"Salazar, I'm a ghost now! How am I supposed to eat?" A wry smile flashed across Godric's face.
This was one of the major drawbacks of becoming a ghost.
"Didn't Rowena tell you? I invented a type of memory-based potion that allows ghosts to experience the taste of food." Rhys took another potion bottle from his robes.
Godric's eyes immediately lit up.
To be fair, although Rowena's breakthroughs in alchemy had greatly astonished him, the skills Salazar had developed were far more beneficial to him personally.
"Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and serve it! I can't wait any longer!" Godric familiarly sat down in the chair opposite Rhys and began urging him on.
The delicious food on Salazar's table had already made his mouth water.
"All right, let me find it..." Rhys reached into his small leather pouch and began rummaging around.
"There are quite a lot of things in here. Give me a moment to look through them..."
"Mm-hmm!" Godric nodded repeatedly.
While searching through the pouch, Rhys asked in a seemingly casual tone, "Godric, who do you think is the most intelligent among the four of us?"
Gryffindor: ??
Why was Salazar asking such a question? Even an eleven-year-old child knew that among the four founders of Hogwarts, the one most renowned for her wisdom was Rowena, the Raven's Claw!
"Rowena, of course. Why are you suddenly asking that?" Godric blinked, a trace of innocence flashing in his eyes.
"I see..." Rhys said nothing more and continued searching through his pouch for the potion.
About half a minute later, Rhys drew in a sharp breath.
"Sss... Why can't I find it? I distinctly remember putting it in here."
Godric rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger. He had vaguely realised where the problem lay.
"I believe Rowena might have barely deserved that position a thousand years ago. But today, a thousand years later, the most intelligent among us is obviously you, Salazar!"
"Oh? Why is that? Isn't Rowena the witch of wisdom? She even has a diadem that enhances intelligence. How could a wizard like me, who only knows how to deal with potions, possibly compare with her?" Rhys stopped rummaging and narrowed his eyes at Godric.
Gryffindor cursed inwardly.
He even wanted a reason? Was he serious?!
Still, for the sake of the food and drink, Godric began racking his brains. To his surprise, he actually came up with a rather reasonable explanation.
"No matter how intelligent Rowena was, didn't she still end up becoming a ghost and needing you to save her?" Godric forced himself to put on a sincere expression.
Rhys was rather pleased by Godric's answer.
He also finally found the bottle containing the food potion among the miscellaneous assortment of potion bottles. He genuinely hadn't been able to find it earlier.
Soon, Godric began enjoying the food potion Rhys had prepared for him.
The moment a drop of beer-flavoured potion entered his body, Godric couldn't help exclaiming in delight. Compared to the pleasure he was experiencing now, what did the tiny sacrifice he had made earlier matter?
Although it could not compare with truly eating and drinking, Godric could hardly ask for more in his current state.
After drinking three drops of the potion, Godric looked at his old friend and couldn't help returning to their earlier topic: the reason Salazar had become involved in this competition.
By now, Gryffindor had also begun to realise something was wrong. What kind of opponent required his old friend to personally lead a team into battle?
Surely the false Norse gods had not revived and brought their followers and disciples to fight them once more?
Godric knew his old friend extremely well. Unless someone of equal standing from another school entered the competition, Salazar would never participate in a tournament meant for children.
Then why had he appeared here? Why had Helga and Rowena allowed him to come? Surely this wasn't some kind of prank... Wait, if Rowena was involved, that was actually possible.
But with Salazar's temperament, who could force him to do something he didn't want to do?
Countless thoughts collided inside Godric's mind, leaving him confused and slightly dizzy, as though the alcohol had gone to his head.
Rhys didn't immediately answer his old friend's questions. Instead, he silently tore off a chicken leg and, with a soft sucking sound, stripped all the meat from the bone in one go, leaving it completely bare.
He didn't only feed himself. Rhys also pulled off the chicken's head and tail and stuffed them into the Basilisk's wide-open mouth inside his sleeve.
Only after finishing all that did he begin answering Godric's question.
"I am the price Rowena paid."
"Huh?"
This time, Gryffindor was genuinely baffled.
Rhys then explained in full the problems that had emerged within the small world Rowena had created.
Gryffindor's brows immediately knitted into a deep frown.
He instantly recognised the danger involved.
Rowena had caused another enormous disaster.
Clearly, despite being the creator god of this world, Rowena had already lost control over it. She had even allowed creatures to emerge that she could no longer kill from outside the world.
That was terrifying.
Had she chosen to conceal the problem, it might have brought a catastrophic disaster upon Hogwarts in the future.
Fortunately, she had retained enough sense to trick Salazar into entering and cleaning up her mess.
Gryffindor trusted his old friend completely.
He believed Salazar would undoubtedly accomplish the task perfectly.
"So I'll be very busy from now on. The Dragon Kings, the Emperor, the Pope, the Chief Mage, and the gods above the heavens. I have a great deal to do."
At that point, Rhys suddenly frowned. He reached inside his robes and took out the crystal ball used for communication.
The crystal ball had grown hot, apparently trying to alert him to something.
"One of my assigned teammates has come looking for me... Let's see which school they're from."
Rhys felt that since the person had travelled such a long way to find him, it would be rather rude to hide and refuse to meet them.
Once they met, he could simply tell them that he had no interest in forming a team.
Of course, if it was a Hogwarts student, he wouldn't mind helping them along.
Soon, a young man pushed open the tavern door.
After glancing around, his gaze landed on Rhys, and a delighted expression immediately appeared on his face.
"Wonderful, I finally found you. If I'd had to get any closer to that explosion site, I might have abandoned the idea of forming a team altogether."
Since the chair opposite Rhys had already been pulled out, the young man naturally sat down before suddenly shivering.
Strange. Why does it feel so cold here?
The young man was puzzled.
Soon, something even more surprising occurred.
The divine remains within his body began behaving strangely, becoming unusually restless.
That was truly bizarre.
However, now wasn't the time to investigate such matters. He would have plenty of time to commune with the divine remains when he went to sleep that night.
For now, he needed to convince the Hogwarts student before him to form an alliance.
He had seen everything clearly that day. The young man before him had received an exceptionally high score.
He had truly struck gold.
____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI