Episode 609

“There’s something Your Highness has overlooked.”

The skeleton headmaster quickly made an excuse.

The pure-hearted gold dragon tilted her head.

What did I overlook?

“A magician is like steel, and you have to temper him in fire and strike him with a hammer for him to become hard—”

“Haha! The headmaster certainly loves to joke!”

Lee Han quickly interrupted.

He was afraid the pure gold dragon would actually think, ‘Oh, I guess magicians are supposed to be tempered in fire and hammered.’

“Your Highness, incidents and accidents happen regularly in the Empire. Could you really say that’s His Majesty the Emperor’s fault?”

Of course it is!

“……”

Dragons said what needed saying even to their kin.

Those royals who coveted the throne might be mindful of the Emperor, but a royal like Joulin, who had no interest in the throne, had no qualms criticizing the Emperor.

“Your Highness, just now, when Alsicle entered, he nearly tripped over a stone in the garden.”

Really?! Is he okay?!

“That’s Your Highness’s fault.”

N-no! How is that Joulin’s fault!

The gold dragon stamped the ground with her front paw in protest.

It’s the knights’ fault! The knights!

The skeleton headmaster shook his head.

While magicians and knights were adversaries with a deep history of rivalry, and the skeleton headmaster didn’t care much for knights himself, the knights serving in this mansion truly were pitiable.

“But just now, didn’t you say incidents and accidents in the Empire are the Emperor’s fault?”

On second thought, maybe it’s not His Majesty’s fault.

Joulin accepted it quickly.

Just as someone tripping in the garden isn’t Joulin’s fault, flooding, avalanches, sea serpents, frost giant kings, anti-magic protesters, and magic criminals appearing at Einrogard weren’t all Gonadaltes’s fault…

‘Still, it does seem like a bit much.’

The young gold dragon only muttered this internally.

• * *

“Then, Your Highness, we’ll see you next time.”

The skeleton headmaster gave a dignified farewell.

Meetings with Joulin always went the same way.

After playing her heart out, a satisfied Joulin would always send some random, uninteresting trinket from her treasure vault (like a gold dragon statue gifted by a duke) to Einrogard.

Then, nodding off, she would fall into a deep sleep. She was still at a growing age and needed a lot of sleep.

But today, it was a bit different.

Don’t go! Don’t go, Lee Han! That’s an order!

“…Your Highness, you’re sleepy.”

The skeleton headmaster spoke in disbelief at Joulin’s half-closed eyes.

“And keep your dignity, please. Call him Wardanaz, not Lee Han.”

Lee Han. Don’t go!

Normally, the gold dragon would heed any request to mind her dignity, but this time was different.

Even as the headmaster spoke, Joulin ignored him and insisted.

I’ll reserve a spot for you in my treasure vault. Stay there!

“It’s not a place for humans to live.”

The skeleton headmaster replied coldly.

The gold dragon’s treasure vault was more like a dungeon.

She’d give away all the treasures she didn’t like, leaving only the cursed ones she found interesting—so not even the bravest knights dared enter.

Don’t go!

“Ugh.”

As the gold dragon firmly grabbed him with her front paw, Lee Han realized the meaning of strength and pressure that Professor Ingeldel had spoken of in swordsmanship.

“I’ll die, Your Highness. Ugh.”

No! Lee Han died! Gonadaltes! Save him! I command you to save him!

“……”

The skeleton headmaster found it ridiculous but decided to play along.

“Your Highness was stubborn, so he died.”

I won’t be stubborn! I said I won’t!

“Understood. Wardanaz, arise.”

Lee Han shot up.

“Your Highness has restored me!”

Upon seeing Lee Han revived, the gold dragon looked conflicted between wanting to grab her treasure again and keeping her recent promise.

Before the dragon could break her vow in a moment of greed, the skeleton headmaster quickly scooped up Lee Han and rushed him to the door.

“Your Highness, be well until next time.”

Joulin will visit Einrogard!

“Get His Majesty’s permission first.”

The skeleton headmaster subtly redirected things toward the Emperor.

He was confident that, with Joulin’s personality, after a nap she’d forget about talking to the Emperor.

All I have to do is get His Majesty’s permission, right?

“Yes, yes.”

“What if she actually gets permission?”

“Do you think this is the first time she’s said she wants to visit Einrogard? After a nap, Your Highness will forget all about it.”

The headmaster snorted at Lee Han’s question.

He was sure of it, because he’d experienced it many times before.

“Is that so? She really did look like she’d get permission this time…”

“Young dragons are always sincere. But after a nap, she’ll forget.”

After saying their farewells, the two stepped out through the mansion doors.

“Oh right. We forgot Pengerine.”

They went back in and fetched Pengerine. In the meantime, the gold dragon was already sound asleep.

“You did well today. Faking your death was childish, but effective.”

“I figured if it works on Gainando, it’d work on Her Highness too.”

“……”

The skeleton headmaster wasn’t sure who that insulted more.

Maybe it was an insult to both.

• * *

…Gainando, stay as you are. I trust you’ve finished studying all the dark magic books I told you to read before the end of term. Don’t just pretend you’ve only read chapter one and two. That won’t work…

‘Hm. That’s not enough.’

Having returned from meeting the bureaucrats and sponsors, Lee Han was relaxing at the mansion with Alsicle.

