Episode 430
by CristaeEpisode 430
As Lee Han stepped through the ladder and set foot inside, the priests hurried up as well.
Priest Siana carefully looked around.
The wide room exuded an antique atmosphere.
Antique furniture, soft velvet curtains, and plush carpet decorated the room, and somewhere, a phonograph artifact with a horn was playing a song.
“Ah. There are only professors’ lounges that are this luxurious…”
Priest Siana looked at Lee Han as if she understood.
He wondered how she knew this was the professors’ lounge, but clearly she had deduced it from this scene.
As expected, she was a child of the Wardanaz family.
“No. Over there at the entrance, it says professors-only lounge.”
Professors-only lounge
-From the founding to the end of the world, absolutely no student admission!-
Osu Gonadaltes
“……”
“Aha.”
The priests nodded their heads after seeing the brass nameplate hanging at the entrance.
No matter who looked, it was definitely the professors-only lounge.
“So what do we do now?”
Priest Siana asked in a voice full of disappointment.
What could they possibly do in such a lounge, not a storage or library?
“Hm? Grab whatever’s useful. Everyone, get out your backpacks.”
Lee Han immediately pulled out his backpack and began sweeping up the professors’ snacks.
It didn’t even take a minute for the tea leaves, coffee grounds, and various snacks in the lounge to disappear.
The priests stared in a daze as he stuffed everything tightly into his backpack with the skill of an experienced thief.
“Is there spatial magic cast on that??”
“No. I just packed it in neatly. Once we have food, next are potions and artifacts. Look around for anything useful.”
“How about this phonograph artifact here? If we could listen to music in the dormitory lounge, that would be a huge luxury…”
“No. It’s too bulky. And listening to music won’t fill your stomach. Let’s find something else.”
Priests Nigisor and Siana simultaneously looked dejected.
They wanted to pray while listening to music!
“Found a box of potions here.”
“Excellent. Priest Tijilling. You have a talent for thievery.”
“…Thank you? Wait, is it really okay to take all this? What if a professor needs it…”
Priest Tijilling, holding a bronze box engraved with a small cauldron, hesitated.
She was worried the professor might be troubled if the potion box in the lounge was taken away.
“If a professor needs something, they’ll get it themselves. We’re getting things ourselves, after all.”
But Lee Han unhesitatingly took the box and put it into his backpack.
Students also had to go out to get potions if they needed them, so why should professors be any different?
Professors could even just go outside and buy them.
“If it was truly important, they would have hidden it themselves.”
“Well said, Priest Nigisor.”
Smack!
Lee Han and Priest Nigisor slapped hands and then searched for another item to permanently relocate.
“?”
As he moved to another room along the corridor, Lee Han tilted his head.
‘What is this?’
The room itself was just one among several in the lounge…
But there was something unusual inside.
It was a bulletin board, fashioned out of wood, standing alone in the center of the room.
Monday
9:00~11:00
11:00~1:00
1:00~3:00
There are no break times!
Can someone teach automatic defense enchantment! I can’t make progress!
Let’s eat toffee, Bible
Looking for someone to lend me lecture hours.
Once again, there are STILL no breaks. If anyone tries to add more, I’m honestly not kidding, I’ll send a petition to His Majesty the Emperor.
…Everyone, please respect Professor Garcia’s words.
‘Is this the professors’ class schedule?’
Lee Han read the memos posted on the board and began to contemplate.
Given that professors’ names were appearing, it looked like a class schedule, but there were some lines he didn’t understand.
‘Is it because these are their codes or jargon, so I don’t get it?’
Besides what was written, there were some erased memos.
Enchantment magic still lacking
Traditional illusion magic? (Don’t know if they’ll teach)
Low-level psychokinesis control O
Water element advanced O
Lightning element O
Cold element O
Wait, you did all that???
Steel transmutation O
Rotation attribute enchantment △
Professor, may I speak with you for a moment.
‘So it must be the upperclassmen’s class offerings.’
That’s what Lee Han thought, but for some reason, it bothered him.
‘What is it? It’s too early to review this material, though…’
Click-
With the sound of a doorknob turning, the door at the end of the lounge hallway opened and Professor Garcia, arms full of books, entered.
“……”
“……”
“…I’m here to run an errand for Professor Verdus.”
- * *
If not for the priests behind him, Professor Garcia might have been fooled by Lee Han’s words.
That’s how convincingly the Wardanaz boy could say something ridiculous with a straight face.
“Student Lee Han… what are you doing here?”
“If you give me some time, I can explain.”
“That’s fine. I think I know even without an explanation.”
Professor Garcia let out a deep sigh and put down -Speech Methods for Befriending Without Intimidating the Opponent- and -Speech Techniques of Fear-Inducing Races-.
“You were out for a nighttime walk and wound up here, right?”
“Yes…”
“But still, to come into the professors’ lounge without fear…”
Professor Garcia didn’t scold him very harshly.
The unpredictability of Einrogard always exceeded expectations, and even a master mage unfamiliar with the school could get lost from time to time.
It wasn’t surprising for a student to get lost during a night stroll and end up in an odd place.
Though, it was the first time she’d seen someone in the professors’ lounge…
“So how did you get here? Did you, by chance, meet the headless knight who offers to guide people in the hallway? You shouldn’t trust that knight, you know.”
“……”
Lee Han swore never to trust a headless knight if he ever met one in the halls at night.
“I came in through the Spiderweb Lake.”
“…You came in through Spiderweb Lake!?”
