Episode 1291
Episode 1291
Lee Han spoke nonchalantly, as if he hadn't seen anything.
"Look over there, Gainando. The sky is really beautiful today."
"...No! Someone just got dragged away!"
Gainando shouted, utterly dumbfounded.
His friend was so composed that for a moment, he wondered if he was the only one hallucinating.
"Well... people get dragged away all the time at Einrogard. Like Professor Verdus."
"Th-that's true, but... still... still...!"
There was a difference in shock between seeing Professor Verdus being dragged away while trying to escape and seeing a fourth-year student who failed to graduate being taken.
The latter was strangely more terrifying.
"Gainando. I think I know why you're reacting like this."
"Right?! Einrogard is weird, isn't it?!"
"What you're afraid of is the subconscious anxiety lurking somewhere inside you. The fact that you're not fully prepared even as you approach your third and fourth years is making you uneasy. The more that's the case, the more you should hone your magic and face it head-on."
"...No. I'm just scared because the knights dragged away our senior."
Gainando answered with a serious expression.
Lee Han took Gainando around to check places they hadn't been able to during the semester.
The private room in the Blue Dragon Tower, the second-year shared storage...
"Ah. The storage is completely empty."
"I-I didn't eat it all by myself."
"I wasn't blaming you. It's just that when many people eat from it, it runs out faster."
...Wardanaz's secret base, the basement inside the backpack, the club management area on the seventh floor of the Main Building, the hidden temporary campsites and cabins in the forest...
"Write this down, Gainando. Two sacks of flour, five bottles of fairy honey, twelve stacks of firewood, eight coats, gloves and hats, pots and jars, a cauldron... Wait. What kind of lunatic put a hole in the cauldron? And it's not even a first-year."
Gainando flinched as he wrote it down.
The Black Magic faction, which frequently dealt with poisons, had a slightly higher probability of putting holes in cauldrons.
Of course, by that logic, the same could be said for alchemy and other factions, so Gainando bit his tongue instead of making excuses.
"The salt and spice sets are still fine. Since we're here, let's smoke some meat before we go."
"You have meat?"
"Wait. I'll go catch some."
"Hey, Lee Han. I can do that."
Glancing repeatedly at the hole in the cauldron, Gainando volunteered.
Even if hunting deer was too much, catching a few rabbits might ease his guilt a little.
"Don't bother. No need to waste mana pointlessly—just wait here. We still have a lot of places to check."
Lee Han let his friend rest inside the cabin before heading out.
Being at Einrogard made him understand why Professor Thunderstep was so obsessed with cabins and vegetable gardens.
Without consistently growing vegetables and hunting for meat, the diet at Einrogard could become quite dire.
To avoid that, they had to steadily expand their food collection routes by adding more campsites and cabins whenever they had time.
'Wait. But Professor Thunderstep can leave freely, right? Guess it was just a hobby born from having too much free time.'
Thirty minutes later.
Thud!
Gainando tilted his head at the sound coming from outside the cabin.
Wasn't that a bit too loud?
"Lee Han, what did you catch... AHH! IT'S A DRAKE!"
"Looks like it came down from the mountain range."
Lee Han wiped the blood off his face with a slightly tired expression.
Behind him lay the enormous monster, the drake, sprawled out. The sight was so unreal that Gainando was at a loss for words.
"It was wrecking the wild boar habitat. I had to stop it."
"U-uh, Lee Han... Actually, I was the one who put a hole in the cauldron."
Overwhelmed by his blood-soaked friend, Gainando immediately confessed.
"Oh? You should've been more careful."
"D-do you want to put a hole in my palm too?"
"Huh? No... Why would you say something so crazy? Just help me butcher this. You can weaken the hide and fascia, right?"
Other magic school students often joked, "All the Black Magic school can do is kill people and bring them back to life," but that was a huge misconception.
In fact, since the Black Magic school had been passed down since ancient times, it possessed a diverse array of spells that could counter various other schools of magic.
By using different poisons and curses, even the toughest and most resilient monster meat could be easily dismantled.
Of course, non-Black Magic wizards tended to give uncomfortable looks when poisons and curses were brought out during dismantling work.
"Hmm. There's more than I expected."
With Gainando's help, Lee Han quickly salted, smoked, dried, and preserved the meat in oil before calculating the remaining quantity.
Neither salt, oil, nor spices were infinite. They needed to keep replenishing their supplies.
"Should we go to the Blue Dragon Tower to get some?"
"No. It's too far. I'll have to borrow some from Professor Thunderstep for now."
Lee Han vanished and returned shortly after. Floating in the air was an entire shelf from the hut.
"Gainando. You must be tired—take a break and eat something first."
Amid glass jars filled with honey preserves and sugar-coated fruits and small crocks of dried fruits, Lee Han pulled out a jar of preserved spirit peaches and tossed it over.
Gainando was startled.
"Where was this!? I swear it wasn't here when we searched last time with the others...?!"
"The professor hid it. Since he usually uses scent-based illusions, it's best to cover your nose when entering the hut."
Even as his friend happily munched on the snacks, Lee Han didn't stop moving.
The first batch of processed meat was stored in the hut, the next was distributed to other campsites and huts, and the rest was kept in secret bases, shared storage, and basements...
One thing Einrogard always taught was never to put all your eggs in one basket.
If you did, you never knew when the Skeleton Principal might come looking for them.
