Episode 342
Episode 342
'That heartless bastard!'
Lee Han seethed internally.
He had treated the Duke with utmost courtesy, only for him to pull such a stunt.
Who else could that summoned Toxic Contaminated Being have been targeting?
Not Lee Han, nor his friends—it was Duke Icaldoren.
If they'd stopped the Toxic Contaminated Being, the proper response should have been, "Thank you. As expected of Einrogard students—your valor knows no bounds," followed by proper compensation.
Of course, Lee Han had realized it was the Skeleton Principal's doing, but that wasn't the point. Results were what mattered.
Yet the Duke had the audacity to spout nonsense about "considering it positively" before trying to leave without another word.
No matter how he looked at it, there was only one explanation.
The Duke was trying to skimp on the reward.
'Unforgivable.'
If he were poor, Lee Han might have understood. But this was the same man who threw gold coins around for pointless riddles under Adenart's name—only to pinch pennies when it came to repaying the one who saved his life.
"There isn't another noble in the Empire as shameless and unscrupulous as him. Disgusting."
"Ah... no. Wardanaz, Duke Icaldoren was rude, but... well...?"
Rowena had initially been pleased that Lee Han joined her in cursing the Duke, but she was gradually growing bewildered.
Duke Icaldoren wasn't that bad.
Sure, he was impolite, but he was still one of the Princess's supporters and hadn't crossed any lines...?
"Rowena. I think I'm starting to understand why you consider Duke Icaldoren your lifelong nemesis."
"Eh? I-I never said anything that extreme..."
Ignoring Rowena's flustered explanation, Lee Han strode forward.
The Duke had already left, but some of his guards remained, tidying up the area.
They were thoroughly disposing of the charred Toxic Contaminated Being, checking for residual contamination, and calmly collecting traces and evidence of the summoning. Their practiced movements made it clear they'd done this many times before.
Seeing this only strengthened Lee Han's conviction.
'He was the target.'
His mouth twisted bitterly.
He should've just stayed out of it. Now he'd lost his clothes for nothing...
"Did His Grace leave any message, by any chance?"
Lee Han asked the guards on the off chance. The guards paused their cleanup to straighten their postures.
It wasn't just because Lee Han was from the Wardanaz family.
His display earlier was more than enough to earn their respect.
A mere first-year with that level of combat prowess? It was certain he'd grow into a renowned mage who'd make waves across the Empire.
Moreover, their master, Duke Icaldoren, clearly held Lee Han in high regard.
Hadn't he just said he'd consider the proposal positively?
The Duke never spoke empty words.
"Lord Wardanaz."
"Yes. Did he—"
"There was no such message."
"......"
Lee Han's expression darkened.
Unaware of his inner turmoil, the guards exchanged meaningful glances before speaking.
"There's no need for that."
"Indeed. You'll likely be speaking with him separately soon."
"...?"
Lee Han wondered if the guards had lost their minds.
Why were they suddenly fawning over him like this?
'Is the whole lot of them insane, starting with their master?'
"You really went through a lot, Wardanaz."
Once the guards finished cleaning up and the Duke's escort had left, Kltran praised Lee Han.
Though not as experienced as the Duke's guards, Kltran had still vaguely sensed how well Lee Han had fought.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Lee Han held out his hand. Kltran clasped it.
Then Lee Han withdrew his hand and snatched Kltran's cloak.
"I meant to ask for your cloak."
"...Uh, uh-huh."
Lee Han's top and cloak were in tatters from fighting the Toxic Contaminated Being. He draped Kltran's cloak over himself and said,
"Kltran. You're from the White Tiger Tower, so you'll probably take on requests during the breaks, right?"
"I suppose so?"
"Don't take Duke Icaldoren's requests. He's an extremely petty man."
"Is... that so? More importantly, Wardanaz. This riddle..."
"What do you mean 'riddle'? Solving it might yield absolutely nothing."
Though Lee Han grumbled like that, he knew inwardly that wasn't the case.
Even if Duke Icaldoren skipped out on paying Lee Han his due reward, he was certainly giving the Princess her proper compensation.
Last time there were gold coins, so they'd likely appear this time too.
'Thinking about it just makes me angrier.'
"If we solve it together, do I get a share too?"
"Well, yes, but gold coins aren't particularly important to you, are they? Someone like me might care, but..."
Lee Han nearly snapped at Kltran like he would at Gainando but held back.
He'd let it slide just once since Kltran had lent him his cloak.
"Very well. Your Highness. Let's solve it together."
"I knew you'd say that, Wardanaz."
Kltran grinned widely.
He was gradually understanding what kind of person Wardanaz was.
Even when Wardanaz spoke coldly, his actions were often warm.
'No wonder Durgyu said those things about him.'
Kltran had naturally assumed Lee Han would participate in this matter too.
Even if he grumbled outwardly, when it involved his friends, Wardanaz would never just let it pass.
As expected...
"What do you mean 'knew I'd say that,' you punk? I'm already pissed about the Duke—you want me to lose my temper?"
"S-sorry."
Kltran flinched momentarily.
Even if he understood intellectually, fear was unavoidable.
Clink—
Lee Han and his friends entered a nearby café and sat down.
Rowena ordered a juice made from five blended vegetables, Kltran got eggnog with extra rum, Lee Han chose coffee, and the Princess hesitated between chocolate and vanilla before ordering chocolate cake. Lee Han quietly slid an additional vanilla cake toward the Princess.
