Episode 351

Episode 351

“Is it possible that someone is ruder than Professor Baegrek…”

Lee Han, who was about to speak however his tongue moved, belatedly realized that Voladi was right next to him.

“…isn’t that obvious? Most people in the Empire would be ruder than Professor Baegrek.”

“Are you insane?”

Yumidihus was dumbfounded.

He was so flabbergasted that he looked at Professor Voladi as if to say, ‘why don’t you say something too’.

But Professor Voladi replied without even blinking an eye.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Haha. I was just stating the obvious.”

“……”

Yumidihus was at a loss for words at the sight of this crooked master and disciple.

“No matter how much it’s your own teacher, you should speak objectively… Forget it. Let’s get going.”

Yumidihus called a carriage in the front. It was a carriage pulled by water spirits with huge bodies.

As befitted a magician’s carriage, when the door opened, a wide interior unfolded, different from what was seen from the outside.

True to being an excellent water element magician, the inside was structured as a sea with winding rivers flowing atop it.

Yumidihus walked into the sea as if it was nothing and leaned back comfortably. Water parted and supported the archmage’s body.

“What’s the matter?”

“Uh, Sir Yumidihus. So then, in what specific ways is your disciple ruder than Professor Baegrek?”

When he saw Lee Han whispering in a small voice, Yumidihus began to suspect that Lee Han was actually making a pretty cool-headed judgment about Voladi.

• * *

Nillia and Yoner ate lollipops and whistled. Then the beautiful singing of a mermaid flowed out.

Now they understood why this -Candy of the Mermaid- was the most popular at the confectionery shop.

“Gainando. You try it too.”

“No. Lee Han isn’t here.”

“Professor Garcia told us. Something came up so he had no choice.”

“Why does he get kidnapped everywhere he goes?”

Gainando grumbled and pushed away the candy Ratford offered.

He wanted to eat the candy, but if he could show that he wasn’t feeling good, he decided to endure it.

“That’s because Sir Wardanaz knows so many people and is favored by the professors…”

“If you’re favored, you should treasure him, not kidnap him!”

As Gainando protested in frustration, the other three friends instinctively sympathized.

‘Well, he’s got a point.’

If you treasure a student, you should let them rest and have fun during vacation to recharge, not keep trying to kidnap them from the streets.

Thanks to that, only Gainando, who came out to have fun but had his friend taken away by professors again, remained grumpy.

“Still, this time he’ll be back soon.”

“Yeah. Professor Garcia also said it’s nothing big this time.”

“Hmph. How can you believe that? Once they’re done, they’ll probably change plans and kidnap him again anyway.”

Had any senior from Einrogard heard Gainando, they would have thought, ‘what an admirable junior, he’s already learned the truth.’

Professors are basically liars.

“If that happens, let’s go rescue him.”

“Rescue?”

Gainando was intrigued by Yoner’s words.

“Yeah. Even professors have consciences. If we go to fetch him, they’ll let him go.”

“That’s true… Besides, since we’re inside the city, they’ll mind being noticed, right?”

Gainando’s face brightened.

Inside Einrogard, a professor could send someone to the punishment room with a snap of their finger, but this was outside the school.

If he shouted at the top of his lungs, ‘citizens, there’s a crazy magician exploiting a Wardanaz noble here!’ — wouldn’t they find it unpleasant and just let him go?

Yonher, not yet realizing Gainando’s extreme thoughts, nodded.

“Right. Let’s go rescue him.”

“I’ll pick the lock.”

“Then I’ll shoot a fire arrow and burn it down.”

“…Wait. I said let’s rescue him, not fight them, right??”

While Yoner was flustered, Gainando screamed.

“T-that!!”

“What?”

“That carriage! That carriage!!”

“What about that carriage?”

“Lee Han’s been kidnapped! He’s being dragged away in that carriage!”

“…!!”

“What nonsense…!”

Nillia was appalled.

No wonder they’re professors.

If they stayed inside the city, they could be tracked, so they tried to kidnap him and escape outside the city to lose their pursuers.

Even in the cold northern range, imperial criminals would sometimes flee there to shake off pursuit…

‘They’re not new to kidnapping!’

“Chase it! We have to chase them, Nillia!”

“What? That?”

“You’re, um… that… that thing! Yes! You’re a proud member of the Shadow Patrol, right!”

Gainando was so desperate that he even praised Nillia, which he rarely did.

Ratford chimed in from the side as well.

“That’s right! Who else but the Shadow Patrol could track the traces of that carriage!”

“…Whew. No helping it then. Everyone, follow me!!”

‘Should I stop them now?’

Wondering when to intervene, Yoner followed after his three friends.

• * *

Alsicle Pengelrin.

Yumidihus’s disciple (though he denied it himself), and the so-called person ruder than even Professor Voladi.

Lee Han couldn’t believe it.

‘Is such a thing even possible?’

“From the beginning, Alsicle said he was interested in ice magic when he came to see me.”

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded as he listened.

He didn’t quite get the sense of it yet.

“So he wanted to learn water element magic.”

“The two magic elements are indeed closer to each other than the others.”

“Exactly. So he asked me to teach him water magic to use it as a stepping stone.”

“Yes. …Pardon?”

Lee Han paused as he listened.

‘Did I hear that right?’

“What did you say?”

