Episode 586

No!

“It isn’t?”

Despite the skeleton principal’s stern tone, Professor Paselete did not easily agree.

Just as students who stayed long at Einrogard grew seasoned, so too did the professors who served long at Einrogard.

One sign of that was not trusting the principal’s words so easily.

…I was thinking of finding the new students while visiting the capital with that Wardanaaz kid.

“Aha!”

Professor Paselete immediately understood the skeleton principal’s intent.

With the magical power possessed by the boy from the Wardanaaz family, he could more than adequately replace the mana drawn from Einrogard’s ley lines.

But…

“Is that really okay?”

It shouldn’t be a problem.

‘But isn’t that not really the point?’

Of course, he knew there was no real issue with using the Wardanaaz boy’s excessive mana this way, but as the Empire’s top magic school, they should at least worry a bit about how it looked to those outside.

Of course, don’t go around talking about it.

“Principal…”

Professor Paselete looked at the skeleton principal, but it was useless.

If he were the type to waver under a professor’s gaze, he wouldn’t have become principal of Einrogard in the first place.

Why are you looking at me? Did you have something else to say?

“No, nothing. Please take good care of the new students.”

That’s what I should say to the new students about you.

The skeleton principal grumbled.

He already felt the familiar annoyance creeping in.

People tended to assume every new student would jump at the chance to be invited to the glorious top magic school of the Empire, but actually, there were quite a few who tried not to come.

Students from imperial great noble families who wanted to learn from their own master or a mage tower, students considering other magic schools.

But those cases were okay.

It wasn’t because the students had no interest in magic.

If you gently persuaded them in conversation, most would agree, “Ah, Einrogard really is the best.”

The trickier cases were those with no interest in magic—or rather, those trying to be kept from developing an interest, due to their circumstances.

-No way, sending our family’s slave to Einrogard? What nonsense is that?

-Ha! This kid is a member of the -Three Mice- Guild. Do you know how much money he brings in begging? You think I’d send him to school?

If the student was a slave or criminal, the other side was never willing to just let them go.

At that point, the skeleton principal’s words got a little rougher.

-Even so, it’s a glorious opportunity, and I’ll pay for it—

-No. Pay ten times more.

-You newborn whelp, how dare you negotiate in front of me, the imperial magister and protector of the magical barrier? I’ll wipe every last drop of blood from your pitiful family and grind it all to dust! Name your family’s price! Spit it out!

After conversations like that, he’d get scolded by the Emperor and blamed by Imperial officials…

Anyway, bringing in new students was tough work.

If truth be told, planning to bring Wardanaaz along was also partly for this reason.

“So you mean, you want him to assist when dealing with criminals?”

That’s right…No! What are you talking about? Not with criminals, I mean persuading the citizens of the Empire!

The skeleton principal, who had almost agreed without thinking, was scandalized.

What he was expecting from Wardanaaz was that unique social skill of his.

The ability to befriend all sorts of people—be it noble families or every other class—faster than anyone.

It was an ability that none of Einrogard’s seniors could easily imitate.

With Wardanaaz by his side, it would make persuasion much easier, and the skeleton principal himself would blow his top less often, too. That was the point—not to bring him along as backup in fights.

If he needed backup in a fight, he’d bring Professor Garcia!

“Huh? Not Professor Baegrek?”

Right. Professor Baegrek. Didn’t I say Baegrek?

“You said Professor Garcia, though.”

You must have misheard, Professor Craer. Are you the principal, or am I? Would the principal make a mistake, or did the professor hear wrong?

‘What a petty archmage.’

Professor Paselete cursed the skeleton principal, who appealed to authority and changed his words when it suited him.

But such arguments always went against the lower-ranked party. The professor endured, thinking of the divination department’s yearly budget.

“Since you’re here, could you check this for me? This is this year’s new student final exam.”

The new student final exam shouldn’t be a problem.

The skeleton principal was well aware of the risks of divination magic.

The number of senior students who got into poor condition from it was always ranked in the top.

But a freshman exam wouldn’t be that dangerous. The skeleton principal nodded as he looked at the odd trinkets and talismans spread on the desk.

Warding items?

Divination magicians, who paid the price for reading the future most directly.

Magicians researched all sorts of ways to avoid that price.

Splitting up the payment, having someone else pay it, making the results vague to reduce the risk…

Among them were these kinds of warding artifacts.

Artifacts that were intricately tied to the future would show divinatory results while at the same time acting as armor that paid the price on the magician’s behalf.

Unlike other artifacts, such items needed to be even more delicate and precise, because even a slight deviation would cause the price of divination to flow straight to the magician.

No problem, it seems. Hm…

“That’s a relief.”

Ah. That Wardanaaz kid should use this to make a warding charm, all right?

The skeleton principal, remembering this, summoned a bone from his spatial storage.

It was material so ominous and powerfully magical that Professor Paselete frowned.

There was absolutely no reason to use such fierce material for a first-year final.

Don’t look at me like that. I have my reasons.

“Principal. I respect you, but I would also remind you that I can always write a letter to His Majesty…”

‘What a petty principal.’

The skeleton principal inwardly cursed Professor Paselete.

That kid needs something this strong. The divination magic will be severe.

“Is that so…? Can’t he just use a weaker spell instead…”

At Professor Paselete’s comment, the professor’s other personas started to object.

