Episode 746

“But will the principal really help?”

Angrago asked with a worried face.

The skeleton principal had never been a warm educator.

Actually, most professors in Einrogard were far from being warm educators.

There had been a few student disappearances before, but even then, the skeleton principal never took action.

-“You went missing on your own, so come back on your own!”

“…Still, this time it’s his fault, so maybe it’ll be a bit different.”

Giselle spoke cautiously.

Honestly, Giselle was feeling half and half.

Since it’s the skeleton principal, it seemed unlikely he would help, but at the same time, Wardanaz was his best disciple, so maybe he’d treat him specially—and also, since it was his own doppelgänger’s doing…

-I don’t think the principal will help Wardanaz…

-I agree. The world burning to destruction seems more likely than the principal helping Wardanaz.

‘Why are the priests the most pessimistic?’

Giselle irritably looked down at the sheaf of papers.

It wasn’t as if they weren’t capable of thinking negative thoughts themselves. But if there was ever a time to force themselves to be optimistic, it was now.

Looking to the side, Angrago already wore a look like the world had ended.

“Right? The principal won’t help, will he?”

“Just wait a bit.”

“But…”

Giselle drew her sword. Angrago immediately snapped to attention.

“We should wait!”

“Yeah.”

How much time passed?

Excited, trembling letters from the princess appeared.

-The principal says he understands!!!!

“!!!!”

“Really…?! Wait a second.”

Giselle felt a sense of incongruity. Apparently, Wardanaz, even though detained, thought the same, since he asked the question first.

-Princess, was that all he said?

-Huh?

-I mean, did he say when or how he would help?

-…No…

Adenart also seemed to sense something off and couldn’t reply further.

All the students watching were thinking the same thing.

‘…Is he really going to help?’

Even if he had jumped up immediately, saying, “Let’s go rescue him! Follow me!” it would have been suspicious, but “understood” was all they got.

-Who wants to go see the professors?

-Let’s go together.

-I’d rather go see the professors.

-I will go as well…

The students quickly came to terms with reality.

Rather than rely on the skeleton principal, it seemed faster to ask the other professors for help.

• * *

“But why professors, plural?”

“……”

The others fell silent at Angrago’s question.

Looking back, aside from Professor Garcia, there wasn’t really anyone else to talk to.

“What about Professor Verdus?”

-Guys, I’m the one who’s been captured, but Professor Verdus is really not the one.

Lee Han answered his friends’ question immediately.

“What about Professor Baegrek?”

-Guys, I’m the one who’s been captured, but if you go, you might come under attack yourselves.

“Hey. Stop asking Wardanaz.”

Giselle glared sharply at Angrago.

Since earlier, he’d been asking the kidnapped one for more and more escape ideas.

“But Wardanaz knows the most about professors.”

“Professor Garcia will do a good job speaking to the other professors.”

Tijilling spoke with a voice full of trust.

With Professor Garcia’s personality, he’d surely talk to the most helpful professors himself.

“Professor Garcia seemed really shocked—hope he’s okay.”

“He’ll be fine. If it’s Professor Garcia, he’d take down a doppelgänger with his fists.”

“……”

Everyone inwardly cocked their heads at Angrago’s unfounded confidence, but said nothing.

For now, they needed hope.

“Let’s go to the upperclassmen then.”

“Can you persuade them?”

“We’ll have to trick them. Don’t mention anything about the crazy doppelgänger. Just say he went missing somewhere in the mountains.”

Some of the friends reacted negatively to Giselle’s words.

“We need to add more detail.”

“It sounds weird just saying he went missing. What if we say he disappeared while taming a new animal?”

“That’ll work for the polo club upperclassmen.”

When even the priests put their heads together, planning ‘how to deceive people,’ Angrago was astounded.

“Wow. I never knew the priests were so good at lying.”

Thwack!

“Why’d you hit me, Moradi?!”

• * *

The crazy doppelgänger attacked Lee Han every time he cast a spell under the 3rd circle, then sighed.

“Curse my fate…”

“But, royalty, don’t I have to practice even these spells to master higher ones?”

The royal pride left by the ancient royalty looked down at Lee Han with scorn.

“Such petty spells should have been discarded a year or two after starting magic.”

“I only learned that spell a year or t—ugh.”

After attacking the cheeky disciple again, the crazy doppelgänger began his explanation.

To him, Lee Han’s low-level element magic—enchantment, transformation, foresight, summoning, etc.—was just too basic.

Those kinds of spells were for boiling water or starting a fire, not for demonstrating achievement before a master.

The only spell this lowborn had shown that deserved tolerance was the water prison spell.

“So you want me to train in 4th circle magic?”

Another attack.

Lee Han was sent flying.

“…5th circle?”

The crazy doppelgänger started to attack but sighed and stopped.

Lee Han couldn’t read his opponent’s mind, but could feel that he was internally cursing fate.

Probably thinking, “How did I end up with such an idiot?”

“Fine. 5th circle. Let’s compromise at 5th circle, lowborn.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Now, cast one.”

“…I haven’t learned any yet?”

