Ragnuk looked at the Wizard before him—who, judging by his appearance alone, was clearly of the most dangerous sort—and persisted.
"The Lestrange Family vault is special; it belongs to one of the oldest families. You cannot simply take things from it with just a key; you must prove your identity to us."
Sherlock, disguised as a gloomy Wizard, had been prepared for this, but the cold expression on his face did not diminish; instead, it grew even more dissatisfied.
He pulled the small, badge-shaped metal box from his pocket and tossed it towards Ragnuk quite rudely.
Ragnuk reached out and caught the small box. Rather than examining it himself, he went to the counter and found a Goblin wearing gold-rimmed spectacles.
"A family crest, from the Lestrange Family."
The extremely aged-looking Goblin reached out to take the crest from him, removed the spectacles he was wearing, picked up a monocle from the side, and placed it on his face to examine the crest box carefully.
It did not take long before the old Goblin returned the box to Ragnuk.
"It is genuine, though the style is a bit dated. I recall that before the entire Lestrange Family was thrown into Azkaban, they seemed to have had a new batch of crests commissioned."
Ragnuk looked back at Sherlock, who was standing three metres away, impatiently examining the ceiling of the Gringotts lobby, and then lowered his voice to ask.
"Then could this person be a surviving member of the Lestrange Family? Does he comply with the rules?"
The old Goblin put his gold-rimmed spectacles back on and gave Sherlock a subtle glance.
"Why do you care if he complies with the rules? The heads of that family are all locked away in Azkaban now. Before they were thrown in the slammer, none of them told us how that vault should be handled. Just follow the rules; as long as we confirm he is a member of the Lestrange Family, it is none of our business if something goes wrong."
Ragnuk nodded, took the crest box, and was about to turn back to find Sherlock when the old Goblin suddenly whispered a reminder.
"Be careful when you take him over. The condition for it being none of our business is that his identity is confirmed."
Ragnuk paused for a moment, then returned to Sherlock's side without changing his expression, handed the crest box back to him, and put on his professional smile once again.
"Ah, sorry to have kept you waiting, sir. Your crest is in order. My name is Ragnuk. May I ask what you are called?"
"John Lestrange."
Sherlock took the box from his hand, held his head high with arrogance, and let out a cold snort, as if looking down his nose at him.
"Mr Lestrange, I shall take you to your family vault now."
Ragnuk smiled along with him, unbothered. Wizards from great families, especially Pure-blood Family ones, were basically all like this, and the more they acted this way, the happier the Goblins were. Great families were also their biggest clients.
As for Pure-blood Family members who were approachable like the Weasley family, even if they were friendly, the Goblins would not show them any good faces. You could turn their vault upside down and not find a single gold coin; even if their attitude was good, could that put food on the table?
Ragnuk led Sherlock towards a door on the side of the lobby. He pushed open the tall double doors, revealing an underground tunnel that looked like a mine shaft.
The surrounding walls were uneven and rough. After Sherlock and Ragnuk entered, the door behind them closed on its own, and torches on the walls lit up one by one, illuminating the underground tunnel.
Ragnuk whistled towards the depths of the tunnel, and soon a rumbling sound approached from the distance as a small cart drove up from the tunnel on its own.
Sherlock and Ragnuk sat in it together, and the cart started with a jolt, speeding them down underground.
Along the way, Ragnuk had no intention of making conversation with Sherlock; there was only the sound of rushing wind around them.
The underground tunnels of Gringotts were intricate and complex. They had passed more than twenty forks in the road, yet they continued to descend with no sign of stopping.
Sherlock maintained a cold expression, but he was already muttering in his heart. Just how deep did these Goblins dig their tunnels? At this rate, who knew if they had dug through the Earth's crust?
Just as he was muttering to himself, the sound of rushing water came from ahead. He squinted and looked up, and to his surprise, he saw a waterfall blocking the tunnel, cascading down from above. The Thief's Downfall!
One of the most important defensive measures in the depths of Gringotts, the vaults behind this waterfall were treasure troves that had existed since the founding of Gringotts.
