Episode 354

Of course, refusing wasn’t allowed.

Interpreting his disciple’s refusal as admirable humility, not wanting to trouble his master, Professor Voladi drew his staff.

Lee Han, as if waiting for this, also drew his staff immediately.

“???”

Not grasping the situation, Alsicle looked at the two, flustered.

The way they glared tensely at each other, it was as if they were about to duel.

“What are you doing right now? What are you two doing?”

Professor Voladi showed through action instead of words.

Shwish-shwish!

Droplets transformed into needle-like shapes from water orbs floating in the air and began firing off.

Professor Voladi demonstrated just how different the ‘projectile’ attribute was.

Even without complicated trajectory shifts, each of the water droplets made a chilling sound as they smashed through the walls and struck the floor.

“What is that!? What are you doing!?”

But Lee Han was no pushover. The moment Professor Voladi raised his staff, Lee Han began chanting.

“…Feet, command the ground!”

Casting every buff spell he could, Lee Han darted across the magic tower. If he stopped for even a second, the water-needle drops would pierce him.

Fortunately, he had already cast -Spatial Perception- in preparation. As he widened the distance, Lee Han targeted the orbs summoned by Professor Voladi.

“Cold, become an arrow and fire!”

The ferocious pressure from Professor Voladi sharpened Lee Han’s instincts even further.

Chanting swiftly, cold gathered at the tip of his staff and fired off transformed into the shape of arrows.

Even as Professor Voladi was tearing up the surroundings, Alsicle was so shocked that his eyes went wide.

‘Again, in one go?!?!’

He’d thought it would take some time to compress and perform all those steps together, yet here Lee Han was, doing it again in one shot.

Since Alsicle didn’t know how Lee Han had been mercilessly trained during the first semester, he couldn’t help but be shocked.

Crack!

‘Was I too slow!’

The magic succeeded, but the orb that Professor Voladi conjured just moved lazily aside and dodged the frost arrow.

Having failed to shoot it down, Lee Han clicked his tongue.

‘This isn’t enough…’

He had succeeded in combining multiple steps at once, but in terms of time, it had been a bit slow.

Seeing Lee Han chanting, Professor Voladi moved his orb.

‘…Faster. I have to cast even faster to shoot it down.’

To overcome this situation, he had to shoot the arrow even faster than before to bring down the orb.

“…Stop it, you maniacs!”

Alsicle swung his staff and began scattering cold everywhere.

The magical core summoned above the ceiling unleashed a powerful force to control the surrounding mana.

The orbs Professor Voladi summoned lost their power and dispersed, and the ice arrows Lee Han fired also lost power and vanished.

“What the hell…”

“Why are you interfering?”

“…What are you talking about! Fighting your disciple in someone else’s magic tower!”

“We’re not fighting.”

Alsicle was left dumbfounded by Professor Voladi’s words.

If that wasn’t fighting, what was it?

Maybe… education?

“What do you mean?”

“Teaching.”

For a moment, Alsicle wondered if Voladi Baegrek had finally lost his mind and looked at Lee Han.

“It really is a lesson.”

“……”

‘Should I send a petition to His Majesty the Emperor?’

• * *

Alsicle sat with Yumidihus, watching Voladi and Lee Han’s du… no, teaching session.

“…No matter how I think about it, isn’t this a bit much??”

“But it’s effective. At least, Voladi Baegrek claims so.”

‘I knew he was crazy, but I didn’t know he was this crazy.’

Since they both learned under Yumidihus, Alsicle thought he knew Voladi Baegrek to some extent.

He wasn’t from a prestigious family like Alsicle, but as a famed combat magician and duelist in the Empire, he thought he’d act within reasonable bounds…

“Urgh!”

Lee Han got hit by a water droplet and rolled over. He kept dodging but eventually got surrounded and took a hit.

But Professor Voladi didn’t give him any break and attacked again while Lee Han was down.

