Shadow trail of the beautiful world

Chapter 69 27. Shopping Trip

"Bang, bang, bang"

Under Merlin's gaze, the woman in black stretched out her hand, and at the intersection, there was rhythm on the wall of the closed record store, and knocked three times on three different bricks.

The next moment, the hidden Leaky Cauldron appeared strangely on the empty wall in front of him.

The woman pushed open the door, gave Merlin a look, and then entered the bar by herself.

Merlin followed closely behind and walked into it.

The bar in front of me is really like a small bar in the middle ages, with a brick fireplace burning.The wooden bar counter has been worn out over time, and beside the extremely retro table, a group of strangely dressed people are drinking, smoking, or talking in low voices.

Under the dim light, no one noticed the woman and Merlin walking into the tavern.

In order to pretend that he came here often, Merlin didn't observe anything around him. He followed the woman through the dilapidated bar and came to the small patio behind the bar.

There doesn't seem to be anything here, just a dilapidated dumpster and some weeds.

"Your Excellency Coulson, open the door."

The woman stood aside, with her hips akimbo, looking at Merlin.she says:

"I'm going to Knockturn Alley to take care of some things. You should be familiar with it, right?"

"I'm not familiar with it at all, girl. If you hadn't led the way, I wouldn't even be able to find the entrance to the bar."

Merlin complained a little in his heart, but his face was calm.

He stepped forward, recalling Mr. Arthur's description at the time, stretched out his fingers, wrapped them in magic power, counted three bricks upwards on the trash can, and then counted two horizontally.

His fingers tapped it three times, then retracted.

The next moment, before Merlin's eyes, the masonry of this ancient brick wall spread out from the center to the surroundings in a circular shape under the manipulation of invisible magic power.

In the sound of slamming, it shifted to the sides, revealing a hole, like an archway.

This is the way to Diagon Alley.

Sure enough, it is full of the mysterious style of wizards.

The girl next to him watched this scene, and she said curiously:

"Don't you use a wand? The wizards who led the way used to open this door with a wand."

Merlin snorted. He recalled what Mr. Arthur told him, and said with a blank expression:

"That's just a misinformation used by old wizards to fool young wizards."

"As long as it is something with magic power, it can open the door to the magic world. As for Knockturn Alley, I won't go there. It's not convenient for me to go there recently."

"Well, it's up to you."

The lady dressed like a ninja walked into the arch in front of her, and she said to Merlin who was following behind:

"About the remuneration we agreed upon, let me ask you again, Coulson, are you sure you only need some insignificant information?"

"Words are sometimes worth more than things, ma'am."

Merlin looked at the street of wizards in front of him, and he replied in a low voice:

"What's more, what I need may be difficult to find at your level, so I won't make it difficult for you. A message related to a powerful magic item, preferably an offensive magic item... just give If I give you definite news, we will settle the matter, I will never tell what happened tonight, and you will naturally be able to complete your solo trial."

"But don't try to trick me, ma'am."

Merlin said softly:

"Wizards have never shown mercy to deceivers."

"My father told me to try not to deal with dark wizards. He said that you are all a bunch of lunatics."

The girl walked to the end of the arch, looked back at Merlin, and said in a playful voice:

"But now it seems that you are not so difficult to deal with."

"Be careful!"

Merlin stared into the girl's eyes and said:

"Not all dark wizards are friendly. Well, it's time to say goodbye, and I've already given you the address. But there's another question I've neglected, and I haven't asked it all this time."

"What's your name? Ma'am, what should I call you?"

The female ninja shrugged and replied softly:

"My name is Thalia."

"Well, that sounds like a boy's name. Looks like your father must have wanted you to be a boy."

Merlin made a comment, which drew the girl's glare.

After a while, the girl sighed desolately:

"Yes, you are right, he always hoped that I would be a boy and that I could inherit the glory of the family, but it doesn't matter, even a woman can do what he expects...I will prove it to him! "

"Women are no worse than men!"

"It's a good ideal. Equality between men and women is the supreme truth. In short, come on, Thalia."

