Although a building of more than 30 meters is nothing on the Muggle side, it is the first time they have seen a hotel with such a unique shape.

The thick and long pea vines are spirally wrapped around the sky, forming a dark green "trunk", and the pea pods hanging from the tower's trunk are also half-open, revealing a bubble-shaped structure in the middle. Room.

If they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, these people would never have believed that there were houses of this shape in the world.

- William, who was accompanying him, hurriedly unified the caliber in advance and explained to these social elites:

"As you can see, Hogsmeade is an art village. The buildings in the village are designed by artists and realized by brilliant architectural engineers, so you will see a lot of strange buildings here in the past few days. , such as this \'Jack Pea\', by the famous artist Ms. Sprout..."

"Pfft-"

- Horace, who was listening with interest to William's introduction to the hotel, couldn't help laughing when he heard it.

Horace is an ordinary villager in Hogsmeade. In addition to growing vegetables and flowers, and reselling some contraband, his only job is to stare at the snow-capped mountains, and make students or strange Muggle climbers have accidents. . As for his wife, she was a salesperson on the Hogwarts train, working only two days a year.

Such people are actually very common in the countryside during the feudal period, because life is not worrying,

They have nothing to do with food and clothing, so some of them only work as part-time laborers for landlords or manor owners during busy farming seasons, while others help carpenters and blacksmiths with chores, and others become buskers. Well, they can't even get a job

These people are also often a problem for security, because as long as they are not managed well, these people will engage in gambling, narcotics, and even do some dirty work of robbing foreigners.

These people are usually called "second-rate children" by the rural people, and they belong to the special products of the old era.

Although the wizarding world is already in modern times, the life of these wizards is no different from the rural villages of the old times in the wizard settlements, and the only modern London can not arrange jobs for so many wizards, only the Ministry of Magic, the Holy Mungo's Hospital and the businesses of Diagon Alley take almost all the jobs of wizards in the big cities.

It was precisely because the Horaces were so busy that Lockhart hired them in the name of the Ministry of Magic to take care of the hotel and the mountains on the mountain in order to solve the problem and win over people's hearts. cabin.

It was precisely because he was a true wizard that he couldn't help laughing when he heard William calling Professor Sprout "artist" seriously.

William hurriedly gave him a warning look and told him to restrain himself.

Although he himself does not know whether his "artist" rhetoric can hide these "Muggles", judging from the expressions of these social elites, they seem to have no objection.

——That's right, if I hadn't come into contact with the wizarding civilization in advance, I'm afraid I'd be deceived too. William said.

People have a tendency to use known things to explain unknown and new things, so as long as you give them an excuse, they will choose to believe

"But why would the Sniffing Company fund artists to build such a house?

' someone asked curiously.

This kind of thing is always said to be wrong, so as an accompanying person, William answered his question with a sentence:

"Because the directors of the company like it, half of Hogsmeade's real estate and real estate are in the hands of the directors of the company." He said.

Judging from the expressions of these visitors, William knew that his words had successfully created the impression of "company directors" in these people's minds.

-- Wealthy and self-willed.

According to the "company background" compiled by Lockhart, the board of directors of the Sniffing Drilling Company is mainly composed of the descendants of the landed aristocrats. These descendants do not want to rely on their family's land for money, so they jointly set up a company.

Therefore, although the visitors were a little surprised, this statement was very consistent with their inherent impression of those landed nobles.

Only those families who do not know how many generations they have passed down will support any art, and only they have the financial resources, and only they have the spare time.

And the next scene deepened their impression:

At the reception desk inside the hotel door, a young man with a long red ponytail and fang earrings exchanged coins for them.

"This is a bank employee, William O Arthur Weasley, who will convert pounds into gold for you," explained William.

The young man also greeted the guests generously.

"Hello everyone, I'm William Weasley, but everyone calls me Bill, you can also call me Bill." The young man said with a smile.

The guests looked at Bill Wesley's bizarre outfit, and couldn't help but have a deeper understanding of the phrase "Hogsmeade is an art village".

Bill was already used to the way outsiders looked at him, and he felt that since his outfit was considered an anomaly among wizards, it was normal for Muggles to not be used to it.

But unexpectedly, these Muggle elites quickly accepted his dress, which also made Bill look at the Muggles with admiration.

Of course, Bill didn't know how tolerant society was to \"others" after the Muggles had endured the hippie culture of the 1970s.

Bill didn't dwell on this matter for too long. He quickly took out several large cowhide bags from the safe behind the counter, and poured all the metal currency inside on the counter.

"I don't know if anyone has introduced it to you before. We only use these three currencies here. The name of this gold coin is Galleon, the silver bar is Sike, and the copper plate is Nat.

