Episode 554
Episode 554
"Is that not the case? Can we go?"
"That doesn't seem like a question worth agonizing over so much..."
He'd asked without much thought, never expecting it would lead to such deep contemplation.
Yoner awkwardly tried to lift his despondent friend back up.
"Lee Han. Get up. I know it hurts, but you can't stay like this forever."
"...Spirits are all ungrateful bastards."
The basilisk hissed in agreement.
"Yeah. Maybe so. Anyway, get up. There's still this squirrel spirit here, isn't there?"
The squirrel spirit made of ice and frost tugged at Lee Han's cheek as if to assert its presence.
At that, Lee Han perked up slightly.
At least there was still one spirit left.
Pat pat
-"Shall we make a contract?"
Nod nod
-"There must be many better mages out there."
"No. Lee Han."
"That's right, Lord Wardanaz. Don't say such things."
Afraid the squirrel might run away, his two friends hastily intervened.
If the spirit wanted to contract out of sympathy or confusion, they should just go along with it—why say unnecessary things?
Fortunately, the squirrel spirit didn't mind. It rubbed its tail against Lee Han affectionately.
"See? Lee Han. Spirits don't forget kindness, right?"
"...Maybe so."
From behind, Ilendil—having finished his work—walked over to where the juniors were.
He smiled warmly at the sight of the squirrel spirit and Lee Han getting along.
For spirits to show such favor—that wasn't something easily earned through mere devotion and affection.
"Here."
Ilendil pulled out a handful of frozen pine nuts from his pocket, the squirrel spirit's favorite.
Immediately, the squirrel spirit dashed over to Ilendil, nuzzling its head against his palm before munching on the nuts.
Lee Han, who had just pulled out his staff to make the contract, stared daggers at his senior.
"Eating well, huh?"
"Why are you still here, Senior? Don't you have a lot to do?"
"Uh... Are you mad...? Why?"
By the time they left the forest, it was already pitch black. Only the moon and stars shimmered, lighting the students' path...
"???"
Lee Han, who had been petting the squirrel spirit after their contract, noticed flickering torches in the distance and frowned.
Technically, students weren't supposed to wander around at night like this.
Unless they were on duty or had been assigned a task by a professor, they were supposed to stay in their dorms.
Sure, some students roamed around at night regardless, but never with torches in hand.
That was practically begging to get caught by the Death Knights patrolling Einrogard.
'What's going on?'
"Wardanaz!! You bastard, I thought you were dead!"
"???"
Angorat, looking like he'd been beaten black and blue, suddenly lunged at Lee Han in a crushing hug.
Lee Han grabbed Angorat's face with one hand and pushed him back.
"What happened? Did the Headmaster—?"
"The Contaminated Beings the Headmaster sent are swarming out of the forest and attacking the dorms!"
"Ah."
"Oh."
"Mm."
Lee Han, Yoner, and Priest Siana hesitated.
They knew full well this incident had nothing to do with the Skeleton Principal.
"How could anyone sleep through this? Everyone's out here tracking them down now."
"I see."
Now Lee Han understood why all his friends were outside.
Not many students could sleep soundly while Contaminated Beings kept trying to invade the dorms.
And if this had been the Skeleton Principal's doing, sleeping would've been even more unthinkable—they'd need to find and resolve the cause as quickly as possible.
"Wardanaz. Thank goodness you're here. Take charge of the others and help us find the source!"
"But Lord Wardanaz isn't from White Tiger Tower...?"
Priest Siana tilted her head in confusion, but Angra ignored her.
What did that even matter right now!
Lee Han let out a big yawn and spoke.
"Is Moradina Salko searching through the forest right now?"
"Yeah!"
"I see. Tell them to search moderately and come back. We've already caught the culprit. We should go get some sleep now."
At Lee Han's words, Yoner and Priest Siana nodded simultaneously.
After running around all day, their entire bodies were filled with exhaustion. If they closed their eyes now, they'd probably collapse like logs.
"Huh? Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Come back! Are you planning to abandon your duty as a knight?!"
'This lunatic...'
He was too tired to even think of retorting.
Lee Han and his friends simply waved their hands and slowly walked back to the dormitory.
* * *
Friday.
With some rare free time, Lee Han entered his secret base and immersed himself in focus.
The lounge or library weren't bad places to study, but it was hard to concentrate properly because of the other students.
-Lord Wardanaz. Do you happen to know about the miraculous event that occurred in the southern part of the empire recently? And do you know which religious order caused that miracle? Here's a hint—it's neither the Afha Order nor the Aglataqua Order.
-Wardanaz. Why do you think people have to learn magic? I'm not saying this because I hate studying, but I suddenly started wondering...
Lee Han was the type to tell himself he could push through even in poor conditions, but even he couldn't ignore the efficiency of a quiet space.
He had to fill in the contents of <Wardanaz's Water Prison Bomb and Its Fundamental Principles> and <The Limits of Water Orb Bomb Magic and Its Future Development>, draft the design proposal for the Pocket Knife Fortress that Professor Alpen had suggested, and organize the spells he'd learned this week...
'Ugh.'
Lee Han also debated whether he should organize the Lightning Spear he'd used while fighting the Contaminated Beings yesterday.
He had definitely achieved his goal of stabilizing the form of the Lightning Element, but the problem was...
'I can't remember how I did it.'
But he couldn't just go to Professor Voladi and say, "Professor, I cast a Lightning Spear, but I can't remember how."
