Episode 323
Episode 323
"Sl—"
Before Diret could even finish calling out, Lee Han had already swung his fist at the jaw of the adventurer who'd just been spouting nonsense.
"Guhk!"
"Say it again."
Drawing the Morning Star still in its scabbard, Lee Han didn't stop there—he immediately struck another adventurer in the solar plexus. The properly hit adventurer foamed at the mouth and collapsed forward.
"You crazy b—!"
"I said, say it again."
Thwack! Thud-thud-thud!
As the adventurers fell, Lee Han proceeded to beat them like he was disciplining White Tiger Tower students.
The response was immediate.
"W-we're sorry...!"
"What exactly are you sorry for?"
"W-well, you see..."
"Not enough beating, I see."
Lee Han swung his sword again. The adventurers screamed and curled into defensive balls.
Bystanders merely watched with expressions of 'another fight, huh?'—no one bothered to intervene.
Thanks to that, Lee Han could comfortably continue his beatdown.
"Ghk... The Black Mages called us grave robbers..."
"Still not enough."
"Huh? What do you mea— Gahk!"
"Think harder. If you're creative enough to falsely accuse someone of stealing corpses, why can't you be creative with your apology?"
A good beating tends to spark even the dullest of minds.
Only then did the adventurers realize.
"The... the great Black Mages...?"
"More."
"W-we sincerely apologize for falsely accusing the great Black Mages who protect this city of being grave robbers...!"
"That's better. They're already struggling to protect the city—how could you burden them with such false accusations?"
"We were wrong..."
The beaten adventurers staggered as they answered.
"Remember—words hold power. Since you've reflected, I'll forgive you."
"Thank you!"
The adventurers inwardly cursed the insane Black Mages.
They wouldn't dare go near the cemetery ever again.
'How dirty... hiding a knight among them...'
"Follow me."
"Huh?"
"I said follow. Since you've reflected, you should help out."
"......"
Bewildered by this unheard-of logic, the adventurers hesitated—until Lee Han kindly persuaded them again.
When he pointed his drawn sword at them, they shouted in unison:
"Please let us help!"
"Thought so."
Diret, watching from below, asked in utter bewilderment:
"...Does anyone know what he's doing right now?"
"I see. So places with strong mana flow release the pooled mana by altering the terrain."
The explanation resumed.
Lee Han nodded along to Diret's lecture.
When mana accumulates abnormally in one place, the likelihood of supernatural phenomena increases—so they needed to locate such spots first and find ways to disperse the mana.
"Right. Now dig up that soil and bring fresh dirt to mix in."
"......"
"......"
The adventurers silently picked up shovels and began digging. Lee Han watched approvingly and encouraged them.
"Good work. Once you're done there, let's move to the area under this wall."
"Everyone's working so hard!"
"Gainando too. No slacking off."
"B-but I'm not confident with earth magic..."
"Then dig by hand. Go on."
"......"
Diret observed this bizarre scene and thought:
'This is... quite different from what I expected...'
He'd imagined a heartwarming sight—seniors teaching, juniors learning, everyone working together to prevent disasters. Not this chain-gang labor scenario.
Though the progress was fast...!
"Lee Han. Is this really a high-mana concentration spot?"
"Well spotted. The mana here is denser than elsewhere."
"W-Wardanaz. What about here?"
"Wait... No need to touch this spot. Compared to others, the concentration isn't extreme, and the mana flow seems fluid enough that it'll likely dissipate on its own."
Setting aside the whole 'kidnapping random adventurers for forced labor' thing, Lee Han was undoubtedly an outstanding junior.
With overwhelming mana detection abilities surpassing others, combined with a brain that efficiently carried out tasks.
The sight of him organizing potential mana accumulation spots while jotting down notes in a journal made him look like a black mage with years of experience to any observer.
'At this rate, is there even anything left for me to teach...?'
"Senior."
'But as a senior, I should teach something. What should I teach? What useful black magic techniques are there again?'
"?"
Lee Han grew puzzled as Diret became lost in thought.
What could he be thinking about?
"Is there some problem?"
"Huh? When did you get here?"
"I've been standing in front of you since just now... I came to ask what should be done if detection is delayed to the point where the mana flow might be disrupted."
"Oh dear... I should've explained that earlier."
Diret felt apologetic.
His junior was handling things so well that he'd completely forgotten.
"In that case, we'd have to resort to somewhat crude methods. One approach is to use holy water or sacred relics blessed by the temple..."
Items blessed by religious orders were fundamentally opposed to negative energy-based mana. Colliding the two could disrupt accumulated mana through their conflict.
"Alternatively, magic could solve it too, but that's a more difficult method. Junior, do you happen to know how to manipulate dark element?"
Even as he asked, Diret naturally assumed Lee Han wouldn't have learned it yet.
The scope of black magic covered in first year alone was already substantial enough.
Keeping up with those areas was challenging enough—how could he possibly have mastered high-difficulty elemental magic like dark element?
"I only know the basics. Perfect control is beyond me, but..."
"Right, of course... Of course WHAT???"
Diret almost dismissed it casually before startling in shock.
Had Professor Mortum gone mad??
"Professor Mortum taught you? Why? When??"
