Episode 799

“What do I do?”

“What do you mean, what? Go teach those left over.”

The pirate granny pointed at the second-year friends.

The second-years looked at Lee Han like squirrels who’d just lost their acorns. Their eyes seemed to be saying:

-Are you going to hit us?

‘These guys. Did they secretly master telepathy spells with silent casting while I wasn’t looking?’

Lee Han just couldn’t bring himself to attack classmates out of sheer guilt.

“I can’t.”

“What!? Are you a real pirate or not?!”

“I’m not a pirate, and anyway, I got thrown off the pirate ship already.”

At Lee Han’s retort, Lagesa cackled.

“So it’s because of pirate magic? Baegrek was right; you really are greedy to learn.”

“No, it’s just that after learning something, you’re telling me not to use it…”

“All right, all right. I’ll let this one slide. I’ll just have to teach instead. You lot, come here! I’ll show you pirate-style fighting!”

“If we learn, will we be able to land a blow on Wardanaz too?”

“Of course!”

“……”

Lee Han glared at Lapardel.

What an ungrateful punk!

“Lapardel.”

“A-ah, just curious. For academic interest only.”

“You do have a conscience, looks like. And that’s not what I meant. Where are the fourth-year seniors, anyway?”

Now that he thought about it, the third-years had just run away, the second-year friends were here, but no fourth-years were to be seen.

Sure, they’d be busy prepping for graduation, but not one in sight?

“The fourth-years all had things to do today.”

“…!”

Lee Han realized and was impressed.

‘The fourth-years really are on another level!’

That was beyond looking before you leap—hearing the professor was busy and an external guest was visiting, they’d instantly made themselves scarce.

Better to let the juniors meet the guest first and see who shows up…

‘That’s real cunning.’

Is that what it takes to become an Einrogard fourth-year?

• * *

Bulgasal: Hey! Everyone knows we’ve got guests coming next week, right? Are you all getting ready?

“!”

Leaving the dueling club, Lee Han was surprised to see -Whispers of Einrogard- writing a message.

‘That’s a senior I haven’t seen before?’

Calling himself ‘Bulgasal’, the unfamiliar senior seemed interested in others, chatting with all the members.

Bulgasal: Iactus, how about you?

Iactus: Of course I’m ready.

Bulgasal: Baquantalana, you? Doesn’t this get you all excited?

“…?”

Watching the conversation, Lee Han felt a strange awkwardness.

That forced, ‘look how excited I am’ mood.

‘It must be my imagination. There’s no reason to fake excitement.’

Einrogard students were fundamentally melancholy. No need to act excited.

Baquantalana: Anyone know who smashed up the 6th floor hallway?

Iactus: Yeah, who busted it up? What kind of lunatic does that? And how’d they do it?

‘Damn. There really are a lot of lunatics.’

Lee Han was surprised by the post.

Someone had apparently smashed the 6th floor corridor.

Einrogard’s main building was guarded by powerful magic; breaking something wasn’t easy—

Gonadaltes: Is that for real? There really are a lot of madmen.

Iactus: I’m not surprised; crazies have always been around. More curious how they did it. If I knew, I’d use it too.

Bulgasal: Iactus, that’s not a good idea.

Iactus: Mind your own business.

Baquantalana: Saw the scene; it wasn’t ordinary at all. Must’ve been a berserk demonic beast or high spirit, not normal magic.

Iactus: Shit. Is it ‘Einrogard monster season’ again? What’s with things lately? They said some psycho showed up outside the domain too.

Gonadaltes: Agreed. If a monster’s prowling the main building…

Lee Han, scribbling with his magic quill, froze.

‘Wait?’

He remembered the dueling club was on the 6th floor.

Wasn’t that also where he’d learned pirate magic from Lagesa?

Iactus: Should we commission the hunter club to track the monster? Too expensive, though.

Gonadaltes: That’s pointless. Can’t everyone at least defend themselves? Just wasting your own money otherwise.

Iactus: Is that so?

Gonadaltes: Don’t be fooled, Iactus. While you’re burning gold helping others, everyone else is saving theirs for themselves.

Iactus: That does piss me off. Fine. The guy with the problem can handle it themselves.

Bulgasal: Don’t be so selfish, you two. If you help out even when it isn’t your own business, others might help you someday too.

Iactus: When? After I’ve graduated?

‘Better change the subject.’

Lee Han realized nothing good would come from a drawn-out discussion of who smashed the hallway or what monster had been called in.

The longer the talk, the more likely an innocent second-year would land in the suspect pool.

Iactus: Anyone got info on next week’s guests?

Thankfully, Iactus changed the topic. Lee Han immediately joined in.

Gonadaltes: I know one.

Iactus: Oh, Gonadaltes! My friend with the awful alias! Who is it?

Gonadaltes: Pirate Lagesa. If you don’t know the name, let me explain…

Baquantalana: You mean Lagesa, daughter of Torgard?

Iactus: Admiral of the Southern Privateer Fleet!

Bulgasal: …Who invited Lagesa?

‘Huh. She’s actually famous?’

