Episode 533

After the lecture ended and everyone was taking time off, looking forward to the upcoming weekend, Lee Han couldn’t rest.

There was simply too much to do.

He already had to write Professor Voladi’s assignments, -On Wardanaz’s Water-Jade Shot and Its Basic Principles- and -On the Limitations and Future Directions of Water-Jade Shot Magic-, and now with Professor Alpen’s outside assignment added, of course he couldn’t rest.

Normally he’d have said, “I’ll leave what’s left for the weekend,” and put it off, but this time he couldn’t.

Even if he spent all weekend, it wasn’t enough to go out to the skull principal’s villa with his friends.

“Wardanaz. Wouldn’t you like to honor Agltakwa with a fishing trip on the lake?”

“Sorry, Priest Sharuqal. I’ve got books I need to write.”

The shark beastkin priest walked off with a fishing rod, disappointed.

“Wardanaz. Wouldn’t you like to honor -Flémeng- by gathering mushrooms? I found a cluster of honeybun mushrooms. We should hurry before someone else finds it… Of course, if someone else does, that’s also part of -Flémeng-‘s plan!”

“Sorry, Priest Siana. I have a report to write.”

Priest Siana left, disappointed as well, carrying a basket.

“Wardanaz.”

“Sorry, Priest Tijilling. I have to deal with a professor… Oh, wait. What am I saying. I have an urgent problem to solve.”

Lee Han quickly came to his senses and covered up his desk scribbles with papers. There was no benefit to showing Tijilling things like “101 Ways to Bury Your Professor Alive.”

“I’m positive you just…”

“You must have seen that wrong. Anyway, I’m too busy to go out right now.”

“I wasn’t trying to invite you out anyway…”

Priest Tijilling tilted his head and offered a snack—a sweetly baked cornbread and a tin cup of warm cocoa.

“Did the other priests perhaps ask you to come out? Surely not…”

“They did.”

“…There must have been a reason. If there’s a reason, that’s possible.”

The demon-blooded priest elegantly redirected the conversation. Lee Han was a little impressed.

“Really, thank you. Hmm. This is the cornbread I baked this morning, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes. There was a lot, so I baked it again.”

“Wait. This cocoa—isn’t this the one I gave to everyone the other day when you were all tired?”

“I didn’t really need to drink something sweet, so I just made it now…?”

‘Gainando would freak out if he heard this.’

To think someone believes people don’t need something sweet.

It was the exact opposite of Gainando’s philosophy.

“If you eat first, I’ll join you. Actually, I have my own food stocked up too. There aren’t many people with as much in their larder as me.”

Lee Han scolded Priest Tijilling, a bit exasperated.

Frugality is good, but it’s wrong to just cobble together a meal like that.

Priest Tijilling pursed their lips, unable to argue, then spotted something and asked,

“That tart box—did you take it out to eat now?”

“Hm? No, that’s to sell. Why stuff yourself with expensive things like that when there’s plenty of other food?”

“Then what about the roll cake? Did you take it out to eat now?”

“That’s for Gainando. I promised if he finished all his homework this week, I’d give it to him.”

“…So the only thing here to eat is this bread?”

Priest Tijilling pointed at the rock-hard Einrogard standard-issue rations.

Lee Han was a little flustered.

“No, I stuff it with cheese, meat, lettuce—make it into a sandwich.”

“Really? …Wait. I don’t see any of that here.”

“…Usually I do. But I’m busy today…”

“……”

Tijilling looked at him with ‘and yet you scold me?’ in their eyes.

Lee Han gave up and spoke.

“Let’s eat something together. Could you bring the other priests? Since we’re setting the table anyway, we might as well do it together.”

“Wardanaz, sometimes you’re just like our temple’s bishop.”

“Oh? Is your bishop rich by chance?”

“No, he practices poverty.”

Lee Han was disappointed.

‘Wait—then what’s the similarity?’

• * *

Lee Han had a simple meal with the priests in the dormitory lounge.

“These sandwiches are a bit cold.”

“This is good enough, isn’t it?”

“Hmm. Hold on. What ingredients do we have left today…”

Lee Han threw rice, chicken, onions, garlic, and more into a pot with oil and made pilaf with the priests in the lounge.

Priest Tijilling stared, perhaps reminded of the cold, stiff bread Lee Han was about to eat earlier, but Lee Han pretended not to notice.

‘Sometimes people skip a meal if they’re busy, right?’

Knock, knock, knock—

“!”

At the sound of someone knocking, Lee Han immediately grabbed his staff and prepared for battle.

If Professor Voladi had seen it, he’d have been moved to tears.

“…Uh, it was just someone knocking, though.”

“Right, and that’s how every attack starts. Who is it? Answer and then step back five meters at once.”

-I came to deliver a gift from the master.

“Ten meters back!”

At the voice of the Death Knight, Lee Han’s voice became even sharper and fiercer.

The priests sensed the seriousness as well, putting down their bowls and grabbing their staffs immediately.

“Priest Nigisor. That’s a spoon, not a staff.”

“Oh—sorry. It was just so tasty…”

Priest Nigisor sheepishly picked his staff up again.

Meanwhile, the door slowly opened. The Death Knight, having moved back as Lee Han ordered, spoke calmly.

-I understand your concerns, students, but truly, there are no traps today.

