Episode 415
by CristaeEpisode 415
After finishing his trading and returning, Lee Han quietly carried out his tasks and prepared to go out, making sure not to escalate things.
He made and served meals for the priests, listened to the current winner’s doctrinal lecture (surprisingly, the subject chosen for debate this round was the ball game of Gyeokgu), did some studying, got started on assignments in advance…
And so, when it was past midnight and around two in the morning,
Lee Han arrived in front of Amur’s stable.
“Good luck.”
“Thank you, as always.”
Seeing Lee Han quickly change into plain clothes, Amur couldn’t help but think anew.
‘He seems way too seasoned for a first-year.’
Who would think this student was a freshman at Einrogard?
- * *
Objectively speaking, Lee Han had not gone out all that many times.
But he tackled outings so expertly that even Einrogard’s picky upperclassmen had to admit, ‘Even if I did it myself, I couldn’t do it better than that…’
A well-prepared freshman.
That was Lee Han.
As dawn broke and the village shops began to open, Lee Han darted down the high street, purchasing needed supplies as he went.
Rice, barley, rye, lentils, onions, potatoes, peas, garlic, goat’s milk, olive oil and palm oil, peaches, grapes, melon, bananas…
‘I need to bring treats too.’
Sauces in several jars, peanut butter, a mildly spicy tomato sauce, coffee grounds and tea leaves, maple syrup, flat cookies and chocolate.
‘It would be better to bring some meat too; there’s a limit to what can be sourced from inside.’
Though bulky, he loaded up as much as he could: pickled herring or sardines, lamb and pork sausages with the innards removed, canned beef, even duck meat.
Before the morning was out, Lee Han had finished all his preparations.
Boxes packed so tight not even a single strand of hair could slip in.
Seeing it, Lee Han suddenly reflected a bit.
‘Hmm. Did I buy like a madman?’
Anyone who saw him would think he wasn’t a student going back to magic school, but a refugee fleeing after a rebellion.
“Were you still resting? If you haven’t started yet, let’s have a cup of tea together…”
Amur, having woken up late, saw Lee Han standing outside and thought he hadn’t begun preparing yet.
But when he opened the door, he found boxes stacked like mountains.
“…You finished already?”
“Yes.”
“…Th-then, let’s go have a cup of tea.”
At the Pillone Village tea house, Jakseol, Amur ordered two cups of tea and sat down.
Instead of sitting by the scenic window, Lee Han went deep inside.
It was a spot behind partitions, so passersby couldn’t easily see his face.
From there, he could leap through a window or out the back door if needed. Lee Han carefully checked his escape route just in case.
“Do you… do you really think someone might come after you…?”
“I’m just being cautious.”
Lee Han spoke casually, but Amur wondered if he shouldn’t send a secret letter to the capital.
No matter how strict the school was, did it really make sense to send pursuers because someone snuck out on a weekend?
‘Maybe Student Wardanaz misunderstood?’
While he pondered this, tea and snacks arrived. Lee Han thought about whether there was a way to pack some of the rice and honey confections (dasik) to take with him.
“U-uhm…”
“??”
Inside the quiet tea house.
When a blatantly suspicious customer entered, both Lee Han and Amur flinched.
In the bustling city of Granden, it was common to see someone entirely shrouded in a cloak, but in Pillone Village, it was pretty unusual.
“What’s going on? Have there been any strange visitors in the village lately?”
“None that I know of… Hmm… Oh, wait. There was a group of strange folks who kept muttering among themselves, ‘We’ve got to fix our golem the same way’—they came to the village.”
“…Sorry, those are wizards invited for the festival.”
“Really? Oh, there were some black mages, too?”
“Black mages can be invited as well…”
Lee Han corrected Amur’s prejudice.
Amur was surprised to hear that even black mages could get invitations.
“So besides the mages, no other visitors?”
“As far as I know, that’s right.”
Lee Han and Amur looked warily at the newly arrived customer.
From clothes to behavior, the suspicion was blatant.
But the misunderstanding was cleared up immediately.
Swoosh—
“P-please, don’t tell anyone I’m here. If I leave this wooden sword, can I get some food and drink?”
“…What are you doing over there, Angrago?”
Lee Han asked, appalled to see a White Tiger Tower student.
At Lee Han’s question, Angrago nearly fell over with a shrill yell.
“W-Wardanaz!”
“Yeah.”
“You came under the professor’s orders to catch me, didn’t you! You bastard!”
“…No. I left before you did.”
“!?!”
- * *
Though both Lee Han and Salko had been pessimistic, surprisingly, the White Tiger Tower students’ escape route this time was real.
Even an elephant, if it keeps back-stepping, will step on a mouse one day.
‘Amazing!’
Lee Han was honestly surprised.
They’d actually pulled it off.
“What method did you use?”
“There was a summoning magic festival this time, right? Since the festival was on, merchant wagons came in…”
The gate had opened for the wagons.
The White Tiger Tower students targeted those carriages.
With so many people coming and going, the guards were laxer, so they planned to sneak inside one of the wagons and escape!
It wasn’t something they could use regularly, but it was a clever way to exploit a gap in the situation.
‘I took that route and got ambushed by anti-magic fanatics, but these guys got lucky.’
