Episode 440
Episode 440
Lee Han tensed his facial muscles to keep from looking sullen.
"Thank you..."
"When you return to your dorm after a hard day and sit on your wooden chair, take a quiet moment with this bottle and pour yourself a drink. Then you'll remember us."
The knights spoke in gentle voices.
The White Tiger Tower students listening from behind already wore expressions as if they were intoxicated by those words.
Was this not the very essence of knightly aesthetics?
Loving both the sword and wine...
'Can I sell this? Would I get caught if I did? Should I barter it instead?'
Of course, such sentiments didn't resonate much with Lee Han, a mage.
Hmm. From here, we'll need to take a boat.
"......"
"......"
"......"
Not only Lee Han and the White Tiger Tower students but even Ponlig stared at the Skeleton Principal in disbelief.
They hadn't even reached Einrogard's walls yet, and already the flooding was waist-deep.
I prepared a bone ferry for you all.
"Thank you very much."
Yes. Of course, you should be grateful.
"This is really going too far... ugh."
"Shh. Keep quiet, Angrago."
Unable to hold back Angrago's outburst, Lee Han covered his mouth and stepped onto the boat.
There was no benefit to rising to the Skeleton Principal's provocations.
Swoooosh—
"Row! Angrago! You're the helmsman! Clear a path toward the gate!"
Angrago, who had the most sailing experience as someone from the coast, took the helm.
He trembled under the sudden weight of responsibility.
Whoooosh—
'What kind of waves are these on land!?'
For whatever reason, the spirits had thrown a tantrum, causing the floodwaters to churn violently.
The ferry, swaying like a leaf in the wind, felt dangerously unstable.
"Wo-Wardanaz... I-I've never sailed in weather like this...!"
"Angrago. No weak talk. You have to pull through!"
I'll take my leave here.
With an infuriating smirk, the Skeleton Principal dashed across the water with his death knights and passed through the gates.
Ignoring him, Lee Han cheered Angrago on.
"Angrago. I believe in you!"
"But with waves this rough—"
Whack!
"I said I believe in you, you idiot. Do you want me to believe in you or not?"
"I-I'll do it!"
"......"
Batrek, who had been rowing beside them, almost felt moved before catching himself. Then, glancing at Lee Han, he rowed even harder.
"The fog's blocking our vision...!"
"I'll light the way, so focus!"
"Waves! Waves are coming! The water's—!"
"I'll bail the water, so focus!"
"No! It's starting to rain too—"
"I'll raise an ice barrier overhead! Keep going!"
"There's a hole in the boat!"
"Fixed it! Keep rowing!"
"......"
Giselle and Batrek silently clenched their jaws and rowed.
Somehow, every exchange made them row even more fervently.
"Aren't you guys rowing too hard without rest? Take turns and catch your breath."
"N-No, Wardanaz. We can keep going!"
Finally catching his breath, Lee Han gave his friends a puzzled look as they rowed with excessive enthusiasm.
Their effort was commendable, but was this really okay?
"The gates!"
Why are freshmen out in weather like this??
The death knight guarding the gates, bewildered, let Lee Han's group pass.
Unable to see the forest, garden, or path that had originally guided them, Lee Han steered toward the main building.
"Left! Angrago! Turn left!"
The ferry cut through the raging currents, pushing forward.
In the distance, a single tower stood tall even amidst the flood. Protected by magic, it remained unshaken and elevated despite the deluge.
As the entrance came into view, hope returned to the exhausted faces of the White Tiger Tower students.
"Faster! Even faster!"
"The wicked lich captain magically shouted at his crew..."
"Is this really the time for sea shanties?! Seriously?!"
"S-Sorry."
Angrago, who had been about to sing a rowing song from his homeland, awkwardly stopped at his friends' scolding.
"Open the gate!!"
Lee Han shouted loudly, and his friends inside the tower hurried to open the door.
"Get in! Hurry! The boat won't last much longer!"
The boat provided by the Skeleton Principal had been creaking ominously for a while now. Had Lee Han not reinforced it, it would have collapsed in no time.
The White Tiger Tower students hurriedly followed Lee Han and rushed into the tower entrance.
"We made it...!"
As their feet touched solid ground, the White Tiger Tower students felt their chests tighten like sailors who had just survived a long voyage.
At least until they noticed the Blue Dragon Tower students staring intently at them.
"......"
"......"
"W-Wardanaz... W-We fought side by side risking our lives, and now you're just abandoning us like this...?"
"...What nonsense are you spouting? We just headed to the nearest tower."
Lee Han glared at his White Tiger Tower friends with irritation in his voice.
After going through all the trouble to save them, and now they're spouting nonsense...
While the White Tiger Tower students rested awkwardly by the fireplace, Lee Han first assessed the situation.
"All that preparation was for nothing..."
"Nature is truly mighty...!"
"All the supplies we left outside got swept away..."
"The lounge in the tower was already flooding, we barely managed to bail it out..."
"Could you please speak one at a time?"
Lee Han was taken aback as his friends lamented in a tone that seemed to say, 'Einrogard, you really need to fix these issues.'
He wasn't the headmaster, after all.
"The lounge was flooding too? But this place is supposed to be protected by magic."
"When the storm hits hard, some water still gets in."
"......"
For some reason, Lee Han sensed the Skeleton Principal's malice in this.
Of course, it was possible that the magic had weakened over a very long time, creating gaps, but...
'He wouldn't deliberately allow harmless but inconvenient external elements in, would he?'
"We've been splitting into teams to bail out the water flooding the tower."
"Must've been tough."
