Episode 692

Episode 692

Normally, as a senior, you should be glad when an outstanding junior enters your tower, but even considering that, the junior in front of him was just too…

…He just didn’t seem like a first-year student.

‘What kind of guy is this?’

“You, which family did you say you’re from?”

“Don’t forget. If there’s anything you want to eat, you’ll need to give advice or information about the smuggling.”

Instead of answering, Lee Han subtly changed the subject.

Eurde didn’t notice and was dragged along.

“Are you telling me to betray my colleagues? Me, Eurde of House Marccang?”

“Weren’t you just now trying to escape after swearing on your family name?”

“Shh. Priest Siana, he’s still our senior.”

The juniors whispered quietly from behind, but Eurde remained unfazed.

If he lost his composure because of such murmuring, he wasn’t fit to be a student of Einrogard.

“Tell me. Does it really look like I, Eurde of House Marccang, would betray my colleagues?!”

“…Are you, by chance, doing this to drive up the price?”

Lee Han asked, just in case.

No matter how he looked, it seemed like Eurde was subtly signaling, ‘If the conditions are good enough, I’ll betray them.’

“What do you take me for! Besides, my colleagues would know I betrayed them? Unless there’s a way to prevent that!”

“After kidnapping you, we checked the surroundings. No one had followed. When you get released, just say you were kidnapped by the principal’s Death Knights. The principal is always a good excuse. Your colleagues will never think you were kidnapped by juniors.”

“Hey, that’s a really great idea!”

Eurde unintentionally exclaimed in admiration.

This first-year junior in front of him had a charisma that made him forget what had happened just moments ago.

No wonder he was leading this group of kidnappers.

‘He might make it big!’

“……”

“……”

Only after noticing the juniors’ stares did Eurde awkwardly clear his throat.

“Not that I’d betray anyone, I’m just impressed.”

“Yeah…”

“Lee Han. Raise the terms. I think he’ll accept if we offer more.”

“Hey! Don’t insult me!”

Eurde only pretended to be angry and glanced at Lee Han.

It meant, ‘If you have an offer, make it.’

Yoner thought to himself.

‘Are all seniors like this…?’

Even having adjusted to Einrogard, this was something else.

Lee Han calmly looked at the senior.

He could have offered gold coins or various artifacts, but he had no intention of wasting the hard-earned wealth he’d accumulated over the break.

“Senior. I only have one term to offer.”

“What is it?”

“If you help us, we’ll smuggle your goods along with ours.”

“…Hahahaha!”

Eurde, who’d been quietly listening, burst out laughing.

He laughed so hard he was out of breath, then stared at Lee Han in disbelief.

“Are you serious? Did you really plan to do the smuggling yourselves?”

“Otherwise, would we have any reason to confine you like this?”

“You guys are crazier than I thought.”

Eurde gazed up at the ceiling, sounding regretful.

He really didn’t want to say it, but today’s first-years were nothing like when he’d been one.

So reckless and fearless!

“Fine. As a fellow Blue Dragon Tower student, and in honor of meeting a junior like you, I’ll give you advice for free. Give up smuggling alone. Find another trustworthy senior and make an alliance. If you can.”

“I think I can do it.”

Lee Han spoke calmly.

It wasn’t bravado or bluff; he genuinely felt it was possible.

But Eurde, who had no idea what Lee Han had experienced over the past year, shook his head.

“I’ll tell you what’ll happen. The new semester will begin and you’ll gather at the main gate. The principal will make his remarks. Then the inspection begins. What do you think’ll happen?”

“Don’t you just get caught?”

At Gainando’s question, Eurde clicked his tongue.

“No. The seasoned seniors immediately single out the most vulnerable-looking students. Someone has to take the fall to distract the supervisors and reduce the pressure. First-years trying to smuggle? If it were me, I’d expose them straight away to draw attention. Everyone there will think the same.”

To create a brief opening or distraction during smuggling, students were willing to risk their lives.

No one would go easy on first-year juniors. If any weakness was shown, they’d be targeted even more relentlessly.

Eurde folded his arms and looked at Lee Han.

No matter how bold, couldn’t help but be daunted at hearing this…

“Thank you for the advice, senior. If you change your mind, let me know.”

“…?!!”

Eurde was appalled.

Was that guy’s heart made of steel?

To be this calm even after hearing that…

“Wait!”

As Lee Han and the juniors tried to head outside the annex, Eurde shouted hastily.

But once he had their attention, he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Trying to save face, Eurde shouted boastfully.

“It might not be my place to say, but is it okay to keep me locked up here? I could escape at any time, you know?”

“Ah. That’s why we’ll be placing a few summons around.”

“You can’t keep watching with summons, you know. The mana…”

Lee Han just shrugged, leaving with his friends.

The summoned beast, Sharkan, in the form of a leopard, sat down in front of Eurde with a yawn.

As Eurde stared blankly at Sharkan, Lee Han poked his head out the door and called out.

“Senior. If you attack Sharkan, I’ll set a basilisk on you next.”

“Okay, okay!”

