Episode 1029

As Professor Garcia’s thoughts reached that point, he brought it up gently.

“Lee Han, did you know that quite a few students in Petrogard are interested in incantation studies?”

“?”

Lee Han didn’t understand why Professor Garcia was bringing this up.

All of a sudden?

‘What’s this? Is he telling me not to hate Petrogard students?’

But if so, it felt quite random. Liking incantations wouldn’t really make him dislike them any less.

“Oh, I see. Incantations are important in magic.”

For a wizard, incantations weren’t just a focus for resonating the soul.

Broadly, they provided a strong framework that defined the form of spells.

To wizards who used established magic, it wasn’t much to worry about, but those who created or improved magic always had to compromise between endless possibility and reality.

Magic’s potential is infinite, but the magician casting it is a real person.

That’s why these incantations served as anchors for wizards.

At times, they acted as barriers to prevent runaway possibilities or loss of control, even when the wizard didn’t intend it.

“I’m interested in incantation studies myself.”

Lee Han liked efficient, compact incantations.

Those tied to ancient magic were easy to shorten, focus quickly, and summon magic with.

“No, no. The Petrogard students prefer the beauty of the incantation itself.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean its rhythm or melody, and the resulting effect of its inherent magical power…”

As he spoke, Professor Garcia looked at his student, hoping he’d catch on.

A sharp student would realize how this links to another type of magic.

Magic where the incantation itself is the effect: music magic!

“Wow. Do they really have that much time to spare?”

“……”

“Sorry, Professor. It slipped out.”

“It’s all right, Lee Han.”

Professor Garcia looked a little discouraged.

He wanted to leave a good impression of Petrogard on this rare visit, but it wasn’t going well.

“We’re here.”

Dalser pointed ahead.

In front, on the open plain, over a dozen wagons covered in waterproof tarpaulin were arranged in a circle. It looked more like a gathering of traveling merchants or pioneers than wizards.

But something was odd.

Normally, among such wagons, you’d expect to see camping gear, fires, and piles of goods, but there was none of that.

“Let’s go in.”

“Where?”

“Oh, just lift the cover and go into any wagon.”

With that, the Petrogard wizards slipped inside a nearby wagon.

Professor Garcia, Professor Voladi, and Alsicle followed without surprise. The students cautiously followed after.

Whoosh!

Gainando was astonished.

Upon entering the wagon, an entirely different landscape greeted them.

‘They’re all magical gateways!’

He’d wondered how a school like Petrogard could move all over the Empire—now it made sense.

The school’s domain was a separate magical space, and the wagons were merely its entrances.

Petrogard’s domain was completely different from Einrogard’s.

There was no main building at all, and buildings of all kinds were scattered randomly as if thrown haphazardly.

There was a building shaped like devil’s horns, another perched in the branches of a giant tree, another floating on a lake, and even one with just a tent pinned up and a sign saying -Petrogard Lecture Hall-.

Gainando tried to call Lee Han beside him.

“This is wild. Don’t you think, Lee Han? …Lee Han?”

Gainando looked around. He saw the others, but Lee Han was nowhere in sight.

“Where did Lee Han go?!”

“What do you mean? He was right behind… Wait, where is he?!”

• * *

Lee Han originally thought Petrogard was just a very unusual magic school.

A school actually located in a basement, no less.

But that wasn’t it.

When the familiar wizard ghost he’d met earlier slid into view, Lee Han realized something was wrong.

-Did you not promise to release my magic…?

Somehow, the ghost’s voice seemed smarter and more resentful than before, so Lee Han began with an excuse.

“I’m trying! It just takes time. Isn’t this an impossibly hard problem that even other wizards couldn’t fix?”

He’d never dreamt the ghost would resort to kidnapping over an unsolved spell.

Lee Han tried to keep things calm.

“But you can’t just kidnap me, can you?”

-Kidnap…?

The ghost reacted as if it didn’t even know what kidnapping meant.

“You brought me here. …Wait, there were two professors next to me—how?”

He’d just been standing by Einrogard’s Strongest and Professor Voladi. How did the ghost grab him out from under their gaze?

-I did not… kidnap you… You… visited here…

“…??!”

Lee Han continued questioning the ghost to get his bearings.

Even though the ghost wasn’t strictly rational, enough questions brought things into focus.

So…

‘I just randomly wound up in this basement while teleporting?’

Sometimes, dimension-hopping wizards end up cursed in annoying ways.

Sometimes monsters sniff out your soul and chase you across planes, or sometimes your body even changes form when you cross dimensions…

Lee Han’s case was a little different, but similarly annoying.

The idea that every time he teleported, he might be sucked into this mansion’s basement?

He didn’t teleport that often, but it was certainly an annoying limitation.

‘Is this because I accepted the ghost’s offer?’

He really wanted to figure out the magical mechanism, but it wasn’t easy.

Since even other wizards just gave up and destroyed the place, the traces of the spatial labyrinth connection were extremely faint.