“Oh, sure there aren’t.”

Not just Lee Han, but the priests snorted.

The Death Knight was lightly wounded by this reaction.

Sure, he understood that the boy from the Wardanaz family, being the master’s heir, would have a twisted personality, but the priests too!

-If you don’t believe me, please check.

“I was planning to anyway.”

Lee Han sent Sharkan and Gonadaltes to scout the area.

Then he created water orbs and fired them near the Death Knight, as well as casting various attack spells.

The Death Knight, unable to show facial expressions, expressed depressed emotions through his eyes as he brushed off the ice shards from his bones.

-Have you finished checking?

“I’m not completely done, but for now, I get it. So, what brings you here?”

-I told you… I’m delivering a gift.

The Death Knight shook the large wooden chest in his hands.

-A gift from the master.

“Oh.”

The moment Lee Han saw the chest, a flash of insight struck.

‘What a devious guy.’

This was the very trap Professor Garcia had mentioned.

One of the many traps the skull principal used to torment students before finals.

Namely, the snack box with an undead knight hiding inside.

“Thank you.”

-May I give it to you, then?

“Yes. Of course.”

When Lee Han agreed, the Death Knight approached slowly.

As soon as the Death Knight stopped in front of him, Lee Han acted fast.

He drew Morningstar and sliced the chest in half.

Slash!

-…?!!!

“Ha! Did you think I’d fall for that?!”

From the precisely split chest spilled the contents.

Not a malicious undead knight waiting on the principal’s orders, but clothing.

“???”

-???

Looking at the bisected outerwear, Lee Han realized why the skull principal had given such a gift.

This weekend, the skull principal was supposed to go out with the empire’s bard, Ifadur, and Lee Han.

He couldn’t let his apprentice get dressed sloppily while taking a celebrity from the empire out.

The cloaks and overcoats students wore at Einrogard were little better than rags, after all…

“…To think he’d make me wear such clothes. Please tell him I absolutely refuse!”

-U-understood.

The Death Knight left, oddly impressed.

He really was the master’s heir—unbending, even before so fearsome a master.

• * *

What an astute one. He sure knows quality clothes.

Saturday morning.

Having transformed into a human, the skull principal griped in the carriage.

Lee Han reflected quietly.

‘Master Ifadur… Please hurry.’

It seemed the Skull Principal would keep grumbling until the bard arrived.

“It’s because I’m from a high noble family—I can’t wear ill-suited clothes.”

Didn’t you dress just fine in Einrogard?

“There were… unavoidable circumstances.”

You didn’t exactly dress up during the holidays either…

“I couldn’t dress lavishly when living with friends.”

That sounds like a lie. You just wanted to be difficult, didn’t you?

The skull principal still felt upset about having bought clothes more expensive than planned.

Even though he was going out with Ifadur, he couldn’t scold his disciple for begging for expensive clothes.

He even suspected Lee Han might have exploited the situation, extracting expensive clothes despite not even liking such things.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Ifadur was approaching from afar. The skull principal got the door himself and spoke with his real voice for the first time in a while.

“No, Sir. We’re just early. Don’t worry. Now, where should we go?”

“If it’s alright, I’d appreciate it if we went to Pillone Village… I’d like to meet anyone in the area known for music.”

The old turtle beastkin replied slowly but firmly.

The skull principal gestured reassuringly. The carriage door shut and they rumbled off at speed.

The principal’s carriage was so spacious, even several dozen new tower students could fit inside. Ifadur was impressed.

“May I look around?”

“As you wish. Feel free. Show him around.”

While the Death Knight gave Ifadur a tour, Lee Han and the skull principal sat quietly, gazing out the window.

“How’s your progress on music magic?”

Lee Han broke the silence, since it was the junior’s job to keep the mood lively on such occasions.

The skull principal ignored him, looking out the window.

“Principal? About music magic…”

“Hey! Look outside. Butterflies at this time of year! The cycle of life is so beautiful, isn’t it?”

“…Are you trying to avoid talking about music magic?”

The skull principal sighed irritably at Lee Han’s question.

“Yes. I don’t want to talk about it. This is why primeval magic… can you call it magic, when it yields different results every time you measure it? When everything changes from one to ten based on your mood?”

“But divine magic is still magic, isn’t it?”

Magic that factored in unstable elements like emotion already existed.

Divine magic was precisely of that type.

Depending on the faith and condition of the priests, its effects varied greatly.

The skull principal strongly agreed.

“Exactly. That’s why divine magic isn’t magic. You do know something! I’m proud of you!”

“…I’m not saying divine magic isn’t magic…”

Lee Han was at a loss for words at the skull principal’s comical misinterpretation.

“I can see the future clearly. Some good singers will probably be able to use something like magic. But if you try to record that and teach it to students, it’ll be useless. Primeval magic matters to those who can use it, but from an academic standpoint, it’s a failure. No wonder it keeps dying out…”

As the principal grumbled on, Lee Han organized his tasks in his head and looked outside.

“?”

Far away, his friends were hurriedly waving goodbye.

‘Are they seeing us off?’

While wondering why their sendoff was so desperate, Lee Han realized belatedly.

“…Ah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Come to think of it, they were supposed to raid the Skull Principal’s villa together this weekend.

‘…Guess we’ll have to go next week…’