Even while knocked over, Lee Han showed no openings—he bounced back and gained distance at once.

‘…Is this really teaching? Can you really teach like this?’

“Short break.”

When Professor Voladi declared a break and came back, Alsicle couldn’t help but ask in a cautious voice.

“Voladi Baegrek. Is it really necessary to teach like that?”

“Do you have a problem?”

“It’s just… it seems too dangerous, violent, and primitive.”

Alsicle tried to phrase it as delicately as possible, but it didn’t really help. Yumidihus tutted with his tongue from the side.

But since he was talking to Professor Voladi, nothing like anger at the rudeness happened.

“It’s effective.”

“There’s no way that method is effec…”

Alsicle stopped talking.

The accomplishments of that Wardanaz family boy were just too much.

No matter how talented, could that really be done with talent alone?

‘…Really? Is it really true?’

Alsicle started to fear that maybe Voladi Baegrek’s teaching was actually effective.

“Compare yourself.”

“There’s no need to say that, Voladi Baegrek!”

Alsicle snapped, glaring.

Even as a guest in another magician’s tower, wasn’t he being too harsh?

“…Do as you wish. You’re a professor too, you must have your own thoughts.”

‘Alsicle really doesn’t get it because he’s not from Einrogard.’

Yumidihus clicked his tongue inwardly beside him.

If he was from Einrogard, he’d never think, ‘There must be meaning to what the professor does, since they’re a professor.’

Tat tat tat tat tat!

As the break ended, Professor Voladi summoned orbs and began firing at Lee Han again.

The amazing thing was, Lee Han’s chant speed was getting faster and faster.

Alsicle found himself swayed by Voladi Baegrek’s teaching style, which he had never seen in his life, and was shocked.

‘…No, no, no, it’s just because of talent…’

“??”

While worrying, Alsicle admitted (even to himself) the talent Lee Han possessed, and his eyes filled with tears.

To think someone really had greater talent than his own.

Of course, to Yumidihus sitting nearby, Alsicle just looked like he was suddenly getting teary for no reason.

“Are you worried about Wardanaz? Don’t worry. Voladi Baegrek doesn’t make mistakes in that regard.”

“Sniff… It’s just, it makes me sad to think there’s truly someone more talented than me…”

“……”

Yumidihus shot him a look of contempt and turned away.

Alsicle, who kept snuffling, suddenly noticed something strange.

While Professor Voladi, who was bombarding Lee Han, occasionally drank mana recovery potions, his disciple Lee Han wasn’t drinking anything at all.

‘What…?’

“Sir Yumidihus. Why is only Voladi Baegrek drinking mana potions?”

“Wardanaz has so much mana, he doesn’t need to.”

“Still, shouldn’t he at least have a bottle?”

“No, I mean, really, there’s no need.”

“No matter how much he has, after so much fierce fighting he must be at least a little strained…”

Alsicle trailed off.

Yumidihus was speaking with his eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

Alsicle quietly walked to the back.

Soon, heartbreaking weeping erupted from the back.

—Why does the world give someone else talent like that…

Crash!

Lee Han, having broken the ice shield and rolled over to Yumidihus’s feet, coughed and met the archmage’s eyes.

“Ah. Sir Yumidihus. Where did Sir Pengelrin go?”

“…He went to the bathroom for a bit.”

“I see. Cold, become mist!”

Lee Han activated the 2nd Circle spell -Minor Cold Mist-.

It was one of the elemental spells he learned from Alsicle; the cold mist spread, slowing down and chilling the incoming water droplets.

Yumidihus couldn’t help but be impressed as he watched him barrage magic that already consumed insane mana, like cold element, together with another mana-hungry mist-type spell.

“Damn. It’s hard to land a hit. Sir Yumidihus, excuse me while I borrow this!”

When Professor Voladi’s orbs kept dodging his frost arrows, Lee Han kicked apart the wooden chair Alsicle had been sitting on and cast -Minor Cold Imbuement- on the splinters.

“Cold, imbue yourself!”

Lee Han operated the cold-spraying wood fragments with a telekinesis spell and sent them flying.

Regular ice fragments would shatter after being pierced by a few water drops, but the wood fragments could hold out longer.

But Professor Voladi wasn’t flustered, calmly focusing fire and breaking up the wood fragments midair.

“This doesn’t work either… Sir Yumidihus, I’ll borrow that too!”

Yumidihus was momentarily unsure whether to stop Lee Han, watching as, in Alsicle’s absence, he was about to smash up the table too.

He was clearly making rapid progress, but…

• * *

As the sun set and the training wound down, Alsicle brought out frozen sardines piled up in a corner.

“…I’ll cook.”

“Really? They taste good just like this, though?”

A habit acquired through experience at Einrogard—always securing a meal before going anywhere—ended up saving Lee Han.

Lee Han cooked stir-fried mushrooms and vegetables for Professor Voladi and cream stew for Yumidihus.

Alsicle, munching the frozen sardines, looked amazed.

“Why do you cook?”

“To show respect for your teacher. You should learn from this.”

“If I had servants I’d have had them cook to honor Sir Yumidihus too…”

“……”

Yumidihus wasn’t sure where to even start correcting him.

Having swallowed a whole sardine, Alsicle asked Yumidihus,

“So, how much of the magic I taught today did you master?”

Alsicle had taught not only the frost arrow, but several others as well.

The -Minor Cold Mist- (which Professor Voladi interrupted as soon as he finished teaching), -Minor Cold Imbuement- (again, right after the lesson, Professor Voladi intervened)…

He seemed to have taught every low-circle cold-element spell possible.

Even though it wasn’t his specialty, being able to teach everything in summoning, illusion, imbuement, transformation, etc., proved Alsicle was truly a master magician of the cold element.

“I mastered it all.”

“……”

“Ah. Except for summoning.”

Among today’s spells, summoning cold spirits was actually the easiest.

Hearing this, Alsicle’s shoulders slumped even further.

“Was it so easy you didn’t even bother?”

“It’s not that.”

“I think it is… Mm.”

“Just eat your sardine.”

Not wanting to explain, Yumidihus threw a sardine at his beak.

“You’re still lacking in speed.”

Professor Voladi spoke.

Which was only natural.

Compared to the simplest 1st Circle magic, the spells learned today were 2nd and 3rd Circle.

With more steps, it was hard to keep up with casting speed.

But Professor Voladi wasn’t satisfied.

‘Is that so?’

“Isn’t that enough? Do you want to be called a madman disowned by your own student…?”

Alsicle, usually holding his nobleman’s dignity, blurted his thoughts after such a shocking day.

Of course, Professor Voladi ignored whatever Alsicle muttered.

He just thought Alsicle’s teaching skill was lower than his own.

“The food is ready. What were you talking about?”

“We were saying how much you had to endure today.”

Yumidihus commented kindly.

Whatever else, no one could deny that today, facing two madmen, the boy of the Wardanaz family had done well.

How could any magician so perfectly master the basics of cold magic under both Alsicle and Voladi?

Bang bang bang!

“Wardanaz!! Wardanaz!!!”

“?!”

Someone pounded furiously on the door of the tower, shouting Lee Han’s name.

Recognizing Nillia’s voice, Lee Han jumped up in surprise.

“Nillia? How did you… What’s going on?”

“T-the… uh, the prince is stranded!”

“What?!”

Alsicle also jumped up in surprise.

“For a prince to be stranded, this is no ordinary matter! I’ll go myself. Other followers, remain inside the tower!”

“Are there other followers?”

“There aren’t any…”

Nillia and her friends averted their eyes in embarrassment.

It seemed this penguin beastman magician had misunderstood something.

Even if they rescued Gainando, it’s not as if the notables of the Empire would shower them with thanks…