Episode 257

He said I passed.

The demon gestured for the next student to step forward. It meant, since you’ve passed, get out of the way quickly.

“???”

Of course, that didn’t make sense.

The students standing behind Lee Han also whispered in confusion.

“What part of that conversation was a pass?”

“Ah! Maybe it was the polite greeting?”

Hearing what his friends behind him said, Lee Han thought it sounded plausible.

He hadn’t intended it, but greeting politely and starting the conversation must have made a good impression on the demon.

“I see… I’ve learned something. It was thanks to being polite.”

Lee Han felt proud of his habit of always flattering politely.

There’s really no downside to flattery…

What? What are you saying?

“…Isn’t it?”

Your magic power was a reasonable contract condition, so I passed you.

“Wait a second!”

Professor Rosine couldn’t hold back and interrupted.

She moved the demon to the side.

“Mr. Oriphulas. You can’t do that. You have to do your job sincerely.”

Aren’t I doing it sincerely…

“You just did it half-heartedly.”

Professor Rosine reverted to her strict administrator persona and scolded.

Oriphulas, a powerful demon but bound by contract, protested in an aggrieved voice.

What I heard was that I should pass the students if they present reasonable contract terms.

For wizards, eloquence and speech were more important than you’d think.

Living as a wizard, you often met beings stronger than yourself.

A wizard who relied only on strength and lacked wisdom could do nothing in such cases.

But a clever wizard, even when meeting a stronger being, could persuade that being and turn a crisis into an opportunity.

That’s why, even as first-years, it was important to learn how to grasp the rules of beings from other dimensions and how to persuade them…

‘You can’t just pass them like that!’

But he met the conditions with enough magic power… Are you telling me to be unreasonable?

“……”

Now that he put it that way, Professor Rosine had nothing to say.

She had told him to act as if it were the real thing.

For races like demons who used magic as a staple, regular magic supply was always a popular contract condition.

Of course, the “regular magic supply” here was on a scale far beyond what ordinary wizards imagined.

Wizards, having bodies of flesh, blood, and bone, could live without magic, so they could never understand the endless hunger of races like demons.

A lot.

Even more!

That was why all sorts of evil offerings and dark rituals came up when making contracts with demons.

By ordinary means, it was impossible to provide as much magic as demons desired.

But very occasionally, a wizard would have exactly what a demon wanted, even without special preparation.

That was the case right now.

“…Alright. But at least make sure to warn them strongly.”

Understood.

Oriphulas called Lee Han back.

Actually, relying only on magic power and rashly trying to contract with demons is a very foolish thing to do.

“…Is there really anyone that crazy?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

Was there really a wizard who would go to a demon, without careful research or preparation, just because they had a bit of magic power and say, ‘Let’s make a deal!’?

That’s not a wizard but an idiot…

Every so often, one like that comes along. So remember. Underestimating demons…

Oriphulas sat Lee Han down and listed “101 reasons to beware of demons.”

Lee Han wondered if he’d done something wrong.

‘Didn’t I pass?’

Do you understand?

“Yes. Thanks to you, Mr. Oriphulas, I get it clearly. I will never rashly try to contract with demons just because I have magic power.”

Good. That’s enough.

“By the way, Mr. Oriphulas.”

What is it?

“What kind of contract did you make that you work for the Empire?”

Lee Han asked out of pure curiosity.

If he knew what Oriphulas received, he could use it as a reference in the future.

‘Gold coins? Jewels? Magic? Offerings?’

I… was tricked into the contract.

“……”

Lee Han’s face hardened, having expected an answer.

So you should be careful when making contracts, too. See how dangerous contracts can be.

“Ah… Yes.”

Lee Han was shocked.

To trick a demon into forced labor…

The Empire’s administrators were no less than Einrogard.

• * *

Thursday.

Lee Han yawned as he walked down the corridor. It was morning, but he still felt half-asleep from lack of sleep.

Hmph!

“……”

Spotting the round, white skull of the headmaster in the distance, Lee Han felt his drowsiness vanish instantly.

‘Amazing. My mind is astonishingly clear.’

“Hello.”

Yes. Hello… Wait.

Lee Han’s heart dropped.

Since he was planning to leave the school for the Spire Stable the day after tomorrow, he couldn’t help but feel guilty meeting the Skull Headmaster.

But if the Skull Headmaster was one of the Empire’s top educational experts, Lee Han was just as much an expert at being a student.

Without changing his expression, Lee Han asked back.

“Is something the matter?”

Have you by chance seen anything around here yesterday?

“No, I haven’t.”

This wasn’t a lie, but the truth.

He really hadn’t seen anything in the spot where the Skull Headmaster and the Death Knights were standing now.

‘What’s going on?’

That’s why I keep telling you to stop talking nonsense and keep watch properly.

-Kill me, please! I’m sorry. I’ve disgraced my master’s honor!

Stop asking to be killed just because you made one mistake. When will you ever break that old habit? Knights these days don’t die just because they make one mistake.

The Skull Headmaster scolded the Death Knights.

Not long ago, a brazen intruder had entered the school.

