Episode 782
by CristaeOf course, no matter how surprised Lee Han was, Ahsan was far more shocked.
Ahsan literally fell over backward.
“Are you okay?!”
“Your brother, you said? That person?!”
To see a direct member of the Wardanaz family he’d only heard of in rumors.
Ahsan was both excited and intimidated. He couldn’t even guess what kind of person it would be.
“That’s right.”
“He… he looks normal… even though he’s of the Wardanaz family!”
“……”
Lee Han gave his friend a sour look.
‘So what did you think I was, then?’
“Haven’t the others told you? Some met him during break.”
“Oh, uh… they did. That was him? Lord Arsil, right?”
Ahsan finally recovered enough to remember.
Gainando and some other friends had visited the Wardanaz manor last vacation.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“I’d heard a lot, but so much of it was outlandish… Demons roaming the estate, golems rampaging…”
“Well, Gainando does exaggerate a lot.”
Lee Han smoothly changed the subject.
There was no need to correct his friend if he believed it already.
“Lord Arsil… is said to, uh, command spirits at will, right?”
“Yes. He possesses a wicked dominion over spirits.”
“…No, I heard he cherishes and loves spirits. And is loved in return.”
“Well, close enough. Hey, Brother!”
As Ahsan shot him a disbelieving look, Lee Han called out to Arsil.
Up on the peak, Arsil looked up from his booklet and, looking cheerful, shouted something.
Ahsan, unable to understand spirit language, cocked his head.
“What is he saying?”
“He says if we go up now, we’ll get shredded to pieces by a mad spirit’s razor wind, so wait a bit.”
“……”
- * *
Arsil had the other spirits clear the gale from the summit and welcomed his brother and friend.
Lee Han felt awkward at Arsil’s excited clapping.
“It’s really not a big deal, Brother.”
“He’s congratulating us for making it up here, right?”
In Ahsan’s mind, there was a 99% chance that was what it was. There was nothing else to praise just now.
“He worried I wouldn’t make friends, but every time I’ve come with friends like during break, it makes him happy.”
“……”
Ahsan fell silent. Lee Han introduced him.
“This is Ahsan of the Dalkard family—today’s assignment… Yes, we’re making a map. What do you mean, this is an easy class? That’s crazy. It’s not supposed to be this easy!”
As Lee Han’s friend grew spirited, Ahsan was thrown off.
“What’s wrong, Lee Han?”
“He says it’s an easy assignment! …It was supposed to be something else?”
Arsil gently explained to his brother.
Apparently, the summoning class topic used to be…
“……”
Lee Han went a bit pale. Ahsan felt a chill seeing his friend go silent.
“…Difficulty is all relative, I guess. Got it.”
‘What was it?!’
Ahsan shivered in dread at what Lee Han might have faced.
As they talked, other students started arriving.
“Whoa—hello!”
Gainando, seeing Arsil, was shocked.
“Who’s that? Wait, if he’s an outsider here, isn’t that dangerous? Like the mage who kidnapped Lee Han before?”
“No! That’s Lee Han’s brother.”
“…That’s still pretty dangerous, isn’t it?”
Some friends whispered.
Given how strange a young direct Wardanaz like Lee Han was, the older brother was beyond imagining.
Annoyed by their mutters, Gainando spoke up,
“You have no idea what a nice guy he is! He gave me a present, too.”
Indeed, the leather case for magician cards Arsil gave Gainando was one of his prized possessions.
“Hello!”
“He’s saying hello back. Also, he asks if you’ve been winning magician cards since then.”
“Uh, I’ve been unlucky…”
“He says luck ought to be equal for everyone, but how can it go all to one side?”
“Sometimes bad luck just piles up.”
“Maybe it’s time to quit magician cards and study instead?”
“But… Did he really say that?”
“No, that last part was just me.”
“……”
Gainando glared at Lee Han.
Arsil laughed and said,
“Brother, just telling someone their luck will get better someday isn’t as helpful as it sounds. Maybe quitting magician cards really is better.”
“I can hear you, you know! By the way, Lord Arsil, my undead minion was forcibly unsummoned. Is there any way to make it forgive me?”
“That would be difficult for me too, Gainando. Just wait till it recovers and resummon. I’ll help scare it for you.”
Lee Han gave a negative look at Gainando’s question.
He could understand, since a forcibly unsummoned minion was a big deal, but Arsil wasn’t a mainstream mage; he just had a unique constitution.
He couldn’t soothe and restore a destroyed minion.
Lee Han would be better to help instead. With Lee Han’s powers, threatening and making a new contract wasn’t that hard.
