10 Chapter 10: What's the Use of Money?

"Is that so? As far as I know, the Weasley family is so poor they can barely make ends meet, yet in this generation alone, they have seven children. You could say that in the entire wizarding world, there's hardly a family more prosperous than them, right?"

Thinking of the Weasley family, Bell thought of Harry's sidekick and good friend, Ron, and then his mood inexplicably soured.

"And the Black family, one of the oldest pure-blood families in Britain, who knows how much Galleons they have. But the heir to the family—Sirius Black—has been sentenced to life in Azkaban, so it's unlikely there will be any descendants. The Crouch family, a longstanding ancient family, also seems quite wealthy. The current head, Barty Crouch, almost became Minister for Magic and can definitely be said to have power and influence, but the heir to the family—Barty Crouch Jr.—died in Azkaban. And the old Crouch doesn't seem to have any intention of having another child, so the family can be considered on the brink of extinction."

Bell glanced at his father.

"So, what were you saying about Galleons?"

William didn't want to speak and looked to his wife, Elena, for help.

If he kept going, William felt like he was going to shut down. Can you imagine a 30-year-old man being rendered speechless by a 5-year-old brat? All he wanted now was a bottle of '82 Lafite to soothe his wounded soul and then sleep until tomorrow morning. Hopefully, he wouldn't be left with psychological trauma; otherwise, he might never dare to speak to his son again.

Elena, who had been listening to the conversation between father and son, was already shocked.

"Bell, why do you know these things? Did you read them in a book somewhere?"

"You know, Mom, I've been stuck in my room all this time. Being in one place for so long tends to get boring, so I had to find something to do. After getting tired of reading, I often found myself thinking about all sorts of things, and over time, I developed my own opinions on things."

"Oh, my poor Bell!"

Elena rushed over, tears in her eyes, and hugged Bell tightly.

"It's okay, Mom, I'm fine," Bell said with difficulty. "But if you don't let go soon, I might not be. You're squeezing me too tight; I can't breathe!"

"Oh, sorry."

As she apologized, Elena quickly released Bell.

"You're right, sweetheart, but what can we do? Strengthening the family's power isn't easy. The ancestors of our family worked hard for hundreds of years to achieve the status we have today."

William looked back at Bell, intending that if Bell couldn't come up with anything useful later, he would definitely tease him. He was being petty today, picking on every little thing. No one could stop him!

As for what to do if Bell came up with a feasible solution? If he couldn't think of one, wouldn't he find fault elsewhere!?

"Take out the Galleons and secretly cultivate wizards loyal to the Minashel family. As far as I know, many wizards don't live very well. If you offer benefits and favors, you can always recruit some reliable people, right? Don't worry about how much money you spend; money is worthless. Even without it, we can always make more. And the value of those wizards far exceeds Galleons."

"We can take it slow in the early stages, focusing on stability and trying not to attract attention from the outside. And most importantly, we should avoid quantity over quality. Loyalty to the family should always come first. And on the basis of ensuring loyalty, regular rigorous training is essential, with combat skills at least not inferior to the Aurors. Let's set a small goal for now, um... how about gaining the power to 'overthrow the Ministry of Magic at any time'?"

William and Elena looked at Bell speechlessly. If they could overthrow the Ministry at any time, was that still a small goal? Even at the height of Voldemort's power, he couldn't overthrow the Ministry! So what was the big goal then? World domination?

"But, if the number of people increases, it's hard not to attract the attention of the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry will never allow such behavior. And if it's just one or two people, it's meaningless." William found fault.

Sure enough, Bell was still too naive, not even noticing such obvious issues. Let me teach you a lesson today, reality can be cruel! 

"We should have a lot of industries in our family, right?" Bell asked.

"Of course, our main industry is the production of magical statues, and wizard chess is our family's secondary industry. And we have breeding farms in many places around the world, mainly producing magical materials used in the production of statues. In fact, almost all the industries in the wizarding world are divided among various pure-blood families."

"Then the problem is simple."

Bell shrugged.

"With so many dark wizards around, who knows where some of the Death Eaters are hiding. So our factories always need guards, right? There are so many dangerous magical creatures on the breeding farms, and those fantastic beasts that are hard to train cause trouble every now and then. There must always be skilled wizards on duty to manage them, right? Their work is so dangerous, and our family is so kind, spending money to help them train in spellcasting abilities to ensure their safety. Surely no one would oppose that! Whoever opposes it is responsible for any loss of life! During training, they can't work, but without anyone guarding, it's not possible. It's normal to recruit more wizards on rotation, right? Hiring twice the manpower is called staffing needs, hiring three times the manpower is called caring for employees. Keep those willing to be loyal to the family, and those who aren't can be dismissed. Normal personnel turnover, the Ministry can't interfere, right? Gradually accumulate like this, after a few years, won't the numbers increase? In the first phase, let's set a goal of 100 people, okay?"

William and Elena were stunned, and William didn't even find fault anymore.

Listen to this! What brilliant ideas! Clearly, they're the ones getting the upper hand, yet they make themselves sound so noble and selfless. If he finds fault again, what if Bell remembers it and starts scheming against him in the future?

William felt that Bell must have taken after his mother and hadn't inherited any of his own integrity.

"Wait a minute."

William said, rummaging in his pockets.

"Let me take out a pen and write it down."

In the end, the expansion plan of the Minashel family was set.

As the head of an ancient pure-blood family, William's abilities were still considerable, having been influenced since childhood. Most of the time, it was just limited by the times and perspective, not thinking too much about it. After Bell's reminder, William immediately came up with a series of plans and precautions in his mind, eager to implement them immediately.

William was excitedly perfecting his plan in the dining room, while Bell had already been taken away by Elena.

"Bell, let's take a bath together with Mom, okay? Come to think of it, we've never bathed together as mother and son," Elena said cheerfully.

"Mom!? I can bathe by myself. And I can walk by myself. Let go of me quickly!"

Bell struggled hard, but to no avail.

"Little Bell is shy! How cute! Haha."