Episode 641

“Does that kind of persuasion usually work on monsters?”

“How would I know. I’m not close to spirits.”

“…S-sorry.”

“I didn’t say it to make you apologize? Anyway, we got permission, so let’s hurry up and search.”

“Lee Han. Honestly, no matter how much I like treasure, rummaging around in this kind of atmosphere isn’t easy.”

Gainando grumbled.

With the Stone Hecatoncheires glaring savagely at them from the side, and in a tomb where an undead monster could pop out at any time, searching for treasure was no easy task.

“Yoner and Nillia are already grabbing stuff.”

“?!”

Gainando turned around.

Yoner and Nillia were already picking out the valuable silver grave goods and packing them away.

“Th-they’ve gotten weird after attending Einrogard!”

‘You went to Einrogard too…’

Thud—

From deeper inside, the Hecatoncheires called to Arsil.

They had a fairly long conversation, so Lee Han asked curiously,

“What are you talking about so much? Yes, we’re Einrogard students but… Wait, why is he saying that to us?!”

As Lee Han became flustered, Gainando anxiously asked,

“What’s wrong, Lee Han? It’s nothing big, right? Don’t tell me he suddenly changed his mind and wants to eat us?”

The Hecatoncheires spoke to Arsil. Arsil spoke to Lee Han, and Lee Han relayed it to Gainando.

“He says not to talk like an annoying human. He said, why would he eat something like you.”

“…S-sorry.”

After calling his friends over, Lee Han relayed what the Hecatoncheires had just said.

“He said that long ago, he suffered the humiliation of being defeated by the Principal.”

The Hecatoncheires spoke to Arsil. Arsil to Lee Han, Lee Han to his friends.

“…He says it wasn’t really humiliation, more like a debt.”

The Hecatoncheires…

“Ah. What’s the difference if it’s debt or old resentment! I’m just going to explain now.”

Lee Han snapped irritably.

Having to relay words through so many people just made everything twice as slow.

“Anyway, he says he has an old grudge and would like to take it out on us.”

The Hecatoncheires…

“Not take it out, but he wants to test us according to rightful qualifications and rights. Honestly, isn’t that the same thing?”

As Lee Han muttered, the Hecatoncheires glared at him in anger.

But this time Arsil stayed silent.

The Hecatoncheires protested at Arsil for not conveying the message.

Arsil replied firmly that he refused to relay any dirty words to his younger brother’s ears, and the Hecatoncheires exploded in a fit and poured out curses.

-■■■■ ■!

“What’s wrong with him this time?”

Arsil smiled and replied that “He’s just excited,” which Lee Han found truly strange for a monster.

‘Are all intelligent monsters this eccentric?’

Well, the Principal, if you think about it, is…

“Why’s he taking out his old grudge against the Principal on us?!”

Gainando finally reacted.

That monster had so many heads, but its reasoning was worse than single-headed Gainando himself.

The Hecatoncheires…

“He says that as the honor of the teacher passes to the pupil, and the teacher’s knowledge passes to the pupil, so too do the teacher’s debts pass to the pupil. Isn’t that a stretch?”

Despite Lee Han’s protests, the Hecatoncheires didn’t care.

Seeing the response, Gainando fell into deep thought.

He wasn’t a friend who usually thought this deeply, so Yoner asked, surprised,

“What are you thinking about?”

“But Lee Han is the Principal’s only real pupil, isn’t he?”

“……”

“Wow, what a piece of trash.”

At Nillia’s mutter, Gainando hurriedly waved his hands and denied it.

“I-it’s not that I’m not taking part… I was just thinking, that’s all!”

“Wardanaz. Gainando said he’s not joining.”

“No! No! I’ll do it! Please let me join!”

The Hecatoncheires, too, looked at Gainando as if he were trash.

He couldn’t believe a student of Gonadaltes would try to throw away his own companions.

• * *

The Hecatoncheires stood up. As it did, a huge passageway entrance was revealed beneath where it sat.

The monster wasn’t just guarding this room. It was guarding the passage that connected to this room.

Arsil cheerfully asked if they could just pass, but the Hecatoncheires bluntly refused. When the spirits all booed, the Hecatoncheires screeched.

Rumble!

The Hecatoncheires rolled a gigantic stone to block the entrance of the newly revealed passage. Then it called out to the four.

“Is the test to get past this?”

Arsil, translating, nodded.

Not only was it huge, but the complicated traces of magic emanating from the stone made it clear it was no ordinary rock.

Lee Han thought inwardly.

‘We got the grave goods, can’t we just quit now?’

Not knowing his younger brother’s thoughts, Arsil argued with the Hecatoncheires. There seemed to be lingering bad blood from the previous conversation.

“…No, brother. I can handle this much… Seriously, please don’t!”

As Lee Han, flustered, tried to stop Arsil, Yoner asked in surprise,

“What’s wrong? What is it?”

“My brother keeps mocking the Hecatoncheires, saying he could fix this in the blink of an eye.”

“……”

Seeing Lee Han troubled because of Arsil, Yoner felt both sorry and a bit delighted.

Just as she had once been embarrassed in front of Lee Han because of her crazy older sister, she wished Lee Han could taste the same shame because of his crazy older brother!

“…That must be really tough!”

“Yoner. You seem a little happy.”

“N-no, just a misunderstanding. Maybe because I picked up some grave goods earlier?”

