Helga knew herself well—she had no intention of pushing Salazar too far.
As for his so-called immortality magic, Helga already knew a bit about it, and she had little interest. The main ingredient for the elixir of immortality had long gone extinct, and even if someone did manage to brew and drink it, they would have to sleep for at least a thousand years afterward.
It was difficult to even comment on such a thing. So, it was better to just keep Salazar around to do some hard labor for a while.
Helga's attitude made Rhys a little suspicious; her reaction was rather strange.
But Helga's approach was an open scheme, not a trick. She firmly believed that Salazar would never let such an opportunity slip away—and indeed, Rhys couldn't resist. Even if the chances were slim, he wasn't about to give up.
In the end, Rhys agreed to stay and help Helga with what she called "a few small tasks" in exchange for the method she used to help Cedric awaken his domain.
"Here, start by grading these essays!" Helga said cheerfully, setting the thick stack of parchment in front of him.
Rhys's expression darkened. Helga, how long have you been neglecting grading? How did you let this pile get so big? If you can't keep up, maybe assign less work!
"Relax. The essays are about your illusion-confusion spell. Who could understand it better than you?"
Rhys sighed and gave Helga a wary look. Even from the perspective of the spell's inventor, that particular incantation wasn't exactly suited for the modern magical world anymore.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. Now get to work." Helga shoved a quill and a bottle of ink into Rhys's hands.
Helpless, Rhys accepted his fate. He picked up the topmost essay and began to read—it wasn't something he could delegate to Daphne or Astoria; this task had to be done by him personally.
"Zero points!"
"Negative points. Rubbish. Waste of parchment!"
"Well, at least this one managed to say something that makes sense—five points."
"This one's passable… ten points—"
Helga quickly stopped the speed-reading Rhys; his comments alone were enough to make her heart pound nervously.
"What's your full mark, Salazar?" she asked cautiously.
"Twenty."
Helga: "…"
She took one of the essays Rhys had graded and glanced over it. Within seconds, she felt her blood pressure rising—at this rate, more than eighty percent of the students wouldn't even pass.
"Loosen your grading standards a bit," Helga said.
"Alright," Rhys shrugged, picking up the stack of student essays again. He quickly scribbled the word 'Reviewed' across each one, assigning scores as he went. Those he originally thought deserved a zero now received passing marks, and only the ones he felt should have been negative got failing grades.
After outsourcing the grading to Salazar, Helga didn't start tinkering with her automatons at all—instead, she curled up in a corner of the office to slack off.
If I worked hard before he came, and still have to work hard after he came, then what's the point of Salazar being here?!
With that logic, Helga slacked off with great enthusiasm—almost shamelessly so.
After a long, lazy break, she wandered over to Rhys to check his progress. But her expression quickly turned serious when she saw the name written on the top essay: Daphne – Full Marks.
She picked it up and skimmed through it, only to realize that Rhys's grading was actually quite fair—and even slightly harsher toward Slytherin students.
Without even looking up, Rhys said calmly, "Daphne got full marks because she used research notes she got from me when writing that paper."
Helga awkwardly put the essay back on the pile.
When Rhys finally finished grading, he let out a long sigh of relief, stretching his stiff shoulders and neck before turning to look at Helga—as if to say, Now can you give me the secret?
Of course not.
Helga shared with Rhys the problems she had encountered while designing her automaton.
"Cheap and fast, but also with as many functions as possible?" Rhys gave her a sidelong glance, clearly displeased with her have-it-all attitude.
"It's all for Hogwarts…" Helga said with an ingratiating smile, trying to soothe her old friend's mood.
Her words worked. For the sake of Hogwarts—and her extraordinary teaching method—Rhys decided to give the issue some serious thought.
After a few minutes of contemplation, Rhys suddenly slapped his thigh. "It's difficult to make an automaton that can cast many spells on its own, but you can just make one that wears multiple enchanted alchemical tools!"
His idea was simple but ingenious: Helga would provide a sturdy, long-lasting automaton with a rudimentary consciousness, and he would equip it with various magical devices—like a ring that could automatically cast a Shield Charm, or a necklace that could fire a Stunning Spell.
These kinds of enchanted items were his specialty, and they weren't hard to make.
All in all, a durable automaton capable of performing over a dozen spells—with an almost limitless lifespan—could be completed within a week. On top of that, they could let customers customize their "loadout."
After all, an automaton equipped with five spells and one with ten wouldn't cost the same.
Helga's eyes lit up. "As expected of Salazar—possessor of wisdom beyond our reach!"
She immediately began showering him with praise, one compliment after another, her real goal being to coax Rhys into staying in her office long enough to build her a prototype.
"All right, you've got the materials here, right?" Rhys decided that since he was already involved, he might as well help Helga finish the automaton.
"Perfect!" Helga beamed. With a wave of her wand toward a cabinet, the door creaked open, and an automaton stepped out.
"This is the one I made a few days ago," Helga explained proudly. "It can act based on preset commands—like patrolling within a designated area. I've programmed several behavioral modes into it: patrol mode, guard mode, defense mode, and service mode."
"Service mode?" Rhys's instincts told him this mode was probably not as simple as it sounded.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Um, well…" Helga hesitated slightly. "It helps with cleaning, cooking, and… relieving stress, things like that."
"Let me see."
The more Helga tried to stop him, the more curious Rhys became.
Unable to win against Salazar's persistence, Helga finally gave in.
She tapped the automaton with her wand, and it transformed into a beautiful blonde maid.
The figure looked startlingly lifelike—almost indistinguishable from a real person.
"Service mode?"
"Mm, I think those pure-blood families would be willing to pay a fortune for something like this."
Rhys: "…"
Wouldn't this kind of thing risk wiping out some thousand-year-old pure-blood bloodlines entirely?
"Well, as long as you're happy," Rhys said dryly, motioning for Helga to switch the automaton back to its normal form. It was time to seriously consider the functions the automaton would need.
As a guard for Azkaban, basic spells like the Shield Charm, Stunning Spell, and Disarming Charm were essential. On top of that, he could add a few offensive and defensive spells as needed. For the patrol and defense modes, Disillusionment Charms would also be a must.
Then there was Helga's money-making "service mode."
Rhys figured it should come equipped with household spells like Cleaning Charms and cutting spells for cooking. If it could even brew simple potions—say, like a Swelling Solution—that would be even better.
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