Episode 363

Episode 363

Given the personality of the Skull Principal, it didn’t seem likely that he would just let the professors cancel lectures and leave as they pleased.

‘What is this? They probably aren’t taking the students with them… hmm?’

While lost in thought, Lee Han suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable anxiety.

It was a sense of unease for which he himself couldn’t pinpoint the reason.

“Is anyone there?”

“!”

The friends who were on the second floor looked down at the front gate through the window.

They saw a familiar friend’s face. It was Rowena, the princess’s follower.

“This is suspicious. Are there professors hiding behind her or something?”

“No way… or could there be?”

“Tell her to come in slowly with both hands up. So we can close the door right away if necessary.”

Lee Han felt pained by his friends’ grim conversation.

The professors of Einrogard were corrupting his friends.

“Hands up and come in slowly!”

Still, that was that, and Lee Han accepted his friends’ advice.

There really could have been professors hiding behind her.

“What?! Wardanaz-nim. Why are you…”

“Don’t try anything! My staff is aimed right at you!”

Gainando shouted out in irritation.

He looked like he would cast a curse at any moment.

Rowena was confused, wondering what on earth she had done wrong.

“What did I do wrong…?”

“I’ll go check.”

Ratford quickly ran down and cautiously poked his head out the front door.

“No professors here!”

“???”

“Ah. Sorry. We just thought there might be professors hiding behind you…”

Due to Ratford’s earnest explanation, Rowena couldn’t tell if she was being joked with or not.

“Are you joking?”

“No, I’m serious.”

“……”

• * *

Rowena had come so they could visit Duke Ikaldoren’s mansion together.

“Me too?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

He already knew that the princess had received a riddle (disguised bribe) from Duke Ikaldoren.

To solve the riddle, hadn’t they worked together at the staff workshop?

If memory served, they did quite well, so why visit together again?

“Yes. Because Wardanaz-nim helped solve it, of course you deserve the honor as well…”

“I’m fine just splitting the reward.”

Rowena made an awkward face at Lee Han’s words. It was a hard joke to react to.

“I’m not good with jokes…”

“It wasn’t a joke, anyway, I understand why you’re here. But if there’s a problem, I won’t get dragged into it, right?”

If the answer to the riddle turned out to be wrong and people started saying, ‘But Wardanaz gave advice and it was wrong!’, things would get annoying.

After all, if a team project produced bad results, the one who paid the most was usually the high-grade team leader.

“Of course not!”

Rowena shook her head in surprise.

Adenart would never blame her followers for anything.

“Lee Han. Doesn’t her strong denial make her even more suspicious?”

“I can swear on my honor as a knight!”

“Now that she’s going that far, isn’t it even more suspicious?”

One of Gainando’s skills was being able to shamelessly nitpick without hesitation.

Rowena glared at Gainando, feeling wronged and indignant. She couldn’t understand what evil intentions lay behind trying to interfere with the princess’s business.

‘Truly horrible person!’

‘If no one else was here, he’d have gotten smacked.’

“Calm down. Visiting Duke Ikaldoren’s mansion isn’t really a difficult task.”

All you had to do was go there, eat some food, drink a little, then say, ‘Your mansion is beautiful, haha,’ and exchange pleasantries with the Duke.

When it seemed Lee Han would accept, Rowena’s face brightened.

“It’s not like it’s my first time.”

“You’ve been there before?”

Rowena tilted her head.

During vacation, the Wardanaz family boy seemed too busy to have even a couple extra bodies.

Had he visited the Duke’s mansion before—perhaps from long ago?

‘Didn’t think they were close though…?’

“Not this city mansion…”

Lee Han smoothly changed the subject.

There was no need to mention that in the middle of the semester, he’d visited after sneaking out of Einrogard with Professor Voladi.

If that ever reached the Skull Principal’s ears, his path would be blocked.

“No special preparations needed, right? We’re just visiting?”

“Yes! His Grace will certainly be waiting with commemorative gifts prepared!”

“That s… Wait, gifts?”

Lee Han was surprised.

“What kind of gifts?”

“Ah. His Grace gives gifts saying the students who visit the mansion are the pillars responsible for the future of the Empire, so…”

“So what exactly are these gifts?”

Pressed by Lee Han’s intensity, Rowena stammered.

“L-last time, it was jewelry like this… Is that a problem?”

When Rowena pulled out a small pure gold medal, Lee Han’s eyes wavered.

If there were a fair number of the princess’s followers, and he gave things like that to every student who visited…

‘Astonishing!’

That level of wealth was surprising, and the fact that despite having so much, the Duke hadn’t provided any reward when the lethal venomous contaminate that attacked him was defeated—astonishing as well.

In fact, the latter was most of it. Lee Han still harbored resentment toward the Duke.

‘How can he only care about the royals like that? He’s obviously a despicable man who bows to power.’

“Such a kind person.”

Nevertheless, aside from that resentment, if he gave out such gifts it couldn’t be passed up.

“Can I bring other friends?”

At Lee Han’s question, Rowena nodded as if she had waited for that.

“Whoever is here, His Grace said you would all be welcome.”

Even if it wasn’t a wicked prince or someone from the Meikin Family, Duke Ikaldoren welcomed any Einrogard student.

In fact, when he invited the princess, he’d said to bring along whatever friends she wished.

“There’s no limit on numbers?”

“No. He said the more, the merrier.”

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded and began writing a letter with his quill pen.

To my dear Salko of the Tutanta Family,

I know you don’t like getting mixed up with noble families, but even so, I truly have an amazing job opportunity I wanted to tell you about. Amazingly, you can earn a gold coin or two just for having a meal…

• * *

The first-year students of Einrogard who gathered at the city square were startled.

