"So where did you get that Baku?" A creature considered quite dangerous by others was, among Rhys and his peers, just a prank tool used for messing around among friends.
Still, Rhys needed to know where the Baku had come from—he didn't recall any of those creatures surviving into the current magical world.
But if Helga had brought it with her from their era, then he could rest easy.
"Found it by chance in the Forbidden Forest and caught it on a whim," Helga replied casually. In her view, it was just an ordinary Baku—she had no idea why her old friend was so intent on knowing its origins.
Rhys's expression darkened slightly—Helga had given an answer he hadn't wanted to hear.
For a Baku, a dark creature that should have long since vanished, to suddenly reappear in the Forbidden Forest, there were three possibilities.
First, that some experiment of Rowena's in the dungeons had accidentally caused a sealed Baku to escape.
Second, that members of the cult were up to something again.
The third possibility was that the Baku was a native of the Forbidden Forest, and Helga had simply come across and captured it by chance.
Rhys immediately felt a headache coming on. What he hoped for most was the first scenario—then all he had to do was lecture Rowena.
The second wasn't ideal but still acceptable—after all, he didn't believe the Secret Society could possibly have a large number of such rare dark creatures.
The third case, however, was far more troublesome. It would mean that the outside world could now produce "wild" Baku. No one knew if that thing was truly one of a kind, and this instantly made the situation vastly more complicated.
What was most frustrating was that, once the first possibility was ruled out, there was no clear way to distinguish between the second and third.
"What's wrong?" Seeing the troubled look on her old friend's face, Helga became serious as well.
Rhys explained his deductions to Helga, helping her understand that creatures like the Baku were not supposed to exist in the modern magical world.
After hearing him out, the first question Helga Hufflepuff asked was, "What is the Secret Society?"
"It's a literal cult. A hidden organization," Rhys replied. "They're collecting the corpses of gods and using them to gain immense power—the more elite members even possess Domains. In addition to divine remains, they also collect all sorts of ancient artifacts. I found your whereabouts through a cup they had in their collection."
Helga smacked her lips. "Live long enough and you really do see everything. Who'd have thought those barbarian gods would still be useful in this way."
Rhys shook his head as well. After the great war back then, the handling of the remaining divine corpses had indeed been sloppy, which led to the birth of a cult like this centuries later—remnants of divine filth.
But there hadn't been much they could do. Divine remains weren't like ordinary corpses that you could just bury or burn. These were relics imbued with divine power.
The best they could do was to handle what they could and let the residual power within the corpses slowly fade over time—or transform the remains into magical artifacts. The most dangerous parts had already been dealt with that way.
Still, who could have predicted that something like the Cult would eventually emerge, making trouble with the scraps?
Helga suddenly realized—there were people in the Cult who had actually comprehended Domains? Given how far the modern wizarding world had declined, she feared that today's wizards might truly be incapable of handling such a threat.
"Heh~ But isn't that why we're here?" she said confidently. "If I hadn't decided to return to Hogwarts after waking, I might've wiped them out already in the past. With me around, they won't be making any waves."
Rhys fully agreed. In the end, the Cult was nothing more than a group of ghouls drawing power from divine leftovers. Back in the day, they hadn't even feared the true gods—why be afraid of these things?
So what if a few had comprehended Domains? Domains varied in strength, too.
"When my body grows up—I mean—when I graduate from Hogwarts, by then I should be fully recovered. I'll go deal with them myself. Honestly, we should thank those people for speeding up the disposal of divine remains."
Helga chuckled as well: indeed, the cultists of the Cult were practically accelerating the harmless neutralization of divine remains by drawing power from them day in and day out.
They were sacrificing their own lives to turn chunks of divine remains into raw materials for magical artifacts. Helga truly felt like giving them a gold star for effort.
Thanks to Rhys's explanation, Helga now had a general understanding of what this so-called Cult was about.
"I don't think it was the Cult's doing. If they had the ability to send a Baku into Hogwarts, then why not go all the way and send it directly into the castle?"
Rhys thought it over and agreed that Helga had a point—meaning only the worst possibility remained.
"That makes it even more troublesome. Baku don't belong in this era… Helga, you know what I'm saying."
The appearance of a Baku was a very ominous sign. This time, Helga also fell silent, lowering her head. The classroom was plunged into stillness.
"It doesn't matter. We're still here. There's nothing we can't handle. Whatever new enemies appear—we'll just take them down," Helga said, lifting her head, her emotions returning to normal. "Can you still get your hands on a Philosopher's Stone?"
Rhys gave her a look.
"The Philosopher's Stone produces the Elixir of Life, not a potion of eternal youth."
"I know."
"…"
Rhys hesitated for a moment, then told Helga that currently, only Nicolas Flamel knew how to create the Elixir of Life—but he could try reverse-engineering it and see if he could recreate it.
"That's good enough." Helga had already made up her mind. Until she completed her mission, she would continue taking the Elixir of Life—if Salazar could truly reproduce it.
The atmosphere in the empty classroom was somewhat heavy, with both Rhys and Helga adjusting their emotions.
After a while, Rhys smiled. "Don't overthink it. Maybe it's just Rowena messing around again. That kind of thing is right up her alley."
Helga burst out laughing—Salazar was right, that did sound like something Rowena would do.
"Want to go see her downstairs?" Rhys suggested.
He had thought Helga would agree without hesitation, but to his surprise, she actually wavered.
"Just thinking about seeing her makes me nervous. Maybe I need a bit more mental preparation.." Helga said, clearly uncertain.
"Nervous about what? She definitely wants to see you too!"
Helga shot Rhys a look—as if to say: You really don't know why I'm nervous?
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