The Admiral of Hogwarts

In the early 90s, airplanes already had televisions, especially on international flights like the one the Granger family was on. Shortly after takeoff, the televisions began showing various movies or news programs. The 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which were currently taking place, were naturally a major focus.

Originally, Hugo wasn't interested in the somewhat blurry images of this era, but while watching a broadcast about the first gold medalist of the Olympics, he unexpectedly saw someone very familiar on the screen, so much so that he immediately contacted the ship girls through the admiral network.

"I'm watching footage of the Olympics right now, and I saw Stalingrad," Hugo said to the ship girls in the admiral network, his face filled with shock. "And according to this recording, she won the first gold medal of the Olympics."

"That's right, Commander Comrade, I did participate in those Olympics and won three gold medals," Stalingrad's voice chimed in on the admiral network. "You know, we need the power of the wizarding world, but also the power of ordinary people. And if you want to gain the support of ordinary people as quickly as possible, participating in the Olympics and winning championships is a good idea."

"Alright, I suppose you must have your reasons for making such a decision," Hugo said, feeling that what the ship girls said made sense. At least compared to more direct and violent methods, participating in the Olympics was probably the most harmonious method the ship girls could use.

Out of trust for the ship girls, Hugo had only set a very broad plan for them, allowing them to take the initiative, and he basically didn't interfere with how it was executed. This is why Hugo had no idea that Stalingrad had participated in the Olympics.

"But I have a question, Stalingrad," Hugo said, watching the news anchor on TV reading Stalingrad's record-breaking scores with extreme surprise, while asking her directly.

"If I remember correctly, Olympic teams require a long period of selection to join. You haven't been here long, so how did you get in? Don't tell me you used magic to sneak in."

"Of course not. Using magic is the worst possible option; it's easy to get noticed," Stalingrad said. "Especially at large, world-renowned events like the Olympics, the local Ministry of Magic will also get involved to prevent wizards from using magic to compete and violating the Statute of Secrecy."

"As for why I was able to compete, it's simple: this year's Olympics were very special. You know that the country located in the Balkan Peninsula has dissolved, and because of the intense conflict, they can only participate as individual athletes. So in this chaos, as long as you have money, getting an Olympic spot isn't that difficult."

"Not to mention that the Soviets have already begun building a network in Eastern Europe over the past six months or so. With the cover of this network and the help of a large amount of money, I only spent a little effort and time to join this team of individual athletes with the identity of a resident near the Port of Piran that I obtained, and became a shooting athlete."

"Why not swimming or weightlifting?" Hugo asked, puzzled. After all, those competitions should be the easiest for the ship girls.

"Because winning an Olympic championship to boost our reputation is part of our plan, so we need to consider the type of championship when planning future actions," the Soviet's voice interjected into the admiral network. "Because we want to highlight the individual, team events are naturally not our goal."

"More importantly, we want to create a popular idol in the sports world. And swimming or weightlifting champions are obviously not as eye-catching as shooting champions," the Soviet added playfully. "And we want to participate in skill-based sports, rather than simply winning based on physical qualities."

"Alright, skill-based—" Hugo felt like he didn't know how to respond. For the ship girls, participating in any human sports competition was a complete stomp, even if Stalingrad deliberately missed a few shots to avoid being too conspicuous, she could still break the world record.

"—By the way, can you give me a rough outline of your plan?" Hugo asked the Soviet. "I mean, the next step after making Stalingrad famous."

"We need to find a home port that we can control," the Soviet replied very seriously to Hugo's inquiry. "So we naturally chose the Port of Piran. Not only is that place close to the sea, but from every perspective, it's suitable for our further development."

"And if we want to develop, a figurehead is naturally essential, and Stalingrad fits all our requirements. So we are now doing everything we can to build up Stalingrad's image to ensure that the next plan can be implemented perfectly, after all, that place isn't very safe right now."

"Then I wish you all the best," Hugo said sincerely to the Soviet and the others. Then he asked the flight attendant for a blanket and closed his eyes. After all, this trip would take a long time. So he thought he'd take this opportunity to get some sleep, so he wouldn't be groggy when he transferred flights in the early morning.

After returning to their London home and resting for only one day, Hermione dragged Hugo to Hood's shop to share their travel stories with Veneto and the others. Obviously, for Hermione, she very much wanted to share her travel experiences with her friends as soon as she returned to London and finished dealing with her own affairs.

Of course, in addition to their travel experiences, they also discussed some other things. For example, how their friends spent their summer vacation. And as they talked, the topic turned to Harry. Because during this trip, Hugo and Hermione sent postcards to their friends from every place they visited, but Harry didn't send a single reply.

"Ron did send me a letter," Firefly said, taking out a letter. As Firefly, who had quietly become the leader of Gryffindor, naturally had a good relationship with many people, she had learned some special information from Ron. "The letter says that Harry received a warning from the Ministry of Magic yesterday."

"A warning from the Ministry of Magic? What happened to Harry?" Hermione asked nervously after hearing what Firefly said. After the point deduction incident last school year, everyone studied together in the library and became quite familiar, so she was naturally a little nervous when she heard that something had happened to Harry.

"Ron's letter was very vague, only saying that his dad said Harry used magic in front of Muggles and received a warning. So they decided to find a way to see what exactly happened to Harry in the next few days."

"I hope nothing happened," Hermione sighed. After spending a year together last year, she had a rough understanding of Harry and Ron's ability to cause trouble, so she couldn't have too much confidence in Harry in certain matters.

"Don't worry, think about Harry's status in the wizarding world," Hugo said, gently putting his hand on his sister's shoulder. "Professor Dumbledore will definitely find a way to protect Harry, so he should just be encountering some minor problems right now."