Episode 899

‘But how do I draw his attention?’

Eandurde fell into thought.

Whether fighting in illegal arenas in the past or now fighting with students from other towers, Eandurde’s mindset of ‘I’ll just kill first, graaah’ hadn’t changed much.

But his outlook and thoughts had changed greatly since entering Einrogard.

The world was vast, and there were many strong ones. Inside a small arena, the power of Gorgon blood could defeat enemies, but outside, that was impossible.

The boy from House Wardanaz, who drove the other students just like now, was one of those strong ones.

—Hey you. Clean up your mess already?

—I-I was going to clean up later. I was busy studying.

—Yeah, right. I saw you playing mage cards with Gainando earlier.

—How did you see that!? Wardanaz, you weren’t even looking this way! I even laid down illusions to cover it up!

At night, Lee Han chased away those who were goofing off and set up the lounge for friends who wanted to study.

Friends who tried to play chess or marbles got smacked on the back and kicked out.

—Just study then! Study!

—Wardanaz, what if we end up beating you on the test because of this!

—…Hey. No matter how mad you are, let’s not say things that make no sense.

Lee Han, with the students in the alchemy class, brewed a large amount of coffee. The hot water rose from the pot on the fireplace and flew into each cup.

—Amazing skills!

—The seniors didn’t believe me when I talked about Wardanaz’s coffee magic. They said no one in their right mind would waste magic on that…

Yoner weighed sugar on a balance scale and tossed it into the waiting students’ cups.

Sugar was a precious resource and shouldn’t be wasted.

—I believe none of you, especially Gainando, will sneak extra to eat at night.

—…Hey!

—Sorry. I should have said ‘student,’ but I said Gainando just now.

Normally, students would each take night walks or stay in their own rooms, but as exams approached, gathering in the lounge like this became a unique second-year tradition.

There were several reasons for this tradition, but the biggest was probably a nanny from the Warmo family.

“Eandurde. Here’s some coffee for you.”

“Thank you!”

“Are you preparing well for midterms?”

“Uh… yes.”

Eandurde blinked and looked away at Yoner’s question.

Eandurde was actually just average. Most first-years only really cared about a few favorite lectures and approached the rest with an “ugh, I don’t want to listen” attitude.

“Tell me your grades after the break. I hope you’re not losing study time because of Prince Joulin.”

“It’s fine! I’m just studying what I need!”

“…Eandurde? Eandurde??”

After getting his coffee, Eandurde quickly slipped away. He figured Yoner, being strict, wouldn’t like to hear a junior was being “efficient” about studying.

‘Hurry up, will you!’

On the windowsill, the baby basilisk wagged his tail pleadingly toward Eandurde. Eandurde motioned back, telling him to wait.

Looking at how Lee Han brewed coffee and served snacks, it was easy to forget just how formidable a senior he was.

To draw the attention of such a strong person, a very crafty and ingenious strategy was necessary…

“Eandurde. What are you doing there?”

“Eek!”

“?”

Lee Han was puzzled as the junior jumped up and down.

“I’m worried you’re stuck here too long because of His Highness. I’ll pack you some snacks, but do you want to head back soon?”

“I-I’d like to stay just a little longer.”

“Why?”

“……”

Eandurde racked his brain. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck.

“If I’m not nearby, His Highness can’t sleep!”

“Oh my. You must have it hard.”

If the dragon had heard, he would have been furious, yelling, ‘Why are you making Joulin out to be such an idiot!!’ But thankfully, he didn’t.

Eandurde felt no guilt. After all, wasn’t this all for Joulin’s plan? The baby basilisk on the windowsill seemed to think the same, giving a sign of approval.

‘Crafty and ingenious strategy. Crafty and ingenious strategy…’

As he pondered, Lee Han questioned again.

“Do you have any questions about a lecture? Maybe Professor Baegrek’s lecture, or his exam or his assignments…”

“???”

“Sorry. I meant another professor but said Baegrek by mistake.”

Seeing Lee Han apologize, Eandurde had another flash of inspiration.

Come to think of it, nothing distracted better than that!

“I have a question!”

“Oh, really? Go ahead.”

Lee Han brought a chair and told Eandurde to sit. Gainando trailed over, sniffling.

“Lee Han…”

“Put down the Ankle-Grabbing Poison, Gainando. Your skeleton can barely handle poison anyway.”

“Thanks!”

‘M-magic!?’

Eandurde, sitting, was shocked.

How could he answer so precisely without even being asked the details, or looking? Amazing!

‘The top of the year… really is incredible…!’

Eandurde recalled a beastkin penguin student from his year.

Unlike other Blue Dragon Tower students who wandered for fun during breaks, this one spent every spare moment focused on magic, and was always mentioned alongside the year’s top student.

Will Peng Erine be able to do all this in just a year, too??

‘Unbelievable…!’

“Here you go. Eandurde, Professor Baegrek’s magic is the most wicked and—”

“…?”

Eandurde tilted his head at the teaching, which seemed strangely emotional, but listened anyway.

Meanwhile, the baby basilisk started to move.

The target was Lee Han’s reagent pouch attached to his waist.

‘Here I go!’

