Episode 326

“I thought you were yielding for this reason too, senior.”

“What do you take me for, junior?”

“Well… if not, there’s no reason to yield. We chased it all the way here.”

“I knew it, Han.”

Gainando nodded as if he’d expected that.

Not letting even a piece of bread be taken—that was a true friend of Gainando.

“Junior. It’s good to be thorough, but if you act too ruthlessly, bad rumors about black mages could spread.”

“But senior, black mages already have a bad reputation.”

“……”

Direte’s wings drooped a little at the blow from his junior.

Gainando whispered next to him.

“Why would you say that! Only ignorant people think that way!”

“No, I think quite a lot of people do.”

“…Really?”

“Really. Why do you think those guys who got caught and brought here started a fight as we passed?”

“!”

“We… we’ve reflected on our actions.”

The two adventurers who picked a fight, got beaten up, forced to do grunt work at the cemetery, and then chased after the undead chimera—surely today’s unluckiest people.

“Senior, but there’s no need to be sad. Those who know the truth won’t be deceived.”

“…What’s the point if everyone else thinks badly of us.”

“We just have to change that.”

Direte’s eyes wavered slightly at his junior’s enterprising words.

Maybe his junior was right.

Just as they had devoted themselves for the sake of the city today, if they continued to pile up achievements, even if others doubted, people’s views would gradually change, even if not right away.

‘To think I’d hear things like this from my junior. I should have said this myself.’

Direte felt ashamed as a senior.

“You’re right, junior.”

“Thank you for understanding, senior. From now on, if anyone badmouths black magic, let’s trample them like those guys.”

“…No!! That’s not what I meant!!!”

“It wasn’t?”

Direte was appalled at his junior’s bellicose words—enough to make even a magic duelist flinch.

Beating up anyone who talks nonsense to change their minds—what the…

Boom!

With a roar, two apprentice knights flew into the air.

Driven into a corner, the undead chimera exploded from within, breaking through the encirclement.

As the circle was broken, the apprentice knights shouted in surprise.

“It’s escaping!!!”

“Be ca— Ah!! Wardanaz! That’s Wardanaz! Wardanaz!!”

“What?! Wardanaz!? THE Wardanaz?”

“Yes! That Wardanaz!”

“……”

The apprentices who’d visited the school before recognized Han and pretended to be friendly. Han answered with a sour expression.

‘We’re not that close…’

People might think they were really good friends at this rate.

“Wardanaz! Catch it! If it escapes…”

Before the apprentice knights could even ask, Han was already holding up his staff, ready to act.

There was no way he’d let the undead chimera escape after chasing it all this way.

-■■■■…!

The undead chimera let out a guttural sound and glared at Han. Nine eyes rolled, all fixated on him.

Its gaze was full of wariness after the earlier thrashing. Han could feel it was determined to find an opening, strike, and escape.

“Darkness, gather here.”

Han didn’t rashly hurl lightning magic.

Not only was it not the right situation with the apprentice knights behind, but the enemy was also extremely alert.

A mage’s strength was the ability to adapt flexibly to any situation.

Having learned from Direte how to deal with this, Han immediately began gathering the surrounding dark element.

-■!

The undead chimera didn’t know what Han was doing, but it did feel its strength draining.

It quickly leapt backward, trying to widen the distance.

-■■■■!?

But it was useless.

‘The range…!’

Of the two black mages present who could handle dark element magic, Direte understood what was happening.

His junior’s magic was gathering dark element from a much wider area than he himself had.

‘…Amazing!’

While Direte was marveling at Han’s magic, Han called out urgently.

“Senior!”

“Huh? What?”

“The dark element gathered a bit much! If I slip up, please help!”

“…Hey!”

Direte screamed when he saw the mass of dark element at the tip of Han’s staff.

It was easily two or three times the size of what he’d cast earlier.

Even though he’d used less time due to the wider casting area, it gathered that much in an instant.

“What are you planning?!”

If you wanted to launch it as a projectile, you needed some control. Forcing it out as is could explode at the tip of the staff and injure his junior.

Direte couldn’t understand how Han was going to handle all that dark element.

Plop!

“……”

Han solved it in a much simpler and more direct way than expected.

He rushed in, staff in hand, and jammed the orb right into the undead chimera. The quick charge happened in a blink, and the chimera couldn’t dodge it in time.

-■■■?

Direte was alarmed.

‘Wait, dark element is counterproductive against undead…!’

Han tossed his staff to the side and drew his sword.

Morningstar flashed as it split the undead chimera’s body.

From the beginning, gathering all the dark element in the area was just to slow the enemy’s movement and immobilize it.

That alone made it possible to destroy the enemy by several means.

The heavily charged attack, powered by the explosion of mana, struck the chimera, and the follow-up sword energy further wrecked its balance.

Without a moment’s rest, Han landed a series of attacks and then decapitated it, prompting a cheer.

“As expected of Wardanaz!”

“Excellent!! That swordsmanship is just as sharp as ever!”

“Are you friends?”

In response to Direte’s question, Han answered firmly.

“We are not friends.”

• * *

Bikelinz, who came out late, thanked Han.

“Thank you. Because of the mistake by the young knights, it almost became a big incident, but you helped keep it under control.”

