Episode 403
by CristaeEpisode 403
‘What in the world is he trying to bring in?’
Lee Han felt uneasy as he looked at the area Professor Lightningstep had designated.
To dig the earth deep, barrel-shaped…
That suggested whatever was coming was at least the size to warrant that much preparation.
“Wardanaz?”
“Yes.”
“Supervise your friends’ work for me.”
“…Professor, I’m a first-year too…”
Lee Han protested, but Professor Lightningstep didn’t listen.
“I’ll bring it over, so don’t touch it. No matter what kind of sound comes from inside, don’t ever open the lid. Got it?”
“Do you really have to put something like that here?”
Professor Lightningstep ignored him again.
- * *
“Huff, huff…”
“Hey. Stop fooling around.”
“I’m out of magic power!”
“Who told you to waste your magic like that? At least move your hands.”
“You little—!”
While Professor Lightningstep’s landscaping assignment wasn’t hard, the workload was considerable.
They had to carve new paths for beasts to walk along the field, and dig deep pits for who knew what to be placed inside.
If you weren’t a veteran mage, and just a first-year, you’d run out of magic before it was all finished.
Of course, no one got to rest just because they were low on magic. The Black Turtle Tower students urged the others on.
“Get the shovel moving!”
“I’m a knight, and if I use a shovel, it’s an affront to my honor…!”
“Knight or not, if you don’t handle a shovel, I’m telling the professor.”
“I’m a noble, and if I use a shovel, it’s an affront to my honor…”
“Hey, Wardanaz! These guys are talking nonsense!”
“N-no, no! Don’t call Wardanaz!”
Lee Han was basically the only one still able to use magic continuously, but even he was limited in how much he could do.
“Dig, dig, dig…”
“Wardanaz.”
“?”
Some White Tiger Tower students called him; Lee Han stopped wielding his staff and answered.
“What’s up?”
“Isn’t now the time?”
“…For what? Quit making excuses and work.”
Lee Han assumed they were just trying to slack off and gave them a sharp look.
The White Tiger Tower students protested, looking quite indignant.
“The golem, the golem!”
“Oh, the ‘Die, Flying Skull’?”
“Shh!!”
The White Tiger Tower students were not as brave as Lee Han. In a panic, they rushed to stop Lee Han and nervously looked around.
‘Aren’t these guys a little too cowardly for knights?’
“We’ll change the name later. Anyway, that thing… it’s nearly fixed. If you give us permission, we can bring it now.”
Angrago and his friends had poured their passion, day and night, into repairing the golem.
To the point of neglecting other classes for the repair.
“…Couldn’t you have done this after class?”
“Wardanaz, what’s important in life? Not lectures, but true wisdom…”
“It’s always the ones who say that who lack real wisdom. Whatever. If it’s fixed enough to move, I suppose you can bring it.”
Certainly, having the golem would make the work go much faster.
It would be useful for all sorts of tasks, even night patrols.
“I knew you’d say that, so we’re bringing it right now!”
“You want a beating?”
“Ah, no, look at this workload. At this rate, it’s impossible to finish today.”
The White Tiger Tower students mumbled, avoiding his gaze.
“Wardanaz! It’s here!”
Angrago and the others, sweating buckets, dragged the golem over atop a wide handcart.
Now that he thought about it, Lee Han had wondered how they’d bring it—it was simply placed on a plank with wheels.
“You all talked to Wardanaz properly, right?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah.”
“Mhm. Of course.”
The friends stammered at Angrago’s question, but he didn’t notice and asked energetically.
“Alright, then. Wardanaz! Activate the golem!”
“…Me?”
“…Uh, uh? Who else would do it if not you?”
Seeing Angrago’s innocent question, Lee Han almost asked, ‘You realize I’m also a first-year, right?’ but stopped.
It was a pointless question.
“I’ve only read about handling golems in books.”
“That’s more than enough for you, right?”
“…Hey, come here.”
“Why, why?”
Sensing something ominous in Lee Han’s tone, Angrago started to back away, showing an awareness unlike Gainando’s.
‘Where was the core the last time it broke? Was it here…?’
Golem.
This artificial construct created by mages was used by mages of many disciplines.
Summoners, of course, but even necromancers claimed, ‘We handle golems best.’ There were dozens of ways to operate golems.
The most common basic rule…
‘Infuse magic into the core.’
Normally, a sleeping golem awakened once you poured magic into its core.
Some golems required specific incantations or recognition of their master, but since this one had previously cleaned on its own, it must not be under such restrictions.
Pop!
Even after infusing a fair amount of magical power, nothing happened.
Lee Han didn’t know, but the golem’s core was so old and damaged that the leakage was severe.
The materials needed to repair the core were much rarer than the materials for its limbs, so the White Tiger Tower students had just fixed the easier parts first.
As a result, more than half the magic poured in would just leak right out.
An average mage might have thought, ‘There’s something wrong with this golem, I should repair the core.’
BZZZZZZZZZZZZ!
Golem, ‘Die, Flying Skull’, activated. Executing commands.
“It’s, it’s working!!”
“It works!!!!”
Lee Han had simply jammed in mass amounts of magic.
‘Do golems usually eat up this much magic? That can’t be right.’
