want to go in.) Go in), magic pet shop (this is interesting, I don’t know if he can buy a rare pet to keep for fun), clothing store (is it his illusion? Why does it feel like the clothes displayed in the window of this shop are similar to those worn by ordinary people? ?)...

"Well, I have to go to Gringotts first." Alex took out his notebook, thought for a while, and said, "Also, it may take quite a long time."

Although I have already contacted the goblins at Gringotts before coming here, who knows if there will be any troubles with those misers who have a particularly bad reputation among wizards?

"Gringotts?"

"There is only one bank in the wizarding world, with branches in almost every country in the wizarding world—except for the flower growers." That bank is controlled by the wizards themselves, not owned by the goblins.

Tony shrugged when he heard the words: "Monopoly, don't wizards have any financial sense?"

His expression made Alex laugh: "Probably, the financial system of the wizarding world is quite backward, at least it can't be compared with the society of ordinary people."

"Are you going to exchange money from the wizarding world?" Tony looked at the people who were trading. They used three kinds of coins, gold, silver and copper, which were different from the currencies of any country he knew. It can be seen that the wizarding world does not use US dollars - at least not here.

"I have this. Uncle Bucky changed a bunch of it for me when I was in school last year. He was worried that I would have money in school, so he stuffed it for me." Alex stuffed a money bag To Tony, "But Hogwarts is a boarding system, basically there is no place to spend money. I went to Gringotts this time to cooperate with Gringotts on a project."

Tony opened the money bag and saw the same coins as the people on the street. He picked up a Galleon and played with it in his hand. He asked casually, "What item?"

Alex thought for a while: "Tony, if you can select things online at home, pay for them, and then sit at home and wait for the things you bought to be delivered to your door..."

That's all she said, and Tony was keenly aware of what she meant: "If that's the case, you really need to talk to the bank—are you sure there's only one bank in the wizarding world, um, Gringotts?"

He pointed to a building ahead and asked.

Alex nodded: "At least there is only such a bank in the European and American wizarding worlds such as Britain, the United States, and Germany."

After walking through the same warning as Gringotts in Diagon Alley, Alex and Tony entered Gringotts together.

Looking at the little things with sharp ears in the lobby who were busy handling things for people in all kinds of fancy clothes, Tony felt that this scene was similar to the scene in any bank—except for the teller behind the counter.

"What if Gringotts doesn't work with you?" Tony asked while waiting for the goblin manager to arrive.

This is not a society where ordinary people give up Citibank and Bank of America.

"Well..." Alex held his chin, "Actually, the integration with Gringotts is just because I want users to pay directly with their Gringotts account. After all, in my opinion, the simpler the payment system The more foolish the better, too complicated may be detrimental to the promotion. However, if the cooperation with Gringotts does not go well, then there will be one more system."

"From an economic point of view, your decision is rather short-sighted."

Tony's words are not aimless. From his point of view, Alex's Taotao platform has unlimited potential, and she can even use it to create a quite powerful consortium.A consortium naturally has the ability to formulate its own financial rules, and banks are one of the most basic hardware facilities.

Tony felt that she could start preparing her own financial system independent of Gringotts at this time, but she gave up on this. Maybe she would add it in the future, but in his opinion, it was not as good as Launching together with the Taotao platform is easier to accept.

"You're right, Tony, but you have to consider one thing." Alex shrugged helplessly, "Wizards are used to storing their wealth in Gringotts, they discriminate against goblins, but they trust goblins .”

This is a very contradictory statement, but it has to be said that this statement is correct.

Wizards discriminate against goblins very much. Even if there is a law that stipulates that these intelligent creatures should enjoy the same rights as wizards, but until today, the rights and interests of goblins, house elves and a series of intelligent non-human beings have been compressed by wizards. edge.

They discriminate against these non-human intelligent beings as much as they discriminate against Muggles.

But from another point of view, wizards trust goblins very much, and the entire wizarding community chooses to entrust their wealth to goblins for safekeeping. Gringotts is the bank for all wizards.

There is no second bank in the wizarding world.

It is contradictory and strange, but it is taken for granted when we delve into history.

Tony looked down at the little girl who was much shorter than him: "So, what are you going to do?"

His gaze made Alex laugh: "Don't look at me like that," she shrugged, "I don't intend to start any racial movement. What's more," she pursed her lips and tightened the smile lines at the corners of her mouth, "forgot The meritorious service of the former comrades-in-arms is the wizard."

Tony moved his gaze back to the front: "Are you sure?"

"I would like to help them, but only if they have the consciousness to fight for themselves - how about that proverb? 'You can never wake a man who pretends to be asleep'."

At this time, an old goblin with a rather old but still vigorous pace was walking towards them. Judging from the uniform and medals on it, its status was higher than those goblins behind the counter.

"One last question," Tony smiled as he watched the goblin approach, his lips moved slightly, and asked in a volume that only those around him could hear, "Only for wizards?"

"Although I think the mental toughness of human beings is quite good, but considering that Tony took you a week to reshape the three views...I think most ordinary people don't have your acceptance."

The implication is naturally not to consider facing ordinary people.

"No, Alex, you can't ignore the value of ordinary people like this! Are there more wizards than ordinary people? Give up such a big market and choose such a small cake, I thought you could clearly distinguish the pros and cons of it !"

"……speak English."

"Give me access to the Taotao platform!"

"..."

Considering that his little friends are as good as himself, and considering the merchants and sales content that the Taotao platform will access in the future, Alex rejected Tony's request for privileges: really treat Taotao The permission to use the platform was granted to him, and she promised to see wizard products from all over the world piled up in Stark's home the next day.

——There are many things that are harmless to wizards, but not so cute to ordinary people.

This made Tony unhappy for several days. Even though he was with Alex every day and watched her negotiate the settlement agreement of Taotao platform in Wizard Street, he didn't say a word to his friends until When Alex completed the "key" and invited him to see her mage tower together, he spared no effort to give a look and words: "Mage tower?"

Alex shook the freshly baked bronze key in his hand, and nodded seriously: "You are the first guest since the restart!"

Tony hummed: "Where's your Uncle Bucky?"

"I haven't told Uncle Bucky about the Mage Tower yet!"

It was overcast and cloudy, Tony nodded reservedly, motioning for his little friend to "open the door".