Episode 1098

The banquet ended. The students walked out laughing.

Lee Han was not hallucinating. The students were really laughing.

Uman had forced them to laugh.

-Einrogard students. The meal is now over. But your bodies are not yet fully recovered from fatigue. Come. Let everyone laugh.

-…Excuse me?

-Now! Laughter makes both soul and body healthy.

The students wanted to protest that there’s no way you could laugh after such a meal, but before they could, Uman pulled out a booklet entitled -Wholesome Jokes for Mages-.

As soon as the first joke appeared with great bravado, the students began laughing to survive.

They couldn’t stand to hear even one more!

“Ha ha, hahaha. Hahahahaha.”

“You can stop laughing now, Gainando.”

“Hehahaha. Haha. …Hehuh-uhng!”

“Don’t laugh while crying… It’s scary.”

Not only Gainando, but several upperclassmen were on the verge of tears.

“How do things keep getting worse? People who graduated before us never had to suffer like this. Why just us?”

“If only I had entered a year earlier, I wouldn’t have to see this…”

-There are instructions for the students.

Death Knights waiting in the hallway and on the stairs called out to the students.

“What is it?”

-As you heard in the banquet hall, as usual, cooking your own food within the grounds is forbidden. You’ll receive His Highness’s healthy meals every time, rather than unhygienic, unbalanced food.

“……”

Not only did they have to eat every meal forced upon them, but any other cooking was banned.

The students looked suffocated by the dragon’s “love.”

“T-that goes against the spirit of Einrogard!”

Someone shouted, and everyone nodded in agreement. Lee Han thought to himself.

‘What even IS the spirit of Einrogard?’

After talking with upperclassmen and professors, Lee Han still didn’t know exactly what it was.

It vaguely seemed to involve surviving on whatever you could scrounge while camping outside…

The knights, even with faces lacking flesh, showed annoyance.

Already tired enough from the external inspector, they had no intention of trying to persuade students.

-The following actions are also forbidden: making food for friends, selling food at a low price, bartering…

“??”

“Does anyone even do that?”

The upperclassmen were baffled.

It sounded as absurd as a rule like, “It’s forbidden to be nice to Baldrogard students.”

Who would be nice, rule or not?

“……”

“……”

However, the second-year students looked genuinely startled. So did Lee Han.

‘Wait. His Highness Uman is an outsider—how…?’

This was obviously a rule aimed specifically at Lee Han.

In fact, even the knights stared right at Lee Han.

…Could it be the skeleton headmaster tattled?!

‘Very likely.’

Lee Han shuddered.

It was his own management that brought about the inspector, and now such petty revenge?

It was almost impressive how petty it was.

-Anyway, any students who usually… uh, who used to do these things should be careful.

“……”

He definitely just started to say someone’s family name and cut himself off?

Lee Han was now sure—these rules were pointed at him.

-The following are also forbidden: receiving excessive help from friends, receiving magic lessons from them…

“Why is that banned?”

Lee Han hadn’t meant to object, but the words slipped out.

Why ban that, of all things?

The knights answered in tired voices.

-Because a certain great mage whose name we can’t reveal advised it. If one student receives excessive help, it’s unhappy for both them and others.

“……”

“……”

Now not only Lee Han, but other second-years seemed to realize how bad these regulations could be.

Once implemented, the other upperclassmen would just be more miserable—they’d already adjusted.

But for second-years, who’d been living relatively easy, it had the potential to be hell.

“Why are the knights making rules like this?”

“No idea. Maybe they brewed undead wine wrong?”

The upperclassmen, except for a few sharp ones, seemed uninterested in the rules. Most didn’t even seem to realize why they were being made.

‘Not like anyone’s going to help excessively anyway—so why?’

“This is ridiculous!”

-What’s ridiculous is that you’ve been living so happily just because of your admission year. Frankly, that’s more like Baldrogard, not Einrogard.

A mischievous knight answered.

It was well known the skeleton headmaster had it out for the second-years, but to use the outside inspector for this!

This was truly the work of a master among henchmen. No ordinary mage could pull it off.

-Don’t think you can just help in secret, either. His Highness Uman is more thorough and persistent than you expect.

One knight whispered to Lee Han.

Normally the skeleton headmaster just let students “provision themselves,” but Uman was different.

He’d track you down, lecture you, and never let up.

Lee Han replied sourly.

“But why say all this just to me…?”

-…You just look the type? Haha.

The Death Knight winked with blue eyes. Lee Han easily read the meaning.

‘I’m the prime suspect.’

For a fairly friendly knight to whisper like this, Lee Han was well and truly targeted.

And honestly, among second-years, he was the only one who’d help others anyway…

‘Still, don’t they have any pride?’

Lee Han was exasperated by the skeleton headmaster’s pettiness.

How quickly he switched from grumbling to Uman to just using him.

“Hmph. His Highness Uman, and the headmaster, have both forgotten something.”

-What is that?

“That I can send petitions from outside the school, too.”

The skeleton headmaster’s successor spoke meaningfully, and the knights tilted their heads.

-What would you write?

“That His Highness Uman and the headmaster are maliciously colluding to stop me from helping friends with assignments and making them food, and—”

As he spoke, Lee Han felt odd.

Wait.

‘Why does this sound funny when I say it out loud?’

The knights seemed to think the same.

-Heir.

“Please don’t call me that.”

-Very well, Lord Wardanaz. Er… Even as your master’s henchmen, from an objective point of view, I don’t think that petition will be very effective.

“……”

Lee Han had to admit he’d been soundly refuted by the Death Knights.

No emperor would read such a petition and say, “That skeleton has finally lost it! Wardanaz must be allowed to help friends and make them food at once!”

-To be honest, as much as the master probably just wanted to torment second-years, isn’t this actually a good thing for you, Wardanaz? It seemed to us you were awfully overworked.

“I won’t wholly deny that I was overworked, but this goes against the spirit of Einrogard!”

Lee Han lost the argument, but stubbornly clung to the issue out of pride.

And when a person gets stubborn enough, “the spirit of Einrogard” just comes out naturally.

The knights merely exchanged glances.

-These new rules really are well-written, aren’t they?

-Indeed. If not for this, the heir would never take a break.

“Are you listening? There’s a real spirit of Einrogard—”

-Yes, yes. Yes.

-I also think it’s against the spirit of Einrogard.

Even if I have no idea what that is!

• * *

The second-years of Blue Dragon Tower gathered in the common room, gloomier than a funeral.

They wanted to get advice from their seniors (and maybe rally them to a cause).

“First, take what you left with me.”

Lee Han reminded them right away, so he wouldn’t forget.

The young prince’s basement was full of contraband entrusted by his friends.

Since who knew what His Highness Uman would do next, it was best to return everything to its owners as quickly as possible.

‘Dragon magic is so hard to gauge it’s scary. Could he actually sense us sharing food?’

Based on the knights’ warning, it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate him.

Still, strictly speaking, this was within the rules—not giving out food, just returning friends’ things.

“L-Lee Han.”

“What?”

“I… I didn’t bring much food this time…”

Gainando mumbled, face pale.

“What? What do you mean?”

“I-I didn’t either.”

“Actually, me too…”

Amazingly, quite a few students besides Gainando had brought little food.

Because Lee Han usually stocked so much, they thought, ‘No need for me to pack extra; I’ll just bring something else.’

Gainando gazed hopelessly into a nesting chocolate box within a chocolate box within a chocolate box.

Am I supposed to survive the whole semester on this?

“T-this book! I’m going to burn all these books!”

When a friend went berserk and tried to burn his black magic books, Lee Han quickly stopped him.

“Calm down. I’ll find some way. I’m not sure how they’re watching, but there’s definitely a way to smuggle food.”

“No. There’s no such way.”

“……”

That familiar voice burst their bubble. Lee Han turned.

Senior Yukveltire was walking up.

“What is it, Senior? If you’re not going to help, go away.”

“Didn’t you want to know about dragon magic?”

“!”

At those words, not just Lee Han but all the second-years widened their eyes.

“Do you know how His Highness detects things?”

The senior nodded.

Lee Han let out a shallow sigh. Adenart asked, puzzled,

“Why the sigh?”

“Getting her to help is always so much trouble. Ugh, if only Direte were in our tower instead.”

“…I—She’s not that kind of person—”

Adenart tried to defend her family, but Lee Han ignored him and grumbled.

“She’s just going to rope us into experiments with dangerous spells again.”

“His Highness has the -Scales of the Soul-.”

But surprisingly, Yukveltire started explaining right away.

Adenart stared at Lee Han, but Lee Han didn’t yield.

“Soon she’ll probably demand something in exchange, too.”

“……”

Whether the juniors chatted or not, Yukveltire kept going.

The -Scales of the Soul-, a mighty artifact found in many fairy tales and legends among dragons.

Its power was to bind your soul and place it on the scales, making you confess your sins.

“What kind of nonsense… An artifact like that actually exists?”

Lee Han was appalled at the effect.

He’d heard of it, but it was hard to believe. Yukveltire nodded.

“According to legend, it’s passed down together with all rights to Wizard Cards.”

“What do Wizard Card rights have to do with that… Never mind. Supposing it’s real, does she really have it? And would she use such a powerful item for this kind of thing?”

“I just went to view it.”

Dragon or not, Yukveltire moved for her own purposes whether or not the school was in chaos.

Having heard rumors of the -Scales of the Soul-, she had gone to see for herself.

Uman had gladly agreed. This righteous dragon had no reason to refuse to aid the students.

“And she said she’d use it to correct the students’ waywardness.”

“……”

“…Send me to Baldrogard!! Send me to Baldrogard!!!”