Episode 512

Episode 512

“Why aren’t you helping?”

Lee Han held the Morningstar and exhaled the breath he had been holding back.

The basilisk coiled around his wrist criticized his friends with its tail as if agreeing.

However, his friends replied ungratefully.

“There wasn’t even time to help!”

“You wouldn’t have managed either!”

“In my opinion, there just wasn’t enough time…”

The angry friends suddenly became curious and asked.

“But how did you manage to capture it in such a short time? Ah. I get it.”

Salko asked, then looked at the basilisk with a realization.

“You used the gaze of this basilisk, didn’t you. Am I right?”

-……

The baby basilisk awkwardly averted its gaze.

Giselle, who was next to them, sighed and said,

“If it had been the basilisk’s gaze, we would have felt it as well. Tutanta. It seems you don’t know because you’re not a swordsman, but look at what Wardanaz is holding.”

Lee Han was holding the Morningstar.

“I see.”

“Yeah. He must have applied the basilisk’s venom to the sword.”

-……

The basilisk just crawled into Lee Han’s coat.

Lee Han patted its tail to comfort it and began to explain.

“It wasn’t the basilisk but the power of this sword. Because this sword is made of black amethyst, it absorbs magic very strongly.”

The famous sword used by an anti-magic advocate, Morningstar, displayed even stronger power in certain situations.

Normally, Lee Han and Adenart would not have been able to easily defeat the ghost mage alone like this, but…

It had made the mistake of getting too close and attempting to cast contact-type magic.

If it had been an inexperienced mage, they would have been flustered at having their distance breached and would have dropped their staff, but when his opponent pierced his magic and got close, Lee Han immediately drew the Morningstar.

The ghost mage had not expected at all that mage Lee Han would carry around a sword like the Morningstar, so he took significant damage.

-Kraaaagh…!? Why does a mage even have this sword…!?

“It was just good luck.”

“…No, but really, why do you carry such a sword around?”

At Salko’s question, the other friends involuntarily nodded.

Why would a mage carry such an artifact around?

That would not only lead to magic depletion, but it was an item that would adversely affect all sorts of magic casting.

To practice magic with that on hand…!

“Think about it, Salko. Here at school, do you think you’ll fight more often against mages, or against people who aren’t mages?”

“……”

At first, Salko tried to dismiss it as nonsense, but on second thought, it sounded plausible.

‘…Is that so?’

“Tutanta. I trust you’re not really going to swallow that crap right now. You’re not that dumb, surely.”

• * *

Anyway, the students who had overcome the ordeal waited for a while instead of going up.

Bang!

With a puff of smoke, the reward appeared in front of the students.

“Come to think of it, what did you guys get last time?”

“We got armor that absorbs shock.”

When Angrago answered right away, Giselle glared as if she were appalled.

‘Anyone would think it was the same tower.’

“Oh. That’s a nice item. I’ve never seen it—have you just never brought it out?”

“…I was wearing it under my clothes when you hit me last time…”

“……”

As the mood became awkward, Lee Han quickly changed the subject.

“Look, the reward has appeared!”

“Is that really the reward?”

Salko frowned at the modest appearance of the reward.

Surprisingly, a stack of paper was the entire reward.

Of course, you couldn’t judge the value of an item by looks alone, but this was a bit…

“This is a communication artifact.”

Among the friends, Lee Han was the first to recognize the artifact.

Having seen similar ones at the secret base before, he recognized it right away upon sensing the familiar magic pattern.

“A communication artifact?”

“Yeah. If you drip ink here like this…”

When Lee Han took a sheet of paper and wrote ‘Gainando is a fool,’ the same words appeared on all the other sheets.

It was the same principle as the one they obtained before, but the difference was that several people could communicate through this one.

“There was an artifact like this?!”

“Yeah. By the way, if you pick up an artifact like this at school, be careful. I hear seniors scam people with these without mercy.”

‘How does this guy know this?’

While his friends wondered, Lee Han collected the stack of papers.

“I was going to go out on a trip anyway, so next time I go out, I’ll sell this and turn it into silver coins and distribute them to you.”

“……”

“…???”

After listening to Lee Han’s explanation, his friends paused.

Something felt off.

Priest Tijilling raised his hand and asked carefully.

“Um, I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you selling that??”

Unable to hold back, Giselle jumped in and asked the question.

Lee Han replied as if he genuinely couldn’t understand.

“What would I do with it if I didn’t sell it?”

“…Wardanaz. I also like selling artifacts to get funds, but do we really need to sell even this?”

Salko said, exasperated.

What was the point of the reward from this ordeal being a communication artifact for everyone?

Obviously, it was meant to teach students from different towers, who normally wouldn’t interact, to bond and become closer.

But just selling it off was a bit…

“Is that so? Maybe it won’t fetch much of a price?”

“That’s not what I meant. I think we should use it amongst ourselves. Wouldn’t it make it easier to communicate if something happened?”

“Salko. You have a point. But other friends would probably prefer silver coins.”

Lee Han regarded Salko as if it were unfortunate.

There wouldn’t be many students willing to give up silver coins just to use an artifact for conversation when they could just talk in person.

“Who wants to use these together instead of selling them?”

At Lee Han’s question, everyone raised their hands. Lee Han was taken aback.

Even Adenart raised her hand. When Lee Han looked at her, Adenart very slightly avoided his gaze.

“Really??”

“We’ll be able to earn silver coins other times.”