Lee Han marveled at the golem’s glowing eyes.
Watching other mages, even hungry golems would have some reasonable upper limit…
Was this all normal?
“What can you do?”
He asked what commands it was capable of. Golems couldn’t do more than the orders a mage had pre-programmed.
I was created to take care of all chores at Einrogard.
“Incredible!”
“How dutiful!”
The White Tiger Tower students, who had painstakingly collected and reattached the limbs, sniffled in awe.
Hearing the commotion, students from other towers came and gawked at the golem.
“The White Tiger Tower made this? How?!”
“Wardanaz made it.”
“Ah, that explains it.”
“Wardanaz didn’t make it!! He just helped repair it!!”
“Yeah, right. Get real. What did you even do? At most you painted the thing.”
While his friends quarreled, Lee Han focused his mind.
Once given a command, a golem wasn’t like a clever spirit who could discern and act accordingly.
If you told it, ‘dig a pond,’ a person might dig an appropriate pit, but a golem might just dig until the end of time.
Lee Han, feeling a faint sense of connection from the magic he’d poured in, gave his command.
“Dig here for a pit.”
Understood.
“…Waaah! Aaah!”
A White Tiger Tower student, zoning out, let out a scream and rolled aside as the golem suddenly almost ran him over.
Lee Han apologized.
“Sorry.”
“Is… is sorry enough, Wardanaz?!”
“Wanna take over instead?”
At Lee Han’s question, the others immediately retorted,
“Hey, Wardanaz can make mistakes, idiot!”
“You realize if Wardanaz doesn’t operate the golem, you’ll be here digging till night? If you want to complain, do it in the dorm later!”
‘I can hear you, you know…’
Lee Han focused again and gave the golem new instructions.
Luckily, with no more mishaps, the golem started digging steadily.
“Huh? Where’d that golem come from?”
Returning, Professor Lightningstep was surprised to see it at work.
No matter how you thought about it, this was not a summoned creature first-years should be handling.
“Wardanaz…”
“Ah. Did you make this, Wardanaz? You really are something.”
“…We just repaired it.”
“Oh.”
Professor Lightningstep felt awkward.
Realizing he’d just assumed a first-year made it was rather strange.
Why did he think that?
“Controlling a golem isn’t as easy as it looks, but you’re handling it well.”
Lee Han answered, focusing his attention for concentration.
“It’s simple tasks for now… so it’s doable.”
“Well, that makes sense.”
Boom!
Professor Lightningstep swung his staff. At that, behind him, cages stacked and covered in cloth landed one by one.
■■■■■■■■…
An unidentifiable beast’s cry came from within, making Lee Han uneasy.
‘What is that thing…?’
“Cough. By the way, are you operating the golem now?”
“Ah, Professor Mortum.”
Professor Lightningstep paused his work and greeted politely.
“Professor Lightningstep… cough, are you controlling the golem now?”
“Yes.”
Hearing this, Professor Mortum’s eyes shone. Lee Han felt uneasy, wondering what misunderstanding the professor had.
“Wardanaz. You’ve already mastered golem control with black magic…! Cough, how admirable! I now get why Professor Garcia wants to kill me! Just leaving a talented student like you behind…”
“What? Who wants to kill who…?”
Lee Han was dumbfounded and tried to ask, but Professor Mortum kept rambling excitedly.
“Direte will be thrilled to see this. Direte is also…”
“Ah… Professor Millei.”
Professor Lightningstep flinched as he saw Professor Millei come to check the landscaping.
For some reason, he got the feeling he shouldn’t let these two professors be together.
The elderly professor, as he approached, saw the golem at a distance and was startled. Composing himself, he asked calmly,
“Wardanaz. Did you succeed at summoning a golem with summoning magic? Remarkable.”
“Uh…”
Lee Han glanced at Professor Mortum beside him.
Professor Mortum’s gaze wavered desperately.
His eyes pleaded, ‘Please, say it was black magic, not summon magic.’
“We can certainly show this off at the summoners’ festival next week.”
Unable to watch any longer, Professor Lightningstep loudly cleared his throat.
Then Professor Millei, startled, turned and realized Professor Mortum was present.
“Oh. Was it black magic, perhaps?”
“It’s just a repair job. That’s all, professors. Repair. That’s it.”
“……”
“……”
The black magic and summoning professors both looked acutely embarrassed.
“…Ah, right.”
“That does make sense.”
Red-faced, they nodded, then gave Lee Han a few words of advice.
What to be careful about when handling a golem, which materials were fuel-efficient for magic (Professor Mortum looked like he wanted to object to Professor Millei’s words but held back), how best to cast commands…
After the two professors left, Professor Lightningstep said to Lee Han,
“…Well done. Really.”
“Professor.”
“What is it?”
“Are there going to be more outsiders visiting next week?”
Something about Professor Millei’s mention of the upcoming summoners’ festival made Lee Han think it would take place inside Einrogard, so his tone was sharp.
Reflecting on how priests coming for festivals usually meant generosity, there was no reason to be angry, but Lee Han had a strong sense that this wouldn’t be the same.
Why else would mages come, if not to make trouble!
“…Are you mad?”
“No? Why would I be upset? Whatever do you mean?”