Episode 572

Episode 572

“Was that not the case?”

-Of course not.

Ikurusha never once thought to tell a first-year student “Make all the giants invisible and bring them to the main building.”

Who in the world would assign such an impossible task?

“That’s a relief. I was worried I’d have to start practicing.”

-Hm. I may not be a mage, but I think you might have a problem there too…

“???”

Lee Han didn’t understand what Ikurusha meant.

What problem did he have?

‘Is he talking about the mistake of enrolling in Einrogard?’

-Back to the story, since I’ve brought it up, I naturally have a way to get you into the main building. I know of an underground passage. One that connects to the main building.

“!”

Lee Han was surprised by the unexpected method.

‘So that’s it!’

Now that he thought about it, the main building of Einrogard had just as many hidden shortcuts as it had history.

Even the -Spider Web Lake- in the deepest basement where the Ghoul lived connected to several places and professors often used it as a shortcut.

For an old giant like Ikurusha, it wasn’t surprising to know a secret underground passage connected to the main building or two.

“Such a method…! Remarkable!”

-It’s too soon to be happy. There are difficulties even with this method.

Ikurusha began to explain, drawing the underground passage connected to the mountain cave on the ground.

If you follow the hidden cave downwards, you’ll run into a rather old passage, and if you follow that in, you’ll arrive at the main building’s underground storage…

‘This is perfect.’

Lee Han tilted his head as he listened.

He couldn’t sense any major difficulty.

“What’s the difficulty?”

-This passage here is quite dangerous.

“Ah. I see…”

Lee Han tensed slightly and asked,

“Is there something like a hydra in there?”

-…Not that dangerous…

Ikurusha looked at Lee Han as if criticizing him.

Bringing up odd examples in a serious conversation.

“I was being serious…”

-That would be worse. Anyway, perhaps because there are swamps and lakes around the passage, you might encounter some fierce creatures. I haven’t used it for a while so I need to check it first.

“Understood. I’ll check it out.”

Lee Han noted -check passage monsters- on his paper.

-The next issue is when you come out of the passage. If my memory serves, that area is frequented by students.

“You mean upperclassmen?”

Lee Han widened his eyes.

If it was first-year students, Lee Han would know for sure.

And no first-year was bold enough to wander the main building’s basement.

Unless they were crazy…

‘Oops. I did wander around.’

Lee Han regretted it as his own thought stabbed back at him.

“Why are upperclassmen hanging around there? It’s a pretty deep basement storage.”

-I’m not too familiar with the mages’ business… That one’s hard to answer.

‘Hmm.’

Now that he thought about it, Lee Han knew little about how upperclassmen lived.

The skeletal principal prevented contact, but Lee Han had actually met a good number of upperclassmen…

Should he have interrogated them further back then?

‘From second year on, you can interact with other years, join clubs, take more outside commissions, do your own magical research… is that it?’

Maybe you’d get gloomy researching magic and end up holed up in the basement.

Lee Han immersed himself in this reasoning, wondering if the upperclassmen would get mad if they knew.

-Shall I continue?

“Yes. Please speak.”

-Even though Einrogard’s students are said to have iron wills, they’d still be surprised if they saw a giant. We have to keep any students away from there.

“That is difficult.”

-I agree. This is the hardest part. The passage, at least, you can just force your way through if needed.

After some thought, Lee Han nodded and said,

“First, please gather the giants at the cave entrance. I’ll find a way to keep the upperclassmen from coming near.”

-What are you planning?

Ikurusha was startled that Lee Han acted so quickly.

He knew well that first-years weren’t allowed to contact upperclassmen.

And yet this one spoke so easily?

“There are some upperclassmen I know. They might refuse, but I’m going to ask them.”

-…Wait. Wait. You’re sure you’re a first-year, right?

At those unbelievable words, Ikurusha started wondering if he’d gotten Lee Han’s year wrong.

• * * -Upperclassman, hello. Are you there? Lee Han returned to the secret base and moved his quill. It was a notebook connected to Direte. Luckily, the answer soon came. What is it? -I have something to ask, but if you’re uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer. I don’t really have anything to offer you either. Ten. -Excuse me? As a junior, you could ask about ten questions. -No… That can’t be. That’s not the rule. As Lee Han had heard before, the school-issued communication artifacts were strictly for one-for-one equivalent exchanges.

Otherwise, you couldn’t trust an anonymous counterpart whose face and name you didn’t know.

If I think about what you’ve done, ten questions are fine… hang on.

-Ah. Are you busy?

After a moment, Direte answered again.

No. I was just getting ready. Go ahead.

-I don’t really know what the upperclassmen do, but are there some who frequently stay around the underground storage?

Lee Han described the area he’d heard about from Ikurusha as specifically as possible.

After all, there had to be more than one deep basement storage.

Ah. Here. I know.

“!”

Lee Han breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Upperclassman Direte recognized it just from the description.

This place is… hmm…

-If it’s hard to answer, it’s okay.

Direte’s words seemed to tremble with hesitation, making Lee Han wonder what kind of place this was.

Was it some evil secret lecture room whose location must not be revealed?

