Episode 1057

‘Why is that guy here?’

Kitarenanum didn’t know who exactly had chased him, but he was indeed a seasoned magic criminal.

He wasn’t so reckless as to fight a powerful battle mage while still not fully recovered.

If something felt off, he ran.

Criminals in the Empire who actually stuck to this simple principle were rarer than you’d think.

Kitarenanum quickly packed up everything scattered in his small room, headed to the storeroom at the end of the hall, and swept up all the dried meat and bread.

Then, wrapping himself in an invisibility cloak, he dashed for the underground escape route.

‘Do your best, Ibinta! May luck of the thieves be with you!’

• * *

“Strange.”

In fact, Professor Voladi had not come here looking for Ironcloak Ibinta.

He was searching for a ranch owner who’d fled to the nearby forest and then stumbled on this ruined village.

“Indeed. There’s even a farsight spell installed over there.”

With sharp perception, Lee Han noticed the spell on the remains above ground.

There was a strange sense of discord, as if magic flow was different just in that area.

Giselle stared at her friend at his remark.

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing.”

Her friend’s senses were climbing ever higher from human to monstrous range.

At this rate, by next semester he might be closer to the professors than a fellow student…

“Wow. Whoever it is, he must really be a moron.”

Gainando sneered.

Leaving such easily detectable magic here was basically declaring, ‘I’m right here!’

Of course, that was a rather unfair insult to the bandits here—or to Kitarenanum.

To the bandits, the magic criminal had selfishly caused them trouble…

…and from Kitarenanum’s angle, he could also complain.

-How do you expect me to disguise something so well that monster-like people sense it? Should I have hidden it better with no magic left and these injuries!?

He could hardly spare power for that, being so injured.

“Maybe it’s the ranch owner in the woods who set it?”

“No. The magic is too advanced.”

Professor Voladi shook his head, recalling the ranch owner’s information.

The man was wanted for secretly importing and selling illegal mutant cockatrice eggs and had made a mess before fleeing. If he were skilled at magic, he wouldn’t have caused such a mess in the first place.

Typical amateur.

“There are traces in the village.”

“Traces?”

Lee Han asked, puzzled.

Other than magic, he hadn’t sensed much in these ruins.

“The debris is artificial.”

“!”

Lee Han was greatly surprised by the professor’s answer.

To see a pattern of artificial arrangement in what many would just dismiss as dust and ruined junk—

Ruins untouched by humans should be irregular in pattern.

‘Remarkable.’

“There’s likely someone hiding underground here.”

Having said that, Professor Voladi said he’d go check the woods and told them to wait.

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Lee Han and Giselle answered immediately. Gainando happily sat on a nearby boulder.

‘Heh heh, looks like this one will go easy.’

“Did he go?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s move.”

At Giselle’s words, Lee Han nodded and headed toward the ruins.

Just settling in to rest, Gainando shouted in surprise.

“Where are you going?!”

“We’re going to catch the guys hiding underground before the professor gets back.”

“……”

Seeing Lee Han and Giselle act like this was perfectly normal, Gainando began to wonder if he was the crazy one.

‘Am I the odd one here!?’

The professor had very clearly told them to wait…?

“L-Lee Han, did you fight with Professor Baegrek?”

“No. If I had, I wouldn’t be this intact.”

‘Reasonable…’

Giselle thought, impressed.

That was a logical answer, for sure.

“Then why are you breaking in on your own?”

“Hmm.”

Lee Han and Giselle exchanged glances.

Would it be possible to persuade Gainando without telling him about needing to hide evil god-related information from Professor Voladi?

“I’ve always been crazy for challenges, you know.”

“Yeah. He’s a total maniac.”

Giselle threw herself in as backup at Lee Han’s words. When Lee Han stared, she whispered, flustered,

“I-I’m just backing you up!”

“It sounded heartfelt… Anyway, thanks.”

Gainando stared at the two and let out a deep sigh.

“Well. Lee Han always did this stuff. Let’s go.”

“……”

Lee Han wondered if he should be glad his friend was convinced so easily, or worried.

“Yeah. Let’s go in.”

“But what if it’s dangerous?”

“It’s not that far from the capital and the village isn’t that big. At most there’ll be a dozen or so inside.”

Lee Han used a crystal spinner for divination on how dangerous it was. The result didn’t seem particularly ominous.

“Arise, golem of bone.”

Lee Han summoned a draconic bone golem and ordered Gainando to bring out his own summoned creature.

Preparing beside him, Giselle wondered inwardly.

‘But how are we supposed to find the entrance?’

Even if the village was small, finding a hideout’s entrance hidden in ruins wasn’t always easy.

Their skill at camouflage alone showed they weren’t amateurs. If it wasn’t for a hunter at Professor Voladi’s level, the sense of oddness might not have been noticed.

“You ready?”

“Yeah. But how will we find—?”

Lee Han immediately began blasting the floor of the ruins indiscriminately with Water Orb Projectiles.

Trusting in his mana, he fired until it worked. The area erupted like a hailstorm in the ruins.

Crash!

Eventually, one particularly unfortunate bit of ground collapsed and revealed an entrance. Lee Han widened the hole and jumped in.

“……”

“……”

And found himself face to face with twenty heavily armed bandits all around.

Lee Han and the bandits stared at each other, both startled.

“An intru—!”

“There are more than I thought! Be careful, everyone! Split, Perkuntra’s lightning!”

“Ahhh! That crazy mage bastard!”

Despite being surprised, Lee Han fired off a barrage of chain lightning so fast the bandits shrieked and retreated down the passage.

“Gainando! Don’t come down, just send your summons!”

“Stop talking, focus!”

Giselle, who’d already jumped in, gave Lee Han a whack and shouted.

The hideout was far larger than they’d expected. From the number of fleeing bandits and the layout of the passages, the scale and quality was clear.

Rock-carved corridors, segmentable walls, all kinds of traps—this was no time to worry about the prince left above.

Papatapatapat—

Some fleeing bandits had already activated devices: flying blades flew in from all directions.

Lee Han had the bone golem smash walls and traps, blocking the rest with telekinesis.

“What is this, a fortress?!”

“We were too hasty!”

Giselle realized.

She’d been focused only on Wardanaz’s goal, underestimating the opponent.

She’d thought bandits hiding in a village wouldn’t be much, but—

‘Still such an amateur! Let my guard down!’

Clack!

At some point, the passage above closed off and new walls opened on either side. Bandits charged with a shout.

Giselle knocked down attackers with wild swings of her sword. Frost surged with every slash, and the bandits cursed her.

“Mage! Bring frost resistance potion, quick!”

“Wardanaz, some backup here…!”

Pushing forward, planning to clear out the enemies here first then head up, Giselle sensed something was off.

Normally, her friend would be blasting away with several times her own firepower, but he’d gone silent.

“…I summon you!”

With a distortion in space, the Thunder King tore up the rock of the underground fortress, radiating his terrifying aura.

Giselle shouted in disbelief.

“You summoned a spirit king?!”

“The enemy’s stronger than I expected.”

Lee Han truly was a great Einrogard mage.

The moment things went off-script, he didn’t stubbornly hold back, but called in his strongest available force.

It might look like pulling out a dragon-slaying sword to catch a chicken, but…

Amazing! To summon Thunder King for an actually reasonable reason! Why aren’t you always like this?

Perkuntra, summoned for once with a legitimate reason, gleefully began sweeping the underground fortress.

The bandits watched their dwarven-purchased devices and corridor bulkheads destroyed like a natural disaster, and Giselle felt a surge of unexpected sympathy.

‘They’re bandits, but their luck’s just abysmal…!’

• * *

“Professor! Professor!”

Gainando tried to run toward the woods, yelling, when the last open entrance closed and his friends vanished. He was completely panicked.

But Professor Voladi suddenly appeared right beside him, as if he’d been there all along.

“!??!”

Falling over, Gainando blinked, thinking he was seeing things.

But it was definitely Professor Voladi.

“Wh-when did you get here?!”

“I was waiting over there.”

Professor Voladi explained calmly.

Lately, his student had been acting strangely, and he’d noticed.

He’d guessed Lee Han would break in as soon as Voladi left to search the forest.

“B-but…! Lee Han’s been risking his life and being reckless lately, but he’s always done that…”

Gainando trailed off before finishing ‘Lee Han’s always been like that.’

He’d always tried to deny it for the sake of friendship, but honestly, Lee Han had been a little strange lately.

Maybe the trauma from losing to the headmaster was still lingering?

Kwarurururururung!

“Wh-what was that sound?”

“He summoned the Thunder King.”

Hearing the noise below and feeling the powerful spirit, Professor Voladi grasped the situation instantly.

Under those circumstances, the only spirit Lee Han would summon was the Thunder King.

…Though it sounded odd to pull out that spirit just for bandit-hunting, considering Lee Han’s mana reserves it wasn’t unreasonable.

“So…what about the lesson?”

“Lesson?”

“You were going to step in to help, and Lee Han was supposed to reflect and say he won’t go into dangerous places anymore, right?!”

Professor Voladi slowly shook his head.

That convoluted scheme wasn’t at all what he’d had in mind.

With the kind of bandits hiding here, there was no way to put his student in enough danger to make him reflect.

Given that he’d already immediately summoned the Thunder King…

Professor Voladi was simply standing by in case something truly unexpected occurred.

Hearing his friend would learn no lesson, Gainando looked like he’d been struck by lightning.

‘No way!’

“Professor! You have to scold him firmly!”

“I don’t know about that.”

Professor Voladi was skeptical.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

There was no way his stubborn student would simply obey if told not to do something.

Especially since even Voladi himself hadn’t obeyed as a student.

“Lately Lee Han always tries to subjugate things alone! And now he seems obsessed with evil god cultists, but who’s ever tried taking down evil god cultists alone?!”

Jumping up and down with anger, Gainando didn’t notice Professor Voladi flinch a little.

Even if he’d been calm, he might not have noticed.

“With thorough planning and a will of steel, it’s not impossi—”

“Impossible! Only a total lunatic would try that!”

“……”

Professor Voladi hesitated.

He tried to respond but finally just gave up.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Exactly! Please, you have to say so, Professor!”

“Which cult is it? Prahgall?”

The cult with the worst history with his student would be the chimeric cult of life force.

Getting obsessed with subjugating them over break wouldn’t be too odd.

“I don’t think so? I’ve never seen Lee Han reading related books.”

“Then is it Ksaksarigol?”

“Nope. He didn’t react much when seeing related bounty posters.”

For once, Gainando was unexpectedly sharp.

It made Professor Voladi pause.

Besides those two, was there another evil god cult connected to his student?