Episode 352

At his disciple’s pathetic words, Yumidihus clicked his tongue.

Of course, Alsicle didn’t hear it. Alsicle had the ability to ignore voices insulting him.

‘Such shameful words.’

Of course, magic wasn’t all about circles.

Circles were just the most convenient unit, not the most accurate one.

But that shamelessness of changing the subject right after bringing up circles himself and then losing…

‘That’s probably why he still hasn’t come to his senses.’

Anyone else would have been shaken by embarrassment, but Alsicle was as solid as an iceberg.

He immediately changed the subject and asked another question.

“What’s more important than circles is the breadth of magic. At your age, I had mastered not only ice element magic but also transformation and summoning magic. Got that?”

“I think you should stop there, Alsicle.”

Yumidihus spoke up for his disciple’s sake.

He wanted to give Alsicle a wake-up call, but didn’t want to shock him too much.

If he went too far, what if Alsicle, in his shame, threw himself off that glacier cliff?

However, Alsicle misunderstood Yumidihus’s meaning.

“No, Sir Yumidihus. We must clarify this. Otherwise, the young magician of the Empire might get emotionally scarred.”

“……”

It wasn’t that he was being insincere; it was more surprising to sense that the other party truly believed it.

‘I doubt he’d be that wounded.’

If you entered Einrogard, there were far worse things to get hurt over than this.

“Wardanaz here has learned magic more broadly than you. Alsicle.”

“…Don’t lie!”

Like the penguin beastman he was, Alsicle waved his short arms and shouted.

But when Yumidihus glared at him, he immediately straightened up and changed his words.

“D-don’t lie.”

The memory of previous beatings was still vivid in his body.

“How could he have learned magic more broadly than I have? Impossible. What did he even learn?”

“Let’s see. Dark magic, summoning magic, illusion magic, imbuement magic, divination magic, transformation magic, healing magic…”

“So, which of those has he learned?”

Alsicle asked in a slightly curt voice.

“I’m telling you what he’s learned now.”

“…Pardon?”

Alsicle was so stunned that he stood there for several minutes.

Seeing this, Lee Han whispered.

“Is it okay to leave him like that?”

Professor Voladi quietly nodded in reply.

“Penguin beastmen are hardy against the cold.”

“No… That’s not what I meant.”

He wasn’t asking if Alsicle would freeze to death, but if he would be okay mentally.

Fortunately, Yumidihus stepped in to settle things.

“Alsicle!”

“……”

“Do you want another beating!?”

“No! No!”

Spirit returned to the face of the dazed penguin beastman magician.

“Who was outstanding when they were young doesn’t matter. What matters is what kind of magic you’re doing now. Wardanaz is here to learn cold element magic from you. So enough with the pointless talk; just teach him cold element magic.”

“But who was outstanding when young is a very important issue…”

“……”

Even when trying to let it pass, Alsicle still insisted on holding on, and Yumidihus suppressed a subtle anger.

Professor Voladi spoke up.

“I’ll give you the answer.”

“What is it?”

“Wardanaz here is better. That should be enough.”

“……”

“……”

Seeing Voladi pour oil on the already burning tower of fire, Yumidihus thought to himself.

‘I should have left Voladi Baegrek.’

“B-better than me? Voladi Baegrek, are you serious? Seriously!? Did too much stress at Einrogard drive you mad!?”

Lee Han was slightly surprised by the penguin beastman’s unexpectedly spot-on remark.

How did he know?

“Both in circle and breadth, Wardanaz is superior.”

“Y-yeah… but application! The high-level application of attributes will be different!”

Alsicle, after agonizing for a while, shouted.

As he couldn’t win by scope or circle, he decided to try to outdo with magic application skill.

“At that age, I had mastered form transformation of the water element! Voladi Baegrek!”

“…Can’t I just admit defeat?”

Lee Han, who had grown tired of this contest, whispered, but Professor Voladi ignored him and replied.

“Wardanaz has mastered form transformation.”

“He’s currently learning rotational and evaporation properties.”

“……”

Under the two magicians’ cold barrage of truth, Alsicle clutched his head in disbelief.

Then, howling, he tried to bolt toward the cliff.

“No way! A genius greater than me… That can’t be!”

“There he goes again!”

Yumidihus called forth a water whip and snared Alsicle’s ankles, tripping and tying him up.

As things settled down, Yumidihus glanced at Lee Han and apologized.

“I’m sorry. Alsicle is a bit emotional.”

‘It’s fine.’

“It doesn’t seem like just a bit.”

His true feelings slipped out in reverse by mistake. Yumidihus sighed as if he understood.

• * *

The inside of Alsicle’s magic tower was filled with cold.

With no real furniture or equipment, its bleakness made the cold feel even harsher.

Compared to the workshops Lee Han had seen at Einrogard, it looked quite different, and Lee Han was curious.

“Do you need to keep your place bare in order to master cold magic?”

“No. He probably sold everything off to fund his experiments because his research hit a wall. It’s common among magicians with towers.”

Magicians didn’t start building towers only to end up conquering their surroundings because they’d gone mad.

Magic research was that exhausting and grueling.

If research ended as planned, that was lucky, but if it dragged on, the expenses ballooned, the mind grew ragged, and life became harder…

If fellow magicians sent letters like -How’s the research going?-, it became even more nerve-wracking.

Then thoughts crept in: ‘Maybe I should just conquer the surrounding villages? If I take over quietly, no one will notice, right? If I can just finish my magic by ruling over them…’

“Uuuhuhuhuh.”

