Episode 539

Episode 539

After the tossing ended, Lee Han, who came down, asked the giants.

“So what do I need to help with today? Did the sheep escape again?”

It was called a sheep, but when ‘mountain-destroying’ was added in front, it was actually more like a monster than a sheep.

From Lee Han’s own experience seeing the mountain-destroying sheep, he thought that even a fully grown basilisk would lose against it.

‘First of all, their size difference is just too big.’

-No. The sheep didn’t escape.

-We caught a wyvern and put it in, so they just played among themselves excitedly. They were definitely bored.

Although he heard that they had captured and put in the lord and fear of the mountain range, Lee Han pretended not to hear it and ignored it.

He was afraid that if he asked, “A wyvern?” the giants would drag him along to show him.

“I see. Then is there perhaps no work to…”

-Follow me! I want to show the magician!

-Woo! I’m going to put him on my shoulder!

-No! I’m going to put him on my shoulder!

“Haha. Everyone. It’s good that you’re competing over me, but could you please not fight over me?”

As the giants tried to pull at Lee Han while arguing, Lee Han’s voice grew a bit urgent.

The giant-style rock-paper-scissors (a game where they picked one of rock, paper, or scissors and slap each other’s faces) was played, and the winning giant grinned broadly as he carried Lee Han and started walking.

-Those guys. To think they’ve gotten so close… Have a good trip.

“Don’t forget that midterms are just around the corner.”

To the words of Ikurusha and Professor Voladi from behind, Lee Han covered his ears and pretended not to hear.

The giant carrying Lee Han asked curiously.

-Why are you covering your ears?

“If there’s something you don’t want to hear, it’s good to cover your ears like this.”

-Ohhh. From now on, I’ll cover my ears whenever Ikurusha talks!

• * *

Third-year student, Valpatan of House Moradi, regretted his decision.

Looking back, no matter how necessary it was, accompanying one of those Enchantment Magic guys was a mistake.

‘You’re still not there yet, Valpatan! You almost lost your sword before and yet you’re still being so lax. And you’re already a third-year!’

Valpatan berated himself, pounding on his chest.

Seeing this, fellow third-year student Anpagon bluntly asked.

“Have you finally lost your mind?”

“Shut up. Why are all the guys in Enchantment Magic so rude? Don’t the seniors ever say anything?”

“What are you talking about? I’m the most polite one.”

“……”

Valpatan shuddered at that.

The fact that Anpagon didn’t seem to be lying was even more unsettling.

‘Really lucky I didn’t specialize in Enchantment Magic.’

In fact, when you got down to it, the White Tiger Tower produced the most Enchantment Magic majors.

Augmentation magic that manipulated the caster’s or another’s body also fell under Enchantment Magic.

But as students went up in grade, few White Tiger Tower students truly dug deep into Enchantment Magic itself.

Most White Tiger Tower students switched to Augmentation Magic applications, while pure Enchantment Magic was mostly chosen by students from other towers.

Maybe because the magic was difficult, or because delving into pure Enchantment Magic meant going halfway down the path of artifact crafting…

…A large number of White Tiger Tower students espoused the much-convincing theory that “Rather die than hang out with the Enchantment Magic school professors or students.”

Valpatan was also one of them.

‘Is it the crazy professor driving the pupils mad, or is it already-crazy students being drawn to the crazy professor?’

Honestly, Professor Verdus and the Enchantment Magic students making artifacts under the professor looked all alike to Valpatan.

“All right. I get it, so… let’s just say it was my bad for talking to you.”

“Of course it was your fault.”

Valpatan absentmindedly glanced around.

‘Should I pull it out?’

No matter how polite and kind Valpatan was for the White Tiger Tower, the skill Enchantment Magic students had for getting on his nerves exceeded that.

‘Endure.’

But Valpatan held back.

There was still something he wanted to ask.

That was why he bothered to bring a guy like Anpagon as company for this trip through the mountain range…

“Let’s rest a bit. As long as we get there before the sun’s straight overhead, we have plenty of time.”

“Don’t trust your sense of time.”

‘Should I really just pull it out?’

Anpagon swung his staff to calculate their bearings, then nodded.

“We can rest.”

“……”

“……”

The two students sat down and ate and drank in silence.

Anpagon drank a recovery potion from a transparent glass bottle, while Valpatan drank fresh blood of a red-maned lion from a leather canteen. Both were advantageous for recovery.

Valpatan glanced at their destination peak.

Among the countless peaks in the Einrogard mountain range, their destination today was Giant’s Stone-Throwing Peak.

Anpagon needed the Eumseokcheong at the peak for research, while Valpatan needed the bark of a froststone tree for tanning the new hide he had acquired.

Normally, they would have had no reason to travel together, but Valpatan had questions, and Anpagon needed a reliable vanguard. After all, this was giant territory.

“Erm… By the way.”

Valpatan whetted his throat then got to the point.

Having listened to that annoying Enchantment Magic guy, it was his turn to ask a question.

“I heard there’s a weird first-year taking Enchantment Magic. That right? At this festival…”

Anpagon nodded.

“Right? Then why does nobody else in Enchantment Magic seem to know?”

“Because I didn’t tell them.”

“……”

‘Isn’t this guy just trash…’

Valpatan was appalled.

If there was a promising junior, it was normal to tell other members of the school.

Not just for his own satisfaction, but for the sake of the junior, his name should be spread.