"So about this riddle... Hmm..."
To His Honorable Highness Adenart, may this riddle alleviate your boredom.
There is a staff here. When a wizard carried this staff and walked, the stream parted to make way. After crossing the stream, the wind removed the wall blocking the path. When the wall disappeared, night arrived. Then, a shining light illuminated the path. We wonder what kind of staff this is.
"????"
Lee Han looked up after reading it all.
"Is this about guessing what artifact it is?"
Lee Han thought the Duke was as incompetent at riddles as he was petty.
Guessing some artifact's identity wasn't exactly a good riddle, was it?
If that counted as a riddle, Lee Han could make one too.
Something like 'What's the third card from the top in Gainando's deck?'...
"Ah. That's not it. It's closer to meaning you should try making such a staff yourself."
"...How is that a riddle... Whatever. That's not important."
Lee Han was newly reminded of how much better the talking oak tree's riddle in the mountains had been.
This wasn't a riddle—it was just asking 'Can you make this staff?', wasn't it?
"Water element, wind element, light element. They want us to make an artifact staff with at least three elements? The difficulty aside, the required power level is absurdly high?"
"Ah. That's not it either. That's closer to a metaphor—the actual required power can be much weaker."
"......"
Despite this not being his problem, Lee Han felt an overwhelming urge to point things out.
'If it says the stream parted to make way, it should at least be capable of dividing the stream—what kind of nonsense...'
As he grumbled internally, Lee Han suddenly stopped, realizing he sounded exactly like an Einrogard professor.
Both the riddle-giver and solver were satisfied—Lee Han had no reason to ruin things.
'Right. If both sides are happy, no harm done. Let's just take the gold coins and go.'
"If the power can be weak, then all I need to do is complete a staff with three enchantments... Huh. Isn't that not too difficult?"
Lee Han, who had been considering the conditions, found himself puzzled.
If the power could be weak, the difficulty dropped much more than expected.
Of course, applying three different elemental enchantments wasn't exactly easy.
Each additional layer of enchantment increased the casting difficulty, and if they were from different elemental schools, it rose even further.
But for Lee Han, who had already endured the hellish Verdus course in his first semester, this was quite manageable.
Compared to creating a floating, self-moving shield that could attack and defend on its own, this was much more reasonable.
"......"
"......"
At Lee Han's words, Rowena and Kltran grew gloomy.
The calm madness of the top student in their year had left them disheartened.
"Ah, no. Thinking about it, it is difficult."
Lee Han noticed their reactions and changed his tune, but it was already too late.
"No need, Lord Wardanaz. You don't have to consider our feelings."
"Right... Wardanaz. There's no need to be considerate of us. Even if we look like monkeys in your eyes, it wouldn't be strange."
"That's a misunderstanding, Kltran. I've never thought of you as monkeys. I have thought of you as worse than Gainando, but— No. Never mind. Anyway, it doesn't seem that difficult to me."
At Lee Han's words, the Princess, who had just finished her second cake, raised her hand and spoke.
"Even with just two enchantments, they interfere with each other and raise the casting difficulty. Three seems outright impossible."
"You can use a magic circle as a supplementary device."
"On an artifact like a staff... a magic circle?"
The Princess raised the tip of her eyebrow slightly as she asked.
The smaller and more compact an artifact was, the harder it became to inscribe magic onto it.
From that perspective, a staff wasn't exactly the best tool for engraving enchantments.
Of course, truly exceptional enchanters could skillfully compress magic circles and apply them to a staff, but that level of finesse was far beyond what a freshman could achieve.
Then, Kltran answered in Lee Han's stead.
"If it's Wardanaz, he can definitely do it. Right?"
"No?"
"...No?"
"Of course, unnecessary parts should be omitted. I'll strip out all the maintenance and duration-related components."
"???"
The Princess tilted her head in confusion.
Rowena and Kltran also tilted their heads, but that was simply because they couldn't follow the conversation. The Princess, however, was puzzled because there was something she couldn't understand.
If all the maintenance and spell duration components were removed, wouldn't the enchantments on the staff disappear seconds after being cast?
"But then the time..."
"You can compensate with mana. If you pour in enough mana, the maintenance and duration will naturally extend."
"......"
The Princess was torn over whether to agree with this brute-force method or not.
Logically, it made sense, but was it really acceptable to use such a shortcut?
Curious about the others' opinions, she turned her gaze toward them.
"What do you two think—"
"Lord Wardanaz's opinion seems correct."
"Me too."
"......"
At the sight of the two hastily agreeing to avoid revealing they hadn't followed the discussion, the Princess let out an inaudible sigh.
Lee Han, watching this, shook his head side to side.
'If all you have around you are Gainandos, of course things will be difficult.'
The despair of being the only one in a group assignment who actually understands the task.
Only those who have experienced it firsthand can truly know this despair.
No matter what method you try, you can't persuade the others to participate—leaving you to solve everything alone!
Lee Han nodded sympathetically. Adenart, meeting his gaze, nodded back with a slightly emotional glint in her eyes.
As Lee Han sipped his coffee, a sudden thought occurred to him, and he asked Rowena:
"But staves must be quite expensive to practice with. How do you plan to get them? If they're hard to come by, maybe we could ask the professor for broken ones to repurpose—"
"Ah. We can just ask our sponsors for them."
"......"
Lee Han subtly pushed his chair back at the sight of the Princess and her group, whose way of thinking was so different from his own.