Episode 1025

However, after hearing the explanation, Alsicle could understand why Lee Han was so angry.

Telling someone to just “go and try” a space-time magic that defines any space you desire—anyone would be upset by that.

If Alsicle had been told the same, he would have thrown a sardine in their face.

“S-sorry.”

“I was going to ask Professor Garcia originally, but on second thought, the professor seemed too busy. Headmaster would be better, right?”

“?”

“???”

Both the Black Turtle Tower and Phoenix Tower friends nearby wore question marks on their faces.

Siana whispered to Tijilling,

“Do you usually ask the Headmaster about things you don’t know?”

“Shh. Siana. The priest might hear…”

Alsicle was firm with his junior.

“It’s always better to ask Professor Kim. I’ll pass along the message.”

“Why? Oh, now that I think about it, the Headmaster must be busy too…”

“No. I just hate it when Gonadaltes comes here.”

“……”

It was a ridiculous reason, but Alsicle was so serious that Lee Han was overwhelmed.

Alsicle quickly wrote a letter.

Wizards who sent paper birds over long distances always carried a special artifact that emitted a magical resonance so the messenger could find their location. They’d give their resonance pattern to the intended recipient in advance.

Alsicle, who exchanged paper birds with Professor Garcia regularly, had no trouble sending one off.

“Three days… No, let’s wait for four! Wardanaz, you can just visit the market in the meantime!”

“Come on. There isn’t anything I need to buy right now, that’d be a waste of time.”

‘Didn’t you just tell the priests to go touring the capital market…?’

Salko thought, dumbfounded.

This magic-maniac lunatic!

“All right, fine. While we wait, I’ll just check the rest of the house…”

Whish—

“!”

Before much time had passed, a paper bird came fluttering back over the villa. The students stared in surprise.

What’s this?

“Is it a different messenger?”

“No… It’s from Professor Kim, all right? What, are they already in the capital?”

The penguin-beast wizard checked the letter, looking surprised.

To Alsicle of the Pengherin family!!

I have heard EVERYTHING from the Headmaster!!!

To think you took Student Lee Han along on an extra-dimensional monster hunt—if the other professors find out, I’ll NEVER forgive…

Fwoosh!

Alsicle hurriedly set the first page on fire, destroying the evidence. The students asked in confusion.

“Why’d you burn it?”

“P-Professor Kim said to burn the first page.”

Avoiding their eyes, Alsicle quickly moved on to the next page.

Fortunately, Professor Garcia had only ranted on the first page—after that, the content was normal.

…I am in the capital for school business at the moment. If Student Lee Han has something to ask, have him come by the Stone Spirit’s Apple Jam Cafe…

“She says to come to the Stone Spirit’s Apple Jam Cafe.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

…But is it really a problem Student Lee Han can’t solve? Have him try again before coming, just in case…

‘I’ll pretend I never saw that part.’

Alsicle set the last postscript on fire as well.

If Lee Han saw it, he’d probably jump up in rage.

“Well then, I’ll be off. Thank you, Alsicle.”

“Yep, take care!”

After seeing Lee Han off, Alsicle felt the strong sense he’d missed something.

What was it?

‘Why do I have this weird feeling…?’

Alsicle made his way around to check if there was anything odd inside the villa.

The wizard ghost was lying low, probably because Lee Han had asked him to wait, and other parts of the house were quickly being restored to normal with the combined effort of the Einrogard students.

“Pengherin! You have a guest!”

“Is it Erindarvel? Geez. She should have checked things properly before giving us this house. She gets along with Wardanaz, but this is really too much…”

“No, it’s Professor Baegrek.”

“…!!!!!!”

At last, Alsicle realized what he’d missed.

He’d kept Lee Han close specifically because of Voladi Baegrek in the first place!

• * *

“Wow, this stone soup is amazing!”

“Agreed.”

The wizards from Petrogard magic school marveled at the stone soup’s flavor.

No one would have guessed such a deep richness of spirit would come from such shabby stone soup prepared by a stone spirit.

Creak.

A stone spirit walking by grew bashful, and one of the wizards whistled praise.

“This way, Professor Kim!”

“Hello, everyone!”

Professor Garcia, arriving late at the cafe, politely greeted guests from other magic schools.

Since he was asking for a favor, his manner was even more exaggerated.

“You look even more haggard than when I last saw you.”

A wizard, dressed like a classic Imperial gentleman in a mustache, hat, and silk vest, spoke with concern.

“Oh, not at all.”

“If you collapse, Professor Kim, there’ll be no one left in Einrogard who’s reasonable to talk to.”

Another wizard chimed in. Unlike his companion, he dressed freely.

Actually, “freely” was putting it kindly—he looked exactly like an Einrogard student.

He wore ragged, patchwork clothes like a beggar’s cloak!

“N-no, it’s not nearly that bad. There are plenty of fine professors at Einrogard.”

“Who do you mean?”

“Who?”

“……”

Professor Garcia tried to change the topic.

“So, about the exchange or tournament proposal—have you two decided?”

Magic schools in the Empire weren’t especially connected.

Not because it was disadvantageous (though it was for some schools), but because each magic school had its own circumstances.

At Einrogard, it was simply that most professors didn’t care to bother.

