Episode 1034
Episode 1034
"Don't glare at me like that. Here."
As his junior glared, the Great Artist pulled out a small silver case from thin air.
The surface of the silver box was adorned with beautiful geometric patterns. Lee Han, who frequently read the economics section of the Imperial Newspaper, immediately estimated the item's value. 'Is he planning to gift me something worthy of being placed inside that? If so, that item must be quite valuable too. Surely he wouldn't put junk inside such a box as a prank... But this senior is also from Einrogard. That's entirely possible.' Unaware that Lee Han had rapidly and rudely run through dozens of thoughts in less than a second, the artist held out the entire silver case.
"A gift."
"...Huh?"
"They're just little pieces I made to pass the time, but they should fetch a decent price. It must be hard to get money when you sneak out of Einrogard, so bury these somewhere and use them as pocket money. Just don't let that bastard find out."
Inside the opened silver case were numerous pieces of jewelry. They were accessories personally crafted by the Great Artist.
While not masterpieces that would go down in Imperial history, they were works that would be welcomed in any noble auction house.
Lee Han passionately exclaimed:
"This unworthy junior has finally had his eyes opened by meeting you today, senior! How could I ever repay such kindness?"
"Th-that much...? Calm down."
The gratitude was so excessive it made the Great Artist recoil.
-Where is he? Tell me!
"?"
Sounds of commotion came from outside.
Shouting, fighting, and cries that sounded like someone searching for a person...
At first, Lee Han thought the Skeleton Principal had arrived, but that wasn't the case. The Skeleton Principal wasn't the type to attack so noisily.
"Could it be the professors exploding?"
"No... Garcia and Voladi wouldn't do something like that."
The Great Artist immediately denied it.
Though those wicked and despicable juniors had bowed to authority and become the Skeleton Principal's lackeys, they weren't rude enough to cause such a disturbance.
Rather...
"Oh dear. It's Ram from the Garigh family."
"The Garigh family... are they knights?"
"Correct."
The Great Artist drew the scene outside the window on the stone wall.
There, they could see a large knight with flaming red hair roughly handling Petrogard students.
-Where is he!?
-I, I don't know what you're talking about...
-Shut up! I know everything, you despicable spell-casting riffraff. Hand him over immediately!
"How dare they?"
Blood being thicker than water, Lee Han grew furious at the other party's rude behavior.
It was a different story when a knight came to the magic academy's territory and acted rudely.
While an Einrogard student could go cause chaos in Baldrogard territory, a knight shouldn't do such things.
"If he's from a knightly family, he should know law and courtesy. I should go stop him immediately!"
"...Wait."
The Great Artist quickly grabbed the hem of his junior's cloak.
The wise archmage image full of profound wisdom he'd shown earlier had completely vanished, replaced by a strangely familiar aura.
This was... '...
Professor Verdus!'
To be precise, it resembled the aura of Professor Verdus when he stubbornly resisted doing the Skeleton Principal's bidding until being caught.
This made no sense.
Why was he getting Professor Verdus vibes from this kind, considerate, and meticulous senior from the Skeleton Principal's faction?
"What's the matter?"
"Well... about that."
The Great Artist hesitated slightly, not wanting to show his ugly side in front of his junior.
"Actually, I have a contract with that knight, and it's just that... an unexpected situation occurred..."
"...Don't tell me you promised him artwork but didn't deliver?!"
Lee Han was shocked.
Why was it that enchantment magic faction wizards were like this both inside and outside Einrogard?
* * *
"Hmm."
"......"
"Hmm."
"......"
"Hmmmm..."
"Ah! Get lost!"
Gainando finally exploded.
It was because of Bunarjo, who kept making "Hmm," "Hmm..." and "Huuuum..." sounds behind him while he was painting.
If he didn't like it, he should just say it was bad—why keep making those noises?
"The painting is decent. Have you painted a lot?"
"...What?!"
Gainando was startled by the unexpected compliment.
Honestly, even in his own eyes, the painting in front of him wasn't particularly outstanding.
Coming from a wealthy family, Gainando had seen quite a few masterpieces in his time, and he was well aware of the gap between those and his own work.
"This is decent?"
Gainando shot him a suspicious look.
'Does this guy actually know nothing about art?'
"Of course, the technique is terrible. But I can sense the raw emotion in it. Is it a beautiful moon spirit swimming in a night pond?"
"It's my cool undead summon walking out of a poison swamp."
"Ah, I see. So that's why I felt lingering resentment."
'This guy really seems to know nothing.'
Gainando's suspicious gaze deepened, but Bunarjo paid no attention to it.
As a senior Petrogard student, he wasn't particularly bothered by such looks.
"Especially this purple... It's mysterious. How did you make this color? Which guild's paint did you use?"
"Uh... Well..."
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Gainando hesitated.
Then, glancing around, he lowered his voice.
"Shh! You can't let others know."
"A secret? Doesn't matter. Everyone has secrets. Especially with paint this good. I was just curious how you achieved such a fine color. I'll keep your secret, of course."
After a long pause, Gainando finally spoke.
"Well... I used poison from the pest-control graveyard for the color."
Gainando had good reason to hesitate.
Last year, when he was painting designs on his coat, he secretly took some black magic reagents from near Black Rock Hall and used them as dye.
Of course, Lee Han caught him and beat the living daylights out of him.
-Don't! Just! Randomly! Mix! Ingredients! You! Don't! Understand!
-Ow! Oww! Sorry! Sorry!
