Episode 1151
by CristaeEpisode 1151
Anyway, after receiving it, he just had to go down to the basement.
“You’re giving me something like this. What’s the reason?”
Jarun, now clear-headed, looked at his junior with eyes full of suspicion.
Lee Han answered calmly.
“You’re a fourth year, Senior.”
“!”
Jarun was greatly surprised.
He never imagined that a junior would give him such an artifact just for that reason.
It was a completely unexpected reason.
“The other seniors from the transmutation magic school were worried about you. They kept saying things like, ‘At this rate, he won’t graduate,’ or, ‘He’s going to become a wanderer in Einrogard and start appearing in the basement,’ and so on.”
“Wait. I’m not thinking about graduating…”
“Of course, I didn’t agree with them. No matter what, there’s no way Senior Jarun wouldn’t be able to graduate. You’re not Gainando, after all.”
Lee Han spoke with trust.
Of course, this dwarf senior was a very eccentric and difficult person.
But that aside, no one could deny his magical skills.
Continuously transforming connected dimensions to scrape out gold wasn’t the kind of magic just anyone could attempt.
A senior like that failing to graduate? That didn’t make sense.
‘The other seniors are making a huge fuss.’
Lee Han thought the other transmutation magic seniors were just overreacting.
No matter how outstanding a junior Lee Han was, there was a limit to imagination.
Before becoming a fourth year, a person simply couldn’t imagine the depths of the fourth year.
Who would really choose to give up graduation and become a wandering ghost haunting the school…?
“…No, it’s not like graduation is absolutely necessary, right?”
Jarun retorted before he knew it.
If it had been any other junior, he would have just ignored whatever they said and headed for the basement, but for some reason, facing this junior made him emotional and argue back.
What was so important about graduating from Einrogard?
What mattered was to keep walking the path of magic he had chosen.
“Graduation isn’t absolutely necessary. But becoming a wanderer in Einrogard and wandering the basement is a bit…”
“……”
As expected of the top student of his year, his junior had sharp logic.
If anything, it would be better to just drop out of Einrogard midway. But to wander the domain as a ghost simply because you weren’t confident you could pass graduation? What a pointless thing that would be.
That wasn’t the path of magic, but a pit of magical mud.
“You’d have to avoid the eyes of the Death Knights, professors, juniors, and you wouldn’t be able to get support or requests. Isn’t that such a waste?”
Jarun, a dwarf from the west who usually kept himself from conversations like this, couldn’t argue back.
He just kicked at a stone in front of him, sending it flying for no reason.
As Lee Han was making his point, he suddenly felt a sense of discomfort and asked,
“Senior, were you really thinking about giving up on graduation and running away?”
“Wha… What are you talking about! You brat! What do you take me for!”
“I thought so.”
Looking like he had expected that, Lee Han nodded.
‘I shouldn’t trust senior Hormasi’s words in the future.’
Maybe it was because several rare animals, including the griffon, especially liked Lee Han, but this senior seemed to grumble at him a lot.
“Anyway, I hope this helps. Oh, and if Professor Verdus finds out, I didn’t give this to you.”
After finishing his final remark tightly, his junior quickly left.
Jarun, left standing blankly, scratched his head and thought,
‘…I guess I should prepare something and submit it, even if it’s now…’
It was absolutely not because of that detestable junior brat.
Giselle of the Moradi family checked the blade of her beloved sword, Ice Flower, and meticulously inspected its magic.
She could feel the northern chill resonating pleasantly from the blade into her hand. Giselle faintly smiled. Nothing pleased her as much as her sword.
It was quiet and loyal, and never made any unnecessary mistakes.
“Moradi. Did your friends cause any trouble today?”
Senior Palga of the Ukim family, who was passing by, asked.
A member of the dueling club, this senior knew well how much Giselle had to struggle with her fellow second years.
“Yes.”
“That’s good.”
After Palga passed by, another senior, Ivanna, appeared.
“Moradi. Did your friends summon interdimensional monsters again today?”
“…No. Please forget about it.”
“Haha. Of course, I already did. But I think your friends should remember a bit. It’s the third time they’ve made the same mistake.”
“……”
Giselle swallowed her humiliation.
At times like this, she couldn’t help but compare her tower’s students with those of the White Tiger Tower.
Of course, each tower must have its own troubles.
Most incidents inside the White Tiger Tower didn’t leak out, so surely the same kinds of accidents were happening in other towers as well…
‘Ugh. But I bet the Blue Dragon Tower isn’t like this.’
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t get the idea out of her head that the Blue Dragon Tower’s students would be diligent and reliable.
Giselle frowned.
There was something about the current reality that was very different from what she had expected before entering school.
She had intended to win over not just the White Tiger Tower students but also those from other towers, to use them as stepping stones in the future…
…But things had turned out a bit differently. Even the White Tiger Tower students, let alone the others.
This wasn’t the role of a ruthless ruler, but more like a caretaker!
She didn’t especially dislike or feel dissatisfied with the current situation, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of having been tricked.
‘It’s all because of that Wardanaz, who keeps looking after everyone, no matter the tower, and swept everyone up in the mood.’
If he had acted that way on purpose, he was a truly terrifying strategist.
‘…No. That’s ridiculous.’
Giselle snapped out of it.
Everyone had their limits.
It made no sense to go that far, just to weaken Giselle’s hold, by looking after that prince.
That was just the way his personality was.
“Moradi. How do you think this coat would be in the north?”
“The material’s fine, but you should get rid of the metal decoration. It’ll be a headache if it touches your skin for no reason.”
“I see. Thanks.”
Bartrek of the Bark family, a friend from the same year, bowed as he passed by. Nodding back, Giselle felt something strange.
‘Why did he ask about the north?’
Of course, there were parts of Einrogard with environments similar to the northern empire’s cold and harsh regions.
There were no starving bandits, but there were hungry students instead, so it was roughly similar.
But when people went to such places, they’d just say they were going to the glacier zone or blizzard zone, not specifically ask about the imperial north.
What was this about?
“Moradi. Do you think the knights of your family would like this -Knight’s Delight- liquor?”
“…If it’s strong, they all like it…”
“Alright!”
This time, Angrago of the Alpha family walked off with a clinking box of bottles. The word ‘Thunderstep’ was engraved on the side of the box.
Giselle felt even more uneasy.
Knights, who trained their mana by using their bodies as a staff, could sense danger without predictive magic.
Right now, Giselle was certainly feeling a sense of danger.
“Moradi. About this northern commission, the patriarch said we could bring whoever we wanted, but is it really okay for all of us to go?”
The last question came from Deorgyu of the Choi family.
Giselle was shocked by this rare, normal question from one of the White Tiger Tower’s second years.
“What ‘northern commission’? And who’s this ‘patriarch’?”
“Huh? The commission the Moradi family patriarch invited us on. The one you and Lee Han got…”
“…I never said anyone could come along. What are you talking about?”
If it weren’t the patriarch’s order, Giselle wouldn’t have participated either.
Considering what Wardanaz did at the family’s domain last year, there was nothing good about going together this year.
Wardanaz was even the one who advised the patriarch that, ‘To improve the skills of apprentice knights, they should be trained like Einrogard students.’
Thinking about how much trouble that advice caused the domain’s knights, honestly, no matter who Wardanaz was, she wanted to tell him not to go.
If it was discovered she had advised that, for some unknown reason, assassins wielding knightly swordsmanship would probably keep visiting at night…
‘But what on earth are these guys talking about?!’
One was already a handful, so why were all the White Tiger Tower students coming as a group!?
“…Wasn’t participation supposed to be free for this?”
Deorgyu said, looking very flustered.
He distinctly remembered conversations like, “Moradi is going out on a commission from her family.” “Really?” “Participation is open.” “Oh, then I should go too.”
“What is this, some kind of street hockey match?! Anyone can join?! Of course not! This is a commission from Wardanaz! I’m the guide!”
“Gasp.”
It was truly rare to see Deorgyu so flustered that he made that kind of sound.
Hearing this, the other friends were also shocked and murmured to each other.
“Bu-but I definitely heard participation was open. Which bastard…?”
“Wasn’t it Angrago?”
“No way, you idiot! Bartrek seems suspicious!”
“Rowena’s quiet. Isn’t she the culprit?”
“I didn’t even sign up! I had no intention of going, either!”
The White Tiger Tower students put their heads together, trying to find the source of the rumor.
But they couldn’t find the culprit. In the end, the White Tiger Tower students concluded that it was ‘a hallucination created by the collective subconscious of everyone who wanted to go outside.’
“I see. Mysterious indeed. It’s like magic.”
“Shh. Shut it. Moradi’s about to draw her sword.”
“……”
The White Tiger Tower students quickly shut their mouths. Giselle asked in a cold voice.
“Since you’ve prepared like this, you’ve already reported to the professor, right?”
“…Yeah…”
“If you want to persuade him, talk to Wardanaz yourselves.”
“Mo-Moradi! P-please…”
“Please what?”
“…Couldn’t you at least come with us and watch our backs?”
White Tiger Tower students, reading the mood, quickly changed their words.
Deorgyu covered his face in embarrassment at his friends.
“What?! Everyone’s coming?!”
Lee Han was startled.
Angrago said, completely deflated.
“To be honest, I really prepared gifts to give to the knights on this visit to the domain. Isn’t there any way…?”
“No…”
Lee Han looked at Giselle, who was standing dumbfounded behind him.
Giselle spoke with her eyes.
‘Tell them to get lost.’
“…Moradi. One moment.”
Thinking that talking with their eyes wouldn’t resolve things, Lee Han pulled his friend aside.
“Just to be clear, I never invited them. It’s hard enough for one person to go to the domain, let alone several.”
“No, it’s not the going that’s the problem… Hmm… Well… Fine. I’ll just be honest, Moradi. In fact, I had something I wanted to do during this outing for the commission. That’s why I prepared.”
“?”
Giselle was puzzled.
Was there really something for Wardanaz to go out of his way for?
If it was someone else, she’d think they were trying to attend a ball or social gathering, but as everyone knew, Wardanaz was the furthest from that type of person.
‘Smuggling? That’d be too easy for Wardanaz. Was he going to buy an evil forbidden spellbook or something?’
“What were you trying to do?”
“I wanted to hunt down some evil god worshippers. That’s why I invited Senior Catten as well.”
“……”
No matter how much time she had, it was an answer she never would have guessed.