Episode 1281
Episode 1281
"Why are you acting like that, Senior?"
Salko turned his head at the gaze he felt from behind and asked.
Palga quickly waved his hand.
"It's nothing. Absolutely nothing."
If that really was an Artifact like the Portrait of Wisdom, he shouldn't give any hints.
Because...
"Good judgment, Palga. Even if they're juniors, you should be wary or your stuff might get stolen."
"...No! What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"
At his friend Ivanna's words, Palga jumped up in protest.
This corrupted friend of his was now insulting the honor of the Ukim Family.
"I never even considered stealing! Do you think I'd take something my juniors found?"
"I get it. I get it. I understand what you're trying to say."
As Ivanna spoke in a placating tone, Palga's expression softened slightly.
"You're saying you'll just pretend to stop them so I should do the stealing instead?"
"...You!"
"Not that either? My, how particular."
Responding to her friend's reaction, Ivanna answered as if annoyed.
Indeed, even among White Tiger Tower students, Palga had quite a particular personality.
Normally, statements like "As a knight family, we have dignity—how could we possibly commit robbery or theft?" are things students discard by the first week of their first semester.
By just the second week of the first semester, White Tiger Tower students would have already rationalized things with thoughts like "Now that I think about it, there's such a thing as robber-knights" or "Historically speaking, knightly orders themselves grew by plundering."
But there were still a few students like Palga who would say things like "We have dignity—how could we steal from juniors?"
From the perspective of Ivanna, who was in charge of supplies for the White Tiger Tower, it was honestly annoying.
If you're going to be like that, why not just go to the Phoenix Tower instead!
"Listen up, kids. I'm being dead serious this time."
Meanwhile, Gainando, who was at the front of the group, also exchanged whispers with the others. Gainando spoke with a serious expression.
"I know you think I'm being paranoid. But this time it's really suspicious. I think those seniors are targeting us!"
"Hmm. The prince has a point."
"?!"
Gainando was greatly surprised when Salko agreed with him.
He'd expected to be scolded for being needlessly suspicious of people!
"You said they were trustworthy seniors?!"
"When did I say that? I said they were seniors we could at least talk to. We can't even trust seniors from our own tower—how could we trust seniors from other towers?"
Salko glanced back uneasily.
At Einrogard, seniors were always beings who could turn into robbers at any moment. The way they were whispering while looking this way was extremely suspicious.
Ratford also agreed.
"That's classic first-stage robbery behavior. Whispering while looking someone up and down means they're calculating the cost and method."
"But there's one thing I don't understand."
He couldn't comprehend why the seniors were acting like this now.
If they were trying to steal the Portrait of Wisdom after finding it, that would be one thing, but to reveal their true colors just because we found a way into the swamp area?
Wouldn't they also suffer losses if they caused infighting here?
"I don't get why they're acting like this when we haven't even secured the portrait yet."
"What do you mean why? It's the White Tiger Tower. They're beast-like creatures who plunder for no reason! Didn't I tell you? A White Tiger Tower senior came and stole my snack while I was eating on the 7th floor just the other day!"
"If you tell that story one more time, I'll say it a hundred times."
"And it wasn't 'just the other day' either. That happened at the beginning of this year."
The two looked at Gainando as if thoroughly fed up.
With this level of persistence, even the White Tiger Tower senior who stole his snack might come back to apologize.
How can someone be this obsessive over a single stolen snack?
-Hmm. I don't know either. Does Gainando look wealthy to you?
Even Wardanaz couldn't come up with a good answer.
He never imagined that the seniors might be mistaking a second-year study group for some incredible Artifact.
-Does anyone have any guesses?
-What do you mean Gainando looks wealthy? They were probably just hungry and saw Gainando eating something.
-Could it be they're trying to eliminate competition? After seeing our skills in navigating the swamp, they might have judged us more capable than expected.
-But if it's a White Tiger Tower senior, shouldn't we keep quiet about this?
-Hey! What are you implying?! You think I'd act like a spy or something?!
-That's not it... Lord Wardanaz. This might be a good opportunity for us to craft a new artifact...
-Wardanaz, you're not seriously considering that, are you? Don't just exclude the White Tiger Tower.
-Alpha. Please shut up. You're embarrassing me.
'Ugh. These useless idiots.'
Salko cursed inwardly.
As expected, those not present on the scene just kept spouting nonsense since it didn't concern them.
What did it matter whether they formed a new club excluding the White Tiger Tower or not?!
'But if the seniors genuinely see us as serious competitors, that's somewhat flattering.'
He even felt a little proud.
At first, they might have left us alone because they didn't consider us rivals, but if they grew wary after seeing our magical skills, that made sense.
...Though, strictly speaking, it wasn't their magic skills but Wardanaz's remote control that did the trick—but still!
"Should we strike first? Should we? Let me strike first!"
"...Hey, princeling. Do you really think you can take on two White Tiger Tower third-years and win?"
Among Einrogard's four towers, the White Tiger Tower mostly housed students from knightly families, many of whom were proficient in both magic and swordsmanship.
And these were seniors a whole year above them—yet he was ready to fight?
'Did traveling with Wardanaz make third-years seem like pushovers?'
"I can't guarantee a win, but I can hold them off. I've got a pouch of poison mist here. If I release it, it should cover this passage."
"Seniors of that caliber would probably endure it with Enhancement Magic."
Ratford looked at him worriedly.
