Episode 388

Episode 388

“Everyone now…”

Before Sharkal could finish speaking, the divine power spreading from Lee Han’s body faded without bearing fruit.

He had succeeded in generating divine power, but had not been able to manifest it as magic.

Yet even that was already impressive. Most believers couldn’t even generate divine power.

Divine power was both the foundation and source of divine magic.

Once someone produced divine power, they would ultimately reach divine magic sooner or later.

“Phew…”

“Whew…”

Sighs of relief leaked out here and there.

Anyone could tell those sighs meant “thank goodness.”

“…You’re not all happy about this, are you?”

Sharkal spoke in a slightly sullen voice.

If you were priests, no matter how much you belonged to a different order, shouldn’t you wish for the awakening of divine magic?

The god they served might be different, but they were still companions walking the same path!

“Ah, no.”

“Of course not.”

“Well, actually a little…”

Other priests held their hands over Nigisor’s mouth to stop him from honestly admitting it.

If it had been any other believer, they could have sincerely celebrated with, “Congratulations on awakening divine magic.”

But Lee Han was different.

If Lee Han awakened Agltaqua’s divine magic, he might think, “Turns out my true faith was with Agltaqua,” and lose interest in other orders.

From the priests’ point of view, it would all end before they even got a chance to showcase their own faith.

There was another reason as well.

Awakening divine power meant one had the aptitude for faith and belief.

Most ordinary believers couldn’t even awaken divine power, so it was a rare and remarkable talent.

In other words…

If they convinced him now, there was a high chance he could awaken divine magic from another order as well!

In fact, in Nigisor’s case, even with the other priests restraining him, he still spoke out.

“If he’s awakened divine power but not divine magic, doesn’t that mean his faith isn’t for Agltaqua, but for another god?”

“Let’s keep it quiet.”

The Tijilling priest silenced him.

While they chattered, Professor Garcia approached, puzzled.

It was unusual for Phoenix Tower students to gather and loiter like this during class time.

“What are you all doing? Did you hit a wall with something?”

“Ah, professor. We were discussing which order’s divine magic Lord Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family might awaken.”

“…Is my class boring?”

• * *

After that, the students devoted themselves sincerely to practicing underwater breathing magic.

It was absolutely not because they were afraid of Professor Garcia. They just didn’t want to disappoint the always-kind Professor Garcia.

“Lee Han. You’re coming to our tower lounge, right?”

“No.”

“…You’re going to the Phoenix Tower lounge, aren’t you. I, I see. Of course you would.”

Gainando spoke, averting his gaze.

“I’m going to the garden to work.”

“Oh!”

Gainando’s face brightened.

“Great. You come help, too.”

“Oh.”

Gainando’s face darkened.

“I actually have things to do…”

“That guy Gainando doesn’t have anything to do. He said he’d build a new card deck this afternoon.”

Blue Dragon Tower friends kindly reported this. Lee Han nodded.

“If you’re free, then come help.”

“…But I was on duty yesterday…!”

“??”

Lee Han was puzzled by Gainando’s words.

Duty?

“You divided up the chores among yourselves while I was gone? How dutiful…”

Honestly, it was touching.

Of course, if Black Turtle Tower students heard, they’d ask, “Why is Wardanaz touched by something like that?” but Blue Dragon Tower students were, by default, people who had never even folded their own clothes.

Unless Lee Han issued strict instructions one by one, they expected the messy lounge to just clean itself up.

For those students to autonomously take turns and work hard after the second semester began—it made Lee Han feel unexpectedly emotional.

‘So this was Einrogard’s positive function.’

“Ah. That’s not it…”

“?”

Let me explain.

Some Blue Dragon Tower students nearly fainted screaming.

The skeleton principal was floating down, not from the side or behind, but from above.

The skeleton principal never scared students the same way twice.

There are things that happened while you were away, so you may not know. As you know, you ironheads spent a semester here. Even your empty heads should have gained some wisdom by now. Although it’s probably lighter than fluff.

“……”

“……”

At the skeleton principal’s warm praise, the students frowned.

So in the second semester, you were given a bit more freedom.

The skeleton principal spoke in a kindly, gentle voice, but no one was fooled.

Still not understanding, Lee Han asked,

“What kind of freedom? Are we allowed to go out on weekends…?”

Have you lost your mind because you came two weeks late? Anyone would think you were the professor.

“…So what is it?”

The freedom to take responsibility for your school duties yourselves.

The skeleton principal kindly explained.

While Lee Han was away, the other first-year students had already received the explanation.

Each tower was now assigned to handle the various chores around school in turns.

Cleaning the alchemy workshop’s dumping ground, tidying the first floor kitchen storage, cleaning up classrooms made a mess by experiments, cleaning near the stables, and so on.

Considering Einrogard’s vast grounds and near-infinite building interiors, the chores students had to do were endless.

The skeleton principal was bestowing the freedom to handle such chores upon the students.

“Wow.”

Some students misunderstand magic school sometimes, but this place is not a prison. It merely allows freedom befitting your qualification. How would my heart ache if I let someone out without qualification and they got hurt?

“You’re truly remarkable.”

Right?

Having sufficiently ruined the students’ joy, the skeleton principal again floated away into the air.

Gainando looked at Lee Han with a gloomy face.

“I couldn’t even play yesterday because I had to clean up spontaneously appearing slimes.”

“I see. Come help.”

“…?!”

Gainando was taken aback by Lee Han dragging him mercilessly along, even though the atmosphere seemed like he might let him off.

Wasn’t he going to let it slide?

“So, what chores does the Phoenix Tower have?”

“Ah. We’ll be assigned new ones this evening.”

“I see. I’d like to participate, since I’ve done nothing for two weeks.”

At Lee Han’s words, the priests’ faces suddenly stiffened. Lee Han paused at the reaction.

‘Did I make a mistake?’

“Can I join the work too?”

“What are you talking about… You worked hard last week, so you should rest this week. I’m on for this week.”

“What does the order matter when it comes to helping work? Hahaha.”

“You’ll fall ill if you overdo it. Please rest.”

Seeing the priests competing to volunteer for work, Lee Han shook his head and turned away.

Unaware of the circumstances, Gainando was extremely jealous.

“Wow. The priests actually volunteer to work themselves. I’m really jealous.”

“Quiet, let’s go work.”

• * *

The garden behind Professor Thunderstep’s cabin had gotten quite disordered while Lee Han was away.

Lee Han and Gainando tidied up the surroundings and fed the chickens together.

The chickens, recognizing Lee Han after his return in several months, clucked in welcome.

Gainando swallowed.

“Are you going to catch one?”

“They’re for eggs.”

“Hmph.”

Gainando still wanted to pet the chickens in hopes of finding eggs.

But the chickens didn’t tolerate an evil-hearted wizard and pecked at him with their beaks.

“Argh! These jerks!”

“Gainando. Stop fooling around and help weed. I need to plant new seeds here.”

Panting as he worked, Gainando suddenly asked,

“Wait. Can’t we just summon the undead? They could work, too!”

“Good idea, but undead don’t suit this sort of task. They bring negative mana.”

“……”

Gainando cursed dark magic internally.

It really was a spell that did no good in life.

After nearly two hours sweating away, they got it roughly finished. Lee Han packed vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, canned food, and pickled meat into a basket and handed it to Gainando.

“Take this and split it with others.”

“G-great! I’ll try cooking—!”

“No. Don’t cook. Just deliver it.”

“……”

Gainando pouted.

“I can cook well if I—”

“No. Just deliver it.”

“…Okay.”

Basket in hand, Gainando tilted his head. The vegetables were fine, but the other foods seemed unfamiliar.

“By the way, aren’t these from the professor’s cabin…?”

“Hurry back. I’ll finish cleaning up here.”

Lee Han shooed Gainando away.

Then he saw Professors Thunderstep and Lightningstep walking in the distance.

“I wondered who cleaned up—so it was you. Nice work.”

Professor Lightningstep laughed heartily and praised Lee Han.

“You must have had a tough time inside. To think you found such a ruin?”

“I was lucky.”

Professor Thunderstep, listening nearby, commented incredulously.

“You call that luck?”

“It counts as luck. You found it and came out unharmed.”

“How is that… Anyway, the prince was here earlier. In his basket, was one of those canned goods mine…?”

“In any case, it’s a pleasure to see you both!”

Lee Han immediately steered the conversation elsewhere.

“Right. You’re a little behind, so to catch up you’ll have to work really hard… or no, just a bit hard—never mind. Just take it easy. You’ll still catch up.”

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded by Professor Thunderstep’s casual attitude.

“How can I catch up if I just take it easy instead of working hard?”

“You’ll work hard even if I tell you to take it easy.”

“By the way, have you visited Professor Baegrek yet?”

Professor Lightningstep dropped the bag he was carrying with a thump. It was labeled -Basilisk Feed-.

“…Not yet, but why do you ask…?”

“Uh? Didn’t you agree to raise the basilisk? Didn’t you hear?”

“……”

Hearing the long-forgotten monster’s name made Lee Han sullen.

Even during vacation, Professor Voladi brought a basilisk egg and said, “If you raise this well, I’ll be even more motivated to try and kill you.”

Of course, the exact words were a bit different, but the meaning was similar.

‘I’ll just toss the first basilisk I raise into the duke’s mansion someday.’

Cursing the duke, Lee Han replied.

“Yes… I knew he was trying to hatch the egg.”

“Right. He said he’d try to hatch it this semester. The egg is in good condition, so it seems very possible. Should be a good experience for you too.”

“Yes… well…”

It might indeed be a good experience to care for and hatch a basilisk intended to kill him.

As Professor Lightningstep brought drinks from inside the cabin, Professor Thunderstep asked,

“They’re hatching a basilisk?”

“Yeah.”

“Professor Baegrek? I could see them killing it, but hatching would be tough. Takes a lot of work.”

Hatching a basilisk wasn’t an easy feat.

Even if Professor Thunderstep wasn’t close to Professor Voladi, he knew at least that Voladi was good at killing basilisks but not at raising them.

Even with Lightningstep’s tips, it would be hard.

Professor Lightningstep sipped beer and answered unconcernedly,

“There’s a disciple right here. He’ll do fine.”

“Aha. Well, that makes sense.”

“……”

Lee Han wanted to protest at what “makes sense,” but held himself back.