Episode 1047

Episode 1047

Whether the two friends were flustered or not, the dragon and the dragon’s contractor clashed fiercely.

Drawing on every bit of experience he’d gained facing the Ghoul King or the Frost Giant King, Lee Han threw the bone toy.

“In accordance with my master’s order… freeze!”

He sent out a frost clone, cast an illusion magic in front, twisted the trajectory with telekinesis, summoned a minion to create a distraction—all this overwhelming magic made Eandurde think inwardly.

Is this really necessary?

“Huff, huff… Eandurde. Help me out. There are other bones—want to hide them around the mansion?”

“Yes…”

Eandurde replied in a slightly drained voice, unusual for her.

This felt like the most trivial order she’d ever received.

“Basil, you…”

-!

“Go over there and eat your snack.”

-…?!

The young Basilisk felt something like humiliation, but the snacks looked too delicious to worry about it for long.

• * *

‘That artisan enchanter has truly remarkable skill.’

Lee Han thought this as he watched Joulin softly snoring in sleep.

After all the bone games she could play, Joulin lay blissfully asleep atop the chain.

Chase the flying bone and bring it back, find the bone hidden in the mansion’s corners, dodge the bone and toss it, sneak a bone as a present to the guard knight outside, and more.

But none of those games would have shined without the skill of enchanter Gashpado.

Not only could you stick all sorts of things—meats, fish, candies—onto the bone, but when chewed, it gave a satisfying bite and sound, and it even felt soft to the paw when used as a toy.

‘Does that artisan have a connection to dragons? How does one make something so perfect?’

“Thanks for your help, Eandurde.”

The junior, cleaning up the bone toys Joulin had excitedly chewed to pieces, shook her head.

It had certainly been tiring. She had to match Joulin’s energy, moving as quickly as she did when fighting in the arena.

But admitting that would have hurt her pride as a warrior.

‘This was hardly effort at all!’

“I’ll definitely pay you back sometime. I know I’ve said it before, but I’m really glad you and Joulin became friends.”

“……”

Eandurde felt shy at that.

In the old days, she might have denied it, but now she had to admit it.

Joulin really was her friend.

“Okay. Now keep an eye on your friend. I need to get these cuffs off.”

“……”

Eandurde admired him anew.

Even if it was a dragon or a dragon’s contractor, he never let up.

Maybe that was the spirit of Einrogard itself.

“What are you doing? You sided with Joulin last time, so you don’t have to this time.”

“I don’t… think that’s really the issue, but…”

Still, as a good junior, Eandurde began keeping watch on Joulin. The contented gold dragon was fast asleep, snoring softly.

“I thought you’d settled things by talking earlier.”

“Uh… Maybe it’ll be solved by talking this time? Her Highness isn’t really that bad a person.”

-?

“?”

The young Basilisk and Eandurde both looked at Lee Han, baffled by his words and actions.

If you’re going to talk it out, why try to break the chain while she sleeps?

“If I break the chain, she’ll be less stubborn, and then persuasion will be easier.”

“Aha.”

“And if persuasion fails, I’ll have to flee.”

“……”

Eandurde said nothing, though it really seemed like the last reason was the main one.

In fact, she still felt a little sorry for bringing her admirable senior here to get shackled up.

‘How should I break it?’

Lee Han considered this seriously.

He was probably more serious than at the Einrogard final exams.

But he had little choice. It was a problem of comparable difficulty.

He had to cut through a magically enchanted chain without waking the sleeping Joulin!

‘Its resistance to pure magic shock seems perfect.’

Because of advice from a clueless magician, the chain had been totally warded against brute magical destruction.

With a structure that dispersed mana shocks in all directions, stacking up damage through pure magic alone would probably take decades.

‘But physical resistance…’

Lee Han looked at Joulin, smiling in sleep as though she was having a wonderful dream.

Even while sleeping, she had tucked Lee Han’s sword—which she’d confiscated—carefully into her arms. She was clearly worried about a physical vulnerability to the chain.

“Frost, take form.”

Lee Han cast a simple low-level cold element spell.

For spells under 4th circle, as long as you’d properly learned elemental application, you could adapt easily without learning each spell one by one.

With cold element magic, Lee Han had completed his clone spell, so his understanding was especially high.

Thanks to experience with water and lightning, his control over ice was even more fluid. He quickly reshaped the frost in midair.

‘A dagger.’

A cold-formed dagger appeared in the air.

Sculptures, arrows, cone-shaped projectiles of cold—these were all attacks commonly used by ice element magicians.

The difficulty was about 2nd circle. Not very hard at all.

Ting—

He tapped the chain lightly with the dagger. The cold aura dispersed right away.

‘As expected, ice alone is pointless. I’ll need to make it sharper and harder, and strike with impact—maybe add telekinesis and enchantment magic, but then there will be noise and shocks.’

-Sen…

Even if he could make up for the lack of destructive power with telekinesis and enchantment, noise and shock would be issues.

If he hit it hard, the chain might shake and wake Joulin up.

So…

‘Should I slice? Emphasize cutting power over impact.’

-Senb…

Among the magic and methods Lee Han had, the cutting approach seemed harder than breaking by shock.

But hard didn’t mean impossible. Lee Han brainstormed again.

‘If only I could get help from Small World or Arna at times like this.’

He grumbled absurdly and studied the cold dagger.

‘If I boost the cutting power with the Bible enchantment series and draw out aura with my mana, maybe…’

The chain dispersed mana on contact, but Lee Han still had surging reserves. If it was depleted, he could simply fill it back up.

But then he realized the problem was the dagger’s durability.

If he was just using impact, he’d figured on shattering it in a single shot. But if he was actually slicing, the dagger needed to last.

‘Damn. I should’ve practiced cold element more. Or at least earth element.’

-Senior…

Thinking crazily, Lee Han considered ways to increase the cold dagger’s durability.

Were there ways besides using complicated, high-property ice elements?

‘If I just inject more mana… that’s crazy, though.’

He thought of it unconsciously, then immediately rejected it.

Pouring more magic into a spell with a fixed limit was stupid.

It was like trying to cook by randomly increasing the heat or dumping in extra salt.

His natural constitution also meant he used much more magic than other magicians, often pushing close to the edge, even in ordinary spells.

And yet, once he thought of it, the idea wouldn’t leave him.

Strangely, it didn’t feel impossible now.

At first, it took everything he had to channel his excessive mana and just cast ordinary spells, but with all his experience, it seemed like he could use his power more flexibly now!

Lee Han didn’t realize it yet, but confidence—born of all he’d accumulated—was showing unconsciously.

‘…Right. Let’s try it. No way Joulin wakes up from this.’

-Senior…!

Lee Han prepared to summon a cold dagger with several times more mana than normal.

Ordinarily, this would result in failing the cast or backfiring.

“Frost…”

It was a strange feeling.

Far more mana than usual was flowing outward in all directions. Without forming a proper spell shape, it felt like it could fail at any moment.

But the magic didn’t scatter or cause trouble. Lee Han realized he could control it.

The magic, bound to his strong will, quickly returned and took form.

It was basically the same spell as before, but also distinctly different.

Now Lee Han understood what he had done.

‘Magic enhancement!’

In the Empire, there wasn’t just ‘Flame Arrow’—there was also ‘Garcia’s Flame Arrow’ or ‘Bugni’s Flame Arrow.’

Those were basic, popular spells, reinterpreted and improved by later magicians.

Naturally, they had to be clearly superior or differentiated from the originals. Otherwise, their creators ended up ridiculed and forgotten.

What Lee Han had just cast was essentially the same.

Breaking through the spell’s original mana limits and rebuilding it anew.

‘…Though, when I think about it, it’s kind of pointless.’

Lee Han cooled off.

He was thrilled at first, but really, no one else would benefit much from this enhancement but him.

Sure, boosting lower-level spells by flooding them with mana was nice—but who the hell but Lee Han would ever have mana to waste like that?

Still, for Lee Han it was perfect. He checked the newly crafted ice dagger and steeled himself.

‘Maybe this time it’ll work.’

He’d enhance the cutting and add aura to make some kind of impact…

……

Lost in concentration, Lee Han didn’t notice hungry Joulin had woken up and was staring at him.

Lee Han…!

“!?”

Startled, Lee Han dismissed the ice dagger and turned.

Just moments ago, Joulin had been the happiest dragon in the Empire—now she stared, feeling as if she’d lost the world.

Lee Han was trying to escape!!!

“I don’t know what you mean, Your Highness. I was just practicing magic as an Einrogard student.”

Lee Han didn’t blink as he lied, then called Eandurde.

“Why didn’t you warn me?!”

“…I called you… I kept calling…!!!”

In this cave, Eandurde was the second-most aggrieved person.

The whole time Joulin was stirring, she tried to wake her senior, but he was so deep in magic that he hadn’t noticed a thing.

“No way. I did?”

“Yes…”

“How could I be so absorbed in magic? That’s impossible.”

-……

“……”

Eandurde and the young Basilisk stared at him, speechless, while Joulin shouted urgently.

If Lee Han saw the present prepared, he would change his mind!

“No present will make me want to stay chained up… Wait, don’t tell me it’s some preposterous and shameless gift made from a dragon’s flesh, is it?”

Lee Han’s voice turned stern and cold at the end, and Joulin quickly replied.

No!

“Whew. I trust you.”

Didn’t sound like you trusted me…

Joulin grumbled as she led Lee Han into the back of the cave.

It was a space she hadn’t let any guest inside before, a place only Joulin herself entered.

Here! Right here!

“?”

Joulin tapped the floor with her forepaw, pointing out a pitch-black hole. Strange swirling magic inside reminded Lee Han of a dungeon.

“Is that a dungeon?”

It is a dungeon?

“……”

Lee Han was honestly unsure whether to ask first why something like this was here in a mansion, or why it was being presented as a gift in the first place.