Episode 1129

The fire giants sifted through the ashes of Juzene, retrieving the remains of their comrade.

Then, as if casually remembering, they turned to Lee Han and asked,

By the way, when will you challenge the king?

“?”

The question was so natural that, for a moment, Lee Han wondered if he actually knew these beings personally.

Unless you exchanged letters often with something like, ‘My hobby is challenging dimensional powerhouses, where should I try next?’ and they replied, ‘How about the Fire Giant King, you’ve faced the Frost Giant King already, right?’—there was no way this would come out of nowhere…

-Calm down!

Just as Lee Han was about to insist that even if every dimension crumbled this would never happen, the hamster squeaked an urgent warning.

“What do you mean, calm down?”

-Don’t underestimate the temperament of fire giants. The Frost Giants are cold and rational, but these guys are hot-blooded and temperamental.

“…Who’s cold and rational??”

Lee Han was shocked again.

Of all the giants he’d met (meaning just Einrogard giants and Frost Giants), the latter had been the nastiest, most persistent, obsessive, and emotional.

How could anyone call those guys cold and rational just because of their faces?

But no matter how much Lee Han stewed, the hamster wasn’t swayed.

Truth doesn’t change just because it hurts your feelings.

-Plus, a good number of their kin have been slaughtered. Some of the bodies were even stolen for sacrifices.

The hamster squeaked, pointing to the sky.

The air, dyed a burning red, quivered with heat, as if to symbolize the fire giants’ anger.

Would flatly refusing these enraged giants really be wise?

“…So what am I supposed to do?”

-Finesse it! You know, that thing you’re good at!

‘What does he mean by that?’

Lee Han bit back a retort.

People would think all he did was lie.

If he had the leisure, he’d retaliate with a grape barrage, but with a fire giant looming before him, he swallowed his anger.

“All right. …I’ll come visit when I have the time!”

Oh! Understood.

The fire giants were delighted with Lee Han’s soul-less answer.

Even the sky, vibrating with heat, suddenly grew calm.

The King will be waiting. Challenger, congratulations.

“……”

-D-don’t worry. There’s no way you’ll actually have to face him. Not happening.

The hamster hurriedly made excuses under Lee Han’s icy glare.

---

“No!!”

Nigisor couldn’t help but scream when his friend suddenly dove into the dimension.

Siana and Tijilling were just as stunned. Before the fight, hadn’t they all agreed on this signal protocol?

-Suspicious enemies, fight defensively, support nearby.

With professors working other parts of the village and Death Knights in town as coachmen, everyone knew defending was wisest, even without Lee Han’s orders.

And yet, the man who proposed all this had chased the enemy into a dimension solo.

“Hey, Wardanaz!”

Siana shouted, forgetting a priest’s typical decorum. Tijilling hastily tried to stop her.

“He must’ve had his reasons…”

“…We’ll finish up here and head after him!”

Nigisor summoned fire and created a blazing vortex.

Defensive combat for Einrogard students was already pretty aggressive by outside standards.

Now that they abandoned defense for offense, the resulting flames were more powerful than ever.

‘This is weird. A spirit is helping me out.’

Normally he’d need a break, but his magic was still holding up. Nigisor was once again amazed.

Meanwhile, the remaining mercenaries were in despair.

Trying to flee while poisoned, this insane priest was on a rampage…

“They’re entering the house next door.”

“You, you’re awake?!”

The mercenaries were surprised.

The crazed seer was suddenly lucid and giving practical advice.

They’d already written him off after that ‘monster, monster’ babbling…

“The wall’s going to collapse.”

“I see…!”

The mercenaries hurled themselves into the next empty house and smashed through the cracked wall in a flash.

Taken aback by the sudden obstacle, Nigisor stared.

‘Did he really predict this?’

“There’s a seer-type magic user over there!”

Tijilling wheezed.

After sacrificing a handful of hair for impromptu divination, his foresight was blocked. It was a clash between prophecy magicians.

“Empty your packs! Get ready to break out of the village!”

The mercenaries pulled out scrolls, potions, and anything they owned.

By now Juzene was long forgotten in their minds. What good was it to chase after a guy who bailed solo?

“Seer! Which way should we go?”

“Southw… mon-mon-mon-monster-monster-monster!!”

“…Dammit!!”

The seer “broke down” again, and the mercenaries groaned.

But the cause would soon become clear.

From the dimension Juzene disappeared into, the enemy wizard re-emerged, radiating killing intent.

‘Not one will escape!’

Lee Han’s bloodlust put seasoned mercenaries on edge.

In truth, these mercenaries shouldn’t have had to fear this much. They weren’t cultists, just hired for money.

But from Lee Han’s perspective, he didn’t know how deep their ties with Juzene ran.

If even one got away and relayed Juzene’s message to the cult?

“Stop! Any closer and I’ll unleash this monster on the village!”

One mercenary brandished a steel flask in threat. The flask shook violently, proof a powerful monster was sealed inside.

But suddenly the mercenary threw the flask—only for it to float gently into Lee Han’s grip.

“????”

Not illusion, not telekinesis—no hint of spell activation. The mercenary blinked in disbelief.

“Stop! Any who don’t halt will die!”

“You—!”

Their own tactic now used against them, the mercenaries were at a loss.

One in front tried activating a magical barrier using their gauntlet to block Lee Han’s advance.

Lee Han drew his sword and slashed it down. The black magnetite blade absorbed magic and shattered the gauntlet.

That blow even smashed the mercenaries’ will. The ones left, coughing from poison, threw down their weapons.

“Surre…”

CRACK!

Lee Han smacked a mercenary’s face with his staff, then paused.

“Were you about to surrender?”

“……”

Another mercenary, making accidental eye contact, nodded.

“You should’ve done it sooner. I thought you were attacking.”

“Y-you’re absolutely right.”

The mercenary immediately started fawning.

He felt sorry for the colleague who took an extra hit, but what could you do?

Survival came first!

---

Ibinta, former member of the villainous adventurer party -Kangla’s Prospectors- and once boss of a cathedral undercity thieves’ gang, owed her survival to the Headmaster’s generosity.

Thanks to the great magician—who always saw the best in people and gave one more chance—Ibinta became a new person.

-…Or so, if anyone asks, that’s your answer.

“…Yes…”

Ibinta nodded reluctantly.

The Death Knights she traveled with gave advice as practical as their overwhelming combat prowess.

Of course, she wasn’t sure if any of it was actually useful, but Ibinta didn’t have many options.

If she didn’t want a blade in her back, she had no choice but to comply.

“So when are we going after the cultists?”

Ibinta asked cautiously.

She had reason to be anxious.

She’d heard so much about the dread Archmage’s reputation—having no assignments made her even more nervous.

The job was to help hunt cultists, so Ibinta wanted to score merit somehow.

It meant she might delay an appointment with either imperial prison or the infamous Einrogard underground dungeons.

But her urge to act only backfired.

-You wretched criminal. So you finally show your true colors.

The knights scolded Ibinta gravely.

-Do you have no humanity? You’re crueler than us undead. Don’t you see the local villagers suffering? And all you want is to hunt cultists?

“Ah, no, that’s not what I—”

Chastened for her misjudged question, Ibinta hung her head.

Since when was wanting to hunt cultists a sin, anyway?

‘Don’t tell me… they just picked me as an errand-runner for the archmage’s disciple?’

With all this, she began to wonder if the cultist hunt was just a pretext—what they really needed was a go-fer for Gonadaltes’s student.

-Even if you stand still, the cultists will show themselves soon enough.

“Huh? Have you set up some kind of trap?”

Ibinta thought maybe a giant scheme was in motion.

-No, nothing like that. But just looking at His Successor’s record, merely going on assignments…

-Shh. Don’t speak of such secrets in front of outsiders. What if he tattles? What if His Successor tells on you?

-Good point.

“???”

With all the Death Knights muttering, Ibinta was more lost than ever.

What were they talking about?

-Enough chatter. Go help ten villagers. Let’s see if you’re still just a wicked bandit, Ironarm Ibinta.

‘It’s Ironcloak, actually…’

Still, Ibinta trudged off.

With the professors and priests already helping out in the village square, she had to go further to find people to aid.

After much asking around, she finally returned after helping ten people—only to find the knights furious.

-The cultists have shown themselves! What were you doing?!

“Eh!?”

-Hurry! The cultists tried escaping through a dimension but got caught by His Successor. Go help with the interrogation or whatever.

“What the…”

Ibinta simply didn’t understand any of it.

Not only had a fight broken out while she was away, but how could such elusive cultists be caught so easily?

…Did the Death Knights mean “even if you stand still, cultists appear” literally?

‘What kind of trick did they pull…’

When she arrived, Lee Han and his friends were sitting on a nearby rock, worn out and tired.

The professors and priests were discussing the situation seriously.

“Could this disaster be…?”

“I doubt it. I think they just took advantage of it…”

“How did that student come back from the fire giant dimension…?”

“…A coincidence, perhaps…”

-See what the mercenaries are hiding.

The Death Knights ordered Ibinta.

These toughened mercenaries never confessed easily.

Knowing about “joining up with cultists” instead of just “taking money” made a huge difference in sentencing.

And there was always cultist revenge to fear.

If you tried to forcibly dig through minds with illusion magic, it’d take too much time and effort; best to go for a confession.

If someone like Ibinta explained the situation and promised them safety, however…

“Huh. Aren’t you the cobbler?!”

Ibinta blurted out in surprise.

Among the mercenaries was an old companion from the Kangla’s Prospectors party.

“You’re… Cloak…!”

“Right! Listen, even though I got caught, they spared me! Look!”

Ibinta frantically tried to persuade him.

She too was from Kangla’s Prospectors, had been a thief, but after getting caught, had been forgiven…

…If you just cooperated, you wouldn’t be sent to the Imperial courts, prisons, or Einrogard’s depths!

Either the persuasion or just seeing Ibinta safe eventually shook her friend’s resolve.

“…Fine. What do you want to know?”

“Who was the cultist who died? Tell us everything.”

“You mean Juzene? You must have heard him yelling about House Baegrek’s disciple—he was a noble vampire from the west with tons of grudges. Always cursing when he talked. Even though the cult’s not really in a position to take revenge, he screamed because he had so much hate…”

“Ooh…!”

Ibinta perked up.

Wasn’t this pretty amazing?

-……

“……But the mood became strange.

Lee Han, and even the Death Knights, all stared at her in shock.