Chapter 443: Rice: Feeling the Malice of the World
After all the contestants arrived, Dumbledore appeared with a group of headmasters.
No matter how scheming and anxious the principals were last night, they now all remain calm and confident. They have also taken out their best clothes and accessories from the bottom of their boxes and will never let themselves lose face at this critical moment.
The headmasters' efforts were not in vain. Soon after everyone gathered, Bagman and Henry walked into the stadium with several reporters from the Daily Prophet and a group of officials from the Ministry of Magic.
After taking dozens of photos, the reporters retreated to a corner with their notebooks in hand. They also knew who the protagonist was today, and they couldn't steal the show.
As for interviews and exclusive interviews, let's wait until the competition starts before contacting the principals of each school.
After the reporters left, Mr. Henry walked up to the crowd.
"The first World Youth Wizarding Championship is about to begin. I want to emphasize again that the competition is very risky. The contestants may even risk their lives. It is not too late to withdraw now."
None of the contestants said a word.
Who would want to quit at this point? Would the principal look at me well if I quit? How would I explain to my classmates when I return to school?
[Someone might die in the competition, so I withdrew from the competition]
They felt their scalps tingling just after hearing these words in their minds.
Even if some independent contestants wanted to withdraw, they quietly got it done last night. Why would they wait until the opening ceremony to withdraw?
After saying this, they waited quietly for a few seconds. Seeing that no one was willing to withdraw from the competition, Henry and Bagman each took out a small bag from their arms and distributed the contents to the contestants.
The thing in the bag is a multifunctional crystal ball provided by Hogwarts. It can be used to broadcast the experiences of the contestants. Various tasks are also issued through the crystal ball, and communication with the event organizers also depends on this crystal ball.
"The crystal balls have defensive spells attached to them. Once triggered, they can launch a defensive magic for you. This is the life-saving method we have prepared for you." Mr. Henry said loudly while distributing crystal balls, "Please note that these crystal balls have also been made into door keys by the Ministry of Magic. Once the defensive spells on them are triggered, the door keys will be activated and bring you back from the competition - which means you are eliminated. Of course, after your companions complete specific tasks, they may have the opportunity to let you repeat the competition."
These crystal balls are naturally the joint work of Rowena, Helga and Les: Rowena and Helga used the new technology previously developed by Les as the basis, and integrated their own special spells to create this batch of crystal balls with complex functions.
When Mr. Henry walked in front of Rice, he paused for a moment. Then, with a complicated look on his face, he took out a crystal ball and put it in Rice's hand.
When Mr. Henry learned that Les Lint was also on the list of contestants, he was stunned. Later, when he learned about the selection method of Hogwarts, he was relieved: in this case, it was a surprise that Mr. Slytherin failed.
This is also one of the reasons why he allowed Ekaterina to participate in the competition. After all, even this ancestor of Hogwarts has been eliminated. He will not stop Kodosdoriz from doing anything. It will not have much impact anyway.
But Henry was also a little confused. He didn't understand why the Slytherin adults would participate in such activities among children. Was it to ensure that Hogwarts won first place?
Henry felt that this was not impossible, but it was undoubtedly very good news for him.
The title of the world's number one magic school is very complicated and other magic schools cannot grasp it. They have to leave it to Hogwarts, which has a long history and rich teaching staff.
What's more, his two daughters are going to represent Hogwarts in the competition, and with Lord Slytherin around, he can help take care of them.
Could Lord Slytherin just sit back and watch the descendants of the Greengrass family fall into despair?
Soon, each contestant received a crystal ball.
"Please follow me." Mr. Henry led a large group of people towards the Forbidden Forest.
At this time, a large area of forest outside the Forbidden Forest has been cordoned off, and Rowena's magic has completely isolated the situation inside, so that even if someone stands on tiptoe and stretches their neck to look, they cannot see the specific situation in the stadium.
In fact, the principal of another school secretly came over last night to spy on the layout of the stadium, but even though they tried their best, they were unable to gain even a single bit of intelligence.
"Enter the arena from here." Henry stretched out his wand and lightly tapped the air in front of him, and an arch appeared out of thin air.
He told the contestants that as long as they stepped through the arch, they would enter the competition venue.
The contestants and principals of other schools were stunned: Is this the foundation of a thousand-year-old prestigious school?
This concealment spell alone is enough to become the foundation of a magic school.
Godric also stared, staring at everything in front of him, with a hint of deep thought in his eyes that was not in line with the Gryffindor character.
This competition venue is not simple...
But soon, he returned to his old ways, and said to the wizards around him who were guardians of independent contestants like him:
"How is it? This is my Hogwarts background!"
The principals of the surrounding second-rate magic schools, the heads of magic families, and the leaders of magic organizations would naturally not disobey the legendary wizard. After Gryffindor spoke, they immediately agreed.
The contestants walked into the arch one after another.
To students from other schools, this archway is strange and mysterious, but to most of the contestants from Hogwarts, this archway is quite familiar.
Isn't this a larger version of the arch that Professor Arius used to teach alchemy? Then the students remembered that Professor Arius seemed to be one of the planners of the competition, so everyone suddenly realized it.
At the same time, they also roughly understand how the competition will be held.
The contestants stepped through the arch and disappeared.
After all the contestants entered, Mr. Henry nodded slightly to the Ministry of Magic employees he brought with him, and the employees got busy, hanging up one large screen after another in the Hogwarts Quidditch Field.
Judging from the appearance of the screens, they were the screens used in the previous Quidditch World Cup, and now they are being reused. The audience outside the stadium can use the screens to watch the players' situations.
……
A small group of people were trekking through the dense forest.
