Episode 184
Episode 184
However, Lee Han did not receive his reward.
The other party woke up before he could even search their pockets.
"...Hahk!"
"W-what in the world happened?"
"......"
Lee Han and Ratford glared at the students from the other towers with displeased expressions.
If they were going to wake up, they should've done so back in the hallway. After all the effort of carrying them out...
'These bastards weren't pretending to be asleep, were they?'
"Th-thank you. Wardanaz."
The Black Turtle Tower student, having regained his senses, quickly assessed the situation and expressed his gratitude.
His last memory was entering the lecture hall and inhaling the ominous smoke from the magic circle before everything went black.
Given that he had no memory of what happened afterward, it was clear that Wardanaz and his friends had saved him.
Thud—
The Black Turtle Tower student grabbed Lee Han's outstretched hand and shook it firmly. Lee Han wore an awkward expression.
That hand had been reaching out to pick his pockets.
"Thank you, Wardanaz."
"We didn't expect you to save us."
The White Tiger Tower students also began waking up one by one.
And just like that, they all expressed their gratitude.
"To think you'd carry us out like this..."
"I never imagined it. Truly, thank you."
The awakened students politely bowed in thanks before turning to leave.
Lee Han couldn't help but glare at their retreating backs in frustration.
"Shall we knock them out again?"
At Ratford's whisper, Lee Han wavered—just a little.
"Well, this is quite mysterious..."
Professor Thunderstep tilted his head in confusion.
It wasn't because of a hangover. After all, it was only natural to get a hangover after drinking heavily.
Not getting one would've been stranger!
After chasing away the hangover with a potion, Professor Thunderstep sank into deep thought once more.
'How did no one get caught?'
At the request of the other professors, he had placed several potions in the first-floor lecture hall of the Alchemy Hall.
Teasing—no, training the students was a collaborative effort, even among professors.
Considering the effects of the magic circles set up, the students should've been wreaking havoc inside the lecture hall until morning.
Yet, astonishingly, the lecture hall was completely empty.
It wasn't as if there had been no intruders. The chairs were scattered, and the magic circles were damaged—proof of a break-in.
But how?
'Did they notice and counter it? No... If they had noticed, they wouldn't have triggered the magic circles in the first place.'
Rather than anger, Professor Thunderstep was simply curious.
Just what in the world had happened?
"Good morning, Professor."
Students began trickling in one by one to submit their alchemy assignments on this Friday morning.
"Ah. Good morning."
One by one, they placed their potions before him and left.
The sullen, tormented expressions on their faces brought a satisfied smile to Professor Thunderstep's lips.
It was clear they had spent the night agonizing over incomplete materials.
"Good morning, Professor."
"Ah. Wardanaz."
Upon seeing Lee Han, Professor Thunderstep suddenly felt a flicker of suspicion.
'...No.'
For a moment, he wondered if the boy from the Wardanaz family had something to do with it. But upon reflection, Lee Han hadn't attended those lectures.
What connection could he have if he hadn't even been there? It was just a coincidence.
"I'll leave this here."
"Very well."
Lee Han obediently submitted his potion and turned to leave.
Even after he was gone, Professor Thunderstep remained deep in thought.
'Hmm. Truly mysterious.'
He stood up and began inspecting the potions the students had submitted.
Traces of their desperate struggles to compensate for missing ingredients were evident.
'Did this one substitute wild chrysanthemum? The idea is novel, but it probably won't blend well. This one... reckless. Did they proceed without any ingredients at all? Bold, but the effect is severely diminished. This potion is pure desperation. They just poured in a similarly colored potion instead.'
Professor Thunderstep paused in his inspection.
Astonishingly, there before his eyes was a potion that bordered on perfection.
"?!"
Startled, Professor Thunderstep brought his face closer to examine it. Yet even upon rechecking, the potion's efficacy remained flawless.
How??
'How did they obtain thistle flowers? Did they know the location of another flower bed?'
If that were the case, this student was unbelievably lucky.
Clicking his tongue, Professor Thunderstep checked the name of this fortunate student.
-Lee Han Wardanaz
"......"
Professor Thunderstep narrowed his eyes.
Something was tickling at the back of his mind.
'There's more than one??'
Looking around, he realized students who'd obtained thistle flowers weren't just one or two.
Professor Thunderstep felt a creeping suspicion.
Surely not...
Surely not?!?
"It's over!!!"
Friday evening.
The freshmen of the Blue Dragon Tower were cheering and whistling in the common room.
Some students popped open bottles of drinks they'd been saving and sprayed them around recklessly.
Whether they'd done well or poorly, now that midterms were over, all students couldn't help but feel liberated.
"It's over! It's finally over!"
"Anyone for a round of cards?"
"Damn those professors and their curses!"
"Cards, anyone??"
"Wardanaz! What's all this?"
"Everyone worked hard for the exams."
Lee Han greeted his friends with a kind smile as luxury items he'd been saving up filled the table one by one.
Glass bottles filled with chilled fruit juices and various desserts packed every inch of space without gaps.
Crispy crème brûlée and cream cakes topped with strawberries. Peach-flavored cream sodas and ice cream. Puddings made with grapes, cream, and solidified milk—a feast of desserts normally impossible to get at Einrogard.
The students of the Blue Dragon Tower nearly shed tears at this banquet.
"Wardanaz...!"
"You... you're truly...!"
Even if Lee Han had saved the empire, they probably wouldn't have been this moved.
Lee Han thought to himself:
'They're so happy it's making me feel guilty.'
