Episode 786

Episode 786

What Lee Han liked were seniors who had a lot of gold and knew how to generously give that gold to juniors, not seniors who tried to use them for free.

How could someone become a senior of Einrogard and commit such shameless and heinous acts?

“Ah, no. Junior. Senior Jarun was always crazy about gold. He was always like that.”

When the junior glared coldly at Jarun, Carnella grew flustered instead and stepped in to defend him.

The reason people said Jarun was the best at saving money wasn’t simply because he kept mining during his spare time.

If that was all it took, there were other students who could earn higher income from magic research.

What made Jarun special was his thrifty spirit, which no one else dared to match.

He didn’t waste a single penny!

-Senior Jarun. Today’s kitchen club menu is pretty good. You should go eat too.

-I don’t need it.

-Why not? For a single gold coin, you get noodles with plenty of serpent meat. When do you think you’ll get a day like this again? Do you want to pay a gold coin for bread with salted meat stuffed inside?

-Hmph. If I don’t buy it at all, it doesn’t cost a single gold coin.

Jarun’s legendary anecdotes didn’t stop there.

-Jarun. Stop being stubborn and buy the reagents! If you don’t buy them, you won’t finish this semester!

-I’d rather go to the punishment room than buy this with money!

Refusing to buy reagents, refusing to use his staff because it might wear down, hanging his gold accessories in the air to admire instead of wearing them…

These were extraordinary incidents known to every student in the school of transformation magic.

As Carnella spoke, her voice grew louder, perhaps from her resentment.

“Do you know what happened when I came to get him last time? The chair was gone, the chair! When I asked, that damned senior had removed the chair! He said it would wear down if I sat on it and that would be a waste!”

“Hmph. Do you think chairs are free?”

Jarun grumbled.

Even now, he regretted that Carnella had worn down his chair by sitting on it.

‘So that’s why there were no chairs.’

Lee Han could belatedly understand why there were no chairs in this workshop.

“Senior Hormasi, I understand well that Senior Jarun is a frugal person.”

“Hey. This isn’t thriftiness, it’s madness.”

Lee Han pretended not to hear and said what he wanted to say.

“But that’s that and this is this. I have always been paid for what I do. Even from Professor Verdus, in fact.”

“…!”

Carnella was shocked.

She knew this junior had a genius talent for magic, but to have even gotten compensation from Professor Verdus.

‘Ama… amazing! How?!’

Even Carnella, who wasn’t in Professor Verdus’s school, was so curious she wanted to see how it was done.

“That, that’s impressive… but as I said, Senior Jarun won’t bleed a drop even if you stab him. He saves even his blood with transformation magic, you know.”

Carnella wasn’t just using a figure of speech; she had actually tried stabbing Jarun with a needle before.

Along with other students of the school of transformation magic, she had ambushed Jarun.

Even amidst all that commotion, Jarun had painstakingly collected even a drop of his own blood with transformation magic and escaped.

If he’s like that, surely…

“He’ll just reject your proposal.”

“Kuuuuung.”

“?!”

Carnella jumped at the groan coming from behind her.

“Kuuuuuuung…”

Jarun was moaning in agony, as if he had some serious illness.

“What’s wrong, Senior Jarun? See, this is why I told you not to skimp on food! The kitchen club’s food has been good these days!”

“It’s not that I’m hungry, idiot! I’m in pain!”

“You’re hurting because you’re not eating!”

“It’s my heart that’s hurting!”

Jarun growled in anger.

It was because of the cruel, outrageous proposal from a junior, daring to ask for gold as payment.

The proposal itself was painful, but even more painful was the reality that he couldn’t refuse.

To continue the research he was working on, he really needed a competent assistant.

‘Progress is too slow. I started it today, but at this rate, I’ll never finish. I do need an assistant, but…’

And the junior in front of him was truly a talent hard to find anywhere.

He had not only mastered essential spells but had even helped Dobruk with soul-recovery potion production at an alchemy workshop.

Such talent was hard to come by. Especially since upperclassmen at Einrogard all seemed busy with their own research.

‘If I think of it as an investment to continue the research? Ugh. It doesn’t make sense. How could I deceive myself with such contradiction? But I need an assistant. Ugh. Arrgh. Arghhhhhh.’

“Junior. Maybe you’d better just leave. I think Senior Jarun’s broken down.”

“Understood. I’ll come back lat—”

“…Wait!”

With a voice like metal clashing against metal, Jarun called out to Lee Han.

“I… will pay you…!”

“Is it really so painful to say that?”

The dark elf student shook their head in disbelief.

• * *

The negotiation that started at three and a half gold coins per hour had to be paused every time Jarun screamed in agony as the gold amount increased.

Even so, Lee Han pushed the negotiation forward without changing expression.

No concessions!

‘I think I’ve grown.’

Lee Han felt, for the first time since becoming a sophomore, that he had become a little more mature.

He’d always been tricked by professors before, but this was the first time he’d asserted himself successfully.

“…Take a look at this.”

Jarun spoke in a hoarse voice, ruined from screaming.

His chest ached, but the more it did, the faster he had to proceed. Since he had paid the gold, every minute and second mattered.

“My current research, this… -Gold Come Out Pling- is…”

“…You mean ‘Dimensional Conversion Gold Observation Capture Research,’ right?”

“Why?”

“Senior. Listen to the junior. I think that’s better, too. The current name would get ignored anywhere you submitted it.”

Jarun grumbled a bit but changed the name of the research. While he was doing that, Lee Han and Carnella, fitting students of the school of transformation magic, observed the research closely.

Unlike when they had first seen it and been shocked, they could now see the research’s flaws.

“This, the speed at which the connected dimensions are being transformed is getting slower and slower, isn’t it?”

“That’s right. Good job spotting that. And this support device… it seems way too weak. If you run it for another hour or two, it’ll break.”

“To secure gold in meaningful quantities, you need to increase both the number of connected dimensions and the conversion speed, so you’ll have to scale up the collection process.”

“But then can you afford the cost?”

“You both make good points.”

Jarun sighed.

“This -Dimensional Conversion Gold Observation Capture- research is too slow and the device wears out quickly. I ran it for the first time today, but it’ll soon stop. Now that we’ve checked the speed… I have to increase stability and speed.”

“How will you do that, Senior? Do you have a method?”

Carnella clapped her hands as if she just remembered.

“Oh. Let’s change the support device to -Gold of Paldar Reji-. Then it’ll withstand the shocks of dimensional conversion much better.”

“Cra… crazy! Don’t be ridiculous!”

Jarun wore a face as if he was having a heart attack at the suggestion.

Gold of Paldar Reji, of all things.

He couldn’t even estimate how much gold it would take from his current stash to get that.

“Why? That’s gold, too.”

“That’s an expression, you idiot! How is that gold?!”

‘Hmm. Probably shouldn’t joke about gold in front of senior.’

Watching the two, Lee Han thought to himself.

After fuming for a while, Jarun finally spoke after barely calming down.

“I’ve been struggling to find a solution. Until now, I went around Einrogard’s workshops, picking up scrap and recycling it.”

“……”

‘Ugh. This is honestly embarrassing.’

Carnella glanced at Lee Han as she listened.

She doubted there was anywhere at Einrogard more humiliating than this.

“But there’s a limit to scrap recycling after all. So, I’m trying to develop some new materials.”

“Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?”

Transforming properties to create new materials was a specialty of transformation magicians.

Armor made from flowing river.

Books made from hell’s air.

Of course, none of this was easy.

Even temporarily changing properties was somewhat difficult, but finding properties that stayed stable enough to be permanent was much harder.

If someone could invent new materials with stable transformation like that…

‘…He may as well just make that his graduation project.’

“It’s not easy. But I’ve identified a few directions.”

Jarun’s Inelastic Rubber

Jarun’s Film Magma

Jarun’s…

“!”

Lee Han became interested seeing the list of new research materials Jarun was seeking.

He was researching some materials that were more useful than expected.

For example, -Jarun’s Inelastic Rubber- was a material where elasticity was removed from rubber and a few other properties were maximized; if it touched something, it would spread like a swamp and ensnare other materials.

‘What if this is used for a trap?’

Even experienced magicians would be quite caught off guard the first time.

“Your job is to keep experimenting in those directions, casting spells and recording the results.”

“Senior. Sorry to break your mood, but it’s not ‘you guys.’ Just this junior alone, you know.”

“…The job you’ll do. Satisfied now?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

Lee Han precisely wrote down Jarun’s words and nodded.

“I understand, Senior. I’ll proceed as you said.”

“Right. I’ll leave it to y—”

Knock knock knock—

“?”

Jarun stopped at the noise from outside.

“Who is it, Senior? Another visitor?”

“No… ever since you guys came in, I turned the magic back on. Who is it?”

“Someone must be here to steal your gold, Senior. Should we show ‘em what’s what?”

“How dare they!”

Flames of greed sparked in Jarun’s eyes. Clutching his hammer-shaped staff, Jarun rushed to the door in anger.

Clunk!

“Bring it on! You thief!”

“……”

Standing at the door was Professor Yonramo of House Reji, who was in charge of transformation magic.

The professor looked at Jarun and asked.

“What are you doing instead of teaching?”

“…Well, you see, Professor.”

Jarun’s eyes darted desperately as he tried to quickly shut the door.

At that moment, Professor Yonramo’s cloak turned into dozens of tentacles and swallowed Jarun whole.

Gulp!

The professor let out a deep sigh.

“I wondered what you were doing instead of teaching. Why are all students like this, I just don’t understand. Don’t you agree, you two?”

“…Yes!”

“I agree, Professor!”

Lee Han and Carnella replied quickly, afraid the professor’s anger would turn to them.

They worried the professor might say, “Why are you here instead of bringing him to class?”

“So then, what were you two doing here?”

“Um, we were helping with magic.”

“Hormasi was? That’s unexpected.”

“No. Me.”

“……”

Professor Yonramo stared at Lee Han.

He had thought the boy of the Wardanaz family was pressured by the principal and some other professors due to his innate talent, regardless of his own will…

‘Could it be he just truly likes magic after all?’

Maybe he was the only one who wouldn’t admit it; perhaps that’s not really the case after all, the professor wondered.

Professor Yonramo shrugged and commented.

“Well, finish up your studying and come out. Class is canceled today anyway.”

“Uh…”

Lee Han wanted to ask, ‘Since senior’s gone, can I leave too since there’s no more gold?’ but the professor’s cloak, which had just turned to tentacles, made him keep quiet.