Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 527 The Founders: Children, I'm back!

After a brief moment of excitement, Rice couldn't help but start wondering why he and Godric were here.

Judging from the layout, this looks like a cabin on a cruise ship.

Just then, the door to the room was pushed open, and two people walked in one after the other.

Rice looked closely and, sure enough, it was Helga and Rowena.

The wizard robes they were wearing were transformed into dresses by magic, making them look no different from Muggles on vacation.

"Tell me, what's going on here?" Rice waved his hand, and two chairs popped out of the room and slid in front of Helga and Rowena.

The two of them didn't stand on ceremony and sat down directly.

Godric was still sleeping soundly, even snoring softly.

"Obviously, we're back." Helga uttered a correct but pointless statement, prompting Rowena and Rice to simultaneously roll their eyes.

"Since you and Godric have been in a coma, Helga and I decided to book a cruise ship in Piraeus and enjoy the Mediterranean scenery while waiting for you two to wake up."

"Are we in the Aegean Sea?" Rice noticed the place name that Rowena had just mentioned.

Piraeus is a large port located in northwestern Türkiye, on the Aegean coast. It wouldn't normally be anything special, but Reis clearly remembers the regional situation before they left.

The Aegean coast, once the garden of the Greek gods, now has cruise ships that sell themselves as tourist attractions.

Did the gods choose to back down, or was there some other reason?

"Yes and no. This ship left the Aegean Sea the day before yesterday, and we're almost at Marseille now." Rowena gave Rice an approving look. "You two were unconscious for seven whole days. If it weren't for the fact that you were both breathing steadily and in good condition, we would have already started preparing potions to cure you."

Talking to intelligent people is so smooth. She understood that Salazar understood what she wanted him to understand.

"Have the Muggles made peace with the gods?" Rice made the most reasonable guess based on the observed phenomena.

"I suppose so. According to the intelligence I've gathered, the Greek gods and the leaders of the Muggles held a meeting and reached a reconciliation. Now all of Greece belongs to the Olympian gods." A hint of admiration appeared on Rowena's face. "The Greek gods are more enlightened than I imagined—what do you think is the background of the company that owns this cruise ship?"

"Um?"

"It's owned by Poseidon! Under the protection of the sea god, this cruise ship won't sink due to storms, and those evil spirits from the underworld won't dare to harm a ship protected by a god. There's even a priestess of Poseidon on board. I met her once, and I felt that she was quite powerful at sea; Poseidon must have given her a lot of good things."

Rice clicked his tongue, genuinely admiring how skilled the Greek gods were at their movements.

They were better at handling the relationship between mortals and gods than the Aesir.

"How long have we been gone?" Rice asked a question that he was very concerned about.

"The time flow is about the same over there; about a year has passed."

Rice's eyebrows twitched: Luckily, he acted in time. If they had wasted too much time over there, who knows what problems might have arisen here.

In just one year, the Greek gods reconciled with and successfully integrated into Muggle society, which shows how extraordinary they were!

At this moment, Rice noticed that the cabin environment they were in looked quite respectable. Considering that this was a cruise ship under Poseidon's name, equipped with high-ranking priests, he immediately felt that Rowena and Helga had definitely spent a lot of money.

"This cabin decor looks unusual. Is this first class?"

Helga waved her hand. "No way, Rowena booked two luxury suites, which is even higher than first class!"

Rice was a little surprised: He didn't expect Rowena to be so rich? Did he inherit Aries's fortune?

"You must have spent a lot of money on the boat tickets, right?"

Rowena gave a mysterious smile: "It's alright, Helga and I didn't pay."

"Hmm?" While Rice was confused, a bad feeling arose deep in his heart.

"You're the one who treated us." Rowena blinked and pointed to the small leather pouch at Rice's waist with a slender, white finger.

Rice was shocked and immediately reached out to touch it.

The moment he touched the leather bag, he knew something was wrong: the defensive magic on the bag had failed.

