Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 471 Rowena Ravenclaw's Great Achievements a Thousand Years Ago

A cold wind howled, and the surface of Black Lake was frozen over and covered with snow. The spectators in the stands wrapped their coats tighter and tied their scarves around their necks even tighter.

In this weather, the contestants are going to venture into Black Lake in search of treasure. Leaving aside the challenge of holding their breath underwater for an hour, the near-freezing water temperature alone is enough to give them a hard time.

Rice looked around and realized that each of the contestants seemed to possess a unique skill.

Standing beside him, Daphne took out a strange-looking box and placed it on her face, where it fit perfectly against the contours of her face.

Rice: ?

Daphne noticed Rice's gaze and gave an awkward smile.

"I cast a seamless expansion spell inside, creating a space within the box to support my breathing." As she spoke, Daphne began applying waterproof ointment to the edges of the box to completely seal any tiny gaps.

Rice: Awesome.

He hadn't expected Daphne to solve the problem in this way. He couldn't help but think of the diving devices called oxygen tanks that Muggles used to use.

Rice looked around and discovered that some contestants were indeed wearing Muggle diving suits—Evermony's students had all taken off their wizard robes, revealing diving suits underneath, and each of them had an oxygen tank on their back.

It seems that Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has not given up on researching the "tricks and gimmicks" of Muggles!

After looking at Ilfamoni's side, Rice glanced at the Hogwarts students and found that Astoria, like him, hadn't done anything but take deep breaths, while Hermione and Cedric had huge bubbles on their heads.

"The head-bubbling spell? Interesting." Rice saw through Hermione and the other's thinking. The essence of their operation was no different from that of Daphne and Ilfamoni's students; they were all providing themselves with an oxygen-rich environment underwater.

Harry, Neville, and Luna were eating something.

As for the students from other magic schools, they each displayed their unique abilities. Some transformed their heads into fish heads, some took magic potions, and others brought out automated combat dolls created by Helga. They chose special dolls with manual modes, which were new dolls developed by Helga for use as teaching tools, but they unexpectedly used them in the competition.

Since there are no restrictions on players using external assistance during this stage of the competition, players can choose any method they want, as long as they go into the lake to search for treasure on their own.

Rice even saw a dark-haired youth pull a yellowed piece of paper from his pocket. With a flick of his wrist, the paper burst into flames, and a large, semi-transparent fish appeared in front of him.

The young man raised his hand and pointed towards the Black Lake, whereupon the translucent fish disappeared into the lake.

"That's interesting, it's really eye-opening." Watching the young man's actions, Rice couldn't help but feel that he had learned something new.

That guy seems to be using a completely different system of power.

After the contestants had made their preparations, they all headed towards Black Lake.

With dozens of explosions, the surface of Black Lake was blasted open by the combined efforts of the group, and the shattered ice revealed the dark, deep, and unfathomable lake water beneath the ice.

Many contestants' expressions changed drastically upon seeing the lake.

Even with mental preparation, seeing such a lake still triggers the primal fear ingrained deep within the human soul.

But as contestants, they had no choice.

After hesitating for a few seconds, the first contestant started walking towards Black Lake, followed by the second, the third...

Rice glanced at the students standing in the corner of the Black Lake and rubbed his chin: that seemed to be the place where he had buried the Dementors before. He hoped these guys wouldn't be unlucky enough to be affected by the Dementors' residual power.

He glanced back at Helga and saw that her gaze was also lingering on those people, which immediately put his mind at ease.

With Helga around, there shouldn't be any fatalities.

Rice also started walking towards the Black Lake, with Harry trailing behind him, looking like he was having trouble breathing.

Rice turned his head and saw the narrow slit below Harry's ear, from which gills had grown.

Now Rice knew what he had just eaten.

Rice slowly stepped into the Black Lake, pushed aside a few pieces of drifting ice, and then sank into the lake like a lead weight.

There were still a dozen or so competitors on the shore who hadn't entered the water yet. They sat on the shore with their eyes closed, seemingly having given up, as if the competition had nothing to do with them anymore.

The icy lake water didn't bother Rice at all; to him, there was no difference between water and land.

After sinking, Rice opened his eyes, discerned his direction, and then used the current to carry him to the bottom of the lake.

Just as Rice was drifting along, he felt a ripple, and the next moment, three figures swept past him.

Those were Neville, Luna, and Harry. Their gills were opening and closing as they swallowed and exhaled lake water, and their hands and feet had become like those of frogs, with long, thin fingers and webbed feet.

"How does the gill sac grass taste?" Rice joked with the three of them.

Upon hearing Rice's voice, all three stopped. It was clear that Harry and Luna wanted to reply, but when they opened their mouths, no sound came out; instead, they exhaled a large bubble.

"Underwater, your organs undergo a slight change, becoming like those of a fish," Rice explained to the three of them, while also giving them a brief explanation of the characteristics of the gill sac plant.

Watching Rice swim and talk underwater without any hindrance, the three of them were stunned, and a question flashed through their minds: How did he do that?

Neville gestured, asking if they wanted to join in, and Rice readily agreed.

The four of them swam together toward the center of the lake.

As they descended, darkness descended. Rice snapped his fingers, and a pale blue orb of light appeared beside him to provide illumination. Harry, Rhys, and the others drew their wands, causing the tips to glow.

In the dark water, light would likely attract predators and other fish, but Rice didn't care. Any creature that tried to approach them would be swept away by a powerful current and carried dozens of meters away.

Meanwhile, those who were eliminated have already appeared.

Just as Rice had predicted, those unlucky souls who chose to bury the Dementors in the groundwater had already been rescued by Dumbledore.

Within minutes of the four of them entering the water, a large string of bubbles rose to the surface of the lake. Dumbledore, who had already been warned by Helga, acted decisively and pulled all four of them out of the water.

All four of them fell into a coma, clearly ruling them out of the upcoming matches.

Even if the Dementors trapped at the bottom of the lake cannot escape, their inherent effects will create an area in the water that will negatively affect anyone who accidentally enters it.

However, none of this mattered to Rice and his companions. They had arrived at the center of the lake without encountering any obstacles.

By now, the aquatic plants at the bottom of the lake had disappeared, replaced by large patches of black silt. A large rock appeared before them, painted with many mermaids holding spears and chasing something that looked like a giant squid. In the distance, the faint sound of mermaid songs could be heard.

"We've arrived. This is the location of the ancient capital of the Merfolk Kingdom." Rice grinned and pointed to the mud beneath them.

Mermaid Kingdom? This was the first time the three of them had ever heard of this term. Perhaps it had been mentioned in the history of magic, but it was very likely that it had been lost in Professor Binns's dry tone.

He could even tell a bloody fairy rebellion in a way that would put people to sleep, so it's perfectly normal for him to gloss over the Merfolk Kingdom.

Seeing the confusion in the eyes of the three, Rice's teaching obsession kicked in immediately.

"Back when Hogwarts was first founded, there were far more magical creatures around the school than there are now. There were even many intelligent magical creature settlements. The Forbidden Forest was inhabited by dragons, centaur tribes, and goblin tribes, while the Black Lake was ruled by the Mermaid Kingdom."

The ancient mermaid kingdom of that time was not as pathetic as the fish-man tribes of today. They had their own language, writing system, institutions, and culture—they even possessed things like gill sacs and bubble-head charms that allowed them to come ashore.

Seeing the shocked looks on the three men's faces, a smug glint flashed in Rice's eyes.

"Isn't that surprising? That's normal. Mermaids have a much longer history than you think. The earliest records of mermaids can be traced back to ancient Greece, where they were called Sirens. However, I personally believe they existed in ancient Egypt as well."

Several bubbles appeared on Luna's lips.

"You want to ask why the mermaid tribes now only live at the bottom of Black Lake, and why their level of civilization hasn't developed further, but has even regressed?"

Luna nodded repeatedly.

"That's because the ancient mermaid kingdom had a conflict with the founders. At that time, the newly founded Hogwarts was extremely poor and had to find its own way to obtain food. It either had to trade with Muggles outside, cultivate its own land, or hunt in the Forbidden Forest. Compared to the Forbidden Forest, which was full of dangerous magical creatures, the Black Lake was undoubtedly much safer."

However, the merfolk were greatly upset by this, believing that the wizards' actions were plundering their pastures. This sparked several small-scale conflicts, which eventually led to a war.

Harry and his two friends listened intently. If they were on land, they would definitely ask: What happened next?

"As for the outcome..." Rice spread his hands and shrugged: "The mermaids were defeated on land by the Hogwarts teachers and students. Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin, the two founders, took advantage of the situation and stormed into the lake. With Slytherin's help, Ravenclaw destroyed the capital of the Mermaid Kingdom, while Slytherin destroyed all the outer strongholds of the Mermaid Kingdom."

Rowena Ravenclaw, in destroying the royal capital, also erased the Merfolk Kingdom's written language and institutions, exterminated its royal family, and Slytherin eliminated the herbs they needed to land on the surface. Thus, the once-powerful Merfolk Kingdom, which occupied the entire Black Lake, came to an end.

The surviving mermaid tribes are remnants of the former mermaid kingdom, survivors of that war. It seems they did not inherit the culture of the original mermaid kingdom.

Harry blinked. He wanted to ask Gryffindor and Hufflepuff what they were doing, but considering he couldn't make a sound underwater, he gave up.

Neville and Luna listened intently, the "fierce" battle from a thousand years ago almost vividly appearing before their eyes. They even had the illusion that what they were standing on was not black silt, but a prosperous underwater city.

"I saw this in the letters of ancient wizards. You might find it a bit cruel, but that's how it was back then. Competition between species was a matter of life and death, with almost no room for compromise. Even Godric Gryffindor had a lot of blood on his sword." Rice added at the end, explaining the source of his knowledge.

Rice's gaze fell on the rocks not far away, and a smile appeared on his face.

The water surged, turning the stones over and kicking up a cloud of mud.

Once the mud had settled, the three were shocked to discover that the back of the rock, which was painted with a mermaid hunting scene, was actually carved with a strong Greek-style relief.

However, on the body of the mermaid in the relief, there was an extremely horrifying wound, as if it had been cleaved by something, with the crack filled with black sludge.

Harry tried hard to control his mind and not let himself imagine what would happen if that knife were to strike someone.

Rice used the water flow to put the rocks back in place, stirring up a large patch of mud again. At that moment, a golden light flashed in the mud, instantly luring Rice, who was about to leave, back down.

With a wave of his hand towards the mud, a glittering golden object floated out from it.

Rice picked it up and examined it closely, discovering it was a section of a gold scabbard with an inscription engraved on it. The sword inside was nowhere to be found; only this half of the scabbard remained, sinking in the mud.

If Rice hadn't impulsively moved that big rock today, it would probably still be sleeping at the bottom of this Black Lake.

"There are plenty of good things at the bottom of the lake, after all, it was once a prosperous ancient mermaid kingdom. It is said that the lost treasure of the mermaid king is buried deep in the Black Lake!" Rice wasn't particularly interested in the scabbard, but since it was an object with inscriptions, he couldn't leave it there any longer. So he casually tossed the scabbard to Neville.

This kid helped me a lot last semester, so this is my little way of giving back to him.

Perhaps he can find the missing Mermaid King's treasure through this? The battle back then was quite fierce, and the capital was completely destroyed. They searched afterwards, but ultimately failed to find the legendary treasure trove filled with gold and silver.

After telling the story of the mermaid kingdom, the four swam toward the source of the song.

Not long after, many rough stone dwellings appeared on the lakebed, with aquatic plants growing on them. Faces occasionally flashed through the dark windows. These faces were vastly different from the mermaids described in wizarding and Muggle literature; they were extremely ugly—their skin was iron-gray, they had messy, dark green hair, and each mermaid had a set of crooked, deformed, and rotten teeth, making them even more unsightly.

Looking at the group of mermaids and their dilapidated houses, Rice couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: he knew that the mermaids were destitute and backward after the fall of the kingdom, but he never expected them to have fallen to this level!

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. Tomorrow's update will be at midnight.

(｀ω)

(End of this chapter)