Episode 1276
Episode 1276
When Lee Han's expression turned serious, Sigunting's face flushed red.
Now that he thought about it, no matter how gullibly kind his junior might be, there was no way he would just timidly walk away after hearing such nonsense in this situation.
"Kill..."
"?"
"Kill him!"
Anpagon, the senior who had always maintained a calm and composed demeanor—earning the respect of his fellow Tower seniors—shouted so emotionally that Lee Han was startled.
"Ah, oops!"
Sigunting immediately reacted upon hearing that. Lee Han wondered if he should try to stop Anpagon along with his senior.
But that was a misunderstanding. Sigunting wasn't trying to stop Anpagon—he was pulling out his crossbow to join the attack.
"Die!"
Ting!
Sigunting wasn't as aggressive as his junior when it came to combat, but as an Einrogard student, he was at least prepared for the basics.
The enchanted crossbow, modified with the unique properties of Enchantment Magic, released bolts with a sharp tingting sound.
Watching the bolts—each imbued with high-level combinations of aiming, homing, acceleration, penetration, and explosion—being fired in rapid succession, Lee Han felt a complicated mix of emotions.
To think such well-crafted magic was being used just to attack a professor from their own school...
"Everyone, calm down! I'm not an intruder—I'm Professor Bible Verdus!"
Professor Verdus reinforced his defense with a star-shaped dodecahedron artifact made of silver and lapis lazuli.
The artifact froze the surrounding air and projected illusions of Verdus to both sides, disrupting their aim like decoys.
"We know that?!"
"How dare you say that now?!"
Sigunting and Anpagon only grew angrier, howling in fury.
Professor Verdus's cheerful demeanor had always driven his students mad.
"What? Then why are you attacking me?!"
"...Kill him! I'm going to kill him!"
Unable to bear his seniors' frustration any longer, Lee Han shouted.
"Professor! Because you ran away, we had to take on all the work! And Senior Anpagon was in the middle of preparing his graduation project!"
"Well, you could've run away too! Why blame me?!"
Professor Verdus rolled his body and took cover behind the workshop facilities as he yelled.
As a wizard, it was his own responsibility to take care of his own share.
If the Skeleton Principal made them do the work of a missing professor, they could've just run away too. If they chose to stay, they had no right to be angry at Verdus.
"...Even if it costs me my graduation, I must at least once cut off the breath of that bastard who deserves to burn in the hottest depths of hell. Come forth, Aethernum Aedificium!"
The enraged Anpagon attempted to summon his unfinished graduation project.
As a member of the Stonemason Club and an expert in magical architecture among Enchantment Magic users, Anpagon planned to summon a structure inside the workshop and melt Professor Verdus alive.
"Magnum Opus!"
Professor Verdus activated the Small World Magic stored inside another necklace while simultaneously securing the authority of the Magic Tower.
As his small, adorable beaver hands moved through the air at a maddening speed—befitting a beastman—Anpagon's structure was blocked before it could even be summoned and was forcibly reversed.
"Gah... GAAAH!"
Completely neutralized without even landing a single blow, Anpagon howled in fury.
How in the world was he supposed to repay this grudge?!
"Junior! I'm begging you! Kill Professor Verdus! Just once is enough!"
"Eek!"
Professor Verdus stared at Lee Han with a wary expression.
Unlike his other students, whose magical capabilities were roughly predictable, Wardanaz was a secret weapon trained by Professor Voladi—there was no telling what he might do.
He wouldn't call Professor Voladi, would he?
But Lee Han spoke with a bitter expression.
"Senior... If we kill Professor Verdus, we'll have to do all the remaining work until he revives."
"......"
"......"
It was as if cold water had been poured over the two seniors, snapping them back to their senses.
Surprisingly, their junior was far more mature than they were.
"...You're right, Wardanaz."
"I should've thought of that first. I'm truly ashamed."
"Not at all. If I were an upperclassman like you, I wouldn't have been able to hold back either."
Lee Han could understand his seniors' feelings.
If this had happened during his third or fourth year when he was assigned relatively more difficult tasks, rather than the easier second-year assignments, it would have been truly...
Yukveltire, who had been watching, nodded in approval. Fortunately, it seemed the juniors had come to their senses on their own without her needing to intervene.
"It's a relief everyone has regained their composure."
Professor Verdus peeked his head out from behind the wall and spoke cheerfully. Lee Han felt his fingertips tremble for a moment.
'I have to hold back.'
"Professor. What... exactly did you mean by saying you needed my help?"
Afraid that leaving things as they were might cause the true seniors to explode again, Lee Han quickly asked.
He needed to steer the conversation away first.
"Ah. Well, you see..."
Lately, Professor Verdus, who had developed a deep interest in black magic, had been researching how to cast spells like <Ahrag's Eye> or <Living Wall> instead of preparing for the final exams or creating artifacts.
But it wasn't easy. No matter how skilled Professor Verdus was in Enchantment Magic, attempting to reverse-engineer high-level black magic spells he had never paid attention to before in such a short time was nearly impossible.
Hitting a wall, Professor Verdus decided to swallow his pride and make a truly significant concession.
He resolved to seek advice from black magic experts.
However, the Einrogard Black Magic School was cold and indifferent.
-You're a second-year, why are you asking about this? Huh? Shouldn't any student in the Black Magic School know this, regardless of their year? ...Lee Han! Lee Han! Professor Verdus is bullying me!!
-Professor. If we catch you near Black Rock Hall one more time, we will attack. We already have permission from Professor Mortum. In fact, Professor Mortum told us to find and attack you first.
