It was an old, weathered piece of parchment. Goblins could not use magic, and the manuscript bore the heavy marks of time.
Elijah saw a cross-eyed goblin clutching the manuscript roughly. His expression was fierce and twisted. Barely a meter tall, he stood atop a high gilded platform, looking down arrogantly at the other goblins gathered below.
From Dokuro's memory, Elijah learned that this goblin was Boderick, the current leader of the Goblin Brotherhood.
The Goblin Brotherhood was a radical faction, obsessed with gaining more rights for goblins. Like the others in the organization, Boderick himself was an extremist.
He paced back and forth across the platform like a proud rooster, holding the manuscript high as if it made him taller. In reality, the posture only made him look ridiculous.
Naturally, none of the goblins present thought so.
Elijah, the only color in this grey world, moved among them like an outsider woven into their phantom-like existence. Wherever he passed, goblins dispersed like smoke, only to reform once he moved on.
Every goblin's greedy gaze was filled with longing and reverence.
"Brothers! Look at this!" Boderick raised Ragnok's manuscript high, drawing every eye in the room.
"Do you know what this is?" A sly gleam flashed in his eyes. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "This is something left behind by that so-called 'Great Goblin,' Ragnok."
To Elijah's surprise, the moment Ragnok's name was mentioned, the goblins' expressions twisted with anger. Their fists clenched, nails digging into their rough skin.
"Traitor!"
"Liar!"
"Thief!"
The curses surged like waves, rising and falling endlessly. Even Dokuro looked as though he wanted to tear Ragnok apart.
Elijah hadn't played much of the game, but he knew Ragnok had once been a goblin leader. Clearly, that reputation had not survived the passage of time.
More than a century later, Ragnok had become a figure despised by his own kind. Even the title "Great Goblin" was now nothing but bitter mockery.
Elijah wanted to know what had led to this, and Boderick soon provided the answer.
"That's right! That liar, that betrayer! That shameless thief who stole our most precious artifact and vanished without a trace!" Boderick slammed the manuscript onto the ground as if it were worthless trash.
"He claimed goblins didn't need wands—that we could obtain power greater than wizard magic! And what was the result? This so-called Ancient Magic was nothing but a lie!"
Ancient Magic… a lie?
Elijah frowned slightly.
"It's not something ordinary beings can learn. We cannot learn it. Ragnok couldn't learn it. Even among wizards, only a handful can grasp its secrets.
"And for that illusion, we poured all our wealth into forging powerful goblin armor—armor that could have led us to victory over wizards and reclaimed everything that belongs to us!"
Boderick's voice rose with fury.
"But in the end, it was all stolen by that liar!"
Since the rebellion in the eighteenth century, goblins had not launched another large-scale uprising. The Ministry believed that granting them control over Gringotts had satisfied them.
But one bank had never been enough.
Goblins' greed knew no limits. Not long after gaining control of Gringotts, their desire for rebellion resurfaced. They invested everything into creating a set of magically enhanced goblin armor.
And then Ragnok took it.
He promised to return with greater power.
Instead, he vanished.
Without the armor, the goblins had no choice but to retreat into silence once more, waiting for another opportunity.
To them, Ragnok was a criminal—a traitor who had robbed them of their chance to overthrow wizardkind.
"I know some of you once followed him…"
Boderick raised a finger. It was dry and cracked like a dead branch, the nails thick and curved like shells. As his gaze swept over the crowd, several older goblins lowered their heads in shame.
"But that's in the past," Boderick said, his tone softening. "You were deceived."
His words carried weight. Comfort, and control.
A new resolve ignited in the eyes of those who had bowed their heads.
"Ragnok is a greedy thief. He hoarded the secrets of Ancient Magic and stole our treasure! Perhaps even now, he hides somewhere, indulging himself with that artifact and wielding its power freely."
"But—" one goblin in the crowd raised a trembling hand. "Didn't you say that magic was a scam? That no one could learn it?"
The room fell silent.
"Yes," Boderick admitted. "I believed that myself—until I found this manuscript."
