Episode 1221
Episode 1221
Lee Han, snapping out of his shock, barely managed to shout.
"Professor, were you in the next cell?! Why?!"
Instead of answering, Professor Kirmin took down the sign from the adjacent cell and brought it over.
Criminal who ignored the warnings of the Headmaster, colleagues, and students and recklessly fled (not that dangerous)
'What the...'
Lee Han felt both disbelief and indignation at the same time.
He knew it was meaningless to compete over such signs, but still, being treated as a more heinous criminal than Professor Voladi was downright unfair.
"No. Why am I the more heinous criminal here?"
"It's the difference in your usual behavior. Normally, good people are more shocking when they do something bad even just once."
While it was a huge shock that a usually diligent student had acted recklessly multiple times, Professor Voladi's reckless escape wasn't that surprising.
Because that's just the kind of person he was!
Lee Han naturally couldn't accept such an absurd explanation.
"This makes absolutely no sense."
"Wardanaz. Are you perhaps a freshman at Einrogard? It's a bit late to be acting surprised now."
Professor Kirmin sneered as he rehung the sign on his friend's cell.
Lee Han then called out to Professor Voladi in the next cell.
"More importantly, Professor, why didn't you say anything even though you were in the next cell?"
"You didn't call for me."
"......"
The calm voice from the next cell left Lee Han speechless.
If you were awake, you could've at least explained something when the jailer was talking!
"Is that really what you say to a disciple who's gone through all kinds of hardships for you?"
Unable to stand it any longer, Professor Kirmin plucked a piece of fruit he had brought and tossed it at his friend.
Wardanaz was annoying, but the original troublemaker was still unmatched. This vampire friend of his definitely had a special talent for pissing people off.
"I see. I'll express my gratitude once again."
"What are you talking about... I did it because I wanted to."
As the master and disciple exchanged warm words through the wall, Professor Kirmin gave them a look that screamed he couldn't stand the sight of them.
These two, who had worried everyone else, were now acting all chummy in the Punishment Room—he just wanted to dump cold water on them.
Professor Kirmin's wish was soon granted. After finishing the discussion about the Evil God Subjugation, Professor Voladi immediately got to the main point.
"I heard you used Small World Dynamis."
"Ah."
"Oh."
At this unexpected turn, Professor Kirmin's eyes sparkled with anticipation.
Could it be?
Just as he had hoped, his friend began grilling his disciple.
As the professor meticulously dissected every instance of his disciple using Dynamis—questioning why it was reckless and what had driven him to do such a thing—the disciple immediately whispered to Professor Kirmin.
"Professor. Any chance we can switch cells?"
"If that were possible, this wouldn't be the Punishment Room—it'd be a private suite. Wardanaz."
"I think Professor Bagrak might be misunderstanding something..."
Professor Voladi seemed to believe that his magic-obsessed disciple had become deeply engrossed in Dynamis, a magic that allowed him to cast spells beyond his current level.
But that was a misunderstanding.
Lee Han had only used it repeatedly because he had no other choice. Under normal circumstances, he would never even consider using something as dangerous as Dynamis in a Small World...
'Is it really a misunderstanding?'
Professor Kirmin thought to himself.
Before, he had wondered if his friend was misjudging Wardanaz, but lately, it seemed his friend might have been the first to see him clearly.
Though he'd say things like "Haha, I'm not that kind of person" with feigned modesty...
Judging by his actions, this disciple was indeed a magic-obsessed mage.
"Right, right. Try clearing up Professor Bagrak's misunderstanding."
"Professor! Don't do this!"
As Professor Kirmin made to leave, Lee Han grew frantic.
If the professor left now, he'd be stuck alone with Professor Voladi, forced to endure a never-ending lecture.
"Oh, right. Good news, Wardanaz. Professor Bagrak will be released at the end of the semester."
"...This is truly unjust!"
"You should have listened to Professor Kim when you had the chance. I'm leaving. I'll bring you lecture materials next time."
"Professor! Professor!"
Contrary to his worries, Professor Voladi didn't torment Lee Han for a full 24 hours.
After finishing his lecture about the Small World Dynamis, Professor Voladi advised Lee Han to rest.
Given his condition, neither his body nor soul had fully recovered from the aftereffects yet.
'Whew.'
Lee Han never thought being injured would feel like such a relief.
Part of him wanted to keep pretending to be hurt until the end of vacation.
"Lee Han!!!"
"!"
When familiar friends from the Blue Dragon Tower came to visit, Lee Han startled and sat up in bed.
He never expected his friends to find this place.
"How did you locate me? Is this punishment room that easy to find?"
Unlike regular punishment rooms, this one was quite special.
Yet they'd found him so easily.
Had they received help from their seniors?
"We called your name at the punishment room, and the spirit drew us a map to your location."
"Ah."
Lee Han silently thanked Perkuntra in his heart.
Though the spirit couldn't get him out of this professor's punishment room, it had done its best to help.
'At least the Thunder King isn't sulking.'
Nodding to himself, Lee Han thought that if the Thunder King had heard, he'd definitely be throwing a tantrum by now.
"Thank you all for coming."
"Here, take this. We brought some food."
Yoner opened the lid of her basket and began passing preserved foods through the bars.
As an endless stream of canned goods, tea leaves, coffee powder, sugar, chocolate and more came flying in, Lee Han asked in surprise:
"Where did you get all this?"
This semester, due to Inspector Uman's crackdown, students were having trouble obtaining extra food supplies. Luxuries like these were especially scarce.