Lee Han and his friends put their heads together.

Having faced plenty of difficulties at Einrogard, they were used to running into obstacles together.

Gainando said solemnly,

“If the four of us combine our strength, we should be able to manage the magic of a fourth-year Einrogard student. Let’s just blow through this guy’s test.”

“Gainando. You’re not saying that four first-years together equal a fourth-year, are you?”

Yoner, amazed by her cousin’s miraculous arithmetic, asked.

“Huh? I said fourth-year level because Lee Han can use fourth-year magic.”

“……”

“……”

It wasn’t that combining their strength made them fourth-years, but the friends had to admit it.

Because they’d seen Lee Han cast 4th-circle magic.

“Guys. Just because you cast 4th-circle magic doesn’t mean you’re at fourth-year level.”

“We know, but your 4th-circle magic is even better than the seniors…”

Lee Han shut Gainando’s mouth as he kept saying bothersome nonsense, then began to explain.

“He just hasn’t seen the upperclassmen’s magic yet. Even if it’s the same spell, it’s completely different.”

‘Honestly, doesn’t it feel like Lee Han could go toe-to-toe with the seniors?’

‘I think so too.’

Yoner and Nillia had a silent conversation with their eyes. Lee Han, clueless, focused on how to move the stone.

“What about manipulation spells? I’ve only learned -Lesser Manipulate-, but I could try -Intermediate Manipulate- this time.”

“Even intermediate will be tough. Even a couple dozen kilograms would be hard.”

The genre-neutral telekinesis-focused manipulation spell series was a versatile set of spells learned by many wizards.

It’s used to lift and move things at your will, which is broadly useful.

Wizards—especially those who wanted to slack off (and show off their skills)—used these spells for chores like cleaning or handling mail.

In gatherings of wizards, there was no better self-introduction than demonstrating a spell that cleaned a whole room with a word.

Sometimes, bloodthirsty battle wizards would notice how fast and versatile “Manipulate” was and adapt it for combat.

No sane person would study under such a wizard, but sometimes a student as strange as their master would learn anyway.

These manipulation spells were convenient and versatile, but their limits were just as strong.

For low mana cost, fast casting, and precise control, the weight limit was quite tight.

Even intermediate manipulation struggled with a few dozen kilograms…

“Even if we all learned intermediate manipulation, hmm. It’s no use.”

“W-wait, Wardanaz. I’m not ready to learn intermediate manipulation magic! Not at all!”

Nillia was startled at Wardanaz’s high evaluation and denied it.

How could he treat her as a constant just like that!

But Lee Han just smiled as if he thought she was being modest again.

“What are you talking about? You can do it.”

“I can’t…!”

“Okay, okay, let’s just say you can’t. The manip magic would be tough anyway.”

‘I want to smack him and I’m his friend!’

Nillia instantly understood why the White Tiger Tower students would mutter, “I avoided failing thanks to Wardanaz, but I still want to smack his head just once.”

This friend from House Wardanaz really had a knack for getting on your nerves.

“Other spells… transmutation, earth element magic.”

“There’s always alchemy. Melting a rock like that isn’t a hard potion to make.”

Alchemists often dealt with acidic or corrosive potions, since many hard materials had to be dissolved.

The problem was the time it took, but even with a rock of this size, you could definitely make a hole.

“I did learn -Stone-to-Sand Transmutation-.”

“Huh? Did we learn a transmutation like that this year?”

“I learned it at night while fixing Einrogard with the Principal.”

“…?!”

“What I’m more worried about is… Never mind. Let’s just try.”

Lee Han approached the rock with his staff.

“Stone, become sand…”

Kang!

With a collision sound only a wizard could hear, the spell bounced off.

Lee Han realized that a very powerful magical structure was embedded in the stone.

‘As expected. I figured it wouldn’t be easy.’

The Hecatoncheires, who was humiliated by the Skull Principal, wouldn’t give them such an easy challenge.

This rock was obviously designed so that magic wouldn’t work on it.

‘Who made it? The structure is so complicated it’s hard to understand. It repels external magic and disperses impacts…’

Seeing the students of Gonadaltes struggle, the Hecatoncheires clasped its many hands and applauded.

The very rock the students of Gonadaltes were struggling with now was the one the Hecatoncheires itself had faced in the past.

-Hecatoncheires! I’ve heard you triplets are the strongest on this continent. But can you even break this rock? I don’t think so.

-Hah, nonsense, wizard. I could smash a rock like this with my eyes closed!

-Oh yeah? If you do, then this insignificant wizard will serve you for a hundred years! But if you can’t? Honestly, I don’t think you can…

-If…if I can’t, I’ll do whatever you say, wizard. But if I do break it, I’ll smash your skull too!

-Haha! Good decision!

The Hecatoncheires agonized over the trick rock brought by the determined wizard and suffered so much for it.

Now it was the students’ turn to sweat and groan.

When casting magic after magic didn’t work and the young wizards seemed to lose hope, they grabbed the rock itself and started forcing their magic directly into it.

Seeing this, the many heads of the Hecatoncheires erupted in laughter.

No matter how desperate you were, it was absurd for wizards to abandon magic and go for brute force like that.

Only a monster like the Hecatoncheires, born with immense magic and strength, could manage such a feat.

Even the Hecatoncheires itself had tried and failed.

Thud!

“Seems like it worked?”

“Wow. Can’t believe that actually worked…”

-?????