"So Ancient Magic is real? And this manuscript contains the secret to controlling it?" The goblins' eyes lit up, greed flaring once more.
"Perhaps," Boderick said. "But why should we repeat the same mistake?"
His words cooled the crowd.
"Even if we follow Ragnok's path, we may still gain nothing. Brothers, I believe one day we will uncover its secrets—but not now. Not until we reclaim the status that rightfully belongs to goblins!"
His reasoning was simple.
Ancient Magic might be real. The manuscript might hold truth.
But without wands, they were like starving travelers in a desert holding dry biscuits.
Food mattered—but water mattered more.
What they needed now was the ability to use magic.
"I believe wizards will be interested in this," Boderick continued. "As a bargaining chip, we can exchange it for wands."
"You mean… give away the secret of Ancient Magic?" one goblin asked bitterly.
"Trade," Boderick corrected with a cunning smile. "Not give away."
He leaned forward slightly.
"And don't forget—I still have my dragons."
The implication was clear.
If negotiations failed, they would not hesitate to take what they wanted by force.
Now everything was clear.
Elijah watched as the goblins fell into a frenzy. They clearly supported Boderick's plan, thrilled at the idea of deceiving wizards.
They had never intended to make a fair deal from the beginning. Rookwood had been no different. The only difference was that Rookwood was both incompetent and had underestimated the goblins.
If Elijah had not appeared, they likely would have ended up as nothing more than dragon fodder.
"Let those wizards know—we are not ugly fairies!" Boderick raised both arms high.
Hundreds of goblins clenched their fists in unison.
"We are not ugly fairies!"
The roar surged like a wave, shattering the scene.
...
Elijah found himself in another memory fragment.
This time, there were fewer goblins. Boderick was dressed neatly, even wearing a suit jacket, though his distorted proportions made the outfit look awkward.
Several goblins stood before him—among them, Dokuro.
"Dokuro, I've found suitable collaborators. I need you to contact them." Boderick pushed Ragnok's manuscript toward him. "They are descendants of the Rookwood family. Their ancestor was once one of the guardians of Ancient Magic. They will be interested."
Dokuro took the manuscript and began reading.
Elijah stepped closer, finally able to see its contents clearly.
"You'll bring them to the Scottish coastline. There's a ruined tower there. Adora will be waiting with a dragon in ambush," Boderick said.
"But how do we convince them?"
"The manuscript records a blood ritual. It can reveal traces of Ancient Magic. Ragnok likely used it himself," Boderick explained.
"It's a pity I cannot decipher more. Ragnok probably did master Ancient Magic in the end—the latter part of the manuscript is completely unreadable. More importantly, the location of Vault 12 is unknown."
He paused, then continued,
"Ragnok once planned to attack the Unspeakables of the Ministry of Magic to seize the key to Vault 12. But after his disappearance, the key vanished as well. The secrets of Ancient Magic are likely hidden inside that vault."
Dokuro's expression darkened.
"And without the key, even we cannot open it. Those wizards claim we control the vaults, but in truth? Ridiculous. We still need their permission to open them."
His anger was obvious, as though everything inside Gringotts rightfully belonged to goblins.
Elijah had already suspected that Vault 12 held clues to Ancient Magic. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to search for its key.
But what the goblins could not decipher, he could.
Under his gaze, Ragnok's manuscript held no secrets.
"So the key to Vault 12… is hidden in the Hog's Head Inn?" Elijah felt a rare flicker of surprise.
After obtaining the key, Ragnok had hidden it inside the head hanging at the entrance of the Hog's Head Inn—a grotesque decoration that had likely remained untouched for years.
Even more intriguing..
Ragnok had already entered Vault 12.
According to the manuscript, there was nothing inside that he desired. Only a few beings—"guardians"—who refused to yield their secrets.
It was easy to imagine why.
Those guardians would never entrust Ancient Magic to a goblin.
After failing to obtain what he wanted, Ragnok hid the key and vanished with the goblin armor. The manuscript recorded nothing further.
Even so, Elijah had no intention of abandoning the vault.
Unlike Ragnok, he had the ability to inherit Ancient Magic.
He could become its new guardian.