Episode 258
Episode 258
'Patrolling isn't as bad as I thought.'
At first, I'd wondered whether it made sense for a first-year student to patrol the magic school, but my perspective changed somewhat once my pockets grew heavier.
While patrolling two food storage rooms and one reagent storage room, Lee Han deftly pocketed useful items with skillful hand movements.
Had Ratford seen this, he would've wept tears of admiration.
-Wait.
"!"
Lee Han tensed up.
Had he been caught?
'I was sure it was a blind spot.'
-Young Wardanaz must be hungry. Let's get him something to eat.
-Oh right. I keep forgetting since becoming undead removes hunger pangs.
-Youngsters need to eat a lot at their age. They're at the chewing-rocks phase of life.
The Death Knights strode toward the corner of the food storage room and rummaged through some boxes.
They returned with hard, long bread, salami sausages, fresh vegetables to accompany them, and tightly sealed glass bottles.
-We grabbed whatever was handy. Hope it suits your taste.
-It's been too long since we last ate.
"Th-thank you."
Lee Han couldn't help but feel flustered seeing the Death Knights acting like kindly grandfathers packing him a meal.
"But is this really allowed?"
-Hahaha! Such an earnest student.
-Of course it's not. But what can we do? He's eating while working.
The knights from a long-forgotten ancient kingdom were remarkably lenient about rule-breaking.
If you're hungry, you eat. If you're thirsty, you drink. Isn't that only natural?
Especially when helping with school work!
'Wait. This is alcohol?'
Lee Han was startled upon opening the glass bottle.
"Is drinking alcohol during patrols allowed?"
-Hahaha! Of course not. But since we're the ones working, young Wardanaz can wet his whistle a bit.
-You'll have to make do with black bread and cold rice balls back in your dorm. Eat heartily now.
'Modern knights should learn from these old-school knights.'
Lee Han was moved by the Death Knights' mercy and chivalry.
Those White Tower bastards should take notes...
As Lee Han wolfed down his meal, the Death Knights continued:
-Normally, hunting down one rat that escaped into the maze takes longer than you'd think. We understand young Wardanaz's overflowing ambition makes him want to find it himself, but don't overdo it.
-True. There's no shame in just fulfilling the time requirement our master set before returning to your own studies.
"...Wait. I don't have any ambitions though?"
Lee Han paused while slicing bread and sausage with his pocket knife.
The Death Knights nodded with knowing smiles.
-Exactly. True ambitious people always claim to have no ambitions.
-You'll never find a properly ambitious person among those who boast about their ambitions.
"No, that's..."
Lee Han wanted to point out the logical flaw in their reasoning, but the Death Knights weren't listening.
As people age, they tend to stop heeding the young.
'Einrogard needs rules to punish rumor-mongers in the disciplinary chamber.'
Giving up, Lee Han finished his meal.
'Patrolling really isn't as bad as I thought.'
Unlike his initial urge to attack the Skeleton Principal, there were actually many unexpected benefits.
He'd grown closer to the Death Knights, "borrowed" some items from storage rooms during patrols, and scouted places he'd been curious about...
The Death Knights didn't particularly mind what Lee Han took from storage.
They all seemed to think "kids will be kids" about a little thievery.
Nodding to himself while sketching a map with his quill, Lee Han considered:
To make the most efficient use of remaining time...
"Alright. Let's head downstairs this time."
"Follow me anywhere!"
Jidorf, Duke Icaldoren's subordinate, had to struggle to suppress his rising terror.
Truth be told, anyone would have felt the same.
How could anyone maintain their sanity while hiding alone in the heart of Einrogard, now on high alert?
Though Jidorf was known for his calm and collected demeanor, even his rationality was gradually wearing thin.
'Trusting those bastards from <Snake of the Maple Tree> was a mistake. Yes. Trusting them was the mistake.'
Those seasoned adventurers who would do anything for gold and knew how to deal with mages—he'd thought they'd be skilled enough to infiltrate quietly.
Hell, Jidorf hadn't even asked for much.
He'd just wanted them to slip in quietly, work together silently, steal discreetly, and leave without a trace...
But those insane adventurers had to go and do something so reckless that it triggered the entire security system. If they were going to die, they could've at least died quietly!
Night after night, the sight of the wicked and mighty Archmage Gonadaltes prowling around, warning, "Whether you come out or stay hidden, you'll die," had frayed Jidorf's nerves to the breaking point.
Click—
Jidorf opened the lid of his bronze pendant.
'Three uses left.'
It was an immensely powerful artifact, one of the lifelines that had kept him alive so far.
A single activation could cleverly paralyze all nearby magic!
In a magic school teeming with all sorts of magical barriers and patrolling sentinels, even an archmage could be exposed in a single misstep.
Though Jidorf was fairly skilled in concealment magic, that alone wouldn't have been enough. Without this artifact, he would've been caught long ago.
The limited number of uses was regrettable, but...
'Time to start preparing.'
Jidorf pulled out another artifact.
A small statue-shaped artifact.
"O Great Mage Goltineus, I offer my reverence—please, change me!"
As soon as the words left his lips, Jidorf's body seamlessly transformed into a statue.
