Episode 323

“Wa—”

Before Direte could even finish calling out, Lee Han punched the jaw of the adventurer who’d just run his mouth.

“Ugh!”

“Go ahead. Say that again.”

Without stopping, Lee Han drew Morningstar, still sheathed, and landed a blow to another adventurer’s solar plexus. The adventurer, hit properly, foamed at the mouth and collapsed forward.

“You crazy b—…!”

“I said say it again?”

Thwack! Thwack-thwack-thwack!

When the adventurers went down, Lee Han beat them as if he were beating White Tiger Tower students.

And the response came quickly.

“S-sorry…!”

“What are you sorry for?”

“Uh, well…”

“You haven’t had enough, have you?”

Lee Han swung his sword again. The adventurers shrieked and curled up.

Passersby just watched with interest, wearing a look that said, ‘It’s another fight,’ but no one intervened.

Thanks to that, Lee Han could comfortably dish out his beating.

“Guh… For calling the black mages, uh, grave robbers…”

“Still not enough.”

“Pardon? What do you— Gyah!”

“Think about it. The people who creatively pin the blame of stealing corpses can’t come up with a creative apology?”

Getting beaten up apparently brings intelligence where there was none.

That’s when the adventurers realized.

“You great black mages…?”

“More.”

“To-to the great black mages who protect the city, we’re sorry for pinning a grave-robber’s stigma on you…!”

“That’s right. It’s hard enough protecting the city—should you really be slinging false accusations?”

“We’re sorry…”

Beat to a pulp, the adventurers answered, staggering.

“Remember: words have that much power. I’ll forgive you since you’ve repented.”

“Thank you!”

Inside, the adventurers cursed the insane black mages.

They’d never go near the cemetery again.

‘Hiding a knight among them, so cowardly…’

“Come with me.”

“Pardon?”

“I said come with me. You’ve repented, so now you must help.”

“……”

The logic was so new that the adventurers were bewildered, but Lee Han gently persuaded them again.

When he pointed his drawn sword at them, the adventurers shouted together,

“Let us help!”

“I thought you’d say that.”

Down below, Direte watched and asked in bewilderment,

“…Does anyone know what he’s doing?”

• * *

“I see. Where the flow of mana is strong, you release the stagnation by changing up the terrain.”

The explanation resumed.

Lee Han nodded as he listened to Direte explain.

If abnormal levels of mana pooled in one place, the chances of strange phenomena increased, so you needed to find those places first and somehow disperse the mana.

“All right. Then, dig out the earth there, bring in new soil, and mix it in.”

“……”

“……”

The adventurers silently picked up shovels and dug the earth. Lee Han looked on in satisfaction.

“Well done. When you’re done there, do underneath the wall next.”

“Everyone’s working nicely!”

“Gainando. Don’t just stand there.”

“I-I’m not good at earth magic…”

“Then use your hands. Here.”

“……”

Watching this bizarre display, Direte thought,

‘This is really different from what I expected…’

He’d imagined a wholesome scene where a senior taught, juniors learned, and everyone worked together on prevention. He’d not been expecting something like a chain gang.

The progress was fast, though—!

“Lee Han. Is this really a spot where mana is pooling?”

“Well found. There’s more mana pooled up there than anywhere else.”

“W-Wardanaz, what about here?”

“Wait… there’s no need to bother with this one. Compared to other places, there isn’t that much mana, and the flow is so dynamic it’ll probably disperse again quickly.”

But leaving aside the forced-into-labor adventurers, Lee Han was definitely an outstanding junior.

His overwhelming talent for sensing mana, plus his efficiency in organizing the work.

Watching him keep records while identifying potential trouble spots, you’d think he’d been a black mage at this job for years.

‘At this rate, I’ve got nothing left to teach him…’

“Senior.”

‘Still, as a senior, I should teach him something. What’s a useful black magic to teach…?’

“?”

Lee Han looked curiously at Direte, who was lost in thought.

What was he thinking?

“Is something wrong?”

“Huh? When did you get here?”

“I’ve been standing here for a while… I was just going to ask what to do if we find pooling mana too late to disperse it.”

“Ah… I forgot to explain that.”

Direte felt apologetic.

His junior was so efficient; he forgot the basics.

“In that case, you have to use a rougher approach. You could use holy water or holy relics blessed by the temple, for example…”

Items blessed by the order clashed with yin-energy mana. When the two collided, the pooled mana could be scattered.

