Episode 797

“I don’t think I could enjoy it.”

No matter how much one tried to enjoy uncertainty and change, it was impossible to enjoy fire magic that was trying to burn down everything around you (including Lee Han himself).

At Lee Han’s answer, the pirate granny looked at him with pity.

“Keeheehee… You’re still so old-fashioned. But I get it—stuck inside Einrogard all the time. What you need is air thick with sea salt, brat! Then you’ll know what freedom really is.”

“Are you talking about piracy?”

“That’s right!”

‘Guess I’ll never know freedom then.’

Lee Han felt a little regret.

A pirate was just too unstable an occupation for Lee Han to aspire to.

The thought of drifting across the ocean waiting for income that might never come… Compared to an imperial bureaucrat, it was the complete opposite.

“Even without the sea or a pirate ship, I suppose I ought to at least teach you a little, huh?”

“That’s okay—”

“All right. Close your eyes.”

“……”

‘Why do powerful mages always ignore what other people say?’

Watching Lagesa clank her cutlass and bark orders, Lee Han had to wonder.

Did people’s hearing worsen as their magic grew?

“They’re closed.”

“Right now, you’re captaining a ship out at sea. Got it? You’re the captain of a pirate ship.”

“Yes. I’m the captain of a pirate ship.”

Saying it aloud, Lee Han felt like an idiot.

“What do you want to do?”

“Excuse me?”

Thump!

Lagesa stomped and roared in anger.

“What do you want to do! The captain of a pirate ship never says, ‘Excuse me?!’—He decides for himself!”

‘I want to quit this.’

When Lee Han failed to answer, Lagesa spoke for him instead.

“What’s that? You want to smash up all those dueling club brats?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Silence, captain. There—over the horizon—those dueling club runts are sailing a schooner! Brazen, with their new sails raised tight, catching the wind!”

“……”

Lee Han wondered why raising new sails and catching the wind at sea counted as brazen, but listened quietly.

“Feel the ocean wind!”

“…?”

“Glad you didn’t say ‘But there’s no ocean here, ma’am.’ The sea wind is always there. Focus—you can feel it!”

Lagesa slapped Lee Han hard on the back and shouted, her deeply lined eyes flashing brighter.

Behind her, the chain-bound pirates looked at their captain like she was even crazier than normal.

Sure, everyone knew she was a maniacal pirate, but today’s display was just… incomprehensible.

How could there be sea wind in a magic school hallway?

But Lee Han, instead of dismissing her madness, calmly focused.

He thought, there wouldn’t be no reason for this.

‘To sense sea wind here… what could that mean?’

There was no wind of any kind in the stark halls of Einrogard.

The only sounds were footsteps and the clink of shackles on the pirates’ ankles.

And then—

‘Ah.’

Lee Han sensed a strand of mana brushing his cheek as it passed by.

Since natural space was suffused with mana, it was hard to notice unless you were paying attention, but mana always circulated through space.

A mage trained to sense mana could detect these flows, and those with keen, sensitive perceptions could do it with precision.

“I felt it.”

“Smart and cunning. Makes it easy to teach you.”

Lagesa was satisfied.

Even among mages, there were plenty who couldn’t understand what she meant by ‘feel the sea wind.’

No matter how much book learning you had, what was the point if you didn’t understand the nature of magic?

“I’m not cunning—”

“Shh! Now feel the sea wind even more strongly. Surrender your body to it.”

“!”

Lee Han was startled by that.

Normally, imperial magic taught that if you sensed the flow of mana, you should try to control it.

You clutch it tight in your grasp, and then you could empower and stabilize your spells, removing randomness.

Mages hated variables—but she was telling him to surrender to them.

“…I surrender.”

“Make that sea wind even stronger.”

Lagesa just ordered outright.

No hint as to how.

Most mages hearing that would freeze, asking “How?” or “That’s impossible.”

Lee Han just accepted it.

He’d received so much irrational instruction over the years that this didn’t feel all that unreasonable anymore.

‘Make the flow stronger…’

He pondered and then acted. When in doubt, try things one by one until you find an answer.

‘To strengthen the flow of mana…’

Instead of controlling mana, he synchronized with it.

Lee Han’s own mana joined the currents exactly.

“Gah!”

Lagesa exclaimed in surprise.

She hadn’t expected her student to find a method and pull it off so quickly.

It sounded simple, but injecting your own mana to strengthen the flow was anything but easy.

First you had to read the flow in exquisite detail.

Just reading it roughly wouldn’t be enough; you’d just end up crashing and stopping things instead.

Then you had to pour in your own mana with not a hair’s breadth of error—any difference in direction or element and you’d cause an immediate collision.

Whooooosh—

The roaring of rough wind, audible only to skilled mages, filled the hall. The chain-bound pirates started looking around with anxious faces, sensing something was wrong.

