Episode 765

“I told you it was just one time, didn’t I?”

Gainando looked at his friends proudly.

Raphadael, who had also succeeded in one try, didn’t show it but wore a satisfied expression.

‘Heh. Nailed it.’

“What kind of bet did you even make?”

“N-no, I just answered since someone asked.”

Raphadael stammered, worried other-school seniors would think he was heartless enough to bet while his friend was casting a spell.

“What are you talking about? You placed a bet, too!”

“Shut up, you brainless prince! Don’t you get it?!”

“Guys. Quiet.”

Lee Han glared at his friends.

He was concentrating all his mental energy on casting a new spell, so how could they be chattering so much?

“Tch. It’s Raphadael’s fault.”

“Whose fault is it, huh?!”

Watching them bicker, Siana thought to herself:

If things continued like this, maybe she wouldn’t have to pay out the bet…

“Uh, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with betting. I was just surprised by your predictions. How’d you know you’d succeed in one?”

“Wardanaz usually does it in three or four tries.”

“Y-yeah, that’s right.”

His friends testified matter-of-factly.

At their words, Agdung felt dizzy at the borderline insane speed of their spellcasting.

‘Three or four tries?’

Surely they weren’t talking about spells way below their level…

…But thinking it over, for a second-year like Lee Han, there were no spells way below his level. There was no such thing as a negative circle.

Gainando drove in the wedge for the bewildered Agdung.

“Besides, Lee Han was kidnapped by the principal’s crazy doppelganger recently, so he succeeded in one try.”

“Kidnapped by whom for what???”

Siana asked, puzzled before the answer came.

“How is that related?”

“Lee Han’s magical ability spikes when he’s in danger!”

Gainando confidently analyzed.

Lee Han would have grabbed him by the collar for saying such a thing, but Gainando held to his hypothesis.

Whenever their top-of-class friend landed in a crisis, he’d pull out and complete spells he’d supposedly not mastered.

Since he’d only recently gotten out of the principal’s crazy doppelganger’s grasp, that focus had probably remained sharp.

So Gainando had boldly bet on a one-timer.

‘…Sounds plausible.’

Yoner thought internally.

Lee Han would have hated it, but to the rest, it made sense.

Every time Lee Han came back from some crisis, he stayed razor-focused for a while.

“The rest of the area’s done. Why are you all still making noise after I said keep quiet?”

While Agdung was stunned, Lee Han finished up the rest of the work and came over.

Gainando quickly betrayed him to the other-school senior.

“Agdung senior was the one who started talking!!”

“…Shh. Be quiet, you idiot.”

Lee Han, embarrassed, glanced at Agdung.

If you’re going to betray someone, don’t do it obviously right in front of them!

“Agdung senior, may I have your confirmation?”

“O-okay… oooh… ooooh.”

In a half-absent voice, Agdung went to check.

Suddenly the words of some Kalarogard juniors came to mind.

-Senior, when you visit Einrogard, please check how the dark school is there.

-That’s right! We’d love to compare ourselves to see who’s better at dark magic—us or the Einrogard students!

Kalarogard students wouldn’t back down when it came to dark magic—even if their rivals were Einrogard students.

They were dead serious.

If they were better, they’d feel pride.

If Einrogard’s were better, they’d learn with ambition.

‘…I’ll leave Wardanaz out.’

Agdung decided he would omit Lee Han’s involvement when reporting back.

If he told it like it happened, it’d crush junior spirits instead of inspiring them.

• * *

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What kind of cursed, dog-eating bastard dumped toxic waste all over the place?! The forest is getting ruined!!!

Iactus: Accept it. It happens every now and then.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Accept what, eat shit. You fifth-year-wannabe!

Iactus: What… what?! You done talking now?!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Why don’t YOU accept it? That happens all the time too, right?

Iactus: With a mouth that big, let’s see if your magic’s as good as your bullshit. How about a duel?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Gladly! Let’s meet in the principal’s office! Get over here! I’ll be waiting!

‘The seniors’ fight is pretty interesting.’

Having finished up work at the mushroom field and relocated to the seventh-floor village, Lee Han watched -Einrogard’s Watchmen- with great interest.

When Siana wanted to watch fights, he’d worried if ‘she’d gone weird after a year at Einrogard,’ but now he kind of understood.

Interesting!

‘Beaver-Penguin-Fox is a forest-loving jerk.’

An alarm had spread rapidly among students on the seventh floor.

There was a mass outbreak of aberrations rampaging everywhere.

It was so common for accidents to snowball into storms that seasoned seniors just evacuated calmly—but that didn’t mean they weren’t furious.

There were already some who vowed wrathful violence if they caught whoever was responsible.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox had likely tried something in the forest and fled after being foiled by aberrations.

‘To think they challenged to meet in the principal’s office…’

Lee Han was honestly impressed.

If he ever got challenged to a duel or threatened for whereabouts, he’d want to use that trick.

