Episode 497

“It seems like a poetic metaphor.”

Ratford, true to being an Einrogard student, didn’t panic in the slightest.

Just as the ceiling had become the floor a moment ago, walking on the ceiling instead of the floor was nothing surprising in Einrogard.

“I just need to somehow make the ceiling into the floor once more…”

“Huh?”

“……”

Ratford was speechless as he watched Lee Han already standing on his hands, upside down.

Lee Han had floated a globe of water high in the air, gripped it with both hands, and then used it to raise his body, ending up in a handstand.

Ratford was impressed at this scene.

‘If you have a strong body, you don’t need brains!’

He’d always wondered why someone like Lee Han hung around with those beast-like kids from the White Tiger Tower, but seeing this made it clear.

Tap—

As Lee Han pressed his feet insistently to the ceiling and took a few steps, his field of vision suddenly shifted and gravity reversed.

Now Ratford was standing on the floor while Lee Han was walking on the ceiling.

“Let’s go, Ratford.”

“Wardanaz.”

“What?”

“Do you think the other students who came here walked like this too?”

“Probably, don’t you think?”

‘I doubt it…’

Ratford thought to himself, clutching his trembling arms.

Wizards, after all, were a smart profession, not one known for physical strength.

• * *

Fortunately, there were no particular difficulties after that. Lee Han reached their destination easily.

The so-called -Kettl’s Secret Base-.

But there was no visible door or window in front. Ratford was baffled at the sight of the wall.

“There’s nothing here.”

“There’s a password. Just a moment.”

Lee Han looked at the note below and cleared his throat.

“As an honorable Einrogard student, I swear I will never trust, be bribed by, or inform on a professor.”

“……”

Ratford looked dumbfounded at the method the seniors had devised for entering.

It seemed more serious than a thieves’ guild initiation rite.

“Especially, I’ll be even more suspicious of the Principal.”

‘It isn’t over yet?’

“I will continue this until graduation—I am a hidden puddle to wet the professors’ ankles, and bird droppings that fall on their heads…”

“……”

After another minute of professor insults, with a rumble, a small door appeared at waist height in the wall.

“It’s done, Ratford. Let’s go in.”

“Einrogard really is a scary place.”

“Is that news?”

They crawled through the low passage, and at last, a huge storeroom appeared.

Lee Han pushed aside a sign reading -NO PROFESSORS!!!- and looked around the storage room.

“This is…”

Ratford spoke with a trembling voice.

An experienced thief sensing the thrill of success.

Of course, to the eye, there were no special treasures in sight.

In the center, on a large table, all kinds of untitled grimoires were tossed about chaotically, and on the shelves lining the walls were more strange reagents and broken artifacts than books.

Further inside, it was even more impressive.

Broken golems, half-eaten canned goods, empty wine bottles, field hockey sticks, rusty bronze mirrors—junk filled the room to the brim to such a degree that it was hard to know where to start cleaning.

But treasure is always found in places like this.

Just the thought of digging through it made his heart race.

“So it wasn’t only Senior Kettl using this place.”

Lee Han murmured.

No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem to have been used just a year or two. There was doodling from decades ago.

It must have been passed down among graduates over generations.

“It seems no one’s come in for a few years. The dust…”

“It seems to have been forgotten.”

Given Einrogard’s design, it wasn’t unusual for a room or classroom to go forgotten for years.

“How to use this place… I’m not sure.”

“Please, Wardanaz, you worry about that.”

“What about you, Ratford?”

“I’ll go treasure hunting.”

Ratford immediately rolled up his sleeves and began checking the nearest pile of junk.

‘This is definitely not a job for one person.’

Lee Han summoned Sharkan and a skeleton warrior.

“Sharkan, find anything you think is useful. Gonadaltes, you clear out the bigger stuff first—we need more usable space.”

As a compassionate master, Lee Han used bone fragments to multiply Gonadaltes’ strength several times.

Even so, the skeleton warrior’s back looked vaguely disgruntled.

‘Is it just my imagination?’

Lee Han turned away. Even with his summons helping, there was no telling how long this would actually take.

‘I’ll just do what I can for now.’

Lee Han began sorting the books scattered on the table, dusting them off, and inserting them into the bookshelf.

If a book looked like a grimoire, it went in the grimoire shelf. If it looked like a notebook, it went in the notebook shelf.

Reagents or broken artifact fragments wedged into the shelves were set aside in a wooden box.

‘I’ll have to sneak these to Professor Verdus to see if he can fix them.’

If he left a broken artifact next to Verdus while he was focused, he might fix it without realizing.

‘What’s this?’

Lee Han paused at a blank, white notebook.

All the other notebooks had graffiti like ‘Die, Professor’ ‘Die, Skull Principal’ or ‘Just wait until after graduation’, but this one alone was completely empty, which made it feel strange.

He tried to pick it up, but strangely, it wouldn’t budge, as if anchored.

Suddenly, blood welled up at Lee Han’s fingertip that was touching the white notebook.

And the notebook absorbed the drop.

‘Magic!’

Especially after being warned by the Skull Principal to ‘beware wicked magical criminals,’ Lee Han instantly reacted.

“Ratford, be careful! Evil magic here!”

“EEK!”

Ratford yelped and shrank back.

Lee Han also let go and pointed his wand at the notebook.

