Episode 38

‘He’s a Black Turtle Tower student?’
Ihan observed closely to see what the other boy was doing.
The boy was a rat beastkin. He was short and slightly hunched, but his footsteps were so quiet they made almost no sound.
Ihan suspected the boy had received special training.
As old knight Alarlong had said, sometimes you could tell a person’s status by their gait.
A knight’s steps, a mage’s steps, a hunter’s steps, a thief’s steps…
And those footsteps were the steps of a thief.
‘Rat beastkin aren’t exactly welcome in the Empire, though.’
People said all races were equal in the Empire, but that was hard to achieve in reality.
In fact, there were always popular and unpopular races.
And the rat beastkin were the latter.
Because there were many thieves, vagrants, pickpockets, and ragpickers among them, they were always looked upon with suspicion by the imperial citizens.
Such were the rat beastkin.
‘Maybe it’s my bias. Not every rat beastkin goes around stealing, surely.’
Ihan thought he was getting ahead of himself.
Not every rat beastkin had to have received training as a thief.
Click─
“……”
But the boy drew a crude, makeshift fake key from his belt and started working it vigorously into a locked door.
Anyone could see what he was up to.
‘Well, I’m in no position to judge others, either.’
Ihan was also breaking school rules, looking for a way out, so he couldn’t criticize the other student.
On the contrary…
‘Maybe teaming up would be good.’
If he even made a key and brought it, this was not his first night out.
Ihan wasn’t the only student trying to escape the school.
Ihan cautiously approached.
If the boy screamed in surprise, Ihan would be in trouble too.
Slik—
Ihan quietly stopped behind the totally focused rat beastkin boy, pointed his staff at his neck, and whispered in a low voice.
“Hey. Scream and you die.”
“…!!”

• * *
  Ratford, even before enrolling, had been a professional thief in the thieves’ guild.
  In fact, Ratford hadn’t believed it when he’d been offered a spot at the magic school.
  No matter how gifted, who would accept a thief as a student?
  Luckily, the Black Turtle Tower students didn’t ostracize Ratford.
  But Ratford himself inevitably felt a strange sense of alienation.
  Boys and girls born into wealthy merchant families—versus Ratford, who’d honed his skills in the alleys at night. They couldn’t be the same.
  This made Ratford want to show what he could do using his own abilities.
  Just like Nilia, who was from a hunter’s background (though Ratford didn’t imagine there was anyone else like him), he wanted to be recognized by his tower friends for his ability!
  So Ratford prepared meticulously.
  -As big as the school is, there have to be kitchens and storerooms. Find and hit those, and you’ll stock up on more than enough food and daily essentials!
  While others passed inattentively through the hallways to their classrooms, Ratford checked out the keyholes in the rear central staircase area, making sure no one saw him.
  Probing the inside of a keyhole with just your fingertips and then making a temporary key on the spot to pick the lock was a high-level trick only a rare thief could pull off…
  But Ratford succeeded in the end by putting all his free time into it.
  He thought only glory remained now—until this ambush.
  ‘Wh-who…’
  He knew who it was right away.
  It was definitely school security.
  Professional thieves were always prepared for situations like this.
  Ratford carefully raised his hands above his shoulders and spoke as pitifully as possible.
  “P-please don’t hit me. I surrender.”
  Even among thieves, those who denied and resisted when caught got beaten more than those who quickly admitted it.
  Once you were caught, admitting it was often the better choice.
  “Shh. I snuck out too, just like you.”
  “…?!”
  Only then did Ratford turn around.
  A sturdy boy in priestly robes moved the staff away from Ratford’s neck and looked around.
  ‘Another freshman!?’
  Ratford was dumbfounded.
  The threat had been so fierce he’d assumed it was a guard, of course.
  How could a fellow new student say something menacing like ‘scream and you die’…?
  “What is this…”
  “Keep your voice down.”
  “Who are you?”
  Even as he asked, Ratford could guess.
  Tall, well-built, and able to use a staff as a weapon at close range.
  He had to be one of the White Tiger Tower students.
  ‘I don’t know how he got his hands on a priest’s robe, but he’s clever.’
  Wearing a priest’s robe would naturally make people less suspicious.
  Who would have thought a muscle-brained knight would show that kind of wit?
  “Blue Dragon Tower, Ihan Wardanaz.”
  “……”
  Ratford’s jaw dropped in shock.
• * *
  Ratford accepted the reality faster than one might think.
  Actually, he wasn’t totally convinced.
  ‘A Wardanaz, at this hour, in these robes… Wait, but how did he…’
  But the situation was urgent enough that he just decided to go with it.
  More shocking than that was the proposal Ihan, the Wardanaz boy, made.
  “You want us to work together?”
  “Everything goes better with a partner. It’s better for you to work together than solo, right?”
  “…Don’t you see who I am??”
  Ratford asked in disbelief. Ihan paused at that.
  “Were you expecting the headmaster’s son or something?”
  “……”
  Of course, he wasn’t the headmaster’s son.
  Ratford was at a loss.
  Anyone with eyes could see Ratford was a rat beastkin.
  And here he was in the dead of night, trying to pick a lock with a fake key.
  Anyone with brains should think, ‘Ah, a thief!’
