Episode 487

Lee Han showed a rare stern expression.

Priest Siana, still failing to recognize the oddity, blinked her snake-kin vertical pupils and tilted her head.

“Didn’t you blackmail him?”

“How could I blackmail the professor…”

Suddenly, Lee Han recalled how he had just said, ‘If Professor Voladi hears about the sea serpent traces, the whole negotiations will turn into a mess, request or not.’

‘That wasn’t a threat. It was closer to a desperate plea.’

After swiftly rationalizing, Lee Han explained the situation.

“The business of persuading the other guilds ended quickly.”

“How?”

“…Because I helped?”

“……”

Priest Siana’s eyes silently said, ‘That sounds even less plausible than blackmail.’

Lee Han noticed the suspicious aura and asked back.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Maybe you’re just imagining things?”

“Just get ready to go. Everyone, stop what you’re doing and let’s head out.”

At Lee Han’s words, the princess, who had been pulling out a new balance scale in the corner, nodded brightly.

“Oh? You didn’t go out?”

Lee Han asked Yoner in surprise. Yoner, in contrast, seemed dumbfounded.

“Did you think I went out?”

“Hm? Yeah.”

“…Why?”

The princess was one of the top students among them.

Someone like that wouldn’t go out on her own for no reason.

“Well, there were a lot of snacks being sold outside?”

“……”

Yoner was appalled.

“Lee Han, do you think of the princess and Gainando the same way…”

Yoner didn’t finish the question.

Before he could, the other friends had all gathered.

“Shall we get going then? No one’s missing, right?”

“Wait. Wardanaz. Wouldn’t it be better to check where the others who left earlier are first before heading out?”

Ahsan raised his hand and asked.

But Lee Han asked back as if he didn’t know what Ahsan was talking about.

“We should have some fun first and then look for the ones who went out. We don’t have much time.”

“Huh?”

As Ahsan hesitated, other students spoke up.

“He’s right.”

“I think so too.”

“Me as well…”

“R-really?”

With such assertive responses from his impressive friends, Ahsan felt his sense of normalcy waver.

• * *

Ratford thought for a moment, then spoke up.

“I think I’ll need to move my wallet at least once…”

“No, no!”

“We’ll be in big trouble if we get caught!”

The friends urgently stopped Ratford from picking pockets.

Of course, silver was tight, but that didn’t mean they could have a friend steal for them.

“We can still have fun with what little we have.”

“But what if the professor gets angry?”

“It’s fine. Even if he gets angry, there’s not much more he can do.”

“What if Wardanaz gets angry?”

“……”

“…Why would you say such ominous things when we’re just having fun?”

The friends all scolded the White Tiger Tower students for bringing it up.

“Well, let’s all look for a way to make some money.”

“That’s a good idea. Even Lord Wardanaz always makes money whenever he’s out.”

At Ratford’s words, the students started talking excitedly.

“With what, exactly? Did he threaten people with a staff or something?”

“I heard he did errands…”

“While out on his break? In that short time?”

“We can’t do that, so let’s look for something else.”

Renjid from the Black Turtle Tower came up with a practical idea.

“If we go around the shops, some are bound to need a mage’s help. When I worked at the cook guild, we’d often call mages to help, too. If we say we’re from Einrogard, they’ll probably gladly accept.”

Most who boasted about being mages were shady and unskilled, so being from Einrogard was the best guarantee.

The problem was…

“So, Renjid. You’re saying we, students from Einrogard, should go around shops saying, ‘We’re from Einrogard, please give us work’?”

As students from Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower sharply questioned him, Renjid shrank back.

“Is that, um, weird?”

“No. I think it’s a great idea?”

“Let’s hurry and do it.”

“……”

Fearing they’d lose the best spots, students from Blue Dragon and White Tiger Towers rushed off, prompting the Black Turtle Tower students to whisper among themselves.

“Are those guys really from noble families?”

From the city’s pride, the fountain made of water, out to the port avenue, the bustling street was so loud with shops and buildings that one could barely hear anything else.

The stalls in front of shops were filled with seafood from the port and local southern-style sugar-sprinkled baked treats, while customers at café and tearoom tables basked in the sun as they watched the crowds go by.

These shops were so bright that even city children wandered in and out, but not all shops were this type.

The alleys connected to inns and taverns were filled with shady antique shops fencing stolen goods and places selling dubious artifacts that might or might not function.

Travelers entering these alleys were only a small minority among the bustling crowd, the atmosphere dark enough to keep most folks away.

“Why are you, from Einrogard, doing this sort of thing? Uh… well… It’s to improve our magical skills.”

“Y-yes. Magical ability is developed through small acts in daily life…”

The students did their best to offer up excuses in response to the shop owner’s questions.

Luckily, the shopkeeper was impressed by these words.

“My! Mages are truly amazing! To not shy away from such menial work. Is this really enough for these silver coins? I almost feel bad…”

“No, not at all. What matters to us is practice.”

After convincing the shopkeeper, Renjid turned to Bartrek.

“Hey, you’re quick-witted. How’d you come up with that?”

“I just copied what Wardanaz says.”

“……”

In any case, the students worked diligently once they landed the jobs.

They cast fire-resistance enchantments inside ovens, repaired scrolls where possible…

Jingle!

“Thank you, mages.”

The shopkeeper bowed politely and handed over a pouch of silver coins.