‘Is there a demon turned into a lecture room?’

It didn’t quite make sense, but with the skeletal principal, he might have captured a demon and used it as a lecture room…

It’s not quite such a secret, well… yeah.

After wavering, Direte eventually gave in and revealed the answer.

There’s a small hole connected to the kitchen around there.

-Excuse me?

So… students go inside to eat.

Einrogard, being so vast, had dozens of kitchens. Some were even neglected or forgotten.

Among them, the kitchen Direte mentioned had a special barrier spell—if you tried to take food out, it set off an alarm.

Normally you’d have to give up, but Einrogard students weren’t so easily stopped.

“Just go in, eat your fill, and leave!”

…In such ways, students would break the kitchen’s spell and successfully raid it for food.

-I heard there are quite a few upperclassmen, but surely not everyone was going in there just to eat, right?

They really all are there just to go into the kitchen.

“……”

Lee Han was at a loss for words.

Noticing the junior’s silence, Direte hurriedly added,

By the way, our black magic faction didn’t use that place often.

-Uh, no. You’re welcome to use it. If it’s in the school, you should use anything.

I’m telling you, we didn’t!

‘Time to change the subject.’

Now that Lee Han had figured out why there were so many students around, he asked the next question.

-Upperclassman, is there any way to keep the students around that area from coming close, just for a little while?

Junior, can I ask why? The plan would change depending on the reason.

-Well…

As Lee Han hesitated, this time Direte reassured him.

If it’s hard to say, you don’t have to. But just know this: Upperclassmen of the black magic faction will be on your side no matter what strange thing you do.

-Thank you. Actually, I want to bring in some giants and hide them for a bit.

***

Black magic faction students, Koholti and Ogoldos, were standing behind Direte as he spoke with his junior via quill.

The reason Direte had paused earlier was to call the black magic students.

“Since the junior is asking for help, you both join in too.”

“But the principal said we’d be sent to the punishment room if we were caught interacting with freshmen…”

“Don’t do it, then, if you don’t want to.”

At Direte’s words, Koholti glanced at Ogoldos full of disdain.

“You ungrateful piece of trash…”

“When did I say I wouldn’t do it?!”

Ogoldos retorted hotly.

He’d just asked once—was that such a deadly sin?

The two bickered, but eventually stood behind Direte.

“So what does the junior need help with?”

“Don’t know. Have to hear him out first. He’s asking why students gather at that kitchen with the little hole. Should I answer that as is? It’s embarrassing…”

“Nothing we can do about it…”

“What do we say if he asks why upperclassmen don’t just solve it with magic instead of crawling in like beggars?”

“He’s not that kind of junior.”

After a moment of thought, Direte decided to just be honest.

Luckily, the junior didn’t ask ‘Why don’t the upperclassmen just use magic and why do they crawl in like beggars?’

“Either of you go there a lot?”

“Uh… no.”

“I… I don’t go often either.”

“……”

Direte regretted asking so casually.

Should have just not asked!

“Hmm. I wonder what kind of favor he’s going to ask.”

“That’s normal for a new student. Back when I was a freshman, I even left a letter at the tower, saying, ‘Upperclassmen, please spare me some food.’ I was so naïve.”

“What happened?”

Ogoldos was curious.

“Someone left a rock with a note saying ‘Eat this.’”

“……”

At the story, so typical of Einrogard, Ogoldos became sad.

“Anyway, let’s tell him to feel free to ask. No matter what happens, the black magic faction will be on his side…”

“That’s a good line. Won’t he be touched?”

“Wouldn’t that just be burdensome?”

“Shut it.”

Ignoring the banter behind him, Direte moved his quill.

Ogoldos and Koholti waited anxiously, half expectation, half worry, for the reply.

‘He wouldn’t go to another faction because he feels burdened, would he…?’

Thank you, upperclassman. Actually, I want to bring in some giants and hide them for a bit.

“……”

“……”

There was silence in the workshop for a moment.

Koholti rubbed his eyes, came closer, and checked again. But the word “giants” hadn’t changed.

“Wh…what?”

“Was that a mistake?”

“No, but how would you even bring giants? And why hide them?!”

Direte, listening to the noisy conversation between colleague and junior, closed his eyes and thought.

Then, with a flash, he picked up his quill.

-Not even surprised.

“…No. No. No…”

“That’s not right! What a showoff…!”

Koholti and Ogoldos were shocked at Direte’s bravado.

Trying to preserve his dignity as an upperclassman was one thing, but not even asking about this?

“Everyone.”

“Huh?” “Yes?”

“Quiet.”

“……”

Silencing the two, Direte continued writing.

-Hiding giants is a common thing.

Is it??

-Of course. Don’t underestimate upperclassmen. They’re mages well accustomed to these sorts of things.

With next year’s chances to meet juniors dwindling, Direte went all out.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your help!

After reading Lee Han’s reply, Direte put the quill in the inkwell.

Then he looked at the other black magic students and spoke.

“Alright. Both of you, come up with a way to keep students from entering the room with the hidden giants.”

“……”

“……”