Rather than attack, the doppelgänger shuddered at his disciple’s appalling stupidity.

Then he said,

“Shield spell.”

“?”

“Make sure you can explain the shield spell you used previously to this royalty.”

His voice was so exhausted, it was clear his only wish was to compromise.

Of course, to Lee Han, it sounded like nonsense.

How was he supposed to do something he’d never done before, regardless of the opponent’s disappointment?

It was essentially telling him to invent a new spell…

“I’ve never done it before.”

“Then do it now.”

With that, the crazy doppelgänger sent Lee Han flying. The solid bedrock yawned open and swallowed him whole.

A hidden workshop inside the mountain revealed itself.

“!”

Except for being a tad old-fashioned, the setup resembled Einrogard’s magical workshops.

Various reagents and grimoires were there…

‘Except for the lack of an exit, it’s pretty similar.’

“I’ll give you one day.”

Lee Han didn’t ask the crazy doppelgänger—vanishing beyond the wall—what would happen if he failed.

No need to ask; he could guess.

‘Let’s try to read his mind.’

Sitting in a chair, Lee Han fell into thought.

Even when dealing with a lunatic, grasping their thinking was important.

‘What’s the connection between ordering me to master a 5th circle spell and to create a shield spell?’

Making a spell sounded grand, but if you approached it simply, it could be easy.

For example, if you rearranged the -Create Flame- spell uniquely using your own incantation, gestures, and mana, you could even call it -Wardanaz’s Flame Creation-.

But development like this was meaningless.

Spells like -Create Flame- had been developed over a long history, and were almost perfect in efficiency.

Tinkering would only produce a slower, more mana-consuming version.

For it to be meaningful, your spell needed to improve at least one aspect over the existing ones.

Like, specifying a form change, or delving deeper into the property of flame itself…

The shield spell Lee Han had subconsciously used was cast to block the doppelgänger’s attack.

To sum up its features…

‘It’s a telekinesis spell. Cast speed is very fast. No incantation? Did I really cast it without an incantation? People really can do anything when their lives are at stake.’

As he pondered, Lee Han shivered at the thought of Professor Voladi’s theory.

‘No, I can’t generalize a coincidental occurrence into standard educational theory.’

He returned to the topic at hand.

‘If I organize this shield spell, could that help me learn the 5th circle spell?’

Nothing else really came to mind.

Otherwise, why would he order him, in the middle of demanding a 5th circle spell, to make a shield spell?

-Hoo b ae r u o kay???

“?”

As he drew the mana structure of the telekinesis spell he’d learned, adjusting it for shield form, Lee Han was startled by Direte’s sudden message.

He’d told his friends, but not Direte.

He didn’t want to add to the hardships of an already hard-pressed fifth year.

-What’s up?

-That’s what I should be asking! Where are you?!

-In the Blue Dragon Tower dormitory?

-Want to die, junior???

-…I’ve been kidnapped by the crazy doppelgänger.

-Yeah! Word is spreading through the clubs!

‘Ah.’

Lee Han realized what had happened.

His friends must have gone to each club asking for help.

-For the polo club, they said you went missing while taming a new animal, in the cooking club you went missing trying to capture a mountain-wrecking sheep, in the library club you went missing looking for a secret book hidden somewhere in the mountains, in the mason’s club…

-My friends have been lying. Probably Moradi’s work.

Lee Han thought only Moradi would make up such lies.

-It’s a good strategy. So, your location?

-I’m not sure myself. I’m in a workshop inside a rocky mountain range, but it’ll be hard to track. This crazy doppelgänger is no ordinary wizard.

-Got it.

-…Senior, you’re not planning an anonymous tip-off, are you?

Direte, who was in the administration building, was startled.

‘How did he know?!’

-An anonymous tip-off… I could get in trouble for nothing.

-Is that what matters now?!

-No. The principal said he’d look for me, too.

-You believe that??

‘He’s hitting a sore spot.’

Honestly, Lee Han himself was skeptical the skeleton principal would really come help.

-Even so, if it’s the principal’s doppelgänger, sending an anonymous tip probably won’t solve anything.

-So? Planning to stay there forever?

-Of course not. For now, I’ll bide my time and look for a chance to slip out.

“……”

Direte calmed his anger and let out a long breath.

Lee Han’s words weren’t wrong.

Having seen the magic left by the skeleton principal’s crazy doppelgänger, he could feel just how powerful a wizard he was.

If such a wizard chose to hide, he was nearly unfindable. Even if he appeared ordinary on the outside, countless secret arts and spells would be hidden within.

In the end, the junior on the inside breaking out himself and sending a rescue signal was the fastest and most likely way.

‘Is this really the only option?!’

Direte lamented again that magic was a useless hobby that could accomplish nothing, gripping his quill pen.

-Got it. Do you have a plan for finding a crack?

-Yes. For now, I’m going to make the spell as ordered and try to learn a few 5th circle spells. I’ll watch for a moment when the opponent’s satisfied and lets his guard down.

“……”

Direte covered his face with both hands and let out a groan of pain.