Episode 837
by CristaeRegardless, the Blue Dragon Tower friends completely moved Lee Han.
The White Tiger Tower students protested in outrage, cursing.
“You think you guys can heal Wardanaz?”
“Maybe if you were from Phoenix Tower, but you’re not much better than us!”
In fact, when it came to healing magic, the White Tiger Tower students actually performed even better than the Blue Dragon Tower.
The main reason was that White Tiger Tower students tended to aspire to join knight orders or combat-related professions, where healing magic was crucial.
Since they often got hurt from sparring or roughhousing, their results in healing magic were naturally excellent.
“We’re better than you, so don’t worry!”
“We’re in a different league when it comes to care!”
The Blue Dragon Tower friends laid Lee Han down and tried to extract the branch from his hand.
But, as before, it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s definitely because of this branch, right?”
“Should we actually try removing it?”
“No way. Do you know what Wardanaz went through to get this?”
Every student gathered was holding a branch.
Some were quicker, others slower, but in the end everyone received a branch from the forest.
Some, like Gainando, received it too soon, or like Lee Han, too late…
‘If we burn this, and Wardanaz wakes up, isn’t he going to burn us?’
Everyone knew just how much Lee Han had suffered to get the branch.
Even while resting after getting it, he kept wandering the forest.
At first, friends thought, “Well, Gainando got his right away, so Lee Han will get his soon, too,” but as Lee Han wandered the forest for almost three days, their expressions changed and they whispered anxiously.
-Shouldn’t we stop him?
-I tried talking, but he doesn’t answer. He seems under some spell.
-Wardanaz doesn’t get affected by spells.
-He cast a spell on himself, apparently.
While they watched worriedly, Lee Han suddenly collapsed.
The friends who had been waiting for him to get his branch panicked and ran over.
-Oh no! Wardanaz!!
-The forest got him!
-What did I say! Wardanaz must’ve been hated by a spirit, it’s a trap!
Whether by fortune or misfortune, Lee Han was holding a branch when he fell. He’d succeeded in getting it.
The problem was he couldn’t get up afterward.
“Stimulant potions didn’t work. Neither did awakening magic…”
“Wasn’t there that old fairy tale? The princess who collapsed after eating the poison apple. How did she wake up?”
“The dwarves fetched a black magician and turned her into a lich. Hey, is now the time for those ridiculous stories?”
When Gainando snapped seriously at a friend, everyone grew twice as confused.
When the weirdo in the group suddenly acts normal, it’s twice as unsettling.
After their attempts failed, the Blue Dragon Tower friends started pulling out even stronger magic.
“Hm. I have a scroll for -Magus Ahiman’s Mana Rotation-. We need three people to cast it, though.”
According to the scroll, -Magus Ahiman’s Mana Rotation- was magic that rapidly circulated a magician’s inner mana.
By circulating inner mana fast, it forced out or shredded any curses or negative effects present in the caster’s body.
Of course, because of the spell’s high level and the large amount of mana required, three magicians were needed.
Gainando immediately raised his hand.
“I’ll do it.”
“Okay. Let’s have Adenart, Dalkard, and Kirak do it.”
“…Hey!”
When Gainando hopped in protest, his friends ignored him.
The scroll was rare and expensive; once it was used, there was no way to get another now.
“Magus Ahiman was a black magician! Shouldn’t a fellow black magic student like me do it?”
“Magus Ahiman, your junior calls upon your…”
‘Who’s your junior?!’
Gainando grumbled inwardly.
How could non-black magic students do this while leaving him out?
Thunk!
“…Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“…Nngh.”
The three students staggered back with pained groans. They all looked pale, as if their mana was depleted.
“Potion! Get the potion!”
“Here, drink!”
The scroll, after the magic had been cast, was already charred black and crumbled to ash.
The friends asked nervously,
“Did it work?”
“No… Wardanaz has too much mana. He didn’t budge, and the scroll just burned away. We were the ones about to pass out.”
“……”
The Blue Dragon Tower students stared at Lee Han with newfound dread.
How could someone like him exist?
Gainando stomped again and cried,
“That’s why you should’ve left it to me!”
“…Lagesa. Could you actually give us real advice??”
The Blue Dragon Tower friends called out to the pirate hag who was watching from behind.
Lagesa paused from taking out her snuff and spoke.
“I told you, just wait.”
“……”
Is that supposed to be advice?!
“Shouldn’t have bothered asking.”
“As expected. Cold-blooded and ruthless, just like a pirate.”
“No wonder it was a good investment to bribe Professor Verdus.”
When Gainando threw out this insult, he was promptly hoisted up with a scream. Lagesa muttered grumpily.
“Complain even when I tell you. Well, go ahead and try your best.”
“Ha. We’re already doing that!”
Bartrek, an Alchemy student hanging over a giant cauldron, snapped back.
To back up the White Tiger Tower dwarf, Siana also shouted.
“Once this potion’s done, even a dead man will wake up!”
“Yeah, yeah, do your best.”
Lagesa’s sarcasm only made Yoner uneasy.
‘…Maybe we really do just need to wait?’
He’d always thought Lagesa’s behavior was suspiciously similar to the Skull Principal’s.
Maybe all old magicians evolved this way, or maybe they simply enjoyed watching people struggle after delivering the truth.
Nillia anxiously asked Ratford,
“Isn’t this potion… too hard for people of our level?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll test it before giving it to him.”
