Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 446 Salazar: Godric, you don't really think I'm helpless against ghosts, do you?

Looking at the familiar marketplace around him, and Salazar's excessively youthful face, Gryffindor felt as if time had reversed, taking him back to the days when he and his three friends traveled around.

However, after glancing down at the large beard on his chin and his seemingly real yet surreal body, he dismissed the absurd idea.

Clearly, time cannot be reversed.

Hmm? Godric suddenly remembered the "battle royale" that his old friends had mentioned repeatedly, and his brows furrowed immediately: Could this be the venue for the battle royale?

As expected, Salazar confirmed his doubts after he raised them.

"Hey! This arena is quite spacious. Where did you choose to hold the match?" Diverted by Salazar's question, Godric forgot all about giving Salazar a good scolding. Now he just wanted to know the details of the championship.

This is so interesting! How come he didn't come up with such an interesting idea back then?

"Right here at Hogwarts."

Godric: ? ? ?

Salazar's words puzzled him. He looked around and found that the surroundings were nothing like the Hogwarts he remembered. Could it be that the event was being held in some town near Hogwarts?

"Royna has really pulled off something big." Rice told Gryffindor everything that Royna had done.

Godric: !!!

"You created an entire alchemical world specifically for this competition?!" Godric could hardly believe his ears.

"That's right," Rice rubbed his forehead, "Royna has made amazing progress in alchemy..."

It just caused a little mess, and someone needs to help clean it up.

"Let me confirm again, a vast world that is no different from the real world?" Even though Salazar had already confirmed it, Godric couldn't help but ask again.

"Yes, the life in the small world is no different from life on Earth. It has its own intelligence. Although I have not actually investigated the area, I feel that it is at least the same size as the British Isles, or even more."

"Hiss..." Upon hearing his friend's words, Gryffindor gasped in surprise: Rowena had grown to this extent? He was truly impressed.

However, he suddenly realized something: given Rowena's past characteristics, had her growth this time caused any negative impact?

In other words, it means...

"So what is the price, Salazar?"

Rice fell silent instantly.

"The price is... that's why I'm here now."

"Huh?" Godric's eyes widened, and it took him two seconds to react before his phantom burst into a piercing laugh.

Seeing Godric laughing so hard that even his spirit was somewhat unstable, Rice's face gradually stiffened.

"Are you done laughing?" Seeing that Godric seemed unable to stop laughing once he started, Rice interrupted him sharply.

"I'll stop right away, haha—right away, right away!" After promising himself that he could stop immediately, Godric laughed for about a minute before finally managing to stop.

With a broad smile on his face and the corners of his mouth unable to stop turning up, Godric has finally regained his ability to communicate.

"Salazar, I almost forgot, you're a Hogwarts student now! So you'll be representing a Hogwarts student in this competition!!!" Godric said excitedly, staring at Rice.

"Ha! This year's children are in for a tough time, because they're going to face off against the legendary wizard, Salazar Slytherin!"

Rage Value: +1

As if oblivious to his old friend's pale face, Godric continued, "A thousand years have passed since our time. It's time to let the world's young wizards witness the brilliance of the founders of Hogwarts!"

Rage Value: +7

"Speaking of which, with Salazar participating, isn't Hogwarts' championship title practically guaranteed? Oh dear, I don't want to go back now; I want to see you lead Hogwarts to become the number one magic school!"

Rage Value: +13

Gryffindor's words came from the bottom of his heart, and that's why Rice was so angry.

Almost every word Godric uttered hit his sore spots precisely, making Rice suspect that the guy was doing it on purpose. But considering the guy's character, Rice felt that Godric probably didn't mean it.

This made me even angrier.

"Godrick, do you think you can act with impunity now that you've become a ghost?" Rice narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them. "You don't really think I'm helpless against ghosts, do you?"

Gryffindor: ?

"Huh? Have you made some new discovery?" Gryffindor's curiosity was immediately piqued. "I've never heard of any attack methods against ghosts before. Now that you mention it, I'm really interested in trying it out."

A rustling sound came from Rice's sleeve, and Rice knew that the snake king he had brought in was stirring.

During the battle with the Fallen Star Dragon King, the Snake King hid in its robe and pretended to be dead. Now that the battle is over, it has "come back to life".

Speaking of which, does the Serpent King's gaze have any effect on ghosts? Rice had a strange thought: what effect would the serpent's gaze, which can cause immediate death, have on a dead ghost? He hadn't done such an experiment yet.

Will it become the only known method to eliminate ghosts, or will it only petrify them, like just indirectly making eye contact with a basilisk?

However, even though he happened to have a talkative ghost at hand, Rice had no intention of experimenting on Gryffindor, because the risk of such an experiment was too high.

Godric is no ordinary ghost; it would be ridiculous if he were to be instantly killed by the basilisk.

Why would I need the Basilisk to punish Godric? I have plenty of potions that match his needs.

After gently flicking the basilisk's head to make it behave, Rice took out a small jar of potion.

This was one of the leftover potions he used when he cleansed Rowena's soul of impurities, and now he could use it to open Godric's eyes.

Godric, let me show you the power of potions! I'm growing too!

Gryffindor blinked as he looked at the potion Salazar pulled out: he suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Hey, I've changed my mind. Okay—"

"No." Rice gripped the medicine bottle tightly in her hand.

At this point, you still expect me to back down? Since the arrows are already nocked, there's no reason for me to lower them!

Before Godric could make any further moves, Rice pulled off the lid of the jar and casually flicked his wrist, turning the liquid inside into a cloud of mist that enveloped Gryffindor.

"Ah—!" Gryffindor cried out as the liquid was splashed on him, and several wisps of white smoke instantly rose from his body.