“Today isn’t the first day of the semester, right?”

“For a moment, I thought I was at Einrogard.”

That’s how much students from many towers were mixed together.

Even the priest students from Phoenix Tower had been invited and showed up.

“Everyone, please have a hearty meal at the Duke’s mansion.”

“…W-Wait. Wardanaz-nim. You didn’t invite us today just for the meal, did you?”

“Of course not.”

The priests were relieved by Lee Han’s reply.

After all, they’d come because Lee Han had written that as Einrogard students, they’d be attending a special event, but now he was bringing up food, so they were a bit rattled.

Surely he hadn’t gone so far as to invite them just to get a free meal at the Duke’s mansion.

‘There must be some other reason.’

Surely, there was a good reason for priests to be at the banquet hall. The Wardanaz Family boy never did anything pointless.

“By the way, why aren’t any White Tiger Tower guys here?”

“I sent invitations, but they said they were all too busy. Adventurer requests are nice, but aren’t they getting a little too absorbed in them?”

“…?”

“???”

Nillia and Ratford looked at Lee Han like he was a thief.

He was the one most obsessed with adventure requests—what was he talking about?

“I… I really didn’t think you’d gather so many.”

Rowena blinked in surprise.

She could sense once again how wide Lee Han’s network was.

Adenart had followers, but there were definite limits.

Even when the princess was invited and told, ‘Bring a friend of your own choosing,’ the followers responded, ‘Can we really dare call ourselves your friends?’ or the like.

After seriously agonizing, they finally said, ‘It would be better for Her Highness to invite her own friends instead of us,’ but not wanting to disappoint, Adenart just said she’d bring Rowena as her friend.

Everyone was moved, but Rowena worried that perhaps Adenart had no real friends.

As a knight loyal to her, if the person she served had no friends, Rowena felt it her duty to forcibly make her friends, and had been worrying about that lately.

“Wardanaz-nim, how do you make friends?”

“Fr… friends?”

Lee Han faltered.

Of course, he was close to some students, but the others from different towers were all a bit…

‘Can I even call them friends?’

“I’m not sure I can say they’re friends.”

‘He’s even humble.’

Rowena was impressed by Lee Han’s generous attitude. Truly worthy of someone with a wide network.

If it were that wicked prince, he’d have boasted, ‘Because I’m so great.’

“In that case, let me rephrase the question. How do you gather so many people like that?”

“Uh… um… maybe… sincerity?”

“Sincerity…!”

Rowena shivered at the upright yet difficult answer.

“If I cross swords with them sincerely, then offer sincerely to recruit them as Her Highness’s friends, will that work?”

“I’m no expert on friends, but I don’t think that’ll work.”

• * *

Duke Ikaldoren regretted his decision to invite any Einrogard student without discrimination.

‘It was a mistake to call in these filthy, vulgar, and stupid knight bastards.’

The Duke never did like knights.

Even as fellow nobles, the rough ways of the knightly families felt more barbaric than noble to him.

Einrogard students might be better, he’d thought, which is why he invited them—but turned out, same as always.

“Drink! Drink! Drink!”

“This one’s for His Grace, who holds this banquet for us!”

“This one’s for the monsters we hunted!”

“This one’s for… I don’t know! I’ll just drink!”

Clang!

Completely drunk and having fun, the students from White Tiger Tower threw their cups on the floor, threw their plates, marched off into the banquet hall corridor, fetched barrels of alcohol straight from the kitchen, and guzzled away.

Living in the knights’ dorm, the White Tiger Tower students ate rough, tough food in place of oily, sumptuous meals.

Of course, compared to Einrogard, their food was palatable, but in comparison to the opulence of a banquet, the dorm’s fare was garbage.

Splat!

“Why you, you brat?!”

“Who threw pie?!”

“I’ll throw too! Me too!!”

Duke Ikaldoren maintained a composed expression from his seat of honor. Of course, inside, he was spitting curses.

‘There couldn’t possibly be any information to extract from these idiots.’

“Long live the Duke! Long live the Duke!”

“Your Grace! Thank you for inviting us!”

“Hahaha. I’m glad to see everyone eating and drinking so heartily, I’m tru—”

A cake, badly thrown, flew toward Duke Ikaldoren’s face.

His guards deflected it in time, but there was no helping the Duke’s eyebrow twitching.

‘…I’m going insane.’

When everyone goes crazy, it’s only the sane ones who suffer.

Students like Giselle of the Moradi Family or Deorgyu of the Choi Family had put down their forks and were watching the Duke’s face.

No matter how much he smiled, the havoc playing out in the hall couldn’t help but draw their anxiety.

“Mo… Moradi. Is this really okay?”

“Will you ever be okay? What do you even have eyeballs for? Maybe sell them with your brain?”

“Don’t take it out on me! We should at least try to stop them!”

Even with a cake thrown at the Duke, these crazy students were so drunk they kept making a scene.

But if the two stood up and got serious, the atmosphere would turn icy.

Which would disgrace White Tiger Tower just as much.

Creeeeeeak—

Meanwhile, the banquet hall doors opened.

One White Tiger Tower student, caught up in the excitement, failed to notice and accidentally threw a sauce-slathered roast turkey toward the door.

“?”

Lee Han just nodded and dodged. Gainando, who was behind, screamed and fell over.

“Are they insane?”

“W-What the…?”

As the students outside the door gasped in shock, Lee Han strode forward.

And with his staff, he smacked the nearest White Tiger Tower student in the solar plexus.