Episode 1035

“Uh, is this really okay??”

Even while flying like an arrow, Lee Han couldn’t help but wonder.

It was only natural.

Was it really okay to leave his senior behind like this when a crazy knight had shown up?

“If two powerful combat mages leave, then Senior might…”

“Lee Han! Confidence is good, but! This is! Not something! Lee Han! Needs to get involved in!”

Pop!

Professor Garcia followed with a spatial jump as he spoke.

Currently, Professor Voladi was casting a highly advanced combination of strength enhancement, time acceleration, spatial reduction, and more.

The speed was such that one blink, and he’d be gone.

To keep up, Professor Garcia had to grit his teeth and use space leap as well.

‘Really now. I do think Lee Han could use a bit more confidence, but grouping himself with Professor Baegrek?’

“No, I was talking about you two professors.”

“…I’m not a combat mage, Lee Han!”

Professor Garcia let out a shrill, incredulous scream.

His spatial leap faltered and he staggered, which made Professor Voladi stop as well.

“This should be far enough.”

“Th-thank you, Professor.”

“I should be thanking you too?”

Lee Han also offered his thanks alongside Professor Garcia.

The question mark at the end was because he wasn’t sure he really should be grateful yet.

“Still, isn’t it a bit much to just leave with that crazy knight there…”

“Really, don’t worry. Senior is more than capable of shaking him off alone.”

Professor Garcia truly wasn’t worried at all.

The old Headmaster’s former disciples, those visible outside Einrogard, always had the skills to take care of themselves.

Those who didn’t had already wound up in the punishment room ages ago.

Given the great artist’s skill, even the strongest knight would be toyed with and escaped from in an instant.

“Even so, it’s just a bit…”

“Argh!! You spell-throwing brat!!! Disappearing again!!! Come out right now!!!!”

Before he could finish, the infuriated voice of the knight could be heard in the distance.

Professor Garcia spoke as if to prove his point.

“You see?”

“R-right, I see.”

Lee Han tried not to show his disappointment.

“But Professor, I didn’t think Senior would end up bu… Well, I didn’t think he’d fail to keep his word like those other common enchanters.”

“Senior isn’t bu… not like those other enchanters who don’t keep their promises.”

Professor Garcia tilted his head.

Unlike Professor Verdus, who never intended to keep promises in the first place, the artist usually kept his fairly well.

For him to break and run like that was unusual.

“Maybe he… Or, no. No, that’s a bit much.”

“!”

Lee Han was startled by Professor Garcia trailing off.

Could it be?

“Is it what I’m thinking?”

“…Probably. Lee Han, it’s…”

“That knight is Headmaster’s minion, and Senior realized it, right?”

“Completely wrong!!”

Professor Garcia was appalled by his student’s wild imagination. Even Professor Voladi seemed faintly surprised.

“It’s not? That’s the only thing I could think of.”

“Senior’s work hit a snag. If it hadn’t, there’d be no need for him to run like that.”

Enchanters who loudly took commissions but then got stuck always fell into two types.

One was like Professor Verdus, boldly declaring ‘I’m stuck! Not my fault! I did my best!’

The other ran away to try to figure things out.

The artist was the classic latter type.

“Couldn’t he just explain the situation and ask for more time?”

“What are you saying, Lee Han? How could anyone do something so shameful?”

The mere thought of such a disgraceful act made Professor Garcia shudder.

Even Professor Voladi shook his head, as if to say absolutely not. Lee Han felt a bit wronged.

‘Am I the weird one?’

“In any case, we’d better intervene before Petrogarde students get hurt.”

The Garihhi knight, having lost the artist, was bellowing and terrorizing the Petrogarde students.

As professors of a magic school, they couldn’t just let that be.

“Understood.”

“Wait!”

As Professor Voladi started forward, Professor Garcia quickly stopped him.

“?

“…I’ll do it!”

“No. Professor, you’re not a combat mage.”

Lee Han made quick use of what he’d just learned. Professor Garcia glared at his overly clever student.

‘Doesn’t know people at all!’

If Professor Voladi went, the knight would end up hurt needlessly.

Since the rampage ultimately traced back to Senior, Garcia didn’t want to be too harsh to the knight.

But Professor Garcia was overlooking just how much his student had grown.

Of course, Lee Han already guessed what the professor was thinking.

“I’ll go with Professor Baegrek. If it looks like the opponent will get hurt, I’ll make sure to stop it.”

“Lee Han, it’s not that I doubt your skills, but are you sure?”

“No worries. Professor will listen if we tell him.”

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Voladi nodded calmly to indicate there was no reason to worry.

Professor Garcia felt both reassured and, in a different sense, a bit anxious.

‘Isn’t he trusting his students too much?’

Einrogard professors were supposed to maintain a healthy level of suspicion toward students.

‘Student struggle against professors’ was basically the unofficial motto of the school.

Of course, he wasn’t one to talk, but…

“Okay, let’s g… Professor! You have to move with us!!”

Lee Han scrambled to chase after Professor Voladi, who was already disappearing in the distance.

• * *

Ram of the Garihhi family was an excellent knight, but he had a critical weakness.

Complacency.

He was complacent, thinking only Petrogarde and Baldrogard mages were present.

That complacency tripped him up.

“…Eh?”