There was a big difference between seniors going in with a favorable impression knowing a bit about the junior, and knowing nothing about him.

“Why didn’t you tell them?”

“Wasn’t worth it.”

“What do you mea— never mind.”

Valpatan barely stopped himself from plunging further into the Enchantment Magic school.

Come to think of it, the more you got involved with these guys, the more likely it was to get a headache.

“Anyway, that junior. Right? The one who went crazy with a sword at the festival. Was he using augmentation magic?”

“I don’t know.”

Anpagon really didn’t know.

He suspected that what the junior had used wasn’t augmentation magic, but rather black magic, but even that wasn’t certain.

After the festival ended, they’d ended up in the punishment room together rather amicably…

“Hah. You petty bastard. Hiding it again? Just tell me something.”

“How can I tell you something I don’t know? Did you leave your brain back in the tower?”

Valpatan endured it once again.

He still had more to ask.

“Fine. That junior. I asked the black magic guys about him, but they keep quiet. Seems like he’s taking black magic too…”

“That’s right.”

“What? Black magic? That really is weird.”

At first Valpatan thought Lee Han had shown such prowess because he was good at swordsmanship and exceptionally strong at Enchantment Magic, but hearing about black magic made him even more surprised.

“I heard some rumors about him, like he’s from House Wardanaz. Or isn’t he from Gainando? I even looked him up and heard he’s a prince?”

“……”

Anpagon looked at Valpatan like he was looking at a worm crawling on the ground.

No matter how clueless you were, how could you confuse House Wardanaz with royalty?

“Sigh… Listen. First off, House Wardanaz is a high noble family in the empire. Famous for magic, sure, but royalty…”

“…You bastard! Who doesn’t know that! I’m just asking for the junior’s name!”

Exploding, Valpatan finally drew his sword.

No matter how nicely he tried to ask, he just couldn’t stand this guy’s attitude.

Fine, I’ll just take him out and ask after I bury him!

“So you do come at me. I was prepared for that.”

Anpagon activated his artifact immediately. A thick force field surrounded and protected him.

Valpatan got even angrier.

“Try to fend this off, then. Transform, strike down!”

As the spell was unleashed, Valpatan’s hand suddenly turned into the forepaw of a monstrous bird.

It didn’t stop there. A chilling sharpness coated his talon, and it was swung so swiftly that even a skilled swordsman would struggle to dodge.

Slash!

The giant forepaw tore through the thick force field.

But Anpagon calmly took out the next artifact.

By third year in Einrogard, even if you didn’t major in combat magic, you had to be able to protect yourself at least to survive.

Faint duplicates of himself appeared and scattered in all directions. Their quality wasn’t high enough to deceive a sharp eye, but in the present situation, a short distraction was enough.

Valpatan roared again.

“Fist of the giant, strike the enemy!”

A giant invisible fist crashed down at where Anpagon’s clones were.

Instead of picking out the real one, he just decided to flatten everything—that was the White Tiger Tower way of fighting.

Crash!

Anpagon grimaced at the barbarity and dodged falling branches. The massive attack made the surrounding forest collapse.

“Giant’s finger…”

“…Wait, behind you! Look behind you, idiot!”

“Dirty bastard. What are you saying? Just get ready to be pummeled!”

“You moron! Look behind you!”

Valpatan quickly turned his head while preparing for an attack.

Then he saw giant figures dragging clubs and slowly walking towards them from behind.

“…!!!”

“!!!”

The two third-year students froze on the spot.

No matter how much magic one had trained at Einrogard, or how much respect they got as mages outside, in front of giants, it didn’t mean much.

As third-year students, they both knew just how troublesome giants were.

Magic didn’t work well on them, and neither did conversation. If you caused a stir and a giant got angry, it would be a huge hassle.

“Quiet… Quiet your breathing. Invis. Invisibility potion!”

“Happy now? You’d better be. With all the trees you smashed, they’ll find us for sure!”

“Shut up. Giant or not, I’ll deal with you first.”

As they bickered, the giants drew closer.

One giant looked at Lee Han and asked,

-Who broke all these trees? Looks like magicians did.

“Terrible people. Maybe professors?”

-I want to replant these trees.

“Understood.”

Lee Han nodded.

Planting trees was actually easy.

Compared to tracking down and herding runaway sheep, replanting trees was…

-I want to catch the one who broke the trees.

“Oh dear. You want to catch the professors? That won’t be easy.”

Lee Han glanced around at the broken trees and answered vaguely.

But the giants were more serious than he expected.

-Doesn’t seem like it’s been long since the trees were broken.

-I think we’ll find them! I’ll help the magician. We’ll find them!

‘Huh?’

Lee Han, who had been wondering how to replant the trees, was caught off guard by the giants’ reaction.

‘It’s only been a little while?’

For someone to come all the way up to a high mountain peak early in the morning and break trees…

He couldn’t understand why anyone would do such a thing.

‘Not like they cut and took the wood… Was it a tantrum?’

Briefly, Lee Han pictured the skeleton principal spinning around and furiously smashing all the trees.

It was funny, but neither the principal nor the professors seemed like the type to do that.

‘This… was cut with something sharp. Enchantment magic? This seems like it was struck by a giant force.’

Looking around, Lee Han quickly realized that there had been a magic battle here.

“I think that here…”

Rustle—

“?”

Lee Han paused as a note quietly fluttered into his palm.

-ple-ase sa-ve me junior

Valpatan, Moradi

“……”

What on earth had they been doing here?