Episode 1017

‘But you should even learn from your enemies.’

A brilliant Einrogard student must even learn lessons from vicious foes.

Lee Han made up his mind that the next time he met villains, he should try sowing discord right from the start.

“I’ll try deceiving them.”

“Understood.”

‘Huh?’

Lee Han was slightly bewildered at how readily his fellow explorers agreed.

He expected them to at least say it was too soon or to try to stop him.

“Is this really okay? If I make even a slight mistake, everyone could be in danger…”

“As if!”

“We trust you, wizard.”

The other explorers replied instantly, as if wondering what he was even talking about. Alsicle, still riding on Lee Han’s back, murmured in a tone of exasperation.

“We all saw how you performed on the way up here, Wardanaz. If anyone doubted you, they’d have failed the explorer test for lack of brains anyway…”

“…Quiet, please.”

• * *

“Something’s wrong.”

Kitarenanum looked around. The half-giant warrior asked irritably,

“Monsters coming up again?”

“No. Something else… Feels ominous.”

“Try foretelling.”

Kitarenanum scowled at the suggestion.

“I’m not that type of magician. How many times do I have to explain that magicians can’t do everything?”

A mage who was a master of every school was exceptionally rare. Every mage had weak points, and for Kitarenanum, it was divination.

Instead of bothering with inaccurate prophecy, he’d rather rest.

Fwoosh!

He pulled out a small, human-shaped puppet, animated, then burned it.

A makeshift human sacrifice, but enough to restore mana and recharge his spells.

‘Better refill with some stronger spells, just in case.’

Kitarenanum swapped the spell sealed in his arm for something stronger.

This secret art, condensing spells in the form of body parts, was his specialty. It let him cast powerful magic instantly and precisely, but required advance preparation.

Just in case, he prepared additional sacrifices. If fighting broke out, he’d amplify his magic by offering more victims.

“Enemies.”

“!”

Startled at the warrior’s word, Kitarenanum asked,

“How close?”

“About fifty paces up the small stairs. Their vibrations are different from the monsters.”

“Do you think they’ll attack?”

“Who knows. Doesn’t seem hostile, but imperial lapdogs are so damn stupid…”

-We seek to negotiate!

They exchanged glances. Kitarenanum immediately tried to perform his prepared sacrifice.

Right then, a disruption.

The art mages used to identify and interfere with others’ magic: counterspell!

Crackle!

“???!!!”

Kitarenanum was shocked to have his sacrifice magic blocked by someone who hadn’t even appeared at the top of the stairs.

‘What the—?!?!’

He simply couldn’t believe it.

Even in direct confrontation, seeing what spell was being used, counterspelling was no easy feat.

To interrupt another’s spell before it was even cast required a level of understanding often greater than the opponent’s.

But now, at a distance where they couldn’t even see each other’s faces, someone had successfully counterspelled his magic just by sensing mana. Kitarenanum shivered.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Was there an archmage in the expedition party?”

“No.”

Kitarenanum thought back.

He remembered no dangerous names. A Pengerine House mage, maybe a Green Jade Tower wizard…

But someone capable of mocking his magic at this level?

The magic criminal felt more humiliation and fear than anger.

It was just like the time he’d faced Antagondals, another criminal and true archmage.

-Pull yourself together, magician.

-Shut up! Demon, you don’t even realize how incredible this is!

At this level, the gap was nearly as if the opponent were toying with him.

Kitarenanum, who’d thought that excepting the archmages, there were no young imperial wizards who could match him, was shaken to the core.

He never imagined the other party would have thoroughly practiced a vision for breaking the sacrificial arts after so many encounters with magic criminals.

• * *

“…Did I make a mistake?”

“No, you did well.”

Alsicle shook her head as Lee Han hesitated.

No telling what the enemy might pull—letting the sacrifice magic go off would have been a mistake. If you could stop it, you always should.

“More importantly, how did you manage to counterspell from that distance?”

“Because Headmaster made me learn through sheer misery.”

“Makes sense. Bet this semester was brutal.”

“I learned it last year.”

“……”

Alsicle clamped her beak shut. The enemy called out.

“What are your intentions? There’s dimensional erosion and monsters are everywhere. Are you trying to get killed together? Huh?”

‘That’s the half-giant warrior, no doubt.’

Thinking, Alsicle introduced herself.

“I’m Alsicle of House Pengerine. Is there another mage with you?”

“Alsicle of House Pengerine… Got it.”

Kitarenanum gritted his teeth.

He’d definitely find a way to make up for today’s humiliation.

“To be honest, I didn’t realize you were such an outstanding wizard.”

“What? …No, actually, it wasn’t me who blocked your sacrifice magic, it was my junior here.”

At Alsicle’s words, warrior and criminal wizard exchanged glances.

The warrior spoke up.

“Trying to pull a trick, huh? Shameless, trying to shake us up.”