-Bible. Why are you suddenly asking about black magic? Didn't you say black magic is boring, tedious, and outdated? Now you want me to teach you how to do it? ...Wait. Have you finished all your artifacts? Are you fully prepared for the exams? Do you really have a death wish?
Despite Professor Verdus's earnest inquiries, the black mages mercilessly drove him away.
In the end, there was only one thing left for Professor Verdus to do.
He had to go and ask the very creators of these spells.
-Descendants of Ahrag! Descendants of Ahrag! Open the door! I came to ask something!
-...What? Who would come here?
-What lunatic would come looking for us here? Who are you? Reveal yourself!
-I'm Professor Verdus from Einrogard!
-......
-...Don't lie.
At first, the Descendants of Ahrag couldn't believe it.
Wasn't Professor Verdus the most antagonistic among Einrogard's professors?
Would someone who barely survives under the Skeleton Principal's protection within Einrogard really crawl all the way out to this remote place?
-Wait. Who would impersonate someone like that? Is he for real?
-It's really me! Open the door!
-...Come in. For now.
The black mages opened the door.
And in waddled a beaver beastman mage. Ordinary people might have gasped at the adorable sight, but the descendants wore grave expressions.
-Madness. This is even more shocking than flesh growing on a skeleton. It really is Professor Verdus.
-If we sell him off, wouldn't we get years' worth of our magic tower's budget? Who offered the highest bounty last time?
-Everyone, calm down. As much as I'd love to sell him off, he's still an Einrogard professor.
No matter what, as black mages, they couldn't disregard Einrogard's dignity.
Above all else, wasn't Einrogard's lord the most powerful black mage alive and the founder of their school?
-And there's also the black mage from the Wardanaz family. Selling off a professor would be a bit much.
-Hmm. That's true too.
The Descendants of Ahrag recalled recent events.
The potential displayed by that rising mage from the Wardanaz family was still awe-inspiring to think about.
Just how exceptional must he be for those picky black mages to fight amongst themselves to teach him magic from their own seats?
Considering future relations, they couldn't just coldly sell off Professor Einrogard like some commodity.
"But why hasn't the Ninth contacted us after chasing after him?"
"Who knows? That eccentric bastard. He's probably coaxing him just fine on his own. I'm more worried he might run off with Wardanaz alone."
"That damn bastard... You don't think he'd actually do that, do you?"
The descendants suddenly grew deeply suspicious of the Ninth.
Of course, the Ninth was currently imprisoned in Black Rock Hall's basement after being ambushed by the wicked Professor Einrogard, but they had no way of knowing that.
"How long do we have to wait?"
"Hmm. Very well. Come in, Professor Verdus. We'll receive you as our guest."
The descendants reached a conclusion for now.
They would welcome Professor Verdus as a guest.
"Thank you."
"Eighth, bring out some mud tea. This is tea we grew ourselves—"
"No thanks. I hate the tea black mages drink. It tastes terrible."
"...Then why did you come here?"
Within less than a minute of being welcomed as a guest, the descendants' attitudes immediately turned prickly.
Having lived over a hundred years as monsters, they didn't take kindly to Professor Verdus's attitude.
Even the mage from the Wardanaz family had impeccable manners, for heaven's sake!
"I came because I had some questions about magic."
"Oh... Interested in black magic?"
"No. Generally, old and outdated things don't interest me much."
"......"
"But I recently discovered a spell that caught my attention. <Ahrag's Eye> or something..."
"Ah. That one. Not a bad spell."
"I don't know if it's bad or not. I'd have to cast it myself to find out. So teach me how to cast it."
"......"
The black mages fell silent again.
As the silences grew more frequent, Professor Verdus wondered if they were just senile.
"That might be difficult. You know we don't disclose secret spells to outsiders, right?"
"But Wardanaz learned it."
"Oh. So you heard about that somewhere."
The cunning black mages didn't even blink at Professor Verdus's accusation.
Instead, they answered boldly.
"If you're jealous, become a Wardanaz too."
"Fine. I'll change my family name to Wardanaz. Happy now? Teach me."
"......"
The descendants were freshly reminded of how this professor had set a new record for bounties.
If Wardanaz was a born genius of magic, this professor was a born genius of bounties.
What a mad bastard!
"Go to the Wardanaz family and bring back official adoption papers, then we'll consider it."
"That's too strict!"
Professor Verdus protested the black mages' unreasonable demands.
But these despicably petty black mages wouldn't budge.
"Then bring Wardanaz here. If you get him to join our tower, we'll teach you not just <Ahrag's Eye> but other black magic too."
"Wardanaz? That's impossible."
"Well, I suppose a professor can't just sell off his student. Still, he is a professor after all."
"No, I could sell him, but why would Wardanaz ever want to join a tower like this? It's absurd."
Professor Verdus wasn't stupid.
Countless towers across the Empire were sending love calls to that student—why would he join some remote, backwater place like this?
"......"
"...Patience. Just endure it. Anyway, Professor Verdus, since you don't want this or that, I suppose negotiations have broken down."
"Can't you just teach me?"
"Over there in the stable, there's a bed. Sleep there for the night and go home safely. Or don't go home safely. Or drop dead on the way. Whatever."
"Wait. But why were you attacked?"
Listening to the story, Lee Han felt puzzled. Professor Verdus's appearance clearly indicated he had been assaulted as a mage.
But the Descendants of Ahrag had just let him go?
'Did it happen on the way back?'
"The Descendants of Ahrag ambushed me at night."
"Eh!? They didn't seem like the type."
Lee Han was even more surprised. But the seniors, having already caught on, smirked.
"Wardanaz. First ask what the professor was doing at night."
"...What were you doing?"
"Nothing much? Just sneaked into their tower to peek at their magic, that's all."
"......"