Episode 563

Episode 563

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Alpen checked again, wondering if he had missed something.

Indeed, the composition was so excellent that it felt like Professor Verdus had taught very well.

This arrangement, which placed the artifacts efficiently and neatly without any unnecessary waste, seemed like even Lee Han’s seniors couldn’t have done any better.

But no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t reduce the mana consumption as much as Lee Han’s conclusion.

“How?”

“Sorry?”

“I mean… look here, Wardanaz-kun. Just look at the artifacts located at the southern castle gate here, there are -Hardening Enhancement-, -Corrosion Prevention-, and -Enemy Detection- magic cast on them. Then at least three crates of mid-grade or higher mana stones would be consumed per day.”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I forgot to note that down.”

Lee Han apologized and added,

“I calculated under the assumption that the artifacts were overcharged with mana during their creation. Some of the artifacts placed in the fortress, if overcharged with mana at the time of making, can last more than ten years without separate mana supply.”

“?”

“??”

Professor Alpen and the guild members had question marks on their faces.

They couldn’t quite understand what the first year student in front of them was saying.

“Is there… is there such a thing, Professor? We don’t know much about magic, but do such artifacts exist? I’ve never heard of them.”

“Hm. As far as I know… theoretically, that effect exists.”

Professor Alpen explained to the bewildered guild members.

If you broadly divide the structure of an artifact, there was the core that constructed the magic, and the power unit that supplied mana to that core.

At this point, enchanting wizards poured their hearts into refining the magic circle in order to increase the power unit’s efficiency.

Depending on the quality here, the amount of mana the artifact consumed was different.

But in theory, what would happen if instead of putting in so much effort here, you charged the core with as much mana as possible and then sealed it up?

Even without any external effort, it would be able to sustain its own mana supply.

“But isn’t there no wizard who makes it this way?”

That was true.

There were reasons why Professor Alpen and the guild members were surprised.

There were extremely few wizards who made artifacts in this way.

Structuring it to withstand overcharged mana or increasing its durability was just a minor problem; the biggest issue was that there were almost no wizards who could put in that much mana.

If you regularly supplied mana, it was far more stable—so why would a wizard risk their life to inject such a dangerous amount of mana?

It’s not like the artifact, once made, could never be refilled with mana again anyway…

“Oh? There isn’t?”

“Not that I know of.”

“……”

Lee Han was bewildered.

This was a method he used all the time under Professor Verdus, either learning or helping with work.

-Professor.

-……

-Professor.

-……

-Professor! Professor! Professor!!

-Aagh! Why are you shouting in my ear? What’s with you?

-Sorry. You didn’t answer.

-What are you talking about? I didn’t call you.

-…Anyway, Professor. I was curious. The enchanting magic books I’ve seen don’t infuse artifacts with this much mana. Isn’t that too much?

-It’s fine. It’s fine. Look. Putting in more makes it more efficient.

-I mean, yes, but why don’t the magic books recommend it?

-Because they’re old magic books.

-But that book came out last year?

-Still old. And the guy who wrote it was dumb.

-No, but they’re pretty experienced and have published lots of papers…?

-They can still be dumb. Okay, it’s fine, right? No problems? Efficient, right?

-Is it safe, though?

-Just make sure it doesn’t blow up. Since it hasn’t blown up so far, you’re doing fine.

-Professor, you aren’t saying this just because you’re annoyed, right?

-Why don’t you trust me? Trust me.

‘Damn. I did trust you.’

Lee Han thought of Professor Verdus and ground his teeth.

To think he was tricked again even though he got burned already!

As he thought, it seemed odd, and now it turned out this wasn’t common practice elsewhere.

‘Well, of course not—why would they do it this way?’

Looking at the others’ expressions anew, Lee Han wondered why he’d never noticed before.

Could it be that entering Einrogard made people less intelligent?

Making things this way consumed far too much mana from the wizard, and if there was even a single mistake during creation, the risk of an accident would skyrocket…

“I apologize. I unconsciously calculated things this way out of habit from working with Professor Verdus.”

“You mean Professor Verdus? You learned this from him?”

“Yes.”

As the elderly professor reacted quite strongly, Lee Han grew slightly hopeful.

‘Are you perhaps going to go beat up Professor Verdus?’

If so, he kind of wanted to see that.

“Truly incredible. Professor Verdus! A genius is a genius for a reason.”

“…???”

Unaware of Lee Han’s incredulous reaction, Professor Alpen continued.

“Yes. Actually, I heard people say Professor Verdus’s genius is so great that it makes it hard for him to teach students, but seeing this, it seems some of that is exaggerated. For him to have passed his vision on to his student so magnificently.”

“No… Uh… Is this a vision?”

Lee Han was flustered.

Of course, if it was a secretly passed-down technique, it could be called a vision, but by that logic, Gainando’s -Secretly Eating Snacks During Lectures- could also be a vision.

But wouldn’t you get treated like a lunatic if you went around calling that a vision?

“It’s more than enough to be called a vision, Wardanaz-kun. Didn’t you increase the artifacts’ efficiency like this? You might not realize due to lack of experience, but this is a truly exceptional achievement.”

