Episode 1023
by CristaeEpisode 1023
The habit of asking senior wizards for help when a problem occurs is more important than one might think.
Just take Lee Han, for instance—he had to go through so much because he never developed that habit.
If Lee Han had just asked a senior wizard for help during this dimensional infiltration expedition…
‘Wait, not this time.’
On second thought, it was Senior Wizard Alsicle who dragged him along, so this was an exception.
Still, Lee Han called for Alsicle.
Surely, two useless exceptions in a row wouldn’t happen.
“Alsicle!”
-Huh? What?!
Alsicle, who had been purifying poisons in the reagent storage room with the priests, was startled by Lee Han’s urgent voice.
“A ghost appeared here!”
“What!?”
Thump!
Not only Alsicle, but the other friends too, immediately drew their staves and swords and rushed over.
“Where!?”
“Here.”
“…There’s nothing here?”
“I hit it with magic.”
“……”
The friends gave Lee Han extremely sour looks. Giselle thought to herself:
‘Reacting too quickly is a problem, too.’
He had felled it so fast that there was nothing left for the others to verify.
“R-right. Good… good job. Counterattacking is important…”
“What sort of ghost was it?”
“How would I know? You just smashed it.”
Alsicle grumbled as he checked around the fireplace.
He could sense a faint trace of spiritual energy, but nothing more. Looks like Wardanaz had landed a solid hit.
“Looks like it really was a ghost. And a wizard ghost at that.”
Statistically, wizards often caused problems even after death.
Spells set up in their workshops would leak out and disturb their surroundings after their death—it happened so often there was no need to even mention it. Summoned creatures or seals on dimensional passages would break, letting in monsters from other worlds as well.
Even if the wizard cleaned up their workshop before death, danger never completely disappeared.
The wizard’s own spirit and body, after experiencing so much magic and mystery, became risk factors themselves.
A wizard’s strong will, craving for arcane secrets, would put up strange resistance even as the body decayed.
“Ah. Like the Headmaster?”
“…No, well. That’s… Lichs are similar but it’s just… the level is too different…”
Alsicle was flustered by Gainando’s innocent question.
Lichdom was indeed a wizard’s way of resisting death, but it was on a whole different level from these ghosts.
Lichdom was a supreme arcane spell, achievable by only the most advanced practitioners of the black magic school. Becoming a ghost was just…
“You just need a lot of lingering regrets and grudges.”
“If there are so many at Einrogard, why have I never seen one?”
When someone questioned that, Alsicle replied as if it were obvious.
“The weak ones would’ve been driven out quickly. This isn’t Baldrogard, after all.”
“Ah.”
While the others chatted, Lee Han was deep in thought and belatedly remembered.
“Wait, the ghost seemed to ask me to release a spell it had left behind!”
“Of course. That’s a pretty common wish for wizard ghosts. Prince, did you not hear anything like that?”
“I just told it to get out.”
“Hm.”
Alsicle pondered the difference in the ghost’s reactions seriously.
Such ghosts, if not truly malevolent spirits, usually weren’t that dangerous, but there were no absolutes in magic.
He nearly got sent to imperial prison once for chasing dimensional monsters with a careless attitude.
“Didn’t trust Gainando so didn’t bother asking?”
“Maybe so…”
“Would it really be for that reason? Be serious, everyone.”
Alsicle lectured the Einrogard students. Lee Han, still checking the kitchen, asked,
“Is it difficult to exorcise a ghost through combat?”
“No. If you knocked it out so easily, it probably wasn’t a very powerful ghost. Must have been a non-combat wizard in life. But still, it’s best to solve these things peacefully…”
“Right. No need to fight and damage the mansion, reducing its value.”
“…That too, but mainly, wizard mansions are full of secrets. It’s best to inherit everything from the previous owner.”
“Then I’ll change plans and head down to the basement.”
Gainando, looking forlornly at the untidy kitchen, was outvoted by the others.
“Good idea, Wardanaz. Skipping a meal won’t kill you.”
“Let’s check the suspicious spots first.”
“Ugh, this is why I can’t stand kids from the other towers.”
Gainando grumbled at Salko and Giselle’s reactions, but even the Blue Dragon Tower students wanted to check the basement first.
“Hope it was an alchemist.”
“Hope it was a summoner. If there’s any useful research, it may come in handy.”
“……”
Downcast, Gainando trailed behind Lee Han. There were plenty of people, but few he could rely on.
“Oh dear. You must be hungry, Gainando. Want to eat this?”
“…!”
As Lee Han took out a sandwich from the basket, Gainando’s eyes widened.
“When did you make that?!”
“While cleaning up after the dimensional infiltration earlier.”
“Lee Han…!”
-Release the magic I left…
“…Uwaaah!”
Gainando screamed, tossing his chicken sandwich.
Suddenly, a wizard ghost appeared again at the stairs leading to the basement.
Lee Han skillfully caught the sandwich with telekinesis, bit it into Gainando’s mouth, and pushed him aside. The skill was nearly an art form.
Alsicle was impressed watching it.
‘The spellcasters of Jadeite Tower would weep with joy if they saw this!’
A wizard who’d honed telekinesis to that degree was truly rare.
“What spell do you want released?”
Lee Han was fully prepared to counter if the ghost made the slightest false move as he asked.
Even if a ghost seemed harmless, you could never be careless.
-Below… my research remains… Follow me…
“Wait! Why didn’t you ask the Prince earlier, and just chased him away?”
Ahsan, perhaps curious, pointed at Gainando and asked.
The wizard ghost answered in a slow voice.
-I do not ask those… without qualification…
“……”
“…Knew it!”
“N-no, I don’t think that’s what it meant.”
Alsicle panicked as the students accepted it.
There was no way that “qualification” referred to magical skills.
What kind of power would a wizard ghost have to guess Gainando’s grades at Einrogard the moment it saw him?
“Ghost, for your own sake, please answer. What do you mean by qualification?”
-The learned spell… That wizard… is qualified…
“Wardanaz’s learned spell?”
Now the students realized “qualification” wasn’t Einrogard grades.
“A summoner?”
“Nah. Maybe an enchanter.”
“At least the prince got disqualified, so it’s probably not a necromancer.”
“…Let me just ask directly.”
Lee Han cut off his friends’ chatter.
No matter how he thought about it, there were too many possibilities.
“What spell do you mean?”
The ghost pointed at Lee Han’s staff.
At the Frost Giant King’s blue gem, Lee Han was startled.
‘Was he related to the Frost Giants!?’
“Lee Han. I think he means the teleportation ore next to that stone.”
“Oh.”
Lee Han felt embarrassed.
So he was a spatial magic specialist!
- * *
“But how did you guess I’d learned spatial magic just by looking at this stone?”
Teleportation ore was a convenient item that even wizards who hadn’t learned spatial magic could use.
The wizard ghost answered in a faint voice.
-The watch…
“?”
-Such… overly ornate enchanted items… Only a true space-time wizard would carry something like that…
“!”
Only then did Lee Han understand.
The glass-cracked pocket watch enchanted with -Limited Time Acceleration-!
It was an artifact made by a professor at Einrogard while he was still a student.
“Is it really that overly decorated? It looks plain to me.”
-Read the space…
Following the ghost’s words, Lee Han cast Spatial Perception.
If there were any distorted spaces, this spell would give the wizard a perfect sense.
But nothing turned up.
-Deeper… focus more…
“???”
Lee Han didn’t understand, but focused his senses further.
Even suspecting the ghost was mistaken, since he’d already cast the spell…
“…!”
To his surprise, Lee Han felt a faint distortion. Along the surface of the pocket watch, it was as if space had been inscribed like a decoration.
The most amazing thing about this delicate magic was that it was utterly useless.
What point was there to this kind of tiny warped space?
Only wizards who could sense space would see it and react, “Amazing! Such meticulous decoration!” or something…
‘Would they!? Wouldn’t they just think it was a waste of effort?’
-Don’t waste magic on such things…
“……”
Apparently, so did the ghost.
To show off in a way only one out of a hundred could notice—it really was foolish.
“…That wasn’t my spell. And the one who cast it was at least dozens of times wiser than you.”
-I can’t understand…
The wizard ghost didn’t really seem to listen to Lee Han.
And anyway, it was questionable if a ghost could even think straight. According to Alsicle, spirits like this were incomplete existences.
Unlike liches, who maintained all their knowledge and abilities, you never knew what part a ghost might have lost.
“But the upper floors didn’t look like they involved space-time magic. Did you practice other schools of magic too?”
-I know nothing of other schools…
“There were definitely—ah.”
Lee Han paused.
“Do you know Erindarvel? She’s an archmage, has a kind nature, and makes a lot of mistakes…”
-I do not…
‘So the owner changed hands several times.’
Come to think of it, nothing said this ghost was the immediate previous owner.
Given all the chaos, it wasn’t strange if several wizards had used it.
“Didn’t the previous wizards undo your magic?”
-They tried, but all failed…
“!”
Lee Han became a bit worried.
If other wizards failed before, his confidence was shaken.
‘Can I really solve this?’
“Wait. Even if you failed, can’t you get help from another wizard? Or is that cheating?”
-No… I don’t care…
The ghost didn’t mind at all if he got help.
As long as someone completed the magic he left behind, it didn’t matter.
-But the other wizards… All asked me to keep secret that they failed…
“……”
Lee Han was dumbfounded.
What the heck is this?
‘What is going on here?’
If you fail, you should talk to another wizard to get it solved. Yet out of pride, they hid it until they sold the villa.
And not just once—multiple wizards did the same.
Wizards, honestly…!
‘Hmm. But if I can’t solve it, I’ll have to hide it until I sell it, too.’
Despite the ridiculousness, Lee Han learned another thing.
When selling a wizard’s workshop, you must hide its flaws as best you can.
-Here it is…
Upon reaching the end of the long circular underground stairs, the ghost passed through a door.
Lee Han moved to open the door and enter. At that moment, the space beyond the door split into innumerable spaces.
“???!?!”
-I tried to make a space of infinite, ever-changing possibilities defined by the wizard’s will… But it became uncontrollable… Release this magic…
“…I’m bringing someone else.”
Lee Han immediately gave up and prepared to call Professor Garcia.