Episode 1001

Episode 1001

While Senior was fuming over the absurdity, Lee Han kept moving without stopping.

In fact, the fact that Yukveltire got angry had already long vanished from Lee Han’s mind.

Some mages of Einrogard were on Lee Han’s list of -people you can ignore even if they grumble or complain-, and this senior, who bore the blood of the royals, had also confidently made it onto that list.

“Huh!? You can move already?!”

On the second floor of the Black Dark Hall, Direte, who was performing embalming in the morgue (Raphadael was on the verge of tears), was startled to see the junior who had entered the workshop.

Thinking back, it wouldn’t have been strange if he’d taken a few more days off…

“I’m fine now. I came to take the final first.”

“Really? Then I’ll have to ask Professor Mortum for the rest.”

Direte sealed the rest of the ashes in the jar with magic.

For the past few days, Professor Mortum had been assisting the skeletal headmaster in readjusting the magic near the Einrogard domain and purifying the flow of wickedly contaminated mana.

Since it had been exceedingly strenuous labor, Professor Mortum was now bedridden and groaning.

But Einrogard mages were expected to carry on their duties even if they were ailing.

Even the school’s disciple showed up without rest, so the professor ought to have come out to work as well. Direte was strict about such things.

“Go fetch Professor Mortum.”

“Um, senior. The professor… was, well, overused just a bit ago, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. But he’ll be fine if you give him a potion. Grab the potion up there and pour it into his mouth.”

“…Yes!”

Raphadael nodded with an even more terrified face than before.

It was hard to tell whether he was afraid of the morgue or the senior in front of him.

“Are you really okay?”

While going down the stairs to take the final, Direte questioned the junior.

Though he hadn’t witnessed it directly, Direte had a pretty good grasp from the various rumors and testimonies.

When the headmaster, feeling threatened by the more popular Mad Clone, finally tried to subjugate him, the enraged junior joined the opposing side…

There was no way he could be unscathed after facing the skeletal headmaster. Even if he looked fine now, the flow of mana inside must still be greatly twisted…

‘Huh. He’s fine.’

Using a triangular bone talisman to observe the junior’s mana flow, Direte was flustered.

He was really fine, much more than expected.

“Then, cast -Raven’s Eye-, summon Skeleton Golem, and the rest… all you need to do is make a few poisons and potions from the list here. Can you do it?”

“!”

Lee Han was startled.

Not because the exam was hard, but because it was easy. Wasn’t this just a review of what he’d learned during the semester?

“Senior. You don’t need to do this.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“You made it easy on purpose because I collapsed, didn’t you?”

Lee Han spoke firmly.

Of course, an easy exam wasn’t a bad thing, but he didn’t want to trouble his respected senior because of his own greed.

Not to mention, it wasn’t Yukveltire but Direte after all.

“Actually, senior, I’m not going to be so obsessed with exams going forward…”

“Nope.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s not it.”

Direte looked at the junior in disbelief, not understanding what he was on about.

“The reason the exam is like this is because you covered all the material this semester on your own. No need to go further, so I’m just checking.”

“…Ah. I see.”

An awkward air passed between them.

Sensing the junior’s embarrassment, Direte spoke kindly.

“Then shall we begin the exam?”

“Yes!”

• * *

The exam took less than ten minutes. Direte thought inwardly, having given a perfect score.

‘Didn’t he say he wasn’t obsessed with exams?’

“Junior. Vacation’s coming up—what will you do?”

“I think I’ll be traveling all over the empire with the headmaster to negotiate for a loan extension.”

“…Uh, uh…”

The answer was so utterly different from what Direte expected that he was utterly speechless.

‘Wait. Didn’t he promise to help with Yukveltire’s research during break?’

Come to think of it, Lee Han had definitely promised to help with Yukveltire’s artificial dimension research during vacation.

Yukveltire himself had hammered it in so much that it was hard to forget.

-This wedge horn part still isn’t finished. Want me to help?

-No need. I’ll leave it to the junior of the Wardanaz family when he joins during break.

-…No matter how much mana he has, isn’t it a bit much to use a junior like that… Then what about this overlapping magic circle?

-Oh. I’ll leave that to the Wardanaz junior as well when he comes. Used up a lot of mana so I left it empty.

-It’d be nice if his plans changed and he didn’t come at all… Fine. Got it.

-What did you say?

-Nothing. Never mind.

But Direte said nothing.

He couldn’t hold back the hard-working junior for Einrogard due to a petty reason.

This was something Yukveltire, as a senior, should yield.

Flap!

When a paper bird flew in through the window, Direte burned it away with black fire, looking annoyed. Lee Han was mystified.

‘They have pesky advertising paper birds even in Einrogard?’

“Who sent it?”

“Yukveltire. It was obviously going to be something useless, so I burned it. If it’s urgent, he’ll come himself.”

“I see. I think so too.”

The conversation about the Small World they had before coming here was already cleared from Lee Han’s mind.

• * *

Finishing the exam and exiting the Black Dark Hall, Lee Han fell into thought.

‘No matter how you look at it, the senior made it way too easy. Could Direte be lying?’

He felt uneasy, worried that Direte might suffer disadvantages later because of him.

When Lee Han arrived at his destination and opened the door to the -On the Understanding of Extremely Difficult and Profound Arcane Magic- classroom, Professor Garcia shouted hurriedly,

“Lee Han, you’re here for the exam, right? Just write your name on the blank sheet and you can leave!”

“……”

Even Gainando could have gotten a perfect score with this novel exam format, and Lee Han was appalled.

“A-are you sure this is okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Professor Garcia looked so busy she couldn’t even lift her head.

Even while talking with Lee Han, her eyes and hands were fixed on the magic on her desk.

“I feel like the headmaster might get angry.”

You could tell just by how Professor Verdus sometimes vanished into the punishment room.

Einrogard professors had nearly infinite freedom, but if they used it recklessly with education or exams, they could incur the skeletal headmaster’s wrath.

“The headmaster told me to do it this way, Lee Han! If I taught everything I needed to over the semester, don’t waste anyone’s time needlessly!”

“…!”

If Professor Verdus heard that, he would have been moved to tears.

Of course, if it were Professor Verdus, no matter how urgent the skeleton headmaster was, he likely wouldn’t have said that.

Currently, Professor Garcia was handling some of the aftermath after two archmages had gone as far as using their Personal Worlds to fight.

A world created in the mage’s mind invading the real world was bound to leave some lingering effects.

She verified the unusual phenomena and dimensional fissures appearing throughout the Einrogard domain and took preemptive measures before things got worse.

And solved all this as cheaply as possible!

Only someone who could accomplish these near impossible feats year after year deserved to be called a professor of Einrogard.

“Lee Han, you did plenty well enough this semester. So it’s fine to pass you this way!”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Stay healthy over the break, Lee Han. Don’t overdo it!”

Professor Garcia still bowed her head over the desk as she spoke. Then she suddenly remembered and asked,

“Oh, right. Do you have any plans for the vacation, Lee Han?”

“I think I’ll be traveling with the headmaster to persuade the creditors.”

“Okay. Take care of you—wait, what did you just say?!”

Only then did Professor Garcia lift her head. Her gaze rocked with shock.

But the student had already finished his farewell and stepped out of the classroom.

She wanted to chase after him, but with all the magic piled up before her, Professor Garcia had to resign herself, holding back her tears.

• * *

‘Wait. Then is Professor Baegrek busy too?’

Thinking about how busy Professor Garcia was, it’d make sense for Professor Voladi, who was more directly involved in subjugating the Mad Clone, to be even busier.

Right now, Einrogard seemed desperately short of hands—anyone the skeleton headmaster could trust was being put to work.

“…!”

But unexpectedly, when he opened the lecture hall door underground, he found, as always, the calm Professor Voladi.

Lee Han realized with surprise,

‘Ah. That’s right.’

Every mage had a different specialty.

Professor Mortum did dark magic, Professor Garcia did space-time magic, Professor Verdus did the punishment room…

And Professor Voladi was a magic combat expert.

So unless it was a fight, it made sense he wouldn’t be involved in the aftermath now.

“Professor. It’s fine. You’ve already done more than your share during the battle.”

“?”

Professor Voladi was slightly perplexed by his student’s sudden odd statement.

He wondered if he suffered any sequelae from using and getting caught in so many high-tier spells, but his student was spouting nonsense out of nowhere, so he got worried.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you for your concern. And… for helping me last time, too.”

Professor Voladi nodded as if it were nothing.

Lee Han asked, just to check.

“After that, the headmaster didn’t penalize you or send you to the punishment room or cut your support fund, did he?”

If so, the prepared letter of accusation might be re-fired.

“There was never any support fund to begin with.”

“……”

“Since the school has more members, maybe there will be some next year.”

“…I’ll make sure to do my best to get it!”

Lee Han felt his eyes sting a little as he spoke.

With the school growing from one to two members, it seemed doubtful if he’d get anything, but he resolved to get it one way or another—even if it meant threatening the skeletal headmaster.

If not, Professor Voladi’s situation was just too pitiful.

Other professors—even Professor Mortum of the dark magic school—received support funds…

‘Ugh.’

“?”

Seeing his student cover his face in grief, Professor Voladi cocked his head in confusion.

“Are you really okay?”

“Hm? Yes. I’m really fine. I’ve already taken all the other exams. Professor, don’t be too let down. Never mind the support fund; joining the aftermath effort would only be a loss for you.”

Lee Han felt sorry for Professor Garcia, but he said this to console Professor Voladi.

However, Professor Voladi responded unexpectedly.

“I plan to join the aftermath effort once exams are over.”

“?!”

Lee Han was even more surprised at the unexpected answer.

“The headmaster called you?!”

“Yes.”

“Then why…?”

“I refused, saying I wouldn’t join until exams were done.”

Lee Han could almost hear the skeleton headmaster’s curses echoing in his ears.

Unlike the brazen excuses others made, someone refusing on the ground of focusing on lectures likely left the headmaster unsure how to get angry.

…Though, it was probably a bit absurd for a class with only two students…

‘No. What matters isn’t the number of students, but the sincerity behind the teaching. The professor is sincere.’

“Professor. How about we have the Eandurde exam on the last day?”

“He said to finish as soon as possible…”

“Does that matter? It’s more important to give Eandurde as much time as possible to prepare.”

“I see. That’s probably true.”

Seeing his junior look after the other, Professor Voladi was immediately persuaded.