Episode 458

Poison for the giants.

But why?

“Is the alchemy exam opponent maybe a giant?”

“That must definitely be it.”

“What are you guys even saying…”

Lee Han asked back, puzzled.

“It’s not related to the exam.”

“Okay, Wardanaz.”

“Trust us.”

His friends waved their hands as if telling him not to worry, as if they had taken Lee Han’s answer to mean something else.

“No, really, it’s not related to the exam…”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“We get it, really.”

Whether or not Lee Han said anything, his friends started opening their alchemy books and reading -Precautions for Using Potions on Highly Resistant Targets-.

Since the exam opponent was a giant, they thought it best to make their potions as powerful and penetrating as possible.

The princess glanced around uncertainly, then after much hesitation closed the book she’d been reading and opened the same book as her friends. Priest Siana, who was sitting next to her, had already opened her own copy.

Bartrek, an alchemy student from the White Tiger Tower, saw them as he passed by and was shocked.

‘The exam opponent is a giant!’

Bartrek quickly turned around and dashed back to share this secret information with his friends.

A little later, Yoner, returning from his class duty, asked Lee Han,

“Is it true the opponent for this alchemy exam is a giant?”

“……”

• * *

“This time’s exam is to make -Dobruk’s Guardian Potion-.”

-Dobruk’s Guardian Potion- was a defensive potion that preserved life force even in areas filled with yin and dark energy.

It was a highly useful potion for black magicians who spent long hours in such places, and for any adventurer or magician who might have to enter those places.

“The giants are going to drink it, right?”

“Does it have to be effective on giants?”

“??”

Professor Thunderstep was flustered by the students who suddenly upped the difficulty several times with their questions.

‘What’s this? Did they catch it from Wardanaz?’

As far as Professor Thunderstep knew, students volunteering to make the exam harder on themselves was unheard of.

Unless you exclude a certain student whose family name starts with ‘War’ and ends with ‘naz.’

“No, that’s not it?”

“Huh? Really? Not for giants…”

“If not giants… oh! Maybe it’s for another highly resistant race. Wardanaz is crazy, so he must have practiced with giants on purpose.”

“I’m right behind you.”

“S-sorry. It’s just a habit.”

Professor Thunderstep realized that some wild rumor had spread without him knowing.

A common occurrence.

At Einrogard, bizarre rumors appeared every time you blinked.

“Whatever you heard, you’ll test the performance of your own potion yourself. After making your potion, each of you will come up and walk over here.”

Professor Thunderstep pointed to a dark blue shadowy area he had prepared at the back of the classroom.

It was a space where dark elements and yin energy were mixed, so just a few steps would sap your vitality away.

“Oh. Wardanaz, you’re… you’re excluded.”

“Yes?”

Lee Han was startled.

Why?

Behind him, students from the White Tiger Tower nodded knowingly, as if to say they’d expected this.

“So the giant test was for Wardanaz only.”

“Truly rational…”

‘What’s rational about this, you maniacs?’

Professor Thunderstep looked at Lee Han as if he was asking the obvious.

“You’d be totally fine without the potion, so it’s not a real test. You don’t drink, just submit yours to me.”

“……”

Lee Han clicked his tongue.

It was a chance to coast through!

“Professor, but we have to gather ingredients from outside and it’s raining so much. If you could give us more time…”

“Take reagents from the cupboard next to you and use those.”

“?????”

“…Why are you surprised? Did you really think you were supposed to forage ingredients outside in this weather?”

Surprisingly, the alchemy exam proceeded sensibly.

Students were flustered by Professor Thunderstep’s ready supply of all the reagents and tools.

-Isn’t this a trap?

-It’s a trap. Be careful. The tools might fall apart suddenly.

-Maybe the reagents are spoiled.

But surprisingly, nothing out of the ordinary happened until the end.

While his friends buzzed and muttered, Lee Han took the approach, ‘If there’s a trap, I’ll find it as I go,’ and finished his potion first.

Professor Thunderstep carefully checked the potion, then took a sip.

“Perfect score.”

No matter how many times he heard it, it was still the best thing.

Lee Han nodded.

“Thank you.”

“By the way, you’re spending time with giants now, right? I’m sure you’ll manage, but be careful when making potions for them. You have to make it much stronger.”

“…Just why…!”

How many hours have even passed?!

• * *

Second-year student of the black magic school, Ogoldos, nervously checked his back.

“I told you, it’s not there, Ogoldos.”

“Hmph. How can I believe you?”

“I said I’m sorry… I won’t tease you anymore.”

Koholti apologized.

After Ogoldos and a first-year junior went missing during the vacation and then returned, Koholti had stuck a note on Ogoldos’s back several times saying, -I survived thanks to a first-year junior.-

As a result, Ogoldos would bare his teeth and get wary whenever Koholti approached.

“Great, great. We’ll have even fewer juniors now. If he quits, you better tell the professor about it. Got it?”

“Hey, no. Ogoldos also said he’d forgive you!”

“Hmph. Who knows.”

Ogoldos said he forgave her, but his face was full of discontent. Direte fluttered his wings and kicked Koholti’s shin.

“Ow!”

“You got help too, originally.”

“T-that was a little different…”

Listening from nearby, Ogoldos pricked up his ears.

He thought hearing about Koholti-senpai’s pitiful failures would make him feel a bit better.

“I want to hear it, Direte-senpai.”

“All right, if it’ll help you feel better.”

Direte, looking at Koholti as if he was pathetic, began to tell the tale in detail.

Talking about why winter visited Einrogard’s halls in early summer and which madmen had summoned the Ice Giant King, Ogoldos looked at his senpai with a look of contempt.

“…It wasn’t just my mistake, Ogoldos.”

“Yes…”

“There were others! And my responsibility was low!”

“Yes…”

“Start getting ready. Everyone, stop chattering.”

Direte opened a chest and began spreading intact bones here and there.

It was preparation for this midterm.

Whereas other schools rigorously pushed their first-years from the 1st semester to harden them for the in-depth 2nd-year classes, black magic was a bit different.

If the black magic tests in the first semester sorted the wheat from the chaff, then in the 2nd semester the tests were…

“But seriously, at this level, don’t you stick with it out of sheer stubbornness?”

“My cohort all quit except me.”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

…A kind of lure.

Black magic is this great, black magic is this fun, look at this marvelous thing it can do.

So please just don’t quit!!

Newbies who barely endured through the 1st semester would, by the 2nd semester, when their bodies and minds got tired, think, ‘Maybe I should drop the one I like least?’

And usually “the one they liked least” was likely to be black magic.

“Is this enough?”

“An undead wave will do.”

Ogoldos answered confidently.

He was sure, having gone through something similar himself in the second semester of his own first year.

The spectacle of personally commanding a wave of undead.

Few things left a stronger impression than that.

“Uh… by the way, Direte. If we use up all the reagents, what will we use for experiments for the rest of the semester?”

“…I’ll ask the professor and get them restocked somehow.”

Direte said, trying to suppress a sigh.

Even though he had restocked during vacation, the black magic school’s budget was anything but ample.

The skeleton principal himself was a grandmaster of black magic, but he was stingy with the school’s funds; the Empire was also picky when it came to black magic research and experiments.

-Why should research into the defensive power of flesh golems benefit the Empire?

-Uh, so, well, if we use stronger summons to defeat the Empire’s enemies…

-Plenty of other golems exist. Does it have to be flesh golems? Couldn’t summoning magic serve instead?

-…Could I ask your name, Inspector?

Koholti comforted the sighing Direte.

“Don’t worry too much. Nothing else makes as strong an impression on the juniors.”

“We better.”

“Except for Wardanaz.”

“……”

When Direte glared, Koholti hastily made excuses.

“N-no, it’s just… I mean, after you fight the Ice Giant King, an undead wave won’t impress you…! Isn’t he the skeleton principal’s favorite?”

This wasn’t the senpai’s fault.

After witnessing every evil magical secret directly from the skeleton principal, how could you give a stronger impact than that?

“And he’ll keep attending even if he isn’t impressed. He takes all the classes from every school. He’ll keep taking black magic too.”

“I wonder. Will he really?”

Ogoldos said, considering carefully.

“No matter how outstanding the magician, there are limits to anyone’s abilities. From what he told me last time, he seemed on the verge. It wouldn’t be strange if he gave up black magic…”

“You bastard, that’s unlucky talk… Well, you should’ve done better! What was a senpai doing getting carried out by a junior you were trapped with??”

When Koholti scolded him, Ogoldos also got upset.

“Why is that coming up now…”

“Hey. Enough. Quiet now.”

Direte silenced everyone with an irritated face.

But he couldn’t hide his own anxiety.

There wasn’t any junior that wasn’t precious, but losing Wardanaz in particular would sting several times worse.

“…By any chance, when you were stuck together, did you find out what food Wardanaz likes?”

“……”

“……”

“You idiots.”

• * *

When the classroom door opened, the other side was a pitch-black subspace.

Normally, he would have been surprised, but since it was midterm period, Lee Han responded calmly.

‘Mm. Looks like a test.’

The shadowy plains shimmered with wicked, yin energy. It appeared a grand black magic spell was being prepared.

And from afar, he started to see a white wave. Gainando, who had been yawning and rubbing his eyes, opened his eyes wide and rubbed them again.

“Th-th-th-that…!”

“……”

It wasn’t a white wave, but an army of undead.

First-years were shocked to see a host of undead suddenly charging at them.

“Let’s use Raphadael as bait!”

“You bastard!”

Raphadael, who became the bait out of nowhere, protested.

Seeing the horde of undead flooding forward with nowhere to run, Lee Han’s mind started racing.

How could they possibly face that?

‘Think. There must be a way.’

“Uh… is this just a demonstration, not an actual test?”

Imirg carefully voiced his opinion.

Honestly, it was too high-level to be a test.

“It’s a test.”

“Stop deluding yourself!”

But both Gainando and Raphadael replied negatively.

At Einrogard, it did seem possible.

Meanwhile, Lee Han sprang into action.

“I summon you from the abyss…”

“You’re summoning that sulky spirit?!”

As Lee Han chanted, Gainando asked with a suddenly bright face.

Lee Han shook his head. Even if he summoned Perkuntra now, it was unlikely to have much effect.

With this many enemies, Perkuntra’s firepower was overkill in the wrong way.

“O magician of the ancient palace, servant of the king, the one who stabbed the tyrant, I, the one bearing the blood pact with you, summon you in my right!”

The undead magician who had resisted the Ghoul King together during the last break slowly appeared.

-If this wasn’t emergency, I’d scold you, but you really are in dire straits!

“It’s an exam… no, please help us!”

Lee Han decided explanations could wait, and shouted in haste.