Questioning Salazar, understanding Salazar, becoming Salazar—that was Helga's emotional journey.
She had been completely persuaded by him!
"Salazar, before you met us, did you live in the Garden of Eden?" Helga sighed softly, then wrote a note to Cedric.
The note transformed into a small bird and flew out of the office. Rhys tried to follow it out, but Helga stopped him.
"You're not allowed to leave."
Rhys: ?
"Help me build the automatons!" Helga said firmly. Grading papers could be handed off to Cedric, but automaton construction was another matter—she needed Rhys's technical support.
Rhys: …
Even after dragging Helga's student into it, he still couldn't escape from work!
"We're done as friends, Helga," Rhys said "mournfully," looking at her with mock tragedy. "If you keep this up, I swear I'll never set foot in your office again!"
Helga smiled faintly—why bother worrying about that? She would make him do some hard labor before letting him go!
That was how trust between friends got destroyed.
Before long, Cedric arrived—but it wasn't actually him. It was a small sparrow made of clay.
"Professor, what do you need?" Cedric's voice came from the bird's tiny beak. Rhys's eyes widened immediately. What kind of magical talent is this? This was far too advanced! Hadn't Helga just recently taken him on as a student?!
A faint doubt stirred in Rhys's heart: Daphne had studied under him for two years, and she couldn't do anything like this. Was his teaching really that bad?
Helga smiled proudly and told Cedric to come to her office; she had some student essays for him to grade.
But to her surprise, Cedric's clay sparrow fell silent for a moment before stammering, "Professor, I already arranged a special Quidditch training session with my teammates today. We're about to play against Slytherin—you wouldn't want us to lose to Slytherin, would you?"
Helga glanced at Rhys, who was clearly struggling to hold back laughter, and clenched her fist. "Training can wait…"
"Ah, Professor, the signal… isn't—too good—" The sparrow suddenly fell apart into a pile of dirt.
Helga stared at the scattered clay on the windowsill in silence.
Rhys's lips twitched—he was struggling harder to suppress his grin than a squid wriggling on a hot iron plate. Helga was clearly inexperienced; how could she assign tasks to a student without doing it face to face? Whenever he had Daphne do his own homework, he always handed it over in person.
But that aside, there was something far more important he needed to confirm with Helga: what exactly was that spell Cedric had just used?
"So, you've taken Diggory as your student? Excellent choice."
Helga had been a little displeased over her disciple's attempt to slack off, but hearing Salazar's words of praise instantly lifted her spirits.
"His talent really is remarkable—one of the best in the entire school," Helga said deliberately, choosing the word school instead of house.
Rhys narrowed his eyes slightly. "Within Hufflepuff, I'd say Diggory definitely stands out. He seems quite skilled with earth magic, doesn't he? That spell just now—the one that transformed into a bird—he must've practiced it for quite some time, right?"
Helga laughed heartily. "Salazar, you've underestimated him. Diggory didn't take long at all—he comprehended that earth-manipulation technique on his own."
Rhys: ?!
He instinctively assumed Helga was bluffing—how could anyone "comprehend" a spell like that in such a short time? Who was she trying to fool? A student that gifted being sorted into her house? Ridiculous.
Of course, standing under someone else's roof, he didn't dare say any of that aloud. But his expression betrayed every thought.
"Salazar, don't doubt me—Diggory now holds a level of control in my underground domain that's practically equivalent to having a field of his own! Honestly, you might even lose to him!"
Helga had been suppressed for far too long when it came to the talent of her successors. So, now that she finally had a disciple she could proudly boast about, she couldn't resist showing him off.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Rhys said flatly. "Helga, don't joke with me. A domain? Are you serious?"
If what she'd said earlier was just barely believable—something that would only make him quietly question Cedric's house placement—this new claim that he already possessed a domain was utterly absurd. It was like hearing a colleague claim that their newly admitted graduate student had just won the Nobel Prize.
"Not a true domain—"
"That's still impossible!" Rhys cut her off immediately. He knew better than anyone how difficult it was to awaken a domain.
Seeing that Rhys didn't believe her, Helga smiled faintly and began to project her own memories.
Old snake, just look for yourself—tell me this isn't a domain!
In an instant, Helga's office transformed into the underground sanctuary. Rhys watched with his own eyes as Cedric commanded the very earth itself to move.
Rhys: !!!
After watching Helga's memories, Rhys fell silent. At that moment, only one question echoed in his mind—how on earth did she do it?
If wizardry came with academic degrees, then in Rhys's view, only those who had awakened a domain were worthy of being called "Doctors of Magic." No matter how "weak" the domain was, possessing one marked an essential difference from ordinary wizards.
Although Cedric's so-called domain seemed laughably small and unimpressive to Rhys, in ancient times such a person would've been revered as a demigod. At most, others might mock him a little, saying he was the weakest demigod—one who could still get beaten up by a particularly gifted mortal.
But still—this was outrageous! Rhys had a hard time accepting it.
"How did you do it?" he finally asked, unable to contain himself.
"Want to know?" Helga smiled serenely. "I can teach you! But knowledge must be exchanged equivalently, Salazar—you understand that principle, don't you?"
Rhys was speechless. Of course he understood the principle of equivalent exchange—but knowledge at that level? There was no way he could afford the price.
"You only need to help me with a few trivial tasks, and I'll share this knowledge with you," Helga said with a face full of sincerity. "After all, we're friends, aren't we?"
A flicker of emotion rose in Rhys's heart. Helga!!!
She was actually willing to share such supreme wisdom with him—how utterly magnificent!
Greatness required no further words.
I must apologize for what I thought earlier!
Rhys couldn't deny that he had once questioned why, when all four founders were roughly on the same level, Helga had somehow developed such an extraordinary teaching method. But the scene she had just shown him was irrefutable proof—he had no choice but to believe it.
Besides, each of the four of them had their own area of expertise. It wasn't impossible for Helga to have suddenly had a breakthrough, illuminating some sort of magical "black technology." After all, hadn't he himself invented a nearly flawless form of immortality?
Wait—he actually did have something valuable enough for an equivalent exchange!
"Helga, how about I trade you my immortality magic in exchange?" Rhys said suddenly, an idea striking him.
Unexpectedly, Helga refused.
"No, there's no need." Her gaze was firm and unwavering. "You just need to help me with a few small favors—that's all!"
_______
Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon: HornyFBI