Just then, the Blue Dragon Tower students returned from finishing their work on the opposite side.
Gainando, at the front, looked like a completely drenched mouse.
"This school is cursed."
"You just slipped and fell on your own..."
"This school is cursed, I tell you."
"Honestly, the Princess did most of the work..."
Even as they said this, his friends roughly toweled Gainando off like they were handling a rat.
Gainando, shrieking like a plucked mouse, spotted Lee Han and shouted.
"Lee Han!!"
"Yeah. You had it rough."
"This school is completely cursed! I—"
Pushing the towel away, Gainando launched into an impassioned speech about how much he had suffered, why he hadn't backed down despite it, and why he deserved snacks for his efforts.
He probably wouldn't have been this passionate even if he were giving a speech about imperial succession.
"Y-Yeah. You had it tough."
"???"
Adenart, who had just arrived after swinging his staff to fling the last of the bailed water out the window, stared at Gainando in bewilderment.
Hadn't he just been stumbling, rolling, and flailing around like a drowning dog the whole time?
"I worked too—"
"Let's organize the supplies we managed to bring first. Who has the inventory of the lost items?"
"Right here."
"Thanks, Yoner."
"......"
As the topic shifted abruptly, the Princess glared at Gainando with eyes full of resentment.
Only belatedly realizing this, Gainando turned to his friends in confusion.
"Why is Adenart glaring at me?"
"How useless must you have been for even the kind-hearted Princess to glare at you like that? Tsk."
His friends scolded him. Gainando looked utterly wronged.
"N-No, I did my best... And if she glares at people for being bad at work, doesn't that make her unfit to rule the empire? There are bound to be citizens who aren't good at their jobs too, right?"
'You're part of the imperial family too, you lunatic...'
The Blue Dragon Tower students were left speechless by their friend's casual abandonment of his own succession rights.
"It's okay, Gainando. Her Highness is kind-hearted, so if you do well next time, she'll forgive you."
"What if I mess up again next time?"
"Don't worry. If you mess up again, we'll just throw you out the window."
"...I-I could just... not mess up. Just not mess up."
Gainando resolved that next time, he would definitely work diligently in front of Adenart, without any hesitation.
Adenart had an easily forgiving nature—she would surely pardon him!
"Food goes here. Drinks over there. Fabric goes to the back. Don't place reagents on the floor—if they get wet, it'll be a headache. Got it?"
Lee Han moved toward the inner part of the lounge and retrieved a tightly wrapped bundle stored on the highest shelf.
Gainando's eyes sparkled as he saw the bundle wrapped in oiled paper and waterproofed leather.
Food?
"Good. The books are intact."
"......"
Gainando's face darkened like a monsoon sky.
"...It was books?"
"Yeah."
"But... books... needed to be stored... like that...?"
Gainando felt hollow as he recalled the past efforts he had poured into protecting that very bundle—going as far as checking on it in the middle of the night, just in case.
"Of course books are the first to get ruined during the rainy season. Lose them, and you'll have to copy them all over again. You want that?"
"Well..."
"No, but..."
The students of the Blue Dragon Tower rarely agreed with Gainando, but this time, they were slightly in sync.
Would it really be so bad to lose a few textbooks...?
If they got lost, they could just... skip studying for a while, right?
Splaaaaaash—
"Water's coming in from below again!!"
"!!!"
The students' faces paled.
After all the effort to bail it out, again?!
As the Princess moved to stand, Gainando blocked her way and shouted.
"This time, I'll go alone!"
"......"
The Princess was so dumbfounded she couldn't speak, while Gainando gave her a smug look.
She was starting to suspect this half-brother of hers was deliberately provoking her.
She had no intention of engaging in petty squabbles, but if he was going to push it like this, that changed things.
"This is happening too often. This is bad."
"Even you can't handle this, Wardanaz?"
Anglard asked, horrified.
Lee Han had earlier bailed out enough water to rival an ocean from the ship—so much that any sailor who saw it would have wept and tried to recruit him on the spot.
If even he was struggling...
"No, I can fix it, but if the other towers keep getting hit one after another, it's pointless. I can't block all of them."
'...Is this guy insane...?'
Anglard thought to himself, watching Lee Han casually assume responsibility for all four towers.
But he didn't dare say it out loud.
If he did, and the White Tiger Tower got excluded as punishment, his friends would drown him in the floodwaters.
"Are the private rooms still intact?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"Everyone, leave your important belongings in your private rooms. Grab only what you need, and let's evacuate."
"...To where??"
The Skeleton Principal let out a dry chuckle as a portal opened on the third-floor staircase of the main building.
Right on cue, a waterfall gushed out, sending an unfortunate third-year student sliding down like a playground slide.
—Damn■ Einrogard■ Cursed■...!
The student seemed to be shouting something, but the Skeleton Principal ignored it and nodded in satisfaction.
Can't even stop water? Still a long way to go! Haha!
—Master?
What is it?
—Your disciple is moving with the first-year students in tow.
...Huh?
The Skeleton Principal was slightly taken aback by the unexpected report.
Moving students around in this weather?
He had assumed they'd be frantically bailing water out like fending off enemies inside the towers...
At the very least, the towers should be the safest place right now.
Currently, the only intact areas in the great flood were the school buildings protected by magic.
But that protection extended only to the buildings—not the students. The third-year who just went flying proved that.
At least the towers, being student dormitories, had some protection for private rooms...
The Death Knight, sensing the Headmaster's mood, cautiously continued.
—Um... It seems they're gathering students from other towers... heading to the library. They might stay there for a while...
......
The Skeleton Principal, honestly, was beyond anger—he was impressed.