Episode 1088
Episode 1088
"Were you really planning to break it?"
Diret asked in disbelief.
No matter how he thought about it, it was hard to believe his junior could be such a radical mage...
"Huh? How else would we listen if we don't break it?"
...He was right! 'Did disguising as Stedal Nago make his personality rougher?' Diret grew concerned that his junior's act of disguising might have influenced his original personality. 'No. There must be a bigger reason than that.' Diret glanced at his friend standing blankly beside him.
If his junior's personality had become rougher, it was probably more due to this friend or his school's professor than the disguise.
"Hmm. If we don't break it, a proper method would be..."
"Hey, it's not like we absolutely have to listen."
"Ah. I've thought of a good method."
Lee Han immediately ran toward the stairs. Then he brought back Jowurin, who was playing chess with Eandurde (it was chess where the Gold Dragon could move any number of squares in all directions and even use breath attacks).
Jowurin let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew! What a relief! Jowurin was losing!"
"?"
Lee Han wondered how anyone could possibly lose at that chess game, but he got straight to the point.
"Your Highness. We'd like to listen to the conversation inside. Could you help us?"
"Sure!"
Jowurin readily nodded.
Showing competence to their contractor was every dragon's joy.
"They're probably discussing Uman's visit to the academy."
"...Huh? What's going on?"
Lee Han, who had been trying to bypass the soundproofing magic with Jowurin's help, froze.
Did he just hear something strange?
"Hehe. When the new semester starts, Jowurin wants to visit the lake!"
"A kraken appears there, Your Highness. More importantly, Uman... Do you mean His Highness Uman?"
"Yep."
Jowurin, currently polymorphed into a human girl with golden hair, explained the role her younger sibling would take in the upcoming semester.
As the Emperor's proxy, they would act as an inspector, monitoring the Skeleton Principal and professors for a semester, and so on...
"......"
"......"
The listening students were too shocked to react immediately.
They couldn't tell whether this was good or bad news.
"...Is this really okay? What if things get worse?"
"Can Einrogard even get worse? I think it sounds good. If a dragon is monitoring, the Headmaster won't be able to do anything too outrageous."
As no one could predict how Einrogard might change, the students' debate grew heated.
Lee Han also fell into deep thought with a serious expression. 'No wonder he was splurging gold coins on something unrelated—there was a plan like this.' Amidst this, one student cautiously spoke up.
"Your Highness. Will the new royal family member interfere with our magic training?"
"No need to worry about that! Uman would never do such a thing."
Jowurin confidently declared.
One of Uman's principles was 'Do not disturb Einrogard's students,' so even as an inspector, there would be no interference with their studies.
In fact, contact would be avoided so much that students might not even see Uman.
"Is that so?"
Lee Han, listening nearby, was surprised.
It was slightly different from what he'd expected.
"Then does that mean I won't get to meet Your Highness and must act separately...?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? Absolutely not."
Jowurin dropped formalities and answered bluntly.
How could anyone even imagine such a horrible thing?
"Lee Han is an exception! You're the contractor!"
"......"
Lee Han tilted his head in confusion.
Why was he an exception? 'Is it draconic law? Too complicated.' BANG!
The reception room door swung open again. The Skeleton Principal shouted from inside.
"Wardanaz! Why aren't you even trying to bypass the soundproofing magic? I've been waiting!"
The skeleton headmaster, who had boldly declared to other professors, 'Watch closely, the Wardanaz kid will surely attempt to bypass it soon,' only to end up embarrassed, scolded his student.
Then he closed the door again.
"......"
"......"
"Sh-should I go and get angry on your behalf, Jowurin?"
"Please don't."
The fact that Uman was coming for the new semester didn't drastically change what Lee Han had to do.
"Hello, Master."
-Welcome, my disciple.
From behind the stacked wooden crates came the cheerful voice of the Young Prince welcoming him.
Currently, the basement of the Dimensional Labyrinth was so cluttered with piled-up belongings that it was hard to even find a place to step.
As the owner of the basement, the Young Prince could have been displeased, but he didn't mind at all. In fact, he was considerate of Lee Han.
-There's space on top of those crates, so placing things there wouldn't be a bad idea.
"Oh. That's a good suggestion."
-I'll cast an expansion spell. How about putting those crafting tools inside the bronze jar? The Wizard Cards are well-packaged, so they won't get damaged.
"...Were the Wizard Cards inside the bronze jar? That bastard Gainando..."
Lee Han angrily rummaged through the jar.
Indeed, the Wizard Cards were cunningly hidden inside.
Slipping them inside the packaging of Black Magic reagents to evade detection spells—what a sly move!
'This bastard. He's only getting better at the most unnecessary things.'
-By the way, disciple. Aren't you packing anything for yourself?
"Do you have any recommendations?"
Lee Han asked back while telekinetically moving a crate to the corner.
Truthfully, it wasn't that Lee Han wasn't packing his own things. He had already prepared the necessities—food and seasonings consumed during the semester, various reagents, and magical tools.
But to the Young Prince, his disciple seemed far too lacking in personal desires. Those were items even other mages used, weren't they?
Sacrifice and devotion were admirable, but enjoying life before youth faded was also important. The prince didn't want his disciple to sacrifice his entire life.
-Disciple, aren't you interested in Wizard Cards?
"No."
-I see...
The Young Prince looked slightly dejected at the immediate answer.
It looked so fun, though!
-What do you do in your spare time, disciple?
"Mostly catch up on missed magic studies."
Lee Han almost added, 'Because the skeleton headmaster forces me to,' but held back.
He wanted to complain, but it didn't feel right to do so to the prince himself.
-Disciple, when I said 'spare time,' I meant time excluding magic studies.
"Huh? That's what you meant?"
Lee Han was genuinely surprised.
Was spare time supposed to be calculated like that?
"If we exclude that... Hmm... I sometimes count the gold coins I've saved."
-What do you do with that?
"After counting? I calculate how much I could rent a workshop in the Empire's capital or major cities."
When the amount of gold coins was only in the dozens, Lee Han's imagination was quite modest. But after breaking into four digits, his ambitions grew considerably.
If he rented a staff workshop in the capital, hired a separate manager, and spent his spare time crafting items for supply, he could even turn it into a profitable side business...
Heh. I don't even need to participate directly. A shrewd entrepreneur can dominate the capital's staff workshop industry even if his body remains in Einrogard.
Though he couldn't leave Einrogard immediately after inheriting the will of the Avatar of Desire for Honor, that didn't mean he had completely abandoned his dreams.
A wise mage always has a contingency plan.
-......
Tears welled up in the Young Prince's eyes. His heart ached with pity for his disciple.
-Disciple... it might already be too late for you...
"Huh?"
-Never mind. At any rate, I understand now that you're only interested in magic.
"That's not entirely true."
Though Lee Han objected, the prince ignored him and continued speaking.
-Then take an artifact with you before you go in. It's an outer garment I often wore in my youth—it has quite decent defensive capabilities.
"!"
Upon hearing about this unexpected treasure, Lee Han was startled.
An artifact once used by the Young Prince?
By today's standards, wouldn't that count as an ancient artifact? He couldn't help but be amazed.
"Would it still be there now?"
-Since it's not something that can be easily taken, I think the chances are quite high. By the way, could you take out that notebook artifact for me?
"??"
For a moment, Lee Han wondered what he meant before belatedly realizing—the prince was referring to the <Whispers of Einrogard>.
A communication artifact used to interact with the Watcher Club, Senior Diret, and fellow second-year students.
"Here it is. But why...?"
Fwip!
Suddenly, the notebook flipped open and locked onto the Watcher Club's page.
Then, unfamiliar handwriting began to appear.
Hello, everyone. Nice to meet you.
-Beaver
-Penguin
-Fox: Who are you?
Ipelldrem: Wow! A new member?
Bakwantalana: Wait. How did you get in? There's no connected artifact on your end right now.
The Watcher Club members each reacted differently. Among them, Bakwantalana, who served as an administrator, was particularly flustered.
When someone new joined, traces of which artifact they used to access it should have been visible—yet this new member had appeared as if they'd fallen from the sky.
Could this mean they were a mage skilled enough to completely deceive Bakwantalana's eyes?
'That's impossible! There's no way!'
Snapping back to his senses, Lee Han called out to the prince in alarm.
"M-Master. This is a secret club."
-Ah, my apologies, disciple. It seems that to find the artifact, we'll need to communicate outside this basement as well, and there aren't many ways to do that.
The <Whispers of Einrogard> was a well-made artifact, and among its functions, the Watcher Club was especially convenient.
Since it was structured around the mana of different participants, it was the perfect place for the Young Prince—who couldn't use mana from the outside—to borrow that power as he pleased.
"You could just use my mana..."
-That wouldn't do. I'll just borrow it temporarily until we resolve this matter.
Bakwantalana: Everyone, be cautious. We don't know how this new member got in, but they're definitely not here with friendly intentions...
Bakwantalana's writing abruptly stopped. Lee Han realized the Young Prince had blocked their speaking privileges.
-Beaver
-Penguin
-Fox: Huh? What's going on?
Bulgasari: What in the world is happening?? Who just joined?
Annoyed by the other mages chattering in the discussion space, the prince blocked their speaking privileges once more—and even went as far as revoking their reading permissions.
Now that they can't see anything, we can talk freely here, disciple.
"...I really, really can't afford to get caught for this."
Lee Han felt slightly worried.
If this gets found out, won't I get kicked out of the club?
"Wait. Now that I think about it, Master. If you've taken away their permissions... does that mean you can also access information about the other members?"
The Watcher Club was a secret society passed down within Einrogard. Bakwantalana had merely inherited the administrator role—they weren't the founder.
Even if they had been the founder, they wouldn't have been able to arbitrarily uncover members' identities. The magic structuring the club inherently prevented members from learning each other's true identities.
However, administrators could access some limited information.
Which artifact a member used to enter, which artifact they were speaking through...
Without even this much, performing administrative duties would have been impossible, so it was a necessary concession.
What would you like to know?
"Could you tell me which artifacts each of the currently speaking members is using? And..."
Understood, disciple. Since I've taken their permissions, you want me to impersonate another member to access them.
"...I never had that thought."
Lee Han shuddered at his master's profound and expansive wisdom.