Episode 858

‘This makes no sense.’

In shock, Lee Han began to deny reality.

It was just the kitchen club that was kind—other clubs must be different!

-Nope? Why would you be involved?

-Junior, you’re a second-year. Does it make sense for you to collect midterm information for yourself?

“……”

But the seniors from other clubs gave equally cold answers.

Lee Han deeply regretted it.

‘Now that I think about it, nobody told me to come along.’

Come to think of it, even Falkrius-senior told other seniors to come along, not Lee Han directly.

Lee Han trembled with frustration.

“Wait. Junior. There is one test where you actually do have to gather information yourself.”

Senior Perse from the Blue Dragon Tower spoke up as if remembering something.

“So second-years do need to do something then!”

“No, that’s not it. Normally, second-years don’t, but there’s an exception.”

“??”

“This time, if you take the -Understanding Intermediate Combat Magic- class exam, take notes for us.”

-Understanding Intermediate Combat Magic- was Professor Voladi’s class.

If seniors had taken it, they would have kept records, but since nobody had, Lee Han now had to do so.

“We probably won’t need it for a while, but who knows, maybe another junior will take it in the future.”

“…Still, a new first-year did enroll.”

“Is that true?! How many?!”

Perse was stunned.

Who would’ve thought a new disciple would show up in Professor Voladi’s class.

Maybe Professor Voladi had finally changed his teaching just a little?

Lee Han changed the subject. He didn’t want to state exactly that it was only one.

“Anyway, understood. I’ll record the exam so future juniors can refer to it.”

“Right. Don’t overdo it. You can leave a rough outline.”

“What do you mean? Because no juniors will take Professor Baegrek’s class anyway, so I don’t need to bother?”

“No, that’s not it… I just meant, for juniors, even having a record at all is something to be grateful for, so don’t let it take too much of your time.”

“Ah, I see.”

‘I’ll have to be careful with my words around this junior,’ thought Perse.

Just as with never mentioning the number ‘5’ in front of a fourth-year, Einrogard had its own etiquette.

Until now, there hadn’t been any need, with no disciples for Professor Voladi, but looking at this junior, Perse realized one should be cautious speaking in front of him in the future.

‘But seriously, how many did enroll, anyway?’

• * *

“Thank you again, Eandurde.”

“?”

Chewing the rice cake received from a senior, the first-year and only disciple in Professor Baegrek’s school cocked his head.

“It’s nothing. The lecture’s over—you don’t have to stick around, right?”

“I want to watch.”

“…You’re not planning to attack Professor Baegrek again, right?”

Eandurde chewed the rice cake with a disgruntled look.

If you wanted even a 1% better chance against someone strong like Professor Voladi, you had to gang up with someone else.

‘What a good kid he is.’

Lee Han almost teared up, but couldn’t show it.

Professor Voladi was staring at him from the side.

“Ha ha. Junior, the purpose of the Professor’s class is to receive instruction, not to attack him and then laugh when you knock him out.”

“Is that so…”

Eandurde, finding the description oddly specific, nodded anyway.

When Lee Han had given his junior a snack and returned to class, Professor Voladi posed a question.

“Did you learn much from Lord Lagesa?”

“Uh…”

At the Professor’s question, Lee Han hesitated.

Did he learn much?

‘I guess I did learn a lot… but I’m not sure any of it was related to magic.’

He’d mostly learned how to steal, rob, ambush, and swindle like a pirate, not really magic…

‘Well, I did end up learning one of Lord Lagesa’s arcane spells. Even if it blew up a hallway.’

Deciding not to dig his own grave by getting into details, Lee Han answered vaguely.

“Yes, I learned a lot.”

“You’re too greedy. Lord Lagesa’s magic is filled with difficult parts, so there’s no need to try to study it all at once.”

“…….”

Turned out “I learned little” was the right answer!

Lee Han was dumbfounded inside.

Regardless, Professor Voladi began to point out Lee Han’s current situation, one by one.

Since his first year, Lee Han had taken classes from all schools, learning a bit of everything, and Professor Voladi tried his best to integrate all of it to forge Lee Han into a magic battle wizard.

But now that Lee Han was a second year, his range of interests had become too broad and deep even for Professor Voladi to narrow and focus.

This semester alone, Lee Han was exploring everything from the Water Prison Bomb spell to the Lightning of the Spirit King and the secret tomes of dubious ancient clones.

“It’s not so much that I explore—more that I’m forced to…”

“Hm?”

“Nothing at all.”

“At any rate, I suggest you don’t add anything more, and focus on mastering just one. It doesn’t have to be Water Prison Bomb. Do whatever you want.”

Professor Voladi realized there was no point telling this disciple “Just do Water Prison Bomb first” anymore.

Given this disciple’s personality, he’d just rebel with, ‘Don’t you dare dictate my course of magic study!’

“…I did a decent job on what you assigned, though… Were you dissatisfied with the book on the Water Prison Bomb from last time?”

“No.”

‘Thank goodness.’

Because Lagesa had shown up partway through, he hadn’t gotten feedback on the book he’d written.

He’d been worried, but apparently he wasn’t about to fail.

With his usual blank expression, Professor Voladi continued.

“But precedent tells me there’s little point recommending you keep developing the Water Prison Bomb spell.”

“……”

Come to think of it, every time Professor Voladi brought up that spell, Lee Han had ended up learning some other weird magic.

It wasn’t intentional, but from Voladi’s perspective, it looked like his disciple was just really interested in anything and everything but the main goal.

“Do what you want. I’ll tailor next week’s exam to that.”

‘Wait, isn’t this actually good?’

At first, Lee Han was surprised, but as he thought about it, Professor Voladi’s misunderstanding wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Didn’t it mean he’d get to pick the subject for the exam?

That meant he could pick the field he found the easiest and had the most confidence in.

‘No—it probably won’t be that easy. I don’t know what the exam topic is yet.’

If he trusted in his fifth-circle telekinesis and said, ‘I’ll take the test using telekinesis!’ but then Voladi made the test something where you couldn’t use telekinesis, he’d have a hard time.

“Professor, if there’s anything set for the exam subject, could you let me know, even just a little?”

“Hm.”

For the first time, Professor Voladi’s usually unchanging face looked faintly troubled.

‘Huh.’

If it really was a no, he would have said so right away, so Lee Han felt both curious and hopeful.

“Professor, I also worked hard helping with Eandurde’s class.”

“And you’re telling me this because…?”

“…Just saying.”

Lee Han cursed the Professor inside.

Professors were, at their core, heartless people.

If a disciple worked hard, he should praise him and ask what reward he wanted—instead it’s just, ‘Isn’t that expected?’

But Professor Voladi, believing Lee Han was just showing interest in his classes, didn’t see through the ploy.

“…Originally, I was asked to keep the test subject secret.”

‘The headmaster again.’

Lee Han figured out the culprit and cursed internally.

After all, Voladi had no real friends. There was Professor Kirmin Ku, but that wasn’t someone who would ask to keep test subjects secret.

“It’s alright, Professor. You don’t have to listen to such requests.”

“I’m not sure about that. Given the exam’s difficulty, though, I think you need to know.”

“…?”

Lee Han started to feel a creeping sense of fear.

Recently, because he’d been bullied by truly crazy people, Professor Voladi had seemed relatively kind and gentle—but wasn’t Voladi himself one of those madmen back in first year?

What was he planning?

“Professor. I trust you, please tell me! I will protect your honor!”

“Alright. The test subject is a dragon.”

“……”

“Wow!”

Eandurde looked at his senior with eyes full of awe and admiration.

So by second year, you fight dragons as a Wardanaz!

Of course, Lee Han had no room in his heart to dispel the misunderstanding. Eyes wide, he asked the Professor,

“…Dragons in the Empire are… not exactly common, are they?”

Even the rare Basilisk was barely a species of interest compared to dragons.

Right now, you couldn’t find a single dragon in the Empire, not even if you tried. There were officially none.

‘Only His Majesty the Emperor, maybe? He wouldn’t show up just for a midterm, would he?’

If the skull headmaster actually pushed the Emperor to appear as a midterm challenge, Lee Han would honestly concede out of respect.

If that much effort was put into malice, he’d just accept it. What could you do?

“That’s true.”

“So where did you get one?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Voladi looked even more troubled.

He had to provide the information for the sake of a fair test for his disciple, but he was also bound by a promise to the other party.

“Professor. What kind of dragon is especially important. Please give me a fair chance to strategize.”

“Hmm. Alright. The opponent is Prince Joulin.”

“……”

Lee Han’s face twisted, even more than when he’d faced the Mad Clone.

The Emperor’s third child, the dragon he’d met when visiting the capital with the skull headmaster!

Eandurde could now look at Lee Han with eyes that could shine no brighter.

“Wow, wow… Dragonslayer!”

“Eandurde. Not like that. Calm down.”

“Dragonslayer of royalty!”

“That’s not a good thing at all.”

In fairy tales, things like ‘Dragonslayer of royalty’ might sound cool, but in reality, it was simply the Empire’s worst crime.

Not wanting to become public enemy #1, Lee Han struggled to keep hold of reality.

“Professor. How on earth did you get in touch with Prince Joulin? No… Actually, I think there’s a misunderstanding here. Prince Joulin is still just a young dragon who likes to play. If he visits Einrogard, this harsh, hellish place that even demons shudder at, he’ll be terribly disappointed.”

Eandurde tilted his head.

Einrogard didn’t really seem that intense.

“His Highness’s abilities are more than sufficient.”

“No, that’s not the issue, Professor. It’s about his nature! You know it too. To be a combat mage, you have to be cold-blooded and daring.”

It was because Professor Garcia, despite his talent, wasn’t considered a combat mage (Lee Han personally thought he counted), simply because his personality was gentle and kind.

Such a person couldn’t be a combat mage, who had to snatch away the enemy’s life in the blink of an eye.

Similarly, Joulin was still a young dragon. Not only would he utterly fail to adapt to Einrogard’s harsh environment, but he could never handle Lee Han’s midterm exam.

“This is a trap. The headmaster set you up!”

“His Highness sent a personal letter.”

“……”