-If you do that, you’ll have fewer students than the dark magic faction…

-A genius needs a genius’s extraordinary path!!

Annoyed by the voices inside and out, Professor Paselete sighed and said,

“Still, he should decide for himself. He wouldn’t want a harder test unless he really did.”

When I asked, he said he wanted it harder. Satisfied?

“Is that so?”

-I told you—

Suppressing his other persona for a moment, Professor Paselete nodded.

As long as the student agreed…

“Understood.”

Hehehe.

“Did you just laugh?”

Professor Craer, have your ears gotten worse lately?

• * *

After leaving his private room, Lee Han realized just how important sleep actually was.

“Maybe… I got weird because I wasn’t sleeping enough.”

“……”

Priest Tijilling looked at Lee Han as if he were the most reckless person in the world.

Was that even something you could say?

“I only needed to get a perfect score, so I don’t know why I was so stubborn. Haha.”

“……”

Priest Tijilling silently poured tea into Lee Han’s cup.

“But the transformation magic test… mmph, mmph.”

Without a word, Priest Tijilling popped a piece of chocolate into Lee Han’s mouth. Lee Han chewed while drinking his tea.

“How’s the transformation magic test going, mmph…”

Priest Tijilling stayed silent…

“Ah. Wardanaaz-nim, you’re up. Let’s go together!”

Priest Siana, who had been in the area next to the lounge planning how to attack the Jade Forest classroom with other students, welcomed Lee Han excitedly when she saw he was up.

He was always a reliable asset in situations like this.

“Mmph mmph.”

“I’m glad you’re coming along… Ah. Why are you here, Tijilling-nim?”

“It’s nothing,”

Priest Tijilling, seeing he was about to get glared at, sighed faintly before speaking.

“So, does everyone… really have to tackle the lecture hall like this before the exam?”

Priest Tijilling wondered why people were so eager to solve classroom anomalies before the exam even began.

Wouldn’t it be just as well to wait and see what happened?

Especially if someone had already taken all the other department exams—couldn’t the others handle it instead??

“It could just be a coincidence, or maybe the professor made a mistake.”

“Come on. It’s the professor’s trap.”

“Right. It’s definitely a trap.”

“I agree, it’s a trap…”

“!?”

Priest Tijilling was surprised by the Phoenix Tower students’ reactions, not some other tower but priests themselves.

Normally, priests would show respect for professors and respond, “It could have been an honest mistake,” but here they were, actively doubting.

It was as if they’d been influenced by someone; the priests were exceptionally skeptical today.

“How curious.”

Lee Han seemed amused by this, noticing the change. Tijilling looked at Lee Han wide-eyed.

“You noticed?”

“Yeah. This must mean… the professors’ villainy has gone too far.”

“……”

“Even the purest priests are starting to doubt the professors. How many times have we been tricked for it to get to this point?”

“……”

“Isn’t that right, Priest Tijilling?”

“…Yes…”

Tijilling gave up and sighed.

Really, the way the priests had changed wasn’t entirely bad.

If not for Lee Han, this huge freshman lounge would have been engulfed in quiet tension, but after he joined, everyone was constantly talking (and some bickering about faith), making it lively.

“Okay. Let’s go bust the professor’s plot!”

“Yaaaaa!”

“In the name of Fleming!”

“In the name of Agltakwa!”

• * *

The storeroom keeper with eyes bandaged could see nothing, but to Einrogard students, he was an object of fear.

The sound of his footsteps as students snuck into the kitchen or storeroom at night.

If you were caught once by that stride, escape was nearly impossible.

That dreaded storeroom keeper now stood outside the Jade Forest classroom, with a very displeased expression.

The birch spirit, the skeleton principal’s forest keeper, bowed and apologized deeply.

-My apologies…

For the forest keeper, who managed the principal’s forests within main Einrogard campus, the transformation of the area around the Jade Forest classroom into jungle was an unfortunate mistake.

While bringing in some plant species on the skeleton principal’s orders, she had accidentally dropped some seeds.

She managed to collect the seeds from most regions before problems arose, but in a few locations, they turned into jungles…

One of those was here.

The storeroom keeper, whose patrol route had been disrupted, signaled in clear displeasure that the issue needed to be resolved quickly.

The forest keeper apologized over and over until she finally succeeded in sending the storeroom keeper away.

-What’s so bad about a jungle anyway…

When the storeroom keeper had gone, the birch spirit grumbled quietly.

Sure, someone might get a bit lost, but wasn’t it far more beautiful than the average main hall corridor?

While thinking about how she’d clear the jungle, the birch spirit heard new footsteps close by.

First-year students.

‘I should turn them away…’

The forest keeper tried to raise a tree to send the new students back, but then belatedly recognized Lee Han’s face.

It was definitely the principal’s apprentice that other storeroom or spire keepers sometimes gossiped about.

-You… here to help…?

The students were startled by the sudden appearance of the birch spirit.

Lee Han moved to prop up priests who had fallen while trying to hide behind him, and carefully asked,

“Excuse me, your name is…?”

-I am… the forest keeper… but more importantly… did you come to help…?

Lee Han’s mind worked quickly.

The best answer when caught trespassing?

“Yes!”

-I knew it…! I heard about you from time to time…!

“…?”

When Lee Han realized the other seemed to know him already, he began to feel a bit uneasy.

Why did it feel like he’d made a mistake?