Episode 536

‘Is he picking a fight because he’s in a foul mood?’

Unable to understand the skeleton principal’s words, Lee Han thought as much.

Well, to be fair, the skeleton principal was a person whose bad moods outweighed his good ones. Having to spend his golden weekend with a bothersome bard and a bothersome student, how could he not be irritable?

“Well, let’s head to the next location.”

“Yes.”

Finishing his notes, Ifadur started walking to the next spot.

Next up were the stonemason guild members repairing the city wall that had been damaged by a wild wyvern attack.

-The ten-fingered dwarf swings his hammer, becomes a nine-fingered dwarf, the nine-fingered dwarf swings his hammer, becomes an eight-fingered dwarf…

-Excellent, excellent!

-This is a miracle!

Then it was the -Trvaladla- tavern, famed for serving the best beer in town.

-One day a lost monster attacked the town, and I took it down. People offered rewards, but I only wanted beer! When bigger monsters burned the territory, I took them down. People praised me, but I only wanted beer!

-Boo! Get outta here!

-You call that a song?!

Next was a gambling house hosting a big mage card game…

-Each card, I bet my life on…

-Could you please keep it down?

-Thanks to you, I keep getting rubbish cards!

And then there was a small club of local historians.

-We know that inside books, there are secrets…

-A sudden inspiration just struck me.

-This song is miraculous!

After this tour, Lee Han sat down at a café for a brief rest and spoke as if he didn’t understand.

“Primitive magic really is fickle. I can’t see any rules in it.”

He’d received high praise at the stonemason guild or historian club, but jeers at the tavern or card hall.

He couldn’t figure out the difference.

“……”

“……”

Ifadur and the skeleton principal exchanged glances.

Unlike Lee Han, the two of them seemed to get it.

The turtle bard cleared his throat and spoke to Lee Han.

“Wardanaz student. Do you perhaps not like having fun?”

“Excuse me???”

Lee Han was taken aback.

Saying he didn’t like fun was as insulting as saying “You actually don’t like money, do you?”

“What did I do to deserve such an insulting statement?”

“N-no…”

The elderly bard was flustered at the normally exemplary student’s first show of real emotion.

The skeleton principal answered on Ifadur’s behalf.

“You don’t really like fun.”

“No!”

“You don’t. You’re a former -Formal School- student.”

“No, that’s…!”

He wanted to argue that some of this was the principal’s fault, but the principal didn’t give him the chance.

“I didn’t expect it to be so clear, but the trend really stands out. Rather than uncertain, it’s almost systematic at this point.”

“That’s true.”

Ifadur ran a wrinkled finger down his notes, agreeing.

Primal magic was usually too obscure to make sense of, but for a boy like Wardanaz, it was almost easy.

Songs that matched his own way of life, he could sing well; not so with the others—his true emotions just couldn’t come through.

Normally, even matching songs would have a low success rate, but the Wardanaz boy’s unique ability let him succeed at all of them and so help reveal this truth.

“Thank you very much, Wardanaz student.”

“Perhaps there’s a flaw in the theory?”

Lee Han tried to pick a hole, but the two simply ignored him.

Ifadur was too busy reviewing the scores he’d recorded today.

“Hm. This melody… it appears repeatedly…”

“Wouldn’t it be better to establish a standard for the scores first and then reorganize everything to a common framework?”

Seeing Ifadur’s scribble-like scores, Lee Han carefully suggested.

With pieces written by all sorts of people, the notes and rhythms were recorded differently or even omitted in places.

If it was just Ifadur singing them all solo, it wouldn’t matter, but for systematizing music magic, uniform standards were required.

“Ah… That’s completely right.”

The elderly bard was impressed by Lee Han’s point.

As an Einrogard student, he noticed things Ifadur hadn’t.

Ifadur drew up a simple framework and notation system, then handed Lee Han half a stack of notes.

“Would you organize these for me?”

“……”

Digging his own grave, Lee Han began organizing the notes with a gloomy face.

The skeleton principal, watching from the side, clicked his tongue.

This wasn’t just about disliking fun—he was nearly disgusted by it.

• * *

Once everything was in order, Ifadur found a few overlapping phrases and harmonies and was satisfied.

Even if eighty percent of music magic was the caster’s emotion, whenever something like this came up there were always new rules to discover.

Such rules would serve as excellent guides when creating and experimenting with new music magic in the future.

“But the more important problem is the casting. The casting.”

“That is absolutely right.”

Ifadur agreed.

Music magic’s biggest weakness was that it was so weak, casting it was difficult.

“Might you have any advice, Lord Gonadaltes? With your wisdom…”

“There are ways.”

The skeleton principal, for all his grumbling about music magic, didn’t ignore the request.

“Whether you increase the mana density around you or imbue mana into words, both are difficult to put into practice directly. That means mages trying this magic will have to use both methods together to get results.”

“Both together… I hadn’t thought of that!”

When Ifadur showed his admiration, the skeleton principal puffed up a bit.

“Yes. Start with group singing. Alone, it’s hard, but as a group, you can raise the surrounding mana somewhat. The same goes for imbuing mana into the words. If you look at examples, there have been cases where non-mages, caught up in emotion, inadvertently squeezed out their own mana. It’s rougher than directly embedding it in speech, but it’s a starting point.”

Ifadur diligently wrote down the principal’s every golden word.

“Do the students already know how to raise mana density together?”

“Unlikely. It’s rare, and they wouldn’t have had occasion to try. Keep making Wardanaz demonstrate it and have the others try to follow. They’ll stumble a bit, but it can’t be helped.”

“?”

Lee Han, who’d been resting, was startled when this unexpected ‘arrow’ flew his way.

“And squeezing mana out…”

“Same deal. There aren’t many students accustomed to that sort of brute force. So keep making Wardanaz sing. Just like -Speech-Word-, the best way is repeated exposure. Even if they can’t embed mana in words, they can at least squeeze it out and come as close as possible.”

“My sincerest thanks for your advice!”

“Uh…”

Feeling good, Ifadur began singing in front of the café.

His voice soon drew attention from even the most indifferent passersby.

A crowd quickly gathered, and everyone clapped in admiration.

Everyone was happy with the music—except Lee Han and the skeleton principal.

“……”

“Told you music magic wouldn’t be that helpful.”

“…No, I am happy…”

Lee Han boasted, not wanting to let the principal enjoy his misery.

The principal just shook his head.

“At this rate, you’ll end up picking up every kind of trash-heap magic there is.”

-Master.

The Death Knight, completely bundled up so as not to frighten the townsfolk, approached and spoke.

-As you ordered, I have those people waiting.

“Good. Make them wait a bit longer. Any complaints?”

-When they heard your name, they kept their mouths shut.

“Right.”

“…?”

Lee Han’s eyes lit up at the skeleton principal and the Death Knight’s exchange.

He sensed there was hidden information in this conversation.

“Who are they?”

“They’re workers for this project. Why? Interested in working too?”

“No, just curious.”

The skeleton principal replied without a trace of awkwardness. As someone who had dealt with countless students, he knew well that it did him no good to try to hide or lose his temper here.

The best disguise was always acting as usual.

But Lee Han was not so easily fooled.

No matter what the principal said, Lee Han decided he would not believe it.

‘I’ll find out.’

Just then, Ifadur finished a song and was basking in thunderous applause. Lee Han brought cold water over and whispered to Ifadur.

“Ifadur, I have a favor.”

“Yes…?”

“Because of the strict school rules, I haven’t had many chances to go out, but there’s a book I really need to buy. Sob sob.”

Lee Han tried to look as pitiful as possible.

It worked. Ifadur was moved.

He was already grateful for Lee Han’s help with music magic and wanted to reward him somehow—this was a perfect opportunity!

With their youthful blood boiling, students naturally wanted to go out, no matter how strict the rules.

Ifadur nodded.

“What can I do for you, Wardanaz?”

“Could you take the principal aside and chat him up for a bit? I’ll go buy the book and be right back.”

The old turtle bard winked as if to say ‘leave it to me.’

“Now, everyone! Everyone! Thank you ever so much for enjoying this old man’s song. My next number will be a duet.”

“W-wait, with one of us?!”

“No way! If I got that honor, I’d tell my great-great-grandchildren!”

“Everyone here knows this great person’s name. Lord Gonadaltes! It would be my honor if you’d sing with me.”

“????”

The skeleton principal, sitting with a bored look and his eyes closed, opened his head.

What did he just hear?

“L-Lord Gonadaltes?? That archmage??”

“From what I heard, even just meeting his gaze used to turn people to stone. He imprisons those stone people in his dungeon as decorations…”

“What nonsense! There’s no way someone teaching at Einrogard would do anything so barbaric. That must be a malicious rumor started by his enemies!”

People buzzed, and among the crowd, local gossips’ eyes gleamed.

Ifadur’s song was already amazing, but a duet with a legendary archmage like Gonadaltes?

It would become a story they’d never tire of telling at parties and banquets their whole lives.

“Lord Gonadaltes, it’d be the greatest honor of my life if you’d sing just once!”

“Please! We beg you!”

‘Should I kill them all…’

The principal calmed his anger by thinking of the donations he received from this city’s families.

• * *

“Sharkan. Thanks.”

With Sharkan’s help, Lee Han cautiously tracked the Death Knight’s trail.

The Death Knight moved deeper into the quieter areas of town. Lee Han cast an invisibility spell so as not to be noticed.

‘Are they really just laborers?’

When the Death Knight headed into a shabby warehouse, Lee Han wondered if maybe he’d been too suspicious.

After all, even though Einrogard looked quiet outwardly, a lot of people came and went inside.

With so many people, it was only natural for merchants or workers to come and go.

Thunk!

When the door closed, Lee Han quickly pressed close to the warehouse and listened carefully.

-You’ve all been waiting a long time.

“Damn it, you say that after keeping us locked up for three days? I was going to let it go, but this… truly…”

Thwack!

-Shut up, you trash.

The Death Knight smacked the mercenary who spoke.

-You should be grateful just to have your criminal hides spared. Speak up one more time, and I’ll turn you to stone and throw you into a deep, deserted dungeon where no one will find you.

The mercenaries fell silent in fear.

-There’s just one way out of here. Train and practice. Make sure you can beat a mage in straight-up combat.

“I don’t know what mage you’re talking about—just bring him! I could kill him even now!”

-Not yet. Train more. Only those who pass the standard will be let out.

“……”

Lee Han let out a deep sigh.

He could guess why those mercenaries had been brought here.