The leading knight was nearly two meters tall, wearing a heavy suit of armor, and he used the long sword in his hand to cut through the vines and thorns blocking the road. In the dense forest, wearing such armor was obviously not very convenient, but the knight moved naturally and smoothly, as if the armor on his body did not exist.
Behind the knight, there was a tall black-haired woman in a blue robe holding a staff and a short girl with brown curly hair holding a book. At the end of the team was a pale young man who had nothing but a satchel on his back.
Suddenly, the knight stopped, and the dark-haired woman behind him also stopped and stuck her staff into the soil.
"What's wrong?" The short girl noticed the change in the atmosphere in the team and immediately asked.
"A person suddenly appeared in front of us." The black-haired woman responded.
"There is another breath." The knight's voice sounded. He shouted in the direction where the breath came from, "We are adventurers who have come here to defeat the evil dragon Enrique under the order of Duke Dibilis. Please come out for a moment!"
After the knight finished shouting, the dense forest remained quiet. The owner of the breath did not respond, but gradually moved closer to them.
The knight narrowed his eyes, all the muscles in his body tensed up, and a layer of flames emerged directly from the long sword in his hand.
Soon, a handsome black-haired young man wearing a black robe appeared in front of them.
"Human?" The knight frowned: A guy who appears alone in the Dragon Forest should not be underestimated.
The black-haired young man was Rice. He looked at the four people in front of him and was confused: Is this another test from the Alchemy World? Why are they speaking English?
However, Rice soon realized that the language they spoke was somewhat similar to English, and it felt like a variant of English that had developed hundreds of years ago.
"Maybe it's some weird worldview that Rowena implanted in me." Les quickly put aside the feeling of disharmony in his heart. In his opinion, it was a good thing that the alchemy world also spoke English, so that he didn't have to perform translation magic again.
He glanced at the four people, and was suddenly a little speechless: Why does the configuration of this four-person team look so familiar? Rowena, how much private goods have you stuffed into this world?
"I mean no harm." Rice said calmly.
Although he had Rowena's mission and his own unique purpose, Rice still didn't want to have a conflict as soon as he landed. Of course, the sense of déjà vu that the four-member team gave Rice was also related.
To put it cheesily, watching them reminded Rice of his younger self.
The four of them were startled by Rice's voice. The brown-haired girl said softly, "Classical Common Language. He might be a priest of a shrine."
"In that case, Iris, why don't you come and talk to him?" The black-haired woman gently pushed the brown-haired girl.
"Oh, okay." Iris took a few steps forward, came to the side of the knight, and then saluted Les.
"Hello, dear priest." She spoke in authentic but stiff English.
"Hello."
"Excuse me, which country are you from? Which god do you serve?"
"I have no faith, I don't believe in God."
Elise: ?
Oh hell, he speaks Classical Common better than the archbishop in the royal capital, but he turns out to be an apostle?
At this moment, she heard a rustling sound coming from the person opposite her, and then a small emerald green snake crawled out from his sleeve.
The black-haired young man grabbed the snake's head and smiled apologetically at Iris.
"My pet snake. I hope I didn't scare you."
Seeing the young man stuff the snake back into his sleeve, Iris felt goosebumps all over her body. However, the intimacy between the young man and the snake made her realize that maybe the guy in front of her was not a good person.
According to their local customs, snakes are extremely evil creatures, and only people who are born evil will make friends with snakes.
Iris raised her head and met the black-haired young man's dark and deep eyes. She suddenly felt as if she was looking directly into a deep pool of water, and at the same time she had a feeling that everything about her was seen through.
Les silently cursed Ravenclaw in his heart.
Damn it, why add so much drama to the world view? What happened to the snake? Les decided to have a good chat with Rowena after he got out about what "snakes are extremely evil creatures, and eagles that prey on snakes are sacred."
"Let's get to know each other. My name is Les."
Just when Elise was about to say something, Rice took the initiative to speak and introduced himself first.
"Oh, I'm Iris, a priest. He is Josep, a knight in the team. This is Sister Alexandra, a magician. The guy standing at the end is our pharmacist, Traton." Iris introduced the team members to Les one by one.
Rice's eyebrows jumped when he heard this: This team configuration...
"You seemed to have just said that you were here to fight the dragon?" Les remembered what Knight Joseph shouted when they first met. When he just landed, he landed in a dragon's lair. Could it be such a coincidence?
"Yes, the evil dragon Enrique has attacked nearby villages many times, and last month it burned Blackstone Castle to ruins. We must get rid of it." Joseph responded.
Les: "I just killed a dragon. Do you want to go and see if it's the evil dragon Enrique?"
Four-man team: ???
A few minutes later, looking at the huge dragon corpse as big as a hill in front of them, the four people fell silent: this time they had made a wasted trip, the evil dragon Enrique had actually been killed!
More importantly, there were no wounds on Enrique's body, so they had no idea how the young man named Les killed the dragon.
"Is it the power of the curse?" Several people came up with the most likely guess.
At this time, a strong wind came from deep in the cave.
Rice's expression changed instantly.
"Eh? Is this the first time you've seen this? Don't worry, this is a very common natural phenomenon in the Dragon Forest. Sometimes the wind does blow inexplicably in the cave. We call it the [Breathing of the Deep Mountains]." Iris noticed the change in Les's expression. She thought Les was scared because he saw this phenomenon for the first time, so she kindly explained to him this natural phenomenon unique to the local area.
Les:…
"No, after all these years, has no one realized that this mountain is actually alive?" He couldn't help but complain.
Team of Four: Huh?
Just then, the ground beneath their feet suddenly shook, as if there was an earthquake.
Les sighed: Now he finally felt what the world's malice was.
Arranging the birth point in the dragon's nest is just an appetizer, now is the main course!
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Thank you for your help. Good night~