"Ah, no, it wasn't Professor Mortum who taught me... Another professor said it was necessary and instructed me."
'What kind of lunatic is that?'
Diret mentally cursed the professor who'd taught Lee Han dark element.
No matter how necessary, teaching dark element to a first-year—was that even remotely reasonable?
"R-right. I see."
"As I mentioned, perfect control is impossible, so please don't expect too much."
"I wasn't expecting anything! What kind of crazy senior would expect a first-year junior to handle dark element?!"
Diret shouted as if utterly flabbergasted.
Then he recalled the events from first semester.
From the Frost Giant King to the final exam assignments.
That image perfectly matched the ugly stereotype of a fourth-year dragging first-years into their own affairs.
"...Never mind. I can't say anything even if you think that way, junior."
"??"
"Dark element... is obviously impossible to perfectly control. I can't control it perfectly either."
"Is that so?"
"It's an element of that high difficulty. Completely different from something like fire element."
"I can't perfectly control fire element either, though."
"...Y-you can't?"
Diret was taken aback.
Frankly, he was surprised Lee Han couldn't control something as basic as fire element.
"Don't worry too much—elemental affinity varies by person. Junior, what elemental magic do you mainly use?"
"Well, water and..."
"See? That's probably why. Maybe fire element just doesn't suit you. Junior."
"Lightning and ice?"
"......"
Diret stared at Lee Han as if he'd lost his mind.
Are you joking right now?
After the unexpectedly long conversation, Diret finally understood.
"Aha. Because of your mana... Now that makes sense, junior."
The Frost Giant King, the final exam requiring demon subjugation.
If what Lee Han just explained was true, it made some degree of sense.
Though a corner of his mind still wondered, 'But just how much mana must he have for that to be possible?'
"Wait a minute. Junior. You said you can handle both Lightning and Ice elements? Given how much mana you have, the higher-tier elements should be even harder to control, no?"
"Ah. That's true."
"...That's it? That's all you have to say?"
"I just... happened to be naturally good at them from the start. I can only say I was lucky."
"......"
For the first time, Diret felt the urge to smack his junior.
This is why geniuses are so...!
In short, he was saying that despite having an overwhelming amount of mana, he was born with enough talent to control even difficult elements like Lightning and Ice.
What an infuriating thing to say.
Moreover, those two elements were inherently difficult to manifest, let alone control. Just being able to manifest one of them would already earn someone recognition as talented in elemental magic—yet he could handle both with ease.
"Lightning and Ice elements should be more than enough."
"But I struggle with controlling Fire and Dark elements."
"Junior... stop being greedy. You can't have everything. Those two elements in particular have expanding properties, making them even harder to handle. Anyway, the Dark element... it would be convenient for this kind of work if you could control it, but it's difficult."
Diret paused for a moment before swinging his staff.
Then, a pitch-black darkness began to envelop the staff, taking the form of a spear.
"See? It's exhausting, so answer quickly. Junior."
"I see it."
Diret stabbed forward with the spear's tip. The weeds where it struck instantly withered and died.
"Just so you know, this isn't perfect control. I've only roughly shaped it. Look at the tip."
As Diret said, the spear's surface was rough and unstable.
"It'd be nice to have perfect control, but you don't need that to use it. You can give up on perfect control and just utilize the element's properties. Even if you're not a master of Fire Magic, anyone can use a torch, right? It's all about technique in the end."
"I see..."
"Let's give it a try, Junior. The simplest form... yeah, a sphere should work. Try forming a sphere and shooting it."
Lee Han followed Diret's instructions and summoned Dark element.
Then, just like with other elements, he gathered it into a spherical shape.
BANG!
The compressed darkness exploded outward like a burst of flame, scattering in all directions.
"Darkness, gather at this end!"
Startled, Diret swung his staff to regain control of the Dark element.
"Why did it explode!?"
"I think... it's because of my mana."
"...My bad, Junior. I was thinking based on my own standards."
Diret frowned in frustration.
Unlike him, this junior couldn't just roughly control things.
Unless he exerted control several times stronger than other mages, his overwhelming mana would cause the elements to run wild.
"I'm fine. It's not your fault, Senior."
"Wait a second. Still, I'm your senior. Since I brought it up, I should at least give some advice."
Diret immersed himself in thought, dredging up all his knowledge about the Dark element.
What kind of advice would actually help a junior like this?
'Should I suggest an easier form to control? No, that wouldn't make much difference. If he just summons it without trying to control it... no, that wouldn't work. Fire is dangerous enough, but Dark is even worse. It'd scatter everywhere, and if it goes wrong, he could end up stabbing himself. Maybe another type of magic could be applied? Come to think of it, he might have taken Enchantment Magic too. Using it as an enchantment might be safer. But Enchantment Magic isn't exactly easy either... What other schools of magic are there?'
"Senior! Senior!"
"?"
At Lee Han's call, Diret looked up.
A sphere of Dark element was spinning smoothly on top of his staff, maintaining its form perfectly.
"Thanks to your advice, I succeeded!"
"...Junior. Do you seriously think that was because of my advice??"
Diret was at a loss for words. While he had been racking his brain for another solution, his junior had effortlessly overcome the obstacle in the brief moment he wasn't looking.
What in the world...?