Episode 1108

“Are you really going to be like this?”

“?”

Professor Voladi looked puzzled at his junior colleague’s protest.

Seeing this, Professor Garcia realized that her counterpart hadn’t felt even a hint of guilt about the previous exchange.

‘That… that’s…!’

The shamelessness was as bad as Professor Verdus’s, and Garcia shivered internally.

To be fair, Professor Voladi was only sticking to the rules.

Before departure, the conversation had indeed gone like this:

-But professor, won’t teaching together be too much for Student Lee Han?

-I don’t think so.

-…Let’s just take turns, okay? Set times for whose turn it is to talk—my turn, your turn.

-Agreed.

Strict about principles and rules, Professor Voladi always tried to honor such agreements.

So he’d kept track of time even during Garcia’s conversation, and interrupted exactly as agreed.

‘So petty!’

Professor Garcia grumbled internally as she pulled out her own pocket watch, determined to be just as precise.

Tap tap—

Bored of sightseeing, Joulin finally left the window and returned to her seat.

Then, seeing Lee Han and Professor Voladi setting up for magical study, she shrieked in shock.

‘Is it really so shocking? …Well, I suppose it is.’

Even Professor Garcia, inwardly, had to admit it made sense.

Einrogard students would be used to this, but not an outsider—especially a princess raised in the imperial family.

“Wh-what are you doing?!”

“We’re studying magic, Your Highness.”

“Why?!”

“……”

“……”

The three wizards fell silent. Now that someone was actually asking “why,” it was hard to answer.

Lee Han forced a reply.

“There’s no time to study at school, you see?”

‘Uh-oh!’

Professor Garcia inwardly groaned.

It did make Einrogard sound like a rather intense magic school.

“Can’t even play with Joulin… and still no time? This is just too much!”

“Ugh!”

Professor Garcia let out a sound without meaning to.

Einrogard was starting to sound like a truly harsh magic school.

‘I need to calm her down, quickly.’

Lee Han hurried to soothe Joulin.

He didn’t know what Professor Voladi’s reaction would be if more of his teaching time got taken away.

Surely he wouldn’t just throw Joulin out of the carriage… right?

“What can you do? Einrogard is just like this.”

“S-so that’s how it is?”

“Yes. The other students are just as fiercely devoted to magic study as I am.”

“……”

Professor Garcia gaped at her student, speechless at such shameless lies.

How could he say that with a straight face?

But, to her amazement, it worked perfectly on Joulin.

“I feel so sorry for the students at Einrogard…!”

“Thank you for understanding, Your Highness. Please just be patient a little longer.”

Relieved that Joulin had bought it, Lee Han exhaled quietly.

But he failed to notice—Joulin’s iron resolve!

‘This is outrageous. Joulin will… Joulin will change this rotten empire!’

For a dragon, normally uninterested in worldly affairs, it was an astonishing determination.

• * *

“These are the spells currently being practiced.”

Professor Voladi produced a small chalkboard and started listing spells.

Names such as ‘Wardanaz Telekinesis’, ‘Water Orb Projectile’, ‘Thunder Flame’, ‘Azure Flame’, ‘Soul Morph’, ‘High Undead Summoning’, ‘Headmaster’s Secret’ were written out.

Seeing it all, Professor Garcia let out a deep sigh.

“Gasp!”

“But as I’ve said, the amount and level of these spells has only been going up.”

“Sigh.”

“We must set priorities.”

“Ah!”

“I don’t mean you need to learn them all—”

“Oh.”

“…Professor Garcia, are you alright?”

Unable to ignore it, Lee Han asked cautiously.

Even Joulin was glancing at Professor Garcia as if she found the commentary a little strange.

Joulin may not have known much about magic education, but all these interjections would surely be distracting.

“S-sorry, Lee Han.”

“Not at all. Um… you’re not upset, are you?”

“Why would I be upset?”

“I thought you were getting revenge for Professor Baegrek’s earlier ambush…”

“……”

Professor Voladi, until now just silently reading, lifted his head and shot a glance at her.

Garcia, feeling aggrieved, bounced so hard she nearly hit the carriage ceiling.

“Absolutely not!!!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Garcia could only fume in silence.

It was Voladi keeping time in the background—now she was being lumped in as the same kind of person.

‘Boo hoo hoo…’

“The next spell is -Intermediate Magic Storage-.”

Professor Voladi had no plans at present to push his student to expand into high-level magic.

Just internalizing what Lee Han already knew would take enough time.

It made more sense to recommend a few key spells needed now.

Since Lee Han had advanced so quickly, there were still plenty of useful spells he hadn’t learned yet.

‘Thank goodness.’

Professor Garcia sighed inwardly this time, determined not to let it show.

“Intermediate Magic Storage… That’s…”

“It’s the advanced version of the -Basic Magic Storage- Lee Han has already learned.”

Storage magic let you record spells of your circle or lower, using your body as a kind of living scroll, casting them quickly on demand: -Basic Magic Storage-.

-Intermediate Magic Storage- was the next step up.

“What circle is it?”

“5th. So that’s a relief, right?”

‘Why’s that a relief?’

Lee Han suddenly felt a sense of distance from Professor Garcia.

He had no idea what she was supposed to mean by that.

In fact, she meant “since Lee Han already knows some 5th circle spells, it’s lucky it isn’t a 6th”—but even if he’d understood, Lee Han probably would have felt just as distant.

“Plus, -Intermediate Magic Storage- is pretty easy compared to some of the 5th-circle spells Lee Han has learned.”

“Uh. That’s… exciting.”

‘Lee Han seems so sad.’

Joulin sucked a candy and pondered.

Why did her contractor look so strained?

“If you want to practice -Intermediate Magic Storage-, start by storing some 4th-circle spells. It’ll be perfect for training.”

“No guarantee I can…”

“Hm?”

“Nothing.”

Lee Han grumbled softly as he prepared the spell just as Professor Voladi had suggested.

Best 4th-circle spell for practice would be -Wardanaz Water Orb Projectile-.

With so much experience, it was suited for experimenting with the other spells.

“Magic, dwell here. I command you, over and over—dwell here. Quiet as settling mist, silent as dusk approaching…”

He used repeated chanting and even some metric phrasing, throwing everything he knew into practicing.

With tough spells, it was better to pull off a single success than worry about speed.

‘Lucky I learned this. If I hadn’t, how would I ever cast it…’

Meanwhile, both professors ignored their student and discussed further spell recommendations.

“What about the next one? I’d suggest -Millei’s Summon Paper Bird-.”

“No need to store a summoning spell.”

“I know, I know. But for purposes of practice, storing summoning magic could be valuable. With other summoning spells too…”

“Professor, could you take a look and see if I did it right?”

Lee Han called the two professors—but both waved him off.

“You’ll have done fine. Just pick a tough one and practice.”

“Good job.”

“Anyway, about summoning spells, Professor…”

“……”

Astonished by the professors’ dive back into discussion, Lee Han wondered,

‘What kind of people are these…?’

Joulin clapped for him instead.

“I think you were wonderful!”

“…Your Highness, you are the light and salt of the empire. Sob!”

“W-why are you crying, Lee Han. Don’t be sad!”

Joulin tried to comfort her contractor, flustered.

• * *

‘But what exactly does Daylily Tower want me to do?’

Getting down from the carriage (Professor Garcia gritted her teeth as they arrived right as her turn was coming up), Lee Han wondered about the job.

“That’s the place, Lee Han. Looks different from when you came with the headmaster, right?”

The empire’s bigger towers and those confident in their skill built multiple towers all over, connecting the spaces to each other.

Daylily Tower was one such place.

The home base was in Flaher City, but there were also separate towers by the capital’s outskirts and outside Granden City.

Even when spaces were linked, not everything was the same—particularly the outer appearance.

The Flaher City tower was the most splendid, the one by the capital only somewhat stylish, and the Granden City tower… pretty shabby…

“Yes, it’s really ornate.”

“Right. The shabb—pardon?”

Professor Garcia turned in surprise.

The tower glinting before them was dazzlingly clad in gold. Professor Garcia had never seen such a tower structure in her life.

‘Did Daylily Tower just come into a huge fortune…?’

She wondered if they’d picked up some major imperial government magical contract.

-The carriage is here!!

-Everyone stop what you’re doing and change clothes!

She witnessed two mages scramble out of the manure pit, quickly change, and close it up.

The two fixed up each other’s robes, pinned on medals and badges, then magically summoned a tea table in the air. They immediately sat and sipped at empty teacups.

“Ahh, how leisurely.”

“Such leisure as you won’t find at other towers. Isn’t that so?”

They spoke loudly, as though hoping someone would hear.

Lee Han, though he hadn’t seen the pit-escape, still sensed something odd.

“There’s nothing in their teacups—what are they doing?”

“……”

While Professor Garcia muttered “surely not,” several more tower mages stepped forward, making a show of ignoring Lee Han’s party while loudly chatting.

“Did you hear how our tower beat the Jade Malachite Tower this time?”

“You mean the new flora analysis in the local subdimension? Yes, fine work, but such discoveries are so common here, hardly worth mention!”

“Well said! Hahaha!”

Watching the ostentatious display, Professor Garcia was mortified.

‘Di-disgraceful…!!’

Even if they wanted to recruit Lee Han after graduation, was this kind of performance really necessary?

Even Joulin looked confused.

“M-maybe the mages are under illusion magic.”

“…That might be it, Your Highness.”

Catching on a bit late, Lee Han said sadly,

These kind imperial mages had become so debased—all thanks to the skull headmaster’s wicked tricks…