"Royna!!!" Rice felt like he was about to grind his back teeth to powder. "How dare you touch my things without my permission?!"

Rowena smiled at Rice, giving him a response that left Rice speechless.

"Isn't it because I was worried about you two, so I was thinking of looking for a suitable potion with you?"

Rice took several deep breaths to calm down, and then he quickly checked his savings.

Fortunately, Rowena knew her limits and only took some gold and gems, all of which were "renewable" assets. If she had squandered his treasured rare potion ingredients, he would never have let it go.

"Fine, consider it my treat." Seeing that he had only lost a few ounces of gold and a dozen gems, Rice's anger gradually subsided—after all, if he had the choice, he would definitely have chosen the most luxurious suite.

Rowena wasn't so despicable as to put herself and Helga in a luxury suite and then dump the other two in economy class.

"Any news from Hogwarts?" Rice didn't want to hear anything about Hogwarts.

Because in this situation, no news is the best news.

He felt that Zeus was a rational god-king who wouldn't cause trouble and could make choices that best served the interests of both sides.

Of course, if He really did something to Hogwarts, the entire Olympian pantheon would be sacrificed for Hogwarts.

"I've inquired, and the most famous thing about you is related to your good student."

"Astoria?" Rice asked without much hope.

"Daphne".

Rice shut his mouth: Doesn't Godric still have an apprentice? Should he adopt one for him? Anyway, all the good Gryffindor students are in other houses now.

Helga, seemingly oblivious to Rice's negative emotions, recounted to Rice the astonishing achievements she had heard about Daphne.

However, before she began her presentation, she first introduced the background of the story.

"After we disappeared, the Greek gods initiated peace talks with the leaders of Muggles and wizards. Zeus, who presided over the talks, divided the British Isles and the North Sea into Hogwarts' sphere of influence. The Muggle governments of other countries also reached cooperative relationships with the Ministry of Magic and Wizardry—basically, they were integrated into each other. Muggles recognized wizards as citizens of their respective countries, enjoying all rights such as the right to vote, but wizarding autonomy was still exercised by the Ministry of Magic. The law applied to Muggles and wizards respectively, and liaison offices were established in each other's governments for communication."

"Although peace talks were held, the Greek gods are not the rulers of the underworld, nor do they have absolute control over the creatures of the underworld. Therefore, evil spirits still cause trouble in most parts of the world. Among the Greek gods, there are also those who covet Hogwarts, such as Ares, the god of war."

At this point, Rice probably understood what had happened.

Sure enough, Helga then told him that when Ares confidently stepped into Britain, ready to find Hogwarts and explore its depths, he met Daphne.

Then the mighty God of War was utterly defeated by a little girl who wasn't even an adult yet. In the end, it was Apollo, the sun god, who intervened and saved Ares from Daphne's fists.

Daphne Greengrass rose to fame for this feat and later crossed the English Channel multiple times to exterminate the evil spirits that emerged from France—evil spirits were like cockroaches in the sewers, which would reappear after being exterminated by the four of them.

"A god of Ares's caliber should have a domain, and it seems that the little girl has fully awakened her domain, which is why she was able to defeat him," Rice concluded.

Now he felt that Godric should follow tradition and accept students from within Gryffindor. Although Daphne was a bit reckless, she was still from Slytherin, and it was still appropriate for him, the founder, to personally discipline her.

"That's right. The other kids are doing very well too. Diggory, Granger, and Astoria have all made a name for themselves in the extermination of evil spirits lately—'Earth Knight' Diggory, 'Wisdom Witch' Granger, 'Scarlet Witch' Astoria, and 'Fire Fist' Daphne, they all have their own names now." Helga nodded repeatedly, agreeing with her old friend's speculation.

"The children have had plenty of training during the year we were away," Rice said with a smile.

We really have to thank Zeus now.

While the three were chatting, Godric finally woke up from his sleep.

Upon learning that he had returned to reality, he smiled happily.