"Poison! That's... amazing...!"
Bunarjo stared at Gainando with an astonished expression.
"H-hey, don't tell anyone."
"Tell anyone? Of course not. More importantly, I see Einrogard does have someone worthy of respect after all."
"Worthy of respect?"
"You boldly threw aside restrictions for the sake of beauty."
"That's just how things are at Einrogard."
Bunarjo pretended not to hear that and instead examined another part of the painting.
"This blue... is it also...?"
"...That's made from grinding blue bones into pigment. Seriously, don't tell anyone. If I get caught, I'll have to throw it all away."
"Got it. Got it. Gainando... I'll remember your name. Keep working on it. It's definitely going to be a great piece."
"Wait! So, does this mean I passed the test? Tell me about the Great Artist before you go!"
Just as Gainando nodded and was about to resume painting, he snapped back to his senses and called out to Bunarjo.
"Ah, the Artist. Well, for a mage like you, meeting him once wouldn't be bad. He is a great enchanter and a magnificent artist."
"His weakness?"
If they were going to rescue Lee Han, they needed to know the Great Artist's weakness first, so Gainando asked bluntly.
"He doesn't have one."
"Don't lie. There's no way he doesn't."
THUD!
As the two were talking, a large knight suddenly appeared.
The moment they saw him, both Gainando and Bunarjo strongly associated him with the color red.
Everything about him was crimson—his blazing red hair, his scarlet eyes, his blood-red dyed armor and cloak...
"I am Ram of the Garihi family. Students. A knight of the Fire Watchers."
"H-hi there?"
Ram swept his beast-like gaze around before nodding approvingly at Gainando's painting.
"Quite impressive. Is it a beautiful moon spirit swimming in the night pond?"
"No... It's my splendid undead summon emerging from the poison swamp."
"Indeed. As expected of someone from Petrogard, choosing such an ambiguous description."
"No, it's not...!"
Gainando was about to flare up at the insulting remark.
But the other party flared up first. The knight growled in a voice that seemed to snarl.
"I heard there's someone here called the 'Great Artist.' Do you know where he is?"
"...I have no idea?"
"That's a lie! You two were just talking about him!"
The knight's final words exploded in volume, hammering down on them like a physical blow.
Threatened, Gainando reacted like a true Einrogard student.
"Guys!!!"
Thud!
As paralysis and blinding poison erupted like mist at close range, Ram realized his mistake too late. He hadn't expected such a frail-looking Petrogard student to seize the initiative and had let his guard down.
"What the hell?!"
Einrogard students working nearby came rushing over in a swarm.
No matter how much of a troublemaker Gainando was, he was still an Einrogard troublemaker.
Just as arms bend inward, his friends immediately unleashed a fierce assault on the knight standing before Gainando.
"Earth, bind his feet!"
"Light, deceive his eyes—"
"H-How dare...! I am Ram of the Garhi family, a knight of the Fire Watchers! You brats! Do you even know what you're doing?!"
Ram's entire body swelled with rage as he roared.
The Einrogard students hesitated.
"...We're from Baldrogard! Come find us if you want revenge!"
"Hey! Run! Run!"
"Anyone got a mist potion?"
The Einrogard students swiftly retreated like the wind, dragging Gainando with them.
Ram, having reinforced his body with mana, expelled the poison, tore through the illusion magic, and shattered the spells binding his wrists and ankles.
"Grrr! Why the hell are Baldrogard bastards here...?"
Had he been slightly less furious, he might have noticed how unnaturally fast and precise the spells were for someone supposedly from Baldrogard. But the knight was too enraged to sense anything amiss.
Instead of chasing the vanished mages, Ram grabbed another nearby student.
"Where is he?! Tell me!"
"...I swear I didn't delay on purpose. Don't lump me in with someone like Verdus, alright?"
Even as he spoke, the Great Artist felt himself sinking deeper into a mire.
The humiliation of being looked down upon by the youngest of his faction!
The Skeleton Principal might enjoy being despised by his disciples, but the Artist certainly did not.
"Believe me!"
"I believe you, Senior."
"...!"
The Artist felt tears welling up behind his mask.
This disciple was far too kind—more than the Skeleton Principal deserved.
How did that skeletal bastard end up with not one but two disciples like this...?
Thud thud thud thud thud!
—Senior! Senior!
A frantic voice called from outside. It was Professor Garcia.
"...Wait. I'll open the door."
The Artist gave up and opened it.
With an unwelcome guest already here, there was no point in stubbornly refusing.
"There's a knight outside right now—what's going on?!"
"Well..."
Before Professors Garcia and Voladi, the Great Artist repeated his earlier explanation.
Frankly, it was embarrassing, but what else could he do? These juniors were old enough to know everything by now anyway.
"I swear I didn't delay on purpose..."
"I believe you, Senior."
"...!!!"
At Garcia's words, the Artist felt even thicker tears forming.
Even after tormenting himself over being a traitor, she still showed him such faith.
"Thank—"
"Then we'll take our leave! We can't let Lee Han get caught up in this!"
Professor Garcia swiftly yanked Lee Han toward her and then tossed him to Professor Voladi.
Whoosh!
Professor Voladi hoisted his student onto his shoulder and fled straight through the wall. Garcia followed right after, escaping with spatial magic.
Regardless of their faith in their senior, they couldn't leave their student in a place where a fight was about to break out.
"......"
The Great Artist could only sigh bitterly at his juniors' growth.