Episode 127

Why… won’t you open the door…? Why…?

When the students didn’t answer, the voice turned up the pitifulness.

The students of Blue Dragon Tower snapped back.

“Enough already!”

“Seriously, why are you doing this?!”

Such clever kids…

The skeleton headmaster sounded wistful. The students standing guard at the door gritted their teeth.

This really was too much!

If they’d simply trusted the skeleton headmaster’s status and opened the door, they didn’t even want to imagine what would have happened.

“If you want to give us a pop quiz, just give us one—why are you getting in our way like this?!”

What are you talking about?

They complained to the skeleton headmaster, but the response was not at all what the students expected.

Huh?

Wasn’t he trying to keep them from studying for the pop quiz?

This is the test.

“……”

“……”

The students glared at the unseen skeleton headmaster beyond the door.

How could he say that…!

“Indeed. Well, solving problems in the classroom isn’t the only way to take a test…”

Ihan nodded as if convinced.

He’d wondered why the skeleton headmaster was using such a bothersome method just to keep them from studying for the pop quiz, but if all of this was the pop quiz, it made sense.

Of course, you could ask what this had to do with , but that wasn’t important.

After all, it was a class that sent students to an island full of traps as homework—nothing new there…

“Wardanas?! Don’t just accept that!”

“Don’t fall for such nonsense!”

“I’m not falling for it… Headmaster!”

Ihan called out to the skeleton headmaster.

That annoying voice is Wardanas, isn’t it? What do you want?

“We have other pop quizzes tomorrow. Are you sure this is okay?”

Yes! Because my class is more important than the other professors’ classes!

‘I made a mistake. He’s crazier than I thought.’

Trying to invoke other professors’ names was a failure. The skeleton headmaster was even crazier than Ihan expected.

Still, there’s no need to worry too much!

“?”

The same thing is happening in the other dormitories!

“Oh…!”

“What do you mean ‘oh!’ Is this something to be happy about?!”

But regardless of that, several Blue Dragon Tower students couldn’t help but brighten up.

Wow! Nobody can study!

Still, since you have to attend other lectures, I’ll remove everything by morning. If you live to see the morning, that is.

The skeleton headmaster said it as if granting a generous favor.

Furious, Yoner raised his fist and was about to extend a finger when Ihan shook his head to stop him.

‘He could be watching us from outside.’

‘Oh, right!’

Ihan checked the inside of the lounge again.

The barricade, reinforced several times, was still sturdy.

‘We can hold out another hour or two.’

But just because they were safe now, Ihan refused to be careless.

Judging by how twisted their adversary’s mind was, he would never attack from the front alone.

“Sharkan! Check directions other than the lounge door.”

A dark sky-colored leopard growled and moved to another side of the tower.

Soon after, Sharkan started knocking on the wall—his signal that undead were coming.

“The stairwell window! Undead are crawling up to the stairwell window!”

“For real?!”

The students cursed at the news. As they all rushed for the window, Ihan stopped them.

“Don’t panic! It’s not time for that yet. I’ll give the commands!”

In emergencies like this, it was easy for arguments to break out over who was in charge.

But not in Blue Dragon Tower.

Whenever Ihan spoke, everyone moved with perfect unity.

“Yoner, take two and cover the window. Sharkan! Now that you’ve checked the window, look for other directions they could get in! Gainando, don’t worry about guarding the food stores—help with the barricade!”

‘Going forward, we need to take care of that guy first.’

Monitoring each dorm from his workshop, the skeleton headmaster smacked his lips at Blue Dragon Tower’s situation.

That boy from the Wardanas family was just too outstanding.

A herd of sheep led by a lion will always defeat a herd of lions led by a sheep.

And in this case, it wasn’t even a lion, but something more like a dragon, so every gap vanished instantly.

Usually, whenever new students entered, one or two would naturally emerge as the leader, but wasn’t this too much?

He’s like a selfish brat stealing every chance for his friends to grow through hardship!

Let’s check on the other towers.

The skeleton headmaster used farsight magic to shift his view and soothe his bad mood.

As expected, in the other towers, the ambush had caused total chaos.

Skeleton warriors busted into the lounge and were dragging students out…

The skeleton headmaster nodded with satisfaction. Then, speaking to the Black Turtle Tower students holding out behind a closed door:

Ironheads… open the door… I’ve come to help…

• * *

For the first time today, Ihan realized how many gaps there were in his tower.

Skeleton warriors slithered in through unexpected ways—starting from the stairwell window to the fireplace chimney, and elsewhere—causing the students to scream.

‘This is some real field training.’

Normally, the tower’s magic would have expelled any intruders, but clearly the skeleton headmaster had personally breached the place.

Isn’t this cheating?

Growl!

Still, Blue Dragon Tower students were handling things comparatively well.

Unlike the other towers, they’d immediately counterattacked when ambushed and then shut the door.

Because the lounge door was barricaded, even when one or two managed to slip in elsewhere, the students could respond in time.

Plus, Sharkan alone was worth several students.

Whenever he crouched and barked, undead appeared in that direction.

“Spark!”

When Ihan’s lightning struck an undead crawling through the window, Blue Dragon Tower erupted in cheers.

It had been weeks since they started, and many students had begun learning magic themselves, but the magic displayed by the Wardanas boy was on a totally different level.

He’d been relentlessly casting spells for a while—without showing the slightest sign of fatigue.

And he was even controlling a summon!

Nebelren of the Kirak family was unconsciously moved to admiration.

Loyal to the imperial princess, and convinced she was the most outstanding among the students, Nebelren nonetheless was always astounded by Wardanas’s abilities.

The reputation of being from the empire’s top magical lineage wasn’t for nothing.

“Truly amazing… Ah. My apologies, Your Highness.”

“?”

The princess raised her eyebrows in confusion at Nebelren’s apology.

“It’s just… While Wardanas is impressive, I still think Your Highness is even more so. Mana isn’t everything in a mage! Sure, Wardanas cooks a lot better and is popular, but…”

At the mention of cooking, the princess nodded.

Flustered, Nebelren added,

“B-but if Your Highness cooked, I’m sure you’d do even better…”

The princess shook her head.

“No? Well, he really does cook well…”

“What are you two doing?!”

Gainando, grunting with effort as he carried a chair, suddenly yelled in frustration.

Stop goofing off!

“They just finished casting spells and are resting to recover mana!”

“Rest while you work! You just used up mana, not stamina!”

“Gainando, look out! In front of you!”

“?”

As Gainando lugged the chair, he realized the noise from the lounge door was louder, with the added sound of creaking.

Bang!

As water droplets split boulders, the skeleton warriors’ persistent pounding had finally broken through the lounge door and smashed the barricade.

Skeletons burst through the gap and immediately grabbed Gainando.

“Uwaaagh!”

“Gainando!!!”

“Leave him! Gainando’s lost!”

While his friends said that, Ihan drew Dawnstar and rushed in.

The three nearest skeletons were sliced apart and fell. Ihan grabbed Gainando’s ankle and dragged him back with force.

Gainando lost a handful of hair but was safely rescued. Dazed, he yelled,

“Those crazy undead freaks! Isn’t the headmaster going too far!?”

“Took you long enough to say so.”

“Gainando, fall back, and everyone stay alert at the entrance! Don’t get close!”

Ihan warned his friends, then wielded his sword.

The skeletons seemed wary of the mana-draining aura from Dawnstar and no longer dared to rush through the gap.

Clatter clatter clatter!

The skeletons made a racket from outside the barricade.

Asan asked in a worried voice,

“Why are they suddenly acting like that?”

“Maybe because a mage is swinging a mana-draining sword and they’re angry?”

“…!”

Yoner blurted out the answer without much thought, but it made a strange kind of sense.

The skeletons started widening gaps in the barricade and pounding at it again, preparing to storm in en masse.

But this time, Ihan didn’t let them.

“Space, be perceived!”

Casting the spatial awareness spell again, Ihan began hurling water orbs at the skeletons outside the barricade.

The deadly water globes tore through the gaps and smashed the centuries-old bones of the skeleton warriors.

‘We held them off!’

Just as Ihan felt confident, a new group appeared, breaking through the darkness of night.

“No… no way?”

“No! They’re not undead! That’s…”

–Please help us!

It was the Phoenix Tower students.

Behind them, skeleton warriors surged in pursuit, making the situation obvious without needing to ask.

‘So their lounge was breached and they escaped!’

“Wh-what should we do?”

“Wardanas, if we take them in, it could be dangerous. Thinking about all those undead following them, there’s a 90% chance…”

“Let’s take them in.”

“!”

“!!!”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ihan’s immediate reply made the friends who’d been about to say not to feel suddenly ashamed.

No matter how scared they were of the undead, showing behavior like that…

“Wardanas… I spoke too rashly. I’ve stained my family’s honor and disgraced its name. I’m sorry!”

“I’ll go out and help bring them in! Wardanas, let’s go together!”

“???”

Ihan was bewildered to see his friends now suddenly repenting all on their own.

‘What are they going on about?’

There was only one reason Ihan said to let them in.

Who else would have sent those students here?

It could only be the skeleton headmaster.

And knowing the skeleton headmaster’s personality, if they didn’t take those students in, he would surely nitpick about how that violated the ‘spirit of basic magical character education!’

You had to guard against even the smallest technicalities!

“Th-thanks. I appreciate everyone agreeing.”

He hadn’t had time to persuade them, but with them coming out like this on their own, things were easier. Ihan nodded.

• * *

The ironheads of Phoenix Tower broke out and are running away?

While resting, the skeleton headmaster opened his vision again at the report from his summons.

Sure enough, the Phoenix Tower students were scrambling desperately through the night.

Normally it would be a situation to laugh at cheerfully, but…

‘They’re running to Blue Dragon Tower?’

Of all the luck, they just had to run to the one place holding out best.

The skeleton headmaster muttered curses, sending a wish.

‘Don’t let them in, don’t let them in, don’t let them in…’

But Ihan trampled all over the headmaster’s expectations, and, with his friends, slipped through the barricade to run out and rescue the Phoenix Tower students.

The headmaster, brimming with frustration, shouted,

That selfish brat! That selfish brat!!

The other summons in the workshop, watching the headmaster, bowed their heads.