Poison was a potent element, but against sturdy, resilient types like those from the White Tiger Tower, it wouldn't take them down easily.
"Lee Han gave this to me. Said to use it if we ran into magic criminals outside."
"Then it's trustworthy. Let's release it now."
"......"
After glaring at Ratford, whose attitude changed instantly at the mention of Lee Han's name, Gainando turned to Salko.
"What should we do?"
"...Let's wait a little. Attacking now is too risky. The seniors don't seem fully decided yet, so let's keep our distance."
As they spoke, the edge of the swamp came into view. A loud sound of rushing water echoed from somewhere.
"A lake? A waterfall?"
"Good thing we didn't ditch the raft."
Even though they could walk, they'd kept the raft precisely because of Einrogard's ever-changing terrain.
The seniors following behind seemed to have heard the water too, preparing to move across it.
Ratford's face stiffened instantly. With the sharpest ears among them, he was the first to notice something wrong.
"Siren! It's a Siren!"
"We need to cover our ears!"
"...Are you really a second-year?!"
Salko was exasperated. A Siren's song struck the soul directly—covering your ears wouldn't help.
Hadn't they all seen one during last year's lectures?!
"R-right! O hideous skull, scream forth!"
Gainando pulled out a skull and chanted a spell. The skull emitted a grating, cacophonous noise.
Hearing it, the other students suddenly felt nauseous. Salko stared in disbelief and shouted.
"You madman! What if you cursed us?!"
"Ugh, but... it blocked the Siren's attack... didn't it?!"
What Gainando had done was simple yet effective.
He'd cast a <Dizzying Chant> spell to create noise first. Since this curse also operated via sound waves, it could interfere with the Siren's song.
The problem was that their nearby friends couldn't help but be affected by that magic as well.
"Being... a little dizzy is better than the alternative!"
"What the hell are they doing?"
The senior students from the White Tiger Tower behind them stared in disbelief.
Using a curse to block the song first? While effective, wasn't that too extreme?
Palga and Ivanna activated the amulet artifacts they'd brought. If you came down to the underground without preparing for sirens, you weren't a third-year but a first-year.
As the amulets glowed, their spiritual power amplified, making them steadfast enough not to be shaken by ordinary songs.
"That can't be the Portrait of Wisdom, right? It wouldn't teach such a crude method."
"That seems unrelated to the portrait—no, unrelated to any artifact. There wouldn't have been time for that anyway."
"True... More importantly, we should be careful if there are sirens around. Didn't the Blue Dragon Tower bastards raid the siren territory last time?"
Ivanna's expression hardened as she spoke, clearly annoyed.
She should've raided it first!
"Right. Let's retreat and wait until the sirens tire themselves out."
Palga knew how to deal with sirens well.
Their songs were powerful, but their stamina wasn't great. If they retreated and waited, the sirens would exhaust themselves and leave.
"...What are they doing?"
"Huh?"
At Ivanna's words, Palga turned his gaze.
Surprisingly, the second-year students were advancing forward!
'Are they charmed?!'
For a moment, he thought they'd fallen under the song's influence, but the juniors' eyes looked perfectly clear. Instead, they were holding up that suspicious wisdom paper artifact and started shouting something.
-"Excuse me... is Ms. Parthenope here...?"
-"Ms. Parthenope! Lee Han... wants to talk..."
-"♪♪♪♪♪"
Suddenly, the sirens' singing stopped dead.
With a series of splashing sounds, the sirens all vanished without a trace.
"?!?!?!"
"Wh-what? What just happened?"
The two White Tiger Tower seniors were stunned.
To think a single spell could drive away those violent, petty sirens.
'There really must be something to that paper after all!'
-"Wardanaz. It worked out just as you said it would."
At Salko's message, Lee Han smiled contentedly.
Friends really were helpful in times like these.
Who knew the bond he'd formed with Siren Parthenope would come in handy like this?
-"Right. Did Parthenope come out to mediate?"
-"Huh? No. The sirens just disappeared. Wasn't that a spell to make them vanish?"
Salko sounded puzzled.
They'd shouted things like 'Wardanaz is looking for Parthenope' and 'Lee Han is looking for Parthenope,' and everyone just vanished, so he'd assumed it was that kind of spell.
-"...Wait, she didn't come out to mediate?"
-"They just all disappeared, I told you."
-"Then weren't they scared off rather than being friendly?"
Angrago asked, sounding dubious.
Maybe it was just his mood, but Wardanaz didn't seem particularly close to the sirens. If anything, it seemed like he'd instilled fear in them.
And considering Wardanaz's track record, that wasn't surprising at all.
Unless they were exceptionally peculiar, eccentric, or powerful, most races tended to be afraid of him.
-"Come to think of it, this involved the White Tiger Tower seniors, so talking about it here was a mistake. I'll have to make a new one."
-"W-wait, sorry! Don't make a new one! Wardanaz! You're not seriously considering that, right?!"
"......"
Even though Wardanaz was on his side, Salko couldn't help but think he was being incredibly petty.
Why was this guy, usually so forgiving he'd let surprise attacks slide, so hung up on such trivial details?
Fortunately, Wardanaz seemed to collect himself and spoke again.
-"She probably didn't come out because I wasn't there in person. She must not have wanted to deal with strangers. But she read the situation and mediated anyway. See, Angrago? They retreated."
'It looked more like they fled than retreated...'