  “I obviously look like a thief! You, a lofty Wardanaz, want to go around together with a thief like me?”
  “Hey. What do you think I’m doing right now?”
  “……”
  At Ihan’s question, Ratford fell silent.
  …Fair enough?
  “You want us to work together?”
  “Yeah. Looking for the food storeroom, right? Same here.”
  “!”
  Ratford, stunned for a moment, collected himself and asked,
  “Are you really a Wardanaz?”
  He eyed Ihan suspiciously.
  No matter how he thought about it…
  “You teaming up or should I knock you out and work alone?”
  “C-calm down. Let’s work together. Two heads are better than one.”
  Ratford quickly waved his hands when Ihan’s staff menaced him.
  If nothing else, it was clear that he’d lose in a fight.
  “So. You prepared that key?”
  “Yeah.”
  “Does it open?”
  “No. Normally it should, but it looks like it’s protected by magic.”
  Ratford anxiously worked at the keyhole.
  If it was protected by magic, there was nothing even Ratford could do.
  If he had some thief’s relic, maybe, but completely empty-handed…
  Clack!
  “?”
  A key flew up out of Ihan’s pocket and slotted itself into the keyhole.
  It spun, and the door opened.
  “???”
  “Wh-where’d you get that key?”
  “Stole it from the headmaster’s office.”
  “Y-you’re joking, right?”
  “No. Really.”
  He’d grabbed it while staying behind with Asan last time, not only picking up magic but pocketing a key as well.
  He’d wondered what key it was for—turned out it opened the back-central hall area.
  ‘…Better be careful.’
  If it was a key the headmaster had left behind, he couldn’t let his guard down.
  They passed through an empty banquet hall, a giant hall, several closed doors…
  “Wait.”
  Ratford suddenly dropped to the floor.
  “Sounds like someone’s in the basement. I can hear them.”
  “…!”
  At that moment, Ihan realized where the workers were coming in.
  ‘The basement!’
  If they used the main gate or wall passages, they’d be seen by students, and students would obviously try to use them too.
  By contrast, if you used a basement corridor, students had no easy way to find it.
  No wonder it was strange that students wandered everywhere and never saw a single worker…
  ‘What is this school even thinking?’
  “They’re definitely talking in the basement storage. Find the way down!”
  “R-right…”
  Ratford hurried off at Ihan’s words.
  Fortunately, a basement staircase soon appeared before them.
  Creeeaak─
  They’d only descended one flight, and already the air was different.
  Upstairs, moonlight spilled in through the windows, but here, there was only cold darkness.
  Ihan considered conjuring some light.
  But his instincts held him back.
  More than anything, the fact that the key from the headmaster’s office had opened the door put Ihan on alert.
  ‘Knowing what I do about the headmaster’s personality, there’s bound to be a few traps in a place like this.’
  Ratford rustled next to him. Ihan spoke quietly.
  “Don’t turn on the lights.”
  “…?”
  “Someone could be waiting.”
  “!”
  Ratford was startled by the Wardanaz boy’s words.
  This truly was an unknown place. Because of the unfamiliarity and anxiety, he’d nearly lit a flame without realizing.
  If Ihan hadn’t spoken, he might have made a mistake.
  ‘…But seriously, who is he??’
  Ratford had heard rumors about the Wardanaz boy even within the Black Turtle Tower.
  —I’ve heard he’s cold-blooded. He’s already dominating the Blue Dragon Tower with pure charisma.
  —They say even princes and princesses go speechless before a Wardanaz.
  —I saw him at spell class—he succeeded in one try at what others failed several times.
  —They say in the riding lesson, when a thunderbird attacked, he subdued it with magic. Can you believe that?
  At first, he thought those rumors were exaggerated.
  They were all freshmen, after all… it couldn’t be that much.
  But seeing him now, Ratford started to believe the rumors might be true.
  The pressure coming off him was no joke!
  Whoosh!
  “!”
  A lantern suddenly flared to life in the distance, illuminating its surroundings.
  Ihan and Ratford crouched, barely daring to breathe.
  They hadn’t noticed in the darkness, but this entire basement space was a huge storage room.
  Shelves and tables were crammed in, all kinds of things packed in tightly—it could just barely be seen.
  The storeroom keeper started walking slowly with his lantern. The silence was so deep that each murmured word he spoke was clear.
  “Cheese… 8 pieces. Check. Maple syrup… 5 bottles. Check. Whitefire paper… 22 sheets. Check. Spirit silver needles… 3 pieces. Check.”
  ‘He’s memorized all those numbers!’
  “The alarm spell has weakened. Need to recast it.”
  With a surge of mana, the keeper cast spells over the goods.
  Ihan felt a chill down his spine.
  Every item was under an alarm spell.
  If they’d touched anything without knowing, they would’ve been dragged straight to the punishment room.
  “Who is there?”
  “!”
  Their hearts fell.
  The storeroom keeper had suddenly turned his head in their direction and spoken.
  ‘He shouldn’t be able to see us from that angle, though?’
  Despite the confusion, Ihan tried to stay calm.
  How had he figured it out? Was he fishing? Was it too late to use an invisibility spell?
  “…!”
  Ihan was shocked as he saw the storeroom keeper slowly approach.
  Amazingly, the storeroom keeper’s eyes were covered completely with bandages—he was blind.