Episode 1053

Episode 1053

‘Ah!’

Gainando snapped back to his senses at once.

Unlike the Skull Headmaster, Gainando could be kicked out of the villa (and once the semester started, from the tower as well).

“Why are you laughing at Lee Han, Headmaster!”

Have you finally lost your mind?

When Gainando suddenly frowned and blamed him, the Skull Headmaster was at a loss.

What kind of guy is this?

“Lee Han! I was just following along because the Headmaster laughed! I was flattering him!”

“You laughed a little earlier than he did?”

“No! That’s a misunderstanding!”

“Enough, just come along.”

Lee Han decided to take Gainando with him.

It wasn’t necessarily to hold him accountable for his earlier laughing. More so, it was in case Professor Voladi found anything suspicious.

‘If I say Gainando became interested in bounty hunting, he probably won’t suspect anything.’

Others said there’d be no suspicion just showing up, but Lee Han thought differently.

With someone like himself suddenly interested in bounty hunting, how awkward would it look?

“Ugh.”

Gainando’s shoulders slumped, now dragged into something as thankless as bounty hunting. The Skull Headmaster laughed with satisfaction upon seeing this.

“Lee Han. Can’t you take the Headmaster with you too?”

“…Gainando, sometimes I wonder where your courage comes from.”

Lee Han was appalled by his friend, who even suggested bringing the Skull Headmaster with them.

Who could actually take the Skull Headmaster along?

“Ah!”

Giselle, coming down the stairs, spotted the floating Skull Headmaster and quickly cast invisibility before hiding behind a pillar.

Upon seeing this, the Skull Headmaster called out to Giselle.

Moradi. Perfect. I ask you to guard this place.

“…Excuse me?”

Giselle poked her head out with a suspicious glance.

She couldn’t fathom what the Skull Headmaster was scheming.

Guarding Wardanaz?

“What do you mean, guard Wardanaz? He can take care of himself…”

Not Wardanaz. That prince brat.

The Skull Headmaster spoke indifferently.

If Lee Han were to go out alone, he wouldn’t worry much, but if he insisted on taking the lug… no, Gainando, then things were different.

A close-combat-weak dark mage needed at least one bodyguard.

If it’s the top student from White Tiger Tower, that should be more than enough.

“Aha.”

Giselle immediately understood.

‘But if a guard is needed, why drag the prince along?’

Without knowing why Gainando was being taken, Giselle could only tilt her head.

If anything happens, send a paper bird. If urgent, use the ring. You haven’t lost your summons ring, right?

“Yeah. I think it’s somewhere in my backpack.”

…At least remember approximately where it is.

The Skull Headmaster was dumbfounded by this safety-insensitive student.

Even after all these incidents, such a lax attitude.

It was hard to tell if he was brave or just stupid.

“I just hurried when I got it last time… Ah. Here it is.”

“Wardanaz. Wardanaz.”

When Giselle called in a low voice, Lee Han checked the location of the ring and turned his head.

“I know what you’re curious about, Moradi. Actually, Professor Baegrek went out to get new bounty posters, so I have to follow him quietly to check…”

“No, that’s not it.”

Giselle cut him off.

Wherever Wardanaz was taking the prince didn’t interest her.

At best, it would be a toy shop or a magic card shop.

“Then what are you curious about?”

“Why are you wearing handcuffs on your wrist?”

“Wait. They’re off now. Thanks for letting me know.”

Lee Han expressed his gratitude at finally having the dragon cuffs removed.

The magic had taken effect but he’d been distracted by the conversation.

‘…No, I’m asking why you were even wearing them…!’

Giselle cried out inwardly.

The cuffs had come off, but none of her curiosity had been satisfied.

• * *

“Bounty hunting?”

Giselle’s eyes sparkled when she heard Lee Han wasn’t going to a toy or magic card shop, but to get bounty posters.

“Now that’s interesting. Wardanaz. Are you searching for commissions already for the second semester?”

“No. That never crossed my mind.”

Lee Han was slightly flustered.

Since he attended every school, Lee Han was the student with the broadest range of commissions available in Einrogard.

To that Lee Han, bounty hunting wasn’t such an attractive choice.

‘The cost-effectiveness isn’t great.’

More so, among so many commissions, the fatal drawback was that if you failed, you didn’t earn a single coin.

When thinking of Einrogard’s professors and alumni, it was no wonder that Enchantment school mages averaged higher gold incomes.

“Wardanaz. Think about it. Escaping the stuffy school and chasing down criminals! Using all the magic and sword skills you’ve learned in fierce battles. Isn’t that what you want?”

‘Not at all.’

Lee Han wondered if Giselle had talked to a fake Lee Han while he wasn’t around.

But Giselle, uncommonly persistent, kept trying to persuade him.

Bounty hunting was fundamentally high-risk, high-reward, and quite hard to get approved for. If it looked too tough for students alone, permission wouldn’t be granted.

And if you went after small-fry criminals with low rewards, you’d lose money instead…

“If you join the party, the list of what’s permitted will grow a lot. Don’t you want to taste some freedom during the semester?”

“I doubt I’d feel free with a professor tailing us every time…”

Having already learned during club activities how bothersome officially-sanctioned outings could be, Lee Han had no expectations.

But Giselle, for once tenacious, didn’t let up.

“Wardanaz, in our family lands, we go hunting in winter.”

“?”

“??”

Both Lee Han and Gainando tilted their heads.

Why bring that up out of nowhere?

“I see?”

“Sometimes we chase wild animals, sometimes go bird hunting, and sometimes hunt monsters.”

“Ah, like when Sir Ziklin took you out to hunt last time.”

“Shut up. That was an exception.”

Giselle scowled.

Her older sister Ziklin’s ‘hunt’ wasn’t really a hunt at all.

Wandering the winter mountain ranges alone, picking fights with monsters stronger than yourself, wasn’t hunting. That was closer to a trial.

Giselle usually championed Ziklin unconditionally, but this was too much even for her.

“Proper hunting is a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience. And the hunt that excites knights the most is hunting criminals with a bounty on their heads.”

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Gainando exchanged glances.

Gainando looked at him, asking with his eyes, ‘Is it okay to call it barbaric?’ but Lee Han shook his head.

Provoking Giselle at this range was not a good idea. Especially when she was attending as Gainando’s guard.

“R-right…”

Rather than nitpick on the customs of northern knightly families, Lee Han respected the cultural diversity of the Empire. And waited for Giselle’s next words.

But there were none.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. …Aren’t you interested?”

Giselle asked, a little flustered.

She’d just delivered a rousing talk on bounty hunting, so why was the reaction so flat?

Gainando shot Lee Han another look, signaling for permission to speak up.

Lee Han swiftly waved, silently telling his friend to keep quiet.

“Truly fascinating. I’m interested, in fact.”

“Right? I knew you would be, Wardanaz. I still remember hunting with my sister when we were kids.”

“Like that last time she dragged you out?”

“I said except that one. I mean actual normal hunting, you fool.”

Giselle replied sharply.

After that reaction, Lee Han resolved never to bring up Ziklin’s hunts again. In retrospect, they hadn’t really felt like hunting at all.

‘So even by Moradi family standards, that was weird. I thought it was just my family’s customs that were odd…’

He’d wondered if the Moradi family had strange traditions too, just like the Wardanaz.

“Anyway, you’re interested, right?”

“Of course. Very interested. It’s as exciting as… ah, as polo, which knights like.”

Normally, Giselle would have immediately spotted such a clumsy lie, but didn’t notice now.

People’s intelligence drops a little when talking about their favorite topics.

Lee Han nodded silently, out of consideration for his usually intelligent friend.

“If it’s a party of five, you’ll be downtown; if ten, you’re in the fields or forests…”

“Lee Han, how long do we have to listen?”

“If something happens, I’ll save your life, so just smile and listen, Gainando.”

Gainando listened, miserable, to an unwanted lecture about bounty hunting.

How the guy hiding in the northern village was, how about the guy hiding in the river, how about the guy hiding in the woods…

In the midst of listening, Gainando grew anxious and whispered again.

“Lee Han. Isn’t it just to confirm the professor picked up bounty posts? We’re not actually going bounty hunting, are we?”

“Of course not, Gainando. We’re just going to see the professor.”

Lee Han soothed his friend.

He couldn’t explain why he had to keep an eye on Professor Voladi, but since they’d come all this way, he felt obliged to comfort him.

And it wasn’t really a lie. He just needed to quietly observe as Professor Voladi went to get bounty posts and returned…

• * *

“You’re going to catch one right now?!”

Running into Professor Voladi as he exited the Imperial Palace, Lee Han shouted in shock.

He’d asked if the professor was heading back to the villa, but the answer was no.

“Yes.”

“Why?!”

“?”

Professor Voladi looked at his student, mildly perplexed by such a silly question from someone usually so bright. Giselle nodded in agreement.

‘Such a dumb question. Did it rub off from being around the prince?’

“Because I can catch them?”

“I see. Professor, would it be alright… if Gainando and I came along to observe?”

Lee Han had prepared a whole explanation for why he’d taken an interest in bounty hunting and why that wasn’t suspicious.

But Professor Voladi agreed before he could even finish.

“Go ahead.”

“Thank you…”

“But it’s strange.”

“!”

At the professor’s words, Lee Han was startled inside.

Did Professor Voladi notice why Lee Han had come?

‘Terrifying. Is this the intuition of a battle mage?!’

“W-what do you mean?”

To his question, Professor Voladi pointed at Gainando with the usual detached air.

“I didn’t expect the prince to show interest.”

“……”

Lee Han and Giselle weren’t surprised, but Professor Voladi was very surprised Gainando was interested in bounty hunting.

“…Gainando seems to want to grow as a dark magic mage. Right?”

“Y-yes… sniff…”

“More positively.”

“It’s a pleasure to participate in bounty hunting. Sniff.”

Giselle poked Lee Han in the side.

“Wardanaz.”

“?”

“Originally, I was going to recruit only White Tiger Tower members other than you, but I’ll make an exception for the prince. You can bring him along.”

“…Y-yes. Thank you very much.”

Lee Han answered, glancing sideways at Gainando. He was incredibly relieved that Gainando hadn’t heard this.