Episode 262
Episode 262
As the night was already late, Lee Han immediately lay down on his bed after finishing his meal and cleaning up.
He had thought his troubled mind would keep him from sleeping, but perhaps because he was so exhausted, his eyes closed the moment his head hit the pillow.
And then Lee Han had a nightmare about Professor Voladi bringing a dragon.
-"This can't be real. I'll file a petition to His Majesty the Emperor."
-"His Majesty has already granted permission."
-"This is absurd!"
When Lee Han woke up in the morning, he sighed and poured coffee from the kettle into a cup.
Professor Voladi soon emerged from his room as well. Lee Han noticed the professor hesitate slightly upon seeing the coffee.
"Would you prefer tea?"
The professor nodded. Without missing a beat, Lee Han placed tea leaves into a cup.
He had prepared for every possible scenario, just in case.
"Ah, you're both awake? Oh, coffee... No, thank you. I'll gladly drink it."
"Not at all. Would you perhaps prefer warm milk?"
"Well, yes, but..."
Amur was taken aback as Lee Han immediately poured milk into a cup.
Was it magic?
"Did you use... magic?"
"I just prepared everything in advance."
"...??"
After sipping his tea, Professor Voladi eventually spoke up.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
"Good luck."
Amur said this to Lee Han, who nodded gratefully in response.
"Thank you."
"Good luck."
"...Thank you."
"Truly, good luck."
"...You can stop now. Thank you."
As Lee Han turned to leave with Professor Voladi, his retreating figure somehow looked rather sorrowful.
"By the way, Professor. Where exactly are you planning to buy such a rare monster?"
Lee Han asked Professor Voladi.
Though Philone Village wasn't as vast or bustling as a city, it was still one of the largest and most prosperous villages around.
Given that the Empire's top magic school was nearby, all sorts of related individuals frequented the village.
But even so, there weren't many places that sold rare monsters. Most ordinary villages didn't even have a place like Amur's stable.
'Is there somewhere I don't know about?'
Having visited the village several times, Lee Han had a general grasp of Philone Village.
Was there really a place selling rare monsters that he wasn't aware of?
"I summoned the sellers."
"!"
Professor Voladi hadn't just been idling around.
On his day off, he had sent out word across the Empire that he was looking to purchase rare monsters.
Among the adventurers and explorers scattered throughout the vast Empire, there were those who specialized in fulfilling such requests.
By now, a considerable number of them had likely arrived in Philone Village with their captured monsters in tow.
Upon hearing the explanation, Lee Han cursed inwardly.
'No wonder adventurers get such a bad reputation.'
Instead of blindly accepting a lucrative request, they should at least consider why someone would make such an offer in the first place.
What if a mad mage throws that monster at his student?!
'I won't forgive this.'
Lee Han reaffirmed his determination to sabotage this deal.
"Hey! Over here! Mage! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
From a distance, an orc adventurer waved his hand. His attire practically screamed, "I'm experienced!"
Behind him stood a massive metal cage, tightly covered with black cloth—but it wasn't hard to guess what was inside.
"Greetings. I'm Kilbedek, as mentioned in the letter. Wait—who is this beside you?"
"My student."
"Ah."
Kilbedek paused briefly but continued without much concern.
"First, let me tell you about the monster I've captured. Please forgive the rudeness of describing it without unveiling the cloth."
The two mages nodded. The orc adventurer took a brief pause, then raised his voice and proclaimed—
"The monster I've captured is... a basilisk!!"
"!"
Lee Han was startled.
He even considered whether attacking this orc adventurer in front of him might count as self-defense.
"A basilisk! As esteemed mages, you must know of it. The king of serpents, a monster possessing the vile petrifying Evil Eye. One that neither flame, water, nor lightning can defeat, with agility so great it could dash from one end of the land to the other in the time it takes to flick its tongue—"
"Enough of this nonsense!"
Lee Han cut in firmly.
He couldn't let this continue. He had to somehow provoke the other party into leaving.
"Your scheme is transparent. Of all the numerous powerful monsters out there, you chose a basilisk! You just needed an excuse to keep it covered with black cloth. You'd have to insist that removing the cloth would endanger everyone around, wouldn't you? Does it make sense that someone who could cage a basilisk wouldn't even bother with an eye covering? Clearly, there's just some fake creature of similar size inside!"
"Th-that's...!"
Kilbedek stammered at the outrageous accusation. Lee Han felt guilty but pressed on.
"Look at his attire! It may appear expensive and well-worn, but hands don't lie. Those are hands without a single scar or wound!"
Lee Han began bluffing based on whatever he could see.
Truthfully, even without scars or wounds, one could still be a seasoned adventurer. The injuries might have been healed by healing magic, or perhaps they were simply skilled enough to avoid getting hurt.
But the atmosphere was what mattered.
He had to nitpick until the opponent got angry enough to declare, "I can't do business like this!"
"...I admit it! Sobsob!"
"?!?!"
Suddenly, the orc adventurer prostrated himself on the ground.
"How dare I try to deceive the eyes of esteemed mages... I must have lost my mind! Please, spare my life! It's because of my debts...!"
"......"
Lee Han was at a loss for words. Meanwhile, Professor Voladi praised him from the side.
