Episode 283
Episode 283
Baishada looked incredulous as Professor Ingoldel stumbled over his words.
No way...
"I really didn't give any advice at all..."
"That's not true. Your teachings have been a great lesson for us, Baishada."
At Lee Han's words, Baishada's eyes widened.
Though she was grateful, her bewilderment was just as strong.
Above all...
'You guys had already cut the giant's hair before I even taught you anything!'
Of course, it wasn't that Baishada had given no advice at all.
She had gone hunting with Lee Han's group before and given them various pointers.
But those were lessons for hunting—nothing to do with cutting a giant's hair.
If anyone heard this, they'd think it was thanks to Baishada's advice that they managed to bring back the giant's hair.
"There's no need to be so modest, Baishada."
"Indeed. You truly are admirable."
Not only Professor Ingoldel but even Ghette sent her a look of respect.
Stealing a giant's shoe in secret and cutting off a giant's hair were entirely different matters.
The latter was something you could never obtain easily unless you faced and defeated the giant.
And yet, these freshmen had pulled it off.
No wonder Ingoldel and Ghette were looking at her with such reverence.
"......"
She had wanted to receive Ghette's admiration at some point.
But definitely not like this!
'This is... complicated.'
Baishada didn't know whether to be happy or not.
After submitting his assignment and finishing the evaluation, Lee Han tightened the laces of his boots.
Then he cast Enhancement Magic on himself.
"???"
Durgyu was startled by his friend's sudden spellcasting.
"What's wrong, Lee Han?"
"Durgyu. See you later."
Lee Han bolted away like an arrow.
He ran off so fast that Durgyu and Giselle were left standing there, slow to process what had just happened.
"What in the..."
"Durgyu! How could you not even tell us?!"
'Oh no.'
Only when the other White Tiger Tower students approached him with betrayed expressions did Durgyu finally realize why Lee Han had run off.
Since Lee Han wasn't even in the same tower as the White Tiger Tower students, avoiding them meant he wouldn't have to deal with them at all.
There was no reason for him to stick around and face them.
"That damn bastard..."
"H-He didn't mean anything bad by it."
Before they knew it, half of the final exam week had already passed.
'At this rate, soon they won't even be distinguishable from the undead.'
Lee Han looked at his friends and thought as much.
If not for their skin, his friends would be nearly indistinguishable from Skeleton Warriors right now.
"Lee Han. We're out of coffee."
Yoner whispered gravely, as if announcing, 'The empire has fallen, and the Great Demon of Hell stands at our gates.'
Of course, holding an empty coffee can while saying that didn't make it sound any more dramatic.
"I see."
"We're out of sugar too... More things are missing than I thought."
"Hmm."
Since Lee Han also helped manage the Blue Dragon Tower's food storage, he was well aware.
Of course, ingredients for meals—canned meats, various seasonings, and vegetables—were still plentiful.
Since Lee Han also preferred not to rely solely on school meals, he had prioritized managing those first.
But luxury items like coffee, tea, or snacks were a different story.
Not only were they less abundant than other food supplies, but once exam season hit, the students had been devouring them like crazy...
Even after raiding a snack shop and bringing back half its stock recently, they were already running dangerously low.
'Well, with students from four towers eating at once, it's no surprise they're running out.'
"Lee Han. At this rate, we should just bring out the cake meant for celebrating the end of the semester. The living must survive. We can't starve to death."
Ignoring Gainando's dramatic declaration, Lee Han turned to his friends.
"Isn't the only option to endure? Just eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner..."
Lee Han didn't think the situation was that dire yet, but the students of the Blue Dragon Tower were already halfway into a panic.
"Oh my god!!"
"Dear heavens! How could this happen!!"
"This is clearly the headmaster's scheme!"
'These brats really need to experience how students from other towers live.'
"Wo, Wardanaz. What about coffee? Is there no coffee either? If I don't get piping hot coffee loaded with sugar, my exams are doomed."
"How about using chicory or dandelion roots as substitutes?"
When you roast other plant roots and brew them in water, they make a drink that tastes somewhat like coffee.
The Black Turtle Tower students actually enjoyed doing that.
But Lee Han's suggestion left the Blue Dragon Tower students utterly shocked.
"Y-you can actually drink that?"
"You're not joking, right?"
"......"
Gainando asked from beside them:
"Can we just stop sharing with students from other towers from now on?"
"But (they're offering money) we can't exactly refuse, can we?"
Gainando looked slightly moved by Lee Han's words.
Even if they made concessions for the Black Turtle Tower, he couldn't understand why they'd share provisions with those damn White Tiger Tower bastards. Truly, Lee Han had a generous spirit.
To so readily extend a helping hand even to such undeserving scoundrels...
Gainando quickly wiped under his nose.
'I should learn from him.'
"You're right. You're absolutely right, Lee Han."
"Oh?"
Lee Han looked at Gainando in surprise.
Given Gainando's personality, he'd expected him to throw a tantrum, saying 'No matter how much they pay, don't give anything to those bastards!'
"So what should we do, Lee Han?"
"I already told you. Endure it."
"Huh? Endure what?"
"Just endure and keep studying."
"...Ugh..."
"Lord Wardanaz. I have something to discuss."
"What is it?"
Lee Han, who had been fiddling with a shield for Professor Verdus's final exam, looked puzzled at Ratford's sudden visit.
"Do you have questions about something? Which lecture are you stuck on?"
"Ah, no need for that."
"You've already finished all your studying?"
"No. But there are things in this world more important than exams, you know."
"?"
Lee Han tilted his head in confusion.
Were there really such things?
"More importantly, please take a look at this."
