Chapter 712: Passwords and Tokens
St. Petersburg, Russia.
Early in the morning, the weather was as cold as ever, but it looked pretty good today.
After a brief bite of a few salted meat sandwiches and a slightly charred omelette at the edges, Ivanovich and his daughter hurriedly put on their coats and prepared to follow the instructions on the note for help.
Located in the northwest corner of the city, the [Destiny Group Potato Shop] is not difficult to find.
Although Ivanovich and his daughter had already gotten up early, by the time they arrived, there was already a long queue outside the shop, and people were looking expectantly at the closed door not far away, waiting for the store to open at nine o'clock.
No one has ever seen the real owner of this shop, and it is like its name, like a miracle of the gods, silently appearing in important cities of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other countries - all the registration procedures, acquisition records, registered trademarks were completed more than half a year ago, and there was no violation of the law.
As a large multinational group from Austria, the business scope of Destiny Group is simply pitiful.
In any city's Destiny Group Potato Shop, there are always only potatoes on the shelves, and the ruble code that occasionally fluctuates up and down, and there are almost no other things.
In the beginning, most of the cashiers were middle-aged and elderly people who would wander from time to time.
It's just that, compared to the suit-clad and gold-rimmed bank managers at Citibank, these seniors are significantly better at calculating the price of potatoes, the amount of change, and the different currency exchange rates.
Of course, this is not all that surprising.
After all, as time goes by, people gradually find that the last job of most of the "cashiers" in the [Destiny Group Potato Shop] is either in a disbanded research institute or a university that is undergoing large-scale layoffs.
As for the origin of the potatoes in the store, the theory is much more confusing.
Some people say that all the potatoes are grown from the frozen soil of Siberia, others say that they are foreign varieties brought from some large private farms in Austria, and some even say that these are actually grain reserves secretly taken from the secret war-ready grain base of the former Soviet Union......
But in any case, this medium-sized shop, which has only been established for less than half a year, has become an even more important place for the middle and lower class citizens living in St. Petersburg than the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the center of the city.
Because only in this place can the ruble in their hands be called currency, and not fancy waste paper.
The mayor of St. Petersburg even arranged for a team of police officers to maintain law and order in the vicinity, so as to avoid some bad situations that could lead to the departure of the [Destiny Group Potato Shop] - it is said that something similar happened in Kiev, and the local patrol police planned to forcibly take over the store on the grounds of security inspections and collect hefty fines for the administration of the order.
The most immediate impact was that the store directly announced that it would close indefinitely the next day.
Until now, if the citizens of Kyiv did not want to go to the store to buy 12 US dollars a kilogram of expensive potatoes, they had to get up early at four or five o'clock in the morning every day and drive to the [Destiny Group Potato Shop] in a small town dozens of kilometers away to buy potatoes.
And in places that ordinary citizens can't see, a number of banking institutions from Austria, Britain, the United States, France, and Germany and large food and light industry import companies have also raised the audit standards for various investments, imports and exports, and military-industrial cooperation in Ukraine, especially in the Kyiv region.
In the sharing of the rich dividends left by the former Soviet Union, the interests of all capital are common.
Gringotts and Destiny only need to give a gentle push in the back, giving the slightest impeccable reason, and immediately a large number of vultures will rush up and join forces to squeeze more benefits out of the crumbling Ukrainian government.
All in all, the importance of today's "Mandate of Heaven Group" in the eyes of the St. Petersburg government is no less than that of the "Citigroup" and "**** Group" and other well-known large foreign groups that opened in the city's most prosperous commercial street.
Compared to the seemingly noble and elegant bankers, the Mandate of Heaven Group, which focuses on dealing in cheap potatoes and is willing to hire local citizens, has a reputation and mystery among the citizens of St. Petersburg.
It's just that before that, Ivanovich had not been here.
Although he had heard a lot about the magical Manifest Destiny from the Muggles around him, he had never associated such a rudimentary Muggle food retail point with magic until he received the note.
As a wizard, he wasn't so bad that he had to wait in line to buy cheap potatoes.
Ivanovic looked around the surrounding streets, which were just ordinary long streets, lined up with ordinary Muggles, and from any point of view, it didn't look like a place that could be used as a meeting place for wizards.
"Hey, sir, please go to the back of the line, thank you!"
Just as Ivanovich was about to get a little closer and take a closer look at the strange shop, two policemen who were hovering on the side of the street suddenly came up and stopped in front of the man, pointing to the long line not far away.
This group of Muggle guards is really nosy.
Ivanovich frowned, subconsciously reached out and touched his pocket, and was thinking about whether to take advantage of Irina's inattention to secretly release a confusion spell through the blockade, when his face suddenly changed suddenly.
The two guards took off their batons from their waists faster than he did, and aimed them at him in an extremely familiar posture.
From Ivanovic's point of view, he could clearly see a wooden wand embedded in the groove in the center of the brown wooden batons, and judging by the reaction speed of the two guards, most of them were excellent Aurors who had just graduated.
"Sir, please line up at the end, thank you - your talent is not used to cut the queue......"
The slightly younger "wizard guard" nodded his chin at the group not far away, and said with a blank expression, his eyes flashing with contempt and pity - for this kind of wizard who intends to fish in troubled waters with a little lame magic, although they haven't encountered many of them these days, it is definitely not the first time.
Although the existence of magic has made it easier for wizards to live their lives, it is not a panacea.
In fact, not all wizards understand or are willing to use magic to grow crops and be self-sufficient in their daily lives, and for many of the more lame wizards, they prefer to "borrow" from their nearby Muggle neighbors.
Ivanovich frowned, subconsciously pulled his daughter behind him, and said in a deep voice.
"Wait, we're not here to buy potatoes!"
"I'm very sorry, but whatever you're here for, please line up at the back of the line. It's the rule. ”
The young guard shrugged his shoulders unmoved, spoke in a calm tone, and pointed again to the lengthening line.
As the three of them argued, there were already many people waiting in line to buy potatoes for the first time to look at them curiously, and a little farther away, several other guards who were patrolling also noticed the situation here.
"Are you really not going to get out of the way?"
Ivanovich was slightly stunned, and a look of annoyance appeared on his face.
There is no doubt that the two wizards disguised as guards probably thought of him as a crappy wizard with only a little mana, or a marginal man who was almost a squib, treating him the same as those Muggles, which was ......
And more importantly, it made him lose a lot of his father's face in front of Irina.
However, before Ivanovic could reorganize his words, a crisp voice sounded in his ears.
"Password, we have password!"
Irina suddenly came out from behind him, looked up at the two wizards, and said generously.
"[Ich liebe Dich] We're here to ask for help, and we've been told that if we just say this here, we'll get help from Hogwarts - we're in trouble. ”
"There's nothing wrong with passwords, but ...... What about the token that proves your identity?"
The two wizard guards exchanged a look, and the older wizard frowned, took out a work notebook from his coat pocket and looked at it carefully, looking at the team of wizards in front of him with some confusion, and his expression eased slightly.
"What token?" asked Mr. Ivanovich, frowning.
"It's true that every foreign recruit student will be assigned a guide, but in the meantime you'll have a letter of introduction or some other magical item that we'll know who to notify when activated. ”
"But we only got a note...... I don't know ...... either."
Irina was stunned, anxiously took out the small note from her small pocket, and was about to hand it out.
At that moment, a small hairy head emerged from the girl's neckline and let out a fierce scream.
Goohahaha-
"Huh?"
"Hmmm??!"
The faces of the two wizard guards changed.
This is!
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