Episode 742

‘I’d better pretend not to know anything.’

Lee Han instinctively turned his body and lowered his head.

Since he was already a member of the masonry club, he’d have to face his seniors sooner or later, but he didn’t want it to be today—right in the middle of them demolishing a workshop.

Maybe, deep down, Lee Han’s desire to rest a bit over the weekend was making its own appeal to his heart without him realizing it.

Whoosh!

As Lee Han’s anxiety spiked, -Bagnee’s Flame Bull- flickered and spat sparks from his body.

Seeing this, the seniors spoke up cautiously.

“Kid, usually we don’t meddle in other people’s business, but you really ought to dispel that curse.”

“Looks kind of dangerous.”

Einrogard students generally didn’t point things out, even if someone was walking around half turned to stone or with a basilisk hanging from their head.

After all, the person usually knew best!

If something was truly painful or tough, they’d handle it themselves.

Also, a lot of students deliberately did such things for magical research.

Maybe they were testing petrification magic on themselves, or seeing which part of their head a basilisk liked best, so people mostly didn’t interfere.

But, the Wardanaz junior looked way too dangerous for it to be called just ‘individual style.’

“It’s not a curse, but magic training.”

“What kind of magic training? Who in their right mind curses themselves for practice…”

“Wardanaz!”

As all eyes turned to Lee Han because of the flames shooting up, a masonry club member who recognized him approached.

It was Marcang family’s Erde, just released from the punishment room that morning.

“It really is Wardanaz. Good to see you! Hey, everyone, look! This is the junior I told you about? The one who came to see me in the punishment room!”

“……”

“……”

The others looked at Erde with mixed expressions, unsure whether to believe him.

They knew about the famous ‘cross-discipline, all club’ junior, but visiting the punishment room was a step too far…

‘That’s got to be exaggerated.’

‘Marcang must be showing off.’

It seemed more likely Erde had just cajoled a naïve junior and made up a ‘beloved senior’ story.

It felt like one of those half-true anecdotes the Skull Headmaster sometimes published in the Imperial papers.

Since his peers didn’t believe him, Erde got flustered.

He’d gotten no respect inside or outside the punishment room—who wouldn’t be mad?

“I’m telling you, it’s real! Junior, YOU tell them. You visited the punishment room, right?! To help me!”

“Yes. I visited because you’d helped me before, senior.”

“Say how you got in, too!”

“I persuaded the Death Knights and asked the spirit of the punishment room to let me pass for a bit.”

“…Hey. Be serious.”

Erde muttered, embarrassed.

He wouldn’t believe that if he heard it himself.

“But that’s really how I got in.”

“What? That’s impossible… Ugh, forget it. Isn’t there anything more convincing? Nobody believes me!”

The others shook their heads and pulled Erde away.

“Marcang. Okay, we’ll believe you. You’re such a great senior that a junior would even visit you in the punishment room.”

“Blue Dragon Tower folks are the worst, all honor and pride.”

“I’m serious, you jerks!”

The club members turned to more serious matters.

“You’re Lee Han of the Wardanaz family, right? We don’t care about punishment room visits. We care about club work. You know what the masonry club does, right?”

“Build… buildings?”

Einrogard always had a surprising amount of demand for new construction.

From secret student caches and cabins to magic research workshops, to fortresses…

“Right. Building’s a big part. But that’s not all.”

“You have to be able to demolish, too. If clients won’t pay or break the deal, you have to bring it down. And you need to do it quickly.”

“Sometimes, you have to stop someone else from demolishing a building, too.”

“And you? You’re perfect for all that, kid. Looking forward to working with you.”

“…Excuse me?”

Lee Han was startled by his seniors’ sudden expectations.

“I don’t have that much building experience… Not raised in a guild, either…”

He’d sometimes helped the Skull Headmaster repair Einrogard last year, or worked on fortress plans, but had never thought of himself as an expert.

What were the seniors seeing?

“You’ve got a lot of mana, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all you need. That solves almost every problem we just mentioned.”

“……”

• * *

Incredibly, the masonry club members had been speaking the truth.

First to greet Lee Han was Salko of House Tutanta, who nodded knowingly.

“Knew you’d come, Wardanaz. No club fits you better.”

“I was forced to join, Salko.”

Salko ignored him and pressed on.

“As you can see, magical construction means casting a ton of spells, brick by brick. Stamina’s really important.”

“That makes sense.”

“Same goes for demolition. You can’t knock it all down in one go, so you have to carefully spell-dismantle it piece by piece. Stamina is just as crucial there.”

In magic, stamina was mostly about magical power.

Focus and other factors mattered, but once you ran out of mana, casting spells became very hard.

“Salko.”

“What is it?”

“All done.”

“…Wardanaz, you! You’re the kind of worker that should be in the guild!”

Salko’s whiskers shook with awe at Lee Han’s speed.

He’d expected good things, but Lee Han surpassed all expectations.

Gathering the prepared lumber in one spot, Lee Han asked,

“Salko, did you join the club for architecture?”

While working in the masonry club area, Lee Han could overhear the members’ conversations.

Even if demolition and fighting came up now and then, the club members were mostly here for creation.