“Such complacent thinking. You don’t know when you’ll have a chance… Anyway, fine. Majority rules.”

Lee Han, though surprised, followed his friends’ decision.

Since it was an ordeal they overcame together, everyone’s opinion mattered.

“Sheesh. I don’t think we’ll need it much though.”

“……”

“Would this really be that useful? Couldn’t we just send paper birds or something?”

“……”

“And I don’t think we’ll have that much to talk about—”

“Give it a rest already!”

As Lee Han kept talking while handing out the papers one by one, the friends finally exploded.

• * *

As the students came out safely, the skull principal grumbled.

Everyone’s annoyingly close, that’s the problem.

Normally, students from other years would end up failing in such cooperative ordeals, tearing each other down, checking each other, and fighting out of jealousy. But these first-years were all too close.

What kind of magic could be born out of such a little playhouse environment?

“We’re not close!”

“Who’s close with whom…”

Quiet.

A few students tried to protest strongly, but the skull principal didn’t listen.

“Didn’t that Wardanaz guy say this ordeal should be about coming to a consensus and reducing the number of people…?”

Salko seemed quite resentful as he brought up an already finished matter.

Upon hearing that, the skull principal became extremely interested.

An interesting idea. Maybe I should add this ordeal for next year’s freshmen…

“……”

“……”

The friends glared at Salko. Salko felt genuinely guilty.

‘Sorry, juniors.’

Anyway, congratulations to all for braving this one ordeal like cowards. Next year, be sure to participate here as well. Don’t go to the punishment room like losers, but come here as victors. Understood?

“Yes…”

“How delightful. I’m feeling so motivated now.”

Right. That’s the spirit. And Wardanaz, you come with me.

At the skull principal’s words, Lee Han felt his heart sink.

‘What is this? What magic does he want to teach me?’

Calculating it coldly, the skull principal surprisingly taught as many spells as Professor Voladi.

Lee Han tried to quickly guess which magic the skull principal would want to push on him.

But at the destination, unexpected people were waiting.

Phil and Chil, two senior students from the Healing Magic School, were sitting with weary faces.

You’ve done well.

“Ah, no, Principal.”

“It’s an honor just to have you recognize us.”

Hey, bring some more coffee.

The Death Knight bowed and brought over a tin kettle of boiling hot coffee.

The two seniors drank with slurping sounds.

‘Huh?’

Lee Han wondered at the exceptionally kind appearance of the usually sour skull principal.

Perhaps, no matter how evil the skull principal was, he went a bit soft with the healing mages?

Drink and recharge. If not for you, who else would major in healing magic? Don’t ever think of quitting. If things really get tough, come and talk to me.

“……”

Lee Han was at a loss for words.

‘What the…’

Right now, the skull principal was dangling a carrot instead of a stick to keep the seniors of the Healing Magic School from fleeing!

“Ah. Junior.”

“Here. Over here.”

The two recognized Lee Han and waved.

Lee Han greeted them and sat across from them.

“What’s this about? Healing magic lectures aren’t today, are they?”

The skull principal glanced outside briefly.

It was already pitch-black night.

‘This madman.’

To think of a lecture at this hour, regardless of date—the person was deranged.

“Ah. It’s not a lecture.”

“It’s because of the Festival of Saint Iaactus. It’s this week.”

‘There are way too many festivals in the Empire.’

Lee Han grumbled inwardly.

Perhaps because there wasn’t much else to entertain, the people of the Empire celebrated every possible festival.

The big and popular festivals were enough to bring in outside priests to help…

Lee Han had at least heard of the bigger festivals, but for the smaller ones, they were such foreign names to Lee Han, who usually only read the business section of the empire’s newspapers.

‘And I’m not the weird one here.’

Just three days ago, when Gainando said it was a detective festival and asked any one of the friends to play the corpse, didn’t everyone simply ignore him?

All these festivals were causing fatigue.

But of course, you can’t air your complaints in front of your seniors.

Putting on a fake smile, Lee Han replied.

“A festival, you say. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“You too?”

“Good grief. I don’t know why everyone likes this festival so much.”

The two seniors sighed and made complaints. Lee Han realized something was going awry.

That guy would probably like it, though. Unlike you guys, he’s a ferocious beast.

“His Majesty should just ban this festival by imperial law.”

“It’s already hard enough…”

I understand. I understand. Those imperial folks really are barbarians! Right, right! But you mustn’t quit!

The skull principal, unusually, sided with the students.

Lee Han carefully asked the skull principal.

“Principal.”

What?

“What is the Festival of Saint Iaactus?”

…You’re more of a barbarian than the people who enjoy that festival. How do you not know it?

The skull principal looked at Lee Han as if he were a savage. Of course, Lee Han ignored it.

‘People who love festivals really all think their favorite festival is the most important in the empire.’

What a pity.

Saint Iaactus is a kid who slew an evil Dragonlord with nothing but a single stone. The festival commemorates the kid. Good grief. Now that I think about it, it’s ridiculous. Shouldn’t we be praising the day magic was cast on that stone?

The old history woven with the skull principal’s life was interesting, but Lee Han decided to let it go for now.

“I see. How do people commemorate it? Do they make cakes or something?”

They throw stones.

“At the festival effigies?”

It was common to make big dolls and either burn them or offer them as sacrifices to commemorate festivals.

No.

“Then into the lake?”

Why would you throw stones into the lake? What if you anger a spirit? You throw them at each other.

“…??”