After efficiently restocking on vegetables, fruits, and even mushrooms, Lee Han wiped the sweat from his brow and called Gainando again.
"Gainando. You finished eating, right? Let's go. We need to check the school facilities on the 7th floor. I wonder if the Black Magic school's mushroom garden is doing alright."
'That's odd? Isn't Lee Han a second-year?'
For a moment, Gainando was puzzled.
Wasn't this usually something fifth-years handled?
"What's wrong? Did you break something else?"
"Ah, no. It's nothing. I was just thinking—shouldn't we check the huts by the stream forest or the Dark Forest too?"
"I already did that. Let's go."
"......"
Could his friend be using Time Magic?
Gainando seriously considered the possibility.
"Lee Han. Now that I think about it, the fifth-year seniors might still be at school."
"Yeah, that makes sense."
Lee Han nodded.
The fifth-years were preparing to advance to the next grade—technically, adding two to four—so by this point, vacations hardly meant anything to them.
By next year, it'd probably be even harder to see them, since they'd be traveling all over the Empire preparing their magic.
"Lee Han. The fifth-year seniors might still be at school, you know?"
"??"
Lee Han didn't understand why Gainando kept repeating himself.
So what?
"What about it?"
"...I-I just thought maybe we could leave the school facilities on the 7th floor to the seniors..."
Gainando answered meekly, feeling like he was saying something absurd and wrong.
It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion!
"Gainando. Don't you feel bad for Senior Diret? He just finished his fifth year. As decent people, we should be considerate."
"But you spent a whole year fighting an Evil God..."
Gainando muttered under his breath, too quietly for his friend to hear.
He understood that fifth year was tough, but going head-to-head with an Evil God wasn't exactly easy either.
After all that, shouldn't he at least get to rest during vacation?
Moreover, his friend was clearly going to be a fifth-year student soon, but he doubted the second-year juniors would have such admirable thoughts at that time.
"What did you just say?"
"Ah, nothing! I didn't say anything! Uh, so we just need to manage the rest of the faction facilities now! How exciting!"
"That's not it. The Enchantment Magic faction facilities should be handled by Senior Yukveltire or Professor Verdus."
'Hmm. At least Lee Han hasn't completely lost his mind.'
Gainando felt slightly relieved.
If his friend had insisted on handling that too, he would have been genuinely worried.
Lee Han generously used reagents to tend to the Black Magic faction's mushroom garden.
The land, which had withered due to the recent decrease in Yin-attribute mana, visibly regained its vitality.
Suddenly curious, Gainando asked,
"Where did you get all those reagents?"
"I received them from a senior."
"Which senior? Senior Diret?"
"No."
"Senior Yukveltire... No, that can't be. Then..."
"You know that graduated senior. The one we met at Petrogard."
"Ah. That person."
Gainando belatedly recalled the Great Artist.
This senior, who had thoroughly looted the reagents from the auction house, had also bestowed generous gifts upon Lee Han before disappearing.
Though kind-hearted, there was no denying he was an eccentric and peculiar individual.
'Please don't let Lee Han turn into that kind of mage later.'
Come to think of it, there were already some ominous signs.
If he kept fighting with the Skeleton Principal and escaping next year, he might end up just like that...
'No way! The principal is one thing, but Lee Han becoming a criminal...?'
As Gainando lost himself in thought, a familiar mage came into view.
The waddling gait evoked both adoration and loathing simultaneously.
"P-P-P-P-Professor Verdus!"
"Indeed. Did he come to manage things?"
Lee Han was slightly puzzled but not particularly surprised.
Due to his escape attempt during finals, Professor Verdus was under strict surveillance. Under such circumstances, even he would have to work diligently.
Professor Verdus rubbed his bruised eye and grumbled,
"Seems like my luck's been terrible lately. Weird enemies keep showing up."
"The principal?"
"No! Some Frost Giant suddenly ambushed me from beyond the painting."
"......"
"......"
Lee Han and Gainando exchanged glances before nodding briefly.
"Frost Giants are inherently violent creatures. Such incidents aren't unusual."
"Lee Han's right. Frost Giants are notoriously fierce."
"Ugh. That may be, but they don't usually attack without reason..."
Professor Verdus tilted his head skeptically.
The shackles around his wrists and ankles clanked heavily. They looked incredibly weighty.
"Right. Wardanaz, you're staying over break, right?"
"No, thank you."
"I haven't even said anything yet?!"
The professor was baffled by his student's immediate rejection.
"I see. No, thank you."
"I'm not going to make you work! Just come to the workshop for a bit. I have something to show you."
"You're going to show me your work process, let me observe Enchantment Magic, and give me time to rest, right? No, thank you."
"That's not it!"
Professor Verdus couldn't understand why his student was so suspicious.
It wasn't like he'd spent his whole life being deceived—why was the kid so distrustful?
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"Yes."
'Wow. That's impressive.'
Gainando was slightly awed.
Having not interacted with his own professor for a while, he'd forgotten—but that shamelessness was truly admirable.
He wanted to learn that skill!
"That's strange? I don't recall ever lying. Anyway, what I want to show you is Small World Magic. Professor Garcia mentioned you've started seriously attempting Small World Magic, right?"
"!"
Gainando was startled by those words.
It wasn't surprising that Lee Han was seriously attempting Small World Magic, but the fact that Professor Verdus had come to help was utterly shocking.
This person...
He really is an Einrogard professor!
"No? I think you misheard."