Chapter 91
A man stood in front of the group, but in a much neater outfit, but at the same time not much different from those in which his colleagues were dressed.
His face was more "refined", without scars, but with a goatee and a thin moustache. If someone had met such a person on the street, they would not have ever thought that this guy was a bandit.
"Glad to welcome foreign colleagues to Dark Alley," he said with a graceful bow and a fake smile as he looked at the two wizards.
"Why did you stop us? We paid the "tax" " pulling out the badge and almost dropping it, the writer raised it to eye level.
"Don't worry, we certainly know this, but the thing is that just yesterday a new tax appeared," at that moment another group of wizards blocked the way back.
By the same "form" it was possible to understand without any problems that they were from the same group.
"And what is it?" Frege asked nervously, noticing the arrival of the second group and already preparing to take up his wand.
"Nothing special, only forty percent of the purchased goods."
"F-forty?!"
"There's no need to be so nervous, it's only forty percent," the man languidly dismissed, looking at the calmly standing Severus with a grin, who had not said anything all this time, but only watched everything. "I'm sure it won't be too hard for this young man to pay for it."
"Certainly, there is nothing difficult in this," Severus nodded calmly, taking out a bag and throwing it on the ground.
"Here, but there are only galleons in it, but I think you know where the exchange office is," Snape's actions turned the writer's face sharply pale, and the previous chuckles from the bandits stopped.
"What are you waiting for, take it and get out of the way." Severus said while looking at them.
The faces of the wizards darkened, and the leader looked especially gloomy, he did not pay any attention to the bag at all.
"What are you doing?!" grabbing the Slytherin by the sleeve, Fred whispered with panic in his voice, because it was a direct declaration of war. "They are.…"
"What's wrong?" Severus tilted his head in puzzlement. "They wanted forty percent, and I gave them, can't you see what they are wearing?" he pointed at the bandits. "In London, even the homeless look better, and these daggers, they look as if they got them from the trash, and they stink: they most likely don't even wash themselves, therefore I don't want to approach them," Severus looked at them with disgust. "Take it and leave."
There was silence for a few seconds until a chuckle sounded. "Boy, apparently you don't understand something, this is not Britain, and your parents will not save you," a wand appeared in his hand. "But we are very kind people. If you get on your knees and ask for forgiveness, and also give up all your things, then so be it, we will let you go, otherwise you will remain here forever as a ghost," the others also took out their wands.
"That's right, and your gang is the strongest here, right?" Severus asked him and the man snorted derisively in response. "What do you think?"
"Okay, take me to Vitor, and I'll give my hard-earned Galleons to him, and not to you idiots" raising his head, Snape himself looked at them contemptuously.
Hearing this name, the leader immediately frowned, because how could some boy from another country, who had just arrived in this country today, know of this name.
After all, even among his own, only a few knew this name, including himself. And since he knew it, the "guest" could not be simple. "That name, how do you know it?"
Hearing the question of their leader, the others looked at him in surprise, because how could such a bloodthirsty person who does not tolerate insults against himself so easily endure all this.
"Why should I explain something to you?" Severus said without looking at him.
"Tch! You, apparently …"
"Do it, or will you continue to blabber all day around?"
Glancing angrily at Severus, the leader took out a whistle and blew into it and after a few seconds an eagle dived onto his hand, and, taking out a sheet, the leader wrote a few words and tied it to the eagle's leg. In a moment the bird flew away.
"You'll have to wait until the answer comes from the boss."
"Good," pulling out a chair, under the gloomy looks of the bandits, Severus sat down on it and took out a book.
"Mr. Snape..." Fred looked at him almost sobbing.
"Don't worry, I've got everything," Severus winked at him with a smile, focusing on the last word. "I hope…"
Ten minutes later, the eagle returned, and as soon as the man opened the message, his face immediately darkened. "Follow me, our boss is waiting for you…" it was evident with what difficulty these words were given to him, because in the letter it was clearly stated to treat the boy with respect.
Getting up from a chair, he threw some gold coins to the writer. You are free, I do not need your services anymore. The man was a little taken aback by this, but still collected a few coins that fell to the ground." Thank you," and without saying anything else, he left.
The bandits also did not stop him, because they knew that he was only an escort, and the boy himself was a money bag. "Okay, let's go," Severus looked at the leader, who didn't say anything in response, but only silently turned around and went.
