— — — — — —
Tom was finally going to look for a new teacher.
Something this important obviously had to be announced to everyone in the study space.
...
Before long, Andros and Ariana were the first to rush out. Then came Grindelwald, who had been chatting with Dumbledore through The Codex. The moment he heard there'd be a new colleague, he didn't even bother with his old friend anymore. He tossed out a casual, "I'm going to take a shower," and dove straight into the space with his consciousness.
The last to appear was Ravenclaw, who hadn't shown her face in ages.
But when she finally did, everyone was startled by the state she was in.
"Sis Rowena… what happened to you?" Ariana blurted out.
Normally, Ravenclaw was impeccably dressed, effortlessly stylish. Every gesture carried an easy, mature charm—an intelligent, magnetic woman through and through.
But now… her sky-blue wizard's robe was scorched in several places, streaked with heavy oil stains. Her once-silky hair was a complete bird's nest. She looked like a lunatic who just crawled out of a laboratory explosion.
"What happened?" Ravenclaw murmured, repeating the question.
Ariana and the others stared at her with wide eyes, waiting for an explanation.
No one noticed a certain guilty teenager quietly backing away two steps.
But in a space this small, with only a handful of people around, how could Ravenclaw not notice?
She immediately marched over, fury radiating off her, grabbed Tom by the ear, and snarled, "You little brat, where do you think you're going?"
"R-Rowena, calm down!" Tom laughed awkwardly. "I didn't even push you, did I? You're the one who took things too seriously and worked yourself into this state."
"You didn't push me?" Ravenclaw snapped. "Then what do you call dumping fifty or sixty questions on me every single day?"
Her voice was full of grievance. If the other three founders had heard this, their jaws would've hit the floor.
Rowena Ravenclaw—always smiling, unfathomably deep, the wise witch even Slytherin-level schemers avoided provoking—actually having a moment this miserable?
The others were dying of curiosity. Thankfully, Ravenclaw didn't keep them hanging. She vented angrily, laying out everything she'd been dealing with lately.
Horcrux soul experiments. Development and analyzing of blood curses. Updates to magical communication runes.
These were Tom's three most important research projects at the moment. He'd split off three mind-avatars to handle them, and every day, after absorbing their memories, his "Limitless Thoughts" talent would explode with endless ideas and insights.
Then he'd write all those questions down. Some he solved himself in Turbo Mode, but even after solving them, he'd still send a copy to Ravenclaw, eager to hear her perspective and analysis.
One or two days like that was manageable. But dozens—sometimes hundreds—of questions every day, all high-level problems involving souls and the very nature of magic? Even Ravenclaw was bound to lose her mind.
Why had she disappeared from everyone's sight lately? Why had her temper gotten worse and worse?
99% of the blame belonged to Tom. The remaining one percent went to the study space itself—for dragging Ravenclaw into this mess in the first place.
After hearing her story, Grindelwald, Andros, and Ariana all stared at the shyly smiling boy in stunned silence. The same thought surfaced in their minds at once: What a monster.
Even if you don't get tired in the study space, even if you can stay at peak mental condition all the time here, you still can't just grind someone into the ground like that.
Andros suddenly felt very glad he wasn't as brilliant as Ravenclaw. Otherwise, he'd definitely be the first one worked to death.
"Well… time waits for no one," Tom said weakly, feeling the hostile stares. He scraped together an excuse. "Rowena, you know me. I just really want to improve. I honestly didn't mean anything bad."
Then he hurriedly changed the subject. "Besides, I'm already working on a solution. I'm about to summon a new teacher. Someone who can take a lot of the pressure off you."
At the mention of a new teacher, the anger on Ravenclaw's face eased a little. She released Tom's ear and even gently rubbed it for him.
"Then what are you waiting for?" she urged. "Hurry up and summon."
She'd been curious about the summoning ritual for a long time, just waiting for a chance to observe a full one as an outsider and see if she could analyze anything useful from it.
Tom curled his lip. This woman changed moods frighteningly fast.
He glanced at the system interface—Ravenclaw's approval rating was at 49%. He seriously suspected she was a masochist. After all the torment he'd put her through lately, how had her approval gone up instead of down?
"Hold on," Andros said suddenly, stopping Tom as he was about to begin.
"Male or Female?"
"Gellert," Andros jerked his chin at Grindelwald. "I'm guessing this one's a man."
"I was thinking male too," Grindelwald replied.
"Nope." Andros shook his head like a rattle drum. "I said it first. You don't get to steal my guess."
Grindelwald shrugged. "Then there's no point betting."
Tom's head filled with black lines. "Wait… are you seriously betting on the new colleague?"
"It's boring otherwise," Andros said innocently. "Just a casual game. The stakes are one palm-strike spell each."
Ariana pouted. "Then why are you both guessing a man? Are you looking down on women or something?"
Tom couldn't help glancing at the little girl.
Wow. Is she about to throw hands over this? And since when does she count as a woman anyway? She's barely grown yet.
