Episode 329

“Why is that?”

“It’s nothing.”

Priest Tijilling bowed his head slightly with an apologetic expression.

For a moment, he felt ashamed of himself for thinking that way.

When he thought about it, how much had the boy of the Wardanaz Family devoted himself for his friends?

Just recalling the meals that the students of the Phoenix Tower had eaten was enough to make the priests unable to raise their heads in front of Lee Han.

“I’m sorry.”

“??”

Lee Han was puzzled by Priest Tijilling’s sudden apology.

What’s this about?

‘Is it because he invited me to the Order’s event?’

To Lee Han, who was already going with ulterior motives, such an apology made him feel even guiltier.

“No, there’s really nothing to be sorry about.”

“He must be apologizing for interrupting your work.”

Professor Verdus spoke as if he understood.

Just how much would Wardanaz want to finish the mana stone work right now?

To have to postpone it due to some trivial promise made long ago must be torturous.

“Ah… then there’s really nothing to be sorry about.”

Lee Han, full of sincerity, spoke firmly.

• * *

At the temple of the Prisinga Order, people afflicted by curses were typically frequent visitors.

Those who unknowingly visited cursed areas and got cursed, those who accidentally wore cursed artifacts, and so on.

Priests of the Prisinga Order treated every one of these people kindly, purified their artifacts, and sometimes even wore the items themselves.

That last part was a bit strange, but in any case, for ordinary people afflicted by curses, there were few as reliable as the Prisinga Order.

“Priest, please help! After putting on this bracelet, my arm turned into an undead’s arm!”

“Priest! My race…! I don’t want to live as a stinky dwarf! Boo hoo!”

“I went on a trip last week, and somehow my skin turned to bronze…”

The Wardanaz family carriage carrying the three arrived at the temple’s main gate. Professor Verdus observed the people lined up.

“Interesting. Seems good for research.”

“Professor, I think it might be best if you stay quiet until we’re inside the temple.”

If he said something like ‘you’re a good research subject’ in front of people nervously dealing with curses, a knife might come flying his way.

“Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family!”

Priest Mehred ran out, delighted. In the time they hadn’t seen him, the priest had ended up with another cursed artifact, and there was a strange helmet dangling above his head.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Thank you so much.”

“No need to thank me. I only did what was necessary.”

Lee Han answered modestly, though in truth, his heart wasn’t so humble.

Thinking about all the meals he’d cooked for the Phoenix Tower students, Lee Han had every right to be proud.

“…But why is the professor here?”

Priest Mehred whispered in a flustered voice.

Lee Han knew he had to act confident in such situations.

“He came to help.”

“Excuse me? The professor? Ah, no… Not that I object….”

Lee Han could fully understand the priest’s reaction.

Even he would be quite surprised if someone said Professor Verdus had come to help.

“As an artifact expert, he’ll definitely be helpful at an event like this.”

“That’s true, but it just doesn’t seem like he’d… Ah, no. Not that I object.”

‘He’s unexpectedly realistic.’

Although he was a priest, Mehred was not the type to turn his eyes away from reality.

He was a realist to the core.

“Don’t worry. At least this time the professor will do his best to help.”

“Really? Did something happen?”

“He wants to finish today’s event quickly so he can take me and put me to work afterward.”

“……”

Priest Mehred looked at Lee Han with a complex and subtle expression.

• * *

Certainly, having an outstanding wizard made it much easier to help with the Order’s business.

Professor Verdus sat with his arms crossed, then with each client, he suddenly announced,

“You’re afflicted by a fire curse!”

“Excuse me?!”

“You’ve been cursed by fire!”

Lee Han kindly explained for him.

“He says the accessory in the box you’re holding is cursed with fire. If you wear it unintentionally, you could get burned.”

“Oh, my…”

Hearing this, the customer blinked in fear.

“What should I do, then?”

“Professor, can you lift it?”

“Hand it over!”

“Ah, thank you so much, priest.”

“I’m not a priest. I’m a wizard.”

Professor Verdus took the accessory and began to lift the curse. The customer bowed repeatedly in thanks.

Lee Han was inspired.

‘Hmm. This could be a business.’

Put up a sign that says, ‘Curse Removal Services’…

The problem was the monopoly of the Prisinga Order. And the most threatening aspect: the service was free.

Was there any place where there wasn’t a Prisinga Order?

“Look at this. This is a burn curse. See the pattern inscribed here?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know that magic.”

“Memorize it. That way, if the same magic appears again, you can handle it.”

“Oh…”

Lee Han was amazed at Professor Verdus’s shamelessness.

Instead of ‘memorize it, it’ll help later,’ it was ‘memorize it so you handle it next time.’

Was he really planning to let a first-year student do the curse artifact removal work?

‘The man really is crazy.’

“Put some mana into this.”

Professor Verdus handed Lee Han the enchanted tool he was holding for the job. Its magic seemed depleted as its light flickered.

