#178 - Section 178

“Ethan!”

This time the voice carried a hint of certainty, and Ethan recognized it as George.

Following the direction of the voice, he saw George, Fred, and Cedric walking towards him.

“When did you guys arrive?”

Ethan wasn't surprised to see the twins and Cedric here.

In the original story, the twins participated in the Quidditch World Cup betting and were swindled by Ludo.

Besides, all three of them are members of the Hogwarts Quidditch team, so it's only natural for them to watch the Quidditch World Cup.

Moreover, during Ethan's second year, they all participated in the campus version of the Wizarding Duels organized by Lockhart.

It's just that in the original story, they didn't seem to arrive at the opening!

It seems they only stayed for one night.

“We just arrived today. My family came with Cedric's family, got up early, and found a Portkey in the shape of a battered boot to get here.”

Speaking of this, George was a little depressed.

Out of the two hundred Portkeys in Britain, some are normal and some are坑 (kēng - a pit, used metaphorically for a trap or scam), and the smelly boot is definitely one of the 坑 (kēng) type.

His dad insisted on going to that location, even though there were Portkeys at almost the same distance.

“I also came today.”

As for which Portkey he used, it's better not to say.

“By the way, can your family afford full Quidditch tickets?”

In the entire British wizarding world, everyone knows the Weasleys are poor!

The Quidditch World Cup tickets aren't cheap, even the ones in not-so-great locations are quite sought after.

There's no helping it, too many people love Quidditch.

Europe, America, and half of Asia all have ardent Quidditch enthusiasts who don't hesitate to spend a little money.

“George and I contributed some money. It was earned at the Wizarding Tournament last year.”

Fred also sighed. In other families, the dads pay, but in their family, the sons are paying.

If they hadn't earned nearly two thousand Galleons at the dueling competition, they wouldn't have been able to afford full tickets based on the small business they did at school.

Chapter 223: Inside Story

“Which team do you think will win this year?”

Ethan had Hachi specifically collect a lot of information on Quidditch teams so that he could find good targets when betting.

But Ethan hadn't had time to look at it yet, so he thought he'd ask these three Quidditch enthusiasts; it might be helpful.

“This year, the Scottish team still has a good chance of winning the championship.”

When Cedric said this, a hint of longing flashed in his eyes.

After graduation, he plans to join a Quidditch club.

If he could be selected for the national team later and fight for Great Britain in the next Quidditch World Cup, that would be even better.

Moreover, Cedric had already planned out his life: from club player to national team, accumulating popularity and increasing his value, and even if he retired in his thirties or forties, he could still go to work at the Ministry of Magic.

In this regard, Cedric quite envied Viktor Krum of the Bulgarian team.

This guy is only one year older than him, but he joined a Quidditch club as early as two years ago, and then was selected for the national team, showing his talent in the qualifiers and becoming a star player for the Bulgarian team.

Now, no one in the Quidditch circles in Europe doesn't know him.

It can be said that he got the script of the chosen one in Quidditch.

You should know that Viktor Krum is only eighteen years old.

He definitely has a bright future.

“We also think highly of the Scottish team. They should have won the championship last year, but unfortunately, the Seeker Hector Lamont's mistake allowed the opponent's Seeker to find the opportunity, and they ultimately lost the championship.”

Speaking of this, George looked regretful.

During the finals, their dad Arthur took them to see it, and the entire match lasted for five days.

The Weasley family also watched in the stands for five days, but the Scottish team still lost the match by thirty points.

This also caused many Quidditch enthusiasts to lose their fortunes, after all, there are quite a few people in Great Britain who support their national team.

The atmosphere for Quidditch in Great Britain is already very grand, and the strength is naturally not weak.

The Scottish team is one of the best, and its supporters are countless.

Even though they lost the match by thirty points last year, the supporters are still the most among the several Quidditch teams in Great Britain.

“For the first match that is about to begin, England vs. Transylvania, which team do you think has a better chance of winning?”

Ethan wasn't too familiar with the Scottish team, but he knew that they were the runners-up of the previous tournament, and the runners-up of a match that lasted for five days.

The interviews in various newspapers these days have mentioned this quite a bit.

The specific competition rules are like this: it is divided into the Quidditch World Cup qualifiers and the finals.

All countries and regions can participate in the qualifiers, and are divided into sixteen groups. Within two years, each team must play against each other team in the group one by one.

Moreover, there is a time limit for the qualifiers.

Four hours, regardless of whether the Golden Snitch is caught or not, the game is over, and the score determines the winner.

The finals are the final sixteen teams participating, and there is no time limit. The game ends when the Golden Snitch is caught, which is why there was a situation where a match lasted five days in the previous tournament.

Moreover, the finals are a single-elimination tournament. Losing a match means going home. These sixteen teams will receive a ranking based on their results in the qualifiers before the start.

The team with the most points will play against the team with the fewest points.

This Quidditch World Cup, which is being held here, is the finals. As for the preliminary rounds, they were completed two years ago.

