Episode 1107

“Why do you say that?”

-Ma-master. Aren’t there lots of students who could have set that fire? And Wardanaz isn’t even that displeased with the current situation.

“You’re wrong! Lee Han is furious right now!”

Joulin firmly denied the knight’s words.

With Wuman stopping her contractor from meeting her, how could he not be angry?

“Separate from that, didn’t Wardanaz say he’d come in person? Then, of course, he set the fire.”

The skull headmaster replied coolly.

From a probability perspective, that was a highly plausible deduction.

By now, he’d probably learned -Escape to the Shadow Fortress-.

But considering the magic’s potency had weakened from trying to adapt the difficult original, getting through Wuman’s dragon foresight wouldn’t be easy.

Therefore, inevitably, his apprentice would have to create confusion among the dragons and weaken their prophetic abilities.

-…I see!

The Death Knight couldn’t help but be convinced.

At first, it’d seemed like nonsense, but once he heard the explanation, it sounded very plausible.

Truly, a teacher knows their student best!

-I apologize, Master! This foolish knight dared to question…

“Hahaha! Don’t worry. Not everyone can be as wise as this archmage.”

Pleased by the flattery, the skull headmaster magnanimously forgave him.

But Joulin became terribly dejected.

“Lee Han is burning the territory because of me…”

“It’s nothing to worry about. Any great mage must learn to set a fire or two!”

Normally, Joulin would have fallen for the skull headmaster’s nonsense, but not this time. She just kept sighing deeply in gloom.

‘She’s really grown up.’

The skull headmaster was impressed and gently urged her.

“Why not ask Wardanaz yourself? I doubt he’d mind at all.”

“I don’t think I can ever be a dragon like Azirmo…”

“No need to become that kind of dragon…”

“Hm?”

“Nothing. Go on, ask.”

Joulin gloomily picked up her quill.

A moment later—

“…Huh? Lee Han says he didn’t do it?”

“Tell that little liar not to lie. Cunning brat.”

The skull headmaster snorted.

This apprentice was truly qualified to become a great mage.

Even in this situation, he could lie!

• * *

“……”

Having slipped past the sentries to reach the main building’s fifth floor, Lee Han glared at the skull headmaster and the knights.

The knights weren’t about to say a word in their own defense.

‘Dammit. It really sounded convincing when I first heard it.’

“Logically, if someone set the fire, wouldn’t it be upperclassmen, not me?”

“You could’ve set it, though…”

The skull headmaster grumbled, averting his eyes.

He hadn’t expected his prediction to be so off.

“You have ways to get by Wuman’s surveillance, and even if he checks with his scales, it’ll be hard to catch you. I thought you were the obvious culprit.”

“I’m honestly scared of the way you think, Headmaster. …Wait a minute, what do you mean ‘even the scales won’t catch me’ if Wuman checks?”

At Lee Han’s question, the skull headmaster looked at him as though he was the dumbest person in the room.

“Don’t you know what the Scales of Souls are?”

“I heard it’s an artifact where you tie up someone’s soul, put it on the scale, and it forces them to confess.”

“…Is your intelligence dropping from all these bad meals lately?”

The skull headmaster, incredulous, flipped up Lee Han’s eyelid. Lee Han, annoyed, slapped his hand away.

-Um, Wardanaz. Like how the first-year protection spells don’t affect upper years, soul-binding magic probably doesn’t work on you either.

“Ah.”

Lee Han finally understood.

“How is anyone supposed to get that from your explanation?”

“How do you get more brazen every day? Never mind whether you set the fire… hey, your -Escape to the Shadow Fortress- is strange. What did you learn?”

“Huh? Didn’t you send me because you knew I had the sheet music?”

Lee Han, puzzled, gave a brief explanation of events.

Professor Paselete Craer had fled, but with help from a senior, he’d succeeded by adapting it into a music spell.

The skull headmaster nodded slightly as he listened.

“I see. All is going according to my plan.”

“……”

Seemed pretty false…

While Lee Han shot a suspicious look, the skull headmaster called for the Death Knights.

“Trail Professor Paselete Craer. You probably can’t catch him, but weaken his divination as much as possible.”

-Yes, understood.

“Anyway, glad you mastered -Escape to the Shadow Fortress-! Now you can come visit often.”

This might clash with Wuman’s “ensure Student Wardanaz’s healthy daily schedule,” but oh well.

Sure enough, Joulin’s face immediately brightened. The light from outside’s blazing fire helped, but she was definitely happier.

“Wow!!!!! So…!”

Excited, Joulin began counting on her fingers.

“We need to finish chess, and keep playing catch… Hmm… yeah! How about you visit for ten days next week?”

It was amazing she had the power to change the Empire’s weekday system, but there was no way Lee Han could agree.

“Um, Your Highness.”

“Hm?”

“I have to go out soon on a commission.”

“……”

Joulin fell silent. The way she went speechless had both Lee Han and the skull headmaster watching her carefully.

‘Is she all right?’

‘She’ll be fine. She’s grown a lot lately.’

The old Joulin would have turned into her true dragon form and cried oceans, but now she was different.

She’d grown with every encounter, much to even the headmaster’s surprise.

…WAAAAAH!

“Damn.”

The skull headmaster sprang up to avoid the torrent of tears. Lee Han, a moment too slow, took the brunt himself.

“……”

“Predictions can be wrong. You have to accept that with humility.”

‘I’m never trusting you again.’

After glaring at the skull headmaster—who had left him high and dry—Lee Han set about consoling Joulin.

Returned to her dragon form, Joulin was wailing her heart out.

Waaah waaah waaah…

“Your Highness. Your Highness.”

Joulin, still sobbing, turned to her contractor.

“Your Highness, you’ve grown so much lately. You can’t cry over things like this.”

Joulin has not grown even one bit!

-Wow…

The baby basilisk in his sleeve put her tail over her own face.

She felt embarrassed just to be listening.

‘I was never that bad!’

“You look all grown-up to me.”

“Be quiet.”

Lee Han snapped at the skull headmaster, then tried coaxing Joulin again.

“You’ll see me when I come back from my commission.”

R-really? How long will the commission last? Just once this semester?

Joulin, a bit cheered, asked. Lee Han felt suffocated.

“…A bit longer than that.”

Twice?

“…A bit more.”

Three times?

“Just a bit more than that…”

……

The gold dragon glared with teary eyes, ready to burst out again.

Unable to watch any longer, the skull headmaster spoke.

“Your Highness, if you’re going to be like this, why not just tag along with him during the commission trip?”

“…Wait. Headmaster, you’re coming too?!”

Lee Han was shocked.

What sort of wicked scheme was this archmage up to?

The skull headmaster smiled slyly.

“Would you really hate traveling with Her Highness?”

“……”

Lee Han resolved that after this job, he’d seriously look into ways to have Wuman continue as inspector.

What the hell…!

“Your Highness, I don’t travel alone for commissions. Professors Baegrek and Garcia come with me, and sometimes other students too.”

So Joulin can come along too!

“…Uh… Well… Fine.”

Lee Han hesitated but finally gave up.

Something told him Joulin was not going to let this go.

One death knight, listening in, nervously raised a question.

-But, Your Highness, what if Inspector Wuman finds out? He’ll be disappointed if he learns you tagged along without permission…

“!”

Lee Han perked up.

He didn’t expect a twist here.

Joulin, too, had been thinking about Wuman.

The gold dragon nodded with a serious face.

There would, naturally, be consequences for following Lee Han.

“And so?”

Mm! Joulin will just worry about it later!

“……”

To hear an Einrogard student-style “deal with it after” from a gold dragon shocked Lee Han.

What the…???

“Magnificent, Your Highness. Honestly, what could Wuman even do if you choose to go?”

“Could you please not encourage her?!”

Lee Han really wanted to smack his advisor.

• * *

“So this is why you came along?”

“Yes… I’m truly sorry.”

Inside the carriage, Lee Han bowed his head repeatedly to Professor Garcia.

He had nothing to say for himself.

“Oh, no. It’s not your fault, Lee Han. Wait—wasn’t it you who set the fire?”

“……”

“…Joking! Just joking!”

Seeing the sadness in his student’s eyes, Professor Garcia quickly changed the subject.

She had really expected it to be true!

While they talked, Joulin excitedly pressed her nose to the window, watching scenery fly by.

Professor Garcia spared a glance at Her Highness, then lowered her voice and whispered,

“So you’ll be coming along together next assignment too?”

“Well… At this point, I guess we’ll just have to trust Prince Wuman.”

Her reply gave Professor Garcia a weird sense of dread.

A dread that Joulin was going to keep coming along!

“…Shall we talk about the assignment? You got lots of requests—what made you pick this one? It’s not one of those you can do with your friends, is it?”

Professor Garcia checked the commission client.

It was, unusually, from the Daylily Mage Tower.

“That’s the mage tower the headmaster visited last break to extort a donation from. I feel a bit guilty over that…”

‘Headmaster…!!!!’

At Lee Han’s response, Professor Garcia screamed internally.

She’d never been so ashamed to be an Einrogard professor.

She herself had been used by the skull headmaster before.

The skull headmaster’s trick—dangling a talented student in front of a mage tower, saying, “He might join your tower after graduation!”—was diabolically effective.

“Lee Han, you really are a blessing beyond what the headmaster deserves.”

“Not at all. You’re a far better teacher than I deserve, Professor.”

“Lee Han!”

Professor Garcia nearly burst into tears.

Tap tap—

Turning, she saw Professor Voladi comforting her with a pat on the shoulder. Garcia was even more moved.

“Professor Baegrek…! You’re moved too…?”

“Time’s up. Professor Garcia, let’s switch.”

“……”

All the feeling vanished in an instant.