Episode 319

Instead of replying, Lee Han strode over and yanked Gainando’s cloak.

With his hidden face exposed, Gainando spoke sheepishly.

“I, I wasn’t looking to use it for myself. I just wanted to know how it works… Yeah! If I know in advance, I won’t lose to it later!”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“…What are you two doing here! You’re here to find an artifact to win at card games, aren’t you?!”

At Gainando’s absurd accusation, Lee Han and Yoner were momentarily speechless.

Sometimes, when you hear such nonsense, you can’t react straight away.

“Right?! I got it, didn’t I?”

“No.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“…Really?”

Gainando looked a little dejected.

He was sure they were here to buy card game artifacts…

“Gainando. If you really want to win at card games, there’s another way.”

“Huh? Really?”

At Lee Han’s words, Gainando’s eyes sparkled.

No matter what anyone said, Lee Han was the highest win-rate master of wizard card games at the Blue Dragon Tower.

“Change up your deck composition.”

“No! Those are all my favorite cards!”

With no low-cost cards and only high-cost cards in his deck, Gainando always lost early, but he adamantly believed in his cards.

“Well, there is another way.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t whine when you lose and accept defeat with dignity.”

“……”

Gainando glared fiercely at Lee Han.

He could stand being teased for his lack of magic skills, but being teased about card games was unbearable.

“Lee Han. Look at this.”

Ignoring their conversation, Yoner, who’d been browsing, called Lee Han.

“These glasses—they look useful, don’t they?”

“An alchemist’s glasses. They do look nice.”

Alchemist’s Glasses

Made from tiger’s eye refined in the western Ikansel Mines, these glasses feature a perfectly balanced design, adjusted by the empire’s finest artifact craftsmen. Enjoy the effects of powerful ingredient analysis magic lasting for five years.

‘How much?’

Price—One hundred imperial gold coins

Lee Han staggered in shock.

Yoner was startled, thinking the delayed effect of her sister’s vicious mental attack had finally struck.

“Are you okay?! Is this because of my sister?!”

“T-the price… One hundred gold coins.”

“…You startled me.”

“Yoner. Isn’t this weird? How is this one hundred imperial gold coins?”

Lee Han couldn’t believe it.

The alchemist’s glasses were certainly useful.

Even someone who didn’t know magic could easily analyze all sorts of ingredients and reagents.

But to Lee Han, as a wizard, the price was outrageous. On top of that, it wasn’t even a permanent artifact.

‘Considering the work—collecting materials, enchanting, assembling… The cost can’t be more than one gold coin.’

Yet it was more expensive than all the money Lee Han had saved.

‘Or am I wrong? Maybe I’m misunderstanding something.’

Lee Han had always heard artifacts were expensive, but if even something like this cost so much…

The dream of striking it rich selling artifacts might not be so far-fetched.

“These are expensive more for the design and decorations than the magic, Lee Han.”

“Huh?”

“Look here.”

Yoner pointed below the glasses.

The names of the craftsmen who’d worked on the artifact, their careers, and details about the jewels used as decorations were all described in detail.

After reading the explanation, Lee Han checked the artifact again.

Even without the magic, these glasses certainly looked expensive.

“Why bother with all that? You could just enchant a pair of copper glasses.”

“Well… Because that’s what the buyers want…”

“Grr.”

Lee Han bit his lip.

He resented the empire’s trend of ignoring true magical value and focusing only on looks and splendor.

Even if he worked hard, he couldn’t possibly sell it for that much.

“I get it. Let’s stop analyzing and move on.”

“Ugh! Why’s it so expensive!?”

“?”

“?”

At Gainando’s outburst, Yoner and Lee Han were puzzled.

Gainando wasn’t the type to say such things.

He had a seemingly endless allowance…

“You never complain about stuff like this. What’s up?”

“Ah, well.”

Gainando spoke in a subdued voice.

After the life-or-death struggle with the basilisk at the mansion…

“It wasn’t really a struggle. It just self-destructed.”

Lee Han pointed out calmly.

If people heard otherwise, they’d get the wrong idea.

“That’s enough to call a struggle…”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Anyway, after that, my mother praised me a lot. She praised all my friends for helping too.”

“And?”

“I was so happy… I told her about the silver I earned working with my friends. And then she praised me even more…”

Lee Han started to get a bad feeling.

“Don’t tell me you did what I’m thinking.”

“…So I said from now on I didn’t need an allowance, I’d try to handle things on my own…”

Lee Han and Yoner sighed in unison.

What a foolish thing to do!

Getting excited over praise was understandable, but he’d just kicked his own allowance out the door.

All for a bit of pride…

“But I did good, right?”

Gainando looked at his friends, as if trying to convince himself.

His eyes seemed to say:

-Praise me!

But Lee Han answered seriously.

“Gainando. Go back and tell her you were wrong. Tell her you’ll need a reasonable allowance after all.”

“Yeah. You won’t last.”

“Why not!”

Gainando was on the verge of tears at his friends’ cold answers, expecting them to cheer him on.

“It’s just… you don’t really like to work, do you?”

“That’s not true! Not true!! I’ll work a lot too!”

Lee Han and Yoner glanced at each other.

-No matter how you look at it, he’s going to regret it.

-I know. But it’s not our problem.