If Ravenclaw had said it, that'd be one thing.
But Ravenclaw didn't get angry. Instead, she said thoughtfully, "If it were me, I'd guess the new teacher will be a male wizard too."
"Why?" Ariana asked, confused.
Facing the adorable Ariana, Ravenclaw explained patiently, "Tom mentioned long ago that this summoning would bring forth a wizard on the same level as Grindelwald or Andros. Looking at history as a whole, we have to admit that female wizards have generally been at a disadvantage."
"A century-king–level witch? As far as I know, there are very few. Paradoxically, beings a tier above that do exist—like Helga and Maeve."
"Of course, it's also possible there are hidden figures out there. Wizards are the embodiment of mystery. Most of them are very careful about concealing their secrets. Loud, flashy dark wizards like Grindelwald or Voldemort are actually quite rare. Without those two, people would only know that Dumbledore was outstanding, but they'd never grasp just how vast the gap really is."
"So historically speaking, there were definitely century kings who never revealed their full strength. Even so, I still think male wizards outnumber female ones at that level. That's just how temperament and circumstance shake out."
Tom wasn't in a hurry anymore. He asked with interest, "So what now? You all want to bet on a male wizard. Hard to even open the odds like that."
Grindelwald and Andros exchanged a glance, muttered back and forth for a moment, then came up with a solution.
They'd use time as the dividing line.
If the summoned teacher came from before the year 1000 AD, Andros won. If it was from after the year 1000, meaning after Hogwarts was founded, Grindelwald won.
Andros agreed readily. Now this was finally a fair bet.
Ravenclaw joined in for fun too. She placed her wager on the new teacher being a witch, with a single, reasonable request as her stake.
"Tom, you're not playing?" Grindelwald suddenly looked at him.
Tom shook his head. "You're all going to be colleagues. Joking around is fine. But I'm just the student here, so I'll sit this one out."
At that, smiles appeared on everyone's faces without them even realizing it.
That was one of the reasons they all liked Tom.
Because of the study space, their lives and deaths were ultimately decided by a single thought from the boy. And yet he still treated them with respect. Not fake politeness, but something genuine.
He could joke around when it was appropriate, and he knew exactly where to draw the line when things got sensitive. Who wouldn't like a kid like that?
"…Alright then. Since everything's decided—let's begin."
Tom cupped his hands together and scattered a shower of golden light.
The space trembled once more. The white mist at its distant edges, which had already receded when Ravenclaw appeared last time, was now forcibly pushed even farther back into the void.
Andros and Grindelwald didn't look toward where the golden light was gathering. Instead, they watched Ravenclaw.
This legend, determined to unravel the secrets of the space, had finally gone all out.
Ariana had already been pushed back behind Andros by the pressure alone.
Meanwhile... Ravenclaw's disheveled appearance was gone, replaced by a transcendent presence. Her blue hair flowed like a waterfall without any wind, every strand distinct, each one shimmering with crystalline light.
Ariana's eyes sparkled. She thought Ravenclaw looked impossibly beautiful right now, like a goddess who'd descended from another world.
Andros and Grindelwald, however, understood what was really happening.
Ravenclaw was using some kind of profound magic. Those dancing, luminous strands of hair definitely served a purpose they couldn't see through.
Within moments, the golden light condensed into shape. A small figure appeared on the distant horizon.
After pausing briefly, the figure began walking toward Tom.
"Ah—"
Seeing the new teacher clearly, Ariana's eyes went wide and her mouth fell slightly open. The others were just as shocked.
It was actually a witch. And a very young one at that.
She looked only a little older than Ariana, definitely not an adult.
Her features were delicate, but her face was smeared with grime. A thick long golden braid swung behind her. She was wearing prison garb, and heavy shackles bound her hands and feet, clanking loudly with every step.
Tom fell silent.
He realized that aside from Andros, who had shown up under perfectly normal circumstances, every other teacher had arrived with some bizarre complication.
Ravenclaw had been stitched together from soul fragments. Grindelwald was a prisoner. Ariana was underage.
And now this.
An underage prisoner?!
Tom took a deep breath, his vision going dark.
Couldn't he just get one normal teacher?
Finally, the young witch stopped in front of him. At the same time, she absorbed the information transmitted by the space and greeted him timidly.
"Dieu vous garde." (May God bless you.)
Tom: "..."
Everyone else fell into stunned silence.
God bless you? We're wizards, okay? What on earth had the Church been doing in her time?
"Y-you too," Tom replied weakly. "Could you tell me your name?"
His voice was so tired it almost echoed a certain old headmaster's tone. If Dumbledore were here, he'd definitely notice the resemblance.
"You're too kind," the girl said quickly, bowing deeply. Then she introduced herself in French with a heavy accent.
"My name is Jeanne d'Arc."
"Jeanne, huh… wait."
Tom nodded instinctively, then his brain caught up.
His eyes widened as he blurted out, "Holy shit—Joan of Arc?!"
.
.
.