Merlin commented casually, and the next moment, he turned around and entered the state of the shadow cloak.

Leaving without nostalgia seems to be like a race against time.

Talia didn't care about this either. She knew that many dark wizards had some eccentricities that could not be understood with common sense.She didn't stay for too long, turned around and left in the other direction of Diagon Alley.

A few minutes later, Merlin appeared at another intersection.

He didn't want to have anything to do with Thalia, a woman with a mysterious background. In addition, he had used up all the rumors of wizards he heard, and if he stayed any longer, it would be easy to reveal his truth.

Having successfully arrived at Diagon Alley, Merlin didn't want to cause any other troubles.

It was midnight at this time, and the whole Diagon Alley looked a little deserted, with no view of its bustling scene at all.

But Merlin didn't come to see the scenery. He was wrapped in a windbreaker and moved quickly on the street.And at the end of the street, he saw a tall white building, like a tall tower, which looked slightly inclined.

Even at midnight, the building appears brightly lit.

This is Gringotts.

The only bank in the wizarding world is said to be the safest place in the world.Run by goblins who are good at calculating and hiding things.

And when Merlin approached Gringotts, he saw a shiny bronze door that had been wiped, which was very majestic.

And at the door, there stood goblin guards in scarlet and gold uniforms.

In New York, at Papa Midnight's nightclub, he had seen leprechauns, but they were beautiful creatures, like fairies with wings.

But the one that appeared in front of Merlin's eyes was a European pure-blooded elf, very ugly.

They were short, only as tall as Merlin's legs.

They generally have green or brownish-green skin, wrinkled faces, narrow eyes, and pointed ears like bats.

With four short bodies and a huge head, it looks fragile.

But they are smart...

Probably one of the smartest of all magical creatures.

As Merlin approached, the goblin guards in uniform bowed to him, and Merlin gave the goblins a slight nod.Then he stepped across the second silver door engraved with words.

He hardly stopped, and walked straight into the hall of Gringotts.

It was an extremely spacious marble hall, lined with long mahogany cabinets on both sides, like a scene of a bank in the Middle Ages.

There is a goblin sitting behind each cabinet, most of the goblins are on the big ledger at hand, registering and counting with a white or black quill.There are also goblins weighing coins on bronze scales.

Merlin walked up to a goblin who was weighing coins. He took out a wad of dollars from his wallet, handed it over, and said in a hoarse voice:

"Replace them all with gold Galleons!"

Merlin originally thought that these goblins would question him to some extent.

But it didn't.

The goblin in front of him took the US dollars casually, put them in front of his eyes, skillfully picked up one, and looked at it against the light, as if he was trying to distinguish the authenticity from the fake.

A moment later, he handed Merlin a bag of jingling coins.

From the beginning to the end, the goblin didn't say a word.

Obviously, their daily business also includes exchanging various coins for wizards, which saves Merlin a lot of work.

Merlin walked out of Gringotts while the goblin guards bowed off.

He only knew the exchange rate of Galleons, but didn't know its purchasing power, and Merlin didn't plan to keep too many Galleons with him. He was going to Paris soon, and these things were meaningless in this world.

Therefore, he planned to spend all of the more than 3000 Galleons that were exchanged for the nearly 400 US dollars.

Merlin went to the bookstore first, and Mr. Arthur only allowed him to keep those textbooks for 3 years, which was definitely not enough for Merlin who was just dabbling in magic.

So he decided to see if he could buy his own magic book in the bookstore.

But the result was very disappointing.

This bookstore called Lihen Bookstore does have the textbooks that Merlin needs, but Merlin must provide proof of admission to the three major magic schools in Europe, or proof of admission to the Ilvermorny School of Magic in North America, otherwise they will not Sell ​​him the entire set of textbooks.

But unable to provide proof of enrollment, Merlin can only buy some books that he can't understand at all, or that are completely useless to him.

Merlin spent more than ten minutes browsing in the bookstore, and finally saw a travelogue written by a guy named Gilderoy Lockhart, which described all kinds of strange things seen around the world from the perspective of a wizard .

