Episode 887

“Are you asking because you have something else in mind?”

Yoner asked, half probing.

If it were Gainando, he wouldn’t be able to hide his intentions well when asked this kind of question.

If Joulin also had another agenda, he wouldn’t be able to hide it and would fluster.

Another agenda? Joulin doesn’t quite understand what you mean.

Joulin feigned innocence.

What Yoner couldn’t have anticipated was the speed of Joulin’s growth.

During his short stay at Einrogard, Joulin’s social abilities had quickly improved just by following Lee Han around.

Yoner hadn’t thought Joulin would be able to lie so shamelessly and confidently and was completely fooled.

“Usually, there’s no one in the evening. Once the sun goes down, mandrakes need less attention…”

Hehehe.

“…Your Highness?”

Hm? Why are you calling?

“……”

Yoner stared intently at Joulin.

No matter how he thought about it, something was odd…

Ah! Joulin is curious about that fruit!

“That’s not a fruit, but a trap that looks like one. It wraps up any prey that touches it.”

…Why would they have such a thing in a wizard’s greenhouse…?

Joulin, who’d just asked a random question to change the subject, was thoroughly overwhelmed.

• * *

“Hm. Not bad. It’s a bit lacking compared to expectations, though.”

“……”

“…???”

Leaving the greenhouse with Lee Han, the friends walking toward the Blue Dragon Tower lounge looked at him as if he was crazy.

If there was a mandrake sapling in the greenhouse that had grown the best, it was the one Lee Han had been cultivating.

There certainly was painstaking care and time devoted, but ultimately it was the master’s magic that had the greatest effect.

Just as the plants in Professor Thunderstep’s field had grown rapidly, so too had the mandrake under Lee Han’s influence.

Hearing such a friend say, ‘It’s a bit lacking compared to expectations,’ it was only natural the others looked at him as if he were mad.

Siana, who had accompanied them to the crossroads, whispered.

“C-could it be that Wardanaz has finally lost his mind?”

“Wardanaz just takes too many lectures! Don’t say things like that!”

“…I can hear you.”

Lee Han glared at his friends.

Lately, he had noticed that his friends sometimes treated him as if he were a bit insane. It was a highly discourteous attitude.

“I’m not making a weird prediction. I switched wands recently.”

With that, Lee Han pulled out his wand.

One end was made of black magnetite, the other end crafted from the divine tree of a spirit king.

And it didn’t stop at merely being a divine tree. Inside this divine tree, a powerful spirit—the Battlewood King of the hornbeam—was sealed.

‘Didn’t it have the power of life or something?’

“Lee Han?”

“Hm?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use the power of a spirit…?”

Yoner asked, tilting his head.

Of course, with a friend who took every field, it was possible Lee Han had used the power of a spirit when Yoner wasn’t around.

But at least while Yoner was there, he’d never seen it.

Normally, to use a spirit’s power, didn’t a wizard have to summon the contracted spirit, pay the price, and then issue a specific command?

“I didn’t summon it or give it orders… But shouldn’t the power come out on its own?”

“?”

“??”

“???”

At this novel claim, which upended the very basics of spirit studies, the friends were confused.

“Isn’t Priest Siana right? Maybe Wardanaz is too tired from so many lectures.”

“…No. Listen. Of course, if you want to command a spirit as usual, you need to go through the proper process.”

If it were another spirit, Lee Han would have summoned it and made a request.

But this wood spirit was a being completely sealed inside the wand. It wasn’t someone Lee Han could just summon and ask.

If he wanted to use it, he had to draw out the power inside the wand himself.

“But this spirit is sealed, isn’t it? In fact, last time, it complained to me that it couldn’t use its power properly…”

“Didn’t you say you released it last time?”

“Hm?”

“You said you subdued it last time when you got attacked. But for it to attack means the seal was partly broken, right?”

At Yoner’s question, the friends nodded their heads.

Of course, the seal might not have been fully broken, but for a spirit to attack in the mental world meant the seal was partially released.

At the very least, the spirit’s consciousness had awakened.

If so, then rather than forcibly drawing out power as before, Lee Han should converse with the spirit and draw it out properly.

“……”

Is that so?

After hearing Yoner and the others, Lee Han belatedly realized his mistake.

Upon thinking about why he had made such a mistake, only one reason came to mind.

“Wait. If the spirit’s consciousness is awake, why has it never spoken to me?”

“……”

“……”

The friends looked at each other.

Then they quickly avoided Lee Han’s gaze, each hoping the other would explain first.

“Why don’t you finish what you’re saying? I’d like everyone to freely share their thoughts.”

“Uh…well…”

“That’s…um…”

“Maybe…the spirit forgot…haha.”

Having seen since last year that the Wardanaz heir did not have a particularly good relationship with spirits, the students couldn’t bring themselves to say the truth outright and spoke evasively.

In the end, Yoner spoke up.

“Uh. Lee Han. Maybe the spirit is… a bit angry.”

“Indeed. What a coincidence. I just got angry at this spirit.”

Lee Han started infusing his wand with magic power.

As he focused his mana not on the black magnetite but on the divine wood part, waves of force rippled around them.

If it had been a common substance, it would have started screaming under the strain, but the divine tree of the spirit king was built differently. It didn’t budge no matter how much magic was poured in.

