Chapter 56: Windfall and Christmas Gifts

The trip to Eastern Europe went smoothly this time.

When Alaric returned to Jordan Williams's home in New York, almost two weeks had passed since Christmas, and his vacation was about to end.

This trip brought him substantial gains. After witnessing the fall of the Giant the soviet union was, he and other Western financial institutions feasted on the giant's corpse, happily enjoying the spoils.

His operation wasn't overly complex. In the Soviet Union, using Jordan's identity and sufficient assets as collateral, he borrowed a large sum of rubles from a Soviet bank—approximately ten million rubles. 

The agreement was to be paid in dollars, and then he would repay it in rubles. Of course, he had to employ some special means like confusion spells and misleading charms. 

Otherwise, as an individual, he wouldn't stand a chance to compete against those regular financial institutions.

Afterward, he obtained around ten and a half million US dollars in cash.

The next step was to wait.

On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation as the Soviet president. 

On December 26, the Soviet Union dissolved, and the Russian Federation became the sole successor state. 

All of the former Soviet Union's assets, deposits, diplomatic institutions, embassies, etc., were transferred to Russia.

The Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 countries: the three Slavic countries, the three Baltic countries, the five Central Asian countries, the three Transcaucasian countries, and Moldova.

An era had ended.

Afterward, the ruble experienced a rapid decline of four to five times in just a week. In other words, the current ten and a half million dollars were equivalent to over fifty million rubles.

He only needed to use half a million dollars to cover the repayment, leaving the rest as pure profit.

It was practically like robbing a bank—no, robbing a bank wouldn't be this lucrative.

After the Soviet Union's dissolution, Russia was left as an empty shell for a reason.

The wealth accumulated by the Soviet Union over decades was completely plundered by bankers from all over the world.

If Alaric had enough time, he could wait a few more months. By then, Russia's inflation rate would skyrocket meaning the current ten and a half million dollars would be worth even more.

Unfortunately, what he lacked now was time.

Because still after waiting for a long time, and even with a huge drop in value of rubles, it would only increase his gains by at most two million dollars.

Although this sum seemed significant, he had already earned more than ten million dollars, enough to sustain him for quite some time. 

So, there was no need to invest this additional time and effort for this extra two million.

As he could use this extra time to research and learn more magic which would help him earn even more in the long run.

And if he stayed here for too long he would also risk the real Jordan waking up and spoiling his plans so he made a wise decision without being too greedy.

After that, he went on a shopping spree in Russian stores and returned with a full load.

Due to the economic crisis, industries like luxury goods and crafts in Russia were in a slump. People didn't have money even for meals, so where would the money go for consumption?

This worked in Alaric's favor. He purchased a large quantity of local specialties and souvenirs at a low cost using his dollars.

In these circumstances, the dollar was more stable than the ruble. Merchants were willing to take a loss to receive dollars instead of the constantly depreciating ruble.

Now, Alaric, victorious and triumphant, along with Orianna, tidied up Jordan Williams's home. They did some decorations and then poured the potion to reverse petrification down his throat.

Poor Jordan finally returned to his pre-petrification state, but he still didn't wake up. Before being petrified, he had also fallen victim to Alaric's Sleep Charm. It would take some time for him to recover from the unconscious state.

During this gap, Alaric hastily fabricated some memories of a vacation in Eastern Europe and implanted them into Jordan's mind.

Since these memories were drawn from Alaric's personal experiences, they were authentic enough. He then cast a series of confusion, bewitchment, and memory alteration spells on Jordan.

In this state, Jordan's mind would be in chaos, and within a week, he would become forgetful and absent-minded. This way, he wouldn't suspect the fragments of memory.

To enhance credibility, Alaric also placed half a bottle of vodka and burned half of the leaves in the living room—acquiring these items was quite easy in the United States. He also left many Eastern European specialties for Jordan.

When Jordan woke up, he would feel that his memories were in disarray, with only fragments of a trip to Eastern Europe.

However, combining the souvenirs, the vodka on the table, and the leaves, he would come to the conclusion himself: he did go on a vacation to Eastern Europe, but after returning to New York, due to excessive drinking and consuming Fly leaves, his memory became confused, and he forgot many specific details.

If he wanted to verify further, his plane ticket, expenditure records, and records of small ruble exchanges would prove that he indeed went to Eastern Europe. After all, these were all things Alaric did under his face, using his identity, and couldn't be falsified.

As for the mortgage loan and shorting the ruble operations, since they were carried out entirely in Soviet banks, there were no records in New York.

When Alaric left Russia, he had already wrapped up all the loose ends. 

Unless Jordan personally went to Russia, accurately found that bank, and discovered this transaction in the bank's records.

Everyone involved in the transaction had been subjected to a forgetfulness spell, leaving behind electronic and written records—otherwise, he would never know in his lifetime that "he" had pulled off such a big deal in Russia.

As for whether he would be targeted by the KGB, held accountable by the Russian government, or denied entry later, it was no longer Alaric's concern.

...

When Alaric returned to Wool's Orphanage, there were only two days left until the end of the vacation.

Back at the orphanage, stepping into his familiar room, Alaric felt a myriad of emotions.

Four months ago, he was just an ordinary person, aspiring to become a big entrepreneur and the world's richest person.

But now, after four months, he has entered the other side of the world and truly become a wizard.

Orianna curiously looked around his room, eager to see where her dearest father had once lived.

Himari, on the other hand, excitedly jumped around on the bed—she also missed this former home.

Alaric noticed that his room was already filled with Christmas gifts, almost all sent by friends he had met at Hogwarts—and of course, his numerous fan club members.

As Alaric spent a considerable amount of time in the public library and the Ravenclaw common room library, everyone thought that books would be the best gifts for him.

He received over sixty books, including some more advanced magic books sent by the professors.

These books were neatly stacked on the floor—over twenty of them were written by Gellert Grindelwald. 

It seemed this guy had quite a following among the younger witches.

Most fan club members sent chocolates and gift cards. He received around two hundred chocolates, enough to last him a year, and over a hundred gift cards.

Of course, Alaric wouldn't dare to easily eat those chocolates. Who knows which one might be spiked with a love potion? 

The chocolates he received when he was injured had four or five pieces with love potions. Luckily, he didn't eat any of them.

There were also some other gifts, such as a statue of Alasdair Maddock from Roger—a player for the most successful team in the league, the Montrose Magpies.

Alasdair Maddock was Roger's idol. Cho Chang sent him a set of posters from the Tornadoes, her favorite team.

Hermione gave him a quill for shorthand, and Penelope gave him a hand-knitted scarf. 

According to her roommate, she had secretly prepared this scarf a month ago. She neither knitted it outside the dorm nor let her roommate spill the beans. 

Dumbledore sent him a nauseating bag of cockroach clusters.

Seeing this unexpectedly large pile of gifts, Alaric felt both happy and troubled.

Fortunately, this time, he struck it rich in Russia. Before returning, he bought plenty of specialties and souvenirs to use as reciprocal gifts. These should be just enough.

Moreover, these local specialties could serve as evidence of his travels—among the pile of gifts, he also found several un replied letters from Cho Chang, Hermione, and Penelope. 

Thinking about the promises made before parting to write letters during the holidays, Alaric felt a headache. He hoped these Russian gifts could soothe their dissatisfaction.

.

.

.

Guys, do leave some power stones and reviews.

✌patreon.com/bobthewriter✌

If you guys enjoy this story, you can support me on Patreon and get access to Advance Chapters, it really helps me to work on new chapters.