Episode 47

Episode 047
Only then did Uregeoreum recall the story he had heard from Professor Garcia last time.
-Student Lee Han has a lot of mana.
-Is it to the extent that you would say so? How much exactly?
-Try drawing a big circle with both arms.
-Wow. That’s quite impressive.
-That much removed?
-……
He had heard that he had a crazy amount of mana, but he didn’t expect it to be to this extent.
If he couldn’t even feel recovery after drinking a mana potion, there was nothing more to be said.
“I’m sorry, professor.”
“…No. It’s fine. Anyway, well done. I’ll praise you. Hey! Here is a student who has made a perfect potion.”
“Wardanaz…!”
“As expected of the Wardanaz family?”
The other students weren’t so much surprised at Lee Han as their reactions were along the lines of, ‘If it’s Wardanaz, of course,’ or ‘If he’s that much of a genius, it’s not all that surprising.’
Lee Han was slightly taken aback by those murmured reactions.
‘What’s this. Why is there such hype?’
Lee Han was being very objective about himself.
He himself was not a genius. He had just spent a long time rolling around in a laboratory, so he was more experienc… No, just more used to student life than most.
But being treated like a genius was a little bit confusing.
When did it become like this?
“Of course, Wardanaz. Genius indeed.”
Asan, who was transferring the slightly murky blue potion into a flask, admired him.
Asan’s potion was quite decent as well, but compared to Lee Han’s, its quality was clearly lacking.
“Over there, even Siana from the Tower of the Phoenix made an excellent potion, but she’s not as good as you. Look over there.”
“!”
Lee Han turned his gaze.
A snake beastkin student in priest’s robes was holding a fairly clear blue potion.
‘Flemang Order?’
Lee Han recognized it quickly thanks to an explanation he had heard from Yonel before.
The Order of Flemang, which worshipped alchemy.
Naturally, the priests of the order were all outstanding alchemists.
So it was only natural that a student named Siana had made an excellent potion.
Ssh-
Siana walked over to Lee Han and Asan and extended her hand.
“You’re from the Wardanaz family, right? Nice to meet you. I’m Siana.”
“Nice to meet you. You can speak comfortably. I’m Lee Han.”
Lee Han took the other’s hand for a handshake. Perhaps because she was a snake beastkin, her hand was cold and chilly.
“I didn’t expect to meet such an outstanding alchemist. Did you learn it in the Wardanaz family?”
“Hey. Enough talk.”
Professor Uregeoreum interrupted. At some point, the professor had returned to the front of the classroom.
“Today everyone must have made a . Some of you made it well even though it was your first time, and some of you struggled. But don’t get too happy or too sad about these results. This is only the beginning of alchemy. In the future, a complex and mysterious world of alchemy awaits you all.”
‘Indeed, professors are all experts at destroying student motivation.’
“I will assign homework for next week. Make a . Since I’ll test the ones you bring in person, you’d better pay attention.”
The students diligently jotted down notes with their quills.
Fortunately, Professor Uregeoreum explained how to make the .
He didn’t say something like, ‘You freshmen must research the method on your own’ or anything like that.
“Professor. There’s no Evolution Grass here… Where is it? Is it upstairs?”
Students who couldn’t find the ingredients on the shelves or in the drawers asked in confusion.
Uregeoreum also asked back with the same confusion.
“What are you talking about? You have to go find it.”
“Oh, is that so? We’ll go look for it.”
At Uregeoreum’s words, the students stood up to look around.
“No, no. Not here.”
“??”
“Over there.”
Uregeoreum pointed outside the window.
The thick mountain range behind the main building greeted the students.
“……”
“……”
“You have to go and find it. I trust you all remember what I said during the first lecture.”
The students’ faces twisted with despair and anger.

• * *
  It wasn’t just Uregeoreum who was starting to show his true colors.
  Professors at the magic school all seemed to compete over who could assign the most homework, giving out a crazy amount in every lecture.
  -Take these books and read them, and find at least five logical flaws in them.
  -Professor, there aren’t enough books. We’ll need more if students want to split them up.
  -What are you talking about? That’s one person’s share. Lift up all the books. New books will appear underneath.
  -……
  With a workload clearly over ten books, the students were appalled.
  -Professor, it’s too much to carry all these…
  -No worries. I put a lightening spell on them for you. Hurry up and take the books.
  The course, which seriously brought some students from the White Tiger Tower close to tears.
  -These are the magic circle design blueprints I submitted to the Empire when I was young. Review them and calculate how much the total cost must have been. You don’t have to get the exact answer. But those with the answers furthest from the correct amount will be punished.
  Even Asan, from a family of imperial chancellors, despaired and messed up his hair at the class.
  You must love and harmonize with one another. What? You don’t want to? Your intentions do not matter. You must love and harmonize with one another. Thus, I will assign you a task. Each tower’s students should bring the flag hanging in the newcomer lounge of another tower I designate for next class. The flags have crests on them.
  To the point where you had to wonder if it was character education or just encouragement to fight— as well.
  With every class that finished, the students’ faces became more and more gaunt.
  “How are we supposed to get the White Tiger Tower guys’ flag?”
  “Why did it have to be the White Tiger Tower? Those guys are impossible to talk to.”
  On top of that, the Blue Dragon Tower students found their target was the White Tiger Tower.
  If it had been the Black Tortoise Tower or the Phoenix Tower, they could have borrowed the flag through negotiation and conversation.
  But considering the bad blood with the White Tiger Tower, asking to borrow it would just result in scoffs.
  “The White Tiger Tower guys are after our flag too. Should we suggest a trade?”
  “How can you trust those guys? Didn’t you see them cheat? They’re barbarians with not an ounce of honor.”
  “I asked earlier and they absolutely refused.”
  “Hey, forget it. Give up. It’s a waste of time.”
  The Blue Dragon Tower students lamented and muttered among themselves.
  If assignments were doable, they’d at least feel motivated, but when there were no answers like this, you just wanted to give up.
  Why did it have to be the White Tiger Tower!
  ‘This isn’t good.’
  Lee Han was startled by the mood of his friends.
  No one who easily gave up a class credit could amount to much.
  Especially at this magic school—this place was like a den of chaos where you never knew which insane class would give which insane credits.
  It was far too early to give up already.
  He might not care about his own grade, but Lee Han’s would get docked as well if grouped together.
  “Hold on! Don’t give up, everyone.”
  “!”
  “Wardanaz!”
  “You’ve got a plan?”
  “Of course. I knew you’d have a way.”
  It took about three seconds for the students’ reactions to go from surprise -> curiosity -> certainty -> trust.
  Lee Han was dumbfounded at the naivety of these easily-swayed friends.
  “What are you thinking, Wardanaz?”
  “Wait. I think I know.”
  Asan stepped in confidently with a smile.
  “What is it, Dalkade?”
  “You’re thinking of sneaking into the White Tiger Tower. Ninety-five percent that’s it.”
  “Oooh…!”
  “Indeed! I’m in too!”
  “Me too! Let’s get back at the White Tiger Tower bastards!”
  “What’s up? What’s happening?”
  “Instead of begging the White Tiger Tower, Wardanaz says we should just sneak in and get the flag.”
  “I really like that!”
  In an instant, the Blue Dragon Tower students put together a plan and called out to Lee Han.
  “Wardanaz! You have to lead us.”
  “There’s no one to lead us but you, who set this plan up from the start!”
  “……”
  Lee Han tried to say something but gave up. By now it was all too much trouble.
  ‘Well, I’ll have to break into the White Tiger Tower anyway.’
  Even if he was a White Tiger Tower student, Lee Han still wouldn’t hand over his own flag.
  Because of Lee Han, they all had to go to collective punishment…
  From the start, force was really the only solution.
  “All right.”
  “Wardanaz! Wardanaz!”
  “White Tiger Tower bastards, just wait! Here we come!”
  ‘Is this really helpful for character education?’
  Lee Han wondered if the headmaster’s lesson truly helped form good character.
  The more he thought about it, the more it seemed it just deepened the emotional rifts between students.
• * *
  Evening came at last.
  Lee Han called Tijilling and fed her dinner by using an evil trick like before.
  As she sipped her soup, Tijilling noticed Lee Han’s gaze filled with a sense of accomplishment and was puzzled.
  “Is something wrong?”
  “Heh heh. No, nothing at all.”
  Tijilling wondered if perhaps the boy in front of her was so delighted simply because he’d managed to use sly words to make her eat dinner.
  ‘Must be my imagination.’
  He was a boy from the honored Wardanaz family.
  Surely, coming to feed her dinner like this was due to a sense of honor, keeping his promise as a noble and on behalf of the priest.
  There’s no way someone like that would smile wickedly over such a trivial matter.
  “Meeting you here, Wardanaz. I was looking for you.”
  “!”
  Siana from the Flemang Order, whom he’d met in alchemy class, greeted Lee Han.
  Not only Siana but also students from other towers had gathered together.
  “What’s going on?”
  “As you know, because of the alchemy assignment, all of us need to make a . There’s a limit to what we can do alone. So how about we all gather materials together?”
  “That’s a good idea.”
  Lee Han brightened.
  He had actually considered the idea of going together as a group like that.
  …It was just that the other tower students were afraid of Lee Han.
  ‘Damn. Are they listening to her because of the priest’s robe? I have a priest robe too.’
  “Then could you gather the Blue Dragon Tower students? Let’s all collect the ingredients together.”
  “Sure. Let’s do that.”
  After finishing the conversation, Lee Han saw Siana off.
  As the students who had been standing next to Siana withdrew, they murmured things like, ‘We’re saved,’ ‘Did you see his eyes? My heart nearly stopped,’ ‘But he’s actually kinder than I thought.’
  Lee Han felt unjustly accused even though he understood why.
  Returning to his seat, Tijilling tilted her head.
  “What is it?”
  “Um… it’s about Siana, the priest from the Flemang Order.”
  “Yes. We’re in alchemy class together.”
  “…Nothing. Never mind.”
  Tijilling started to speak and then shut her lips tightly.
  There are two ways to make someone frustrated: one is to start saying something and then not finish…
  ‘She’s making me curious on purpose.’
  Of course, Lee Han knew well how fussy the priests could be.
  Probably, she didn’t want to talk about someone who wasn’t present, because it could come off as gossipy.
  But Lee Han didn’t care about that at all.
  ‘Whatever. I’m curious.’
  Rather than confronting directly, Lee Han decided to persuade her another way.
  He took out a prayer cross from the Prisinga Order and placed it on the rock in front of him.
  “?”
  Tijilling tilted her head in confusion.
  “It’s bad to speak ill of someone who isn’t present, but when praying alone before God, it’s okay to confess anything.”
  “…Are you seriously trying to get around it like that right now?”
  “I think I’m hearing something, but I don’t really hear it. I’m in the middle of prayer.”
  “……”
  “Last time, I nearly died when the White Tiger Tower students ambushed me, but if Siana, the priest who’s coming into the mountains with us this time, is planning such a scheme, I might really die this time. But surely God will protect me.”
  “……”
  Tijilling sighed and got up.
  Then she knelt beside Lee Han, bowed her head toward the cross as if to pray.
  “Dear Prisinga. I say this not to slander or accuse anyone.”
  “Thank you.”
  “I think I’m hearing something, but I can’t hear you. I’m in prayer.”
  “……”
  Tijilling had a surprisingly petty side as well.