However, his happiness was short-lived, as he soon began to blame Salazar.

"Why did you go all out in that final battle? Wouldn't it have been better to hold back a bit?" Godric was also puzzled. They had clearly gone over the script before the fight and confirmed that he was to play the role of the "savior," so why was Salazar fighting him like he was facing his father's killer?

Wouldn't it be wonderful to just put on a show of fighting, then seal off Azkaban and announce to the outside world that the Dark Lord has been defeated?

Rice snorted coldly, as if to say, "Just tell me if you're having fun or not."

Godric said it must have been really enjoyable; he hadn't had such a satisfying fight in a long time.

The last time we had such a thrilling and exhilarating battle was...

Yes, it's still a fight against Salazar.

Rice ignored Godric.

However, the reason he went all out wasn't entirely to let Godric have a good fight. Rather, he was worried that if he held back in this battle and failed to significantly disrupt the Fate Line, it would be a huge loss if the four of them didn't make it back successfully.

Rice, based on common sense, felt that the Dark Lord's downfall should be a rather serious matter. It couldn't be that the castle was sealed off, and the "Savior" simply stood outside shouting, "The Dark Lord has been defeated in a duel and will never leave the castle again," and everyone actually believed him, could they?

With these considerations in mind, he fought Godric very seriously.

"If we had listened to me and used my strategy, we wouldn't have wasted a whole year there."

As soon as Salazar said this, the other three people in the cabin began to change the subject.

"Salazar, I remember you had some extra Philosopher's Stones in your bag. Could I borrow them to examine them?"

"Is there a restaurant on the ship? I'm so hungry."

"I have bread, ham, and cheese here. Would you like to have something to eat first? But there are also restaurants that are open all day. Shall I take you there?"

Although Salazar misjudged Umbridge, his prediction about how to return to the original timeline was terrifyingly accurate, and none of the three wanted to get entangled with them on this topic.

Besides, their late return has its advantages, doesn't it? At least the next generation of Hogwarts received strong training, though it was tough on Dumbledore. But he should be used to the pressure by now, right?

The four of them walked out of the luxury suite, chatting and laughing, and headed towards the restaurant on the cruise ship.

These luxury cruise ships are equipped with 24-hour kitchens, where guests can enjoy their meals at any time.

The four who had successfully returned were in high spirits, and their appetites naturally returned as well.

"A seafood platter, four Iberian roasted pork ribs, four roasted foie gras, a Spanish ham, two roasted chickens, a Boston lobster bisque, and some roast beef, please." Helga quickly ordered the food and asked the waiter to bring over a bottle of red wine and a pitcher of beer.

"I'd like a glass of plum wine and a grilled pineapple," Rowena added to her order.

Soon, dishes were served to the table in front of the four people as if in a flowing stream.

Just as Rice and his three companions were enjoying the fine wine and food, a young man with silver hair pulled out a chair from their table and sat down next to them.

This man looked quite handsome, with a faint glint of lightning in his eyes. Rice and his three companions could tell his identity with just a glance.

"You're such a busy person these days, how come you have time to eat at a place like this?" Rice placed a slice of Spanish ham on a piece of cantaloupe cut into small pieces, then put it in his mouth, savoring it carefully before slowly starting to chat with Zeus.

This silver-haired youth was none other than Zeus, the leader of the Greek gods and king of the gods.

"With such distinguished guests, nothing is more important than this meal," Zeus said in a calm tone, appearing very approachable.

"You've got some nerve, aren't you afraid we'll leave you here?" Godric put down the roast chicken in his hand and asked in a cold tone.

"Don't be like that. After all, I did restrain the gods under my command when the four disappeared, didn't I? As for Ares, that guy has no brains, and there's nothing I can do about him."

"Besides, isn't the current situation most advantageous for wizards?"

Godric fell silent, for Zeus spoke the truth.

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.

The next chapter will be at midnight tomorrow night~

(End of this chapter)