-Don’t fall for such a cheap ploy.

“I know.”

Kitarenanum now held Alsicle in even higher regard. Trying to shake them at a time like this—clearly not ordinary.

The tension unsettled Bashirmak. No telling when the monsters might swarm.

“Hey! You spell-chuckers are all pals, right! Why not work together for now instead of fighting? This guy’s from the imperial magic school, too! Could be your junior!”

“Nonsense…”

Kitarenanum frowned at the half-giant’s ignorant comment, but the effect was powerful.

Lee Han looked like his world had just caved in.

“W-w-Wardanaz, calm down. There’s no proof he’s from Einrogard.”

Alsicle hastily tried to steady him. It backfired.

“You know it too, Alsicle. That’s why you insisted he’s not from Einrogard even though Einrogard wasn’t mentioned by name!”

“…True, but it’s not certain!”

Lee Han took a deep breath.

As a fellow magic school graduate, he felt shame and regret, but now was not the time.

‘Right. Who cares if he’s from Einrogard or not.’

There would inevitably be as many Einrogard ex-magic criminals as eggs in a basket—he couldn’t keep getting shaken.

“Even if you’re from Einrogard, don’t expect any favoritism here!”

“Baldrogard.”

“What?”

“Not Einrogard—Baldrogard. I’m from Baldrogard. Punks.”

“……”

“……”

An awkward and subtle silence fell between the mages. Only Bashirmak, unaware of spellcaster culture, was confused.

“What? What is it?”

“Shut up, you blockhead. This is why I hate talking about it.”

The most frustrating response when dealing with imperial wizards wasn’t hostility, contempt, or criticism.

It was always the awkward, subtle reaction that came after revealing he was from Baldrogard.

Especially so among Einrogard alumni.

-What? From Baldrogard? So how did you become a magic criminal?

-Damn! Pretty strong…! How does a Baldrogard graduate use magic like this?

Even bleeding out after defeat, hearing ‘How does a Baldrogard do magic like this?’ asked in pure curiosity left deep scars on Kitarenanum’s pride.

But pride wasn’t his alone.

“…Spell-chucker, wanna die? You think you’ll get your spell off faster at this range, or I’ll rip your tongue out with my fist first?”

While the two bickered pointlessly, Lee Han and Alsicle discussed as well.

“There are criminals from Baldrogard too???”

“Of course there are—what a question.”

“Oh, right. That’s true… Right…”

‘He looks even more shocked than when that evil-god cultist raided the palace.’

To shake off his surprise Lee Han shook his head.

That Baldrogard could produce criminals was obvious, and that some were magic criminals was to be expected too.

…It was just hard to accept, that’s all.

“Look on the bright side, Wardanaz. If he was from Einrogard, he’d be way tougher. Since he’s from Baldrogard, we can at least deal with him.”

“I guess that’s a little reassuring… or maybe not.”

Thanks to Alsicle’s noise-absorbing spells, their conversation wasn’t overheard.

Had Kitarenanum heard, monsters or not, he would have gone all-in.

“I’m open to temporary cooperation!”

Both bickerers paused at Lee Han’s shout.

“Really?”

“Yeah, you know as well as we do that that monster’s stronger than we thought.”

“True…”

About to agree, Kitarenanum got a sudden idea and asked a question.

“Wait. Did you touch something? If you stole anything valuable of the monster’s…”

He’d first thought the monsters changed priority because they’d found some new, tasty prey.

But no matter how you looked at it, that seemed unlikely—Kitarenanum and Bashirmak were appetizing enough targets in themselves.

“What are you talking about?”

Alsicle asked curiously. Kitarenanum explained what had happened.

‘Feel them out.’

If the explorers had stolen the monster’s egg or anything, he’d have to take it back.

“???”

“We definitely didn’t.”

With nothing of the sort, Lee Han and Alsicle were simply confused.

“Hm.”

Alsicle, befitting an excellent mage, started deducing based on just the clues provided.

Seeing her so dependable made Lee Han look to her with hope.

“There’s one possibility…”

“What is it?”

“It happened about when you experienced your event. If you match times, it’s when we first encountered the monsters.”

“You saying someone here secretly stole a monster egg!?”

“…We were all together. And if they had, it would have come a lot faster.”

“Then…?”

Alsicle looked right at Lee Han.

If what the magic criminal said was true, only one thing seemed likely.

The monster wanted Lee Han.

Alsicle couldn’t fathom the mindset of a void-born creature, but knowing Lee Han’s mana reserves, it wasn’t shocking.

“Me? They definitely focused on me more, but I figured that was just because I was being so annoying…”

Lee Han was dubious that even a stranger monster would covet him.

Then, a tiny basilisk that had been quietly listening spoke up firmly.

-Master.

“Hm?”

-I think they’re right…!

“…Can you explain your reasoning so I know how you arrived at that?”