But Arsil patted Lee Han’s shoulder and said something.
“…Wait, you mean you CAN? How…? Spirits? But it’s undead. If you borrow a friendly dark spirit’s power, mediation with an undead is…? Impossible, right? Sure, it’s the one most likely to succeed, but such negotiation…?”
“Lee Han, did he just say yes?”
“No, my brother’s just… misunderstanding something. Wait.”
“He said yes! He said yes!!”
Gainando kept whining until Arsil agreed.
Arsil summoned a friendly dark spirit, checked the sigil on Gainando’s hand, and sent a message across the planes.
“……”
Lee Han watched with anxious, uneasy suspicion.
‘No way—does friendship with a spirit really let you do that?’
Theoretically, dark spirits—being of negative energy—were closer to undead, so had more affinity.
Even so, having the spirit calm an undead’s anger and reconcile? If so, Lee Han’s worldview might just collapse.
“…Lee Han. You’re not hoping this fails, are you…?”
“What are you saying, Gainando.”
Lee Han flinched. Imperial royals had almost psychic intuition at times like this.
Pop!
Suddenly, Gainando’s contract sigil glowed red. The scattered, broken link reconnected.
No one felt the change faster than Gainando himself. Overjoyed, he cried,
“Thank you!!!”
“……”
“Lee Han? What did he say?”
“It went well.”
“No—he said so much more!”
“All right, all right. He asked a dark spirit to mend the revenant’s broken body, procure new materials, and in exchange to restore the contract and let go of the grudge. Damn. Is it even possible to assign all that to a spirit?”
Gainando ignored that last grumble, unable to care after such good fortune.
‘Sorry, Lee Han.’
“Wardanaz, can you ask something else?”
Watching, Salko cautiously spoke up.
It was odd for Gainando to keep interacting so boldly—other students stood awkwardly apart from a direct Wardanaz.
Such a name was imposing.
“What are you curious about?”
“First, why is he here…?”
“Oh, right.”
Lee Han nodded.
He’d been so surprised to see Arsil that he forgot to ask a key thing.
“Brother, what brings you here? Doesn’t seem like an important dimension…”
If Professor Millei gave it as a second-year assignment, it couldn’t be that dangerous.
Of course, the students might object: ‘How can you say that after what just attacked us?’
But as said, difficulty was relative.
What was dangerous for second years wasn’t for a Wardanaz direct.
Flick!
Arsil showed the book he’d written. It had a map and notes.
-No frost giant relics found. Finished checking.
-Needs more checking, but unlikely.
-No frost giant relics found. Done checking.
-…
‘??’
Arsil was apparently hunting for relics here. Not just any relics, but ones from the frost giant dimensions.
“There are frost giant relics in this world? Oh. Not certain yet? Going to look in other dimensions too?”
The second son of Wardanaz nodded and gestured to the small spirit on his shoulder.
Though butterfly-shaped and calm, Lee Han felt a jolt.
‘…So powerful!’
A being who could almost completely hide its power, and didn’t run from Lee Han’s gaze—at least a match for Perkuntra.
Arsil tapped the butterfly spirit; with its help, he was going to search other dimensions too.
“I see…”
“Wardanaz, can I ask your brother one more thing?”
Nervous, Salko raised his hand. Arsil gestured for him to ask, but Salko didn’t relax.
“Go ahead.”
“Um, you’re seeking frost giant relics… right? If I remember, frost giants used to appear here.”
“Right. I met one myself.”
“Then, that relic—don’t the frost giants want it too?”
Arsil smiled knowingly and explained; Lee Han relayed the words.
“Frost giants stole the relic too, so if Brother steals it back, it’s fine.”
“……”
“……”
Some students even thought, ‘That’s logical,’ with a hint of admiration.
Arsil copied the map and gave it to Lee Han as a scroll.
“…Brother!”
For the first time in ages, Lee Han was deeply moved.
Compared to a deeply evil dimensional polyhedron or sinister overlap-demon, this was a much better present.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I can avoid the professor’s harassment this semester and…”
Tap, tap—
Arsil unfolded the scroll and pointed to some locations on the map, labeled, ‘Needs more checking but unlikely.’
That meant Arsil hadn’t checked yet if relics were there.
“…You’re asking me to check? If I find something, I can keep it? Uh, but shouldn’t you check yourself? Isn’t this the relic you’re after…? Oh, you’ll just look for another? Wouldn’t it be best for you to secure this one…?”
‘Something feels off here.’
‘Totally agree.’
Salko and Ahsan exchanged glances.
As Einrogard students, a sense of doom was slowly creeping in.