With a bit of free time, Lee Han was writing letters one by one to his friends, but composing polite letters was harder than expected.

Not only did he have to keep to the set format, he had to fill a certain length.

Lee Han was surprised by how difficult it was.

Maybe taking a test would’ve been easier…

“Ah. Right.”

Lee Han recalled the -Toberiz the Dog Beastkin Detective- series and added a note.

By the way, at the printer I visited this time, I found the Imperial magazine you enjoy. The culprit in the upcoming Toberiz series is…

‘All done.’

Nodding in satisfaction, Lee Han looked over.

He still had a mountain of letters left to send. He frowned.

“…Alsicle, could you help me a bit?”

“Hmm? Of course.”

Alsicle nodded, chewing on a sardine.

“What do you need help with?”

“Could you just copy the content from here to there?”

Lee Han planned to just copy and paste the bits about the recent weather and what’s been happening as they were.

No one read each other’s letters anyway, so what did it matter?

“That’s not hard, but… Wait. Aren’t these letters?”

“Yes, they are.”

“……”

Alsicle stared at Lee Han in shock.

Sending this many letters in itself was surprising, but handling them this way was even more so.

Is this okay??

‘Hm. What should I add for Adenart…’

Lee Han glanced at the table and lifted his quill.

…Dining at the mansion has been excellent. Today’s menu included sardine canapés and salad, sardine pilaf and sardine wraps, grilled sardine, sardine stew, and sardine sandwiches. I wish Your Highness hearty meals as well…

“Hmm. Alsicle, what did we eat yesterday?”

“…I suppose it’s not my place to say, but… can you keep writing only about food in your letters?”

“Isn’t it the job of a letter to match the recipient? Oh.”

Something occurred to Lee Han and he added it.

…I’d like to introduce you to a new pastry chef I’ve discovered in the capital. The bureaucrats told me he’s renowned even within the baking guild. I heard you stole White Tiger Tower students’ bread last time, but this chef’s bread will suit your taste far better than that flavorless stuff…

‘Excellent.’

Lee Han was satisfied.

Surely the princess would be delighted to receive such a thoughtful letter.

Warm greetings and even recommendations of the capital’s best food!

‘Right. I should share my new discovery with Yoner.’

…Yoner. I’ve found a new business idea. In the Empire, there are more sponsors who want to throw away gold coins than you’d think. You take their sponsorship, and after a few years, say the experiment failed. I got chills when I thought of this idea…

“Still writing letters?”

The skeleton headmaster, coming in, clicked his tongue at the mountain of paper.

A precious one was wasting far too much time on insignificant people.

“You sure have a hobby for wasting time.”

“Like Lord Gonadaltes’s hobby of tormenting students?”

At Alsicle’s remark, the skeleton headmaster waved his hand.

Then, the sardines on the table began attacking Alsicle like a pack of enraged beasts.

“Ah! Aagh! W-Wardanaz gets spared and—!”

Having watched Lee Han banter with the skeleton headmaster, Alsicle thought he’d try it too, but the outcome was worlds apart.

“Pengerine. Are you a student at Einrogard? Hm?”

After chasing Alsicle from the room, the skeleton headmaster spoke to Lee Han.

“I just met with the last sponsor.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Thanks to you, it was less trouble. Now I need to find the new students—would you help?”

Lee Han nodded.

The skeleton headmaster cleared the table and planted his staff on the floor. At that moment, an extremely complex magic circle began to spread across the ground.

It was the closest thing to the perfect potential of the magical arts.

Lee Han, who’d seen a fair bit of magic while following the skeleton headmaster, couldn’t help but shiver at the sight of this magic circle.

No matter how keen his senses or intuition, he couldn’t keep up with the unfolding of this one.

That much condensed knowledge and wisdom was packed into it.

“…Tell me, Einrogard. Where are your pupils!”

With his command, the skeleton headmaster gestured for Lee Han to join him, gripping the staff.

A giant wave of magic, incomparable to any Lee Han had ever used, surged out.

Startled, Lee Han still kept his composure. After all, he hadn’t run out of mana.

The skeleton headmaster gave him a look of approval, as if to say he’d expected nothing less.

The nearly infinite quantity of mana was one thing, but the strength of mind to support a grand spell without getting nervous was excellent.

A pity Pengerine hadn’t seen it.

If he’d witnessed this, he would have despaired over his own talents!

Pop!

The magic circle vanished.

The skeleton headmaster nodded in satisfaction.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, this will be easy.”

“How would you have done it normally?”

“I’d have had to hunt around a bit. If you use less mana, the accuracy drops. Especially in the capital, with so many people, it’s…ugh.”

With a wave, paper birds appeared out of the air and flew out the mansion window.

They would fly to the homes of those in the capital deemed worthy of an Einrogard invitation.

“That’s done. Let’s go.”

“?”

Lee Han was surprised by the abrupt “let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“Oh. To visit those who don’t listen. There are always some who stubbornly refuse this glorious summons.”

The skeleton headmaster drew not only his staff but also a sword from the air and strapped it on.

At this rare martial display, Lee Han silently offered a moment’s prayer for the soon-to-be-visited strangers, whose faces and names he didn’t even know.

‘May you resist with moderation.’