Episode 756

Episode 756

For a while, no one in the Watchmen Club said a word.

Iactus, who recovered late from the shock, scribbled with a shaky hand.

Iactus: …Are you sure that kid really isn’t the principal??

• * *

While the Watchmen Club members whispered about the new member’s identity, Lee Han closed his book, left the tower, and moved out.

He had always been careful to avoid running into freshmen, but now he became even more cautious.

‘From now on, I should only move near the main building as much as possible.’

When his seniors first said, ‘As you move up the years, you’ll end up working only inside the main building,’ Lee Han had questioned it.

Of course, the main building of Einrogard was a weird, infinitely vast structure, even larger than the Einrogard domain itself…

But weren’t there many things that could only be acquired in the domain area outside the main building?

No matter how short on time or how hard life got for an upper-year student, could they really not go outside the main building?

But now he understood.

‘With the crazy doppelgangers of the Skull Principal showing up regularly, how can anyone venture far?’

Since you could get kidnapped by some weird archmage at any moment, you couldn’t help but be careful.

…Of course, the reasons for the other students were very different from Lee Han’s…

“Is anyone there?”

Lee Han opened the door to Professor Verdus’s workshop—a mage tower, sanctum, and went inside.

When he went up to the second floor, he saw three senior enchanters sitting in the large workshop area in complete disorder. The seniors, faces close to their workbenches, were doing the final touches on artifacts.

“Seniors. Do you happen to know where Senior Yukveltire is?”

“……”

“Seniors?”

When the seniors didn’t answer, Lee Han thought he should use the same method he’d used with Professor Verdus.

“Seniors!!!”

“Wh-what the—?!”

The enchanter students, completely absorbed in their magic, jumped at their junior’s shout.

“Hello!”

“Why are you calling so loudly? Just call quietly!”

“I apologize. I’ll bear it in mind for next time. By any chance, do you know where Senior Yukveltire’s workshop is?”

“Ah. No idea.”

“…?”

Lee Han was a bit taken aback.

A mage of Senior Yukveltire’s level not having a workshop in the sanctum simply couldn’t be.

“Does Senior Yukveltire not have a workshop in the sanctum?”

“There should be one?”

“But you don’t know where it is?”

“No.”

Lee Han smiled and asked,

“Then do you know where Professor Verdus’s workshop is?”

“No idea? Why should I?”

“I see. Thank you.”

Hearing their replies, Lee Han decided he’d have to wander around and find it himself.

The enchanter students might not know each other’s names.

“Senior Yukveltire?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re not Senior Yukveltire, are you?”

“No.”

“…Have a good day.”

“Yes.”

After pushing through the uncooperative enchanter students, Lee Han finally managed to find Yukveltire’s workshop.

The princess was using the entire third basement level for her research.

“Are you there, senior?”

“Come in.”

Yukveltire put her sapphire glasses on the table and beckoned.

Then, as if she expected it, she said,

“So. You must have become interested in my research.”

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded by the groundless confidence.

“Senior. Until just yesterday, I was kidnapped by a doppelganger.”

“Hmmm.”

Yukveltire pondered deeply, not understanding Lee Han’s words.

Then she clapped her hands lightly as if she got it.

“Learning magic under the principal’s doppelganger must have inspired you. And that inspiration is related to my research. Right?”

“…Actually, I came to ask you not to harass Senior Direte.”

Lee Han pulled out the food basket he’d brought as a bribe.

She was Adenart’s older sister and also kin to Gainando, so he hoped food bribes might work.

Yukveltire answered instantly, as if it was nonsense.

“You’re mistaken; it’s always Direte who harasses me. I’ve never harassed Direte. I’ve always respected him.”

“……”

Lee Han silently recited three times: ‘She’s my senior, this is her workshop, if I attack rashly, it could backfire.’ Then he spoke.

“Actually, I don’t wish to debate the definition of ‘harassing,’ Senior.”

“Listen. You’ll understand when you hear it. When we enrolled, Direte chose the Dark Magic school as his major. I advised him. There’s no future for you there, come to the Enchantment school. In response, Direte cursed my face. Who do you think harassed whom?”

“I think you harassed Senior Direte.”

“Ha!”

Yukveltire sighed coldly, as if she pitied her junior for saying something so foolish after she’d recognized his abilities.

“Senior. Didn’t you seek Direte’s help in exchange for helping with my rescue? And honestly, how effective was your help?”

“That’s a sharp point. Yes. The output was far too lacking.”

Yukveltire admitted without hesitation.

She had prepared a way to find the weak point and destroy the magic, but didn’t have the means.

“If it’s all right, I’ll help you as much as I can. In return, please stop calling on Senior Direte for this research.”

“All right.”

Yukveltire unexpectedly agreed very easily.

Lee Han, surprised, asked.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Are you really sure you won’t need Senior Direte’s help going forward?”

“Direte doesn’t help with this research anyway.”

“…?”

For a moment, Lee Han thought he’d misheard.

He doesn’t help?

