Just as Rhys had expected, he only waited in the corridor for a short while before hearing two sets of footsteps.
The next moment, Helga and Rowena appeared within his sight.
Rhys smiled and nodded toward the two of them. Rowena kept a blank expression and gave no response at all, while Helga smiled and waved lightly.
The three of them exchanged no words and silently walked together back toward Helga's office. Outside, the three remained extremely restrained and would never openly call each other by their real identities.
Once the office door closed behind them, Rhys was the first to speak.
"Rowena, I never expected you to come up with such a method."
"There wasn't much technical difficulty involved. The materials you selected were excellent." Rowena finally responded. As she spoke, she pulled over an armchair and dropped into it.
"To occupy someone else's body and still speak so shamelessly really is just like you."
Rowena waved her hand dismissively, indicating that today's situation had been special. In the future, she would let Aries come out for some fresh air instead.
Rhys remained skeptical of her words.
"Would you like some desserts?" Helga took out a silver tray filled with over a dozen exquisite sweets, then produced three golden goblets and filled them with drinks and liquor.
"Thank you. I'd like something sweeter to drink." Rowena accepted Helga's hospitality without the slightest hesitation.
After existing as a ghost-like being for so long, she had not been able to eat properly. Last year, Salazar had only allowed her to taste the flavor of food, but not truly consume it.
After going through that experience, Rowena, much like Helga, had developed a deep love for delicious food.
Helga poured Rowena a full goblet of Canadian ice wine. This wine, brewed from frozen grapes, contained an astonishing amount of sugar. One liter of it held over 125 grams of sugar, even higher than the sugar content of cola. As a result, the liquid appeared rather thick, almost syrup-like.
After that, she poured Rhys a glass of orange juice.
Rhys: …
Although there was nothing wrong with orange juice itself, the fact that she had poured him orange juice without even asking was still rather irritating.
"I can't exactly provide alcohol to a minor," Helga said. "But if you tell me what flavor you want, I can guarantee your orange juice will taste like it."
After hearing Helga's explanation, Rhys felt even more speechless. With such a premise in place, no matter what he drank, he would still vaguely taste orange juice underneath it all. He might as well honestly drink orange juice instead.
Once the drinks were served, the little late-night gathering between the three officially began.
"So? The two of you really wanted me to participate in that tournament?" Rhys spoke first. Smiling faintly, he examined his two old friends, his gaze wandering across their faces.
"Hogwarts needs your strength," Rowena replied after regaining her composure, lifting her wineglass slightly toward him.
"If Hogwarts requires my strength in order to become the number one magical school in the world, then I'd say it doesn't deserve the title of number one in the first place," Rhys shot back immediately.
Rowena's fingers continuously rubbed the bottom of her goblet before she finally told Rhys to first secure the championship, while everything else could be discussed later.
Rhys let out a cold laugh, saying he did not care whether Hogwarts won the championship this year or not. If they failed this time, then they could simply wait for the next tournament. What was the big deal? It was not as though the competition would only ever be held once.
The three of them would continue remaining at Hogwarts anyway. If this generation failed, they could wait for the next, and continue until they cultivated students outstanding enough to win.
Helga silently took a sip from her goblet.
The positions each of them held were completely beyond her expectations.
The one willing to obtain victory at any cost was actually Ravenclaw, while Slytherin wanted to follow the rules properly. It completely overturned everything she thought she knew.
What Helga did not know was that a person's stance was constantly changing.
Right now, Rhys possessed two advantages. First, he had complete confidence in the strength of Hogwarts' students. Second, he intended to use this opportunity to squeeze enough benefits out of his two old friends.
So naturally, he had to insist on principles. Otherwise, how could he raise the price?
Rowena, on the other hand, was different. She still did not fully understand Hogwarts' current state, nor did she possess the same confidence Salazar had. Moreover, she genuinely needed someone powerful enough to enter the tournament and help stabilize the situation.
That was why Rowena needed Salazar to participate in the competition.
And that was also precisely why Rhys insisted on holding his ground.
Rhys's words caused Rowena to tighten her grip around the goblet in her hand. She felt as though Salazar had completely seized control of the situation.
"State your conditions. What exactly do we need to do before you're willing to seriously participate in the tournament?"
"What conditions would I need? Haven't I already become one of the participants? Surely I can't suddenly back out now and refuse to compete?" Rhys avoided answering directly and instead began circling around the topic.
What a joke.
Of course he could not be the one to make the first demand. Helga and Rowena had to lay out the benefits first, then he could gradually increase the price afterward.
Otherwise, what if he proposed a condition and they instantly agreed?
Wouldn't that be a massive loss?
"You know exactly what I mean." Rowena secretly sighed.
Salazar held absolute initiative here.
Yes, he had indeed become a contestant. But he could also completely stop trying and intentionally get himself eliminated the moment the tournament began. Rowena and Helga would have absolutely no way of dealing with him if he did that.
"I need your help conducting some experiments and handling certain matters." Rowena finally revealed her true objective.
"Regarding this tournament… I have an idea."
Rowena gently swirled the ice wine in her goblet as she revealed the thoughts she had hidden in her heart.
It was an idea she had already formed back when she was still trapped within the dungeon.
Rowena wanted to use this Global Young Wizards Tournament as an opportunity to spread the concept of magical flow among young wizards across the world. She hoped that after the tournament, as many members of the new generation as possible would master magical flow, and perhaps even witness the power of Domains, thereby bringing about a revival of the magical world.
After listening to Rowena's explanation, Rhys could not help raising his eyebrows.
He had not expected Rowena to think on such a grand scale.
Using the Global Young Wizards Tournament to revive the magical world?
That really did sound like something she would do…
Hearing it put that way, even he felt somewhat tempted.
"Rowena is right," Helga added. "We really do intend to use this opportunity to hand out a bit of 'benefit' to the magical world. The other magical schools have each brought some treasures as well, which will be distributed as rewards throughout the competition to the participating students. That is also one of the reasons they were willing to actively take part in the tournament."
Interesting.
Even Rhys had to admit that Rowena and Helga had made an excellent move.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI