Episode 559

Episode 559

Iunrade resented his own mouth.

No, at this point, it was no exaggeration to call it a snout.

“If a graduate doesn’t trust their juniors this much, how are the bureaucrats of the empire supposed to be trusted?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

“A first-year student of the Wardanaz family. Hm. I’ll have to ask some more questions.”

“……”

At his superior’s words, Iunrade nodded but then paused.

He was so flustered and confused that he hadn’t realized it, but now that he thought about it, this Wardanaz was definitely the one he’d heard about last time.

The very one who got the infamous Skull Principal summoned before His Majesty the Emperor…!

Iunrade’s face drained of color in fear and tension.

He couldn’t even imagine how this investigation might end.

‘Will it be okay? Will it really be okay!?’

• * *

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Giselle walked on in silence.

Amongst the city’s noise, through the boulevard where numerous races mingled and passed by, they walked quietly and repeatedly.

Both their faces were sullen and gloomy.

Lee Han let out a sigh and spoke.

“…Let’s just forget about it and buy what we need.”

“As if that’s so easy to do?”

“There’s nothing we can do.”

Giselle shot him a look, thought for a moment, then also sighed and said.

“Yeah. Let’s just forget it and buy what we need.”

The two stood in front of one of Granden City’s bookstores, -Ikalten’s Absolute Pavilion-.

The clerk working at the bookstore opened the door to greet customers, but hesitated upon seeing them enter.

‘…Did something happen?’

The two looked as if a friend had just died, their expressions so dark.

“-Making Artifacts from Imperial Junkyards-, is it this book?”

“That’s the one. I heard it’s good for preparing for finals.”

“-Basic Use of Yellowstone-. This one too?”

“Since Yellowstone gets discarded a lot, there’s no harm in referencing it.”

With gloomy faces, the two of them prepared the items needed for finals one by one.

And it wasn’t just reagents or materials that they needed for finals.

Courage, friendship, grit, hatred, of course, but also spellbooks.

Normally these kinds of spellbooks could be obtained from the library, but the clever students of Einrogard just went out and bought the books instead of fetching them from the library.

At the very least, the spellbooks sold outside didn’t bite people.

“Hold on. Wardanaz. Why do we need to buy -Imperial Spelling Mistakes People Easily Make-?”

“Oh, because your Tower kids keep making spelling errors.”

“……”

From her cheeks up to the tips of her long ears, Giselle turned red.

Cursing her White Tiger Tower friends who even misspell easy words, Giselle moved to the next bookshelf.

While she was flipping through -Saint Iactus, Defeating the Evil Lich-, Giselle sensed something odd.

“Wardanaz.”

“?”

“Isn’t that person suspicious?”

“I think we are probably the most suspicious people in this bookstore…”

Lee Han said so, but still stared intently at the person Giselle was pointing at.

There was indeed a reason to find them suspicious.

It wasn’t just because they were covered head to toe in a robe. In a big city, there were plenty of people covering themselves up, so that alone didn’t warrant suspicion.

From the other person, Lee Han could sense the unique mana pattern of a mage.

There was a subtle difference around those who couldn’t use magic and those who instinctively controlled and manipulated mana, like mages.

He hadn’t noticed it when he just entered Einrogard, but with time, he could now distinguish such details.

Furthermore, the books the person was choosing…

‘-Blood and ■ of ■■-, -Calling Demons ■■■■…-’

Some of the books in the Absolute Pavilion were verified and bought from named mages, but there were also suspicious books whose origins were unknown.

Of course, as a bookstore located in the city’s central district, such suspicious books were a handful compared to their overall inventory. It wasn’t some back alley stall, so there weren’t many suspicious books on the shelves.

But the other person was blatantly rifling through and picking out only those kinds of books.

“They really are suspicious.”

“Right? Inside the robe, a dagger. There’s blood on it. Seeing as it hasn’t dried, it must not have been long ago.”

Giselle whispered in a sharp voice.

Only then did Lee Han realize that there was a dagger stuck inside the robe.

“Ah. I see.”

“…Wait. You didn’t see the dagger? Then why did you say they were suspicious?”

“The fact that they’re a mage?”

“?”

“And because they keep collecting suspicious spellbooks…”

“That’s not really… never mind. This isn’t what’s important right now.”

Giselle was about to say, ‘Wardanaz, don’t you also collect a lot of suspicious spellbooks as a mage?’ but stopped herself.

It wasn’t important right now.

“So, what do you think?”

“They are suspicious, but there must be dozens of suspicious people in a city and we can’t interfere with them all. There are plenty of possible reasons for a bloodied dagger.”

Giselle frowned, thinking for a moment before reluctantly speaking, tapping her scabbard with her long fingers.

“I guess so.”

“Let’s just tell the clerk, just in case.”

After they finished buying, the two left the Absolute Pavilion and moved on to their next stop.

It was -Puyo’s Banyan Staff-, the store of a staff-crafting artisan.

“How did you even deposit your silver coins there?”

“I saved what I earned from working last time.”

“……”

While still confused about where to begin pointing things out, they saw a familiar figure walking ahead.

It was the suspicious outsider they had seen earlier at the bookstore.

“That one?”

“Just a coincidence on the street, I’m sure.”

Lee Han said firmly.

He really didn’t want to get involved with a suspicious person when time was already short.

Please, don’t let any trouble happen!

Thud—

The person stopped in front of -Puyo’s Banyan Staff-. There was no one else around.

Before he knew it, Lee Han instinctively grabbed hold of Giselle and chanted a spell.

“Cloak, swallow me!”

As the invisibility spell unfolded, the two of them vanished. The stranger looked around but couldn’t notice anything unusual.

Sfft—

The suspicious outsider drew a rough staff and pulled out a bloodstained dagger with their other hand.

They sliced their own arm with a ‘swish,’ wetting the blade with blood, which then made the mana pulse irregularly.

‘Blood magic!’

Lee Han realized what kind of spell the other was casting.

Of course, it was much rougher, more crude, and more dangerous than the blood magic Lee Han had learned, but the principle of amplifying mana with blood was the same.

As the mana rose, the stranger seemed emboldened and raised the staff to cast a spell.

“Power, power, let power…”

A clumsy spell to enhance oneself.

No matter how you looked at it, there was only one reason to chant such a spell in front of an uninhabited shop.

Lee Han and Giselle exchanged glances and sighed deeply at the same time.

It really was an outrageously unlucky day.

“Strike, lightning of Perkuntra!”

“Imbue the blade and destroy!”

“Graahk!”

The mage who tried to rob the store was struck down by lightning and blade.

• * *

“Thank you so much. Really, thank you.”

Puyo, who was not usually expressive, was so moved this time that he took both of their hands and shook them vigorously up and down.

“We just did what had to be done.”

“Yes. There’s no need to thank us so much…”

Since the city guards had taken away the fallen criminal, the two wanted to quickly collect their silver and leave.

“Wait a moment. I can’t let you go after doing me such a favor without offering at least something. I just recently acquired some very rare tea leaves…”

“Um, Mr. Puyo, actually, I have urgent business…”

“Come to think of it, how did you get out? Einrogard students can’t leave easily, can they?”

When Puyo asked curiously, Lee Han answered quickly.

“What kind of tea leaves did you get?”

“Ah. They’re tea leaves picked from the glaciers of the Imperial North Sea.”

Giselle shot a glance meaning ‘Let’s finish the conversation and get out quickly,’ but Lee Han had no choice.

Thinking about his future connection with Puyo, he couldn’t risk offending him for no reason.

Thanks to this, they were treated to tea, got their staff inspected, received advice on using magic, and even got a generous gift of freshly processed staff wood from Puyo.

“……”

“…We’re screwed, aren’t we.”

Giselle muttered, but Lee Han pretended not to hear and loaded the wood onto his back.

“Let’s go. We still have a lot to buy.”

“In my opinion, we’re done for. I bet there’ll be another mugger along our route.”

“Don’t say things Angrago would. Are you going to surrender to superstition?”

Giselle let out a long sigh and followed Lee Han.

He was right.

No matter how fate tormented them, you had to fight against it.

“Right. Other guys are probably running into accidents too, so even if we’re a bit unlucky…”

Crash!

“Aaagh!”

“The wall’s collapsed! Everyone, be careful!!”

“Jerrin! Jerrin’s trapped under the debris! Dammit. There’s so much blood! Oh Shisenza, why test us with such trials!”

Lee Han dropped the load of wood and ran to the construction site of a neighboring guild.

Giselle followed silently after him.

“Everyone move aside!”

“Who are—ugh, a mage! Are you a mage from Einrogard?”

With no time to explain, Lee Han brandished his staff and gestured. Giselle immediately used her strengthened muscles to kick the debris away.

When space was cleared, Lee Han washed the patient down with water and immediately began chanting a spell.

“Join, join, join, join…”

With a crunching sound, the bones began to knit together. Giselle had been clearing debris, but now stared in astonishment.

She knew that Lee Han was nearly the only first year who could properly use healing magic, but she hadn’t expected him to heal such an injury this quickly.

“…Heal!”

“I-it’s over?”

“That was lucky.”

Lee Han nodded while panting for breath.

He had ignored it when Moradi said, but maybe today really was an unlucky day.

They’d arrived at the mansion only for the prisoners inside to attempt escape, captured the prisoner only to run into a mugger, and after subduing the mugger, now an accident…

‘Maybe I should have tried fortune telling before setting the date.’

Regretting, Lee Han stowed his staff.

“T-thank you, Mage. You are a savior of life!”

“Please, tell us your name!”

Before Lee Han could answer, a city guard passing by removed his helmet, bowed, and kindly explained.

“The one on the left is Lee Han of the Wardanaz family, the one on the right is Giselle of the Moradi family. Mages from Einrogard. Once again, thank you for your dedication.”

“I see!! Thank you so much!”

“Uh…”

“Yes, that’s us.”

Lee Han and Giselle shook their heads halfway in resignation.

Maybe it was time to just accept reality.

• * *

“There’s still no one here!”

“Run, run!”

The students who returned before sunset ran along the upper corridor of the mansion with their luggage.

Fortunately, despite all the chaos, there was still no one at the mansion.

The dimensional gate was working fine too.

“Get inside!”

“Good job, everyone!”

The students waiting in the storage room cheered at seeing their returning friends.

“No one followed you, right?”

“Hey. I heard Wardanaz caught a mugger, what’s that about? Why would he catch a mugger?”

“Mugger? I heard he saved a stonemason guild member?”

“…???”

“?????”

The students looked at each other in confusion.

“It must be a rumor, right?”

“Of course. There’s no way Wardanaz is stupid enough to go around doing stuff like that.”

“Yeah. Moradi is with him too. That Moradi isn’t the kind of person to help others for nothing. He’s not Angrago.”

“Hey. You jerk.”