"We got some help from Professor Thunderstep."
"Professor Thunderstep? I never thought he'd care so much about me."
Lee Han looked slightly moved.
Who would have thought that grumpy dwarf patrol professor would secretly look out for him like this?
No matter how much he complained, it seemed he couldn't just abandon his students.
"I said we got help from Professor Thunderstep, not that he helped us directly."
"......"
At Yoner's words, Lee Han closed his mouth.
He could roughly guess what had happened.
'They raided the professor's storage!'
He felt slightly guilty, but there was no helping it. He'd be stuck here for a while.
And Professor Thunderstep must have anticipated such raids when setting up those external storage spaces.
'Right. Once he hears where it went, he'll understand.'
"Lee Han. Here. I brought books."
"You brought grimoires?!"
Lee Han was utterly shocked by Gainando's words.
He never expected Gainando to bring grimoires.
Had Gainando finally become serious about magic?
"N-not grimoires."
"...Well, books are books regardless. What did you bring? That <Basic Reagent Theory> I recommended before? That's worth rereading."
"<Toberiz, Imprisoned>, <Toberiz, Escape from the Fortress>, <Toberiz, Breakout from the Island>..."
"......"
Taking the books, Lee Han glanced toward the fireplace. Recognizing the intent behind that gaze, Gainando urgently cried out:
"Don't burn them! If you're going to burn them, give them back!"
"Gainando. Fireplace flames don't maintain themselves for free."
"But you can sustain the fire with mana anyway...!"
Well aware his friend could maintain flames without firewood using mana, Gainando desperately pleaded not to burn the books.
In the end, Lee Han gave up and shelved the books. Only then did Gainando sigh in relief.
"Read it when you're bored. It might help."
"Uh, yeah. I'm not sure if it'll... help or not."
"Wardanaz. I brought some useful tools for studying inside."
Ashan hastily pulled out various items.
There were desks, ink, quills, and paper, but they didn't seem particularly abundant.
Even for the same notes, using high-quality ink, quills, and paper made a world of difference.
"Did you happen to bring a small alchemy cauldron too?"
"Of course. Here it is."
Ashan pulled out a small cauldron as if he'd anticipated the request. Adenart, standing beside him, cast a Transmutation Magic spell to shrink it before tossing it through the bars.
"Hmm. A Celestial Globe would be nice too. I suppose you didn't bring that?"
"No. I did."
Ashan immediately produced it. Before Lee Han could even respond, he continued pulling out more items.
"Here's a copper distiller, a spirit balance scale, a dimensional map, magic chalk and a blackboard, a measuring compass..."
"......"
Lee Han made a bewildered expression at the unexpectedly large quantity.
This much?
"You brought all of this?"
"Wardanaz, don't you need them?"
Ashan asked back as if it were the most obvious thing. Even the friends beside him nodded in agreement.
Considering Lee Han's reputation, this might not even have been enough.
Wasn't he supposed to stay in the Punishment Room until the end of the semester? It almost felt like he should've raided his personal room for all his equipment and tools.
"...Right... Thanks..."
Lee Han skillfully arranged the tools inside his cell.
At this point, it was hard to tell whether this was a prison cell or a research lab in a magic tower.
"Here you go, Wardanaz."
When it was her turn, Adenart promptly held out a small tin case.
It was labeled Maykin Family's Exquisite Butter Biscuits.
Seeing the label, Lee Han nodded inwardly as if he'd expected as much.
'Gifting dessert. Definitely an Adenart-like present.'
"Thank you. I'll enjoy them."
"?"
Adenart gave him a puzzled look.
"...Uh, aren't these cookies?"
"No... It's a spellbook."
Lee Han hurriedly opened the case to check its contents.
Instead of butter biscuits, there were books inside.
"Why put books in a cookie tin?"
At the question, Adenart hesitated slightly.
Seeing that, Lee Han nodded in understanding.
'Guess the cookies were really delicious.'
She must've finished all the butter biscuits but kept the books in the tin out of lingering attachment.
Gainando often drank water from the same tin mug he used for hot chocolate, didn't he?
"Those books... actually belong to the seniors, so I couldn't bring them openly."
"...What?!"
Lee Han was stunned by the completely unexpected answer.
It was one thing to raid Professor Thunderstep's canned goods or tea leaves (though they weren't supposed to), but stealing unrelated seniors' spellbooks was another level.
'Why?'
"Did you get into a fight with the seniors or something? Why?"
"Uh, Wardanaz. We helped too."
Ashan raised his hand hesitantly. Yoner also joined in with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"...Wait, don't tell me the tools you brought were also stolen from the seniors?!"
Lee Han realized belatedly.
Now that he thought about it, the sheer quantity of tools Ashan had brought was excessive.
Even if he'd taken everything from the common lounge, it wouldn't have been this much...
"Yeah."
"......"
"Where else would I have gotten all this?"
The students of Einrogard's Blue Dragon Tower were known for their cold, razor-sharp intellect.
Where could one obtain useful equipment, tools, or spellbooks for a friend?
There were many ways, but one of the easiest and fastest was simply to raid the seniors' belongings.
They'd naturally have better equipment, tools, and even higher-tier spellbooks!
"...Thanks, everyone."
Lee Han gave up on saying anything more.
What could he say when his friends had risked danger to steal from seniors just for him?
As he flipped through the spellbook Adenart had brought, Lee Han suddenly froze.
'Did I just see Senior Yukveltire's name...?'
Must be his imagination.