Episode 51

by Cristae

Episode 051

“Cough. That student, come to my workshop during the break.”
“????”
Professor Mortum, coughing, addressed Gainando.
Gainando wore an expression as if he’d just been slapped.
Why?
What did I do wrong??
Could it be he has a grudge against the imperial royal family???
“And that student as well.”
Professor Mortum also pointed at Lee Han.
Lee Han was not as shocked as Gainando.
After all, he had seriously considered black magic as an option for elective credits.
But to the Blue Dragon Tower students, it was taken differently.
“Gainando, you bastard! Because of you, Wardanaz got dragged in too!”
“Can’t you just get in trouble by yourself?!”
“Hurry up and tell them you’ll go alone!”
They misunderstood, thinking that because of his closeness to Gainando, Lee Han was being forced to go too.
The students were angry.
There were already things Lee Han had to take responsibility for—why drag him along like this?
“Y-you bastards… You’ll never go by yourselves! You’re coming together!”
Gainando, upset at his friends’ blame, snapped.
“Take it back!”
“No!”
“I mean it, take it back!”
“Everyone. Professor Mortum is already gone.”
Professor Garcia looked at the Blue Dragon Tower students with exasperation.

* *
A wizard’s workshop was, simply put, a type of laboratory.
It’s where a wizard’s apprentices explore topics of interest to the wizard, voluntarily conducting all sorts of experiments and research twenty-five hours a day.
Of course, put like that, it sounded like a soul-crushing hell, and in reality, that was pretty accurate.
Depending on whose workshop it was, things could vary wildly, but fundamentally, life for an apprentice under any wizard was tough.
Lee Han had heard many stories about apprentices in family-run workshops.
-Once upon a time, there was an apprentice learning under a wizard. This apprentice would wake up, polish his staff, prepare alchemical reagents for experiments according to secret recipes, adjust the amount of mana for summoning circles, then go outside to collect the necessary materials before lunch. He was smart, so he solved lunch on the go, saving time for the next task. So, after that…
-Does this story end with the apprentice killing the wizard and taking over the workshop?
-Young master, what sort of absurd joke is that? The apprentice studies hard and becomes a great wizard!
-……
In any world, there was no paradise for the one learning.
But fortunately, there was nothing to worry about for now.
Lee Han was just a first year!
Since he hadn’t yet decided under which professor to study, there was no reason to be afraid of anyone yet.
If the professor seemed crazy, he could just quietly walk away.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh…”
“…Are you really crying?”
Lee Han was taken aback.
Gainando’s eyes really were red.
“What did I do wrong…? Being called to a place so eerie and out-of-the-way…”
“There’s no guarantee we’re being called as punishment, is there?”
“What else could it be?! See? He’s all twisted up from years of black magic and is calling us out just to torment us!”
The two of them were heading to the location Professor Mortum had indicated.
And to Lee Han, the location of Professor Mortum’s workshop was a little suspicious.
‘It’s way too creepy.’
The path was getting lonelier and more desolate, the wind howled, the forest beside the road sounded like it had ghosts…
He even saw a few graves.
Of course, it was understandable.
Black magic required yin attribute mana, you’d need corpses to study the undead…
If you met all those requirements, it was bound to turn out like this.
‘But if they complain about freshmen not coming here, that’d be just shameless…’
In the distance, they could see Professor Mortum’s workshop, nicknamed the .
On the outside, it looked like a normal four-story tower, but with wizard buildings, appearances were never a good indicator.
There were already some hints near the tower.
Broken skulls and bones lying around.
Roughly carved tombstones stuck upright.
A box labeled “EXTREME CAUTION!!! Will kill you if opened!!” containing bottles of deadly poison.
You could pretty much guess what kind of experiments and studies were happening here.
Seeing all this, Gainando’s face had already become as pale as an undead.
“Are you here?”
Creak—
When they knocked, the door opened on its own. Lee Han and Gainando entered.
Gainando tried to grab Lee Han’s collar, trembling. Lee Han brushed him off with annoyance. Gainando looked utterly betrayed.
“Cough, cough… You’re here.”
Inside the workshop, it was so full of black and blue smoke that they couldn’t see a thing ahead. Professor Mortum’s voice sounded from inside the smoke.
“Diret. Show the freshmen in.”
“Are you sane, professor? The principal said upperclassmen shouldn’t interact with first years.”
“Ah. That’s right. Cough. What a bother… Can’t you secretly ignore it?”
“I just got out of the punishment cell! You want me to go back already?”
“It’s a disciplinary cell… cough. All right, stay inside.”
Professor Mortum waved his staff, sweeping all the smoke outside.
Now the inside came into view.
It was in better shape than expected.
Perhaps he’d tidied up just to entice first-years like this…
Tables and chairs, and bookshelves.
It felt like a library.
‘…Wait. They’re all bones?’
It hit Lee Han a bit late, and he was genuinely shocked.
All the furniture was made of bone.
For a black mage skilled at bone summons, making furniture out of them was a cost-effective choice.
Just… a bit grotesque.
Gainando, unaware, sat on a chair, glancing around nervously.
Professor Mortum did his best to look kind as he spoke.
“Cough. I assume you already know why I called you?”
“I haven’t done anything wrong, Professor!”
“I called you both because I thought you were particularly talented in black magic. Wait, what did you just say?”
“Nothing.”
Gainando fell silent.
It was different from what he’d expected.
‘He said I’m talented in black magic?’
“Lee Han, did you hear that? He says I’m talented in black magic.”
“I have ears. I was right next to you.”
“Ah… What do I do? I’m not interested in black magic. But if I’m talented… What do I do?”
“……”
Lee Han could only marvel at Gainando’s fickle nature.
How could someone be this easily swayed?
Professor Mortum rubbed his palms together and produced some candies. They had skull wrappers.
“Snack while you listen. Since you both have a talent for black magic, I thought it would be best if you heard directly about how good black magic is. There’s a lot of misunderstanding about black magic, but those are truly misunderstandings. Cough. Cough. Black magic is the most beautiful and profound branch of magic.”
“……”
Gainando looked half-dazed, but Lee Han felt slightly sorry as he listened.
He’d heard the same thing before.
Professors in popular fields were arrogant and aloof.
-You want to study under me? I’ll consider it after seeing your talent.
But for every popular field, there’s an unpopular one.
Professors in unpopular fields were truly pitiable.
-The good thing about our department is… there’s nowhere lower to fall.
-……
-Don’t you think it’s nice that the only direction is up from here?
-……
Professor Mortum’s words were full of the pathos unique to professors in unpopular fields.
He was even offering candy, trying and failing to tempt students…
“…That’s why black magic is the magic among magics, the king of magic. Do you understand?”
“I’m interested in black magic!!”
“I had no idea black magic was so great.”
With those answers from Gainando and Lee Han, Professor Mortum’s face bloomed with a bright smile.
* *
“Should I really study black magic? I had no idea I was that talented. But black magic’s image is so bad. Then again, if I’m really needed, I guess… But still…”
Ignoring Gainando’s cheerful humming next to him, Lee Han looked over the present from Professor Mortum.
To the two students who gave a positive answer, he had presented a carefully wrapped gift.
…It was a mysterious bone.
-What is this?
-Just keep it in your room. It’ll remind you of black magic.
-No, but… what is it?
-Hehe. Cough cough.
With a shy expression, Professor Mortum rubbed his nose below the bridge.
As if he couldn’t bear the thought of robbing a student of the pleasure of figuring out the secret for themselves.
But to Lee Han, it was a rather creepy gift.
Just what kind of bone was this?
‘Is there magic in it?’
His first guess was that it was a simple, enchanted artifact.
After all, hadn’t he already been burned by a book the headmaster gave him in punishment?
Maybe among the professors here, slipping students artifacts without explanation was the latest thing.
Like giving a sweet treat to your lover on a holiday…
‘That’s really a horrific analogy, even if I thought of it myself.’
Lee Han figured he’d research the bone later when he got back.
“Lee Han. Lee Han.”
“?”
“If I start studying black magic, you have to promise not to tell Meikin, okay?”
Lee Han understood at once what Gainando meant.
After all, he’d teased Gainando for learning alchemy from Yonel.
Imagine how much he’d get teased if he studied black magic himself.
Lee Han replied with a smile,
“Of course.”
‘I’ll tell her right away.’
* *
Elven swordsman Professor Ingeldel taught basic swordsmanship and basic physical training.
And those classes were primarily attended by White Tiger Tower students.
For Lee Han, a Blue Dragon Tower student, it made him stand out very, very much.
But this time, the atmosphere was different from the last swordsmanship class.
Last time, everyone had been itching for a reason to pick a fight; this time, nobody wanted to make eye contact with Lee Han.
If you got involved, you’d get wrecked!
‘How convenient.’
Lee Han was glad he’d caused a fuss last time.
After all, sometimes you had to act up a bit to make your life easier.
Of course, that didn’t mean the class itself got any easier.
“Everyone, keep running without stopping! Don’t stop! Using all your muscles is important, but don’t forget to feel your mana with your breath. If you keep circulating your mana within your body, you’ll be able to use your muscles much more efficiently.”
Mages used mana for magic, but swordsmen used it for their bodies.
Mana that kept flowing through the body like a river prevented fatigue from accumulating and provided protection from external poisons.
…Of course, just saying that didn’t mean young freshmen could actually do it.
All of them, mana or no, were just gasping as they ran.
“Professor, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
Professor Ingeldel welcomed Lee Han’s approach.
What could he want to ask?
“I’m planning to go into the mountain range to collect ingredients. Do you have any advice…?”
“Hm. I’d advise against it.”
“……”
“Really, you should give up.”
At Professor Ingeldel’s earnest advice, Lee Han grew uneasy.