“I just did what I had to do.”

“I see…”

Bikelinz spoke with a slightly impressed tone.

“There are those who hold prejudice and misunderstanding because of black mages’ magic, but after seeing black mages working day and night like this, no one could possibly speak ill of them!”

“Thank you.”

That’s what Han said, but internally he thought something else.

‘But the other black mages do cause too many problems.’

Even if Han stopped every undead in the city, it wouldn’t mean much if other black mages kept getting caught stealing corpses from graves.

Alardne, who came out late, looked bewildered as she surveyed the situation in front of the mansion.

“What happened here?”

“Lord Wardanaz took care of it.”

The steward replied, sounding a little regretful.

“If only it had been the guests of the mansion who captured it, not someone from outside, it would have been better for your reputation, Greenbell.”

“……”

Alardne looked away, deciding to scold the steward after the guests left.

The undead chimera was obliterated. There were traces of a few magic blasts, marks from apprentice knights’ swords, and the killing blow was…

“???”

Alardne wondered if she was seeing things.

‘It looks… like it was finished with a sword?’

No matter how many times she checked, it was the same. It was definitely finished off with a sword.

Alardne began to feel confused, wondering if the apprentice knights and black mages were trying to deceive her.

Would they have a reason to?

“Thank you for your kindness, Greenbell.”

“Not at all. You came to the aid of Granden City; I’m only sorry I couldn’t do more.”

‘A bit too kind.’

Han was puzzled by Alardne’s attitude.

Despite her reputation for being thorough and flawless, she was overly cordial.

Was it really just because of the Wardanaz name?

‘No reason to go this far, is there?’

Han could never have imagined—

That Alardne had misunderstood him as a terrifyingly ambitious person.

‘Anyway, she helped, so I should be grateful.’

Han once again gave a polite bow and walked away. The apprentice knights who knew him excitedly gathered around.

Seeing this, Alardne asked Bikelinz,

“Do you know if the Wardanaz student is acquainted with our apprentice knights?”

“Oh. That was something that happened during our last visit to Einrogard. What happened was…”

Bikelinz began excitedly recounting the story.

Meeting an exceptional swordsman was always enjoyable.

So he didn’t realize the look on Alardne’s face was quickly turning to shock and dismay.

• * *

-Wardanaz. I heard you defeated the King of Ghouls. But do you know? The White Tiger Tower guys are actually just hothouse flowers.

-That’s right. Wardanaz. Only wildflowers that bloom after surviving the harsh wilderness are truly strong.

-So let’s go hunt the King of Ghouls together, too!

‘They’re all crazy.’

Remembering the apprentice knights’ conversation, Han sighed and shook his head.

They’d somehow gotten the story about Han and the White Tiger Tower defeating the King of Ghouls all wrong, and the apprentice knights were motivated by rivalry.

Of course, since Han couldn’t take the rival White Tiger Tower guys as magicians, they wanted to go with the far stronger magician who was also their friend by sword.

From Han’s perspective, it was complete nonsense. So he promptly snitched.

-Sir Bikelinz. Those apprentices over there are plotting to hunt monsters above their abilities.

-What…! You lot!

Thankfully, Bikelinz was sane. Otherwise, those apprentices would have been dropping like flies in some unknown cave.

Direte asked Han in a concerned tone,

“Are you all right, junior? Maybe that last spell really burned you out…”

“No, not at all. It’s just those apprentice knights talking nonsense.”

“……”

Direte decided to stop worrying over his junior in terms of magic from now on.

When they returned to the cemetery, Han spotted a familiar face among the gravekeepers.

Daihal of the Dalkard Family, the imperial special administrator, whom he’d met after the King of Ghouls incident.

“I told myself it couldn’t be, but really…!”

Daihal spoke in a tone filled with awe when he saw Han.

“Not even a week and you’re caught up in another incident. Aren’t you overdoing it?”

“Junior, what did you do a week ago?”

Direte looked puzzled. He hadn’t heard the news about the King of Ghouls yet.

Han glanced around the cemetery and quickly spun his thoughts.

Then he dropped to one knee.

“Ugh. I used too much magic… My body…”

“Look at that! No matter how talented you are, it means nothing if you don’t manage your health.”

“B-but… as a black mage… with undead roaming Granden City… cough, cough.”

Direte and Han’s friends stared at him, speechless.

Just moments ago he hadn’t broken a sweat, but the moment he walked through the cemetery gate, he acted as if he was on his last legs.

Imirg whispered,

“Is there poison in the… the cemetery?”

“Poison doesn’t work on Han, does it?”

“What are you… Oh. Don’t tell me.”

As the three whispered, Han acted even more stricken in front of Daihal.

He had learned something after the King of Ghouls hunt.

No matter what you do, it’s better to act like you barely survived!

It was a magic spell for maximizing rewards.

“If not for my senior’s help, I might have died…”

“So you must be Direte. I’ve heard a lot about you from the gravekeepers.”

“I just did what I had to do…”

“People are too harsh on black mages who serve so selflessly… I’ll make sure to raise the issue strongly.”

“No, we already get quite decent pay…”

Cough, cough, cough!

Han interrupted his senior’s words with fake coughing fits.