“……”

“……”

But nothing happened.

Slightly embarrassed, Lee Han explained, as if to excuse himself.

“The notebook sucked my blood.”

“Isn’t that a devil-cursed artifact or something?!”

Ratford panicked and rushed over.

“Let’s burn it right away!”

“If it won’t move, normal fire won’t work. And let’s not set fires in here.”

Lee Han was still wary of fire magic.

Having finally secured this storeroom, it would be ridiculous to burn it all down and enrage the senior who graduated.

“First, let’s check what sort of artifact it is…”

A new master?

“!”

Words rose up on the notebook’s page.

Lee Han was surprised, but Ratford’s expression didn’t change.

“Ratford, you don’t see these letters?”

“Yes? What letters?”

‘It’s only visible to me.’

Lee Han guessed that the drop of blood was the trigger.

Probably a condition to activate the notebook.

‘Is it safe to reply?’

Lee Han hesitated.

He didn’t detect any suspicious magical pattern, but it was always dangerous to mess with things you didn’t know—especially a blood-drinking notebook.

What if an evil demon was sealed inside?

-Who are you on that side?

You’re new, aren’t you? It’s rude to ask someone’s identity.

“……”

Lee Han’s face stiffened.

Whoever was sealed in this notebook, it was no doubt something wicked, cunning, and shameless.

Feeling no magical energy at all meant this presence was on a level far above Lee Han…

-I already know your identity.

Lee Han wrote without hesitation. The notebook absorbed the ink quickly.

…Go on, then.

Though Lee Han couldn’t see their face, he could sense the other party was nervous.

-You’re a powerful demon sealed in a wicked artifact, I presume, shamelessly changing the subject?

…Dear clueless friend, the artifact you’re using isn’t a sealing artifact—it’s a communication artifact.

His faceless counterpart seemed exasperated, lecturing Lee Han.

Lee Han felt a bit embarrassed.

-Are you trying to trick me? In all the old tales, notebooks like this contain wicked spirits…

Is that so? More importantly, aren’t you a failing student? If you wanted to seal an evil being, you’d use a special artifact. Why use a notebook? What if someone just sold it to a used bookstore?

‘Hm. That’s a good point.’

Lee Han found himself a bit chastened by the scolding.

Now that he thought about it, if it had no magical energy, it was more likely to be safe.

There couldn’t possibly be a notebook artifact in a student storeroom that sealed a grand demon.

‘I read too many stories.’

-So this notebook is…

It’s a tool invented by us students.

The nameless person kindly explained.

Once you advanced to second year, you could meet senior students, but that didn’t mean you could always speak frankly.

Students tended to cluster by class and by tower, and there were sometimes even professors’ informers among students.

For that reason, at some point, artifacts like these were hidden in secret places throughout Einrogard.

The base item for the artifact varied.

Notebooks were the most common, but anything you could write on easily—parchment, mirrors, anything able to soak up ink—could be used.

This way, students could communicate with one another.

Sometimes, being anonymous allowed you to be more honest.

Depending on your conversation partner, it might differ, but as a rule, asking for someone’s identity was considered rude. Keep it in mind. People might think you’re a professor.

-Thank you for the advice.

Lee Han expressed his gratitude for now.

If not for that explanation, he would still have been confused.

‘So it’s a way for Einrogard students to talk anonymously.’

Although Lee Han wasn’t shy about cursing out the Skull Principal, most students were careful to keep those thoughts to themselves.

For such students, an anonymous communication tool could be a sort of bamboo forest to vent in.

-This notebook seems to have gone unused for a while before I got it—was there someone using it before?

Nope. That’s why I thought it was worthless and just left it in there.

‘This person must have several such artifacts.’

Lee Han deduced a few things from that statement.

Given their knowledge of these communication artifacts around Einrogard, they must have more than one.

‘That means they know way more about the lay of the land in Einrogard than I do.’

-Do you mind if I ask you some questions?

Your call. Whether I answer is mine. Usually it’s an equivalent exchange. You get me?

Given the mutual anonymity, questions and answers weren’t one-sided.

If someone wanted to ask a question, they needed to offer something of equal value.

-All right. What I want to know is about hidden places on the 3rd floor of the main building.

Third floor? Are you a second-year?

-We’ll see.

Okay. If you can answer my question, we can trade.

Lee Han grew tense.

Would he be able to meet the other’s demands?

Maybe he should try using some trickery?

‘But if I get caught, they’ll cut off contact.’

There’s a first-year named Wardanaz in your discipline.

‘What?!’

Lee Han was shocked.

Hearing his name was surprising enough, but he couldn’t believe they’d guessed which school he belonged to.

Could the person on the other side of the notebook detect a student’s circle??

‘No… that’s not it.’

On reflection, Lee Han belonged to all the circles.

-Yes.

Find out what school magic he plans to study in second year.

-Contact between first and second-year students is supposed to be strictly forbidden.

All the more reason you shouldn’t get caught.

‘Who is this person really?’

Lee Han frowned.

Just mentioning his name was odd.

Had his name gotten out via rumors?

Some seniors knew of Lee Han from helping the professors…

‘Did news spread that way?’

Then, the other party hesitated.

It was as if they were wondering whether to say any more.

‘What is it?’

And see if he’s going to take black magic.

-…Is this Senior Direte?

The notebook suddenly stopped responding.