Ug.. I'm so stupid, really. I only knew that Hermione Granger's domain was a non-elemental one, and I never imagined it would actually be related to time. What was I sympathizing for? The one I should be sympathizing with is myself!
"Time?" Helga asked again, still a little unsure. At the same time, she recalled the scene she had just witnessed: Salazar and Granger had indeed vanished inexplicably for three seconds. Could it be that…?
"Oh? So we really did disappear for a moment back then. Hmm, looks like it isn't complete time stoppage, which is normal. By the way, a big library didn't suddenly pop up on the spot, did it?"
Only after learning that they had vanished outright did Rhys finally feel relieved. If every time Hermione activated her domain a library sprouted from the ground, that would have been downright ridiculous.
"What's with the library?" Helga's curiosity was piqued by the word "library" coming out of Salazar's mouth. She genuinely wanted to know what kind of mental state he was in to ask whether a library had appeared on the ground when they disappeared.
"Miss Granger's domain is the construction or summoning of a library, one that can accommodate specific people inside to study," Rhys gave Helga a concise explanation of Hermione's domain effect.
Helga: ???
A trace of confusion flashed through her eyes. Having lived for so long, this was the first time she had ever encountered a domain like this.
But thinking about it more carefully, the effect of this domain was truly formidable. It could grant someone an extra stretch of time out of nowhere every day.
That time could be used to rest or to study—an extremely powerful support-type domain.
Just as Helga was about to press for more details, a red glow suddenly flickered from Rhys's chest.
"It's Rowena," Rhys explained briefly in response to Helga's puzzled look.
Rhys took the crystal ball from his robes and set it down on Helga's desk. He gave it a light tap, and Rowena's voice came through from inside.
"Salazar, what's going on with Granger?" There was a trace of urgency in Rowena's voice; it was clear how deeply she cared about her student.
"Rowena, congratulations—Hermione has just successfully awakened her domain!"
"Oh? Really? What type of domain did she awaken?" Hearing such good news, Rowena immediately brightened, unable to resist asking Salazar through the crystal ball about the nature of her student's domain.
"It's a non-elemental domain, related to time. Its specific ability is to summon a library similar to Hogwarts' library, allowing people to study inside it. The flow of time inside the library is different from the outside—one hour inside the library is roughly equivalent to about one second outside."
Rowena froze for a moment.
When Salazar mentioned "non-elemental domain," her heart sank, but the moment he added that it was related to time, a surge of joy followed. Her emotions rose and fell like a roller coaster.
But a library—what on earth was that about? Spending all day in the library actually led to this kind of result?
Rowena felt an overwhelming urge to complain, yet she didn't know where to start. Wasn't this something she'd brought upon herself?
She had deliberately chosen a successor who loved haunting the library—so wasn't it perfectly reasonable that the girl awakened a domain capable of summoning a library?
"Hermione's library domain is extremely powerful, and it very obviously has a lot of room for further growth. Rowena, you've truly struck gold."
Bang!
Rowena slammed her hand down hard on the sand table in front of her, triggering a small-scale earthquake within the sandbox world. Hell yeah!!! Ehm..
"What do you mean library domain? Salazar, your naming sense is terrible!" Rowena snapped. "Couldn't you call it something like Knowledge Domain or Palace of Thought?! Library Domain—that's far, far too plain!"
Rhys: "…"
To be fair, Rowena's suggestions did sound better than what he'd come up with.
"Then I'll ask Hermione later and let her choose which name she prefers," Rhys decided, returning the naming rights to the domain's owner.
With that, he ended the call with Rowena.
"Library Domain… I think the name is fine. What do you think, Helga?"
Helga curled her lips slightly. She felt Rowena was just being fussy. If Miss Granger's domain wasn't called a Library Domain, then what should it be called? The names Rowena suggested were the real nonsense.
"Ahem," Helga cleared her throat, not answering Rhys directly as she shifted the topic. "Shouldn't we start thinking about the end-of-term trials for the students this year?"
"This year the children have all come into contact with domains. The difficulty of the trials needs to go up." A trace of concern flickered across Helga's face.
As the students grew stronger, arranging appropriate trials for them was becoming increasingly difficult.
Using a Dark wizard or a troll as a trial target like before was obviously far too simple now.
Rhys's gaze drifted to an automated combat puppet standing in the corner of the office. That might just be a decent option.
Following Salazar's gaze, Helga immediately understood what he meant. A flash of pain crossed her eyes—was she really going to use that for the trials?
The problem was, those things didn't seem to be a match for the kids anymore either. She couldn't very well throw several puppets into a fight at once, could she?
"The puppets are a bit too weak," Helga said.
Rhys agreed with her assessment, but his thoughts quickly shifted to something else—Godric's armor. They had previously used it as a teaching aid for the students, and perhaps it could still be put to use now.
"But it's just a teaching aid…" Helga frowned. "Wouldn't the pressure be insufficient?"
"Then I'll think of something else," Rhys said, falling back into thought.
While Rhys and Helga were discussing the end-of-term trials, Hermione had already rested enough.
She climbed out of bed and stretched. Seeing that the dormitory was empty, she pulled the curtains around her bed and unfolded her domain inside the room.
Entering the library once more, looking at the familiar structure before her, a flicker of joy passed through her heart. She was going to read to her heart's content for a full three hours.
But when she walked around the shelves, preparing to find a table to sit down at, Hermione suddenly froze.
She saw someone in her library domain.
Someone other than herself.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI