Episode 426

Episode 426

Professor Verdus, who was called in, stared blankly at the skeleton principal.

The skeleton principal sighed first at the attitude that made it clear he had no idea what he had done wrong.

Bible, Bible… how many times have I told you?

“What?”

Just do the minimum preparation. I’m not trying to interfere with your research. I’m just saying let’s do the basics, okay?

“I prepared hard, though?!”

Professor Verdus retorted as if it was unfair.

The skeleton principal held back once more and spoke again.

Usually when I say to just do the minimum prep… it doesn’t mean to use first-year apprentices as your helpers.

“But the other guys are idiots?”

The ‘other guys’ Professor Verdus referred to were, so-called, Verdus’ apprentices.

The upperclassmen of Lee Han who were learning Enchantment magic!

Normally, these upperclassmen were supposed to help Professor Verdus with his work, prepare lessons, or teach the juniors…

As you know, apprentices in the Imperial magic world usually took after their masters.

Those who remained as apprentices under a master like Professor Verdus, determined to keep learning Enchantment magic, were naturally similar to Verdus himself.

-I have no idea what the professor’s doing, but I’ll make my own artifact.

-The professor went to the punishment room? No wonder there was a spare chair. Guess I’ll use this seat.

As Professor Verdus didn’t particularly expect any deep respect from his apprentices, their relationship was more like wizards sharing the same workshop rather than a traditional master-apprentice one.

In fact, it was worse than that. Wizards sharing a workshop would at least pay some attention if one went missing.

There was no way these upperclassmen would help out. If Professor Verdus called on them, there was a very high chance they would just ignore him without even replying.

They’re not idiots; it’s just the way you taught them.

“No matter how I taught them, if they weren’t idiots, they’d have done well on their own. Look at Wardanaz.”

……

The skeleton principal felt a headache he hadn’t had in a while.

Professor Voladi, convincing himself that ‘my teaching isn’t wrong’ when he saw Lee Han, and Professor Verdus, convinced that ‘seeing him doing well proves the other idiots are to blame’ when he saw Lee Han, really…

People like this should be left alone to learn a hard lesson, but they’re swaggering after getting lucky and meeting a crazy disciple, which was just so annoying to witness.

Just shut up and do all the second-year-and-above prep yourself.

“Wardanaz can do it too…”

I know. I can see it.

“But then why?”

Because I just can’t stand the sight of you getting comfortable by foisting off your work on a disciple.

The skeleton principal spoke honestly.

Professor Verdus looked at the skeleton principal, wondering how he could think such mean things.

“Professor. Please stop trying to go elsewhere. Do you think I’ll do the prep by myself if you act like that? Hurry up and get the reagents… Oh. Principal. What are you doing?”

I’m telling you not to make the underclassmen prepare the upper-level lectures for you.

“Ha ha. Don’t joke.”

Lee Han scoffed as if it was a ridiculous notion.

The skeleton principal slightly reflected on his own actions at that attitude.

• * *

“Huh?”

“That’s strange?”

The students taking Enchantment magic were surprised at the lecture room’s appearance, which was different from usual.

Books were prepared at each desk in advance; there were magic circles ready that allowed for indirect experience of the magic, and various reagents and metals suitable for testing the magic, all neatly arranged.

Seeing this, the students came to a logical conclusion.

“Did we come to the wrong lecture room?”

“But the professor is there, though?”

Beaver beastkin were not a common beastkin. The students looked around in confusion.

“Wardanaz. Do you know what’s going on?”

Wardanaz was always quick on the news in situations like this. The friends asked, thinking he might know something.

Lee Han nodded and replied.

“Today’s Enchantment magic class is about enchanting by spells rather than directly inscribing with a magic circle. Because the difficulty increases, supporting magic circles, reference books, and practice materials are all prepared.”

The method of directly inscribing a magic circle onto an object was a friendly one, easing the burden of preparing complex magic for the mages.

Of course, enchanting by incantation greatly increased the difficulty.

Because the mage had to construct the mana structure one by one with the spell instead of relying on magic circles.

“I see… Wait. Wardanaz, how do you know all this?”

“Well, he’s Wardanaz. Of course he’d know if he saw it.”

“I prepared it.”

“……”

“……”

“I said, I was the one who prepared it.”

“Y-yeah.”

The friends suddenly fell silent at Lee Han’s words.

No wonder he wasn’t around…

‘Is it normal for a first-year to prepare all this?’

‘There’s no way that’s normal, even I—who come from a knightly family—can tell that much.’

‘But honestly, isn’t the preparation better than what Professor Verdus usually does?’

The students from the White Tiger Tower, whispering, definitely thought so.

Professor Verdus’s style, if put nicely, was irresponsible, and if put bluntly… well, there really was no nice way to put it.

If Professor Verdus had prepared today’s lecture, the students would be searching the shelves for the books they needed right from the start, rummaging through the wooden crates of the materials storage, pulling out usable magic circles, then pulling out the wrong ones and setting their clothes a bit on fire, getting scolded by Professor Verdus…

“Wardanaz. Are you going to prepare the class from now on too?”

“…What are you insinuating?”

The White Tiger Tower student, who spoke with some anticipation, shrank back in the face of the harsh tone.

“N-no, just… curious.”

• * *

The basics always start with the elements.

No matter what school of magic, when teaching the basics, they often taught it in connection with the elements.

Because elemental properties were familiar and comfortable for mages.

What mage wasn’t familiar with fire, water, wind, and earth?

Of course, there were occasionally mages who dealt more with lightning and darkness, but those really were exceptions…

“Watch closely. Like this.”

Professor Verdus waved his staff. The plain wooden board heated up red-hot. When he poured water on top, it made a sizzling sound.

Lee Han asked.

“Professor, you didn’t chant any spells.”

“Huh? I don’t have to,”

“…Wouldn’t it be better for you to let the students hear you cast?”

Professor Verdus made students bristle in a different way than when inscribing magic circles.

The professor blamed the poor skills of students, who couldn’t even do unspoken casting, and reluctantly chanted a spell again.

“Heat, hide your form and dwell within.”

This -Latent Heat Bestowal- magic, despite its plain appearance, had a considerable difficulty level.

Rather than simply imparting flames, it required removing several aspects from the fire element, leaving only the pure heat behind.

Of course, you also had to make that heat dwell within the object.

Doing all this by incantation, without a magic circle, inevitably caused the students to frown.

“And once you’ve done all that, next is this.”

Professor Verdus explained additional enchantment magics that could be cast instantly without magic circles.

The -Latent Heat Bestowal- just demonstrated was one, but Professor Verdus preferred not straightforward element-based enchantments, but those twisted one step further.

It wasn’t out of consideration for the students’ skill progression; it was just his personality hating dull magic.

After -Latent Heat Bestowal- came -Truth Light Bestowal-.

Usually cast on a staff, this magic amplified the element of light’s searching property.

That is, it continuously emitted light that was useful for finding hidden passages or detecting illusion magic.

“!”

“!!!”

Scritch, scritch, scritch—

The students’ eyes went wide and the speed of note-taking increased.

For students who had gone out after dark a few times, it was immediately clear how useful that magic would be.

Einrogard had so many secret passages and traps that you could call it EinroDungeon instead.

It had gotten to the point where, if a classroom was above the second floor, students refused to walk there alone and went in groups.

No wonder students coveted such magic.

‘Preparing for the latent heat enchantment was way more of a hassle. Ungrateful brats.’

Lee Han understood but felt a bit disappointed.

The latent heat bestowal had required much more prep.

After that, Professor Verdus introduced things like -Windproof Bestowal- (a defense magic that set up a barrier of wind near your gear, deflecting weak projectiles and altering the trajectory of strong ones) and -Purity Bestowal- (a magic that removed toxins from liquids by enchanting cloth).

“Wardanaz. I have a question about casting this -Truth Light Bestowal-. Should I perform elemental conversion first, or the bestowal…?”

“…Um, the professor is right there.”

“Oh. Did you not master it yet?”

Rowena sounded genuinely shocked.

She hadn’t even considered the possibility that Lee Han might not have mastered it yet.

“I did, but the professor is right there, you know.”

‘So he did master it.’

‘He did, huh.’

The White Tiger Tower students practicing nearby thought to themselves.

Come to think of it, since he helped the professor with preparation, a student with Wardanaz’s skill level would only be odd if he hadn’t mastered it.

“But the professor is a bit…”

Rowena was quite honorable even among the (self-proclaimed) White Tiger Tower knights.

So she didn’t say more, but everyone nearby could tell.

“Yeah. It’s a bit awkward.”

Lee Han gave up and decided just to explain.

In fact, thanks to practicing while preparing with Professor Verdus, he was able to use it to some extent.

“The way I do it isn’t necessarily the best, so just take it for reference. First, light element, then elemental transformation, then the bestowal. That order works best for me. You should watch out that, since you’re not borrowing the power of a magic circle, your mana consumption might get severe.”

“How severe is the mana consumption?”

“I don’t know. I can’t feel it. The book says it, though.”

“……”

“……”

The White Tiger Tower students stared at Lee Han, but he ignored them.

“So don’t invest too much mana into the light element or transformation. With spells cast by incantation like this, the effect is inherently weaker. Just think of it as trading off power for speed and casting time…”

“Thank you very much.”

Rowena bowed her head deeply.

Clearly, Lee Han’s teaching had an effect, as Rowena was making significant progress. Another student from White Tiger Tower asked,

“Wardanaz. Can I ask too?”

“Uh. Then me too.”

“…All good, but let me practice too, you know.”

“?!”

“?!?”

The White Tiger Tower students were startled.

Even Professor Verdus was surprised.

“What?! You haven’t mastered everything yet!?”

“…It’s possible to not master everything…”

Lee Han barely held back a “You little—”.

If it were just the White Tiger Tower students here, it probably would have slipped out.

“Why didn’t you master it!?”

“Just ignore the professor.”

“You keep your cool, Wardanaz.”

The White Tiger Tower students desperately calmed Lee Han down.

If Lee Han got angry, only they would suffer for it.

After all, asking Verdus for help would net them nothing but a rough answer…

“So what is it you couldn’t master? Windproof magic?”

“I never saw Wardanaz use wind element, come to think of it.”

“Was it earth element? Wardanaz, if you’re stuck on something, just ask.”

Another student from a different tower, Salko, also looked over curiously.

“-Latent Heat Bestowal-.”

“?”

“??”

The friends tilted their heads.

If you could make heat dwell in -Latent Heat Bestowal-, there shouldn’t really be any problem, right?

“So where did you get stuck? Tell me, Wardanaz. I can help…”

Lee Han swung his staff.

Instantly, the staff began to burn from the inside.

It wasn’t that he’d enchanted it with fire, but that it couldn’t withstand the heat and burst into flames from within.

“…doesn’t seem to be the problem.”

“Chin up!”