Episode 590

A mage isn’t supposed to reveal their secret methods, but I’m genuinely curious about this one.

Oriphulas asked seriously.

The methods used by previous students were methods Oriphulas could sufficiently understand.

But as for the method just shown by the boy of House Wardanaz, he had no idea what kind of secret was hidden behind it.

To think someone had deceived the eyes of Oriphulas, who served as an Imperial legal officer for 131 years.

By what method?

“Actually…”

Actually?

“So… um, if I reveal this, will it affect my grade?”

It will not! Stop tormenting me and tell me!

Oriphulas, curiosity burning, shouted with excitement.

Professor Rosine pretended not to care, but her ears were perked up.

“The thing is… in the past, I fought and apprehended this criminal before.”

“……”

“……”

Professor Rosine and the honest Imperial citizen Ubal beside him were lost for words.

Kilbedek couldn’t even raise his head from shame.

No one present said a word, but in Kilbedek’s ears, he seemed to hear, “You lost to a kid this young?”

And in fact, those phantom voices were more or less correct.

‘When did he fight him? It’s not like freshmen and these people cross paths very often.’

‘No matter how gifted, he’s still young. To get caught like that… must’ve been a pretty bad adventurer.’

Before realizing it, Kilbedek began to make excuses aloud.

“There were… certain unavoidable circumstances…”

Perfect score… perfect score!!

Oriphulas, trembling with emotion, snapped out of it and began clapping.

It was a truly astonishing and moving method.

• * *

“That was a really unique test.”

“The actors did a good job. They really seemed like actual criminals.”

“……”

Lee Han thought about saying something, but held back so as not to frighten his friends.

There was nothing good to be gained by telling them that criminals had actually been kidnapped and brought in from outside.

‘Yeah. Anyway, there aren’t many finals left now.’

As the many exams wound down one after another and the weekend drew near, the students’ faces brightened.

Even in Lee Han’s eyes, this final exam had been the most stable one this year.

Surprisingly, students’ faces showed none of the usual emotions—despair, agony, regret, hopelessness—that you’d expect.

Usually, during exam season, those sorts of feelings should be deeply etched like scars.

Of course, this was largely thanks to the massive jailbreak incident before finals.

If you had a warm meal, a comfortable bed, and ample study materials, you could keep your sanity while studying magic—at least to some extent!

The students, having realized this secret, were amazed themselves.

‘And I was surprised too.’

Who knew that just filling your stomach and warming your back could make you this resilient?

Lee Han briefly considered telling the skeletal headmaster if he ran into him, but quickly gave up the idea.

‘I doubt he’d take it very well.’

“Is anyone here?”

-Come in! Come in!

Passing through a poisonous fog, Lee Han arrived in the underground warehouse where the giants stayed, and stepped inside.

Even while taking exams, Lee Han stopped by to check on the giants from time to time.

Since they had to stay nearly a week, it was impossible to know what variables might arise.

But the giants listened even better than Lee Han had expected. The bond of friendship forged with the giants was unshaken, even down here in an underground storage.

‘Nothing out of the ordinary.’

A few giants were sound asleep, snoring loudly. Some were drawing murals on the walls. Some were playing a game of giant’s chess (a variant of chess using giants and mountain-destroying sheep as pieces).

“Has everything been all right?”

-There was something!

“?!”

Lee Han was startled.

“What happened… Did you perhaps run out of food?”

-No! More than that, mage, do you think we’re gluttons?

“Of course not! You eat so little I’m actually worried about you.”

Lee Han lied without batting an eye. The giants were delighted by his flattery.

-Is that so? Really?

“Yes. Do you know my friend Gainando I mentioned before? He eats much more than you…”

-Oh! The one who put a stew pot on his head?

-The one whose clothes all burned when he tried to snuff fire out with his cloak?

-The one who got abducted by a wyvern trying to jump from the tower?

“That last one isn’t right.”

Lee Han looked puzzled.

He certainly hadn’t told that story last time.

The giants scratched their heads.

-Huh? Wasn’t it him?

-Strange? Then who was it?

-I already told the other giants it was Gainando.

-Let’s just say it’s Gainando!

While the giants reached a consensus, Lee Han steered the conversation back on track.

“So what was the trouble? If it wasn’t food, did other upperclassmen visit, or…?”

-Right. Mages came here once.

“!”

Lee Han tensed up.

Other upperclassmen trying to access this underground warehouse was one of the most likely—and most dangerous—things.

If any of them spread rumors about the giants, or even went straight to Professor Voladi…

‘Wait. No.’

Lee Han then ruled out the possibility of someone telling Professor Voladi directly.

No matter what, he couldn’t imagine any upperclassman would actually do that.

“Did they get in?”

-No. They collapsed before coming in.

-Their friends carried them off and escaped.

“……”

Lee Han felt a bit worried, recalling the thick toxic spells and black magic traps still deployed.

He hoped the presence of black magic didn’t make things worse for upperclassmen because of him…

‘Nothing to be done. I’ll just have to clear this up later.’

Lee Han resolved to apologize and explain on behalf of the Black Magic School upperclassmen when he became a second-year next year.

“So if it’s not food or magic students—what happened?”

-A monster came in here.