Professor Voladi planted shadow-forged cursed daggers in each of the knight’s limbs, then quickly retreated.

As soon as Ram counterattacked, he realized his opponent was gone—and that his arms and legs had become as heavy as iron.

‘…Strong!’

Ram, who had been furious about the artist, felt his anger disappear, his mind clearing.

That single strike had been lethal. Whatever curse it was—weaving together many spells—even fiery mana couldn’t easily dispel it.

To be cursed like that before even grasping the opponent’s identity… Unthinkable.

Thunk!

“Urgh!”

At the same time, powerful telekinesis pressed down on the knight. It was -Wardanaz Telekinesis-.

“I’ll subdue you for causing a disturbance in Petrogarde.”

“How… dare…! Ngh!”

As the knight circulated all his mana to break the telekinetic bonds, Lee Han immediately cast -Eye of the Raven- as well.

In response, the knight’s whole body burst into flames.

Literal flames, not a metaphor for mana burning.

“Hrnnngh!”

‘Mana explosion!’

Lee Han was impressed by the rare knight’s technique.

Knights couldn’t match mages, but they could infuse their mana with elemental attributes.

This knight had evidently filled his body with maximum fire element and detonated it. Not elegant as magic, but the raw power was impressive.

He drove off -Eye of the Raven- and even Wardanaz Telekinesis in an instant.

“How dare a mage show himself boldly before a knight!”

Though the curse daggers still bound him, Ram tried to grab Lee Han with the rest of his mana.

Magic reflecting off would also cause backlash for the mage.

But at that moment, Lee Han re-cast telekinesis and Eye.

“Urgh…! H-How…?!”

He hadn’t expected an opponent to keep bombarding him with magic even as it rebounded—Ram collapsed, stunned.

Lee Han felt a twinge of guilt.

“Sorry. Please calm down…”

“A Baldrogard mage, this strong… ugh!”

‘Oops.’

Lee Han had cranked up the telekinesis too high and hastily stopped, but the opponent was already unconscious.

Professor Voladi watched him, and Lee Han made an excuse without thinking.

“He’s not badly hurt. …Probably.”

• * *

When Ram regained consciousness, he apologized sincerely.

Not just out of defeat. As an imperial knight, rampaging in another magic school’s domain was shameful.

“…Sorry, everyone. How embarrassing.”

“What request did you have for the artist, that made you so angry?”

“Well. It’s a long story.”

Ram looked uncomfortable. Professor Voladi moved very slowly behind him, as if preparing for torture. Anyone could see it was a threat.

Panicking, Lee Han quickly burst out,

“Please, tell us! Maybe we can help!”

“Well… all right. I’ll tell you.”

Ram, realizing his situation, gave in.

He didn’t think these mages would back off easily.

Ram of the Garihhi family, a knight of the Imperial Fire Order, had, since childhood, a promised lover who was also a childhood friend.

But she was born weak and ultimately died young of a magical plague.

The grieving knight sought out the great artist,

To win a piece that could memorialize his beloved in life.

“……”

“……”

Upon hearing the story, Lee Han and Professor Garcia sweated buckets.

The guilt made the sweat unstoppable.

“…Professor!!”

“I-I didn’t know, Lee Han! There was no way I could have known!”

Lee Han, who had helped magically subdue Ram, felt twice the guilt.

“This won’t do. We need to at least explain things.”

“Let’s do that, Lee Han!”

After their conversation, they approached. Ram looked puzzled at the two hesitant mages.

What…?

“Actually, you see…”

30 minutes later.

After hearing the explanation, the red-haired knight frowned.

“I see. So that’s how it was?”

“We apologize on his behalf.”

“We’re sorry!”

As the junior from the same school, Professor Garcia and Lee Han sincerely apologized.

But Ram shook his head.

“It’s all right. I’d almost thought I’d been abandoned, but it’s better knowing it wasn’t that. But why avoid explaining the reason?”

“…Right! Exactly!”

Lee Han deeply empathized.

If they’d just explained, would this well-meaning knight have exploded like that?

Tap tap tap—

Freed from his bindings, Ram dusted himself off as he rose.

“No need to beat yourselves up. I did something shameful too. Let’s just forget it.”

“Sob. I’ll never forget your chivalrous forgiveness, Sir Knight.”

“Please, don’t… Give my apologies to the Petrogarde mages too. Sorry I can’t do it in person. I caused too much trouble for such exceptional mages.”

The knight apologized as he praised every Petrogarde mage’s work he’d seen.

The dynamically alive wyvern statue (whose wings were, admittedly, a bit odd), the painting of the beautiful moon spirit swimming in a night pond,

And the portrait of the prince hanging in the artist’s room that seemed to come alive…

“Indeed, Petrogarde mages have exceptional qualities.”

Lee Han honestly admitted it.

His thoughts had changed after his encounter with the great artist.

Petrogarde, unlike Baldrogard, truly had many remarkable aspects.

“…Wait. What did you just say? Which painting?”

“You mean the painting of the beautiful moon spirit swimming in a night pond? Actually, it might have been the undead emerging from a poison swamp…”

Though there was something about the last part, Lee Han let it go—it wasn’t important.

“You said there was a prince’s painting inside the residence? That moved?!”

“That’s right. Very friendly, too. Do you know which prince it is?”

“……”