“But… it’s dangerous in terms of mana consumption and… risk of accident…”

“But didn’t you say there were no problems working with Professor Verdus all this time?”

“…That’s true…”

Professor Alpen patted Lee Han’s shoulder with a strong hand.

“Wardanaz-kun. I usually advise students to be humble. But I think I need to give you different advice. Be just the right amount of humble! You’re fully entitled to be proud of this. Both you and Professor Verdus who taught you!”

Feeling greatly wronged, Lee Han played his final card.

“But Professor, isn’t Professor Verdus a bit of an oddball usually?”

He was now trying to cling to Professor Verdus’s reputation and drag him down together.

Even if Professor Alpen hadn’t spent much time in Einrogard, if he recalled some of the things Professor Verdus had done, he’d see that this wasn’t “the beautiful succession of genius master and apprentice,” but rather, “a crazy master disregarding safety and overworking his student.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Right?”

“But aren’t all Einrogard professors like that?”

“……”

Lee Han was at a loss for words for the first time in a while.

• * *

After hearing the rest of the explanation and understanding it, the guild members were on the verge of tears with emotion.

A direct disciple taught by Einrogard’s genius professor said he would use his vision to arrange the artifacts in their fortress.

“We might… we might just be present at a historic moment.”

“Y-yes.”

They were guild members from various guilds, but their hearts were filled with the same emotion.

“It’s just like…”

“Like the -Miracle of the Three Wizards-.”

The guild members murmured simultaneously without realizing it.

The Miracle of the Three Wizards.

Back then, the treasuries of Ganistalas Castle’s lord were completely empty from rebellion and raids.

The three castle wizards could use a budget that wasn’t even a tenth of the usual gold coins.

Yet the three wizards worked together with Ganistalas’s construction guilds and performed a miracle.

This miracle was not just a miracle of wizards.

It was also a miracle of the guild members who, helping the wizards, completed the castle gate.

The wizards in that story shuddered at the greatness of magic, while the guild members holding hammers and chisels shuddered at the beauty of craftsmanship.

‘Why bring up that kind of anecdote?’

Lee Han was taken aback as he listened to the conversation.

Why get moved by a harsh story about a wicked lord working wizards and guild members nearly to death with a budget less than one-tenth?

He couldn’t understand no matter how he thought about it.

But the guild members chatted on regardless.

“A building with soul never disappears and remains forever. Yes. Maybe this -Pocketknife Fortress- will be like our -Miracle of the Three Wizards-.”

“Let’s make the guild’s name known to the Empire!”

“Yes, let’s make the guild’s name known to the Empire!!”

Members from the stonemason guild and the woodworking guild, who’d been somewhat awkward with each other until just now, shook hands and made a firm vow.

At this sight, Professor Alpen looked deeply moved.

Of course, the professor also knew about their previous awkwardness.

Since several guilds had joined forces for the commission, they couldn’t help but calculate gain and loss.

But with the glory of possibly making their name known to the Empire right before their eyes, they united solidly as true craftsmen.

“Wardanaz-kun. Are you watching? Your magic is what brought them together.”

“No… no matter how generously you say so, that’s too much…”

“Haha. Didn’t I say you could be a little less humble?”

‘Should I not have taken this commission?’

Lee Han had never regretted accepting a paying commission until now.

But this time, he felt he might regret it a little.

‘Come to think of it, maybe all of this is Professor Verdus’s fault.’

Once this was over, Lee Han resolved to surely get revenge on Professor Verdus.

• * *

Coming out of Professor Alpen’s office, Lee Han felt several times more fatigued than before.

-I’ll be sure to spread the mage’s reputation throughout the Empire!

-Yes… thank you. But just paying me properly is more than enough…

-No! Please, just wait!

‘Hmm. Surely they won’t delay my payment, right.’

No matter how excited the guild members chattered about “creating a building that will be known throughout the Empire,” it didn’t touch Lee Han.

He was more worried that the other party was getting too excited.

It might sound odd to be worried about the other party’s excitement, but he had his reasons.

They build with the Empire’s budget → get excited and try to improve the building’s quality → costs more than first calculated → Sorry, mage, please wait just a little longer!

He had saved them costs, but Lee Han now worried they’d try to raise quality elsewhere to make up for it.

‘I’d better mention this to the professor again later just in case.’

He thought to send a message like, “I’m worried about the guild members, so let’s keep it reasonable,” since being too blunt might come across as rude.

“Lee Han, Lee Han.”

“Ah, Professor.”

When Professor Garcia called, Lee Han looked up cheerfully.

At Einrogard, it was rare to feel happy when a professor called you, but Professor Garcia was one of those rare exceptions.

“What is it?”

“Would you come in for a moment?”

Without any suspicion, Lee Han followed Professor Garcia into the classroom.

At the center of the classroom was a pit so deep and dark he couldn’t see the bottom.

“…I trusted you, Professor!!”

Lee Han immediately drew his staff and rolled aside.

Professor Garcia was flustered by his reaction.

“W-what? What did I do wrong?”

“…Weren’t you trying to push me into the pit?”

“…Lee Han. Has Professor Baegrek ever shoved you into such a pit before?”