‘Ugh. I should’ve studied space-time magic more.’

As ridiculous as it sounded, Lee Han scanned the area.

From outside, there didn’t seem to be any way in, but inside, it was just an ordinary basement.

“Is there no way out?”

-What… do you mean… just leave up the stairs…

“?!”

Lee Han was jolted by the obvious answer.

So it was just that you couldn’t enter from outside, not that you couldn’t leave.

Lee Han carefully walked up the stairs.

The moment he moved, the space shifted again. Suddenly, he found himself back in the Petrogard domain.

• * *

Recently, many Petrogard students had become obsessed with a figure known as “the Great Artist.”

No one knew their name, background, age, gender, or even their face, but that didn’t matter.

Their skills and charisma alone were enough to captivate the Petrogard students.

“And thus, you all will prosper and thrive in this land! …This is your right and your duty!”

With a lazy, yet powerful voice, the Great Artist captivated their audience.

“To reach the heights of magical greatness, think only of yourself and your own self alone. Supreme selfishness is the highest good. NOTHING else matters, understand?”

A Petrogard mage raised their hand.

“G-Great Artist! My family not only pays my tuition, but I’ve already spent all the extra money they send. But that’s fine, right?”

“Yes. I forgive you. If you want to, it’s good.”

“Great Artist! My family insists I hurry to build my record, join a top guild or official post. But if I do, I fear my art will die!”

“Then don’t do it! If you don’t want to work, then don’t. That, too, is good.”

The students erupted in passionate cheers, almost like zealots.

With one light gesture, the Great Artist touched the black magnetite stone in the center.

A material so hard it resisted most refinement, with a single move, the artist made it blossom gracefully like a flower.

No one could guess what magic was used. The students stamped their feet, wailing in awe at the masterpiece of beauty.

Then a student hurried up from behind and whispered.

It was a student the artist had prepped, told to inform them whenever anything unusual happened (like a floating skull showing up).

“Great Artist, we’ve got guests at the school.”

“What kind of guests?”

“They said: guests from Einrogard.”

“!”

Though their face was masked, the Great Artist visibly reacted.

“Did you see any floating skulls among them?”

“No, none.”

“…Fine, that’s enough. But if it’s not a skull, who would come to this land of happy hedonists?”

“I heard it’s Professor Kim Garcia and Professor Voladi Baegrek.”

“You traitorous brats…!”

“Huh?”

“Never mind—it doesn’t matter. There’s no way those brats can persuade me anyway.”

Crash!

“What?”

Suddenly there was a commotion in the audience. The Great Artist turned their gaze.

A wizard who obviously didn’t belong was among the Petrogard students, apologizing.

“Sorry about that! I didn’t expect to just get dropped in here.”

“Is there a problem with the wagon space door? Well, no worries. If anything, it worked out well—this is a great opportunity.”

“Sorry?”

“The Great Artist, a true archmage here to teach us true art, was giving a lecture just now. Want to know what they told us? That I never have to work a day in my life.”

“…That’s the lecture?”

Lee Han was bewildered.

What kind of “Great Artist’s” doctrine was as lazy as Gainando’s?

No, not even Gainando was that bad.

‘If Gainando loafed for one week, he’d at least ask if he had to start studying again.’

“You’re the visitor from Einrogard?”

The Great Artist called Lee Han in a languid voice.

Masked, wrapped in a wide cloak, and with layers of magic to conceal their identity, the archmage made Lee Han tense up.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Everyone, welcome our guest from Einrogard! The Einrogard mages are pitiable souls to be pitied by the Empire!”

Another person might have found it insulting, but Lee Han reacted differently.

He was actually a little touched.

‘Maybe this is a good person?’

“They study magic for reasons so absurd you wouldn’t believe. They throw themselves into mysteries and devote their lives to them, leaving nothing but a handful of utterly useless magic in the end.”

“T-that’s going a bit far…”

Lee Han was flustered by the absurdly high praise.

There were plenty of Einrogard students who only half-heartedly studied magic.

The Great Artist, perhaps recognizing this, did not deny it.

“Sharp words! You’re right. Not every Einrogard wizard is like that. There’s hope, then—a truly sane mage will graduate as soon as possible and never set foot in that cursed land again.”

“That was true for me, too.”

“For real?”

Encouraged by Lee Han’s agreement, the Great Artist was pleased.

“But that was before. My thinking has changed a bit now…”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well…”

Trying to mention his experiences with the Skull Headmaster’s clone, Lee Han hesitated.

If the other was the old disciple, maybe they’d get angry.

“You wouldn’t get angry if I tell you, right?”

The Great Artist laughed.

“Me? I never get angry. Do you know why? Because I live for my own pleasure. Such a person has no anger.”

“Actually, I learned magic from the Headmaster and his clone and…”

CRASH!

The Great Artist couldn’t suppress their rage and smashed the magnetite flower to the floor.