"We all know that," said the Muggles.

"That's good, then you should also know the exchange rate here." Bill said with a smile, "Considering the price level here, I suggest you exchange at least 30 Galleons, which is 240 pounds, if you don't spend it when you leave After that, we will take care of converting them back into British pounds."

Because Gringotts are mostly goblins and they shouldn't be in front of Muggles: so the only human employees in Gringotts who are responsible for changing money for Muggles can only be human employees in Gringotts, and because there is no prejudice against Muggles in wizarding families There were too few people, so the goblins finally had to choose Bill, the eldest of the Weasley family, to exchange money for them.

After listening to Bill's words, these social elites laughed knowingly and became playful.

As the saying goes, it is necessary to do a full set of dramas. Since everyone comes to this "medieval style art village" for vacation, the coins used should of course be ancient gold and silver coins. The service of this resort can be said to be very considerate.

"You're doing it like the real thing!" they commented.

Bill grinned noncommittally.

As social elites, although these Muggles believed that the people from the Sniffing and Drilling Company would not cheat them, they still stared at these coins and examined them carefully for a while.

"Excuse me, what is the gold content of this gold coin called \"Garon\'? ' asked one of the financial practitioners named Gunn.

Bill was prepared: "Same as the early Roman Empire gold coins, 95% to 96%

Mr. Gann weighed the gold coin in his hand, feeling its weight, and at the same time his mind was anxious: "Then how many Galleons can one person be allowed to exchange?"

"One invitation can be exchanged for 100 Galleons. After all, you only need to spend seven days here, so it shouldn't take much." Bill replied.

"If we don't run out, are we allowed to take it away?" Gunn asked again.

Bill looked at him and seemed a little confused: \"You can take it away... But you shouldn't be allowed to use these gold coins there, so we provide the service of redemption."

After listening, Mr. Gann didn't say much, but simply took out his wallet: "Can you swipe credit cards here?"

""What is a credit card\'? "Bill was more confused, "Subtitles...cards)? Can you use paper to buy things over there? "

Mr. Gunn was amused by Bill—the cast at the resort was so dedicated that he found it funny and absurd.

Gann was also happy to play with them: "That is to say, you can only use the banknotes approved by Her Majesty the Queen."

\"Dollars, Francs, Marks, Dubloons are acceptable."

"Okay... Then pay in cash, 800 pounds, I'll exchange 100 Galleons." Gunn took out 8 Scottish hundred-pound notes.

Although the maximum face value of banknotes in circulation in England is only 50, Scotland has a

An extra £100 note, so Mr Gunn took out some after hearing that he was on holiday in the Scottish Highlands.

Bill didn't think much of it, he quickly exchanged 100 Galleons for Mr. Gunn according to Gringotts' latest exchange rate.

In fact, he had a slight criticism of the fairies in Gringotts - the exchange rate of Galleons and the British pound was 1:7, but the fairies suddenly thought of it and changed it to 18, which is too ugly.

But these Muggles didn't seem to care about this. Except for Mr. Gunn, the rest of the guests followed Mr. Gunn and chose the upper limit of 100 Galleons to exchange.

Muggles are a bunch of weird people, so happy to be blackmailed, Bill thought.

Chapter 251 Break-in contact

While Bill felt Gringotts was blackmailing, the VC elite in Hogsmeade didn't.

95% gold content, about 1/8 ounce of gold coin, and the price of gold in 1994 was about 380 US dollars 1 ounce, that is to say, 100 Galleons are worth 3,000 pounds on the Muggle side.

Exchange 800 pounds for 3,000 pounds - this is definitely a fool if it is not full.

It can be said that all Muggles think that this is an "unspoken benefit" from the Sniffing Drilling Company. After all, it is too ugly to receive money directly, and it does not conform to the "noble style" of these landed nobles.

And their reactions were all within Lockhart's expectations.

Because the amount of gold in the wizarding world is abundant, but the total economic volume is not large, the purchasing power of gold is far less than that of Muggles, and this gap can only be balanced through trade. Those who take the first step are naturally get the most benefits

Just like in the age of great seafaring, the original Western Europeans only needed to use gold to buy oriental spices, silk and tea, and then ship them back to Europe to get 40 times the profit, so that the clippers, which were almost useless except for their speed, were all worthless. It can be popular, as long as it is fast, even if 1/3 of the boats sink on the way, they will make a lot of money.

The reason for this is that after the gold mines in South America and the silver mines in Central Europe and Spain were unearthed, there was a huge gap in purchasing power of gold and silver between the East and the West.