If he did, Voladi would probably say, "Ah, so your abilities grow when your life is in danger. Let me help you," and then immediately try to kill Lee Han.
The safest method was for Lee Han to recall and recreate it himself before Voladi could attempt to kill him.
He had even considered hiding it from Voladi entirely, but...
'Voladi somehow obtains information way too quickly.'
Unlike Professor Garcia, who maintained good relationships with other professors, Voladi didn't seem like the sociable type. Yet, strangely, he often knew whenever Lee Han learned magic from other schools.
It was almost as if the professors shared information in their lounge or something.
Junior. Junior.
"!"
As letters etched themselves onto the notebook he used to communicate with Diret, Lee Han picked up his quill and approached it.
-What is it?
I heard a strange rumor, so I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay?
-Of course. What are you curious about?
They say the forest spirits adore you way too much. Is that true? I heard the forest spirits love you so much that they all returned to their own dimension at your request.
-?????
Lee Han nearly dropped his quill.
-What in the world are you talking about?
I just happened to hear your name mentioned, and they said you're close with spirits. It was a bit odd.
Generally, black mages don't find it easy to get along with spirits.
When you mingle with undead, that unique stench seeps into your soul.
Black mages aren't exactly friendly with spirits, right?
-Ah. That's true. Now that I think about it, you're right. Maybe that's why the spirits avoid me?
No. Thinking about it, junior, it's more likely because of your mana capacity. Spirits are sensitive, after all.
"......"
Lee Han frowned at the senior's words.
'Couldn't it be because of black magic...?'
But that possibility seemed low.
Feeling that further questions would only make him sadder, Lee Han changed the subject.
"It's probably because of Senior Ilendil. There was an outbreak of Contaminated Beings in the forest recently, and I helped him deal with it."
Lee Han briefly explained what had happened.
After hearing the explanation, Diret seriously pondered where to even begin questioning.
'He tried to artificially create a Dark Spirit? That wouldn't be easy. Among spirits, Dark Spirits are particularly unstable and difficult to handle.'
"That's exactly how it was. I don't understand why he didn't ask for help from the outstanding seniors in the Black Magic department."
Diret fell silent for a moment.
Lee Han instinctively felt pleased, sensing his flattery had successfully landed.
'It wasn't that much though.'
"I think it was quite impressive."
"Well... Anyway, if it's Ilendil we're talking about, it's natural he wouldn't ask for help. They don't get along very well."
"?"
Lee Han paused, not understanding.
Ilendil didn't seem particularly evil or violent to him.
"What happened between you?"
"You know Ilendil is a Dryad hybrid, right? Loves and cherishes the forest. Our department students got attacked by him once when they went into the woods to collect reagents..."
"Ah."
Lee Han thought he understood what must have happened.
Though Ilendil seemed laid-back and kind, it was also true that the moment the forest was harmed, curses would immediately fly from his mouth.
"That's unfortunate. Still, I'm glad to hear you've heard about yesterday's events."
Separate from the feud between Ilendil and the Black Magic department seniors, Lee Han felt grateful inside.
Clearly, Ilendil had spoken well of him to other seniors as he'd hoped.
Otherwise, Diret wouldn't have heard the rumors.
'Glad?'
"Yes. Isn't it good? To receive positive recognition among seniors..."
"Not sure if you're aware, but Ilendil has a bit of... an eccentric reputation."
"Is that so? To what extent?"
"More than the Black Magic department?"
-......
Lee Han's face paled.
"So Ilendil praising you isn't necessarily a good thing for you, junior... Even the friend who told me about you seemed a bit..."
Diret worriedly twirled his quill.
The friend who'd shared the rumor with Diret had also found Lee Han quite peculiar.
"Diret. That junior you mentioned - Lee Han of the Wardanaz family? The promising one?"
"That's right. Why?"
"You know Ilendil, right? He was saying he'd finally met a junior cut from the same cloth, praising that Wardanaz kid... He's not some weird junior, is he?"
"......"
Upon hearing this explanation, Lee Han dropped his head onto the table in despair. 'Damn it. I thought he was respectable since he's revered in the Alchemy department.'
"Senior Diret. Please help me. You have to tell them I'm not some strange person..."
"Sorry about that."
Diret apologized sincerely.
"I'll do my best to explain, but since I'm from the Black Magic department too, it might not be very effective..."
"......"
For such a sad reason, Lee Han couldn't find words to respond.
"No, senior. I'm just grateful you'd consider helping."
"Yeah. Anyway, be careful. Especially when entering the forest. Ilendil's not a bad guy, but he can get violent when his work is involved."
'I'll have to cast Invisibility Magic before entering the forest from now on.' Lee Han firmly resolved to avoid getting entangled with Ilendil.
Thinking back, he'd instinctively felt wary when showing his popularity with spirits - he must have subconsciously sensed this problem.
As he sat feeling empty after the conversation, the mirror vibrated again.
Lee Han approached the mirror.
'I'd like to purchase more information about that Wardanaz first-year we discussed before.'
"......"
As Lee Han considered pretending not to see it, the mirror continued vibrating insistently.
'The information you provided last time was useful. You should be grateful.'
'But I've heard a new rumor recently.'
'They say you're close friends with that eccentric from the Alchemy department, Ilendil. Is that true?'
"Absolutely not."
Before he realized it, Lee Han found himself writing a reply.