Episode 239

Episode 239

“Why is everyone like this? Don’t tell me you don’t have any money?”

One uneasy merchant tried to break the mood by joking.

“Yes…”

“We’re sorry… It’s a school rule…”

“……”

When the students from the White Tiger Tower replied hesitantly, the merchants were appalled.

What kind of school rule is that??

They had heard rumors about strict teaching, but this was…

“D-does that make any sense? If you can’t bring money to school… how do you go out?”

‘That’s a perfectly reasonable point.’

Lee Han nodded.

“That’s not the important thing right now.”

“Y-yeah. That’s… um…”

As the merchants became flustered, one of the White Tiger Tower students spoke up.

“Could I possibly pay back during vacation? In the name of my family…”

-How dare you try to buy on credit on the sacred land of Einrogard? Do you have no honor, no pride? And you call yourself a mage?

“……”

The Death Knights standing nearby ruthlessly poured out criticism.

The White Tiger Tower student who had made a careless remark shrank back, suddenly labeled a scoundrel.

“A… no. Death Knight, we’re fine…”

-No! There’s nothing good in raising students with indulgence. They must be taught strictly. Isn’t it even in the old stories? Wayward children think the family’s wealth is their own and squander it.

“I doubt a little shopping will blow away our fortunes…”

The merchants muttered, but the Death Knights pretended not to hear.

‘No matter how I look at it, it seems like the skull principal sent them.’

Come to think of it, the principal’s personality wouldn’t allow merchants in from outside so easily.

He must have anticipated this situation and let them in.

And had the Death Knights forbid buying on credit!

“Um. May I just buy my things first?”

As the conversation seemed to be getting long, Lee Han spoke up.

The merchants were startled.

“You have money right now?”

“Yes.”

“How… No… I suppose it’s only natural… Thank you very much!”

Still, the merchants were delighted that at least one student had money.

“Oh? If Wardanaz has money… couldn’t we just borrow from Wardanaz?”

-How dare you try to trade money between friends on the sacred land of Einrogard? Aren’t you afraid your friendship will be broken? And you call yourself a mage?

“S-sorry.”

‘What a fool.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue as he looked at the White Tiger Tower student.

If you’re going to borrow, do it secretly where the Death Knights can’t see, not so openly.

“Why are you just standing around?”

Professor Verdus, seeing the students hesitating, approached in puzzlement.

“…Professor. We don’t have any money. You may have forgotten.”

“Of course. Bringing silver coins into the school is forbidden.”

At Professor Verdus’s words, the students grew even more suspicious.

Why was someone who knew this acting like this?

Did he just want to see the students despair and suffer?

Considering the principal, it was a plausible hypothesis…

“Work it off. Your seniors did the same.”

“Excuse me?”

“Work. Work. Don’t you know?”

“……”

“……”

Both the merchants and the students were flustered by this unexpected solution.

It wasn’t completely nonsensical.

Mages were among the Empire’s most valuable personnel.

A skilled mage named their own price, and money alone couldn’t always buy their service.

Even as first-years, the Einrogard students were much more capable than the average folks out there…

“R-really, is that okay?”

“It’s fine. Do whatever.”

“But…”

Moved by Professor Verdus’s kindness in answering for them, the students’ voices trembled.

Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han and was surprised.

“Why do you have money?!”

‘Good question.’

For the first time, the other students empathized with Professor Verdus.

“Well…”

“Now that I think about it, I don’t really care. Just pay and go. Quickly make your artifact. I’m looking forward to the floating iron shield.”

“Already making such an artifact?!”

The merchants nearby were shocked, but Lee Han no longer had the energy to explain.

And then…

“I’ll just pay with work as well.”

“Huh? Why…?”

The merchants were puzzled.

The Death Knights kindly explained.

-Friendship.

-Honorable friendship.

“Ah…!”

“Wardanaz…!”

The merchants and other students were impressed.

Regardless, Lee Han calculated.

‘The price of those materials over there is roughly…’

If you could pay with work, it was always a win.

Why waste silver coins?

‘Why is he really paying with work?’

Giselle looked at Lee Han as if she couldn’t believe it.

It obviously wasn’t for friendship (Giselle wasn’t an idiot like the Death Knights), and it wasn’t like a Wardanaz would be stingy with money…

Then what?

“If I work more than the cost of the materials, do I get a refund?”

“Huh?”

“……”

• * *

“What?! Merchants came to the school!?”

Gainando, who had been lying on the sofa, jumped up.

“Not the kind of merchants you’re thinking of, Gainando.”

“Yeah. They only sold reagents needed for magic.”

“But didn’t they have at least a snack?”

“Nope. Ah, they did sell bait for luring beasts.”

After a day, the merchants’ visit became a bit of a sensation.

In such a closed environment, it was natural for attention to be drawn to visitors from outside.

Of course, once students learned the truth, they quickly lost interest.

“Nothing useful after all.”

“We should prepare in advance.”

Lee Han advised his friends.

“Soon, other classes will also start giving pre-finals assignments. It’d be good to prepare the materials you’ll use a lot ahead of time.”

“…!”

He was absolutely right.

When professors assigned homework, they never kindly supplied the materials.

“Is that… really?”

“Maybe we should go buy some in advance.”

Persuaded, the Blue Dragon Tower students started getting dressed and stood up.

And went to the merchants.

One hour later.

“…We’ve been had…”

“We were tricked by Wardanaz…”

“Anyone listening would misunderstand.”

Lee Han scolded his friends sitting next to him.

At first, the merchants had said, “Oh, how could we ever use mages for labor,” but in reality, they made very good use of them.

Truly, professionals are thorough.

-These are failed potions from manufacturing. We’d like to recover as much of the materials as possible by separating them.

-Could you pick out any items among this junk that still have magic remaining?

-We need someone to finish the base work on these scrolls. There are about a few hundred sheets…

The White Tiger Tower students, who had been sitting there from the start, were moving their hands with exhausted faces.

Just because the work wasn’t difficult didn’t mean it wasn’t tiring.

Separating potions consumed magic power, finding magic items among junk required concentration, and drawing lines on scrolls for the base work was self-explanatory.

“Were assignments always this hard…?”

‘Actually, the assignments haven’t even started yet.’

While his friends staggered from fatigue and lack of magic, Lee Han was still going strong.

“All done.”

“Already?!”

“Yes. Please give me the next task.”

“I think you should rest a bit…”

The merchants tried to stop Lee Han.

Of course, Lee Han still looked fine, but it was worrying to keep making him work while the other students were stumbling.

“No, I can do more.”

“Besides… with this much work, you’ve earned enough for the materials…?”

“No. I might fail, so I want to work more just in case.”

If there’s extra, I’ll take silver coins!

Professor Verdus, passing by, asked.

“With your skills, this much should be easy, right?”

“No.”

“I think you could just do it…”

“No. It’s not enough.”

“I’m telling you, it’s fine!”

“It’s not enough!”

“…Y-you two, please don’t fight.”

The merchants were flustered by the teacher and student arguing.

Why are they even fighting about this?

• * *

“Everyone seems exhausted from the pre-finals assignments.”

Professor Ingeldel spoke with pity as he saw the students looking like corpses.

“I have some good news. There will be no pre-finals assignment in my class.”

“!!”

“Professor Ingeldel, you are a true educator!”

“It doesn’t feel good to be praised for something like this… Anyway, the final exam is right around the corner. Don’t get too relaxed. The assignments will come find you soon enough.”

Lee Han nodded.

When the storm of pre-finals assignments, now coming in succession, ended, it was likely that the final exam would be upon them as soon as they opened their eyes.

With only two or three weeks left, there was no room for complacency.

“So I’ll tell you in advance what will be on the final.”

“!”

“Professor…! To go this far…!”

‘This isn’t necessarily good.’

Unlike his moved friends, Lee Han grew tense.

Even though Professor Ingeldel seemed more reasonable than the other mad professors, he was still a professor at Einrogard.

He was by no means lenient with students.

“Do you see those mountains?”

Professor Ingeldel pointed with his sword to the mountain range behind the main building.

The students nodded.

Everyone had suffered there at least once or twice, so there was no way they didn’t know the mountain range inside the magic school.

“You’ll hunt in groups of three there for your final exam.”

“Oh…”

“What do we hunt? Boars? Bulls?”

“Hunt whatever you like. The stronger the prey you bring back, the higher your grade.”

“……”

“……”

The students’ faces hardened.

Wait…?

‘Can’t we just collude?’

Lee Han considered it and looked around, but soon gave up.

Seeing the faces of the White Tiger Tower students, there was no way to collude.

If you joined hands, they’d stab you in the back and go find stronger prey themselves.

Especially since swordsmanship class was a point of pride for the White Tiger Tower students.

There was no way “Let’s all take it easy and get good grades together” would work.

“Guys, think carefully. We have a lot of pre-finals assignments. There’s the final, too. If we get too competitive here… Forget it. No point in saying more. Do as you like.”

Lee Han gave up midway.

The White Tiger Tower students weren’t even listening.

• * *

Though the tumultuous week was coming to an end, the classes didn’t let the students rest.

As even required general courses like -Basic Imperial Language and Logic- and -Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic- began pouring out pre-finals assignments, the students looked queasy.

“By the way, Wardanaz. Are you making a floating iron shield?”

Professor Alpen Knighten looked at Lee Han with curiosity.

“It just happened that way…”

“Even if it’s a simple artifact, the calculations won’t be easy. If you finish, show me. I’m curious how complete it’ll be.”

“…Yes.”

‘This school should forbid professors from talking to each other.’

From Professor Voladi to Professor Verdus, and now Professor Knighten, more and more were showing interest in when the floating iron shield would be made, and Lee Han felt like he was starting to suffocate.

‘I really have to start right away.’

At this point, even if he wanted to change the assignment topic, it was probably too late.

Imagining the professors saying, “Why not try again?” “That’s too bad, why not try again?” “You could do it if you just tried a little harder…” made him dizzy.

…I’ll put this as my top priority, and absolutely finish it by this weekend!