And for Petrogard…

“It’s an honor, Professor Kim, but I don’t think our wizards would accept.”

“I think so too.”

The two wizards answered apologetically.

They were fond of Professor Garcia, but they couldn’t decide things for their entire school.

“How about tying up Professor Verdus and sending him to our school? Then we’d do anything for you. We could even send you twice as many magic items as requested.”

“T-that’s a bit…”

Professor Garcia clenched his fists to remain steady.

One of the greatest temptations outside of Einrogard was the suspiciously extravagant offers for Professor Verdus from wealthy Imperial citizens.

-Bring me just Professor Verdus’s head and I’ll give you enough gold to fill a fortress!

And Petrogard was no exception.

After being made fools of repeatedly by Professor Verdus, the Petrogard mages still bore a grudge.

“But this really is a good opportunity. You all know how important it is to increase exchanges between magic schools and let the Empire see the roles wizards play.”

Professor Garcia truly wanted to revive the long-paused ties between magic schools.

Officially, it was to show the Empire’s people (especially bureaucrats) the value of magic schools, but personally…

“His Majesty also promised significant support.”

“Hmm.”

“We received it too, ourselves.”

Unlike some bureaucrats who resented magic schools, the Emperor valued them highly.

He consistently supported magic schools and tried to situate them in good positions in the Empire.

The problem was that the schools themselves were incredibly unwilling to cooperate.

Even Einrogard, as shown by the fact Professor Garcia himself had to take the lead.

‘I bet Duke Gonadaltes just pretended not to hear His Majesty…’

Even Petrogard had ignored the letters suggesting they consider exchange or tournaments, so naturally, Einrogard’s Spirit Hall was even more hopeless.

“It can’t be helped. Sigh. If Petrogard is hard to convince, the other schools will be even harder…”

“No! Don’t tell me the Baldrogard crowd refused!?”

After refusing himself, the wizard grew enraged at the idea Baldrogard refused Einrogard’s offer.

Professor Garcia hurriedly replied,

“N-no, the Baldrogard crowd is always agreeable.”

“Good! They should be!”

“……”

At the forceful reaction, Professor Garcia thought privately.

Was it really fair, even for Baldrogard, to treat them like that?

“In any case, thank you both for coming today…”

“Oh, no, Professor Kim. We wouldn’t have asked you here just to turn you down. We have a proposal too.”

“?”

Professor Garcia instantly looked wary.

“We can’t give you Professor Verdus.”

“…That’s not it!”

“Come on, we wouldn’t trick you and kidnap Professor Verdus.”

The two Petrogard wizards protested strongly, but Garcia was still suspicious.

Everyone who wanted Professor Verdus’s head had tried all kinds of schemes so far.

“In fact, we have a great wizard staying at Petrogard right now.”

“Oh! Who?”

Professor Garcia brightened.

Most famous archmages in the Empire were a mystery.

People like Duke Gonadaltes or Sir Erindarvel were exceptions, but archmages generally wandered all over—even beyond the Empire or dimensions.

So to have one staying at Petrogard—Professor Garcia was intrigued.

“Well… their ability is definitely that of an archmage, but frankly… they’re fishy.”

“…A magical criminal?”

Professor Garcia tensed up.

There were archmages among magic criminals.

If so, he’d need to proceed carefully to keep Petrogard’s mages safe.

“No! Or… who knows, because we don’t know their identity… We’ll be honest. We suspect it may be a former student of Duke Gonadaltes.”

“What!?”

Petrogard was a nomadic magic school rather than one with a fixed domain.

One day, a wizard with remarkable skill and insight appeared out of nowhere. In short order, that wizard won over everyone at Petrogard.

-Amazing! I’ve never seen such magic before…

-It’s nothing.

-Didn’t Duke Gonadaltes use spells like this? By any chance, are you related?

-…Don’t bring that name up in front of me!?!

CRASH!

-???!

A suspiciously excellent wizard, master of rare ancient spells in the Empire, who flies into a rage when Gonadaltes is mentioned.

If you were lucky, it was a magical criminal; if not, it was the Headmaster’s former disciple.

“We couldn’t find any matching wanted wizards. So we tried to gently ask them to leave…”

“Did they refuse?”

“Yes. They said they’d stay as long as they liked.”

Thanks to this, the Petrogard mages were divided.

One faction: “Are you crazy to let someone presumed to be the Headmaster’s former student stay at the school?” The other: “It’s not confirmed and maybe just a magic criminal, so let’s keep them a while longer.”

Both of these two were the former.

“At first, we considered calling the Duke, but figured it’d backfire.”

“…That makes sense…”

Professor Garcia understood immediately.

If it was his own senior—one of the Skull Headmaster’s students—just seeing the Headmaster would likely trigger an epic tantrum.

“But the Duke’s students do care for one another, don’t they? Please, Professor Kim, persuade your senior! In return, we will do our best to fulfill your request!”

“Well… a senior does pity juniors, but as an Einrogard professor I bet I’d be treated like the Headmaster’s lackey…”

As he trailed off, Professor Garcia spotted the boy from House Wardanaz approaching in the distance.

If it truly was his senior, he’d most pity this pure-hearted, youngest disciple of the Skull Headmaster’s school.