The baby basilisk jumped from the windowsill to the top of a bookshelf. From there, he leapt and landed atop Adenart’s parchment.

Adenart carefully lifted the baby basilisk into his hand and returned him to Lee Han. The baby basilisk, having failed the stealth approach, looked completely dispirited.

‘Pathetic.’

Eandurde glanced at the baby basilisk with contempt. From near the fireplace, Joulin, pretending to sleep, seemed to give a similarly contemptuous look.

‘This was my plan all along.’

Self-justifying inwardly, the baby basilisk slithered out from Lee Han’s sleeve again.

Then, moving down to the waist, he tapped the reagent pouch string with his tail…

“What are you doing?”

-……

Frozen at Lee Han’s call, the baby basilisk was utterly motionless. If he turned to stone from someone’s gaze, even then he wouldn’t have been this stiff.

“Do you want this? Want to play with it? Here you go.”

Lee Han untied the pouch and handed it to the baby basilisk.

He kept more important reagents elsewhere; this pouch just held common reagents for quick use. It didn’t matter if the baby basilisk played with it.

—W-wow!

With a flourish as if this was all planned, the baby basilisk took the pouch.

Lee Han and the students watched with fond smiles as the baby basilisk rolled around with the pouch.

“Still a baby, aren’t you.”

“His antics are childish but cute.”

-……

Shaking with shame, the baby basilisk finally returned to Joulin.

—Never doing that again!!

Well done. Joulin will commend you!

—Don’t need it…

While the baby basilisk mumbled, Joulin carefully took out the dragon stone.

As the dodecahedral golden object was revealed from his mouth, a wave of dazzling sunlight filled the lounge.

“What the—!?”

“Hey! This lounge isn’t yours! Who the hell did that?!”

“Whoever it was, you ruined my focus! Ah! I could have gotten a perfect score!”

Joulin moved faster than ever before in his life. His forepaw quickly covered the dragon stone, cutting off the sun.

“Wardanaz. We have to find the culprit!”

“Cut the crap and sit down and study.”

“…Okay…”

Luckily, the students didn’t get up to hunt the culprit. Lee Han also didn’t look particularly suspicious as if, perhaps, someone had just made a magical mistake.

No one had ever actually seen a dragon stone, so in a way, their reaction was natural.

Whew.

Joulin cautiously raised his forepaw. The dragon stone, now emitting less light, was shown.

—Wow. That’s amazing.

The baby basilisk unconsciously marveled. Even the king of snakes could only be awed at a dragon’s power.

The intense, complex force within that ore…!

It’s all in. Now to return it! Then Joulin can pretend to sleep.

‘I doubt he’ll fall for it.’

As he crawled along to return the pouch with the dragon stone, the baby basilisk thought inwardly.

Now that we’ve come this far, will he really fall for it?

• * *

Professor Thunderstep yawned.

That sun brightening the morning symbolized a new week, the start of midterms, and the start of student suffering.

“Professor.”

“!”

Startled by a familiar student’s voice, Professor Thunderstep paused.

‘Is this an ambush?’

Statistically, from third year at Einrogard, students started trying to ambush professors. The success rate was close to zero, but in Einrogard, rational calculations didn’t really matter.

Considering the skill and nerve of the Wardanaz household boy, it wouldn’t be strange to try in second year.

‘High chance. No reason to be here now.’

The midterm would take all week even with full effort. No matter how good Wardanaz was, finishing in a day was impossible.

Professor Thunderstep loaded a potion as he slipped his hand in his pocket, then turned around slowly.

‘Oh. Not an ambush.’

Seeing his student’s expression, the professor relaxed.

Far from scheming, his face was dark with despair, anger, grief and so on.

Just another ordinary Einrogard student facing an exam.

“What’s up, Wardanaz. Here to ask something?”

“Not exactly…”

“Where is His Highness?”

Finding it odd that the dragon prince, who always followed Lee Han around like a chick, was missing, Professor Thunderstep asked.

Lee Han’s face darkened even more.

“His Highness is grounded.”

“…What? Grounded?”

“Yes.”

“Did he do something wrong?”

“In a way, yes.”

“Still, grounding His Highness! Impressive.”

Professor Thunderstep was honestly impressed.

Who could treat Joulin with such strictness? Only this Wardanaz boy could pull it off.

‘That’s why they say only a monster can defeat a monster.’

“It’s just…I think I didn’t take care of him properly.”

Lee Han let out a deep sigh. He looked rare—bitter and weak.

Professor Thunderstep was slightly taken aback by his demeanor.

“Wait, why? Did something happen?”

“It’s just… His Highness keeps doing things his own way lately, and I wonder if it’s my fault.”

“Bwahahaha! What nonsense… Wait, you really mean that?”

Professor Thunderstep was genuinely flustered.

“His Highness is a growing dragon. Acting out is normal! Don’t you remember when he punched a hole in the lecture hall wall?”

Joulin was growing up well.

He wasn’t eating people, or interested in evil spells, or hoarding property, or stealing for his lair…

“He only did that trying to find me, though.”

“Enough. So why did you come? Here to ask for a potion to lower one’s playfulness?”

“Ah. No. I came to submit my test.”

“……”

Professor Thunderstep nearly collapsed.