-Aren’t we being too harsh to Gainando?

-He needs to experience this to wake up.

“Lee Han. I want to work too.”

“You’ll regret it.”

At Lee Han’s remark, Gainando beat his chest.

“I’m an Einrogard student too. A proper wizard.”

Yoner thought to herself,

‘You only got by because you were at the Blue Dragon Tower…’

From what other tower students said, it was a brutal daily struggle for survival.

Lee Han only had helped him because they shared the same tower; otherwise, Gainando would have come out half-dead.

“Alright. If I get a job offer, I’ll call you too.”

“Really? Thanks!”

“You should save your thanks until after you’ve worked… Anyway. Time to sell this.”

Lee Han called over a clerk and took out his artifacts.

The clerk immediately recognized their value.

“A ring enchanted with -Lightning Discharge- magic!”

“That’s right.”

“It’s a well-made artifact. Do you have the maker’s instruction manual?”

“Here.”

Lee Han handed over the instruction sheet given by the guild.

Seeing it, the clerk grew flustered.

“…Was this perhaps given as a token of thanks by the Adventurer Guild?”

“Is that a problem?”

“Are you Lord Wardanaz, who subdued the evil being this time?”

“……”

Lee Han almost let out a sigh.

There definitely had to be an information-sharing bulletin board in Granden City.

“Yes. Does that get me a discount?”

“Your sense of humor is remarkable. My friend works at the Adventurer Guild; I heard about you. I knew Einrogard students were excellent wizards, but few are as active as you in your first year.”

“I was just lucky.”

It wasn’t a joke, but at least there wasn’t a real public bulletin board in Granden City.

“Either way, there’s no problem… but if there was an issue with the Adventurer Guild’s gift…”

The clerk asked cautiously.

If there was an issue with a gift from the Adventurer Guild, it could be a problem for more than just one person.

That would mean an issue for the artifact craftsman, and even the Adventurer Guild staff who ordered it.

“There was no problem. It just wasn’t necessary for me.”

“!”

The clerk was surprised.

Not needing an artifact wasn’t just a matter of knowing the spell.

Casting a spell required more focus and time than most realized.

Not needing an artifact like this meant his -Lightning Discharge- casting speed matched the artifact’s speed.

‘As expected of the one who defeated Sir Doin of Baldrogard and took down a basilisk.’

The clerk nodded, thinking privately in a way that would have made Lee Han clutch his neck.

“It seems the guild made a mistake.”

“No, it’s the thought that counts with gifts. Honestly, I would’ve been satisfied if they’d just given me gold.”

The clerk barely held back a laugh, smoothing his expression.

“You really have a remarkable sense of humor.”

“……”

“Anyway, please wait a moment. I’ll have them appraised. Is it just these artifacts?”

“Ah. Please check this helmet as well.”

The clerk nodded and went to the back of the shop.

One hour later.

The clerk came back with the two artifacts. Gainando subtly upended a near-lost card game.

“This ring with the -Lightning Discharge- enchantment is worth about ten gold coins.”

If it had been some hole-in-the-wall shop in a remote village, there might be room for haggling, but there was none of that at a noble-exclusive artifact store in the heart of the city.

That kind of strategy would only get you accused of ‘insulting my honor’ by a noble.

‘Not bad.’

Lee Han was very pleased.

Ten gold coins.

To make that much, he’d have to work at the Meikin family’s workshop several times over or take dozens of commissions.

It really was a gift showing the guild’s genuine gratitude.

“Please exchange it right away.”

“Yes. And this helmet…”

Lee Han tensed up.

‘Shouldn’t it be pretty valuable? It’s an ego artifact. Ego artifacts are definitely rare. But it looks so shoddy. Damn, should I have decorated it with jewels? No, I’d only make it worse if I messed with it as an amateur.’

“…This is a cursed artifact.”

“Excuse me?”

“A cursed artifact. More precisely, it has an evil alignment. It tends to lead its owner to ruin… You were lucky to escape unharmed.”

The clerk looked at Lee Han with a mix of worry and respect.

The fact that he was unharmed after possessing such an artifact attested to his mental fortitude.

Of course, Lee Han was stunned.

‘It was a cursed artifact?’

“Ah… no wonder Lee Han kept drawing weird people.”

Gainando clapped his hands as if everything finally made sense.

He’d encountered so many weirdly strong enemies—all because of that helmet.

That has nothing to do with me! You never listened to a word I said…!

The helmet was about to protest its innocence, but the clerk quickly covered it with a cloth of silence.

It did no one any good to listen to a wicked artifact.

“I can’t purchase this one. I’m sure Lord Wardanaz can handle it, but please be careful—it’s an evil artifact.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Han packed away the helmet, glaring at it. Under that gaze, the helmet went silent.

• * *

After buying Gainando some cotton candy, the three returned to the Wardanaz family mansion, where a servant spoke to Lee Han.

“You have a guest, young master.”

“At this hour?”

For a guest to arrive so late at night, they’d need to be either very close or quite rude.

‘Probably the former.’

“Ahsan?”

“No, sir.”

“Deorgyu?”

“No. I don’t think it was a friend. It was someone I hadn’t seen before.”

“What race, by chance?”

“A vampire, sir.”

“……”

Lee Han’s face turned as pale as a vampire’s.