Ugh..
Rowena suddenly felt that this Christmas wasn't wonderful at all anymore.
She had thought that everyone's progress in teaching students was roughly the same. Compared to Helga, she had even believed herself to be far ahead.
Yet when she looked back, she realized she was already lagging behind! How could a proud Ravenclaw possibly accept that?
And based on the information she had just tricked out of them, Helga's student had also touched the threshold of a domain.
That was simply outrageous—how long had Helga even had that student?
Rowena swept a suspicious gaze back and forth between her two old friends. She couldn't shake the feeling that the two of them were hiding something from her.
Otherwise, how could both of their students have reached the threshold of a domain? If this were just a coincidence, it was far too coincidental.
Realizing that she had accidentally exposed critical information, Helga clamped her mouth shut and seriously began thinking about how to deal with Rowena's questioning.
It felt exactly like telling a dormmate during finals week that you'd stayed up all night gaming, only to be caught by that same dormmate studying all night in the library.
Helga's expression gave her away.
Ok, that's it! Rowena felt her suspicions solidify: these two really were hiding something from her!
At that moment, Rowena's spirit form shifted from a pure milky white to an ashen gray, and faint, piercing crackling sounds echoed through the surrounding air.
Rowena was genuinely angry!
She felt like a naïve student who had believed her dormmates' nonsense during finals week.
She hadn't revised at all and was planning to walk into the exam unprepared, only to discover on the eve of the test that Dormmate A had not only memorized her own notes inside out but had even borrowed notes from other top students; Dormmate B was even worse—after doing several years' worth of past papers, they had somehow obtained the lecturer's highlighted key points and mock exam questions through "special channels." And all the while, those two little brats had been telling her they'd spent the past few days playing games!
"E-Ehm.. Well then, Helga," Rowena asked in a calm tone, "how old is your student?"
Feeling the faint stinging sensation spreading over her skin, Helga realized how serious the situation had become. She immediately told Rowena that she had taken a fifth-year Hufflepuff student as her disciple.
"Oh, a fifth-year student…" Rowena narrowed her eyes. She was now one hundred percent certain that either Helga or Salazar had figured out some kind of magic that accelerated domain awakening.
"Salazar, what about you?" she shifted her focus to Rhys. "Have both of your apprentices touched the threshold of a domain?"
"No. Only Daphne has reached that level. Astoria still needs to keep working," Rhys shook his head and answered honestly.
Rowena raised an eyebrow. Now she had her target.
Helga. It's you.
If the new magic had been researched by Salazar, there was no way he would have taught it to only one student—that kind of favoritism would have been far too obvious. Salazar clearly wasn't dissatisfied with his second student to that extent. So it had to be Helga who found a new method and passed it on to Salazar, right?
Limited by time and preparation, Salazar had only managed to use it on one student.
Rowena felt that she had now pieced together the entire sequence of events. She immediately turned and floated over to Helga, offering her congratulations.
"Helga, I must congratulate you."
"E.. it.. it was nothing special.." Helga felt the hair on her arms stand on end. She forced a smile, saying that there was nothing worth congratulating her for.
"Domain magic has always been the most profound field of study in the magical world. Countless witches and wizards have pursued understanding domains as their life's ultimate goal. You are the first wizard I've ever seen achieve anything in this area," Rowena intoned in an ethereal voice, even as the sound of wind in the surroundings grew louder and louder.
Helga abruptly turned to look at Salazar. Her first reaction was that Salazar had tattled on her to Rowena behind her back.
Rhys frantically waved his hands, indicating that he had never mentioned anything like this to her—and besides, did she really think her trick had some special effect?
"Here's what actually happened…" Noticing that Rowena's emotions were clearly off, Rhys quickly began to explain on behalf of both himself and Helga. "Helga's student did indeed touch the threshold of a domain with Helga's help, but most of the credit should go to the fact that her student's talent is genuinely quite good."
Helga actually wanted to refute Salazar, but when she caught sight of Rowena's spirit body, already turning grayish white, she changed her mind.
As long as the old viper could placate the old raven, he could say whatever he wanted!
Rhys's words failed to earn Rowena's trust. She let out a cold laugh and shot back, "Then I suppose your apprentice is also exceptionally talented? Who would have thought that a thousand years later, there would be so many extraordinarily gifted young witches and wizards at the school."
"That's simply the truth. She really did awaken just by staring at the fireplace for a while," Rhys said through clenched teeth. "Although that morning, I did use a bit of my own methods as well—I made some improvements to Helga's approach."
He then went on to explain what he believed to be the correct teaching method.
"What Helga did did help Diggory touch the threshold of a domain, but it also stifled the student's potential, locking him into the Earth Domain. My way of thinking is different—"
"And so your fully unleashed, wonderfully gifted student comprehended the Magma Domain. Is that domain stronger than your Water Domain?" Helga suddenly interjected from the side.
She felt the old viper was just nitpicking. Stifling potential? What domain in the world had more potential than the Earth Domain? It was already a top-tier domain!
Stifling potential meant turning someone who could score ninety into someone who only scored sixty, whereas she had enabled her student to reliably score a hundred.
Oops.. shouldn't have said that.. The color rushed to Rhys's face at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Magma is also under my control," Rhys said as a small pool of magma actually appeared in his palm. "What's more, a composite domain like magma isn't inferior to water or fire at all. Each has its own strengths—if you ask me, magma is even stronger than fire by a fair margin!"
The expressions on Helga's and Rowena's faces both turned a little strange.
However, after this interruption, most of the anger in Rowena's heart had already dissipated. Once Salazar persuaded Helga to share the insights she had figured out, the remaining irritation vanished completely.
Starting a few days later didn't really matter anyway. Domains weren't something that could be mastered overnight. Compared to the hard labor Salazar had to put in to obtain these things, she had gotten them just by opening her mouth—she was making an absolute killing.
With a happy mood, Rowena opened the notes Helga handed her.
But...
_____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI