Episode 204

To be honest, I was curious about what would come after “the riffraff are…”

But hearing it would only make the atmosphere colder.

Lee Han poured hot coffee into a dented tin cup and handed it to Professor Voladi.

“Tastes good.”

“Thank you.”

Watching Professor Voladi sip his coffee, Lee Han suddenly came to his senses.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, I didn’t need to stop him, did I?’

Whether Professor Voladi treated the White Tiger Tower students as riffraff or not had nothing to do with Lee Han…

It was just his instinct to step in and solve things whenever a professor caused trouble.

“Wardanaz. Are we leaving now?”

“Are you really planning to come along? It’ll be dangerous.”

“Hmph. Danger is a virtue that should naturally be given to a knight.”

‘What nonsense.’

Lee Han wondered if he should have thrown the snowballs even harder, but gave up on the thought.

Well, if they wanted to make trouble for themselves, who was Lee Han to stop them?

Even if Lee Han said nothing, they would pay the price on their own.

“Alright. Let’s go, then!”

“Moradi, why aren’t you bringing your sword?”

“????”

Giselle, who was eating grilled fat between slices of bread, froze.

What?

“What are you talking about?”

“We all agreed to go to the upper floors together.”

Giselle was appalled.

She had left the other White Tiger Tower students to their nonsense, and now the arrow had flown her way.

“Why would I…”

“Are you scared, Moradi?”

“What nonsense… Do I look like someone like you? Since we’re going somewhere dangerous, Moradi should lead us. Don’t make her angry for no reason.”

“……”

Giselle regretted not shutting Angrago up when he first brought it up.

She should have shut him up then!

Lee Han passed by with Professor Voladi and spoke in a low voice.

“This isn’t my fault.”

“Shut up…”

• * *

Koholti glanced at Direte and whispered to Kumandas.

“So, when do you think that freshman will come?”

“Well, I’m trying to get closer right now, but…”

“You can’t be that slow! Don’t you see Direte right now!?”

Even if you didn’t know much about the crow beastkin, anyone could tell she was furious when her feathers stood on end.

That was exactly how Direte looked now.

Having to patrol the halls every day for something she didn’t even do!

At this point, even among friends of the same year, a murder could happen.

“This won’t do. I’ll go and send another note.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? The principal…”

“Don’t you realize we might be found as corpses before we even get sent to the punishment room?”

“W-well, that’s true, but…”

Footsteps began to sound in the distance. From the direction opposite the dimensional accident.

Koholti looked up just in case. Even though he knew it was unlikely.

But a miracle happened before his eyes.

“!!!!”

The very Wardanaz Family freshman they wanted to bring was walking down the hallway.

“That’s the freshman!”

“What?! Really!?”

“I told you! Sincerity always gets through—wait.”

The two, who had been rejoicing, paused.

Huh?

At first, they were happy just to see the Wardanaz Family freshman, but behind him…

“……”

“????”

Not only a professor, but a crowd of other freshmen were coming along, and their faces stiffened.

‘What is going on?’

‘Isn’t that… Professor Baegrek?’

There was a joke that not even the skeletal principal knew the exact number of professors at the magic school.

Let alone the students.

If a professor wasn’t related to your major, it was common to never speak to them even by graduation.

But these students were fourth-years. They knew a fair number of professors.

And Professor Baegrek was…

‘A “No-Disciple” professor.’

No-Disciple (無弟) professor.

It meant a professor with no disciples, and even among the many odd professors at Einrogard, these were the ones to be especially wary of.

Think about it.

Even professors you’d never want to learn from had at least a few disciples.

Even the unpopular black magic professors had students.

But to have none at all…

…meant they were truly, extremely, very dangerous.

The faces of the fourth-year students who recognized Professor Voladi filled with fear.

Even as fourth-years, people like Professor Voladi were still terrifying.

‘Didn’t a third-year collapse from mana exhaustion just trying to take his class last time?’

‘What kind of lecture does he even give…’

“G-greetings, Professor.”

The fourth-year students swallowed their fear and greeted him. Professor Voladi nodded.

“Are you the ones in charge?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Professor Voladi said nothing more and started to walk forward.

Naturally, the fourth-year students were dumbfounded.

“???”

“Professor. Please let me explain.”

Watching Professor Voladi talk to invisible seniors, Lee Han suppressed a sigh.

In fact, it wasn’t even a conversation just now.

It was a one-sided notification!

When Professor Voladi temporarily dispelled the skeletal principal’s magic on the seniors, the fourth-year students appeared.

The White Tiger Tower students behind were startled, but Lee Han was unfazed.

He had been through too much to be surprised by things like this now.

“Seniors. Let me explain.”

“Y-yeah.”

Lee Han explained simply.

Professor Voladi was here to solve the cold problem.

So the first-years had come along to help.

“!”

Kumandas’s eyes trembled with emotion at the explanation.

‘He really was seriously considering our proposal!’

He had pretended not to know so much that Kumandas thought the message hadn’t gotten through, but this junior had already caught on.

He must have pretended not to know to avoid the skeletal principal’s fierce surveillance.

“Junior, thank you! I knew you’d accept our proposal!”

“Excuse me?”

“…What proposal?”

Direte, listening from the side, asked with a stern face.

These guys couldn’t have…?

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

“You guys didn’t…”

“We didn’t! Really!”

Direte paralyzed Kumandas with a curse and asked Lee Han.

“They didn’t contact you? Really?”

“Yes. They didn’t.”

Direte stared closely into Lee Han’s eyes.

There wasn’t a hint of a lie.

‘So it was true.’

Direte tilted her head. Still, the other fourth-years’ attitudes seemed suspicious.

Were they just feeling guilty?

‘Junior… thank you…! I’ll repay this favor someday!’

The paralyzed Kumandas sent Lee Han a grateful look.

Not only had he come, but he had even lied to protect him from Direte’s murderous intent.

A truly admirable junior.

‘I have no idea what’s going on with him.’

Of course, from Lee Han’s perspective, it was just baffling.

Were the fourth-years just weird…?

…Maybe it was because they’d been at school too long?

“A-anyway, let’s get started. Here. Junior, do you know what this artifact is?”

Kumandas took out an ancient artifact shaped like a giant harpoon.

The fourth-year students were making holes throughout the twisted dimensional corridor to vent the magic outside.

No matter how many layers of dimension were stacked inside, how twisted the space was, or what was summoned, if the area’s magic was reduced, it couldn’t last long.

Once all the magic was depleted, the twisted dimension would disappear and the corridor would return to normal.

…The problem was that it took too long.

“This artifact is an ancient, very expensive item with built-in space-piercing magic. It eats up a ton of magic, but once activated…”

“Just get to the point.”

“…Anyway, we use this to pierce the corridor’s spaces and increase the rate of leakage.”

Kumandas finished, glancing at Direte. Lee Han nodded.

As expected of fourth-years, their explanation was skillful and their method reasonable.

In fact, the fourth-years seemed to explain things better than the professors.

‘Not bad.’

“Understood. I get it.”

“!”

Kumandas was moved.

Even if you had a lot of magic, for a freshman to operate such an ancient artifact required tremendous resolve.

The resolve to squeeze out every last drop of your magic.

To take responsibility for something you didn’t even cause.

‘What an excellent freshman…’

Direte glared at Kumandas as if she was disgusted. If there weren’t professors and freshmen around, she would have cursed him out.

Kumandas, sensing her gaze, cleared his throat.

“Ahem. Then, shall we begin?”

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

When Professor Voladi spoke, Kumandas was flustered.

‘Did I miscalculate something?’

“If you do it that way, most of the monsters inside will disappear.”

“Yes… That’s right? If the magic disperses, the dimension can’t be maintained?”

“In that case, I cannot allow it.”

“……”

Lee Han squeezed his eyes shut.

Of course!

“Let’s go.”

Professor Voladi turned toward the twisted dimensional corridor. Lee Han and the White Tiger Tower students followed.

Kumandas was so confused he was left speechless.

“Uh… Did I do something wrong?”

“Of course, you idiot. You said you’d use a first-year’s magic to activate an artifact right in front of a professor—what professor would allow that? Just follow along.”

Direte scolded her friends and picked up her staff. The others followed with embarrassed faces.

• * *

Professor Voladi pursued real combat, but that didn’t mean he was careless about safety.

He cast various enhancement spells in preparation for the fight in the twisted dimension.

Lee Han pointed at the White Tiger Tower students and whispered.

“You should cast them on those guys too.”

“Why?”

(It sounded like “Why cast them on the riffraff?”) But Lee Han calmly gave a reason.

“…Without enhancement magic, they might scatter and run in panic, disrupting the fight.”

“I see.”

Professor Voladi cast enhancement magic. The White Tiger Tower students wore confident expressions as power surged through them.

“Junior, don’t worry.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Han bowed his head slightly at the words of the fourth-year students standing next to him.

He never thought he’d feel the reassurance of seniors at this magic school.

Professor Voladi looked at Lee Han and asked,

“Have you learned the spell?”

“…I haven’t mastered it yet.”

“I see. Be careful of projectiles.”

“?????”

The fourth-year students couldn’t believe their ears.

Did he just say the spell?

…Wasn’t that a 4th-circle spell?

“What did you just say…”

Kumandas wanted to ask what that conversation meant, but he couldn’t.

Monsters had started to appear ahead.

With misty, fog-like forms that scattered sleet as they moved, they were huge winter wraiths.

“How much magic did they feed on to get that big?”

At Direte’s mutter, the fourth-year students bowed their heads in embarrassment.

“We’ll handle it.”

“Of course we should. Don’t act like it’s some grand feat.”

Direte raised her staff. The fourth-year students raised their staffs as well.

But before they could even prepare their spells, countless small flames began to explode above the winter wraith.

Fwoosh!

“…??”

“????!”

Junior?!