Episode 104
Episode 104
Yoner expressed doubt about the White Tiger Tower students having kidnapped Lee Han.
It seemed impossible to him.
Ratford, who was among the Black Turtle Tower students, also tilted his head in confusion.
"Wouldn't that be difficult...?"
"No, it's possible."
Nilia spoke with a deeply worried expression. Her long ears drooped to the sides from anxiety.
"Even the cleverest beasts fall into traps sometimes."
"Uh, Lee Han isn't a beast..."
"What if those cowards from the White Tiger Tower set a trap on Wardanaz's usual path? Or what if they poisoned the water Wardanaz drinks? Or slipped drugs into the bread he eats? Or..."
"......"
"......"
Yoner and Ratford wondered how to stop Nilia.
At this rate, it seemed like she might start digging Lee Han's grave in advance.
The bigger problem was that the Blue Dragon Tower students were starting to take her words seriously.
"If a hunter from the Shadow Patrol says that, the chances of him actually being kidnapped are pretty high..."
"After calculating, there's a 90% probability those White Tiger Tower bastards took him."
"Let's kill those bastards!"
"Everyone, calm down. Stay calm and let's plan how to kill them properly."
Yoner desperately looked for other students to intervene.
'What about the Princess...?'
But before he knew it, even the Princess had joined the group, seriously plotting an attack on the White Tiger Tower students.
Yoner hung her head low.
Without Lee Han, there was no sane person left in the tower to reason with them.
'Come back soon...!'
On Monday morning, the atmosphere in the <Basic Magic Character Education> lecture was far more tense than usual.
Of course, the <Basic Magic Character Education> class was never exactly pleasant to begin with.
Most students usually dragged themselves in as if they were being led to their graves, exuding a gloomy air.
But today was different.
The Blue Dragon Tower students looked ready to pounce at any moment, their eyes blazing with fury.
"Can't you just tell us where Wardanaz is right now?"
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting, you Blue Dragon brats! Do you really think we'd do something like that? We don't pull that kind of crap!"
"Three of you ganging up on one—how brave!"
One White Tiger Tower student, stung by the remark, flushed red.
At that reaction, a Blue Dragon Tower student stepped forward, brandishing his wand threateningly.
He looked ready to hurl a curse any second.
"Tell us where Wardanaz is!"
"We're in chaos ourselves—two of ours have gone missing too. Maybe you're the ones who kidnapped them!"
The White Tiger Tower students' response only enraged the Blue Dragon Tower students further.
How dare they insult the honor of their noble bloodlines?
"Us? Us?? You dare say that knowing our family's honor?"
"Who's the one sneaking into other dorms at night?"
Giselle sneered.
This time, it was the Blue Dragon Tower students whose sore spot was hit.
But there was one opponent Giselle hadn't expected—Gainando Do.
"We've never done that."
"......"
"Got proof? If you have proof, bring it. Got any proof we did it?"
"...Is that guy really royalty??"
The White Tiger Tower students muttered among themselves. Even among the Black Turtle Tower students, there wasn't anyone that shameless.
"Not really my place to interfere, but if you really kidnapped Wardanaz, wouldn't it be better to return him and make peace? Class is about to start."
Salko, the dwarf—no, elf—student from the Black Turtle Tower, spoke up.
The White Tiger Tower students frowned as if wondering where he got the nerve to butt in, but the Black Turtle Tower students standing behind Salko didn't back down either.
Given their rough backgrounds, they weren't about to cower just because the others came from knightly families.
The Phoenix Tower students also spoke up. Priest Siana and Priestess Dijiling cautiously voiced their opinions.
"If you've kidnapped Lee Han of the Wardanaz family, it would be best to return him..."
"We didn't, I said!"
Faced with suspicion from all three tower students, the White Tiger Tower students couldn't hold back their frustration any longer.
They too had spent the entire night discussing among themselves—'Could it be the Wardanaz who kidnapped them?' 'Were there really two of them?' 'But even three of us attacking together lost'—after two of their own had disappeared...
These despicable Blue Dragon Tower bastards were twisting the atmosphere strangely.
Giselle stepped in to mediate.
The elf who led most of the White Tiger Tower students seemed displeased with the situation itself, grinding her teeth as she spoke.
"I swear on my family's name—we haven't so much as laid a finger on Wardanaz. If you don't believe me, ask the other students here. There must be some among them who are acquainted with your side."
There were students in the White Tiger Tower who kept to themselves, like Rowena, a follower of Princess Adenart, or Durgyu, who was considered relatively trustworthy.
As gazes turned toward her, Rowena answered cautiously.
"Your Highness. From what I observed... there didn't seem to be any kidnapping plot or anything of the sort."
At her words, the Blue Dragon Tower students' attention shifted to the Princess. The Princess shook her head coldly—a clear sign of disbelief.
"Your Highness?! Your Highness?!"
Rowena was utterly devastated, as if the sky had collapsed, when the Princess she served refused to believe her.
The Blue Dragon Tower students, emboldened, shouted.
"She said she doesn't believe you!"
"So you were hiding something suspicious after all. Durgyu of the Choi family! We'd like to hear your opinion too. What do you think?"
Unwilling to back down, Giselle also pressed Durgyu.
"Go on. Speak. What do you think?"
Durgyu realized Giselle's voice had grown so cold it couldn't drop any further. She was seething with rage.
Had the other tower students not been present, it wouldn't have been surprising if she had drawn her twin blades along with a stream of curses.
