Episode 578

Fortunately, the skeletal principal showed little reaction to the Death Knights’ attempts to stir up trouble.

He was clearly lost in thought, deeply considering what might happen when he faced the emperor.

Hmm… This is worrisome.

After a long silence, the principal let out a gloomy sigh.

No matter how he pictured it, he couldn’t see any optimistic outcome to meeting His Majesty the Emperor with Lee Han in tow.

“If we just explain things to Student Wardanaz… won’t it work out?”

Iunrade watched for a reaction before cautiously speaking up.

In truth, Iunrade didn’t see why the principal was so worried.

“Of course, he did exceptionally well for a freshman even in the second semester, but I’m sure His Majesty will understand. And what happened during the summer break was really inevitable, wasn’t it?”

-Sir, Lady Iunrade, you do realize he took down the sea serpent?

-There’s even more than that, just for the record.

“What?”

Iunrade hesitated.

After a brief pause, she immediately spoke.

“If we just talk to Student Wardanaz and get everyone to keep quiet, how would His Majesty ever find out?”

-That’s how you know she’s a real Einrogard alum.

-That’s quite the ruthless idea.

The Death Knights whispered, but Iunrade was unfazed.

Wasn’t staying alive what mattered most?

Anyone slow to react wouldn’t survive at Einrogard.

Of course she planned to keep people’s mouths shut. Besides, there was no need to worry about slip-ups from someone like Wardanaz…

Over the years, many varieties of geniuses had come to Einrogard, but few were as quick-witted, sociable, and versatile in every area as Lee Han.

Most geniuses focused sharply on one field they loved, which made Lee Han’s well-roundedness even more noticeable.

“Doesn’t that mean it’ll be even more fine?”

That’s exactly why you never placed first.

‘Seriously…’

Iunrade felt wronged.

Did she have to get lectured about her grades even after graduating?

-Sir, what exactly is it you’re worried about?

-He’s right. If you explain things to Wardanaz, he’ll cooperate for sure.

Maybe you’re right.

The principal conceded freely.

Such an agreeable response surprised everyone else even more.

But that one’s madness is not something a kindly archmage like me can predict…

‘What ridiculous slander.’

Iunrade scoffed inside.

Calling the principal mad, of all people.

And to a freshman as good-natured as Student Wardanaz?

He’s probably cursing me in his mind right now, Iunrade.

“N-not at all!”

I understand. That’s a level someone who never placed first could never reach. But as for me, that one’s madness…

BANG!!!

An explosion rang out in the main building’s front yard.

Principal, Iunrade, and the Death Knights rushed to the window and looked down.

A golem, apparently ramshackled together from all sorts of scrap, was lurching forward with a bizarre sound.

-Professor Verdus! Help us! We have to stop it!

-Why? It’s running fine. If you stop it now, it’ll get damaged.

-If it keeps going, it’ll smash everything along its path!

-But you knew that too, didn’t you?

-Professor, you said it would be fine! You told us to just make it—

-That’s right, because it’s fine! Ignore it and finish the golems. Don’t stop.

“…Is that… Did they make that golem out of scrap??”

Iunrade couldn’t believe her eyes.

She’d also taken a test as a first-year final to make impromptu artifacts out of discarded and broken items, but at best, she’d made water purification or location detection artifacts.

Making a working golem with its own power source—especially as a freshman, and out of scraps at that—was unthinkable.

Did you see that?

The principal, unfazed, spoke.

That’s his madness.

He might look ordinary, but whenever a chance arises, Wardanaz’s problem is that he’ll do absolutely insane things.

If, at the imperial palace, some bureaucrat joked, “Since you learned from Lord Gonadaltes, why not take down the Demon Duke next, haha,” he might answer, “Very well, I’ll give it a try!” and start wielding swords right then and there.

‘And then the emperor and the bureaucrats will blame me.’

He could already hear their criticisms—“Just what have you been teaching him?” “That shameless archmage must be abusing his students with ancient methods”—it made his non-existent heart ache with injustice.

Why should it be his fault when his student goes off and does crazy things on his own?

“Aren’t you going to stop him? If that golem explodes, it’s an accident waiting to happen!”

The reason golems were dangerous was their power source.

The bigger the body that had to move, the more power it took, and thus the more powerful an artifact needed to be used as the power core…

…One little mistake or wrong move and there’d be headlines like “Another Blast at the Golem Guild!” “City Council Calls for the Golem Guild to be Banished Beyond the Walls!” in the imperial newspapers.

Leave him be. He’ll handle it just fine.

“Wait… We’re meeting His Majesty soon! You really should stop him!”

Surely having an explosion accident just weeks before meeting the emperor was hardly a good look.

Imagine meeting the emperor and saying, “There was an explosion accident just a few weeks ago”—what a cheerful mood that would set.

Creak-creak-creak—!

But, contrary to Iunrade’s worries, the golem suddenly lost power and came to a perfect stop.

On top of the stopped golem out in the front yard, the Wardanaz family’s freshman landed with some choice words.

In his hand was the golem’s power source.

Amazingly, the student had pulled the power source out of a moving golem’s body!

Even having seen it, it was hard to believe that feat.

-I’m never trusting your suggestions again, Professor!

-Huh? Why are you mad? Didn’t you make a golem thanks to me?

-You call this “making” it!? I almost died together with it!

-But you stopped it just fine, didn’t you?

The conversation ended there.

Other friends hurriedly stopped Lee Han as he tried to rush at Professor Verdus.

-Hold yourself, Wardanaz!

-It’s the professor! The professor!!

• * *

Ever since coming to Einrogard, Lee Han thought one thing over and over, hundreds of times.

‘How could I trust a professor…!’

“…Cheer up, Wardanaz.”

“At least the exam’s over.”

“Yeah, the exam’s over.”

The mistake was trusting Professor Verdus’s suggestion during the final.

-I’m all done, Professor.

-Huh? This is it?

-…Isn’t it pretty good? It’s got some defense…

-Nah, let’s make something more interesting. Something you can do!

-Wait, but you passed everyone else. Why just me—

-Look. See this? Know what it is?

-Not really?

-That’s part of a wooden golem’s leg. That? The bronze cleaning golem’s arm. Here’s the helmet from a melee golem. See?

-…I don’t quite follow??

-Idiot! Put these together and make a golem!

-…Huh? Is that even possible? I’ve never made a golem, and aren’t you not supposed to stitch them together like this…

-It’s fine, it’s fine. See, the magic circles here are still intact. Combining bits and pieces is way easier than starting from scratch.

-True, assembling is easier than making from nothing, but that’s if it’s all from the same golem! I’ve heard bad things happen when you combine random parts. Besides, it probably won’t even work…

-No, it’ll work. Looks fine to me.

-Is it really fine?

-Of course!

-…Alright, I’ll give it a try…

Succumbing to Professor Verdus’s evil, irresponsible persuasion, Lee Han somehow bound and connected the random golem parts.

Whenever errors arose because the circuits or formulas didn’t match, he just blasted the area with magic and hammered it through.

He patched up the broken core as best he could, and just focused his magic into it, thinking “let’s just see if it runs…”

-It’s moving! I really didn’t expect it to work…

-Told you to make one.

-Wait, Professor. The golem is moving on its own—what about activation or command words?

It was basic common sense to program activation or command words into a golem so you could operate it.

In this chimera-type golem built from random pieces, surely Professor Verdus had it figured out.

-There isn’t one.

-Huh?

-There’s no such thing. You joined different parts, there’s no way it would have something like that.

-So, how do you command it?

-Now you have to make and insert commands.

-…But it’s already moving?

-Just make the commands on the spot.

-I’ve never learned how!

-Really? Here’s a book.

-Professor Verdus! Help us! We have to stop it!

-Why? It’s running fine. If you stop it now, the golem will get hit.

…That’s what led to all this.

He’d contacted the golem’s magic circuits, poured magic in, forced it to stop, and barely managed to rip out the power core—if not, either the forest would have been wrecked, Lee Han would have been wrecked, or Professor Verdus would have been wrecked.

“Should have just submitted as-is.”

‘Doesn’t Wardanaz bear some blame too?’

Salko considered this seriously.

If it had been Salko, he would never have accepted such a request from Professor Verdus.

Telling you to assemble scrap into a working golem was lunacy.

“Salko? What are you thinking about?”

“O-oh, just thinking how Professor Verdus is truly an evil man. If he were in our Stonemason’s Guild, we’d make him kneel and put a huge rock on his lap for punishment!”

“Oh… That’s a good method?”

Lee Han’s eyes sparkled with interest. Seeing that, Salko realized anew the depth of his friend’s hatred.

“Wardanaz. Let’s get ready for Professor Lightningstep’s exam instead.”

“Right. Forget about Professor Verdus.”

Encouraged by his friends, Lee Han’s face lightened a bit.

Just then, students who weren’t taking Imbuement Magic appeared in the distance.

“Hey, I heard you caused an accident during your exam?”

“What kind of mistake brings a golem crawling out? You should study Imbuement Magic seriously—aaagh! Agh! Wardanaz! Why are you doing this! What did we do wrong!”

Planning to just lightly tease him, the students freaked out and fled as water marbles flew toward them fiercely.

They never imagined Wardanaz was the one who’d slipped up.

• * *

“It’s a Pegasus!!!!”

Even before reaching the testing ground, Lee Han and friends heard the excited shouts of other students.

The companions walking with Lee Han widened their eyes at the word Pegasus.

“A Pegasus?!”

“That Pegasus…!?”

The Empire had many rare magical beasts, but the Pegasus was one of the most popular.

Many flying mounts—like wyverns or griffins—were frequently rumored in imperial newspapers to have attacked or devoured their owners…

…but the Pegasus was relatively gentlemanly and well-behaved.

“How did Professor Lightningstep even manage to borrow Pegasi like these?”

“He’s one of the Empire’s most renowned explorers, isn’t he? He probably used his connections.”

The students gazed at Professor Lightningstep with eyes full of respect.

These Pegasi were so valuable it was hard to get them even if you had the money.

Yet he’d prepared them just for the students.

“You don’t need to be so impressed. I just got lucky.”

“Professor… I respect you most of all…!”

“Don’t say that in front of other professors, alright? Now, your exam today is to persuade these Pegasi. Don’t get cocky—Pegasi are kinder than wyverns, but they’re not to be taken lightly.”

Lee Han wasn’t surprised.

Pegasi wouldn’t eat their owners, but they weren’t easy enough to just let anyone ride on their backs.

Imperial magical beasts always demanded their riders prove themselves and would only accept those who passed their tests.

‘For Pegasi… it was diligence and honor.’

How well had you cared for animals over the past year? And how honorable had your deeds been?

Pegasi could read the traces of those qualities in a worthy person’s soul.

Lee Han made eye contact with one Pegasus. The creature blinked kindly in approval, its eyes suggesting it knew what Lee Han had done.

‘It recognizes me!’

Feeling grateful for all he’d done until now, Lee Han tried to step forward, but Professor Lightningstep called him.

“Wait. Wardanaz.”

“Yes?”

“You can’t get too close.”

“Why not!?”

“Because Fongrif would be jealous…?”

“……”

At such an unimaginable remark, Lee Han was speechless.

From inside his sleeve, the basilisk made a noise as if in strong agreement.