A powerful transformation magic that even high-level transmutation mages couldn't easily replicate.
This artifact was another of Jidorf's lifelines.
Along with the bronze pendant, he had been disguising himself as a statue, moving his position every few days.
Waiting for the day the security would finally relax.
'Don't let anyone come in. Don't let anyone come in.'
Thud!
"So you're saying there's a hidden passage behind the main staircase on the first floor?"
-That's about right. Ah, but don't go telling the Master about it.
"Don't worry."
When a group of Death Knights entered, Jidorf was so startled his heart nearly froze.
Had he not been in his statue form, he would've definitely gasped aloud.
Those Death Knights, minions of Gonadaltes, each possessed terrifying combat prowess, and the moment they were provoked, they were ready to summon every enemy in the vicinity.
Jidorf could only pray they'd leave quickly.
"What kind of room is this?"
-Well... truth be told, many rooms in this magic school appear and disappear if you so much as blink. Not that I can blink, of course!
-Kehahahahaha!
-Khahahahaha!
"...Uhahahahaha!"
Lee Han promptly joined in the laughter.
As expected of undead with little joy in their lives, the Death Knights took great pride in their jokes.
Fortunately, Lee Han possessed the remarkable ability to laugh at even the most nonsensical remarks from professors.
-Is it a storage room?
-Seems like a place for storing artworks. Paintings and sculptures.
'Ugh.'
Lee Han was disappointed.
No secret passages, no hidden paths, no food supplies, no reagents—what was the point of such a room if not to be a junk room?
-Don't be too disappointed, Wardanaz lad.
One of the Death Knights, perhaps sensing Lee Han's thoughts, offered some advice.
-Even a room that seems utterly useless can surprise you. Precisely because no one cares about it, it's the perfect place to stash things.
"!"
Lee Han perked up at the Death Knight's words.
'It's true that I've been needing some extra space lately.'
When he first entered the tower, he'd never imagined he'd run short on space.
Between his private room and the lounge, everything had seemed more than ample.
But as time passed, his belongings kept multiplying.
Starting with groceries bought from outside, then various reagents and materials stockpiled for assignments, piles of books and paper bundles...
Nowadays, Lee Han began to understand why seniors secretly hid stolen materials in mountain hideouts.
There was no space left in the tower, and leaving things lying around risked theft by other tower students (even his own tower mates).
To become an outstanding Magic School student, one needed at least three or four secret storages unknown to others.
'At this point, I can't tell if I'm a wizard or a squirrel hoarding acorns.'
"True, if I just toss a few wooden crates inside, no one would touch them."
-Exactly. Isn't there an old saying about hiding corpses in forests?
"?"
'Wasn't it about hiding trees in forests?'
Lee Han thought so but refrained from pointing it out, out of consideration for the Death Knights.
Maybe it was different in ancient times...
-Lee Han of Wardanaz. Planning to use it as a secret storage?
"Yes."
Another Death Knight chimed in.
-It's all good, but this room's too cluttered. I'd recommend clearing out about half. Just stacking lighter items near the entrance would deter students anyway.
"I see..."
Lee Han nodded.
Removing the bulkier items would definitely improve the space.
"Can I move the statues and sculptures outside?"
-Lee Han of Wardanaz. As we always say, nothing's impossible in this world. Just do it.
-There are sculptures near the main hall entrance, right? Let's place them there.
"Uh... Is that really okay?"
-Lee Han of Wardanaz. As we always say...
"Understood. I'll start clearing them out."
Lee Han and the Death Knights began carrying the statues outside one by one.
But they had no idea.
That one of those statues was screaming internally in despair!
'No... No way!'
Jidorf felt his heart turn to stone.
To escape, he needed to undo his transformation and prepare his Artifact in an unnoticed spot.
But right in front of the main hall?
That was the most heavily surveilled area in the entire Magic School.
The moment he reverted, he'd be dead in less than a second.
'No! Impossible! Absolutely not!'
Jidorf couldn't comprehend this situation.
Nor could he fathom who that boy among the Death Knights was.
He looked like a first-year—why was he roaming around with Death Knights?
There were too many inexplicable elements, making him suspect this was all Gonadaltes' cruel game.
Had his cover been blown, and was the vicious Gonadaltes toying with him now?
"By the way, what are these statues used for?"
-Students make them as hobbies, and there might be lectures too? They're sometimes used for magic later.
-There's probably a Sculpture Club too. But you're just a first-year, Lee Han of Wardanaz, so you can't join clubs yet.
"......"
Even if he could join clubs, Lee Han had zero interest in something like a Sculpture Club.
"Thank you for today."
-Don't mention it. We enjoyed it more since you handled things so well.
-See you next time, and study hard inside!
Lee Han bid the Death Knights farewell and headed back in.
Though weighed down by pending assignments, his mood wasn't entirely bad.
'By the way, where the hell is that intruder hiding?'
Though he didn't know who they were, Lee Han found their persistence downright impressive.
To endure so stubbornly in enemy territory...
What kind of person could they be?
'I hope I don't run into them.'
Lee Han prayed he wouldn't encounter them while wandering around.
An intruder of that caliber would undoubtedly be a formidable opponent.