Alsicle sobbed bitterly with tears like chicken droppings.

Bound by Yumidihus’s magic, sitting inside the tower, to an onlooker he’d seem like a magician overpowered by robbers.

“To think there’s a magician more talented than me. I was nothing.”

“Alsicle. I told you. It’s not early achievements, but—”

“You, Sir Yumidihus, who rose up through effort without talent, could never understand my feelings!”

“……”

“……”

Yumidihus gestured for Lee Han to step out for a bit. Lee Han nodded and went to leave.

“Professor, let’s step out.”

“Why?”

“…Just come out, please.”

Lee Han tried to grab Professor Voladi by the collar, but instead just grabbed his wrist and dragged him out.

Then a dull thudding sound resounded from inside.

—I was wrong! I was wrong, Sir Yumidihus!

“You can come in now.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han entered and stood as if nothing had happened.

“Hicc-uh-huhh…”

“Now that you’ve gotten a good beating, get a hold of yourself and teach him ice element magic.”

“Euuueh! Uegh! Uegh!”

On an ordinary day, Alsicle would have complied by now, but today, apparently too shocked, he only sobbed and ignored Yumidihus’s words.

Seeing that, Yumidihus felt regret—maybe he’d shocked him too much.

Alsicle had huge pride in his own talent.

With his magic research stuck lately, the stress must have been immense; now even his pride was smashed, so for his kind of personality, the shock would be multiplied several times.

“This can’t continue. Step outside again.”

“…Um, you’re going to beat him again?”

Lee Han was a bit taken aback.

Although Lee Han didn’t know Alsicle very well, he knew that this wasn’t a problem to be solved through beating.

“It’s not beating. I prefer to call it the guidance of magic.”

“…Whatever it is, I think this time we should try appealing with words.”

“Wardanaz.”

Yumidihus looked at Lee Han as if to say he pitied him.

“In this world, there are those you simply cannot reach by talking.”

As he spoke, Yumidihus glanced ever so slightly at Voladi.

Lee Han also glanced ever so slightly at Voladi.

“Still, could you give me a chance to try persuading him—just once?”

“Fair enough. You’re even learning under Voladi Baegrek, after all.”

“…I don’t think that has anything to do with this…”

Lee Han was a little bothered that Yumidihus seemed to view him as some kind of -Disciple Specialist-.

“Pengelrin.”

Alsicle, sobbing, didn’t answer.

“Whether you mastered 3rd Circle or 4th Circle magic as a first-year—what does it matter? Sir Gonadaltes himself said what matters isn’t the magic’s circle—”

“You only say that because you’re more talented! Right? You’re looking down on me from above!”

“……”

Seeing Alsicle’s more severe state than expected, Lee Han was shocked.

But Lee Han had dealt with people even crazier than Alsicle.

He absolutely did not get shaken by such provocations.

“Sir Pengelrin. I am so sad.”

Suddenly covering his face and moistening his eyes, Lee Han spoke.

If the other side came out with tears, he would answer with tears too.

“Do you know why Sir Yumidihus brought me here? It’s because I sincerely begged several times to be able to learn from you, Sir Pengelrin.”

“????”

“?”

Yumidihus and Voladi gave him a look as if to say, what nonsense is this, but Lee Han pressed on unfazed.

“I have heard several times of your astonishing achievements, Sir Pengelrin. Do you know how I was able to master 4th Circle magic? It was because I tried, even just a little, to follow after your achievements.”

“S-so that magic too?”

“Yes.”

As he listened, interest and energy returned to Alsicle’s voice, but he tilted his head in doubt.

“…Isn’t that just too much, though?”

“……”

Lee Han hesitated, tempted to slap the chubby cheek of his bound host, but held back.

“I thought I’d have to do at least that much to reach you, Sir Pengelrin.”

“Even so, isn’t it still too much?”

“…In any case, that’s how much I respected you. And yet you refused to teach me and resorted to this deception.”

“Deception?”

Alsicle said in a daze.

“If it’s not a deception, then why would Sir Alsicle show us this side? You must not like me, and that’s why you act this way.”

“…You’ve seen through me!”

Recovered, Alsicle blurted out unintentionally.

Yumidihus had to suppress the urge to smack his shameless disciple.

“Truly impressive. To see through my acting like that.”

“No matter how well you pretend, it’s not easy for a genius to act as a fool, Sir Pengelrin.”

“Alright. Since I’ve been found out, there’s no helping it. Wait over there! I’ll teach you some ice element magic.”

With his energy back, Alsicle got up and waddled away. Yumidihus quietly said to Lee Han,

“Now I see how you can handle being Voladi Baegrek’s student.”

“…Did I do something wrong?”

• * *

Alsicle spread some reagents all over the floor and had Lee Han stand on them.

Yumidihus, who had been watching indifferently, was startled by the sight of the reagents on the floor.

Each one was extremely expensive.

They obviously looked like they’d been set aside for research…

“Is that really okay?”

“Excuse me?”

Voladi asked back, and Yumidihus pointed out the cost of the reagents.

“Alsicle also needs to conduct research—if he uses all those reagents…”

“It’s fine.”

“Ah. He checked the inventory? It’s okay for him to use those…”

Professor Voladi shook his head and answered.

“It’s the business of Alsicle Pengelrin.”

“…Wait! Wait!”

Cursing himself for listening even for a moment to Voladi Baegrek, Yumidihus hurriedly moved to stop Alsicle.