The -Elixir of the Dragon’s Heart- they were making was a powerful stimulant potion, one that had even revived the dead at least once.
No matter what curse Lee Han was under, this potion should be strong enough to blast it away.
The problem was, the potion was extremely difficult. At least a fourth-year was needed to reliably make it.
But now they were frantically emptying their packs, trying to make this for their collapsed friend…
“How are you going to test it?”
“Just feed someone a drop.”
“Who?”
Ratford glanced meaningfully at Gainando.
Nillia yelped in protest.
“N-no way! That’s too much!”
“Pardon? But Lagesa’s a powerful magician, she can handle a drop even if it’s a failed potion. Isn’t that right? Everyone agrees, right?”
“Oh.”
Nillia realized her misunderstanding.
They hadn’t meant Gainando, but Lagesa, who was laughing while Gainando dangled upside-down.
“How will you make her drink it?”
“Put a drop in her tea. So after it’s done, everyone be quiet.”
The Alchemy students conspired quietly.
Lagesa enjoyed herself, having no idea the second-years were plotting to spike her tea.
Noticing Giselle’s signal, the other White Tiger Tower students exchanged glances.
“…Let’s fetch water for tea while we wait.”
“Bring some for me, too.”
“Why don’t you get your own, Lagesa? Not helping your friends or anything.”
“This is helping! And in case you forgot, you brats, the daughter of Torgard is a guest of Einrogard!”
“Understood.”
Giselle shot her a glare but agreed, and the White Tiger Tower students grumbled and followed after.
“Why do we have to fetch water for people that annoying?”
“Total thief.”
‘Hmm. Something’s off.’
As Lagesa sent a seagull to pester Gainando, she hesitated.
Her instincts, honed by years at sea fighting enemies, were warning her.
She smelled a plot somewhere!
“Was it you, brat? Hm? What are you hiding?”
“Enough with the seagull, help save Lee Han! You must be someone who bribes Professor Verdus!”
“If nothing else, I admire your guts!”
Lagesa responded by summoning a cowpat instead, admiring the chutzpah of a penniless magician.
Whoosh!
“Tutanta, what are you doing?!”
“My mistake. Sorry, everyone.”
The Black Turtle Tower kids had mishandled the fire, and now smoke drifted all around the camp.
Lagesa coughed and gestured.
“You’re hopeless. Do it right.”
“We brought the tea.”
White Tiger Tower students had fetched water and Phoenix Tower students had set the tea brewing.
A student in priest’s robes handed Lagesa a cup, who accepted it without much suspicion.
She took a sip, and only then noticed a faint aroma she hadn’t caught before, what with the commotion and smoke.
“…These brats slipped -Elixir of the Dragon’s Heart- in my tea?! They were testing it on me?!”
“She’s fine! Quick, give it to Wardanaz!”
“Why you little…! I told you, that elixir is useless! In his mind, he’s fighting other spirits right now…”
Ignoring Lagesa’s protest, the friends quickly had Lee Han drink the finished potion.
At that moment, Lee Han opened his eyes.
“…!”
“He’s awake!!!”
“Wardanaz is awake! Wardanaz is awake!”
“We did it!”
“What do you mean, ‘we did it’…!”
Lagesa grumbled, feeling all her mana surge and circulate abnormally from the elixir.
When it wore off, her mana would instead stagnate and shrink for a while, leaving her quite uncomfortable.
‘Still… not bad.’
Truthfully, Lagesa hadn’t expected the second-years to actually complete the -Elixir of the Dragon’s Heart-.
They were students from different towers, a recipe for fighting rather than cooperation, and yet—
Not only had they all worked together, even those who hadn’t learned alchemy had played their part.
White Tiger kids fetched the water without raising suspicions.
The Black Turtle kids created a ruckus, dulling the senses and awareness of their target.
The Phoenix Tower student, as a priest, further eased Lagesa’s suspicion…
‘…But is that really okay for students in priest’s robes?’
She let it slide. That was each order’s problem.
“You brat. I wondered why you shouted so boldly without fear. So this is what you were planning.”
This Blue Dragon Tower prince, risking his own body for a taunt, clearly had a plan.
“What are you talking about! Put me down!”
“Fine, fine.”
Thud!
Lee Han, now awake, gazed at the campsite and gathered friends.
Noticing everyone had a branch, he realized he’d gotten his last.
“…How many days have passed here?”
“It’s the last day the King of Broadcloth allowed. We have to leave today.”
‘So I was here the whole allotted time!?’
He shuddered to think that maybe the King of Broadcloth had even foreseen this.
As he did, Yoner hesitated, then whispered.
“Lee Han. You know… that prophecy. About royals and misfortune.”
“…Gasp!”
At his friend’s words, a memory flashed through Lee Han’s mind.
Hadn’t Yukveltire poked at his staff while making it recently?
“No wonder…! Royals really are nothing but trouble for my life…!”
“……”
Yoner quickly looked around. Luckily, Adenart and Gainando didn’t seem to have heard.
“I think I know what you’re getting at, Yoner. My recent misfortunes make it hard not to trust the prophecy, right? Yeah. Now that I think about it, I have had contact with royals recently. I sure have been unlucky ever since.”
“Um… listen. Don’t be too shocked, okay?”
“What are you trying to say? Did Gainando carry me while I was out?”
“Uh… yeah. The princess did too.”
“……”
“Wardanaz collapsed again!”