Episode 1183
by CristaeThough he’d done it several times already to no avail, the hamster once again squeaked and engraved that resolution in his heart.
Lee Han put the hamster in his sleeve (the baby basilisk was highly displeased) and tried to head over to Professor Thunderstep’s Water Engraving Hall.
He could have finished making it in his personal room, but the various facilities in the Alchemy School’s tower made it more convenient.
…Sometimes, he could even borrow the professor’s reagents when Thunderstep was distracted.
-Hold on. Why am I coming along?
The baby basilisk agreed with the hamster’s complaint and wagged its tail.
This cozy spot in the sleeve was supposed to be for the hairless one only!
“Oh. Just watch while I make this divination incense and give me some advice.”
-Why don’t you just ask that thought-form?
The hamster was bewildered by Lee Han’s abrupt request.
If that thought-form was willing to thoroughly review a student’s magic assignment, he’d surely be more than happy to provide advice while Lee Han made something.
‘As always, Gonadaltes’s thought-forms are all nuts.’
It was strange how such transcendent beings were always willing to do these trivial chores without complaint.
Their favoritism went way beyond reasonable bounds.
“Come on. I already feel bad enough that he wrote all this for me—how could I keep bothering him about every step in the process?”
-Hmph. You said you never felt fear before…
“Besides, it’s possible to watch and give advice in person since I have these notes, even if my magical skills are lacking.”
-……
The hamster, about to snark back, closed his mouth. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
What did you say??
-Wha… what did you say?
“I just said, since you wrote these notes, you can look over them and advise me if I make a mistake?”
-Bu… but after that. After that.
“?”
Lee Han looked back.
All he saw was the mess of books piled on his desk and new snack recipes he’d developed for his friends.
-Magical skills are lacking???
“Well, you’re not as skilled as Master, right?”
-……
The hamster blinked like a cow.
It was such an insulting thing to say, but the being in question was so overwhelmingly powerful that he couldn’t protest directly.
-This damn brat…
He finally became angry enough to protest, but Lee Han had already started walking, so the hamster had no choice but to cling on tightly to avoid being flung out of the sleeve.
“Is that for real?”
“I’m telling you it is.”
“So now he’s even more obsessed with magic?!”
Nillia, simmering her processed ingredients in the third-floor labyrinth laboratory of the Water Engraving Hall, found it hard to believe her friends.
Wardanaz being even more obsessed with magic than usual—
That sounded like saying you could add more water to a full cup.
“It’s real, I’m telling you!”
Bark, the dwarf student from the White Tiger Tower, stomped his feet in frustration.
“This time, he wants to finish all the exams in advance so he can go out and actually relax!”
‘Is “relax” even grammatically permissible in that sentence, by Imperial standards?’
“If you don’t believe me, ask the Blue Dragon Tower guys!”
“It’s true. Really.”
Yoner nodded.
All the Blue Dragon Tower students, including this red-haired friend, looked worried.
“I think Wardanaz has gone mad with spare time now that he doesn’t have to handle our meals.”
“That’s a pretty trashy remark, and we’re from the same tower. If anyone asks, just say it came from the White Tiger Tower.”
“Maybe he’s lost it from eating too much of His Highness’s flavorless food?”
“The seniors say the food is decent these days.”
“Oh, come on. Seniors can eat anything.”
The students of the Alchemy School offered all sorts of theories.
From “he’s lost his mind from having some free time” to various creative hypotheses, everything was put forth.
Yoner said with a sour face,
“…It’s probably because the professor disappeared.”
“What?! Which professor?”
“Professor Verdus, I’d assume. If anyone among the professors was going to get assassinated, I always figured it’d be Professor Verdus first.”
“No… Professor Baegrek…”
“Ah.”
Some friends paused, even showing expressions like ‘Wait, who was that again?’
“The professor who tormented Wardanaz?”
“He didn’t torment him. …Or did he?”
As Yoner became confused, Ratford and Bark stepped in.
“He’s not a bad person.”
“Yeah. Wardanaz is genuinely worried. You should’ve seen him when we went out recently.”
Bark recalled the events from the request up north.
Even now, thinking back on it…
“You’re making a big deal.”
“Yeah, we’ve been out with him before too.”
Bark, annoyed at his friends’ jeers, insisted,
“This time was really different! The bandits got wiped out, you know!”
“So what? That’s ordinary. Wardanaz cleared out anti-magic cultists before too.”
“Well… it’s…”
Bark fell silent.
Suppression of a bandit group was within an Einrogard magician’s power.
But anyone who had witnessed the calm madness in Wardanaz’s eyes on site could never say “So what?”
The intensity was on another level.
“I’m telling you, it was different!”
“Come on… Besides, Wardanaz would worry about Professor Verdus disappearing. He even takes care of you White Tiger Tower guys.”
“Still, would he really worry about Professor Verdus?”
As the debate shifted from “Would Wardanaz still worry about Professor Verdus’s disappearance?” to “How far would his concern for White Tiger Tower extend?”, Nillia couldn’t take it anymore and cut in.
“Guys! Weren’t we supposed to be worrying about Wardanaz!?”
“Oh. Right.”
“I introduced some knights I know to help Wardanaz.”
The White Tiger Tower students explained what they’d done while up north.
Among Imperial knight families, most knew each other to some extent, so it was easy to ask for help in such situations.
“Who’d you connect him with?”
“I asked my brother, who’s in the Crescent Night Knights. Moradi asked the Voig Knights.”
“!!”
Even students from non-knight families knew those two groups—they were famous.
Especially in patrol and reconnaissance, both knighthoods had an illustrious history.
The Crescent Night Knights were all so vigorous, they could run nonstop from the western coastline to the Nightmare Marshes, and the Voig Knights were rumored to have eyes and ears even at the last inn in the northern snowy fields.
Such people couldn’t be ordered about simply by money or power.
“How’d you introduce him?!”
“Huh? I just asked my brother in the Crescent Night Knights.”
“……”
The group was a bit underwhelmed by how simple that was.
Well, blood ties were a strong reason.
“Still, even for family, I’m surprised he agreed. The Crescent Night Knights are always so busy it’s hard to even meet them.”
“I told him we avoided failing all thanks to Wardanaz, and he insisted on repaying the favor.”
“……”
“……”
They changed the subject.
“Moradi introduced the Voig Knights? Was that just because they’re both from the north?”
“Aren’t the Voig Knights really secretive? How’d you connect them?”
“When I asked Moradi, he said the patriarch contacted them personally.”
“Moradi, come on. That’s such a blatant lie.”
The White Tiger Tower students simply didn’t believe it.
It’s not as though the patriarch of the Moradi family was a free man, much less likely to go out of his way for a magician who did a single job.
“Bark could’ve just left it a mystery, too.”
“Haha. Maybe Bark should have kept it secret, too.”
“I contacted some people from my old guild.”
As the others shared their intel for Wardanaz’s sake, Ratford spoke up.
His old colleagues, who had gathered under the name “White Raven,” were skilled at moving property ownership secretly.
Yoner, who knew about Ratford’s background, asked hopefully,
“Did any info come in?”
“All I heard was that Wardanaz is beating up any thieves he spots so badly it’s terrifying…”
“……”
Rumors of back alleys devastated in western and northern cities had spread rapidly.
Criminals in other parts of the empire wondered “What’s the reason?” “Did someone steal from Einrogard or something?” “Has Gonadaltes finally lost his mind?” but the true answer was somewhere none would have guessed.
“Still, Professor Baegrek isn’t someone who would have left traces so easily… I even asked my family’s alchemists, but no luck.”
“Adenart and I sent letters to the princesses.”
Adenart spoke in a dejected, downcast voice.
Like Yoner, he hadn’t gotten any results.
“Don’t be discouraged. Just asking for help is more than impressive.”
“That’s right. Gainando even got rejected.”
Imperial princes and princesses were not known for getting along well.
No head of a great noble family was particularly pondering it, but they did technically share a stake in the imperial succession.
They wouldn’t just help a rival for no reason.
“I got rejected, too…”
“……”
“……”
Adenart’s gloom, for having failed at the same level as Gainando, was not easily eased.
If anything, Adenart was subject to even more scrutiny than Gainando.
‘Wait a minute?’
Nillia, who had been carefully listening to all her friends, realized something strange.
Was there anyone here who hadn’t done anything…?
‘Is it just me?!?!’
Everyone had secretly tried to do something for their friend without telling anyone else!
Nillia’s fingertips shivered. This wasn’t just any problem.
‘T-the Shadow Patrol doesn’t leave the mountains, so… there’s no way to track things like this…’
Even if Professor Voladi could be anywhere in the empire, one place he definitely wouldn’t go was the northern mountains.
What would he do in such a barren place, with only monsters for company?
Still, she couldn’t just do nothing. Taking advantage of the moment when no one was looking, Nillia quickly started scribbling a letter.
“?”
Seeing that his friends were nowhere to be seen in the tower, Lee Han was puzzled.
Usually there were always one or two Alchemy School students wandering the first or second floor greenhouses, tending plants and checking reagents.
‘Well, it happens.’
With a pot prepared, Lee Han took the hamster from his sleeve and set it on his head.
It was easier to talk like this.
-……
The hamster was suddenly reminded of an old fairy tale.
An unsuccessful adventurer inheriting a failed inn is helped by a genius mouse to revive the place…
‘Damn. Why am I thinking of that?’
“Let’s start making the incense. Oh, Professor. Hello.”
-……
The hamster closed his eyes at the sight of Professor Thunderstep.
Soon, this professor’s pride would be crushed by the wicked ancient thought-form!