The England team has the highest score, while the Transylvania team is at the bottom.

So the first match that is about to be held is England vs. Transylvania.

"That's naturally the England team. You weren't planning on buying the Transylvania team, were you?"

Fred looked at Ethan in disbelief.

Although the England team isn't as good as the Scotland team, they still showed some promise by taking first place in the qualifiers this time.

There's no way they could lose to the Transylvania team, which no one's even heard of.

If Charlie hadn't gone to work at the Romanian Dragon Reserve and frequently traveled to the Transylvania region, introducing his work situation to his family,

they still wouldn't know where this little backwater place even was.

"Yeah, I'm planning on buying the Transylvania team."

Ethan looked at the three guys across from him, who were staring at him in disbelief, and nodded affirmatively.

Ethan wasn't too sure about the specific match results.

But it seemed like all the British Quidditch teams were underperforming this year.

Don't be fooled by them entering the finals; once the games started, it was one disaster after another.

As for the Irish team, the Muggle region of Ireland had already become independent.

Although wizards are considered a unified group, Ireland doesn't feel any allegiance to Britain; they also want to become independent like the Muggles.

A considerable number of children from Irish pure-blood noble families choose to study at Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

"Ethan, are you sure your brain's not malfunctioning?"

"Anyone can see the difference in strength. It's better to buy the England team with us!"

George looked at Ethan with a serious expression, genuinely wanting what was best for him.

After all, the difference in strength between these two teams was obvious at a glance.

For this Quidditch World Cup, Fred and George planned to show off their skills and at least earn back the money they spent on the all-access tickets.

This was related to the scale of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which they were planning to open after graduation.

"Bet on the games anyway, a villa by the sea, haven't you heard of it?"

Hearing the twins' confident words, Ethan couldn't help but suspect that someone was manipulating the results behind the scenes!

Just like Lockhart and Ludo Bagman manipulated the Hogwarts wizarding competition back then. Although Ethan's interference meant they didn't earn as much, they still manipulated it after all.

Now, it's probably the Ministries of Magic from various countries, along with the goblins, manipulating the entire competition.

He should have thought of it sooner; manipulating competitions for profit is common in the Muggle world, so it's not impossible in the wizarding world either.

As long as the profits are big enough, what wouldn't they dare to do?

As for how the final profits would be distributed, Ethan wasn't sure.

Fortunately, Ethan wasn't planning on bottom-feeding to make money in this Quidditch World Cup, or else who knows who would be getting scammed.

"What's a villa?"

He almost understood what Ethan was saying, but he really didn't know what a villa was.

"A type of house in the Muggle world, you could say it's a mansion."

"If the England team is stronger than the Transylvania team, which is obvious to everyone, and everyone bets on the England team, but then the Transylvania team suddenly wins in an upset, who's the biggest winner?"

"It's like the Hogwarts wizarding dueling competition last year. If I had lost to Cassandra in the end, who do you think would have been the biggest beneficiary?"

Ethan directly stated this; if they still didn't understand, then they were truly useless.

And now, the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

The current Minister of Magic for Britain, Fudge, took office in 1990, which happened to be after the last Quidditch World Cup.

Ethan knew very well what kind of person Fudge was: greedy for power and money.

He could even accept endorsements for Honeydukes sweets, so manipulating the Quidditch teams in the British region wouldn't be impossible for him.

As long as there's Galleons to be earned, Fudge wouldn't care about any of that.

The Minister of Magic's term is limited, so he definitely wants to make as much money as possible during this time.

Otherwise, there's no way to explain the successive upsets of the British Quidditch teams, which is why the relatively uncontrolled Ireland made it to the end and won the championship.

"I think Ethan's right. Should we also buy the Transylvania team?"

George also felt that what Ethan said made sense, and immediately looked at Fred.

"Yeah!"

Fred hesitated slightly, but also nodded in agreement.

Their dad had often talked about Fudge at home; if it was him, it wasn't impossible for him to manipulate the games.

"Then I'll just keep buying the England team. I believe in our team."

Cedric continued to insist on his choice.

After all, the choice of whether or not to throw a game still lies with the individual players.

He didn't believe that these players would really throw the game as Ethan said.

After the others had confirmed which team they were going to bet on, they prepared to squeeze into the goblins' booth.

After Ethan and the others entered, it actually became more spacious.

The space inside the tent was quite large, and there were quite a few goblin counters, completely capable of serving everyone.

"Cedric, Weasley, Adrain, are you here to bet on the games too?"

Ludo saw Ethan and the others as soon as he came in from the outside, and his eyes lit up immediately.

He had finally managed to get some Galleons through the wizarding competition last year, but before he could even warm them up, Ethan had snatched them away.

Relying solely on his salary as the Head of the Department, it was fine to gamble a little on the outside, but in this Quidditch World Cup betting, his little bit of Galleons couldn't even make a splash.

So, in order to satisfy his gambling addiction and earn some Galleons, he started a business as an agent here.