But Lee Han’s magic power was no less exceptional than the divine tree itself. As he poured in magic endlessly, even the spirit king’s divine tree finally reached a state of mana oversaturation.

Finally, the hornbeam spirit, Saratan, who had been pretending to sleep inside, could bear it no longer and shrieked.

-Oh my! Urgghh! Gackgackgack!

“So you were alive. But if you were, why didn’t you speak?”

-I don’t know what you’re sayingggggg!

Lee Han mercilessly poured in more magic.

He might show mercy to another spirit, but for the one that went berserk in the black book’s world, he had no intention of doing so.

The friends, watching from the side, shuddered at the surging waves of mana. Anyone seeing it would think Lee Han was about to rip the spirit apart by force.

“W-Wardanaz, isn’t this dangerous?”

“Don’t worry, Priest Siana. The wand won’t break just from this. The black magnetite is reinforced, and… the spirit is arrogant and cocky, so it needs a stern lesson.”

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Voladi nodded lightly as if approving.

Seeing that, Siana thought to herself.

‘That’s not what I meant…’

Right now, several students’ spirits were still summoned, including Siana’s.

For students familiar with Lee Han, seeing this was just an electrifying experience, but to the spirits unfamiliar with Lee Han, he was simply a terrifying tyrant-magician.

Even as it was, mid- and low-tier spirits ran away in fear, and such stories would only spread his infamy.

Siana tried to say something but hesitated and held back in the end.

…Honestly, even to Siana, the Wardanaz heir was a bit scary right now.

Saying the right thing at the wrong time is always risky. Siana wisely decided to remain silent.

-Agh! Wrong! I was wrong! I was wrong! I surrender! Surrender!

Lee Han did not stop. Receiving the agony of entire body burning from the dense magic, Saratan the hornbeam spirit suddenly grasped the concept of formal speech.

-My apologies! Wizard! I was wrong!

“Now you realize your mistake?”

-Yes! Yes! Please stop!

“Why didn’t you say anything and just keep still?”

-You never called me, Wizard!

“Haha.”

With a laugh, Lee Han started pouring in magic again. Professor Voladi gave a faint smile, impressed that his student was handling the wicked spirit without wavering.

-Ggagagaga! I was wrong! I was wrong!

“What did you do wrong?”

-I… I should have gone to you first, Wizard! I could have, but just lay low—that was my mistake!

“So now your memory’s returning?”

-Yes! Yes!

When the pain stopped, the hornbeam spirit trembled.

Even if Saratan was sealed in the wand, to inflict direct damage on him normally required complex procedures and advanced magic.

But this boy had suppressed Saratan with a simple yet fearsome method.

To waste such immense magic just to inflict pain!

‘A crazy wizard! At this rate, when he’s fully grown, not even a proper tyrant could compare!’

“Because of you, I couldn’t raise the mandrake more. How will you take responsibility?”

-I-It’s already growing plenty fast, isn’t it?

“So you were watching me raise the mandrake after all?”

‘Ah!’

Saratan realized his mistake.

He should have feigned ignorance to the end, but he’d just confessed to watching everything from inside the wand.

-Kraaaaaagh!

After giving pain again with another burst of magic, Lee Han asked.

“So, what are you going to do now?”

-Y-yes? Gaaagh! Gaaaagh!

“I said, what are you going to do?”

-Ah! Ah! I know! I’ll raise the mandrake more! I’ll use my power!

“Finally, a proper answer.”

Lee Han withdrew his magic satisfactorily. Saratan rolled around in agony, inwardly cursing.

I should have finished him off back then!

“Good. Let’s go tend the mandrake.”

-Please wait a moment!

“Why? Want more pain?”

‘This lunatic wizard!’

-That’s not it! Plants like mandrake require a lot of vitality, so it’s hard to grow them with just ordinary power. If you give me a day, I’ll make a new shoot imbued with power! Plant that, and it’ll grow instantly!

“Hm. You’re not just bluffing, right…”

-Never! Please trust me!

The once-proud Battlewood King spirit cried out desperately.

Lee Han nodded as if convinced for now.

“Alright. I’ll trust you. By the way, do you happen to know how to make patterns on mandrake leaves?”

-Y-yes? Why would you care about such useless… Gagagack!

“If you don’t know, that’s fine.”

Seeing the spirit didn’t know, Lee Han decided not to ask further and wrapped up neatly.

He’d spent a bit of magic…

“Thanks, everyone. If you hadn’t told me, I would have kept being fooled by this cunning thing.”

“Y-yeah.”

“Wardanaz. I’ll be your friend no matter what you do, don’t worry.”

“That’s right! Even if the spirit spreads weird rumors, don’t be bothered at all!”

“??”

Lee Han looked puzzled by his friends’ reactions.

“The hornbeam spirit is sealed in the wand, and it’s a troublemaker, so it can’t really spread rumors, can it?”

“Uh… right, that’s a relief! Haha!”

“How bland.”

As Lee Han was about to walk again, he noticed a small feeling of incongruity.

When he left the classroom earlier, he could see his friends’ spirits, but now they were gone.

‘Did they all get reverse-summoned?’

It wasn’t important, so Lee Han simply started walking again.