“Wait. Didn’t Senior Direte say he’d help with research in exchange for helping with my rescue?”

“He did. But as you pointed out, his help wasn’t particularly effective. Direte remarked on that, persuaded me, and I accepted it. Wait. I could count this as another example of Direte harassing me.”

Yukveltire argued in a cold voice.

No matter how she thought about it, it seemed to her that Direte truly was harassing her.

What a self-centered, twisted logic.

“So Direte had no reason to participate in this research even if I didn’t help?”

“Well. Maybe he would have reflected and come back to help.”

“…Senior. Please keep it secret from Senior Direte that I’m helping with this research.”

“?”

Yukveltire slightly tilted her head, not understanding why her junior was saying such things.

• * *

The research was the same as he’d seen last winter break.

Artificial dimension artifact.

A grand project to create a newly isolated dimension, artificially, according to a wizard’s will.

“You learned something from your last failure?”

“Don’t trust other wizards?”

“That’s a good lesson too. Pass that on to Direte.”

Trusting the other wizards was one reason for failure, but Yukveltire felt above all that the fundamental structure of the artifact needed to be improved.

Currently, the artificial dimension artifact connected dozens or hundreds of magic circles, compounding the mana continuously.

Mana, accelerated in the first circle, was accelerated again in the second, again in the third…

Even creating an artificial dimension of very small size required so much force, so this was inevitable.

But such an excessively meticulous and complicated structure would lead to irreversible results if even one of the magic circles had an error.

If Yukveltire personally supervised every step, it was fine, but as soon as external wizards participated, it became a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.

Last time, a minor mistake caused it to deform into an ellipse and connect to an indeterminate dimension.

“There are two things I’m thinking of. One is simplifying parts of the structure. The other is adding a safety device to detect the dimension in advance.”

Reducing and combining some of the magic circles to lower the odds of error, and at the same time, adding an artifact to detect and warn if it connects to an indeterminate dimension.

Even Lee Han, who wasn’t particularly interested in the research, found this a reasonable and rational improvement.

“Indeed. My role is to restore the lost mana when combining magic circles, right?”

“That’s one of them.”

Yukveltire was satisfied with her junior’s response.

Unlike other juniors who needed things explained five or ten times, he understood immediately, which was very gratifying.

When combining interconnected magic circles into one, there would inevitably be mana loss, so a way to compensate was needed.

Originally, it was quite complicated, but if there was a wizard who could supply mana, it could be solved in an instant.

“Then, sit and wait.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han sat down and read -Escaping Einrogard- while he waited.

Yukveltire leafed and sorted through the piles of papers, continually drawing new magic circles.

‘Hmm.’

After about an hour, Lee Han wondered if it was okay to ask if she was done yet.

But seeing how focused his senior was, he decided to take a toy out from his pocket and play with the basilisk.

The baby basilisk happily hissed and squirmed.

‘The Watchmen Club guys… To think they can’t even sort out fake news.’

Lee Han resolved to confront Beaver-Penguin-Fox next time he saw them.

There was a reason ominous animals made up their nicknames. How could they bring unverified rumors like this?

About another hour passed.

Yukveltire, looking the most exhausted in the world, finally raised her head. Her voice was half-hoarse.

“It’s done. Come over here and infuse mana.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han approached the artifact as instructed and infused it with mana. With a flash, part of the artifact was newly altered.

Vast amounts of mana poured out, but Lee Han was unaffected.

“Is it all done?”

“Now onto the next one.”

Yukveltire sat back down in front of the pile of papers and started sketching another new magic circle.

Lee Han glanced at the artificial dimension artifact and calculated her work pace.

‘So if she’s going to refine all of this…?’

As he calculated whether it would take years, and if he could graduate and escape before then, there was a thud in front of him. Lee Han looked up, startled.

Yukveltire had collapsed.

“Are you all right?!”

“I must have consumed too little nutrition…”

Watching her make starving sound elegant, Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Even Adenart and Gainando always ate proper meals. What was this, slacking off as a fifth-year?

“I brought some snacks, so please have some. Here. There are sandwiches.”

“Does it have cheese?”

Amused by her almost supernatural ability to detect ingredients, Lee Han thought it was just like a member of the royal family.

“Yes.”

“I’m not big on cheese.”

“…I, I see. Then here, have the sandwich with ham and egg.”

“I’m not a fan of ham, either…”

Yukveltire removed each filling from the sandwich, one by one, and chewed contentedly on a piece of bread.

“Your cooking skills are pretty good. Almost royal chef level.”

“……”

With just a piece of bread and a sip of cocoa, Yukveltire signaled that she was full.

While Lee Han was dumbfounded, the workshop door opened and Direte entered.

“Hey. I’ll help. Even if I was incompetent, I tried—”

“……”

Meeting eyes with Direte, Lee Han froze on the spot.

He stammered urgently.

“…I just happened to drop by to watch!”

“You came to help with the research, didn’t you?”

Lee Han shoved the interfering senior aside. Yukveltire tumbled down off the couch with a thud.