"In my opinion... I haven't heard of any kidnapping plot or the like."
"See?!"
"He hasn't finished speaking yet!"
Conflicting reactions flew back and forth. Giselle stared at Durgyu and asked,
"I just swore on my family's name. You wouldn't dare doubt me, would you?"
"......"
Durgyu hesitated slightly.
Had this been Durgyu before entering the magic school, he would have replied, 'If you're going that far, I have no choice but to believe you.'
But after enrolling, his perspective had shifted somewhat.
Even Lee Han of the prestigious Wardanaz family liberally abused his family name—who was to say Giselle wouldn't do the same?
"...Choi! You really...!"
Just as Giselle was about to confront him in near-disbelief, the air in the lecture hall turned icy.
Every student could feel it.
Good morning! What were you all up to?
"We weren't doing anything."
"Just exchanging greetings."
Though furious with each other, the students weren't foolish enough to spill everything that had happened in front of the Skeleton Principal.
Even this hellish school had its unspoken rules.
One of them was: 'Keep your mouths shut in front of the Skeleton Principal.'
Were you fighting? Why not keep going?
"You must have misunderstood."
"How could we, when we get along so well?"
The Skeleton Principal clicked his tongue openly in disappointment.
It was the kind of gesture that could make even students glaring at each other with murderous intent want to reconcile.
Boring bunch. Fine. So, did anyone bring an Outing Pass?
An uncomfortable silence. The Skeleton Principal spoke as if he had expected this.
What a disappointment. Not a single one! Your seniors always completed assignments like this on time.
Had Lee Han been here, he would have said, 'Don't fall for such nonsense,' but unfortunately, he had already gone to the island for advanced study.
The students slumped, thoroughly deflated.
"Fine then. I'll give you a chance this once. Now, everyone stand up! And walk toward the lake!"
The students were startled by the Skeleton Principal's unexpected leniency.
Of course, this was a natural reaction since they had no idea what awaited them on the island.
As Lee Han always said, whenever the Skeleton Principal acted kindly, suspicion should come first.
The Skeleton Principal watched the students walking toward the lakeside with a gleeful grin.
From the start, the lake was too difficult for freshmen to cross on their own.
The Skeleton Principal hadn't even expected them to complete the assignment.
He had only started with the task to prevent any students from suspecting or running away if he had simply ordered, "Cross the lake and go to the island right now."
By giving them an impossible task first and then generously allowing them to cross the lake, even the cleverest freshmen would never suspect a thing.
How many years had the Skeleton Principal been teaching students at this magic school?
There was no way the freshmen could escape his grasp.
'Wait. Where did that Wardanaz brat go?'
Thinking of the nickname Lee Han would surely find displeasing, the Skeleton Principal rotated his floating skull 360 degrees.
Still, Lee Han was nowhere to be seen.
For a moment, the Skeleton Principal wondered if he had already crossed the lake.
Though a freshman, Wardanaz was no ordinary mage. Given his temperament and skills, it wouldn't be surprising if he had tried.
But even if he had, he should have stepped on the sandbank the moment he arrived—and stepping on the sandbank would have transported him to the underground dungeon.
Even if he had miraculously avoided it...
Zorban II, stationed at the sandbank, should have caught him.
'If he skipped class for another reason, that's fortunate. But if he went to the island first, that's just bad luck.'
Since this trial was meant for students from different towers to grab each other by the collar and fight—no, to bond—the dungeon's trial wouldn't start unless students from different towers entered together.
What if he had crossed the lake over the weekend?
Then he'd just be sitting underground, waiting.
Crackle!
As the Skeleton Principal's eyes gleamed, an icy path formed across the lake. The students couldn't help but marvel at the feat of conjuring thick ice over the water with just a glance.
Surely, after such kindness, no student would be too afraid to proceed? Especially at Einrogard, which gathered only the Empire's finest talents?
"Pair up and set off in twos."
"Do we really have to go in pairs?"
The Skeleton Principal answered the student's question kindly.
"Then by all means, go together and break the ice to feed the monsters at the bottom of the lake twice as much."
"...We'll go in pairs."
The reason for not sending them all at once was simple.
If they went as a group, one or two might escape without stepping on the sandbank.
Sending them two by two ensured no one slipped away.
This was the educational philosophy of the Skeleton Principal, responsible for the Empire's foremost magic school.
The students crossed the lake in pairs along the icy path.
???
But the moment the first students stepped onto the sandbank, the Skeleton Principal's sharp instincts sensed something wrong.
And that unease soon became reality—the students weren't sinking into the sandbank.
As his carefully prepared lecture fell apart, the Skeleton Principal felt a pain as if his nonexistent soul were being torn apart.
Why?!
"Huh?!"
The nearby students were startled by the Skeleton Principal's anguished voice.
They had never heard such despair from him before.
"Why?! Zorban II, I gave you a name—how dare you lazily—!"
Just as he was about to summon the creature before him, the Skeleton Principal realized Zorban II had already been unsummoned.
The missing Wardanaz boy, the unresponsive sandbank, the unsummoned Zorban II.
All these signs pointed to only one thing.
When every impossibility is eliminated, whatever remains, no matter how unbelievable, must be the truth.
The Skeleton Principal couldn't remember the last time he had been this shocked in centuries.
"Wardanaz! Wardanaz, you little—!!"
As if answering his outcry, Lee Han appeared in the distance, deep inside the island, looking exhausted and pale.