"Alright, it's hormones." Although she didn't really understand what hormones were, Helga still said she completely believed Salazar.
Truly. She believed him. Hmph!
Your first student just happened to possess a domain from Godric's line too. That must also be a coincidence, right?
Seeing Helga react like this, Rhys's movements as he searched for books grew more frantic. He had to find that encyclopedia entry on hormones and make Helga understand just how wrong she was.
"Hm? Then your reaction to Muggle satellites was so intense… is it because you're afraid of them?" Helga had only meant to provoke Salazar a little, to tease him, but to her surprise, Salazar's hands stopped moving.
After thinking seriously for a while and examining his own heart, Rhys let out a sigh.
"Although I really don't want to admit it, I am a little afraid of them. Their pace of development is simply too fast."
Helga was stunned.
Had she not woken up properly? Were those really words Salazar Slytherin could say?
She believed that if their other old friends heard Salazar say this, they would be just as shocked as she was.
"A hundred years ago, the techniques Muggles used were still within my range of understanding, and the magical world was only slightly behind them. For example, the Hogwarts Express was essentially the same kind of transportation Muggles were using at the time."
Yet in just fifty years, the Muggle world underwent earth-shaking changes. They took control of the skies, the land, and the seas.
On land, they had automobiles and trains for transportation. Two places hundreds of miles apart could be reached within a single day by train.
They had advanced means of communication, allowing conversations across tens of thousands of kilometers.
They could fly into the sky, conducting long-distance travel, transport, and even attacks.
Their performance on the seas was no less impressive—ships and submarines turned both the surface and the depths of the ocean into their domain.
And if you push the timeline forward another twenty years, their reach had already extended into the realm of outer space.
As of today, in the span of just a hundred years, Muggle technology has advanced to a level we can no longer comprehend. Catching up with them has become almost impossible.
I don't dare imagine what the world will look like if we let them develop for another hundred years.
So tell me, why wouldn't I be afraid of Muggles? If you understood them as well as I do, you would be afraid too."
Now it was Helga's turn to fall silent.
After hearing Salazar speak like this, she also realized just how terrifying Muggles could be. Their pace of development was indeed astonishing.
Salazar's reaction was more intense than hers because he understood Muggles far better than she did.
In such circumstances, the fact that he was still only thinking about destroying Muggle satellites to better conceal Hogwarts already showed remarkable restraint.
If it were the old him, he would probably have already begun to recklessly restart his research from back then—those ultra–large-scale perpetual spells that the three of them had once stopped together.
"Updating the Muggle Studies textbooks is the top priority," Helga did not continue dwelling on the topics of "being afraid of Muggles" or "you're very much like a Gryffindor," but instead began thinking about practical solutions.
There were now two extremely urgent matters before her and Salazar. One was revising the Muggle Studies textbooks, and the other was upgrading the school's defensive magic.
"You're right." The anger in Rhys's heart had completely dissipated. Even his attention had been successfully redirected by Helga, no longer fixated on how to quietly blow up Muggle satellites.
The two of them truly set aside the previous topic and began to seriously think through these two problems.
After pondering for a moment, Rhys came up with an idea.
"I think that if we want to stay hidden, there are mainly two aspects we need to focus on. First, driving away Muggles who accidentally wander into this area—this we've already done extremely well. Second, preventing Muggles from observing us through remote means."
Helga sat quietly across from Rhys, waiting to hear his insights.
In Helga's view, Salazar, who had read a vast number of books, understood Muggles better than she did. So when it came to how to better conceal Hogwarts, he would be far more professional than her.
"Muggles have many methods of remote observation. Satellites are only one of them, but after summarizing it, it seems they basically boil down to three things: light, heat, and sound."
Light—whether seen with the naked eye or through telescopes—relies on light.
Heat is detected using special instruments that sense changes in temperature.
Helga, look: the temperature of the human body is very different from that of a fireplace, and also different from the surrounding ambient temperature. These differences can be detected by machines developed by Muggles, allowing them to determine where people are and where fires are within a room.
Sound can also be used to probe objects. Muggles call this sonar or radar. It seems they drew inspiration from bats.
I believe that if we act on these three aspects, we can effectively conceal Hogwarts."
Helga blinked. She only understood a small part of what Salazar was saying. But it seemed that as long as a wizard awakened a domain related to sound, light, or heat, Hogwarts could be perfectly hidden.
Unfortunately, neither her domain nor Salazar's had much to do with these three aspects. Godric was somewhat related to light and heat, but no one knew where he had gone, or even whether he was still alive. Only Rowena seemed capable of contributing somewhat in the aspect of sound.
"You're right, but it's not like we're completely out of options." After listening to Helga's thoughts, Rhys also put forward his own idea.
"We can expand the range of the Muggle-Repelling Charms so that they leave before they can even approach Hogwarts.
Then, Helga, you can think of a way to alter the terrain around the school, making it so that anyone walking through the area unconsciously expends more physical energy. That way, we can discourage as many wandering Muggles as possible.
As for eyes in the sky, I can form a vast stretch of clouds and mist above the school. Thick clouds will be enough to block Muggle detection methods."
Hearing the latter half of his proposal, Helga's eyebrows knit together.
"So does that mean there won't be any sunlight over the school in the future?" The moment Helga imagined Hogwarts being perpetually shrouded in gloom for the sake of concealment, her mood immediately sank.
Constant fog and overcast skies every day—who could stand that?
Rhys: "…"
You really have a lot of objections.
But on second thought, that really would only be a stopgap measure.
"Then how about we create an ultra–large-scale magical array to envelop the school? From the outside, Muggles would only be able to observe a magical illusion, while inside the array, the weather would remain normal."
Helga's eyes lit up. That was a good idea!
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI