Episode 593
by CristaeEpisode 593
“It’s the end of the world!”
“That monster is going to destroy Einrogard and trample the headmaster!”
While screaming in fear, the students snuck in a few of their smaller wishes they’d had on their minds.
Lee Han tried to calm his friends.
“Calm down! It’s just a sheep!”
“……”
“……”
Normally, his friends would have believed Lee Han and settled down.
In fact, they almost did calm down now.
If only the Mountainbreaker Ram hadn’t demolished a mountain peak and altered the terrain.
“…How can we calm down right now!!”
“How is that a sheep! Have you gone mad, Wardanaz?!”
‘It really is a sheep…’
Lee Han thought to himself at his friends’ outcry.
The Mountainbreaker Ram was large and devastated the area when charging, but it wasn’t such a bad fellow if you grew close to it.
If it had a nasty temperament, it wouldn’t be called the Mountainbreaker Ram, but more like the Mountainbreaker Verdus or Mountainbreaker Gonadaltes.
“Trust me. It’s a gentle one.”
“Wardanaz… is this because we didn’t want to go into your labyrinth?”
“Please forgive us!”
“…Enough, just follow my instructions.”
Lee Han gave up trying to convince his friends and decided to just act.
It seemed faster that way.
‘But why did it show up? Ah.’
Mountainbreaker Rams normally preferred the highlands and rarely came down.
If it did descend often, it would be called the Schoolbreaker Ram instead.
So why was this one rampaging down here?
‘It’s because of the giants…!’
The giants who usually acted as shepherds weren’t taking care of the sheep, so one of them must have gone wild and escaped.
“Ratford. Stay with the others, and if the ram comes this way, get down immediately. I’ll go calm it down.”
“You can’t!!!”
Ratford immediately tried to take Lee Han down. But as Lee Han was trained in swordsmanship, he didn’t budge at all.
“Everyone, stop him! Quick!”
“No, Wardanaz! We’ll really go in the labyrinth, so please stop being mad!”
“We were wrong! We’ll go through the labyrinth twice if you want!”
Even with a friend latched onto each arm and leg, Lee Han stood firm.
“…Guys. Listen…”
“No matter if you beat a rock drake before, this is too much!”
“That’s not it…”
“Wardanaz, I know you’re crazy! But a mage who lives by the staff dies by it! This is too dangerous!”
“You really think of me like that? No, that’s not the point…”
“That monster just smashed another peak! Look!”
“…Guys. Listen for a second.”
When Lee Han spoke seriously, his friends turned to him.
“I have a confession to make to you all.”
“???”
“But after you hear this, try not to be shocked or think I’m crazy.”
His friends looked at him as if he was saying something unbelievable.
“Wardanaz… even if you’d learned all the empire’s forbidden magic, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Why start acting unexpected now?”
“Wardanaz, you’re already… amazing enough… I can’t be shocked anymore.”
The reactions of his friends wounded Lee Han a little more.
“Right… Thanks. It’s reassuring. That sheep is actually one I was taking care of.”
“……”
“……”
The friends went silent.
Then, they all spoke at once.
“Wardanaz, you really are insane.”
- * *
White Tiger Tower’s Cltran and Gatono ran as they screamed.
Behind them, a monster summoned by devils to destroy the continent gave chase.
“Aaaaaaah! Aaaaaaah!”
“Why is this even happening? What did we do to deserve this?”
“Throw what you’re holding! To the side!”
Cltran threw the fruit he had worked hard to collect today to the side.
It wasn’t for the illusion magic test—it was just picked for a snack.
But the monster didn’t stop chasing, as if it wasn’t angry about the fruit.
“What’s next?”
“A rabbit we caught with a trap…”
“Throw it!”
“But it’s a rabbit! Not even a bird! This is so precious…”
“S-still, just throw it!”
Fffffft!
Just then, Lee Han came running from the front.
Whether he’d cast several enhancement spells or not, his speed was on another level.
“Wardanaz!!”
“Stop!”
Lee Han reached out from a distance and shouted at the monster.
The White Tiger Tower students, who had been calling Wardanaz with tears in their eyes, were thrown into confusion.
“…?!”
“????”
What is he doing?
If it was any other friend, they would have thought he panicked and made a mistake—but Wardanaz was a bloodless, tearless, grand mage-in-the-making who had endured harsh training at a magic family. He wouldn’t panic.
But how was he going to stop the monster…
Screeeeeeech!
The monster running at them suddenly slammed to a halt. Trees flew and rocks shattered, but somehow the monster managed to stop.
“Good. Well done.”
“Sp… Speech magic?!!”
Cltran involuntarily recalled the legendary high arts of magic.
“No, you idiot.”
“If it’s not speech magic, then what…”
Ignoring Cltran’s words, Lee Han approached the Mountainbreaker Ram.
While the other sheep had been sheared properly, maybe this one was missed, and its fleece had grown so much it was twice as big as usual.
The ram seemed bothered by this, stamping the ground with its hooves and grumbling.
“All right. I’ll shear you soon.”
“My… your… its neck?”
At Cltran’s words, the Mountainbreaker Ram spat. Cltran tumbled head over heels.
“Hey. Don’t say such horrible things. You’re scaring it.”
“……”
The two White Tiger Tower students still couldn’t comprehend what they were hearing—their brains refused to process it.
“No way… That monster gets scared?”
The Mountainbreaker Ram spat again. This time, Gatono tumbled.
“Why do you two keep doing that? You’ll make it mad.”
Lee Han scolded his friends for their rude words.
Saying you’ll cut its neck or calling it a monster in front of the Mountainbreaker Ram.
How hurtful it must be for the sheep.
“Come on…”
“Hey…”
“We almost died…”
“Look behind us…”
They were too upset to form proper sentences.
If they looked behind, half the mountain was shaved off, and if they’d run any slower, they’d be dead…
Why worry only about the sheep!
“Wardanaz, is that sheep more important than us???”
Lee Han looked aghast at the absurdly childish question.
The Mountainbreaker Ram seemed to think the same and shot a contemptuous glare.
Gatono, still clinging to a shred of human dignity, stopped his friend.
“Hey. Enough. Wardanaz is not your nanny, don’t ask such embarrassing things.”
“Why should I stop? I can ask! Wardanaz! Is that sheep more imp…”
Spit spit spit spit spit spit!
“Argh! Aaah! Aaaagh!”
The Mountainbreaker Ram, clearly furious at Cltran, spat at him until he couldn’t get up anymore.
- * *
After shearing the fleece, Lee Han took the sheep back to a cave and returned.
The students who had been anxiously waiting at the foot of the mountain could finally breathe again.
“What on earth was that monster, Wardanaz?”
“A sheep that lives up in the highlands. It’s just big, but it’s not that fierce once you get to know it.”
“Why are you even raising a monster—sheep like that?”
“Some of the clothes I sold you guys were made from that sheep’s wool.”
“……”
“……”
No wonder it was too tough and warm for regular wool!
Realizing the secret of the clothes, the students gazed at the high peaks with shaking eyes.
They had known you had to struggle to survive in Einrogard, but…
…maybe they hadn’t really understood after all.
Maybe you really did have to befriend animals like that sheep…
“Wardanaz. Thank you.”
“Yeah. We should have thanked you first.”
“And sorry for not wanting to enter your labyrinth.”
‘I’d better never mention it was bringing the giants that brought me down.’
When his friends thanked him sincerely with regretful expressions, Lee Han made a firm promise to himself.
“Haha. I don’t mind at all.”
‘Not that it stopped you from making the labyrinth a death trap…’
“I’ll enter twice.”
Moved by Gatono’s words, Cltran also nodded.
“Me too. I shouldn’t have refused to enter.”
“Hey. It’s fine to go just once. Don’t overdo it.”
“No! Now that I think about it, the test is to get through each other’s labyrinths. Trying to reduce the number of tries was the problem. Running away like this won’t improve my magic skills.”
“Wow, what’s with the sane comment for once?”
‘I said it’s fine, though.’
“…Hey…”
“Ah. Sorry.”
Lee Han apologized to his friends.
He had inadvertently let his inner thoughts slip out.
“Wardanaz. I’ll go three times.”
“In the spirit of remorse, I will too…”
The illusion magic school students gathered at the mountain’s foot gave Lee Han a heartfelt apology.
Considering what they’d received from him, they shouldn’t have refused just because the labyrinth was a bit scary.
Lee Han received their apologies with dignity.
“Thank you, all of you.”
- * *
“Hmm. Wardanaz. No matter how I think about it, the labyrinth you made this time was a bit much.”
Professor Kirmin carefully said, watching students stagger out of Lee Han’s shed foaming at the mouth.
Come to think of it, perhaps Wardanaz’s labyrinth should have been the last one attempted.
All the students were fainting at the very start, so Professor Kirmin was left to handle the rest of the evaluations alone.
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but even thinking about it again, it really was a bit much.”
Professor Kirmin did not want to hurt Lee Han’s feelings.
But if he didn’t say this, Wardanaz might fail again at holding back.
Somebody had to say it!
“…I’m sorry, Professor Ku.”
Lee Han covered his face with his hand and spoke in a dejected voice.
“It’s all right. Everyone can make mistakes.”
“But it was just bad luck, wasn’t it? It wasn’t that bad. If luck had gone their way, everyone could have passed…”
“All right, Wardanaz. Let’s talk it through again from the beginning.”
With great patience, Professor Kirmin explained things to Lee Han.
What could go wrong if you made a makeshift labyrinth too viciously?
- * *
“Doesn’t Lee Han look out of it?”
“Well, who’d be energetic after all those exams?”
“No, it’s something else…”
“Ah. It’s because he wiped out the students taking illusion magic.”
“What? That’s those students’ fault, then.”
At Gainando’s words, the illusion magic students bristled.
“Have you even tried going in?!”
“Anyone who faints in the labyrinth is just stupid! Am I wrong?!”
“Gainando’s got a point, actually.”
“True enough…”
Students not in the illusion magic class didn’t really get what happened.
The illusion students, steaming with anger, began to gesticulate and explain.
“You go in and immediately lose your sense of direction, and the headmaster appears in front of you…”
“You fainted all day from that?”
“That’s not all! Ah, just try it yourself! Come on! Test or not, I’ll show you right now!”
“But the test is over, so all the sheds have been dismantled?”
“…Wardanaz! Please, just make it again! Just once!!”
“No. Thinking about it, that labyrinth really was excessive.”
Lee Han spoke with a tone of self-reflection.
His conversation with Professor Kirmin had given him a lot to think about.
‘Maybe I didn’t need to deploy the skeleton illusion that looked like the headmaster, after all.’
Looking back on it now, that was just too vicious a trap.