Episode 850

Lee Han quickly calmed himself and cleared his throat awkwardly.

He had almost taken out his resentment against Baldrogard on an innocent person.

“Senior, what do you want to do? I think we should check.”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

‘Senior?’

Garal was puzzled inside.

If the boy from the Wardanaz family was speaking literally, that would make Sevius at least a 6th-year.

Of course, theoretically, an Einrogard student could keep staying at school if they didn’t graduate, but Sevius didn’t really look like one of those…

“Wait. I cast a spell. Don’t open the main door right away—check the snowflake symbol carved above. You need to find the one with the matching symbol to dispel it.”

“Why put a warding spell here?”

“It wasn’t for security. Baldrogard students kept getting lost around the village, so I set that up. If they trigger it, it makes a loud noise. That way, we can find them even from a distance.”

“……”

While Sevius wore a complicated expression, Lee Han spoke up apologetically.

“Um. Garal.”

“What is it?”

“About the spell you mentioned—I broke it earlier. I thought it was a spell to summon Death Knights.”

“…What? How?”

Garal was flustered.

The spell he mentioned was a ward developed at the Northern Snowflake Tower, and unless you knew the exact snowflake pattern set by the mage, it shouldn’t be easy to dispel.

“I broke it by force.”

“…??!”

“Don’t be so surprised. This junior here was taught by a great illusionist.”

“Oh, you mean Ogonin?”

“No, Baldororn…”

“???”

Even more confused by the unfamiliar magician’s name, Garal was at a loss.

“We’ve talked enough. Let’s go in.”

‘Who is that supposed to be?’

“Yes.”

Sevius issued the order in an extremely stern manner, signaling no more conversation would be allowed.

Letting your guard down just because things were going well was the mark of an amateur during teleportation jobs.

Creak—

Garal’s words were right.

There wasn’t a soul in sight on the mansion’s first floor. The -Bag of Six Directions- was just sitting out openly on the table, feeling almost like a trap.

“Check for spells.”

“None here.”

“Alright, then…”

Just as they moved to take the bag, Jandanni yawned as he came down the stairs.

“Oh. You’re back? I actually had something to ask…”

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Sevius exchanged glances.

“Don’t move. Please put your staff down.”

“Huh… how…”

“Every barrier has a weakness.”

“N-no, that’s not it. How do you put your staff down without moving…?”

“…Let me take it for you.”

• * *

Jandanni, suddenly abducted along with Garal, was plopped into an armchair by the fireplace in a daze.

Garal sighed deeply and asked,

“Why didn’t you just stay in bed? Why get up at this hour?”

“I was trying to sleep, but then I remembered what you said earlier.”

“What did I say?”

“You asked if I was curious why the sixth compartment was locked.”

“…So you actually got up at this hour to try opening it?”

“Yes.”

Garal was surprised.

And so were Sevius and Lee Han.

“That’s a lie.”

“Don’t lie. You just got up because you wanted more wine.”

“Y-you two are too much…”

Still, Garal made an effort to protect Jandanni, his employer, from the Einrogard students’ criticism.

“What’s this about a sixth compartment?”

“Oh, you don’t know. This bag is an unusually designed space-expansion item…”

“Wait, is this the type where instead of stretching the interior, it links a separate subspace? That’s amazing.”

“……”

Garal was shocked that Lee Han deduced it before he even explained it.

He himself hadn’t noticed until he’d examined the item directly.

“So you already knew?”

“No, I just figured it out now.”

“I-I see.”

Garal struggled to steady his nerves. Jandanni, not understanding what was so impressive, asked curiously,

“Is something wrong?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Suppressing the urge to smack him, Garal started the proper explanation.

Six compartments and the final locked one.

Lee Han and Sevius even added the real historical background for Jandanni’s benefit.

“…And so, our senior was taken away!”

“O-oh no…!”

Jandanni blinked in shock at the brutal truth.

“Do you understand how cruel, vicious, and mean it was to steal this bag?”

“But… why would the Headmaster catch them just for going out?”

Even as he was in shock, Jandanni asked the obvious question.

Lee Han had nothing to say.

“…That doesn’t matter right now. Every Imperial magic school has different rules.”

“That’s true,” Garal interjected, unable to help himself.

He was worried that Jandanni’s constant provocations would push the most unlucky students in the Empire over the edge.

But Jandanni, oblivious to the risk, pushed further.

“And, well… it could’ve been a misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?”

“The two might really have been good friends, and the Einrogard students just didn’t trust them…”

Lee Han started laughing.

So did Sevius.

They just kept laughing. For maybe ten minutes.

Garal coughed awkwardly.

“Ahem.”