Ratford pulled out a map from his pocket. It led to somewhere on the second floor of the main building.
"Is this... the kitchen?"
"Yes. The kitchen connected to the food storage."
Ratford's eyes gleamed as he spoke.
"Let's raid it together, Lord Wardanaz."
"Ratford..."
Until now, Lee Han had thought, 'He'll do anything to avoid studying,' but he couldn't help being genuinely moved by Ratford's consideration.
To go out of his way to locate the school kitchen after hearing that the Blue Dragon Tower had run out of specialty foods...
"Thank you. I appreciate you looking out for us like this, knowing our tower's supplies ran out."
"Huh? Your food ran out?"
Ratford stared at Lee Han in surprise.
Lee Han was equally surprised.
"You didn't know? Wait, then why did you bring this?"
"Huh? Well... now that we know the location, we should loot it before someone else does, right?"
"......"
Lee Han was impressed—just in a different way.
Just as true mountaineers climb simply because the mountain is there, true thieves steal simply because there's something worth stealing.
Whether it was exam season or not made no difference.
If their fingers itched, they acted!
"The second floor... Not bad, I suppose."
If it had been the third or fourth floor, Lee Han might have hesitated.
From the third floor onward, the magic school's corridors were filled with all sorts of tricks designed to mess with unsuspecting students.
But the second floor was relatively free of such hazards.
If you knew the way, you could slip in at night, loot the place, and get out quickly.
"Alright. Why don't we go tonight for a change of pace?"
"Excellent thinking. Others might get there first."
"Others? Who else knows about this?"
"Ah. Tuthanta and his friends know. I bet they're planning to hit it too."
"Oh? Did you find it together? What an amusing coincidence."
"No, that's not it. I stole what Tutanta found and brought it out myself."
"...We're leaving right now."
Lee Han decided not to wait until nightfall and set out immediately.
There was no point in running into Black Turtle Tower students at night and piling up misunderstandings between them.
Yoner asked curiously:
"Couldn't we have brought more people?"
"Well, first of all, we didn't need to bring that many..."
Since the semester was almost over anyway, there was no need to take too much.
"...And it wouldn't be good if word got out."
"??"
Yoner tilted his head in confusion.
"That way?"
"Yes."
"Wait. Ratford. Match my steps. The invisibility will break if we step outside."
Lee Han was currently amplifying his invisibility magic.
A method he'd realized while fighting the Rock Drake.
By casting <Gonadaltes' Invisibility Cloak> along with the Spire Keeper's Necklace, the range of the invisibility magic expanded.
Of course, it wasn't foolproof. The invisibility would break immediately if they strayed even slightly from the area.
Click!
Ratford instantly picked the lock and opened the door.
The moment the door opened, Lee Han realized he'd come to the right place. A faint aroma of food wafted out from inside.
'Lucky.'
A storage room on the relatively nearby second floor of the main building, with no particular guards or defensive mechanisms.
This was more luck than he could have hoped for.
'Well. After all that hardship, I deserve at least this much.'
"Eyes, pierce the darkness."
Lee Han cast darkvision and stepped into the kitchen.
In the far corner was a door connecting to the adjacent food storage. Lee Han quietly opened it and began swiftly looting.
Starting with cans of coffee grounds, sugar, condensed milk, honey, tea leaves—everything they needed now piled neatly into the backpack.
As he felt the satisfying weight in the backpack, Lee Han thought he could understand Ratford's feelings now.
'It's definitely more fun to sneak in and steal at night than to just buy things with money.'
Moreover, imagining that these ingredients were things the Skeleton Principal had paid for doubled his joy.
"Done here."
"I'm finished too."
"I'm also done."
"Let's go!"
If there was one thing he'd learned at the magic school, it was that once you achieved your goal, you shouldn't linger.
Lee Han turned away without hesitation.
"!!"
Just as they were exiting the kitchen into the hallway, a group of familiar faces appeared from the opposite direction.
Seeing Salko's gang, Lee Han felt just a little guilty.
'Well, there's still plenty left, so it should be fine.'
Thanks to their surprisingly conscientious looting, there was more than enough left for Salko's gang to take.
Besides, Lee Han and Yoner had swept through the place like professionals under Ratford's guidance.
Salko, arriving late, probably wouldn't even realize someone had been there before them.
Swish—
Thanks to the invisibility magic, Salko's gang didn't notice Lee Han's group and went straight into the kitchen.
At that moment, a surge of intense mana flow could be felt from inside.
Clank!
"!!"
"?!"
As the kitchen door slammed shut with a heavy thud, those inside seemed to realize something was wrong and frantically tried to open it.
But the door only rattled loudly without budging.
'There was a trap!'
Lee Han felt a chill run down his spine.
He'd let his guard down because there were no obvious surveillance or mana signatures on the second floor of the main building—who knew there'd be a trap like this?
As expected, you could never let your guard down in Einrogard.
"Why did it activate?"
"Seems like a trap that triggers when the number of intruders exceeds a certain threshold."
A truly malicious trap.
It went unnoticed when 2 or 3 people entered, but the moment they called their friends over—boom, trapped!
Lee Han paused the invisibility magic and cautiously approached the door. Ratford asked carefully:
"Are you going to help them?"
"No. Just checking."
Sorry, but trying to help now would just get them caught too.
Lee Han just wanted to figure out what kind of magic this was before making his escape.
So he could be prepared if he ever encountered something like this again.
'The flow and structure seem roughly—'
Clank!
The moment he brought his hand close, the door swung open.
As a result, he found himself face-to-face with Salko's gang, who had been trying to open it from inside.
"......"
"......"
Lee Han said firmly:
"I came to rescue you."