He felt like he'd been doused with a bucket of hot water, his whole body burning – and that was only because Rice had "mercifully" spared him; otherwise, he'd have something much more powerful.

"How about that? This is just an appetizer. I have something even more amazing to offer. Want to try it?"

"There's no need for that!" Godric waved his hands repeatedly, hurriedly stopping Salazar from taking any further action.

After a dozen seconds, he gradually calmed down and glanced at the empty can in Salazar's hand with lingering fear.

I never expected my old friend to actually develop a potion that can harm ghosts, but what was he thinking making such a thing out of nothing?!

Rice understood the look in Gryffindor's eyes.

"I don't have that kind of free time. This is for Rowena." Rice recounted to Godric how Rowena's soul had been corrupted and she had lost consciousness due to spending too much time in the dungeon.

"These potions are used to cleanse the impurities in one's soul. But since Rowena was unconscious at the time, I didn't consider the user experience and used strong potions, aiming for a powerful punch."

In his efforts to cure Rowena, Rice truly wished he could peel a layer of skin off Rowena's soul.

Godric: ...

What else could he say besides exclaiming "Big Boss is awesome!"

"But I have good news for you. Based on your performance just now, your soul is very clean and hasn't been polluted too much. Otherwise, the smoke that just drifted out would have been black." Rice then gave Godric a physical examination.

Godric didn't even know how to respond to that.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the wand stall, and his eyes widened immediately. He gestured for Salazar to look.

"This stall looks so familiar... I remember it—"

"Helga commissioned a wand from Ollivander's stall years ago, and that family kept it for her for over a thousand years. I just went to settle the final payment for her a few days ago and retrieved the wand."

A flicker of surprise crossed Godric's eyes: he hadn't expected that seemingly fake little stall to have actually been open for a thousand years. Could it be that the Ollivander family really had been making wands since Roman times?

Rice didn't care what Godric was thinking; he just muttered to himself, "Royna must have referenced his memories from back then when he created this world, which is why shops like this appear in small towns like this."

"Did she build all these streets one by one?!" Godric's pupils dilated in shock; in his view, the amount of work was unbelievably large.

Rice shook his head.

"She doesn't have that kind of leisure. These cities were spontaneously built by alchemical beings, but because these beings have intricate connections with Rowena, many things and customs have developed according to Rowena's subconscious."

At this point, Rice recalled the discrimination humans held against snakes in this world, and his face darkened again.

"I see..." Gryffindor breathed a sigh of relief. If every street here had been made by Rowena himself, he would have been scared out of his wits.

"We've been chatting for so long, it's time to find a place to have lunch." Rice looked around and quickly spotted a small pub at the street corner.

He strode toward the tavern, Godric following behind him—as he said, he didn't want to dissipate anytime soon; he wanted to see Salazar's performance.

"By the way, do you have the currency of this world?" Godric asked him this question just before Rice pushed open the tavern door.

Rice: ...

I should have ripped off those people I just met; they were all well-dressed and must be very rich.

However, not having money is not a problem.

Rice snapped his fingers, and a money bag belonging to some unlucky guy flew into his hand.

When traveling, it's incredibly easy for a wizard to make money.

"Tsk tsk." Godric, who had witnessed everything, made a sound that was hard to decipher.

"Hmph, if you knew what Rowena asked me to do, you would realize that the evil I'm doing now is just a trivial matter." After saying a nonsensical sentence to Gryffindor, Rice pushed open the door and walked into the unusually lively tavern.

The tavern was already crowded with people, all talking about the recent earthquake and the change in the weather.

The distance between here and Dragon Forest is over 100 kilometers, but everyone still felt a significant tremor and saw the two meteorites falling from the sky.

For the city's residents, whose lives were dull and monotonous, this strange phenomenon was certainly worth discussing. As a result, the city's churches and taverns became packed with people.

Rice pushed through the crowd and went to the front desk.

"A glass of ale, a roast chicken with honey on the skin, a thick soup, and a vegetable and cheese salad," Rice said, pulling a few silver coins from his purse and slapping them on the table.

"No need to look anymore, hurry up and go."

After ordering a sumptuous meal, Rice found an empty table in the corner and sat down.

Thanks to the silver coins, Rice's dishes were served very quickly.

Soon, a glass of frothy ale, a bowl of chowder served in a hard bread crust with the filling scooped out, and a plate of shredded cheese and vegetables were placed on the table. As for Rice's roast chicken, it would take a while to arrive due to processing time.

The scooped-out bread crumbs weren't wasted; they were put in a bowl and served as a complimentary gift on Rice's table.

Rice didn't even glance at it, and directly took out a loaf of bread made by Helga from his small leather bag to serve as the main dish for this meal.

Those who have had the privilege of tasting modern bread made from fine flour cannot accept the bitter, hard, dark bread of the Middle Ages.

Those black breads contained too many suspicious things: wheat bran, pebbles, sawdust... No normal person would like that stuff.

Even nobles rarely enjoyed modern white bread due to inadequate flour sifting techniques.

Of course, Godric, who had lived most of his life in the Middle Ages, hadn't seen much of the world, so the food on the table at Rice was very appealing to him, especially when the hot, fragrant roasted chicken was served.

Rice was quite satisfied with the roast chicken, because you couldn't get this quality of chicken at modern Hogwarts unless you were on a good enough relationship with Hagrid.

Although the secrecy laws separate the two worlds, the meat at Hogwarts is undoubtedly "imported" from Muggles, and it is all fast-grown meat, which cannot compare to the fat chickens that have been raised on grains for several years.

Seeing Godric's drooling appetite, Rice laughed: "Want to sit down and eat with us?"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, goodnight everyone~

(End of this chapter)