They weren’t mages, but as the current of mana surged, they instinctively felt anxiety.

“What’s wrong?”

When Lagesa started coughing, Lee Han paused and asked.

“It’s nothing, keep going! Einrogard’s a bit dry compared to the sea.”

The pirate woman swigged from her cask and kept prodding Lee Han. He tilted his head.

‘Doesn’t seem that dry to me.’

In any case, since method seemed correct, Lee Han continued.

He read the flow again and again, waiting for the right moment to add his mana.

The current strengthened.

‘Now it’s gotten rough.’

The fiercer the current, the more violent and turbulent the motion.

Lee Han focused to stay in lockstep.

Reading, reading—even more closely—waiting for the right moment, adding mana…

WHOOOOOSH!

After a few repeats, the mana flow had reached a truly extraordinary level.

This was strong enough for even non-mages to notice, so Lee Han paused to ask,

“Is this okay—”

“Keep going, captain! Let’s see how far you can push it!”

“……”

He was nervous, but figured a master mage wouldn’t just tell him to do anything totally reckless.

As he continued conjuring the storm eyes closed, the shackled pirates stared in terror at the corridor.

It felt like the same phenomenon as when a mad spirit appeared at sea.

With not a breath of real wind, yet the sound of heaven’s pipes rang, bodies started slipping and shifting, space twisted and even time seemed to wobble—

But Lagesa, utterly thrilled, stamped her feet and clapped.

“More, more! Let’s see where this goes!”

The chain-bound pirates, on the other hand, started crying in fear.

This was it—today was the day they would die!

Like true madmen, they were actually egging him on while the magical storm howled.

‘Please realize it, mage boy!’

The pirates prayed the wizard kid would open his eyes and see what was happening.

If this kept up…

‘Can I really keep going?’

Maybe it was the pirates’ tears working miracles, or maybe Lee Han just thought things might have gone too far, but he started to ease back.

“Captain, set sail for the limits of your mana! Let’s see how far you can push it today!”

Lagesa shouted, eyes blazing.

A time or two would be one thing, but to keep pouring out mana like this, yet stand firm—

She was dying to know how far this could go.

But the boy of the Wardanaz family, instead of setting sail for his limits, answered rationally.

“I know my limits, Miss Lagesa!”

“You do?”

“Yes! I can keep this up all day!”

“……”

It was as if Lagesa was doused in cold water. She wondered if she was really hearing right.

If true—

‘Just what kind of monster is Baegrek raising??’

“Miss Lagesa, I think it’s starting to get a little dangerous!”

Lee Han called out anxiously.

It was a current he’d powered up himself, but it was getting so turbulent that it was hard to keep going with confidence anymore.

He could even hear the ceiling and walls creaking…

“All right, all right! Now send it off with a pirate’s shout!”

“Whee-ooo!”

Lee Han whistled loudly and swept the giant mana current away. He was so urgent, he wasn’t even thinking about purpose—just focused on bringing the pirate magic to a safe close.

————!

A roar more savage than anything Lee Han had heard recently filled the corridor. He opened his eyes in shock.

The ceiling, floor, and walls were wrecked as if some enormous phantom beast had lashed loose.

Beside him, Lagesa was panting with relief.

“Torgard’s daughter almost died here!”

“Huh??”

“Nothing, boy! You did well. That was quite a boarding on pirate magic.”

“What the hell just happened?”

“Nothing much. That’s how it sometimes goes with pirate magic, that’s all.”

A wail rose in the rear.

The chain-bound pirates, relieved to be alive, collapsed to the floor sobbing.

Lagesa barked fiercely,

“Silence, you prisoners! Go home and cry! Or I’ll extend your sentences!”

“I think something happened, though…”

“I said, nothing happened! Are you defying me, boy?”

“…Understood.”

“You’re just now the captain of a small boat. I get that it’s exciting, but remember to stay humble. You still have to learn how to handle sails, feel the wind, read the stars. With every new thing you master, you’ll learn how vast this sea is, and how small you are.”

Lee Han was a little moved by the wonderful metaphor about pirate magic.

It was the kind of thing only someone who’d spent a lifetime at sea could say. Even Lee Han, who had no interest in pirate magic, was impressed.

“So what should I do next?”

“Next?”

Lagesa pulled out a handkerchief and held it to her wound. It absorbed the blood and healed her injury.

“Brat. What you do next is…”

Lee Han listened intently.

At first he’d been reluctant to learn from this old pirate, but having managed to get some lucky lessons, he didn’t want to leave without picking up everything he could.

And to be honest, it was hard not to think about the shattered ceiling, floor, walls, and the weeping pirates.

‘Should’ve opened my eyes and watched, maybe?’

What should you do to handle such an unpredictable magic?

“…For the next hundred years, never use this pirate magic again!”

“……”

Lagesa’s words, relayed the moment Lee Han boarded the ship, left him deeply disappointed.