Episode 1056

The Skull Headmaster brazenly replied to Professor Garcia’s protest.

If that kid set his mind to it, he could easily persuade Professor Voladi to come back. The fact that he hasn’t means he actually likes roaming around with him.

“……”

It was ridiculous logic, but Professor Garcia couldn’t immediately refute it.

Certainly, with her student’s conversational skill, he would have more than enough power to persuade.

Professor Voladi was stern and blunt, but comparatively gentle with his student. If Lee Han had whined, the chance he would listen was high.

‘…Wait, am I getting fooled by the Headmaster?’

As Professor Garcia felt confused, there were people watching from the second-floor balcony of the villa.

It was Joulin and Eandurde.

The golden-haired girl, licking her ice cream as she watched, asked Eandurde,

“Is Gonadaltes always like that to Lee Han?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“That’s so mean!”

Joulin stamped the tiled floor with the heel of her red shoe, indignantly as if it was her own problem.

She’d had no idea the outside world would be like this when she was in the mansion.

“I’m decided. When Joulin goes to Einrogard, I’ll make sure that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore!”

“…Uh… is that really necessary…?”

Eandurde suddenly felt uneasy.

If Joulin had already been a powerful adult dragon, maybe Eandurde would have been excited—‘Wow, the dragon’s going to turn Einrogard upside down!’

But the Joulin Eandurde had seen so far was still a bit rough around the edges.

Even if she tried to change Einrogard, she’d likely end up being taken advantage of by the Skull Headmaster instead…

“What are you two talking about?”

While they chatted, other second-year students heard Joulin and approached.

Joulin, glad to see students she remembered from last term, called out to them.

“Ah, you’re all here! Listen up! Hear Joulin’s resolve!”

“Huh? What kind of resolve?”

“When Joulin goes to Einrogard…!”

Joulin, in human form, delivered a passionate speech.

Though less imposing than in dragon form (in fact, her appearance was so cute it was more like a bisque doll, so there was no intimidation at all), her ardent sincerity touched the second-year students’ hearts.

As her speech ended, the number of students listening had multiplied several times.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap—!

“Long live Your Highness! Long live Your Highness!!”

“The Empire’s future is here!”

Only Eandurde remained sane, glancing frantically around.

He figured his senior had better return soon if they wanted to minimize the dragon’s mischief.

• * *

“Wardanaz.”

“Hm?”

“Be honest.”

Giselle spoke in a cold voice.

Lee Han, who was putting a gag on their third wanted criminal up front, stiffened a bit.

“…I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“What are you hiding!”

What happened when they caught the second wanted criminal was as follows.

-Is it here?

-It’s a speakeasy below, sounds like an illegal gambling den. A place mercenaries gather. Okay, both of you, listen. If we create a disturbance with magic at the entrance, Professor Baegrek will be waiting at the rear for an ambush. Got it, Wardanaz?

-I see. Understood, Moradi. …Everyone, throw weapons aside and get down!

-Hey! Wardanaz! Why are you charging in by yourself?! Have you lost your mind?!

-You bastard. Are you an evil god cultist? Confess now! If we find out later you were hiding it, you’ll face retribution from a great noble house!

-S-spare me! No! I have nothing to do with an evil god!

The students planned to create a distraction and Professor Voladi would ambush from the back—a well-crafted operation, but Wardanaz ignored it and just acted on his own.

Giselle simply could not understand it.

If it were Angrago, maybe, but someone like Wardanaz losing his head and charging in? No way.

It was the same with the third wanted criminal.

-…They say he’s hiding in the workshop basement. Wardanaz, if you act on your own again this time… Wait, where did Wardanaz go?

-Lee Han? He used invisibility magic and went in just now?

-…Why you little—!

While Giselle was distracted by a friend saying he’d get snacks (and craving the freshly-baked waffles), she cursed herself and dashed into the workshop.

There she saw Lee Han having beaten all the target’s allies into submission, interrogating the wanted criminal: ‘Are you an evil god cultist! If you are, confess now!’

No matter how she thought about it, this was weird.

“…Phew. I guess I had no choice. I thought I’d be fine since Gainando wasn’t suspicious, but I guess it was too much.”

Giselle’s fingertips trembled with rage at her friend’s rude reply.

‘Who does this guy think he’s comparing me to, really?’

With any other friend, maybe!

Giselle closed her eyes for a quick meditation.

Her experience from Einrogard wasn’t limited to magic; it applied to swordsmanship too.

Without that, it would have been impossible to calm herself this quickly.

“You’re right. You acted imprudently. Let me guess—You heard something, didn’t you? Some info about the wanted criminal even the professor didn’t know. And you’re trying to keep it to yourself.”

Knowing a lot about how bounty hunters operate, Giselle guessed keenly.

Lee Han admitted it.

“It’s kind of like that.”

“See. You’re usually obsessed with risks—”

“Professor Baegrek can’t find out.”

Lee Han told Giselle what the Skull Headmaster had told him.

Gainando was better off not knowing, but there was no point lying to the already-suspicious Giselle.

When she heard about the connection between the newly resurrected evil god cult and Professor Baegrek, the elf’s face froze.

This was completely different from what she’d expected.

“But what were you just about to say? About how I always chase danger or something?”

“You’re always willing to risk danger. Even for a Blue Dragon Tower guy, I respect that.”

Giselle hurriedly changed her words.

She’d never imagined THIS was why Lee Han had been trailing Professor Voladi.

She really had thought they were just out bounty-hunting together…!

“I don’t think that’s what you meant?”

Lee Han was a bit suspicious, but with everything going on, didn’t press further.

“Anyway, Moradi. Since it already happened once, you need to be extra careful going forward. Don’t let Professor Baegrek find out.”

“Did you run into more evil god cultists?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Giselle privately mourned the fate of the criminals caught second and third.

Ordinary small-time crooks, but because of bad luck got bombarded with magic and threats.

‘Now there’ll be even scarier rumors about the Wardanaz family… oh well, Lee Han doesn’t care anyway.’

The Wardanaz family already had a few grisly rumors, and Lee Han didn’t seem to care much either.

Giselle simply let the thought go.

For Lee Han, who was, in fact, rather sensitive to such rumors, this was a rather lamentable thing.

“So for the rest of the wanted criminals, do we have to catch them before Professor Baegrek every time?”

“Yeah. Catch them first, check if they’re cultists, and if they are, threaten them to keep their mouths shut.”

“What if they’re not cultists?”

“Still threaten them to keep their mouths shut. If they tell Professor Baegrek anything weird, it might make him suspicious.”

‘You already seem suspicious enough…’

Giselle thought, but just shook her head to finish it.

Still, she felt a bit sorry for Lee Han going through all this trouble for Professor Baegrek.

‘…Wait. Why is a second-year like Wardanaz doing this… Oh. Professor Baegrek doesn’t have any other students.’

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. By the way, what’s with all this about revenge from the great noble house? You kept saying it earlier.”

“I don’t even know. I just said whatever came to mind.”

“………”

Giselle was speechless.

What kind of guy is this?

But it was certainly effective. Even she’d flinched hearing it.

“Are you not telling the prince? You’d think he’s suspicious by now.”

“Oh. Right.”

Lee Han replied as if he’d just remembered, and Giselle nodded knowingly.

“Better bring him some waffles. That’ll make him forget his suspicions.”

“…I shouldn’t be the one to say it, but aren’t you underestimating the prince too much?”

• * *

Magic criminal Kitarenanum poured sticky black fluid over the empty upper left half of his body.

With a sizzle, his mutilated flesh slowly regenerated, then was repeatedly destroyed again.

“Ugh. Damn spider bastard!”

The rumors about the ones from the void outside the dimension weren’t exaggerated.

Their venom was nothing like the continent’s spider monsters—it burrowed into your existence itself, leaving dreadful aftereffects.

Kitarenanum had barely escaped with his life, but lost much of his stored magic and some of his body. It was a truly grievous blow.

Creak—

“Wizard. The boss says to collect your lodging fee.”

“…Here.”

Kitarenanum tossed a handful of gems to the mercenary who came in.

A magic criminal who’d just barely survived could only rely on fellow criminals for shelter.

Kitarenanum was now in what mercenaries called the -Capital Underground Fortress-.

Of course, it wasn’t a real fortress.

It was a village, abandoned and ruined not far from the capital wall.

Some mercenaries who found it had converted the underground remains into something like a fortress.

Time, history, and rumor had gradually given these village ruins a defense to rival some real fortresses.

The Empire is vast, and there are plenty of places out of knights’ reach—there’s no shortage of these hidden bandit lairs…

…But Kitarenanum had a high opinion of this particular underground village.

It was all thanks to the boss who ran the place.

‘Ironcloak Ibinta, you bastard… I’ll pay you back for this once I recover.’

Ironcloak Ibinta.

Once from the infamous adventurer group -Canglea’s Prospecters-, now the leader of the bandit gang running this village underground.

What made him special was his caution.

Normally, a base like this would have the bandits getting greedy and starting to rob merchants or wagons nearby.

But Ibinta was so careful, it was hard to believe he was a bandit at all. He’d travel far to do a job, but never caused trouble in the hideout itself.

Thanks to that, this underground village had never been discovered. That’s why Kitarenanum, barely surviving, could hide out here.

“Oh, wizard. Don’t go outside for a while, all right? Someone’s lurking near the village.”

“Do you know who?”

“No idea. Probably looking for runaway slaves or something.”

The bandit showed no fear.

He was confident no one could find this underground, and even if someone did, it didn’t matter.

Even if a raid squad came down from above, with this fortress’s defenses, they could just escape through tunnels.

“………”

Kitarenanum partly agreed. The underground fortress really was sturdy.

But for some reason, he felt restless and uneasy.

Why was that?

‘Let’s check.’

Kitarenanum activated his surveillance magic set up outside. It was a spell prepared on the surface just in case.

“…!!!!”

Kitarenanum, spotting a mage wandering the village, immediately shot up and began packing his things.

He had to get away from here as fast as possible!