As the gateway to these extremely important vaults, the water cascading down from the Thief's Downfall could naturally not be just ordinary water.
Any Wizard wishing to enter the deepest vaults had to be "cleansed" by this waterfall.
It would wash away all magical effects and magical disguises from the visitor, and if it detected any issues, it would throw the intruder off the tracks, and Gringotts would immediately be alerted to the illegal intrusion.
The Thief's Downfall was effectively a massive, constantly active counter-curse.
It was rumoured that it could even eliminate the effects of some Unforgivable Curses (the Goblin Harry controlled with the Imperio was freed after passing through this waterfall).
Seeing the waterfall, the cart did not slow down. Ragnuk, sitting in the front, turned around and stared fixedly at Sherlock.
Sherlock appeared calm and composed, showing no signs of nervousness towards the waterfall.
The cart sped through the Thief's Downfall. The slightly chilly water splashed over Sherlock and Ragnuk. The cart was not thrown off the tracks, and there was no change in Sherlock.
Ragnuk's gaze on Sherlock gradually relaxed, and his tensed fingers also loosened.
Sherlock, annoyed, pulled out his wand and used a spell to dry his soaked robes.
"Is this how Gringotts treats its clients?"
"This is a necessary defensive measure, sir," Ragnuk said, neither servile nor overbearing. "To protect your treasures, we must be doubly careful."
"But Gringotts has still been broken into before," Sherlock sneered.
He was referring to the time Quirrell broke into Gringotts during Harry's first year.
Ragnuk did not offer much defence for this, only saying loudly.
"But he didn't take anything away! Just a thief who left empty-handed!"
Sherlock just sneered without saying a word.
It was only because Hagrid had taken the Philosopher's Stone away according to Dumbledore's instructions that it was debatable whether Quirrell would have left empty-handed in the end.
Having passed through the Thief's Downfall, the authenticity of his identity was greatly enhanced; at the very least, Ragnuk's suspicion was not as heavy as it had been at the start.
The method to deceive the Thief's Downfall was actually quite simple.
Sherlock was indeed not using any magical disguise. The face he was wearing now was not created using magic or any Potion.
It was just a human-skin mask he had obtained from a Muggle.
The Thief's Downfall could wash away magic, but Sherlock had not used any magical means at all.
Anyway, he did not need to disguise himself as any specific person; as long as it wasn't his own face, anything else would do, so the restrictions on the disguise were very low.
Before planning to come to Gringotts, Sherlock had specifically asked Dumbledore for every detail about Gringotts' internal defences, especially confirming that this waterfall was ineffective against Muggle items.
After all, these arrogant Goblins didn't even necessarily look up to Wizards, so how could they look up to those Muggles?
After passing through the waterfall, Ragnuk took out a tattered small bag, retrieved a metal device from it, and handed it to Sherlock.
"Clanker. Shake it and it will make noise. You will know exactly when to use it soon enough."
Not long after his words fell, a deafening roar echoed through the tunnel.
In front of the four or five innermost vaults, a giant beast blocked their path.
It was a dragon!
Due to being imprisoned underground for too long, the scales on the dragon had become pale and loose. Its eyes were a cloudy pink, and both its hind legs wore heavy shackles, with thick chains connected to massive stakes driven deep into the stone floor.
Its spiked giant wings were folded against its sides; if spread, they would fill the entire underground chamber.
The dragon turned its ugly head towards them, let out a roar that made the stones tremble, opened its great mouth, and spewed a burst of Fiendfyre towards the approaching Ragnuk and Sherlock.
Ragnuk demonstrated for Sherlock by shaking the metal device called a "Clanker" in his hand.
A sound like a small hammer striking an anvil rang out, and Sherlock followed suit, shaking the item in his hand.
That sound was like a deadly poison to the dragon; it roared and backed away, clearing a path in the tunnel.
Upon getting closer, Sherlock noticed the scars on the face of this aged dragon.
It was clearly forcibly tamed here by the Goblins. The so-called "Clanker" was a precursor to punishing it. Looking at its aged appearance, one wondered how long it had been imprisoned here.
