Episode 540
Episode 540
While Lee Han was still bewildered, additional writing began appearing on the note.
-Because that idiot Moradi messed everything up now...
"??"
-Rageimfadmaningmaeul"????" 'Aren't you alone?' The handwriting looked so chaotic it seemed as if two people were fighting over the quill and paper.
After some time, the writing stopped, and Angrago began properly explaining the situation.
He had come with Balpatan to search for reagents, but they ended up in a minor argument... 'A minor argument?' Lee Han glanced around.
The remnants of a forest violently torn apart by magic came into view.
If this was a minor argument, what would a serious fight look like?
-So why are you with the giants? Were you captured?
-Ah. No, nothing like that. I'm helping the giants with something.-?
"?"
For a moment, the writing on the note paused.
Lee Han wondered why his seniors had stopped.
-Why are you helping the giants?
-Because we became friends.
Silence again.
Noticing his seniors had gone quiet, Lee Han carefully wrote:
-I apologize for saying this as a junior, but I don't think arguing right now is a good idea.
As soon as he wrote it, a reply came.
-We weren't arguing. Anyway, got it.
-But didn't you say you were from the Wardanaz family last time?
Lee Han pretended not to see the last remark and subtly ignored it.
"How on earth do you even become friends with a giant? I can't understand it."
"At Einrogard, anything can happen. You still have much to learn."
"Stop talking nonsense. So do you have any friends or seniors who are close with giants?"
"......"
Angrago kept his mouth shut.
Honestly, he couldn't even imagine what one would have to do to befriend a giant.
Just what exactly...?
"But why aren't you answering about the name thing?"
"That's not important right now."
Angrago replied irritably to Balpatan's question.
With giants wandering right in front of them, what did it matter whether that junior had once called himself Wardanaz or whatever?
He must have misheard or something!
"We need to get the giants to leave."
"Ah. Right."
At first, they thought the junior might be deceiving or disguising himself among the giants, but if he had actually befriended them, that would be even more advantageous.
Of course, it was still hard to believe...
'I'll have to ask him later.'
'I should ask him later.'
Even Angrago, who usually had no interest in others as an Enchantment Magic scholar, was curious.
-To make the giants leave...
"Wait."
"What? Why stop?"
"Who's paying the price?"
"You should pay."
"What an interesting load of nonsense. Why don't you just bark instead?"
"Fine. Just so you know, you're currently within my striking range."
"Go ahead and try. If you want to show off how stupid you are by making noise in front of a giant."
After bickering, the two eventually gave in and reached an agreement.
They decided to split the cost of asking their junior for help fifty-fifty.
-If you make the giants leave, we'll give you the following rewards...
-Rewards?
At their junior's response, the two exchanged glances.
Then they spoke simultaneously.
"It's because you put garbage in there!"
"Your reward is worthless trash."
Lee Han was slightly moved.
'Professors never give rewards when they make us work, but seniors are different.'
Technically, the professors hadn't made them work—they had just given lectures—but Lee Han didn't care.
They promised to store ten sets of armor made from Red-headed Lion hide, ten Wind Barrier Scrolls, five jars of Evening Primrose Honey, and more near the Blue Dragon Tower.
They would have done it even without the rewards, but getting such compensation made it all the more delightful.
"I know where the culprit went. Please follow my directions."
-Ooh!
-The wizard is smart!
As Lee Han confidently shouted, the giants happily followed his lead.
He glanced toward where his seniors likely were and gave them a subtle wink.
It was a signal telling them to slip away on their own.
'Hehe. Perfect.'
Lee Han felt immensely proud watching the giants walk away.
By anyone's standards, he was an incredibly clever junior.
Though they weren't visible, both Balpatan and Angargon were surely thinking highly of Lee Han at that moment.
"......"
"......"
Balpatan and Angargon stood with their mouths agape, watching the giants walk off.
They had half-doubted when Lee Han confidently told them to trust him and leave it to him—but who knew he could command giants so easily?
"G-Giant Tamer...!"
Unbeknownst to Lee Han, another nickname had just been added to the ones circulating among his seniors.
-But why are we going this way?
"Criminals always leave traces. There are mana traces here."
Pointing ahead with his staff, Lee Han spat out whatever nonsense came to mind.
It wasn't particularly difficult.
Just lead the giants somewhere random, create some distance, then say, "Oops, lost them, my bad"—easy.
For Lee Han, honed by Einrogard, it was as simple as blinking.
-Exactly! The rocks here are broken!
"That's it."
-The trees here are smashed too! They must've fled this way!
"?"
Lee Han, who had been spouting random nonsense, paused.
The giants' reactions were... odd.
'Huh?'
Right now, Lee Han and the giants were walking in a completely different direction—not toward the summit, but deep into the mountain range.
There was no reason for human traces to be found here.
Yet, the giants were talking about broken rocks and smashed trees.
'Something's off...?'
-There! Over there!
-That's him! The old yaksha! The old yaksha! I knew it!
"????"
Lee Han's eyes widened in shock.
From beyond the opposite forest, a yaksha was walking, clearing away trees and rocks as it went.
A massive frame rivaling the giants, with a vicious appearance reminiscent of a demon.
Like giants, yakshas weren't a common sight in the Empire.
Hearing the giants' shouts, the yaksha turned its head and spoke.
-Why are you fools yapping in front of your elder again?
-You! Old yaksha! Last time you broke trees, and now you're doing it again!
-You ignorant brats. Dead and rotten trees must be cleared so the living ones can thrive.