Professor Garcia was so shocked she put down the book she was about to pick up.
This was truly unexpected.
“Do you know what kind of place that is!? Even with a boat, you’d sink?!”
“I made a magic ice boat.”
“Aha.”
Only then did Professor Garcia recall what kind of student Lee Han was.
Indeed, with that level of skill, devising a way to cross Spiderweb Lake was entirely possible.
“How did you find the way? Did you get a map? Weren’t the sirens a bother?”
“……”
Lee Han made up his mind that next time he went to -Spiderweb Lake-, he would definitely prepare an artifact to block his ears.
“They… the sirens weren’t there. Apparently everyone fled before the current water spirits caused a scene.”
“Ah. It’s already that time, then.”
“?”
As Professor Garcia accepted this so calmly, Lee Han was taken aback.
“Professor. Um, as far as I know, Einrogard sits atop extremely powerful lines of magical energy… which supposedly make the spirits strong. If those spirits cause mayhem, wouldn’t that cause a flood?”
Now it was Professor Garcia’s turn to be flustered.
“Ah. That’s right. Sorry. It could be inconvenient for students. Every time you go to class, you’ll have to row to get there.”
“……”
“……”
Students, having just gained this glimpse of the future, were dumbfounded.
They had never even imagined what would happen if a big flood hit Einrogard…
So that’s what happens!
“If you stay at Einrogard long enough, you get used to strange things. I’ve seen floods a few times now, so I end up reacting like this. Sorry for speaking so nonchalantly.”
“Oh, it’s quite alright.”
“Wait. But who told you that?”
When Professor Garcia asked, sounding puzzled, Lee Han confessed his run-in with the bugbear.
After hearing the whole story, Professor Garcia’s face brightened.
“Oh. You met the bugbear? Isn’t it cute?”
“?”
Priests Nigisor and Siana had questions in their eyes, but Lee Han, quick as lightning, poked the priests in the side.
“Yes. It was cute.”
“Uh. Cute.”
“Oof. It was cute.”
As everyone agreed, Professor Garcia seemed a bit delighted.
“A bugbear raised that well isn’t easy to see.”
“Did you perhaps bring it, Professor?”
“…Oh, no? What are you saying, student Lee Han?”
‘So it’s not the professor.’
As Professor Garcia flatly denied it, Lee Han believed her.
Unlike the skull principal, Professor Garcia was not the type to lie.
“Anyway… you heard about the flood and came to gather supplies, then.”
Professor Garcia looked at the students as if she felt sorry for them.
Priest Tijilling fidgeted, feeling guilty. The real reason they came wasn’t really the flood.
“There’s not much to take from the professors’ lounge anyway.”
“That’s true. What a shame.”
“???”
The priests looked at Lee Han’s now-heavy backpack.
‘Isn’t that already a lot?’
‘I don’t think so.’
“Everyone wait just a moment. There were waterproof enchanted fabrics somewhere.”
To give them something, Professor Garcia started rummaging through the lounge cabinets.
“Would a piece of sea-stone be good? You might find it hard to use just yet… actually, if it’s student Lee Han, you’ll probably master it soon, right?”
“Pardon?”
“Other than that… there’s some scrolls, but… again, if it’s student Lee Han, it should be fine.”
“Pardon??”
Lee Han raised his voice as if to ask her to explain, but Professor Garcia paid him no mind.
Click-
As the lounge door on the other side opened, Professor Garcia quickly pulled the four students into the closet, closed the door, and cast a spell to hide their presence.
Even as he was stuffed into the closet at super-speed, Lee Han couldn’t help but admire Professor Garcia’s magic.
‘Amazing…!’
With one swish of her staff, she tidied up the messy room and draped a concealment barrier over the closet to mask all traces.
“A… are we in big trouble??”
Priest Siana whispered in fear. Lee Han shook his head.
“It’s not so bad since we haven’t been caught yet.”
“……”
His friends stared in shock at the back of Lee Han’s head, but Lee Han was too absorbed by what was happening outside the closet to notice.
Professor Garcia. You’re having a hard time.
“It’s my pleasure.”
That’s why I keep telling you to stop doing the bidding of those wicked bastards.
“……”
Professor Garcia turned a wary glance toward the closet at the sound of the skull principal cursing other professors.
Grumbling about other professors whenever he was bored was the skull principal’s hobby, but it was still a bit embarrassing to do in front of students.
“Principal. But, Professor Verdus, for instance, probably didn’t mean any harm…”
No. Bible is wicked. Just plain wicked. No matter how hard he tries to be good, he’s evil.
“……”
What’s this?
The skull principal noticed the tin can of tea leaves was empty and wondered.
And not only that, even the coffee grounds were gone.
‘Professor Garcia must be under a lot of stress.’
The skull principal looked at Professor Garcia with a sorrowful gaze.
Professor Verdus would begrudge brewing tea leaves three times, but it would be fine for Professor Garcia to pour a bucket’s worth of tea leaves and drink.
Her days as a small, bumbling student felt like yesterday, and now she was a full-fledged professor, tormented by the others…
Wait. Professor Garcia, have you seen a potion box? A bronze box engraved with a small cauldron.
“Haven’t seen it? What’s that?”
It was to be used for the upcoming elemental flood… damn it. Got it.
The skull principal made a noise like bones clicking as if he understood.
Professor Garcia tensed.
Lee Han tensed.
Bible! That bastard! I told you not to touch other people’s things!
“…Ah, maybe it’s not them though?”