He thought it was very interesting, so he bought a set.

Then Merlin went to Madam Malkin's robe store next door to the bookstore. He learned from Arthur and Hermione that the magic robes of wizards do not have magical effects as in legends, but just like ordinary people's clothes decorations.

But the clothes in this long gown shop are all equipped with the magical functions of automatic ironing and self-repairing.

In other words, a set of clothes can really be worn for a lifetime.

This surprised Merlin, so he ordered four sets of clothes in one go from the kind, chubby and short witch shop owner.

A casual gray suit and shirt, a black battle suit for stealth, a traditional wizard robe for little Hermione, and finally a purple dress for my cousin.

These four sets of clothes cost almost half of Merlin's Galleons, but Merlin felt it was worth it.

After all, these are four sets of clothes that can be worn for a lifetime... And the fat and kind shopkeeper gave an extra black cloak that can be adjusted according to the size of the body.

The best thing about this robe shop is that it provides door-to-door delivery service. Merlin left the address of his hotel, and the witch promised to deliver Merlin's four sets of clothes to his window within 3 days .

All that is needed is for Merlin to open the window on time.

Merlin bid farewell to the gentle Mrs. Malkin in a friendly manner. Following the soft lights of the street lamps, he wandered the streets of Diagon Alley in a leisurely manner, passing many magical places along the way.

Even visited Crookshanks' "hometown".

It was a place called Wonder Zoo, which was actually a noisy little shop. It was said that Hermione bought the ugly, ginger-yellow, and bow-legged magical kitten Crookshanks here.

But Merlin didn't plan to buy a pet, he was not a traditional wizard after all.

In fact, he doesn't really like being accompanied by an overly smart little animal.

This also disappointed the female shopkeeper with heavy glasses, but after spending 50 Galleons in Merlin and buying 40 bags of high-quality magic cat food in one go, the female shopkeeper who made a small business was happy again Woke up, and presented Merlin with a small magic pocket.

It's a bit worn out, but it can hold 40 bags of cat food in one go, which means that it can also hold weapons of the same size...

Although the shopkeeper didn't advise Merlin to pack heavy things, the old pocket had been used for a long time.Its endurance is limited, and it is not a top-notch magical creation.

But even so, Merlin was already very satisfied.There is no place to sell magic pockets in Diagon Alley. According to the female shopkeeper, although this kind of alchemy product is very cheap, only alchemists can make it.

Merlin doesn't know any alchemists, and he has no way to know them.

Merlin, who prepared a gift for Crookshanks, was in a relaxed mood. He continued his fantasy journey. He saw a shop selling magic brooms, but he was not interested.

What normal adult man or woman would want to put a broom between their legs, sit on it, and fly through the air?

"It's so silly."

Merlin sneered at the broom in storage.

He went on, at a second-hand robe shop, and bought a second-hand cloak for little Eric to wear in the rain.

He also bought Fury a half-worn flight jacket and a somewhat old-fashioned toad mirror, even if it was Merlin's compensation for the damage to Fury's favorite sunglasses.

There is also a pair of white leather gloves, which are very suitable for archers to protect their fingers. They also have an automatic repair function. These are given to Barton.

Near the second-hand robe shop, at Mrs. Primpinell's beauty potion shop at No. 275 Diagon Alley, Merlin chose a set of moderately priced potion cosmetics, and prepared to give it to Natasha Romanoff, who is 65 years old this year. Ma'am, she may need these things badly.

In the end, Merlin bought some nice cigars in a shop, and planned to give Gartler a gift.

Eric, Barton, Natasha, Fury and Gartler are his few friends.

When the dawn was approaching, Merlin, carrying many bags, stood in front of his final destination.

In front of him was a small, crowded, narrow, and dilapidated shop.In front of the shop window, a wand was on display on a faded purple cushion.

And above his head was a dilapidated old signboard with some peeling paint.

"Ollivander's Wand Shop..."

Merlin took a deep breath and walked into the store. Amidst the ringing of the bell on the top of the door, he said softly:

"My wand..."

"You have been waiting for a long time."

(End of this chapter)