“Or you can solve it with magic, but that’s harder. Junior, do you know how to use the dark element?”

Direte asked, expecting Lee Han not to know yet.

Even the range of first-year black magic was broad enough to overwhelm anyone.

Catching up with those basics was hard enough—how could you have mastered a high-difficulty element like dark?

“I can use the basics—controlling it perfectly is too much for now, but…”

“Yeah, obviously… Wait, what???”

Direte was about to brush it off but was startled.

Did Professor Mortum lose his mind??

“Did Professor Mortum teach you? Why? When??”

“Ah. It wasn’t Professor Mortum—another professor taught it because it was necessary.”

‘Who’s this crazy person?’

Direte cursed the professor who’d taught Lee Han the dark element.

No matter the need, how could you teach the dark element to a first-year?

“Oh… I see.”

“As I said, I can’t control it perfectly, so please don’t expect much.”

“I’m not! What kind of lunatic senior expects a first-year to use the dark element, anyway?!”

Direte cried out in disbelief.

He remembered all the things from first semester.

The king of the frost giants, the final exam where you had to subdue a demon…

If what Lee Han said was true, he could sort of understand.

Though deep in his mind, he still wondered, ‘Just how much mana do you need for that to make sense?’

“Wait a sec, junior. You can use both lightning and ice, right? But with your high mana, wouldn’t the higher-ranked elements be even harder?”

“Oh, right.”

“…That’s it?”

“It’s just always come easily for me—I guess I’ve been lucky, that’s all I can say.”

“……”

Direte wanted, for the first time, to punch his junior.

This is why geniuses can’t be stood.

So he has tons of mana, but on top of that, he’s talented enough to control lightning and ice anyway.

It was truly aggravating.

Besides, both were elements that were inherently hard to even manifest, never mind control. Being able to easily manifest either one was proof of raw talent; managing both was something else.

“If you can handle lightning and ice, that should be enough.”

“But I can’t properly control fire or dark.”

“Junior… don’t be greedy. You can’t have everything. With those two, their nature expands outward and that just makes it harder. Anyway, dark… If you can handle it, it makes work like this easier—but it sure isn’t easy.”

Direte paused, swirling his staff.

The tip was soon wrapped in deep darkness, which then morphed into the shape of a spear.

“See? It’s hard, so answer quickly, junior.”

“I see it.”

Direte then poked the air with the spear. The weeds where he poked lost their vitality and died.

“For the record, I’m not controlling that perfectly. Just roughly holding the shape. Look at the ends.”

As he said, the darkness at the tip swirled and flickered.

“I mean, it’d be great to control it perfectly, but you can still use it before that. Give up on perfect control and just use its nature. Even if one isn’t a fire magic master, they can all use torches. It’s all about practicality.”

“I see…”

“Try it, junior. Start simple—a sphere is easiest. Fire a sphere.”

Lee Han did just as Direte said and summoned the dark element.

He gathered it together like with other elements, into a sphere.

Pop!

But just like a compact flame exploding, the dark element burst out in all directions.

“Darkness, gather right here!”

Startled, Direte swung his staff to control the darkness.

“Why did it explode?!”

“I think… I have too much mana.”

“…My bad, junior. I was thinking in terms of my own abilities.”

Direte grimaced, troubled.

For this junior, control just didn’t work in the “rough” sense.

If he didn’t control it many times more strongly than others, the element, powered by his mana, would go wild.

“It’s all right. It’s not your fault, senior.”

“Wait a second. I’m still your senior—I brought it up, so let me give you a tip at least.”

Direte tried to search his mind for everything he knew about the dark element.

What could he possibly suggest for such a junior?

‘Should I suggest a shape that’s easier to control? Probably won’t make much difference. If he just gives up control and tries to summon, it’ll go wild—and dark’s even worse, it could hurt himself. Maybe a different technique? He must know enchantment magic too. If he uses it as an enchantment, maybe it will be safer. But enchantment’s not easy either… What did he learn from other schools…?’

“Senior! Senior!”

“Huh?”

Direte looked up at Lee Han’s call.

Atop his staff, a dark element sphere was maintaining its shape, spinning in place.

“Thanks to your advice, I succeeded!”

“…Junior. Do you really think it was thanks to my advice??”

He was still wracking his brain for a solution, and in the brief moment he was distracted, his junior had just jumped over the wall like nothing.

What the hell is that…