Lee Han thoughtlessly took it and poured in mana. Filled with energy, Professor Verdus looked very satisfied.

“Nice. Well done.”

‘Oops.’

When Professor Verdus made a face that said, ‘found another use for him,’ Lee Han realized his mistake.

Nothing good in life happened when Professor Verdus discovered Lee Han’s uses.

Fzzzt, crackle, fzzzt!

“That’s it. Take it. The curse is dispelled.”

“Amazing!”

The priest next to him expressed admiration for Professor Verdus’s skill.

Even experienced priests of the Prisinga Order couldn’t resolve it that quickly. Truly remarkable.

“It’s not amazing at all. Even a worm could do it.”

“I-I see…”

As the priest stammered in embarrassment, Lee Han thought he’d better just speak on behalf of the professor from now on.

“Professor, I’ll just do the talking, so you focus on the work.”

“Huh? Thanks.”

• * *

“This one might be impossible to lift.”

Even Professor Verdus couldn’t resolve every curse.

A bracelet inscribed with ominous patterns looked likely to simply shatter if the curse was undone.

“So it really was a cursed item? Damn, I had a bad feeling… Thank you, wizard. I’ll just leave it here.”

The person who’d brought the bracelet put it down regretfully.

They’d come hoping it was something valuable but found it cursed.

Items that couldn’t be lifted like this were usually collected by the Order for separate handling.

Cursed artifacts were fundamentally a pain to handle.

“What kind of curse was it?”

After another guest left, Lee Han stretched and asked.

“Mana emission suppression.”

“Mana emission suppression? Like absorption?”

“It’s different from absorption. Are you dumb?”

Professor Verdus gently pointed out his apprentice’s mistake, and Lee Han nodded.

“I guess their principles are different.”

A mana absorption curse would suck out the wearer’s mana, but the mana emission suppression curse would limit how much mana could be released.

Both were used to restrict magic users, but operated differently.

“Can I try it on once?”

“Go ahead.”

Lee Han put on the bracelet.

‘Better to experience this before I get hit at Einrogard.’

Most others would’ve been shocked, but Lee Han was calm.

Better to have it happen now than later at Einrogard, so he could prepare countermeasures.

“Doesn’t seem any different?”

“Try casting magic.”

At that, Lee Han conjured a water orb.

The water orb appeared in the air, under perfect control.

“It works fine.”

“Try something more complicated.”

“If you mean complicated…”

By now Lee Han was adept at the basic applications of the water element.

For a harder challenge, he’d have to attempt evaporation or rotation.

‘Let’s try rotation.’

The rotation attribute was still not something Lee Han could manage perfectly. He could only pull it off by spending a lot of time or settling for a crude version.

Ssssshhh!

“!”

Lee Han was amazed.

The water orb whirled with a sharp sound.

He hadn’t even spent that much time on it, yet?

‘What on earth…? Is it this?’

Lee Han understood.

For example, a mana absorption curse would absorb 1 unit of mana continuously.

A person with 10 mana couldn’t last long, but someone with 10,000 could last much longer.

By contrast, the mana emission suppression curse would just cap usable mana at 10, no matter if you had 100 or 10,000 mana.

A curse that should have been quite troublesome, but for Lee Han it was a different story.

Since he normally struggled to handle vast amounts of mana, being forced to use only a small, fixed amount made control much easier.

It felt like switching from heavy armor to something light.

Ssshhh! Sssshhhhh!

Lee Han felt a thrilling pleasure at the smooth flow of mana according to his will.

It was a moment when a wizard felt a near-omnipotent shiver.

To command a power that rewrote the rules of the world.

What could be more enchanting than that?

‘Is this what other wizards feel on a regular basis?’

Actually, no.

Even with all that mana, Lee Han could handle it so smoothly because he was that talented.

And with all that excess mana forcibly removed, he could enjoy this control, but other wizards usually didn’t feel anything like this.

“Professor. This is amazing! I never imagined there’d be an artifact like this… Why did Professor Garcia give me a mana absorption artifact instead of something like this?”

“Well…”

Before Professor Verdus could answer, Lee Han’s bracelet shattered.

Crash!

“……”

Lee Han looked down at the bracelet’s remains with a bitter expression. Professor Verdus nodded.

“That’s what happens.”

“…You could’ve said so earlier.”

Unlike mana absorption artifacts, which almost never break, mana emission suppression artifacts—or rather, curses—could break very easily depending on the wizard’s capacity.

Especially for someone like Lee Han, with endless mana.

With a single stray spell, the thing just shatters.

To withstand any spell Lee Han might use, it’d have to be an ancient relic.

“Still, there should be at least one other artifact with mana emission suppression today, right?”

“Who knows? And anyway, it’s a curse, not a function.”

‘Ah, right.’

At Professor Verdus’s words, Lee Han snapped back to his senses.

He’d just gotten too greedy…

Fortunately, after that, they found three more artifacts with mana emission suppression curses.

Crash!

Well, two more.