Episode 502

‘If I leave things as they are, this will get troublesome.’

The Skull Principal began to feel a bit anxious as Ipadur kept getting more and more interested in Lee Han.

It wasn’t a problem for Ipadur to be interested in Lee Han himself, but if that got connected to Einrogard, it would be quite a headache.

-So how was the spirit flood resolved?

-That was Wardanaz…

-There’s still ice in this corridor. Wait! Lord Gonadaltes, isn’t this the ice of a frost giant!? Has a frost giant ever been summoned within the school!? Who resolved it?

-That was also Wardanaz…

Normally, there’s nothing wrong with composing a song that praises a student.

But in Lee Han’s case…

It was extreme.

A song about ‘a first-year student succeeding in elemental lightning magic’ would make empire citizens smile. But a song about ‘a first-year student dueling the king of the frost giants’ would make them gasp in shock.

The emperor was already glaring and muttering, ‘Osu, you need to chill out a bit.’ If a song like ‘A first-year student fought the king of the frost giants~’ started spreading in the capital…

Boy, your face is full of fatigue!

“The principal’s magic cri—m… mmph.”

The Skull Principal summoned a skeletal hand from thin air and covered Lee Han’s mouth.

It was not a good idea to say in front of Ipadur, ‘I learned forbidden arts to fight against magic criminals.’

Well done! Now go inside and get a good rest. Sorry for making you work at dawn!

“I’m still fine though?”

No! Go inside and rest!

Lee Han, not knowing the Skull Principal’s innermost thoughts, was puzzled.

He only wanted to do his best in return for what he received…

‘What’s up with him?’

Since the Skull Principal was so desperate to send him off, Lee Han nodded.

“Understood. I’ll see you next time, then. Sir Ipadur, it was an honor to meet you today.”

“The honor was mine as well.”

The elderly bard smiled pleasantly.

And it wasn’t a mere formality, but genuine.

It wasn’t common for a bard to meet a student who carried such fascinating bundles of stories.

‘Managed to get him out somehow.’

The Skull Principal sighed with relief inside.

Now that Wardanaz was gone, Ipadur would surely turn his attention to other parts of Einrogard.

…Which was a problem in its own way…

Ah. Professor Thunderstep.

In the distance, the dwarf professor was walking over, holding a handful of moonlight-soaked herbs.

Recognizing Ipadur’s face, Professor Thunderstep called out delightedly.

“Isn’t that Sir Ipadur? I’d heard you’d been invited, but you really came!”

……

The Skull Principal looked at Professor Thunderstep with a sour look.

Some quick-witted notables of the Empire refused even when invited to Einrogard, but to state it so plainly…

Fortunately, Ipadur didn’t seem to pick up on the meaning behind those words.

“It’s a pleasure to have such a warm welcome from everyone.”

Ipadur expressed his happiness, the wrinkles in his smile gentle.

“With the warm welcomes from the students and all of you, I hardly know how to repay the favor…”

“Oh, you met the students, too?”

“Yes, a student from the Wardanaz family kindly guided me.”

“Aha, Wardanaz. He just got back from fighting a sea serpent on a trip, but he’s really a diligent fellow.”

“Sea serpent, you say?!”

Ipadur was so surprised that he took out his quill.

Seeing that, the Skull Principal let out a sigh deep enough to sink the earth.

‘Every last one of them is useless!’

• * *

Weekend, afternoon.

“Wardanaz. Here.”

The White Tiger Tower students arrived, bringing a box and setting it in front of Lee Han.

They had gone to check on the location of the ingredients as told by the other party from beyond the mirror.

“No problems?”

“Huh? None.”

‘Hmm.’

Lee Han was slightly surprised.

The mirror’s counterpart hadn’t tried any special tricks.

‘No tricks… then it’s likely neither the Black Turtle Tower nor White Tiger Tower.’

Lee Han subtly insulted the White Tiger Tower in front of its own students.

“All right. Good job, everyone; take this with you.”

Pointing to the foodstuffs promised as payment for the trade, the White Tiger Tower students hurriedly packed it up…

…but then hesitated instead of leaving.

“?”

“Wardanaz. Uh…”

‘What is it?’

Lee Han was even more puzzled because these guys didn’t normally act this awkward.

Did something happen while they were getting the ingredients?

“Just tell me honestly. I won’t be mad. Did something happen?”

Encouraged by Lee Han’s kindness, the White Tiger Tower friends asked,

“We heard you met Sir Ipadur?”

“And that you’re helping him with something…”

“……”

Thwack!

“Ouch! You said you wouldn’t get mad, just be honest!”

Thwack! Thwack!

After hitting each one with his staff, Lee Han waved them off.

“Go. Enough nonsense.”

He already had to focus on making a difficult foresight potion and here they were, spouting nonsense.

The White Tiger Tower student left grumbling, and true friends arrived to help Lee Han.

Friends who’d gotten excellent grades in alchemy lectures.

Yoner dragged over a chair and sat down next to him.

“By the way. I heard Sir Ipadur showed up?”

“…Wait, you know him?”

Lee Han looked at Yoner as if he couldn’t believe it.

He didn’t think Yoner would know!

“Of course…? The family has invited him a few times. My sister loves his songs.”