If nothing else, Eurde could tell that that junior didn’t joke much.

A basilisk? What a cold, unfunny joke!

• * *

‘What are they doing?’

For the next few days, Eurde sat in the upper single room of the annex, watching the front yard, garden, and storage.

During his time there, he came to realize a few things.

First, these first-year kidnappers must have worked together more than once. They worked together like clockwork.

Dividing up and going out, divvying up roles, and going in and out of the manor was something you could only do with deep trust.

They were juniors from different towers, so how were they so organized?

They’d go out and return, go out and return…

Each time, the ringleader would bring something back and tell his friends, ‘I found out their method.’

Of course, he couldn’t be discovering the methods of other seniors preparing smuggling, could he? It made Eurde genuinely curious what he meant.

Another thing: changes were happening with the wagons near the storage.

The wagon decorations were being removed, the space inside widened, the floor and axles reinforced.

As if they were to be used as freight wagons.

On top of that, the first-year students painted symbols onto the wagons. Eurde felt he recognized the symbol from somewhere.

‘Where was it I saw that… huh?’

Come to think of it, it seemed like one of the merchant groups in Granden City had that symbol.

‘…Why are they making merchant freight wagons?’

Eurde racked his brain for a long time but couldn’t find an answer.

Why would they make a merchant freight wagon?

“Hey.”

Eurde finally couldn’t take it and called a junior.

“Did you call for me?”

“…What are you doing right now?”

“If you’d like to know, please cooperate.”

“…Forget it! Never mind!”

Eurde turned away angrily.

But Lee Han was not so easy as to be shaken by such tactics.

When the junior didn’t react at all, the frustrated Eurde finally spoke up.

“What exactly do you want from me? For the record, smuggling isn’t that easy. Just because I help doesn’t mean it’ll work out smoothly.”

“I know. And you don’t need to worry about the method. I’ve already prepared our smuggling plan.”

“…???”

How exactly…?

“How?”

“What I want to know first are the methods the other seniors trying to smuggle are planning to use.”

“Hmm.”

Eurde nodded, as if he expected this.

He’d half-expected it since Lee Han had asked if he’d betray his own group.

Knowing in advance how other students would smuggle was more important than one might think.

You could imitate their methods, tip off on them and profit, or at the very least, be ready. Smuggling was influenced greatly by the accidents other people caused.

“First, there’ll be the Dehumcha group. Those guys…”

“Oh, I know them. They’ll use -Low-grade Box Transformation-, right?”

“…How did you know that?!”

“Anyone else?”

Lee Han acted as though he didn’t want to be bothered with unimportant details.

Eurde was dumbstruck.

‘How did he find that out…?’

“There’s the Ivanna group…”

“I know them, too. They’re going to use body enhancement magic together with racial transformation magic, but honestly, it looked risky. Maintaining a giant race form throughout the inspection can’t be easy.”

“Hey! If you know everything, why are you even asking?!”

Eurde cried out, flabbergasted.

He couldn’t imagine what this first-year was thinking.

“What are you saying, senior. I’m only asking because there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“Who could know as much as you…! Tell me how you even found out!”

He crossed his arms, staring at Lee Han with a determined look, as if he wouldn’t let it go without an answer.

With a face that said, ‘Why does this senior keep pestering me with such obvious stuff?’ Lee Han answered.

“I contacted your seniors and asked them.”

“…What are you talking about? There’s no way they’d tell you.”

“I told them I wanted to smuggle together, then got the information out of them.”

“……”

Eurde dropped the cup he was holding.

So, he’d approached all the groups, tricked every one of their seniors, and got all their plans out of them?

‘Is that… even possible?!’

“Anyway, senior. Are there any others?”

“My group and… maybe one or two more, but I don’t know what the seniors above me are planning. No good comes from spreading that information.”

“Understood.”

Lee Han nodded and started jotting notes with his quill.

Even knowing only some of them would be a huge help on the day.

“So… let’s hear your smuggling plan. I’m curious.”

“I was just about to tell you. You’re the only one in our group with inspection experience, so you’ll have to join us.”

Eurde caught himself in surprise at how much he was anticipating the plan.

Was he really looking forward to a bunch of first-years’ amateur smuggling plan?

‘No, no way.’

But the junior before him had a presence that made even the unlikeliest things sound plausible.

Could it really…?!

“We’re going to drive a merchant freight wagon into the underground passage, drop off the contraband, and slip out.”

“…Wh… wha…?”

Utterly unprepared for this kind of plan, Eurde was at a loss for where to even start criticizing.

“What are you saying? Do you even know where the underground passage is? Even if you found it, there’ll be guards, not just anyone can get in…”

“I’ve located the underground passage. There’ll be guards, but the warehouse supervisor will be aboveground, so it should be comparatively easier. The merchants who supply goods are already determined. The symbol painted on our wagons is from their group.”

“……”

Eurde closed his eyes and started muttering.

Lee Han, puzzled, asked.

“What are you doing?”

“I… must’ve been hit by illusion magic. This is… an impossible dream. I have to wake up.”

“This is reality.”