-Stop lying! You smashed perfectly healthy trees too!
"......"
Lee Han felt a slight pang of guilt.
Because the ones who had smashed those perfectly healthy trees were his seniors.
-If you've got complaints, come at me. Brats. I'll even humor you with that wrestling you love so much.
-Ugh...
-That yaksha's too strong.
The giants flinched, visibly cowed.
Seemed like they'd faced this yaksha before and suffered for it.
"Size-wise, you have the advantage, don't you?"
-The yaksha uses weird techniques.
-We can't beat him...
As they spoke, the yaksha took a step forward.
Provoked, one of the giants thumped his chest and roared.
-We won't run in front of the mage! Watch this!
The giant stomped the ground and charged menacingly. Trees around him were sent flying from the sheer force.
The yaksha spoke, sounding exasperated.
-Why do you brats never consider your own size?
-Grrk! Ugh!
The giant clashed with the yaksha, straining with all his might to overpower him.
The yaksha scoffed.
-You should've accumulated good karma. At best, you brats only have neutral karma. What do you expect to do with that kind of power?
"!"
Lee Han was stunned by the supernatural flow of mana radiating from the yaksha.
Though rare races in the Empire were born with unique abilities even magic couldn't replicate, the yaksha's power was especially peculiar.
The ability to manifest good and bad karma into tangible force!
The yaksha converted his accumulated good karma into personal strength, while evildoers who faced him could only flounder under the weight of their own bad karma.
The giants had no evil karma, but neither did they have much good karma to speak of, which was why they were struggling so much...
'What a fascinating ability.'
Lee Han now understood why mages, despite having developed such profound magical scholarship, remained so interested in Primitive Magic and supernatural abilities like this.
The bizarre flows and patterns unseen in conventional magic were simply too intriguing for any mage to ignore.
-"Oooh... I'm going in too!"
-"Ooooh!"
As their comrade was pushed back, the other giants rushed in to help. The yaksha chuckled darkly and blocked their charge with his other arm.
-"Come at me. More! You little brats!"
-"I'm going too!"
"Uh. Wait a second..."
Lee Han panicked as the giant carrying him on his shoulder charged forward.
It was good that they were angry about their friends being pushed back, but had they forgotten about the tiny mage perched on their shoulder?
-"Ooooh!"
-"Take th— Gah!"
When the giant carrying Lee Han rammed into him, the previously confident yaksha let out a sharp cry and tumbled backward.
-"Huh?"
-"Uh... uh?"
Even the giants themselves seemed startled by this outcome, looking at each other in surprise.
-"Uh... uhh! We won!"
-"We beat the old yaksha!"
Lee Han, dangling precariously from the giant's shoulder, had to use the Absorption Technique to barely keep from falling before finally managing to pull himself back up.
While the giants excitedly high-fived each other, the yaksha sat up with a dazed expression.
-"What the...? What kind of good karma did you pile up in the meantime to make you this heavy?"
-"The mage's cooking was delicious! My body's gotten that much stronger!"
As the giant carrying Lee Han proudly declared this, the yaksha looked utterly baffled before finally noticing Lee Han.
-"Why the hell is a little runt from Einrogard here?? And with the giants, no less?!"
When the startled yaksha demanded an answer, Lee Han belatedly realized that being on friendly terms with giants wasn't exactly normal.
'Is that why the seniors were surprised earlier? Nah, they couldn't have been. They're Einrogard students—they wouldn't care about something like this.'
"We're friends with the giants."
-"That's... ridiculous—"
-"We're friends!"
-"It's friendship, old yaksha!"
The yaksha waved his hand dismissively, as if the giants' voices were giving him a headache.
Then, narrowing his eyes, he scrutinized Lee Han, as if trying to gauge just how much ability he possessed.
-"Good karma... what kind of...?"
"Uh, do I have a lot of good karma?"
-"How the hell would you not know if you've accumulated that much?!"
Though exasperated, the yaksha's initial hostility had noticeably diminished.
He must have concluded that a mage who had amassed that much good karma couldn't possibly be a bad person.
-"Perfect timing, you brats. Follow me. There's something you can help with."
-"We're not listening to the old yaksha!"
-"Last time, you made us work and gave us nothing in return!"
The yaksha sighed in frustration and explained.
-"Didn't I tell you? If we'd left that glacier alone, it would've collapsed and crushed the cave where you sleep."
-"If you make us work, you have to reward us!"
-"..."
"Is Ikurusha here? Ikurusha?"
When words failed, the yaksha looked for Ikurusha.
She was the only giant he could actually reason with.
"Hey, everyone. Why don't we at least hear him out first?"
Lee Han tried to persuade the giants.
Listening to the yaksha, he didn't seem like a bad person.
If anything, he was more like Ikurusha—
frustrated by the giants' stubbornness but still trying to look out for them in his own way.
-"Hmph. Fine, speak."
-"We're only listening this once."
-"???"
The yaksha's eyes widened as he stared at Lee Han.
He couldn't believe an outsider—a mage, no less—could command the giants so effortlessly.
-"Right now, there's a troublesome creature settled in the swamp. Because of it, the surrounding forest is dying. You brats need to help out."
-"Ha! Another trick! A trick!"
"Uh... if the forest dies, won't the trees you all love die too?"
-"Is that true? What do we do then?"
"We have to stop it, right?"
-"Hmph. Fine, we'll help, but only because we have to!"
-"..."
"Hey, kid... ever thought about ditching Einrogard and working here instead?"
The yaksha earnestly made the offer to Einrogard's little runt.