On the way, Snape calmly continued to inspect the shops , occasionally stopping, which greatly infuriated their escort, but in response they could not say anything or do anything because of the orders of the commander, so they could only look and curse the boy in the depths of their souls.
The market was very large, so no wonder that there were herbal shops on almost every corner. After all, there were real magical jungles nearby.
And it was very dangerous there, and hundreds of wizards lost their lives there every year, but if they managed to go back and find rare ingredients, then they could earn hundreds, if not thousands, of mouro. It was a real goldmine, and almost twenty percent of the herbs, which Severus found out, came to Britain from Brazil.
This was also one of the reasons for his coming to this country, besides that flower for the potion.
Of course, he wasn't going to buy all the herbs, just a few that would be useful for potions in the future.
And finally, having passed the seventh shop, Severus stopped in front of the weapon shop. These were not magic wands and artifacts, but real melee weapons.
"Unlike Britain, where the pureblood dominates and bladed weapons are considered just decoration, this place is much more like my world. Wizards are not limited to wands and are ready to cut their throats with a dagger at any moment," the store had no shop window, only a bare wall, and the handwritten sign read: "Weapons store".
He was interested in his simplicity, so under the frowns of the escort, Snape went inside, followed by an extremely annoyed leader, for whom ten minutes to the base turned into two hours, but he could not say anything, because the letter also said "accompany him all the time and do not rush". Entering the store, Severus thoughtfully began to examine the stands with weapons, but nothing caught his eyes.
"And if I think about it, the goblins in my world were green, wild and very bloodthirsty creatures, and those dwarves, rather stubborn, know how to forge quite well. Maybe it's true that their ancestors were gnomes and goblins who decided, so to speak, to diversify their intimate life?" but still, shaking his head, he decided to put these thoughts out of his head, God forbid, such a "show" would be dreamed again.
Severus did not pay much attention to weapons, he was more attracted to metals, some in the form of ingots, and others in ores, but in general they were all rather mediocre, and even if they were mixed, it would hardly have turned out to be something equal to the material from which Godric's sword was forged.
The elderly salesman standing behind the counter looked very nervous at the sight of the bandit leader, apparently knowing full well who he was and what he was capable of.
And when the gloomy look of the "guest" fell on him, he shuddered. "I'm interested in these ores," the Slytherin's voice suddenly sounded, from which he jumped out of the blue and stared at him with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?" Severus asked, looking at him.
"Y-yes…" Nodding, he looked at the three multi-colored ores that stood out from the rest, as well as the most expensive ones in his shop.
"I already ran out of mouros, is it possible to use galleons one by one?"
"Oh-one to one…?! But it will come out to almost seven thousand …"
"It's okay, I have an artifact with …"
But before he could finish, the seller waved his hands vehemently. "What do you mean, consider this a gift in honour of your arrival in our country!" and the shopkeeper said this so sincerely that anyone would believe his acting skills.
"I'll pack right now!" With a bright smile, he walked up to the stand under the counter and quickly put them away in a small box. "Here, take this."
At the sight of almost nine thousand mouros flying into Severus's wallet, the man experienced real pain, as if a dagger was stabbed right into his heart, but he could not do anything, because if he accepted them in front of that person(the bandits leader) , then, most likely, they would come for him tonight and demand interest.
"Thank you, if you still have such an ore, you can contact me, I will honestly pay for each one," the wizard handed him a sheet of paper, which the elderly wizard carefully, with a smile, folded and put in his pocket, although he wanted to crumple it and throw it in the face of the unscrupulous youth. "Of course, as soon as it appears, I will immediately contact you!"
"Thank you…" As soon as Severus and the leader of the bandits left the shop, a single tear rolled down the seller's cheek. After all, he had to make a lot of efforts to get them, but the fact that he would lose everything in one day was a real blow to him. And, returning behind the bench, the elderly man noticed a simple bag out of the corner of his eye, which he clearly remembered that he had not left there. And, as soon as he opened it, a golden glow erupted from there, and at the same moment, with a shock on his face, the owner of the store quickly hid it into another artifact under the spell of invisible expansion.
His heart was beating so fast that it was ready to stop at any second. Finally, with a trembling hand, the wizard took out a piece of paper and, unfolding it, saw a simple phrase:"If you can get more, I'll pay the same...", and below was an address in London. Tears rolled down the salesman's cheeks, and, once again carefully folding the sheet, he put it back in his pocket and went to the door. Today, the store closed earlier than usual, but no one paid much attention to it.
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