“Ah. Sorry.”

“That was just too funny.”

Face to face with their reaction, Jandanni swore inwardly.

Indeed, Einrogard people were savages with no sense of friendship.

“Hmph. Let’s open the sixth compartment.”

“Excuse me?”

“The locked sixth compartment.”

As Lee Han didn’t immediately get it, Jandanni shouted in frustration.

Of course, Lee Han understood perfectly.

“You want us to open it together right now?”

Even though he and Sevius, as the victorious raiders, had legitimate claim to the loot, wanting to investigate the hidden space together was hardly normal.

“We’re going to take this bag, you know.”

“That’s separate—a true magician would be curious to open this, wouldn’t they?!”

Garal found it a bit much.

He hadn’t been the least bit curious until someone else brought it up!

‘But I am curious…’

After all, it was certainly odd that a student would deliberately lock a sixth space unless it was incomplete, and if the Einrogard students took the bag now, there’d be no way to check later.

“If we’re opening it now, I’ll help. I am honestly curious.”

“Mr. Garal.”

Lee Han wavered slightly.

Advice from an experienced mage like Garal would indeed be valuable.

“I’ll help too.”

“Huh? That’s not really nece—”

“……”

Jandanni glared at Lee Han.

• * *

The four magicians gathered by the fireplace and got to work.

“Looks like the space has been twisted and tangled shut. We’ll have to unravel it.”

“What if we just blast it open with magic power?”

“That… might destroy the bag.”

Jandanni added,

“Besides, it would be hard to get that kind of magic power here. To break something like that, you’d need a ton.”

He seemed pretty pleased with his own observation. The other three exchanged complicated looks.

“…Then what do you suggest?”

“Actually, the best would be to bypass it, if possible.”

Sevius answered, shaking his head.

“I tried inserting a spatial probe, but it was impossible. Completely sealed off. Looks like the creator went out of their way to defend against that from the start.”

If you twisted space, there would inevitably be some gap.

Normally, by channeling magic power into that, you could force entry, but this creator had almost perfectly locked those gaps.

“Then we’ll have to go through head-on. If we knew the pattern, we could probably open it.”

A twisted, tangled space was like a maze.

If you could bypass it, that was best, but if not, you had to get through the labyrinth.

What you needed was the pattern—the map or strategy—to navigate the maze.

If only…

“Were you told anything special when you inherited the bag?”

“Nope.”

‘Utterly useless.’

‘Utterly useless.’

Jandanni didn’t notice the silent curses and offered his own idea.

Among gemstones, chrysoprase granted true vision to its owner.

In magical terms, it dispelled illusions and showed the correct path.

A skilled alchemist could amplify those properties.

“Here. By sending in a scarab made from chrysoprase—we could set twisted space straight again!”

“……”

The other three shared another complicated look.

Lee Han took the lead.

“Mr. Jandanni. As you know, this labyrinth is larger and more complex than you think. One chrysoprase scarab won’t be enough.”

Expensive gems had their uses.

A chrysoprase scarab could certainly, non-destructively, set right tangled space in its immediate area. That was impressive.

But not enough for an entire labyrinth.

“And even then, it’d be hard to get it back. You could open a bit and lose it forever.”

“Ah, there’s no need to retrieve it.”

“…?”

Jandanni grinned as if waiting for this moment, exuding the confidence of a top alchemy student.

“It’s a disposable from the start!”

“…Huh?”

Lee Han couldn’t believe his ears. Jandanni excitedly explained.

He’d solved the issue of range and retrieval by intentionally crafting a one-use, self-obliterating chrysoprase scarab.

Wider coverage, no need for retrieval!

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Sevius just stared at him, too stunned to speak.

Jandanni mistook their silence for admiration.

‘That’s… worse than a magical criminal!’

As Lee Han shuddered inside, Jandanni busied himself pulling out more chrysoprase brooches, cufflinks, badges, and the like.

Whipping out gems as easily as Gainando with hidden snacks, the two Einrogard students broke into a cold sweat.

“What if we used all of these?”

“…You were in alchemy, Mr. Jandanni?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Do you often use gems?”

“How did you know? Gems are my specialty.”

Jandanni went on excitedly about the beautiful simplicity of just tossing in a few gems instead of memorizing complicated ingredients and procedures.

Why bother studying things like juniper berries or perilla leaves?

Just toss in a piece of goldstone!

Of course, it was costly, but why should a magician care about that?

Sevius found himself unconsciously comforting his junior—Lee Han’s face was that twisted.

“Calm down. There must be some drawback to that method.”

“What drawbacks? You mean being too happy? Having too much free time? Enjoying life by going to bed and rising early?”

“……”