Perhaps because he considered himself already dead, Godric had completely let himself go, directly delivering a brutally honest critique he never would have dared say while alive.
Rowena's face gradually turned the color of wind.
"Thank you. If there's nothing else, you may leave now."
Rowena's tone became extremely stiff.
Godric: "…"
What kind of person are you?!
Weren't you the one who wanted to hear the truth?
Can't even handle honesty!
Fine then, leaving it is. Who's afraid of who? No matter how incredible you are, Rowena, it's not like you can beat me up.
Still, before leaving, there actually was something he wanted to ask.
"Wait. What time is it now?"
"Eleven in the morning."
Gryffindor: …
"I'm not joking with you. It's September 4th, 1994."
Gryffindor counted on his fingers for a while and realized that not much time had actually passed since the last time he had been summoned.
"Previously, Salazar mentioned that all of you were planning to hold some enormous tournament? How's the progress coming along?"
The moment the Global Young Wizards Tournament was mentioned, Rowena's spirits visibly rose.
"It hasn't begun yet, but the other schools have already received their invitations and are currently on their way here. I've prepared several events for them. They'll definitely be satisfied."
"That's wonderful."
A brilliant smile bloomed across Gryffindor's face.
"Our dream is finally going to come true."
Rowena nodded.
Creating the greatest magical school in the world had always been the shared dream of the four of them. Each of them had worked tirelessly toward that goal along their own paths.
Although it was difficult to say who among them had been the most successful, it was painfully obvious who had failed the most.
"My heir, Helga's heir, and Salazar's heir will win the honor Hogwarts rightfully deserves."
Gryffindor scratched his head.
Something about those words felt strangely off.
He narrowed his eyes, then sharply realized that Rowena's statement seemed to be missing a certain House.
"Ahem!" Godric coughed twice. "Gryffindor House will also play a crucial role, right?"
Rowena felt that all she needed to do at this moment was keep smiling.
Gryffindor: ???
Among the four Houses, only one lacked an heir chosen by its Founder.
Godric, guess which House it is?
Godric tugged at the beard beneath his chin, then recalled something Salazar had once told him about Hogwarts' current state:
The modern Hogwarts had already eliminated all knowledge related to magical flow.
Which meant the very soil necessary for producing Domain Wizards had been completely destroyed.
If everyone had declined to the same starting line, that would have been one thing.
But Salazar, Helga, and Rowena had secretly started ahead, privately giving extra lessons to students from their own Houses!
That instantly widened the gap in high-end combat ability between the Houses.
Gryffindor House, which lacked a Founder secretly nurturing its students, clearly could not become the protagonist of this tournament.
Godric's brows immediately furrowed.
This suddenly felt extremely awkward.
Helplessly, Gryffindor said, "I thought Anna would train an heir for me within my exclusive classroom…"
"Anna and Adrian left Hogwarts together after fighting each other. That happened not long after you disappeared," Rowena explained to her old friend, clarifying why his line of inheritance had been severed.
"Not having an heir might actually be a good thing. Honestly, I think Salazar is rather envious of you. He most likely wouldn't like those people who called themselves Slytherin's heirs in the past."
"Oh?"
Godric instantly perked up.
This was something Salazar had never mentioned to him, and he very much wanted Rowena to explain in detail.
"Looks like Salazar keeps his mouth pretty tightly shut! But Helga managed to dig out all of his little secrets anyway. Do you know how terrible Slytherin House's reputation is nowadays?"
Rowena blinked, her face revealing the unique delight she only displayed when sharing gossip.
"Hm?" The curiosity in Godric's eyes was practically overflowing. He urged Rowena to stop dragging things out and hurry up with the details Salazar had refused to tell him.
Naturally, Rhys himself always remained silent regarding the "misfortunes within Slytherin House."
Even when old friends occasionally asked why Slytherin's reputation seemed even worse than back in their era, he would vaguely brush the matter aside with statements such as:
"The House took a few wrong turns."
"It's all Voldemort's fault."
"The Sorting Hat's sorting methods developed serious problems."
Then he would quickly change the subject.
But he had overlooked one thing.
Helga was now working at Hogwarts, and she had been there for an entire year.
Although most of that year had been spent focused on constructing puppets, she still had plenty of fragmented free time.
For example, lunchtime and dinnertime spent eating alongside the other professors.
And during those meals, she heard no shortage of gossip.
That was when she learned of the famous legend:
The Heir of Slytherin and his Chamber of Secrets.
Aside from Severus Snape, the other professors unanimously believed that the legend of the Chamber had severely damaged Slytherin House's reputation.
Of course, the pure-blood supremacists deserved considerable credit for that as well.
The two complemented one another perfectly, much like fire and oil.
Pure-blood supremacy needed the Chamber as a symbol, while Slytherin's so-called "heir" needed the support of pure-blood extremists to increase his own status.
The two sides instantly hit it off, dragging Salazar Slytherin's already questionable reputation completely into the abyss.
At first, Helga thought everyone was making too much of it.
After all, which of the Founders didn't have some sort of secret chamber?
But when she learned about the slogan "purifying Hogwarts," she was utterly stunned.
Salazar's heirs played that wildly?!
In an instant, she fully understood why Salazar's reputation had become so awful.
He deserved it.
Who told him not to properly discipline his heirs?
By the time Godric heard this much, he was laughing so hard that even his phantom form began flickering unstably.
"Purifying Hogwarts? That's absolutely hilarious! How did they even dare say that? I'd wager my sword that when Salazar heard that slogan, he nearly fainted from rage!
What a pity. I wasn't there to see the expression on his face."
"Wait a second!"
After laughing enough, Godric suddenly noticed a blind spot.
Why was it that none of the others had preserved heirs, yet Salazar alone somehow still had descendants carrying on his line?
Although, admittedly, that did not seem to have turned out well for him.
The moment Godric asked this question, even Rowena's expression management began slipping apart.
"Helga also found it strange at the time, so she investigated further. She found an opportunity to corner that Greengrass girl named Daphne — the heir chosen by Salazar — and managed to coax an extremely, extremely, extremely interesting truth out of her…"
"That so-called Heir of Slytherin was an impostor!"
Godric: ?
His expression shifted continuously, and finally—
"Pffft!"
(≧▽≦)
Godric completely lost it.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI