Episode 542

Meanwhile, Professor Voladi and Ikurusha, who were waiting below, grew puzzled as Lee Han was later in returning than expected.

“He’s late.”

-Hmm.

Ikurusha’s expression darkened, perhaps out of concern.

Of course, just looking at the strength of the giants who went with Lee Han, it would have been difficult to find opponents in even this perilous mountain range.

But Ikurusha also knew just how willful and unpredictable the giants could be.

If they were to pass a behemoth on the road and go “That looks tasty!” and all rush off, a still-young student like Lee Han might be swept away.

-Still, if it were that student, I’d expect him to contact us if there was a problem, so perhaps he’s fine?

“I think you misunderstand.”

-??

Ikurusha looked at the professor, wondering what he meant.

“I mean, it’s more likely that Wardanaz is the one leading the giants around.”

-What… Did you just hear yourself?

Ikurusha was dumbfounded at Professor Voladi’s comment.

Did that mean the young student was actually dragging the giants around by force?

Like, the giants are going, “Uu, we just want to go home,” and the student is saying, “No! Move to the next place!”?

No matter how you slice it, it didn’t make sense.

“He enjoys a challenge.”

-No, come on, leading a group of giants isn’t just a challenge anymore…

Even a magician who liked challenges would rethink his life choices if left alone with giants—“Actually, I think I always liked a quiet life.”

Ikurusha was 100% certain of this.

Such was the wild, savage way giants lived.

-We’re back!

-!!

In the middle of their conversation, Ikurusha was startled to see the giants returning from afar.

They were caked in mud from the swamp, covered in debris, and even had small wounds.

For giants to be that battered, there weren’t many suspects in these mountains.

-What were you up to?

-We took care of a ghoul dragon with the old yaksha.

-We weren’t going to, but did it for the magician.

-!

Ikurusha stared at Lee Han with shocked eyes.

Normally, he would have thought, “The yaksha asked, and the student helped, so the giants obliged,” but thanks to Professor Voladi’s earlier comment, he had a momentary misunderstanding.

-Really?!

-Uh? That’s right.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

Lee Han was confused at Ikurusha’s shocked expression.

Come to think of it, it was understandable.

He’d climbed up, planning just to do a little work with the giants, and pulled off something huge.

“Sorry. It couldn’t be helped, thanks to the old yaksha…”

“It’s fine.”

Professor Voladi cut off his student’s apology as if he’d anticipated it.

“It’s all over now.”

“Ah. Yes.”

“But try not to take on excessive challenges. I recall saying that before.”

“…….”

Lee Han stared at the professor in disbelief.

Just who was telling whom not to take risks?

• * *

Ratford noticed Lee Han looking much more sluggish than usual and asked,

“Did you not sleep well?”

“No… I climbed a mountain and caused a ruckus all morning…”

“Goodness. Was it because of the White Tiger Tower?”

A White Tiger Tower student passing by startled.

‘Gasp. Was it seriously because of us?’

“No. Because of a ghoul dragon and the giants…”

‘Whew. Guess not.’

The relieved White Tiger Tower student took a few more steps and then screamed.

“What? Ghoul dragon? Giants??”

“Why are you eavesdropping! You thief!”

“N-no… I just overheard as I was passing by. Just passing by!”

While Ratford and the White Tiger Tower student quarreled, Lee Han shoved a thick chicken sandwich stuffed with pickles into his mouth.

He needed to recover his energy before the illusion magic lecture began.

Crunch!

At the vivid sound, he turned to see Imirg tearing into a thick chicken drumstick.

When their eyes met, Imirg hesitated and asked,

“W-want some?”

“I’m fine with this. More importantly… Actually, never mind.”

Lee Han was about to ask why Imirg was sitting with him and Ratford instead of with the Black Turtle Tower friends, but thought better of it.

Ratford was always friendly, but Imirg was a little shy.

‘Heh. It was worth working my butt off during the flood to feed everyone.’

Lee Han felt gratified that his efforts had managed to overcome the bad reputation of the Wardanaz family.

When he’d first entered Einrogard and helped the Black Turtle Tower students, they still acted like, “Eek! The Wardanaz monster—no, family!” That still stung a little.

“Huh? Imirg, why are you sitting there?”

“Oh…! Too late! I should’ve sat next to Wardanaz!”

Belatedly recalling how illusion magic lectures worked, the Black Turtle Tower students smacked their knees in frustration.

When all sorts of illusion magic scrambled the senses, having someone like Wardanaz who stood firm without being shaken was a huge help.

To prep for that—they truly were model students.

“Damn. I should sit behind him.”

“Move! I got here first!”

“You White Tiger Tower punks, got no guts? Always badmouthing Wardanaz, but now you want to use him for help?”

“N-no! I never… never thought of using Wardanaz as a shield, not even a little…!”

“……”

Listening to the conversation, Lee Han felt betrayed.

‘What ungrateful scoundrels.’

“Okay, okay. Good to see everyone!”

The classroom door swung open and Professor Kirmin entered. Among the Einrogard faculty, his attire was considered one of the most fashionable.

Professor Kirmin pulled a small stone from the front pocket of his deep blue velvet vest and tossed it to the nearest student.

Pop!

“Ah… Aaaack! Aaaaah!”

“Stop! Don’t! Stay calm. Stay calm.”

In the first semester, Professor Kirmin taught basic, intriguing spells, but from the second semester on, he began teaching ways to counter illusion magic.

And to teach how to resist illusion magic, you had to experience it a lot.

“You’ll encounter illusions or enchantments not just in Einrogard, but all across the Empire. If you don’t learn how, it can cost you. Did I ever tell you about that luckless dwarf Gurianggeum who got badly tricked by illusion magic?”

“Yes!”

“Now, a gap!”

Seizing the pause as a student’s breath caught to answer, Professor Kirmin sprayed smoke from a glass bottle.

The smoke scattered the student’s mana and briefly paralyzed their resistance, then pulled them into an illusion.

“Headmaster! Aaah! It’s the headmaster!!”

Watching the student fall into an illusion of the skeleton principal attacking, Professor Kirmin looked on apologetically.

“Sorry. This is how you learn.”

There were two main ways to block illusion magic.

One was to prevent being affected in the first place.

This included having strong resistance like Lee Han, wearing multiple artifacts, or being on guard and avoiding contact.

Illusion magic was not as easy to cast freely as command-words; it usually required some form of contact, and merely blocking that gave considerable protection.

“Huuup…!”

As the professor approached, one student held their breath and closed their eyes.

Professor Kirmin just smiled, waved his staff, and sent another spell flying. The student got caught and fell into an illusion.

“Hey, Wardanaz. Can you run an errand?”

“Yes, professor.”

Lee Han stood up, wary. Professor Kirmin waved him off reassuringly.

“You have innate resistance, so you don’t need to be so on guard. I’m not Professor Baegrek, you know.”

“The headmaster always says to trust him, too, though.”

Professor Kirmin looked genuinely hurt.

“Hey, I’m trying to teach you how to deal with illusion magic for your sake. Isn’t it a bit much to compare me to the headmaster?”

Lee Han cautiously took the note and left for the hallway. Luckily, nothing ambushed him on the way out.

‘What kind of errand is this?’

To have him stand in the hallway while the students get attacked.

-Kirmin Ku

“……”

-Ack! Wardanaz! Wardanaz, you idiot! How can you just leave like that!

-Haha, you can’t let your guard down like that! Illusion magicians must always keep up their vigilance!

While Lee Han was gone, Professor Kirmin easily took down all the students who had relied on Lee Han. When they woke, drenched in cold sweat, he spoke sympathetically.

“It’s actually impossible to never get hit at all. Especially if you’re inexperienced. So…”

While speaking, Professor Kirmin met Lee Han’s gaze.

“Right. Wardanaz, you’re exempt.”

“I didn’t say anything, professor.”

“You’ve also got to know how to calmly extract yourself after falling for an illusion.”

The second way to defend against illusion magic was to remain calm and break free once caught.

It started with becoming aware of it.

Once you noticed, you increased the sense of discomfort around you, and when you’d built up enough unease, you could grasp the structure of the spell and unravel it in reverse.

The more illusion spells you were familiar with, the easier this was—relying on instinct was harder than recognizing magic you already knew.

“Illusion magic favors veteran wizards, but that doesn’t mean you can neglect practice. Wardanaz, just in case, you know today’s a no breaking things by brute force day, right?”

“Professor, I’m really sorry about smashing all those spell circles last time. I genuinely didn’t know that would happen…”

Lee Han grumbled inwardly about Professor Kirmin’s pettiness, still begrudging last session when he accidentally wrecked all the spell circles.

How could he have predicted that!

“Sure. It could happen by mistake. But for someone like you, Wardanaz, I’d think you did it on purpose.”

“Uh.”

“Did you actually do it on purpose?”

The students nearby looked at Lee Han with deep respect and awe.

Did Wardanaz break the circles on purpose for their sake?

“No, you idiots.”

“Aww…”

The students instantly deflated at Lee Han’s flat denial.

Thump!

When the professor waved his staff, piles of massive crates appeared before the students.

They looked roughly carved from wood, but the locks were all sharp and intricate.

The magic coming off them made the students groan.

It was obvious what they’d be doing today.

“When you explore ruins or dungeons, you’ll often see illusion magic connected to mechanical devices. A great wizard can disrupt the mechanisms by just analyzing the illusions.”

“Professor, I’m never going into a dungeon in my life…”

“Such confidence! But you’d better bottle it for now. At Einrogard, you don’t get to choose about dungeons.”

The student who had grumbled got a sad prophecy about their future and clutched a box in misery.

Puff!

“Gack!”

A student who mishandled their box was hit by smoke and fell under an illusion spell.

Seeing that, the other students were even more dismayed.

Who likes all these fussy, tedious tasks anyway?

Most wizards only love the flash of magic; few adore the hassle.

“Hey, this is fun! Ratford, want to check? Did I do this right?”

“Very good!”

“Am I good enough to go without a technician in a dungeon?”

“I think you’re more than good enough…”

“Nonsense. Ratford, you’re great, but you overestimate me too much.”

“No, but you really are…”