"Well done."
"...Thank you."
"Get lost."
Professor Voladi simply chased Kilbedek away without any further punishment or retaliation. Lee Han asked curiously,
"Did you already know he was a fraud?"
"No. But I considered it highly likely."
Professor Voladi didn't trust adventurers much to begin with.
That was why he had sent letters far and wide, gathering as many potential sellers as possible.
No matter how many he summoned, nine out of ten would likely be swindlers.
"I-I see."
"Let's call the next one."
'Please let this one be a fraud too.'
Lee Han suddenly felt hopeful.
If all the adventurers were like this...!
"What do you think?"
"Huh?"
"I asked what you think."
"Uh... isn't he a respectable Imperial adventurer?"
Perhaps because Lee Han's earlier detection of the orc adventurer's suspicious behavior had been too impressive, Professor Voladi now expected the same from him with every subsequent adventurer.
Naturally, Lee Han didn't possess such ability.
'Damn it. I was just bluffing before.'
How could he have known all his nitpicking would turn out to be true?
"Do you really think so?"
"Well... he does seem a bit suspicious."
"In what way?"
"...Given that he's brought a rare monster, this adventurer has no reason to be nervous or worried. Yet he keeps glancing around anxiously."
Of course, it could just be nerves from dealing with mages or perhaps a pressing need for the restroom, but Lee Han mercilessly picked at it.
"Damn it! This is why I hate mages!"
"......"
Another adventurer abandoned his belongings and fled in a hurry.
And after that, three more adventurers were chased away for attempting fraud (one of them had brought an ordinary rabbit and insisted it was an Al-mi'raj, a monster even demons fear).
For Lee Han, this was a good thing, but by this point, he was starting to doubt the ethics of the empire's adventurers.
'Is the empire really okay?'
He even wondered if adventurers should come to Einrogard during vacation to receive ethics education from the Skeleton Principal.
"!"
Lee Han's expression hardened.
This time, he sensed an indescribable discomfort emanating from the adventurers who had just arrived.
'What is this?'
A strange, unsettling feeling that prickled at his nerves.
Lee Han frowned, unable to pinpoint what it was.
Professor Voladi spoke up beside him.
"That's bloodlust."
"Huh?"
"What you're feeling right now. That's bloodlust."
"...!"
Lee Han raised his head.
Unlike the earlier fraudsters, the approaching adventurers reeked of a thick, metallic scent of blood.
'Are they insane?'
This place wasn't far from the magic school, and anyone with common sense would know how the other mages would react if they messed with an Einrogard mage.
But the adventurers before him were far from logical thinking.
If a mage was here to collect rare items, they must have gold worth stealing—by any means necessary!
Concepts like 'consequences' or 'retaliation' didn't even cross their minds. Their entire thought process was to strike big and avoid getting caught.
"Magician. Come here."
"You need to get closer to inspect the monster, don't you?"
The slightly hoarse voices of the two adventurers carried an unmistakable greed.
Lee Han clicked his tongue.
"Fools."
"...!"
"Do you even know who you're dealing with?"
Against any other mage, it might have been different, but with Professor Voladi as the opponent, these adventurers' fate was already sealed.
"Who the hell are you?"
Realizing the situation was taking an odd turn, the adventurer's voice grew rougher.
Thud—
"?"
Professor Voladi placed a hand on Lee Han's shoulder and spoke.
"Handle it."
"Huh?"
Professor Voladi jerked his chin. The meaning was clear: You deal with them.
Lee Han suddenly felt awkward.
'Wait...'
He had just said, Do you know who you're dealing with? and was expecting to watch Professor Voladi fight. But now, it made him look like some arrogant lunatic saying, Do you know who I am?
'Do you really have to make me do this?'
"You asked who I am."
"You don't need to know."
Lee Han drew his staff as he spoke. Simultaneously, the adventurers drew their weapons.
Both sides were already suspicious of each other.
The two brothers, Doig and Guido, feared the power of mages but weren't particularly reluctant to fight them.
Speed was the key.
Though magic was the most powerful force in the empire, that power meant nothing if it couldn't be manifested.
If they drove their blades into the mage's body before he could cast a spell, that would be the end.
The two adventurers drew their weapons—deadly concealed arms crafted by a dwarf blacksmith with a bounty on his head in the empire.
Hidden weapons that shot venomous daggers with the force of fire and wind.
Not only did the daggers carry a paralyzing poison that could freeze a mage's entire body, but their blades were also forged from viridian ore, capable of piercing defensive magic.
They had seen it countless times—mages who carried defensive artifacts clutching their chests in disbelief before collapsing.
Doig and Guido were utterly convinced the same would happen this time—until their entire bodies were sent tumbling by a searing shock.
"...!"
Lee Han was taken aback when his opponents collapsed from a single lightning spell.
'What? A trap?'
"Zap, zap, zap!"
Lee Han didn't let his guard down.
One thing he had learned while dungeon-crawling with Professor Voladi was to never stop attacking just because a monster fell.
There was no need to conserve mana, so Lee Han unleashed a barrage of spells.
"That's enough."
"...Ah. Were they really down?"
Professor Voladi nodded.