Episode 1273
Episode 1273
"Professor???"
Lee Han called out again, wondering if Professor Voladi might be misunderstanding something.
Frankly, Lee Han was competent enough to be recognized as a full member in any academic faction.
Whether this was good or bad was unclear, but at the very least, he was at a level where professors could trust him with tasks.
Yet to reject such a capable volunteer so coldly...
If other professors heard about this, they might criticize him for being ungrateful.
"Professor. I said I'd help you."
"It's fine."
"...No. Let me handle it instead! You can rest and leave it to me!"
"It's fine."
"Professor, do you think you can't properly evaluate me just because I'm a junior?"
Silence answered instead of words.
As Professor Voladi fell quiet, Lee Han pressed on impatiently.
"It's alright. Please be honest with me. I won't be offended by—"
"Yes."
"......"
Being told to be honest and then actually hearing the blunt truth stung a little.
Lee Han grumbled inwardly.
'To think he'd slander me like this just for showing a little favoritism toward a junior.'
Admittedly, Lee Han had been slightly lenient when grading Eandurde's exam preparation.
But it was such a minor adjustment that anyone could have made it.
To declare a ban on grading juniors' exams over something so trivial...
Especially when the professor himself had broken every school rule imaginable during his own student days...
"Professor. Actually, Professor Mortum once entrusted me with inspecting and maintaining the Black Magic spells installed in Black Rock Hall."
"I see."
"And I did an excellent job. So excellent that Senior Diret thought you were the one who did it."
"Good work."
Lee Han didn't mention how Professor Mortum had nearly died after being caught.
He had been so meticulous that he even fixed parts Professor Mortum would have glossed over, which Diret noticed.
Suspicious, Diret checked the mana concentration of the spells and immediately uncovered the truth.
"That's not all. Professor Thunderstep has multiple cabins, and do you know who manages them all? Me."
"You're still doing that?"
"Of course. Though I've reduced fieldwork this year due to busy schedules, I still oversee everything from inventory management to food and reagent storage directions. And you've never once complained, Professor."
Truthfully, even if Professor Thunderstep had complaints, he rarely voiced them to Lee Han now.
There was no benefit in earning the future Headmaster's resentment.
Unaware of this, Lee Han simply assumed his work had become that proficient. He was only half right.
"Impressive."
"I could go on about other professors, but I'll stop here. There's no point in bringing up Professor Verdus... Anyway, Professor. Have you reconsidered at all?"
"Wardanaz."
"Yes!"
When Professor Voladi called his name, Lee Han responded with eager anticipation.
Had Professor Voladi finally changed his mind?
"Be quiet now."
"......"
Lee Han sat back down, cursing under his breath.
To think I served tea to someone like this!
'I miss His Highness Jowurin.'
With Jowurin, Uman, and his friends all gone outside, the detention room felt unusually quiet.
The Oculogard student on the other side was busy meditating...
'...Wait. No. He's not meditating—he's avoiding my gaze.'
Lee Han realized Paridim wasn't actually meditating but pretending to.
If he were meditating for Divination Magic, his mana should be moving, but there was no activity whatsoever.
He was clearly pretending to meditate to avoid getting involved in this conversation.
To think he's already starting to blend into Einrogard's ways after being here for such a short time...
Lee Han considered calling Paridim over to help persuade Professor Bagrak but gave up. It felt like he was bullying the outsider too much.
'Hmm. I have less to do than I thought. Should I work on those postponed requests?'
It sounded absurd, but with the final exams already finished, he had nothing left to do during the actual exam period.
Other Einrogard students would have been shocked to hear this, but Lee Han was dead serious.
It was the side effect of living too busily without rest this semester.
So much so that he was seriously considering digging through his backlog of requests to find something useful.
'Come to think of it, I received a request to visit the Clover Ranch from the Senior but never went. I also made plans to do a request with the Phoenix Tower priests but never got around to it. And the Black Turtle Tower...'
Upon reflection, he realized he'd only done requests with the White Tiger Tower and Senior Yukveltire (though she was fake).
Strangely, it seemed only the most annoying people had benefited. Lee Han was about to scan through his requests again to see if he'd missed any when—
"Wardanaz! Is Wardanaz here?!"
A dwarf student with geometrically braided sideburns came rushing down in a panic.
It was Sigunting, a third-year from Einrogard's Enchantment Magic department.
"There you are! Junior! We're in big trouble!"
"??"
Lee Han was puzzled. He'd only just come down—what kind of trouble could have happened already?
What disaster could have occurred?
"That bastard has disappeared!"
"????"
For a moment, Lee Han wondered if this was about His Highness Uman leaving.
'Calling him a bastard... Isn't that too harsh?'
True, Uman was oblivious and would probably get punched by Jowurin someday, but 'bastard' was going too far.
And it wasn't even a big deal. He could always return to the capital...
Just then, a cold, composed order came from the side.
"Search the Spire Stable first, then seal the gates. Have the knights block the skies, and mobilize the sirens and giants to secure the waterways and underground. When did he disappear?"
"A-about a day or two ago..."
"Too late. He's probably already escaped."
"Ugh... Uwaaah! That damn bastard!"
Sigunting collapsed to his knees in the hallway and burst into tears—genuine, furious sobbing.
Lee Han suddenly realized he must have misunderstood. If it were Uman, this reaction wouldn't make sense.
"Um, Professor... Who are we talking about?"
"Professor Verdus. Professor Verdus has fled."
"...Ah!"
That explains it!
Truthfully, fleeing wasn't exclusive to Einrogard students.