“To be exact, he said he would grant me the honor of being a stepping stone toward the great ice magic he will eventually complete.”

“……”

‘Is he insane?’

Lee Han was alarmed.

When you want to learn magic from someone, the normal thing is to bow your head and say, ‘please take care of me’, not ‘I’ll grant you the honor of being able to teach me.’

Even Gainando knew that.

“Is he from Einrogard by any chance?”

“No. Actually, those from Einrogard don’t do that sort of thing.”

“Ah… that’s true.”

Lee Han agreed.

With that kind of personality, entering Einrogard would have left him stuck in the punishment room without graduating.

There was a certain harshness that taught manners to even the most impolite students.

“That’s surprising. You still taught magic to a person like that?”

“He wasn’t without talent… Talent in magic comes first, character comes after.”

‘No wonder he’s Voladi’s teacher.’

In Lee Han’s mind, his evaluation of Yumidihus dropped a notch.

The old adage was never wrong.

Birds of a feather flock together…

“Of course, I made sure he couldn’t say such cheeky things in my presence.”

“Well done. Ah. Then, perhaps after some reflection on the past, and with a new…”

“That’s not it.”

“……”

Some people never change no matter how much you beat them.

And the disciple of Yumidihus they were now going to see was just such a case.

• * *

Not all of the Empire’s geniuses entered Einrogard.

Some entered other magic schools for various reasons, and some chose to study on their own instead of entering a magic school.

Alsicle of the Pengelrin Family was one such case.

Instead of enrolling in a magic school, he invited a master under the family name and learned privately!

Had he entered a magic school, his personality might have been somewhat corrected, but since he learned separately, that didn’t happen.

To make matters worse, Alsicle’s talent was objectively outstanding.

With no attendance at a magic school and praised for every branch of magic he learned, becoming arrogant and conceited was inevitable.

No wonder he went to Yumidihus and said, ‘I’ll give you the opportunity to be my stepping stone.’

Though he did get beaten…

Anyway, Alsicle learned water magic from Yumidihus in exchange for taking a beating and, once he achieved a certain result, moved on to the next stage.

Like many magicians who want to immerse themselves in research, he built a tower in a place rich with nature’s mana and set up his own workshop.

A tower constructed deep in a snowy mountain valley.

The transportation was the worst, but it was perfect for magic research.

“What brings you here, Sir Yumidihus?”

Alsicle asked, trying to sweep back his troublesome hair that he hadn’t cut in a long time.

The water spirit that Yumidihus sent as a herald drew letters in the air.

“You have a disciple I should teach?”

The water spirit nodded.

That answer seemed to please Alsicle a bit.

“Well, I guess there’s no magician as good as me. I understand Sir Yumidihus’s feeling.”

The water spirit sent out a wave of reluctant emotion, but Alsicle, soaked in self-admiration, didn’t notice.

That a great archmage like Yumidihus would recommend him as a teacher.

It was only natural to feel delighted.

“Alright. Bring them! But keep this in mind. My teaching is very difficult and profound, so if he can’t keep up, it’s not my fault. If the disciple you bring isn’t a genius like me, that’s not my fault either!”

The water spirit made a nauseated expression and turned straight back.

Alsicle burst into wild laughter toward the valley, then belatedly pulled himself together and conjured a mirror of ice in the air.

“Ugh. I look like a complete mess. I should brush up a bit.”

• * *

“You allowed us in surprisingly easily.”

Lee Han was amazed as he watched the ice blocking the mouth of the valley open a path.

‘Do people really change after getting hit?’

How hard had Yumidihus beat him that as soon as asked for a favor, he opened the way?

“Alsicle himself is just having a hard time lately.”

“Having a hard time?”

“He hasn’t made any progress on his current magical research for years. I haven’t heard anything from the Imperial Academy either.”

Countless magicians set up towers and workshops in secluded places wanting to focus on their research, but few ever actually achieved real results.

Most struggled with absurd goals and ideals, closed their workshops, or very rarely went mad and tried to conquer nearby territories.

That’s how much pressure magicians were under to conduct research.

For a magician as proud as Alsicle, the pressure was even greater.

“If he teaches another magician, it might be a bit of a break for him.”

“Greetings, Sir Yumidihus.”

A penguin beastman, brushing his hair, walked out from inside.

At the sight of the waddling, cute figure, Lee Han was momentarily flustered.

‘Professor Verdus and this guy too—why are all the crazy ones such cute species?’

They looked harmless and cute on the outside, which made them all the more evil.

How many people had been deceived by those looks?

“Nice to meet…”

Before Lee Han could finish greeting, Alsicle looked down at him and said,

“I’ll tell you first. It’s impossible for you to follow my teaching. I’m warning you in advance so you don’t despair. Understood?”

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded but nodded instead of getting angry.

There was no point losing his temper at someone he already knew was crazy.

‘There’s no need to engage.’

“For your information, at your age, I had already mastered 3rd Circle magic. Got that?”

“I’ve mastered the 4th Circle here.”

“Sir Yumidihus, please don’t joke.”

“I’m serious.”

“…???”

Alsicle looked at Professor Voladi. It meant he wanted the truth.

But Professor Voladi nodded.

“He’s really mastered the 4th Circle.”

“……Actually, the Circle isn’t what’s important.”