To trap the intruder, the Skull Headmaster had responded by deploying undead throughout the entire school in a bizarre move.

Then he’d been searching each main building one by one to find the intruder…

And last night, he had just discovered that the barrier in this area had been broken.

Of course, it could have just been a coincidence. The main buildings of the magic school were so old and layered with countless spells that the flow of magic was as temperamental as another world.

It could have been the barrier breaking due to a change in the flow, but the Skull Headmaster was never careless.

Increase the patrols here. Search the area starting here. If the intruder appears, tear their flesh off. Understood?

-We will obey!

“The intruder hasn’t been caught yet?”

He’ll be caught soon. Or he could already be dead.

The Skull Headmaster answered gruffly.

Just so you don’t misunderstand, it’s not that there’s a problem with exploration or security. That broken barrier is only a very minor part.

‘Hmm. I don’t know why all professors act the same way when they make a mistake.’

Of course, Lee Han had no intention of provoking the Skull Headmaster.

If he did, his weekend outing could get complicated.

I suppose the intruder is…

“A great mage?”

Only a great mage could avoid the Death Knights’ gaze and the barriers.

More likely, he has an unknown artifact. Thieves often carry such things.

From the Skull Headmaster’s perspective, if the broken barrier in this area was the intruder’s doing, the intruder probably had a very powerful stealth artifact.

No matter how powerful a stealth artifact, it couldn’t let someone avoid all the Death Knights and magical barriers, so the intruder must have broken this corner’s barrier by mistake.

Such a foolish fellow, isn’t he? If he comes out on his own, I’ll let him go as painlessly as possible.

‘I don’t think I could come out either…’

Listening to the Skull Headmaster, Lee Han asked absentmindedly,

“How about increasing the number of Death Knights?”

I don’t think it would make much difference.

The Skull Headmaster was skeptical about increasing their numbers.

There were already Death Knights stationed throughout the main building.

But if someone was still able to move around without being caught, it meant they had a way to avoid the Death Knights’ gaze.

“Can’t Death Knights see through stealth magic?”

To some extent, yes, but if it’s a powerful artifact, even Death Knights… But I’ve set up all sorts of barriers for that.

Skilled wizards could use stealth magic to block the gaze of powerful undead monsters.

Naturally, the Skull Headmaster knew this and had plastered the area with barriers to weaken such stealth magic.

As long as the barriers were intact, those kinds of spells…

No, wait.

The Skull Headmaster realized something mid-conversation with Lee Han.

If it’s a powerful artifact, it might even temporarily disable the surrounding barriers. That must be it.

If the barriers stationed everywhere were temporarily disabled, someone could sneak around without being spotted by Death Knights.

The Skull Headmaster clicked his tongue. Lee Han, feeling somewhat relieved, said,

“If you’ve found the weakness, doesn’t that mean you can prepare for it?”

Right.

The Skull Headmaster stared intently at Lee Han.

Lee Han, feeling uneasy, asked,

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

One of the easiest ways to prepare is to have a skilled wizard hold this barrier stone.

No matter what kind of artifact it is, the principle of disabling a barrier is simple.

You shake the barrier stone that holds the barrier with force, and it temporarily stops.

But if a skilled wizard is holding and guarding that barrier stone, the story changes.

“No, I don’t know any defensive magic.”

I’m not telling you to cast defensive magic, but to use your brute magic power.

If your magic power increases, that alone can become a force that resists other magic.

Even if Lee Han just held the barrier stone, he’d likely block out external interference.

“…Wouldn’t it be better if you did it, Headmaster?”

I’ll do it too. Didn’t you see I was just searching? I’m saying we should take turns.

“I’m in the middle of final exam assignments.”

So just spend about two hours a day. Help search with the Death Knights.

“……”

Suddenly roped into searching with the Death Knights while passing by, Lee Han was so dumbfounded he was speechless.

No way…

The Skull Headmaster tried to coax him.

If we work together, we’ll finish faster, won’t we?

“Headmaster, I’m a first-year…”

When Einrogard is in crisis, students and professors alike must work together.

“I don’t think this is really a crisis…”

Thank you. If you get results, I’ll make sure to reward you.

“Are you doing this because you don’t want to waste two hours…”

Now. Death Knights, are you ready to search with this bright young student?

-Just leave it to us! We will surely redeem our honor!

‘I really want to kill him.’

• * *

Lee Han walked down the corridor with an armful of stones engraved with barriers, along with the Death Knights.

The stones were all different sizes and not particularly good-looking, but Lee Han could sense how high-level the magic on them was.

The structure was so complex he couldn’t even guess.

A spell to weaken the intruder’s stealth magic, just as expected…

-I always wanted to talk to you, Wardanaz.

-You’re quite famous among us knights.

“Ah. Yes. Thank you.”

The Death Knights were very sociable for undead.

Lee Han was slightly flustered.

“So should we start opening each door one by one?”

-Let’s do that! Stand back. We don’t know what might be inside.

“…By the way, can I check all the places I’m suspicious of?”

-Of course!

The Death Knights, unaware of Lee Han’s ulterior motives, nodded enthusiastically.

If it helped catch the intruder, what was so hard about searching other floors!