There were a lot of students taking enchantment magic—while some went into artifacts, others went into construction.

-When the funding comes in, I want to finish the Cyan Tower.

-Think you can? Even now, monsters attack—it’s gotten too tall.

-Heh. Once it’s done, even Skull Headmaster will have to approve it for graduation. It’s tough but worth it.

Salko, too, was attending enchantment classes and came from a guild background, so he was probably here because he had a building he wanted to create.

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“I was asking if you joined the club to build something you wanted.”

“No, just good pay.”

Salko shrugged like it was obvious. Lee Han felt a little awkward.

“…Don’t all the official clubs have pretty good pay, though?”

“What you just finished—in prep work alone—is thirteen imperial gold coins, Wardanaz. There’s no club with pay as high as this, if the contracts keep coming.”

“Thinking it over, I really am made for the masonry club.”

Accepting reality, Lee Han resolved to fulfill his duties as a proper member now that he was in.

And he realized being in several clubs wasn’t so bad.

If there weren’t big masonry contracts, he could earn gold from the polo club; if there weren’t big polo matches, there was always the kitchen club…

‘A little nuts, but maybe it’s worth it.’

With every bit of club pay he heard about, Lee Han grew more optimistic.

Ding-ding-ding—

A bell rang atop the masonry club’s keep, and a member shouted.

“Urgent job, urgent job! Pay is more than double! If you want in, head to the west side, in front of Nightmare Echo Forest!”

“Urgent job, huh. Wardanaz, coming with?”

“What’s an urgent job? Nightmare Echo Forest isn’t… exactly an easy place…”

“It means, for whatever reason, the building needs to go up faster. With bonus pay, it’s always worth it.”

“Let’s go!”

Lee Han was amazed at the golden contracts constantly coming to the masonry club.

What kind of people had so much gold they could just toss bonuses around for emergency buildings?

• * *

Blue Dragon Tower member and Enchantment School student Anpagond scowled at the unfinished tower.

“It’s not as strong as I expected.”

“We definitely amplified it using Nightmare Echo Forest’s power…”

“Is the forest energy weaker? Either way, we’ll need strength from elsewhere. It must be done today.”

Anpagond and the other members pulled out the blueprints for the nearly completed -Tower of Echoes-.

The students who commissioned this tower were trying to make a new workshop for music magic research.

Because music magic differed in many ways from ordinary magic, they needed many special features, but the masonry club used their wisdom and persistence to accomplish the clients’ requests.

But construction always comes with surprises.

The sound amplification magic using the forest’s energy was turning out weaker than expected.

It was a kind of natural disaster, but no one made excuses. Having taken payment, they’d meet the deadline at any cost.

“Everyone here? Let’s start. We’ll set up extra magic circles from that shady area to the tower stairs for more mana!”

“Senior, it’s not possible!”

“We have to do it. Start now!”

Such relentless drive from Enchantment School students could be intimidating, but in these situations, it also inspired confidence.

Though Anpagond wasn’t exactly a popular club senior, in a crisis, his calm was reassuring.

Step-step-step—

When Lee Han and the others arrived, they were amazed by the scale of the project already underway.

“Are they adding a new building to connect with that?”

“Looks like it… but finishing this today? Seems impossible.”

Lee Han and Salko whispered as they joined the work.

Club members already at it welcomed the newcomers.

“Good to see you! If you get tired, speak up!”

“Don’t overexert yourself!”

“Thank you, seniors.”

The seniors watched, wondering if the juniors would push themselves or make mistakes—and were amazed at their speed.

Salko was quick, but the Wardanaz kid next to him was a monster.

“Is that him?”

“Must be.”

“That deathmatch was worth it.”

“Damn, we should’ve locked him down exclusively.”

How much time passed?

With the new annex next to the tower nearly completed, the members cheered in delight.

It was all but finished.

“All done. When you’re finished, go back to the dorm and get a good rest, alright?”

“Yes!”

Salko nodded energetically.

Truthfully, they’d have gone to rest even without that advice. A major construction job like this was exhausting, even working in a group.

Even with Lee Han’s nearly infinite mana, he’d need to recover—he’d spent a lot of mental strength and concentration.

“Wardanaz, when you’re done, don’t bother with other clubs today. Go rest, okay?”

Before Lee Han could answer, there was applause from behind.

It was the music magic students.

“It’s complete!”

“As expected of the masonry club. Worth every gold coin.”

“Even if it is expensive.”

“Are those twin towers what resonate the mana? Efficiently built.”

“Still too expensive…”

Talking among themselves, the bard Ifadur spotted Lee Han and waved.

“Wardanaz!”

“Ah, so you’re Wardanaz? We were just about to call you.”

The students gathered to study music magic swarmed Lee Han and, before he knew it, dragged him into the tower.

Salko stared after them and shook his head with pity.

“Wait, wait. Aren’t you supposed to rest?”

“No, it’s fine. Wardanaz probably plans to go straight in and do research. He hates wasting time. Ruthless kid…”

Hearing Salko, the masonry club members looked anew at the tower.

The madness of “all disciplines enrollment” defied their imagination.