If this gap can be used well, then the wizarding world can become the next sea coachman and empire on which the sun never sets. If it is not used properly, it can only be reduced to Spain.

How did the invited Muggle guests know what Lockhart was planning?

's surplus.

Because it was already night when the Hogwarts Express arrived, most of the passengers chose to rest in the hotel, preparing to wait until the next day to visit the village.

They rode the "Bean Pod Sightseeing Elevator" in horror and came to the room with the knot on the bean vines.

Although there are no electric lights, they all have a glass bottle suspended on their roofs, with blue magic fire burning inside.

According to Horace, the hotel waiter, they can be controlled by voice, and these "lights" will automatically turn on or off as long as the guest shouts.

In addition, the hot water in the hotel is sprayed from the top of the bean vines hanging in the room, and the shower curtain is the waterproof paper inner skin of the pod, so that tourists can shower freely inside.

Probably because they had seen so many shocking things, these Muggle travelers pretended to be well-informed in order to avoid losing face, thinking that these were high-tech regardless of cost.

"It's strange, why such an interesting hotel, we've never heard of it before?" asked Mrs Gunn curiously.

Horace answered her immediately: "Because this hotel was only built this year and is going to be used to house the team members."

\"Competition? What competition?"

Horace hesitated for a while, but still didn't tell them the whole truth: "Several foreign school students are coming to play with us... If the weather is fine tomorrow, you can see our school's castle from here."

\"Your school? Castle?" Mrs Gunn was stunned.

"Yes, but only a very small number of people can go to our school, and the average person has not even heard of it. Although it is summer vacation, please don't approach it when you are walking, there are security guards there." Huo Russ decides to tell the ugly

Front.

Gunn and his wife sighed and looked very disappointed.

Although they didn't ask, they felt that they could guess what kind of place it would be. If it weren't for private schools that provide specialized education for the children of nobles and rich people, how many schools would have their own "castles"? ?

Ordinary people have never even heard of such an aristocratic school.

Gunn, as the "elite" in the middle class, can be said to be the most anxious group of people in the whole society.

Because they can vaguely glimpse the so-called "threshold of high society", but they can't get past it, and there is even a danger of slipping down if they relax, so they have to do their best to maintain their current status.

Such talents are the most respected class of 996. They regard "continuous work and continuous struggle" as their life creed, in order to wait for an opportunity and luck so that they can continue to climb up.

Therefore, Gann and the others are looking at this group with envy and longing for the "directors of the Sniffing and Drilling Company" behind Lockhart, and they are very eager to join them.

If he can do things for these nobles, maybe he can join in at some point.

Could it be that this is the opportunity you have been waiting for? Gann thought.

Lockhart did not intend to host these people to Hogsmeade. What he wanted was to explore the possibility of trade between the Muggle world and the wizarding world, while creating a wider network for his brother-in-law.

However, when he showed the "strength" of the company to these Muggles, what other ideas these Muggles would have was beyond his control.

After a night's rest, the Muggle tourists woke up and didn't

Looking out the window at the same time.

Sure enough, when the morning fog in the highlands dissipated, Hogwarts Castle appeared in everyone's field of vision from a distance.

Luckily it was summer, there were no people there, and there were no students flying around the Quidditch pitch, so there was no need for the Hogwarts professors to cast the Invisibility Charm.

These financial elites were amazed at the style of Hogwarts, but at the same time they couldn't help but feel a little pity - it seems that there is still some gap between them and the upper class, otherwise they would not have even heard of this school before. .

But when they finished washing up, took the "elevator" to the ground, and when the waiter instructed them to go down three brooms for breakfast, they found something unpleasant.

Because the guests in the three brooms were looking at them curiously, as if they were some kind of exotic animal.

Financial elites are naturally very unhappy. Although they can tell that those who watch them are not malicious, it is this rare attitude that hurts them even more.

We are not monkeys! Gann thought angrily.

Even the delicious breakfast tea, toast, fried eggs and bacon became a bit overwhelming because of the unhappiness.

- William, who was accompanying him, saw that the situation was wrong, and quickly explained it for the villagers.

"Hogsmeade is a small village. There were few outsiders here before. They were just curious and had no other meaning," he said.

Horace also hurried over, and then winked at the villagers, asking them to restrain themselves.

Lockhart has given him the task of not making his guests feel offended, and if he can't do this little thing well, the Flint family will probably fire him.

"Good morning, gentlemen! Did you rest well last night? Is there anything we need to improve?" He tried to change the subject.

In normal times, this kind of hospitality would be enough to shut up these financial elites, but after enjoying the onlooker treatment, they deliberately wanted to make things difficult for the waiters.