Iactus: You ■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■■…

Gonadaltes: Why does it come out as ■?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: For the Watchmen Club’s honor. Filthy talk is auto-censored so members don’t have to read it. By the way, does anyone have information about the aberrations? I’ll pay a lot for it.

“!”

At the club member’s message, Lee Han’s eyes widened.

An offer to buy information.

If the other party is desperate, the price might be nice.

Gonadaltes: What kind of info do you need?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Anything useful for repelling them. Why, Gonadaltes, do you have anything?

Iactus: Don’t sell to that rude jerk, Gonadaltes!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I apologize, Iactus. I admit it was too much to say you should be a fifth year.

Iactus: Hmph.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Anyone, if you know anything, message me privately. I’ll pay well, as I said.

‘Hmm. They probably already know spells like -Begone, O Tainted!-, right?’

Lee Han considered.

That dark magic was hardly a secret, so they probably knew it.

And judging by their words, they wanted to clear aberrations from the woods—but the forest was huge, not like the mushroom field.

‘And you’d have to cast it beforehand.’

With the swarm already roaming the seventh floor, that spell would be hard to use now.

“Senior.”

“Yes?”

Lee Han called out to Agdung, pretending to down an empty teacup at his side.

The group was currently sitting inside the seventh-floor Exiles’ Village, at the -Hot Water Cold Water- teahouse.

Run by a third-year Black Turtle Tower senior, the teahouse was almost the same as those outside—except the tea was made by brewing water with water, not tea leaves.

“Could you explain more about those aberrations? Possible ways to repel them…”

“Y-you! Are you thinking of fighting them?!”

Agdung yelped in alarm.

The wave of aberrations approaching the mushroom field was only the beginning. If you looked past the town wall now, the number was dozens of times greater.

And yet, he wanted to repel them?

No matter how you looked at it, wasn’t that reckless—even for the Lord Magician’s disciple?

“Heh. Senior, Lee Han actually enjoys that sort of thing.”

Lee Han shot Yoner a glare asking for help. Yoner obliged, smacking Gainando’s back.

“I’m not actually trying to repel them myself; I was just curious.”

“Y-you’re just curious in this situation?”

Agdung now looked not alarmed, but terrified.

“Just curious…”

“All right, I get it.”

‘There’s a misunderstanding, I think.’

Lee Han figured there were some crossed wires, but he had more urgent issues and let it go for now.

“Anyway, the aberration horde will disappear eventually, right? The seventh floor has powerful magical homeostasis.”

Einrogard’s main building, a magical labyrinth with more spells than the Skull Principal himself could track, still had a few great laws.

One was to heal and return to its original state, no matter what mishap or disaster occurred.

Just like the human body strives to maintain body temperature, the main building tries to preserve its own essence.

As a seasoned dark mage, Agdung had realized that the aberration horde was being repelled by the seventh floor’s magic.

Such beings couldn’t last long. Like summoned undead, if they failed to secure mana, they’d fade eventually.

“I see.”

“Still, the only way to deal with the horde is to approach it from that angle. Anything else takes too much effort. Do you remember where you sensed that wave near the mushroom patch earlier?”

Agdung opened a map Professor Taswhan had made and spread it out.

“If I remember right, there’s a spring connected to the groundwater in that direction. And as you know, groundwater is one of the first places to get polluted when wizards are nearby.”

Time would solve it, but if the source persisted, new aberrations would keep coming for a while.

Cleansing the source would greatly shorten the recovery period.

“I see. Let me take some notes.”

Lee Han summoned Beaver-Penguin-Fox privately and began to lay out everything he’d just heard.

Gonadaltes: The homeostasis of the seventh floor’s magic… time… methods… pollution source… as far as I know… groundwater…

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Wa—wait! Wait! Just a second, please!

The other party’s writing was wildly shaky with shock.

Far more useful information had come in, and much faster, than expected.

‘Who the hell is this???’

For a second, they wondered if it was the real Skull Principal.

Lee Han thought, ‘Like the principal would have the patience for this!’—but any Einrogard student would have felt a chill.

The Skull Principal was beyond comprehension or common sense!

Given the faintest suspicion that it might really be him in disguise—for the sake of giving students despair and then teaching them a valuable lesson?

‘But for now, this information is crucial!’

With the outbreak having taken him by surprise while working elsewhere, Beaver-Penguin-Fox found Gonadaltes’s advice nothing short of lifesaving.

Gonadaltes: Don’t interrupt. You’ll distract me from writing. But you’re not really going to hunt them, right?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What?

Gonadaltes: Ah. Ignore that comment.

Lee Han paused. He’d unconsciously written “you’re not really going to hunt them, right?”— a message actually meant for himself.

“Don’t worry, Senior.”

“Somehow, the questions you’re asking are a bit much for mere curiosity, though…”

Agdung eyed the Lord Magician’s disciple with suspicion.