As seen with Professor Voladi earlier this semester, professors also had a habit of running away when things didn't go their way.
The key difference was that while students were uniformly punished, professors faced individualized consequences.
If Professor Verdus fled...
-That bastard who belongs in the Punishment Room for eternity ran away again because he didn't want to do his job! Throw him into the void beyond dimensions! Break his limbs if you have to, but drag him back!
If Professor Voladi fled...
-Professor Bagrak? ...He must have his reasons. Investigate first.
If Professor Garcia fled...
-Tell her everything is my fault and to please come back. Promise her any demand will be met. Bible! This is your fault for dumping work on Professor Garcia!
Thus, even though Professor Verdus had fled, neither the professors nor the students were particularly concerned.
Most reactions amounted to, 'That guy would do something like that.'
But for the Enchantment Magic students, it was a different story.
If a professor fled, their duties fell to their students.
"......"
"Die. Die. Just die."
'The mood is at rock bottom.'
Lee Han thought to himself as he observed the senior Enchantment Magic students gathered in the Professor's Punishment Room.
Even Anpagon, a fourth-year preparing for graduation, had been dragged in. His murderous aura was so thick it was practically visible.
"Let's divide the work. Wardanaz, you'll handle grading for Basic Enchantment Magic and Basic Magical Materials."
"Yes. Understood."
"Sigunting, you take Magic Staff Enhancement lectures and the plan to loot Professor Verdus's storage."
"Understood."
For a second, Lee Han wondered if he'd misheard, but the atmosphere was too grave and solemn to ask for clarification.
'Looting his storage... Well, why not? It's ownerless now.'
Compared to the suffering the students now had to endure, setting fire to a professor's storage was nothing.
"Where is Senior Yukveltire, and what is she doing?"
"No need to worry, Wardanaz. She's working at the Sacred Pavilion Hall."
"Whew. What a relief."
Lee Han let out a sigh of relief, having been concerned that the senior might be left out.
Seeing this, the other students of the Enchantment Magic school wore faint smiles on their lips.
Truly, they were of one mind. Though it was often said that the Einrogard Enchantment Magic school was the least close-knit, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate.
'Well, even if it's Senior Yukveltire, a fifth-year student can't just sit idle when professors are disappearing.'
No matter how much anger rose in their throats or how their chests burned with vengeance, they still had immediate tasks to handle.
With the semester over, there was the magic verification of the Sacred Pavilion Hall, reviewing lecture plans, checking necessary reagents and supplies, and planning next year's lectures while anticipating student needs...
Perhaps the most furious among them was Senior Yukveltire. Thinking this, Lee Han felt slightly better.
"But why did Professor Verdus disappear?"
"No idea."
"Maybe it was just his time to die."
"......"
Lee Han decided it was best not to ask these two seniors any further.
Though asking Professor Voladi didn't seem like a good idea either...
'He'd probably give a similar answer.'
After a long while, Lee Han opened the <Watchers of Einrogard> club. It seemed countless messages had been posted and deleted in his absence.
...Iactus: Long live vengeance! The god of vengeance has answered my plea! May destruction befall the wicked inspector!
Gonadaltes: Does anyone know why Professor Verdus disappeared?
Iactus: Why do you suddenly appear only to bring up unpleasant topics?
Iactus, who had been rejoicing, now looked thoroughly displeased.
Why mention Professor Verdus' name on such a fine day?
Bakwantalana: I was curious about that too. If anyone knows why Professor Verdus disappeared, please share. I'll reward you.
Iactus: What, are you both from the Enchantment Magic school?
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Don't say such dreadful things. Some things are better left unsaid.
"......"
Of course, Lee Han knew Beaver-Penguin-Fox—Senior Ilendil—was trying to help him.
But he couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling.
'Hmph. As if being from a different school makes you that different. Outside, we'll all just be lumped together as "Einrogard mages" anyway.'
No matter how much they reassured themselves inside Einrogard with comments like, "At least we're relatively normal, haha," the moment they stepped outside, they'd be met with, "Eek! An Einrogard mage!"
Lee Han stopped grumbling and twirled his quill.
What could he say to rally these members?
Hugin-Munin: I know something.
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Really?
Hugin-Munin: No reward needed. As a new member, I'll share this as a gesture of goodwill.
'A new member?'
The Watcher Club's membership was always fluid.
Since anyone who discovered or was handed an eligible artifact could join or replace existing members, it wasn't unusual for new faces to appear.
Though Bakwantalana acted as the gatekeeper, even that wasn't absolute. Take the Young Prince, for instance—he had once forcibly seized control.
Lee Han privately messaged Senior Ilendil, whose identity he at least knew.
Gonadaltes: Who is that person?
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: A new member who joined recently. Exceptionally skilled in magic. A bit suspicious, though.
Senior Ilendil had a point.
If a new member was suspiciously skilled beyond necessity, they might not be a student—but a graduate, an outsider, a spy, or worst of all, a professor.
Hugin-Munin: Rumor has it Professor Verdus recently became obsessed with Black Magic. Unable to reverse-engineer it alone, he supposedly sought out the Descendants of Ahrag or the Legion of Oondorgu.
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: That's the most absurd thing I've ever heard! There's no way Professor Verdus would show interest in Black Magic!
The other party fell silent, perhaps out of anger. Concerned, Lee Han asked:
Gonadaltes: Is it wise to provoke someone whose identity we don't even know?
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What does it matter? It's not like we'll ever meet.
Gonadaltes: Well, that's true, but...