Episode 540

While Lee Han was flustered, more letters began to appear on the note.

-Because idiot Moradi messed everything up right now…

“??”

-lagaempapdatmaningimareul

“????”

‘Is he not alone?’

It looked like the kind of chaotic writing that would come out if two people tried to grab a quill and fight over the paper.

After a while, the writing stopped, and Anpagon began properly explaining the situation.

He and Valpatan had come together to look for a reagent, but got into a petty argument…

‘A petty argument?’

Lee Han looked around.

The remnants of the forest savagely torn apart by magic caught his eye.

If this was a petty argument, what level would a serious fight be?

-So why are you with the giants? Were you caught?

-Oh. It’s not that. I’m helping with the giants’ work.

-?

“?”

The writing on the note stopped for a moment.

Lee Han wondered what was wrong with the upperclassmen.

-Why are you helping the giants?

-Became friends.

Silence again.

Lee Han cautiously wrote as the seniors fell silent.

-Sorry to say as a junior, but I don’t think arguing is a good idea right now.

As soon as Lee Han wrote that, a reply came up straight away.

-We didn’t argue. Anyway, got it.

-But didn’t you say last time that your name is Gainando?

Lee Han quietly ignored the last part.

• * *

“How do you even get friendly with giants? I don’t get it.”

“In Einrogard, anything is possible. Still haven’t studied enough.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. So, do you have any friends or seniors who are friends with giants?”

“……”

Anpagon shut his mouth.

Honestly, he couldn’t even imagine what you’d have to do to become friends with a giant.

How on earth would you even start…?

“Why isn’t he answering about his name?”

“That’s not what’s important right now.”

Anpagon answered Valpatan irritably.

With giants shambling around in front of them, whether that junior had called himself Gainando or Wardanaz didn’t matter at all.

Probably just misheard!

“We’ve got to get the giants to go away.”

“Oh, right.”

At first they wondered if the junior was deceiving the giants in disguise, but if he’d really befriended them, then that was actually better.

Although they still couldn’t believe it…

‘I’ll have to ask later.’

‘I’ll have to ask later.’

Even Anpagon, usually uninterested in others, was curious.

-To drive the giants away…

“Wait.”

“What? Why stop?”

“Who’s paying the price?”

“You should pay.”

“Fascinating nonsense. Why don’t you just bark instead?”

“Sure. By the way, know that you’re within my reach right now.”

“Do as you please. If you want to brag about being stupid enough to cause a scene in front of a giant, go ahead.”

The two bickered but couldn’t help agreeing in the end.

They decided to split the fee for asking the junior for help, half and half.

-If you make the giants leave, the following reward…

-Reward?

At the junior’s reply, the two looked at each other.

And simultaneously spoke up.

“It’s because you put in garbage!”

“Your reward is trash.”

• * *

Lee Han was a little moved.

‘Professors make you work with no reward, but seniors are different.’

Actually, the professors hadn’t made him work—they just lectured, but Lee Han didn’t care.

Ten sets of red-maned lion hide armor, ten wind barrier scrolls, five jars of moonflower honey, stashed near the Blue Dragon Tower…

Even if they’d just asked, he would have done it—so the reward was all the more welcome.

“I know where the culprit went. Please follow my lead.”

-Ohhh!

-The magician is smart!

When Lee Han cried out confidently, the giants rejoiced and marched on.

Lee Han glanced toward the direction where his seniors should be and gave a small sign.

It meant: get away on your own.

‘Phew. Perfect.’

Watching the giants walk off, Lee Han was pleased.

Anyone would think he was an admirable junior.

He couldn’t see them, but surely both Valpatan and Anpagon thought highly of him at that moment.

“……”

“……”

Valpatan and Anpagon stood with jaws dropped, staring at the departing giants.

They’d told him to trust him—who would have guessed he’d manipulate the giants so easily.

“G… Giant controller…!”

Without even knowing it, Lee Han gained another nickname among his seniors.

-But why are we going this way?

“The culprit always leaves traces. There are traces of mana here.”

Pointing ahead with his staff, Lee Han just spouted whatever.

It wasn’t even difficult.

All he had to do was vaguely lead the giants away, then later say, ‘Ah, we lost them, sorry.’

To Lee Han, trained in Einrogard, it was as easy as blinking.

-Indeed! The rock is broken here!

“That’s it exactly.”

-A tree is smashed here too! That means they ran this way!

“?”

Lee Han, who was just talking nonsense, stopped.

The giants’ reactions seemed odd.

‘Wait?’

He and the giants were headed in a completely different direction now.

They had veered into the depths of the mountain range, not toward the peak.

There shouldn’t have been any trace of people here.

But to say rocks and trees were smashed…

‘Something’s weird…’

-Over there! There!

-It’s him! That old yaksha! I knew it!

“????”

Lee Han’s eyes flew open in surprise.

Across the opposite forest, a yaksha was pushing aside trees and rocks as he walked.

A physique rivaling a giant, and a ferocious, ghostly appearance.

Yaksha, like giants, were not a common race in the empire.

The yaksha, hearing the giants’ shouting, turned his head and spoke.

-Why are you fools clamoring in front of your elder again?

-Woo! Old yaksha! You broke trees last time, and broke them again this time!

-You ignorant fools. You have to clear dead and rotten trees to help the others grow.

-Don’t lie! You smashed perfectly good trees too!

“……”

Lee Han felt a slight pang of conscience.

Because it was his seniors who’d actually smashed the healthy trees.

-If you have complaints, come at me, lads. If you want a wrestling match you like so much, I’ll even accept that.

-Uh…

-That yaksha’s too strong.

The giants shrank back, cowed.

It seemed they’d suffered a rough defeat to this yaksha before.

“Aren’t you all bigger, though?”

-Yaksha uses strange techniques.

-We can’t win…

While they were talking, the yaksha took a step closer.

That provoked one of the giants, who pounded his chest and shouted.

-We don’t run away from a magician! Watch!

The giant stomped and charged ferociously. The nearby trees went flying.

The yaksha replied, dumbfounded,

-Why do you brats never consider your own size?

-Nngh! Nghngh!

The giant grappled with the yaksha and struggled, trying to overpower him.

The yaksha gave a mocking chuckle.

-Should’ve done good deeds. All you brats do is accumulate unnotable karma. What are you planning to do with that strength?

“!”

Lee Han was surprised by the supernatural magical flow around the yaksha.

Rare races of the empire are said to be born with peculiar abilities hard even for magic to imitate, but the yaksha’s was exceptional.

The ability to convert surrounding good and evil karma into tangible forces!

The yaksha himself could transmute his accumulated good karma into power, and those with evil karma would be ensnared by their own malice when fighting him.

The giants didn’t have evil karma, but they also didn’t have much good karma, so they were just being overwhelmed…

‘What a fascinating ability.’

Lee Han understood why magicians, despite developing such profound sciences, were so interested in primal magic and supernatural powers like these.

The strange flow and pattern, unseen in magic, were simply compelling for a magician.

-Uh… I’ll go too!

-Woo!

With their comrade being pushed back, the giants rushed in to help. The yaksha laughed heartily and met their charge with his other hand.

-Keep going! More! Brats!

-I’m going too!

“Uhh, wait…”

Lee Han became flustered as the giant carrying him charged in.

It was great that he cared for his friends, but had he forgotten the little magician on his shoulder?

-Woo!

-Take th… Gah!

When the giant carrying Lee Han rammed the yaksha, the previously smug yaksha let out a yell and tumbled backward.

-Huh?

-Huhhh?

The giants themselves had clearly not expected that outcome and stared at each other in astonishment.

-Uh… Huh! We won!

-We beat the old yaksha!

Clinging for dear life, Lee Han barely managed to climb back atop the giant’s shoulder.

While the giants clapped and celebrated, the yaksha looked dumbfounded and slowly got up.

-What? What good karma did you build up lately to get so heavy?

-The magician’s cooking was delicious. I got this strong!

The giant carrying Lee Han boasted proudly, while the yaksha at first seemed bewildered—then finally spotted Lee Han.

-Why is a little bloodling of Einrogard here?? And with giants??

The yaksha asked in surprise, and Lee Han belatedly realized that being friendly with giants wasn’t normal.

‘Is that why the seniors were surprised earlier? No way. They’re Einrogard students, they wouldn’t be shocked by something like this.’

“I’m friends with the giants.”

-…Nonsense…

-We’re friends!

-It’s friendship, old yaksha!

The yaksha waved his hand as if his head hurt at the giants’ retort.

Then he narrowed his eyes, glaring at Lee Han as though sizing up his abilities.

-Good karma… What…?

“Uh, have I built up a lot of good karma?”

-How can you not know your own good karma!

The yaksha was dumbstruck, but the hostility from before was gone.

He determined that a magician with this much good karma couldn’t be a bad person.

-Actually, this is great. You brats, come with me. There’s something you can help with.

-We don’t listen to old yaksha!

-Last time you made us work, you didn’t give us anything!

The yaksha sighed heavily and explained, appearing troubled.

-I told you. If I’d left that glacier alone, it would’ve collapsed and buried your sleeping cave.

-If you made us work, you should’ve paid a reward!

-…Isn’t there Ikurusha? Ikurusha?

Unable to reason with them, the yaksha looked for Ikurusha.

Apparently, Ikurusha was the only giant he could communicate with.

“Um, everyone. Why don’t you just listen for now?”

Lee Han tried to persuade the giants.

Having listened to the yaksha, he didn’t seem like a bad guy.

He was more like Ikurusha.

A bit frustrated with the giants, but still trying to look after them somehow…

-Hmph. Say it, then.

-Just this once, we’ll listen.

-???

The yaksha stared wide-eyed at Lee Han.

He couldn’t believe an outsider—let alone a magician—was so good at managing giants.

-There’s a troublesome guy holed up in the swamp right now. Because of him, the surrounding forest is dying out. You brats need to help.

-Ha! Another trick! Trickery!

“Uh… If the whole forest dies, won’t the trees you like also die?”

-Yeah? What should we do, then?

“We have to stop it, right?”

-Hmph. Guess we have no choice but to help!

-…Any chance you’d stay here and work instead of returning to Einrogard?

The yaksha earnestly made an offer to the young bloodling of Einrogard.