The students accepted the pouch with dignity, then turned and shouted.

“Money!!”

“With this money, who needs Einrogard! We don’t need to go back! Let’s start a new school!”

“Great idea!!”

“…???”

Drunk on the charm of silver, the students ran out, shouting nonsense.

“Gasp…!”

“What’s wrong? What is it?”

“There! Wardanaz! Next to the redhead!”

“Gasp!”

The students gasped for breath.

In the distance, Lee Han and friends could be seen walking.

‘They’ve come to catch us!’

After finally earning some silver, this couldn’t be the end.

The students gritted their teeth and crouched down.

“We shouldn’t call Lord Wardanaz…”

“Hey! Stop up Ratford’s mouth!”

“Mm! Mmm!”

“Opposite direction! Opposite direction!”

The friends hurried off in the other direction. Thanks to the crowds, escaping wasn’t too difficult.

“We’re safe…!”

“We can’t get caught yet! We need more fun!”

“Yeah. Our towers may be different, but we have to join forces just this once.”

‘Is this really something to be so determined about?’

Ratford wondered at his friends’ solemn resolve.

Usually, they only acted this way before exams at school…

“Are you mages?”

“!”

The students jumped in surprise at the voice in the alley.

A long robe that hid the face entirely. The voice emanating from within was so strange one couldn’t determine race or gender.

Before the stranger, seated on a chair, was a table carved from paulownia wood, on which curious unfamiliar runes were inscribed.

“Would you like to take a glimpse at your future?”

“……”

“A primitive mage?”

“Just a charlatan, surely. What else?”

On the borderlands of the Empire, there remained peculiar forms of magic whose principles had not yet been explained, or simply weren’t even known to exist, by Imperial magicology.

The Imperial magic world called such magics “primitive magic.”

But in places like this, people offering to tell your fortune were much more likely to be mere charlatans than true primitive prophecy mages.

“Keuhuhu… I can understand if you don’t trust me. Then, how’s this? I’ll take no money. And if I guess wrong? I’ll give you a silver coin upside down.”

“Oh…!”

If it had been Lee Han, he would have said, ‘People who offer things for free like that are all the more suspicious,’ but the students, parched for silver coins, couldn’t resist.

Bartrek stepped forward without hesitation.

“Let’s try it. What family am I from?”

“No need to rush. Here, place your hand on the table.”

Mage Ianop’s eyes glittered inside the robe.

The unassuming-looking wooden table was an extraordinary artifact upon which eight spells were cast.

Of course, having eight spells on it didn’t mean the artifact was powerful or expensive.

Amazingly, for all the spell layering, the artifact had no effect at all.

All it did was intricately overlap eight spells so as to appear like nothing was cast.

You might ask, ‘Why would anyone with such skill make such a silly thing?’ But truly outstanding mages were different.

A mage of merely excellent talent wouldn’t even notice anything touching the table…

But a mage with exceptional talent, one of the Empire’s finest, would first be shocked by the presence of spells on the table, and second, by the sophisticated layering preventing any trace from being felt.

That’s right.

This table was an artifact made by Antagondals.

‘To think a simple artifact could sort out the talented from the rest.’

Ianop marveled anew at the archmage’s skill.

A truly talented mage cannot resist the curiosity upon noticing such an artifact.

Who made it?

Why did they craft such a thing?

What else does its creator know?

Such curiosity is like a curse that inevitably follows natural talent—they cannot help but be drawn in.

“I’ve placed my hand.”

“Everyone’s hand is on it?”

“Yes. My hand’s on.”

Inside the robe, Ianop wore a disappointed look.

The dull dwarf before him clearly had no idea.

Ianop tossed out an answer, wanting to hand over a silver coin and send him away.

“You… are from a knight family.”

“Gasp! How did you know!”

“……”

“A bit more! Guess just a bit more! Do I have an aptitude for any magic?”

“……”

Ianop really wanted to check the other students, but Bartrek stubbornly wouldn’t leave and was simply annoying.

“I’m currently learning alchemy, but there are so many students talented in alchemy that I’m really worried. And being from a knight family, I wonder if alchemy is really my path… But my family is actually quite knowledgeable in alchemy, so I can’t just give it up… Truly, it’s difficult.”

“Well… But you see, about the future, mage, it’s not something that can be predicted so surely…”

Ianop’s evasive words seemed to reassure Bartrek further.

After all, real frauds claimed they could predict what couldn’t be predicted!

But Ianop, the opposite…

“An omen! Just give me an omen! What should I do?”

‘Why does this talentless idiot keep pestering me?’

Suppressing a curse, Ianop threw out another answer.

“…I see a dragon, nobles, and a great mage. Follow this omen.”

“…Gasp. Isn’t that Wardanaz?”

“Sounds like Wardanaz???”

The students were shocked and whispered among themselves.

With a noble and a great mage, only Wardanaz came to mind.

Besides, he was as magically powerful as a dragon…

“Follow Wardanaz?”

“It does sound like it would help with our future…”

“But you’d get beaten up.”

“You guys were here?”

At the familiar voice, all the students screamed.

From beyond the alley, Lee Han and his friends stood, each holding a stick of cotton candy.

“W-Wardanaz…! P-please, have mercy! Please, mercy!”

‘What are these kids doing?’

Ianop was bewildered.

They looked like students, too, yet were trembling as if criminals fleeing justice had met a bailiff.