“……”

Yoner tilted his head, wondering why Lee Han looked so crestfallen.

‘Thought we were fellow outliers.’

He’d assumed they only read the business news section of the Empire’s newspaper together, but the Meikin family’s baseline was on a whole different level from the Wardanaz family.

Ahsan, the White Tiger Tower, even Phoenix Tower students all chatted about Ipadur.

“I really saw it with my eyes. He took a flute from his shell…”

“You got your song critiqued?”

“I got a comment on the lyrics, but still, he praised it a lot. I’ll send it to my older brother and sister.”

Swallowing his gloom, Lee Han prepared the ingredients.

Even the imperial princess was talking about Ipadur, so he definitely was famous.

“Wardanaz. Wardanaz.”

“?”

Nillia poked Lee Han and whispered low.

“Who’s Ipadur?”

“…You’re the only one, Nillia.”

“Why, what? What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

• * *

Even if you’d gathered all the ingredients, brewing a high-level potion was not easy.

Lee Han devoted all of Saturday, and even on Sunday was still hanging over the cauldron.

“I’m worried about the amount of ingredients.”

“If you fail again, there really won’t be enough.”

With not a single error in amounts, exacting magical control, careful timing for the incantation, stirring in the prescribed direction when it boils…

Even with genius talent, Lee Han couldn’t succeed at all of this on his first try. There had already been some failures.

At least he hadn’t had a single failure where he had to start from scratch.

But even small repeated failures meant the supply of ingredients was dwindling. Lee Han, tense, threw the blue Meanil flower into the cauldron again.

Then he fed the basilisk egg set aside nearby.

“……”

Priest Siana, watching from the side, was dumbfounded.

He claimed he was nervous and yet was calmly feeding the egg. He didn’t look tense at all.

‘Is he really nervous?’

Just then.

Priest Siana suddenly yelled, surprised.

“Uh… Uh?! Wardanaz! Wardanaz!”

“I know, Priest Siana! Don’t worry!”

Lee Han quickly put in Donghaso, poured in cold water to keep the potion from boiling over.

But it wasn’t enough. The potion was generating so much heat it looked like it would melt the cauldron.

‘I knew it!’

But thanks to his previous failures, Lee Han was prepared.

Immediately, he cast a cold spell, keeping the cauldron’s temperature from rising any higher.

“Coldness…!”

Normally, such heat during alchemy should be solved with ingredient combinations or special reagents, not more spells.

If you don’t know the root cause, using magic might only make the problem recur.

But Lee Han didn’t care, firing off more spells.

‘If the problem repeats, I’ll just block it with magic again!’

If he couldn’t solve it with his brain, he’d brute-force it with magic power.

“Wardanaz!”

“It’s all under control, Priest Siana! Don’t worry!”

“That’s not it, look at the egg! The egg!”

“??”

Lee Han turned his head absentmindedly.

Craaaack!

Fissures spread all over the surface of the basilisk egg around his neck. Cracks as if it would break any moment now.

Crack!

Suddenly, the egg split and something the size of a scarf crawled out.

The baby basilisk toddled over to Lee Han as if in greeting, like a newborn chick rushing to its parent.

But Lee Han reacted differently than the basilisk expected.

“Priest Siana, get down and close your eyes!”

Covering the baby basilisk’s eyes with his hands, Lee Han shouted. Priest Siana panicked and dropped to the floor.

-……

The baby basilisk looked at Lee Han with wounded eyes.

• * *

After a minor commotion (three small cauldrons overturned and a chest was broken), Lee Han realized baby basilisks didn’t just fire off the Evil Eye unconditionally.

Unless it recognized you as an enemy, it wouldn’t shoot the Evil Eye.

‘Still, better cover those eyes just in case.’

Lee Han wrapped the baby basilisk’s eyes securely with silk. The baby basilisk lashed his wrist with its tail, clearly displeased.

“Priest Siana, are you all right?”

“Oh. Yes. I’m fine. But it really was a basilisk! I thought the White Tiger Tower people were making things up…”

Priest Siana was quite sharp herself. Lee Han nodded.

“A professor asked me to raise it. But… it hatched even sooner than I expected.”

While not a basilisk expert, Lee Han knew enough to recognize the hatching was unusually early.

“You think you might have overfed it?”

“I followed the right servings…”

“Maybe you kept the egg in a place with too much magic?”

“I’d never… I wouldn’t…”

Lee Han trailed off mid-sentence.

Come to think of it, he’d been carrying the egg around a lot lately.

“…I did have it on me a lot.”

Priest Siana chuckled at his words.

“What nonsense, Wardanaz? If the egg had absorbed your magic, you would’ve noticed for sure. You’re not a fool; you’d notice something like that right away.”

“……”

Lee Han was lightly wounded. The basilisk now wrapped around his neck patted him as if to comfort.

“Still, don’t worry too much. Even if it hatches early, it just means it’s smaller; it can do everything it needs to.”

Priest Siana took out a brass syringe with a sharp tip.

It was an alchemist’s tool for extracting fluids from plants or animals.

“Here, Wardanaz, please hold it.”

“…If you don’t mind, Priest Siana, what are you about to do?”

“Huh? Didn’t you raise it for venom extraction?”

Sensing something bad, the basilisk around Lee Han’s neck began to tremble.