Lee Han grumbled inwardly.
“Wait. Did only one or two of you escape? You usually act as a group.”
“Yeah, we went as a group.”
“So how did you all hide in the wagon?”
Lee Han, who moved alone, hadn’t had much trouble getting into a wagon.
With invisibility magic and the addition of just one person, it usually wouldn’t be noticed.
“…We didn’t hide.”
“What?”
Angrago answered, his face blushing with embarrassment.
“We didn’t hide.”
“Then…?”
“…We grabbed the staff, locked them in the wagon, and rode along too.”
“……”
“……”
Lee Han and Amur stared at Angrago in shock.
That was…
Wagon robbery!
“You…”
“Don’t say it! Wardanaz, I know, damn it!”
“You’re a bandit, not a knight…”
“Ugh.”
Angrago bit his lip, mortified at himself.
“But there was no other way! How do you talk the company staff into letting you in! Anyone would have…”
Angrago stopped mid-sentence, looking at Lee Han.
“…At least, we didn’t have a way!”
‘Did he just glance at me?’
“Y-yeah. I’m in no position to talk. I might have done the same.”
At Lee Han’s words, Angrago’s face brightened a bit.
He hadn’t expected Wardanaz to say that.
“Miss the chance once, and it’s hard to get another… Anyway, I get you each grabbed an easy wagon and piled in. That means you succeeded, so why do you look so ragged?”
“Well… You see…”
“??”
“After we got through the gates and went a bit further… uh… we let the staff out.”
“…Don’t tell me…”
Lee Han was shocked again.
“Don’t tell me you let them out right near Einrogard? Didn’t you wait until you were farther away, apologize for today, stir up sympathy over the harsh rules at Einrogard, promise compensation on your family’s name, and only then let them go?”
“…You should’ve been with us.”
Angrago grumbled, pouting his lips.
How much easier would it have been if Wardanaz had been in the same wagon!
“You’re telling me not a single White Tiger Tower student thought of that?”
“Well… we only let them out in our wagon.”
“……”
“……”
Amur, listening quietly, smacked his forehead.
This is why working as a group is hard.
There’s always that one troublemaker who ruins everything.
“Keep this secret, okay?? The others don’t know which wagon let the staff out first…”
“I’m so proud of you, you idiot.”
Lee Han sighed.
For the other White Tiger Tower students who had no idea, it must have been a true disaster.
“What did the freed staff say?”
“They said thanks, so I thought it was fine. We apologized, too.”
“And their eyes weren’t burning with rage?”
“Uh… they ran straight for the main gate and reported us…”
“……”
He could guess the rest without hearing it.
The Einrogard summoned beasts waiting at the gate would have burst out and chased the wagons; the White Tiger Tower students could do nothing but scatter in panic.
Most of them must have been caught…
“How did you get out?”
“……”
“How?”
“…Hid in a b-box.”
“In a box? A wagon box?”
“Yeah…”
Angrago blushed even more.
No wonder Angrago smelled strongly of myrrh; he must have hidden in a reagent box.
“Well, good job… what else could you do. Wait. I get that you’re scared of being caught, but why are you bartering with a wooden sword?”
“Because I don’t have any silver coins!”
Angrago insisted, clearly frustrated.
Students who had gotten burned in the first semester had prepared for the second.
Since all silver and gold got confiscated at magic school, outings could be tough.
So, some clever students went to a local merchant group in Pillone Village and deposited money with certificates.
And the even more clever skeleton principal, as soon as the semester began, disguised himself as a student and collected all that money.
“…You thought you wouldn’t get caught just by leaving it with them? You should have deposited it somewhere unconnected to you. Or carried easily-cashed artifacts.”
“…Ugh…”
Angrago winced at Lee Han’s criticism.
If only he’d done a little better…!
“Forget it. You’ve had a hard time, too. I’ll buy this, so have a drink.”
“R-really???”
“…Yeah.”
Seeing Angrago so pitiful, Lee Han ordered him some dasik. Angrago stuffed his face till his cheeks bulged.
Amur whispered from beside him.
“Seems not all Einrogard students are the same.”
“…Haha. All students are different.”
As Angrago stuffed himself, Lee Han became lost in thought.
‘Thanks to these guys, things have gotten tricky now.’
With no way of knowing how far the pursuers would chase them, he couldn’t move as freely.
Getting caught for nothing alongside them would be such an injustice.
It was a relief he’d finished preparing in the morning…
‘I need to secure more silver coins.’
Lee Han still had a decent stash of gold and silver, but in Einrogard, the more funds, the better.
He’d planned to spend the remaining time going around to shops, but thanks to current events, things felt off.
If the skeleton principal’s death knights were lying in wait…
“Excuse me, are you a mage by any chance?”
“!?”
Lee Han realized, belatedly, that he’d let his guard down while talking to Angrago.
He immediately grabbed Angrago by the scruff and shoved him forward, ready to escape through the back.
But there was no need. The newcomers were familiar faces.
Veteran adventurers Gugbon and Bijidek, who had worked with him last vacation.
They greeted Lee Han with pleased expressions.
“You are the mage, right! But… who’s the person in front… why…?”
“My hand slipped.”
Lee Han let go of Angrago’s collar and dusted his hands off. Angrago glared back at him.