Sherlock was not Hagrid; he didn't have much overflowing sympathy for these big guys. After staring at the old dragon for a moment, he shifted his attention back to what was in front of him.
They had arrived at the door of the Lestrange Family vault.
"Please give me the key, sir," Ragnuk said.
Sherlock pulled the brass key from a separate pocket and handed it to Ragnuk.
There was no keyhole on the vault door; it looked as if the key were superfluous.
But Ragnuk had no intention of inserting this key into some hidden hole; instead, he reached out with the hand holding the key and gently touched the door.
Instantly, the door of the vault vanished. One could see that the cavern was stuffed from floor to ceiling with gold coins, golden goblets, silver armour, pelts of various strange animals with spines or drooping wings, Potions stored in vials, and a skull still wearing a crown.
Only when Ragnuk took the key did Sherlock's body tense up, but at this moment, he finally let out a sigh of relief in his heart.
This key of his came from Rabastan, who had died seventeen years ago. Who knew if the Lestrange Family members had discovered the loss of his family crest and vault key?
Therefore, the only risky bet on this trip to Gringotts was just now.
Sherlock was betting that Bella and Rodolphus did not know where Rabastan had hidden the key, and that they had not changed the way to open the vault afterwards.
And now, he had clearly won the bet.
This was also due to his good luck, because if following the original plot, after Lord Voldemort returned and took control of the Ministry of Magic, Bella did indeed change the way to open the vault and discarded the family key.
Looking at the magnificent treasure vault before him, Sherlock did not think about it so much anymore and walked straight in.
Ragnuk bowed and stood to the side, respecting the client's privacy, with no intention of entering with Sherlock.
The Lestrange Family vault was huge, at least five times the size of Sherlock's own Gringotts vault, enough to host a football match inside.
Looking around, everything was magnificent and resplendent. Floodlights were installed on the ceiling of the vault, and the flowing light reflected from those priceless treasures made one feel dizzy.
This was the accumulation of the oldest Pure-blood Family!
The wealth stored in this vault was such that it would not be an exaggeration to say it could buy half of Diagon Alley!
But Sherlock was not dazzled by the wealth that could make people lose their minds. He stopped steadily half a metre in front of the pile of treasures, which could completely be called a mountain of gold.
As he approached, he could clearly feel a scorching heat.
These treasures also had special protections on them!
Other than the true bloodline of the Lestrange Family, any outsider who touched any of these treasures would trigger the Duplication Charm and Fiendfyre cast upon them.
Fiendfyre needed no explanation, while the Duplication Charm would instantly create countless worthless replicas identical to the original, overwhelming the thief.
Those replicas would also carry the effects of the Duplication Charm and Fiendfyre. As long as one touched them, these priceless treasures would turn into countless scorching "branding irons," repeatedly casting the spells until the thief was burned to death!
Gringotts certainly would not spread these things, and the owners of those vaults would never talk about their protective measures either.
But Albus Dumbledore, who also came from an ancient Wizard family and was knowledgeable and learned, naturally knew everything about the various protective measures here. Before coming, Sherlock had done his homework from him.(TN: That's fanon?)
Gringotts claimed that no one could steal anything from inside.
In the end, this was just a boast. Mediocre Wizards indeed could not do it, but for people like Dumbledore or Riddle, sneaking into Gringotts to steal something was not much more trouble than drinking water or eating.
Even if Lord Voldemort had lost all his power and was possessing Quirrell, he could still come and go as he pleased.
This was also the reason why Sherlock had to confess to Dumbledore about discovering the Horcrux. If he had relied on himself without prior knowledge of these internal measures, even with the vault key, he would not have been able to get this far.
Collecting his thoughts, Sherlock's gaze did not linger on those treasures, and he quickly scanned the several mountains of gold.
He did not yet know what the Horcrux hidden in this vault was, but regarding how to find it, Sherlock was not worried in the least.
Not long after, he saw a cup reflecting golden light under the floodlights on a shelf near the ceiling!
That little golden cup had two handles, and the body of the cup was carved with a lifelike little badger looking back from the grass.
And at the same moment his gaze met the cup, a slight burning sensation came faintly from his left arm!