Truth be told, focusing on luxury goods like this was highly profitable for Lee Han too.
He was already making plenty of profit as it was, but squeezing even more out of them felt somewhat uncomfortable.
If he'd just used fresh ingredients from the garden or elsewhere, seasoning them with spices bought from outside to make decent meals, the profits wouldn't have been this excessive.
'...No. I mustn't waver.'
Lee Han steeled his resolve.
These special treats were a rare occasion—if he tried filling the pantry and planning meals like this regularly, the storage would be emptied in no time, and the students would starve.
In the long run, that wouldn't be good for Lee Han either!
"Don't push—form a line. There's plenty for everyone."
Though the Blue Dragon Tower was usually more orderly than others when it came to food, this time, chaos erupted as everyone shoved and pulled to get ahead.
With Yoner's help, Lee Han managed to line up his friends.
"Alright. Line up—"
"I was here first!"
"You, who couldn't even pass the exam—!"
"...Get in line."
"Ah. Yes."
"S-sorry, Mr. Wardanaz."
Though there were minor scuffles, his friends understood.
Lee Han nodded knowingly as he watched the Princess's followers line up to take their portions.
"So you're taking these to Her Highness."
"Ah!"
"...Don't tell me you'd forgotten?"
At Lee Han's question, the followers averted their eyes awkwardly.
"Take some now and bring more later if you're delivering it to her."
The followers glanced at the glass bottle of melon juice, then at the appetizingly sliced cake, then up the stairs.
"Her Highness might not even like these kinds of things..."
"......"
Lee Han was appalled.
Their loyalty... defeated by delicious desserts?
"Maybe Her Highness originally didn't like snacks and only forced herself to eat them because of us...?"
"Y-yeah, that's right."
"From what I see, that's not the case."
Even with Lee Han's remark, the followers pretended not to hear and ignored him. They just really wanted to eat the desserts.
"...Fine, I'll go call her myself."
"As expected of Lord Wardanaz!"
"Stop it, you're making it sound sarcastic."
Lee Han climbed the stairs and knocked on the Princess's private room door.
The Princess opened the door. Her expressionless face held a faint trace of anticipation.
But that anticipation soon disappeared. Lee Han's hands were empty.
"...!"
The Princess's pupils shook even more violently than when she had been misunderstood for secretly stealing and eating a sandwich last time.
"Everyone's having snacks downstairs right now, so why don't you come down and join us?"
The Princess let out a very slight sigh of relief. Then she nodded.
Lee Han descended the stairs first, and the Princess followed behind him.
The followers were startled when they saw this.
"Are you sure you're alright with this? It's so noisy down here..."
"Won't it disturb you when you're deep in thought? Maybe you should stay upstairs..."
The Princess sternly smacked the back of a follower's hand. The follower looked flustered.
"Wardanaz. What if Her Highness gets tired?"
"She doesn't look tired at all."
"Right. Your loyalty is warped."
Gainando muttered while stuffing pudding into his mouth.
If only they showed even 1/100th of that reverence...
"Shut up, Gainando. What do you know about my loyalty?"
"Exactly. My loyalty is pure."
Annoyed, Lee Han waved his hand dismissively.
"She's not a child, she'll manage just fine. Look, she's standing there perfectly fine."
"R-really? It's okay? More importantly, how did you convince her to come out? She wouldn't normally like a place like this..."
Lee Han wondered if his friends had ever actually had a proper conversation with the Princess.
Though, to be fair, he hadn't either...
"I spoke from the heart. Now, next."
"Lee Han, want to play a round of cards after we finish dividing the desserts?"
"You keep losing, though?"
It was meant as a concerned remark for Gainando, but it seemed to have struck his pride.
Gainando tried his best to stay calm (though the trembling was obvious) and said,
"Th-that was just a test deck. I've added new cards this time... so it's stronger now...!"
'Just because you stuff it with expensive cards doesn't make the deck stronger.'
Gainando was the type to blindly cram his deck full of high-mana-cost summoning cards.
In contrast, Lee Han built his deck around low-mana cards that whittled down the opponent's life points, ending games early.
Of course, Lee Han always won.
"Fine. I'll play one round with you—"
BANG!
The lounge door swung open, and a Death Knight appeared.
The students were all horrified.
"It's... it's the weekend! Isn't this too much?!"
"Is this allowed? Seriously, is this allowed?!"
But contrary to the students' outcries, the Death Knight had come for a reason.
From now on, all failing students whose names are called must report to the Punishment Room.
"......"
"......"
Lee Han was stunned.
'So the rumor about failing students being sent to the Punishment Room wasn't just a lie!'
It was easy to mistakenly assume Einrogard was lenient, allowing mages to study as they pleased. But the academy wasn't so forgiving that students could slack off in lectures.
"Gainando."
"No! No!"
The thought of spending his golden weekend in the Punishment Room drove Gainando to attempt an escape.
Of course, there was no avoiding the Death Knight.
"Lee Han! Send me food! You have to send me food!!"
Several unlucky students were dragged away by the Death Knight. Outside, a prison carriage awaited them like they were criminals or fugitives.
"Wardanaz."
"?!"
The other students were more shocked than Lee Han.
How could Wardanaz have failed?
"Surely there's been some mistake?"
"You should make an exception! Even an undead like you would fail at least one lecture if they attended like that!"
The Blue Dragon Tower's top student. Come with me.
"......"
For some reason, his friends glared at Lee Han with resentment. Lee Han replied calmly,
"It's not my fault."