“There are so many monsters in Einrogard…”

Lee Han didn’t act surprised at hearing “monster.”

Honestly, by the numbers, there were more monsters than students in Einrogard.

“It wasn’t something like a flying skull, right? Those are really dangerous.”

-Not that!

-It was the blood-sucking monster you told us about last time.

“…!!!”

Lee Han was stunned.

The vampiric monster that had awakened somewhere in the underground of Einrogard and escaped a death knight cordon.

He’d assumed it had fled into the mountains for good…

To think it would show up under the school again.

“Are you sure?”

-I saw it. It opened the door and came in, but ran off when it saw us.

-It bolted, tail between its legs!

The giants roared with prideful laughter.

‘Hmm.’

But Lee Han was troubled.

The monster fleeing at the sight of giants made sense—they were powerful, not worth fighting.

But to flee instantly?

It meant the monster was craftier and more intelligent than expected. It had clearly learned from its last run-in with the death knights.

A monster with good learning ability, now that was a hassle.

‘I just need to avoid it until finals are over.’

-Anyway. That’s not the important part.

“?”

-It was looking for a mage.

-Yeah. It sniffed around for the scent of a mage.

“…?!?!!!!”

Of all the things Lee Han heard today, this surprised him most.

“It was… looking for me? Are you sure it’s not just a mistake?”

-No mistake. It was sniffing for mage scent.

-Wild beasts do it often. If a sheep gets mad, it sniffs out whoever angered it and snaps their back.

The giants of the Einrogard Mountains were talented at tending even savage monsters, so they were good at reading monster intentions.

So their words about the vampire monster carried weight.

“Why would it come after me? I didn’t do anything—well, nothing major, but the death knights were way worse.”

Lee Han had attacked during that fight, but compared to what the death knights did, it was negligible.

If it wanted revenge, shouldn’t it be after the death knights first?

-What are you saying, mage?

-Mage, you still don’t know wild beasts well. Raise more sheep and you’ll see.

The giants burst out laughing at Lee Han’s response.

He still lacked experience in monster ecology.

-Beasts chase tasty prey, not the hunter who struck them.

-That’s right. Clearly, it’s fixated on the mage.

“!”

Only then did Lee Han fully understand.

‘So that’s it??’

The reason the vampire came here was to follow his lingering scent.

It ran after encountering the unexpected giants, but…

‘Is it because of my mana? Damn.’

The only reason Lee Han could guess a vampire monster he’d never met would salivate at him was mana.

-So, mage. We have something to say.

-That’s right. That’s right.

The sleeping giants woke up; the mural-painting giants came over, and the chess-playing giants halted their game.

To be precise, the losing giant stopped. The winning one fumed noisily.

All the giants gathered and folded their arms, making a firm decision.

-We’ll be your guards.

“…Excuse me?”

-No matter how we think about it, that beast is trouble. Especially for a mage.

“…Uh, no.”

Lee Han, momentarily tempted, snapped out of it.

No matter how reassuring, you couldn’t just walk around school with giants as bodyguards.

Never mind Professor Voladi’s tests, the entire campus would instantly call him insane.

-They say that kid walks around with giants as bodyguards.

-He’s totally nuts…

“That’s not possible. You can’t be discovered.”

-Oh, right.

-We forgot.

The giants belatedly realized the situation and drooped sadly.

They wanted to help Lee Han, but couldn’t leave.

“I’ll be fine. I can protect myself.”

-Really?

-Aren’t you in hiding now to avoid that strong mage?

The giants were poor with Imperial tongue, not stupid.

Lee Han flinched as they stabbed right into his soft spots.

“…Professor Baegrek is a bit of a special case.”

-Can’t even beat flying skulls, huh?

“The headmaster is also a special…”

-What about that smart troll-person?

“Professor Garcia, too… N-no, really, for my level I’m pretty good at self-defense!”

Lee Han’s voice rose without knowing.

The giants looked at him with pity.

-Mage, it’s all right. Mages are always frail.

-Sturdy fighters protect. Mages are protected. That’s the way.

‘How unfair.’

Lee Han was frustrated, unable to get his point across because everyone he’d ever compared himself to was just too strong.

Among regular mages, he really was good at self-preservation!

-Mage. If you need help, call us.

-We’ll come and help.

“Yes… Thank you.”

Lee Han replied in a weary voice.

• * *

“Wait. Did the headmaster trick us?”

Professor Paselete belatedly realized a question he should’ve asked before finals.

-Could be?

-Doesn’t seem that way.

“Still, would he give a student an especially hard test…?”

The skeletal headmaster said, ‘Lee Han wanted a tougher exam,’ so they’d prepared accordingly, but on reflection, it was unlikely a student would ask for that.

Doesn’t something seem fishy…?

-Just see his reaction! If it’s a lie, he’ll speak up for himself!

Professor Paselete thought that sounded plausible given the voice of her other personality.

If the headmaster’s words were false, the student himself would say, ‘Professor, my test is odd.’

If he saw he’d been given completely different materials from the other students, he’d surely notice.

A short time later.

The students arrived.

Each went to their seat and checked their materials and exam instructions.

Lee Han looked his over, then started his exam with no protest whatsoever.

‘Oh… so it was real?’

Professor Paselete began to feel a bit sorry toward the skeletal headmaster.