Lee Han was a bit surprised.

He knew Lagesa was well-known in the empire, but to be so instantly recognized by every club member…

Gonadaltes: I’m surprised. Didn’t think everyone would know her.

Iactus: Haha, I have a cultured background, sure, but for others, I bet it’s Lagesa’s “achievements.”

Gonadaltes: What achievements?

Iactus: Seriously? You’re asking for real? It’s when she invested twenty treasure chests of imperial gold with Professor Verdus!

Gonadaltes: Oh. That achievement…

“……”

Lee Han stopped writing, overcome with a heavy sense of futility. He actually felt a bit sorry for Lagesa.

She’d just had faith and invested in Professor Verdus, but among Einrogard students her reputation was “the sucker who trusted Bible with gold.”

Truly cruel.

Baquantalana: I respect Lagesa.

Gonadaltes: Really?

Baquantalana: Lagesa is a wealthy captain, and also a generous investor—willing to put up with Verdus. I really want to meet her.

Gonadaltes: ……

Club week wasn’t just a time for interested outsiders to come and have fun.

They might think so, but motivated Einrogard students saw it differently.

What mattered to the students was:

-Which guest this week is loaded and openhanded enough to be a sucker?

If someone with a heavy purse and a generous willingness to fund any research showed up…

You had to drag them in and persuade them—before other magicians cleaned them out.

On this battlefield of “good-natured” competition, there were no gentlemen; if someone tried to snatch a sucker away, you’d prepare for all-out war.

‘These are things I really wish I hadn’t learned…’

Iactus: Thanks, Gonadaltes. That’s really valuable info. Maybe I’ll prep some rum.

Baquantalana: Maybe I should prepare a deserving pirate feat of my own for her.

Iactus: Damn, wish I’d done some pirating too.

Bulgasal: Instead of thinking about scamming guests, how about trying to sincerely persuade them?

Unsurprisingly, every member currently present ignored Bulgasal’s comment.

Lee Han silently mused,

‘Bulgasal doesn’t seem to have many friends here…’

Iactus: Gonadaltes. I’ve got a tip for you too. Kitchen club’s inviting big shots this time. They’ve called the capital’s baking guild and butchers’ guild, so sneak over there—say you’ll show them some research and try to win them over.

Gonadaltes: Is that okay?

Iactus: Of course not! If the kitchen club catches you, you’ll end up in the cauldron. You have to do it secretly, but it’s worth it. I’ve heard they don’t know what to do with all the gold lately.

Baquantalana: In return for the info, I’ll tip you off. The stonemason club is being visited by Dezhe of the Lecovy family.

Iactus: What?! That master builder is coming?! How did you get her?

Baquantalana: Rumor is they showed off the -Echoing Tower-. Supposedly.

Iactus: Dezhe—she carries her own bodyweight in gold. Damn. If I could sneak her out from the stonemason club!

‘Wait a sec. Don’t I have access to all of them?’

Hearing the upperclassmen, Lee Han realized the upside of belonging to so many clubs.

Since he was in every club, he could easily approach any guests who visited.

‘If I could get some investment…’

For the first time in a while, Lee Han fell into happy daydreaming.

If he could meet someone with a fat purse and a generous heart?

‘First, get some funding for the necromancy school, and for Senior Direte’s research too. Mine isn’t started yet… though since I’m writing the water prison orb book, I could ask for a little for that? That should be fine. Vasil and Fongrif’s feed, I could get an extra grant, too. And practice potions for my lightning element magic…’

As fantasies blossomed, Lee Han managed to snap himself out of it.

The magic power of gold—just imagining it was a trap you could hardly escape.

‘Yikes, what was I thinking. Dangerous.’

Baquantalana: Gonadaltes. Which club invited Lagesa?

Gonadaltes: Dueling club.

Bulgasal: Wow! Professor Kirmin Ku invited Lagesa? That’s hard to believe!

Gonadaltes: No. As far as I know, Professor Ku was too busy and asked Professor Voladi Baegrek to help.

Bulgasal went quiet for a moment.

Lee Han cocked his head.

‘Is something up?’

Or maybe, like Lee Han, this was a senior who flinched just at the name Professor Voladi. If so, that explained it.

Bulgasal: I see. Thanks, everyone. I just had something come up, so I’ll go.

Iactus: Bulgasal, you never give anyone else tips. All you do is lecture—why not share some info?

Bulgasal: Ah, sorry. It never crossed my mind.

Iactus: Of course not! All you care about is moralizing!

Watching, Lee Han thought,

‘That’s going to make him some enemies. What if he runs into them later?’

Iactus seemed pretty confident, but you never knew how the world worked.

Making enemies helped nothing.

Bulgasal: …The Duke Ikaldoren will be visiting as a guest. Satisfied?

Iactus: What the hell are you talking about, Bulgasal? Why would Duke Ikaldoren come as a guest?

Gonadaltes: Actually, there’s some logic there. The Duke Ikaldoren is sealed away in a corner of Einrogard right now.

Iactus: …And how would you know that?