Episode 578
Episode 578
Fortunately, the Skeleton Principal didn't react much to the Death Knights' attempts to sow discord.
He was clearly deep in thought about what might happen when he faced the Emperor.
Hmm... This is unsettling.
After pondering for a long while, the Skeleton Principal let out a heavy sigh.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't envision a future where things would end well if he took Lee Han to meet His Majesty the Emperor.
"If we just explain things properly to the Wardanaz student... wouldn't it be fine?"
Eunrade cautiously spoke up after observing the situation.
Truthfully, Eunrade didn't fully understand why the Skeleton Principal was so worried.
"Of course, even as a freshman, he did go a bit overboard during the second semester, but surely His Majesty would be gracious enough to overlook that. And what happened during summer break was truly unavoidable, wasn't it?"
Excuse me, Lord Eunrade. You do know about the Sea Serpent incident, right?
Just so you know, there's more besides that.
"Huh?"
Eunrade froze for a moment.
After a brief pause, he immediately spoke up again.
"If we just talk to the Wardanaz student and make sure everyone keeps their mouths shut, how would His Majesty ever find out?"
No wonder he's an Einrogard graduate.
Look at that devious thinking.
The Death Knights whispered among themselves, but Eunrade paid them no mind.
Wasn't this all just for survival?
Those who were slow to react wouldn't last long in Einrogard.
Of course, he planned to enforce silence. There was no need to worry about the Wardanaz kid slipping up in the first place...
Over the years, Einrogard had seen all kinds of geniuses, but someone like Lee Han—quick-witted, sociable, and exceptionally versatile in every field—was exceedingly rare.
Most geniuses were sharp only in their preferred area of expertise, making Lee Han's well-rounded adaptability all the more remarkable.
"Then isn't that all the more reason not to worry?"
That's exactly why you never made top rank.
'No way...' Eunrade felt wronged.
Even after graduating, he still had to endure criticism over his grades?
Master, we're curious about what exactly worries you.
That's right. If it's Wardanaz, he'll cooperate well once the situation is explained.
"You might be right."
The Skeleton Principal readily conceded.
His attitude was so unexpected that the others were taken aback.
"But his madness has aspects that even a virtuous archmage like me finds hard to predict..."
What kind of nonsense slander is this?
Eunrade scoffed inwardly.
The Skeleton Principal calling others mad?
And especially a kind-hearted freshman like the Wardanaz student?
He must be cursing me in his head right now, Eunrade.
"N-No, I wouldn't!"
"I understand. Someone like you, who's never even been top rank, wouldn't grasp such a level. But to me, his madness is—"
BOOM!!!
An explosion echoed from the front courtyard.
The Headmaster, Eunrade, and the Death Knights rushed to the window to look down.
A golem, seemingly cobbled together from all sorts of scrap, was lurching forward while emitting bizarre noises.
Professor Verdus! Please help! We have to stop it!
Why? It's moving fine. Stopping it now would damage the golem.
If it keeps going, it'll smash everything in its path!
Why are you saying this now? You knew this would happen.
N-No! You said it would be fine, Professor! You told us to go ahead because it was fine...
Exactly. I said it's fine, didn't I? Ignore it and finish the golem. Don't stop.
"......"
"Th-That... They made a golem out of scrap?!"
Eunrade couldn't believe his eyes.
He had also taken an exam in his first year where he had to create makeshift artifacts from discarded and broken materials, but at most, it was things like purification artifacts or location trackers.
Even if it was a low-tier temporary creation, how could a mere first-year student assemble a power source and make a moving golem?
And out of scrap?!
"See?"
The Skeleton Principal spoke without surprise.
That was his madness.
The problem with Wardanaz was that, while he might seem perfectly normal, the moment an opportunity arose, he would do the most insane things without hesitation.
If they went to the imperial palace and some official jokingly said, "Since you learned from Count Gonadaltes, you should try capturing the Demon Duke too, haha!" he might just reply, "Understood, I'll give it a shot," and start dancing with his sword.
And then the Emperor and the officials would blame me.
Just imagining the officials—no, even the Emperor—saying things like "What kind of education have you been giving him?" or "That shameless archmage is abusing his disciple with ancient methods!" made his nonexistent heart throb with indignation.
'Why the hell should I be held responsible when my disciple goes off and does crazy shit on his own?!'
"You should be stopping him! If that golem explodes, it'll be a disaster!"
The reason the golem was dangerous lay in its power source.
To move such a massive frame, the amount of energy required inevitably increased, which meant the power source had to be a considerably powerful artifact...
If he made even the slightest mistake or mishandled it, Imperial newspapers would be plastered with headlines like:
<Another Explosion at the Golem Guild!>
<City Council Demands Golem Guild Be Banished to the Outskirts...>
Leave him be. He'll manage just fine.
"No way... We're meeting His Majesty soon—we have to stop him!"
No matter how he looked at it, an explosion just weeks before meeting the Emperor would be disastrous for morale.
Imagine greeting the Emperor with: "Oh, by the way, we had an explosion a few weeks ago." How well would that go over?
SCREEEECH—!
But the golem, defying Eunrade's frantic shouts, lost power and came to a perfect stop.
Standing atop the halted golem in the distant main courtyard, the Wardanaz freshman landed with a string of curses.
In his hand was the golem's power source.
Unbelievably, this freshman had yanked the power core straight out of a moving golem!
Even seeing it firsthand, it was an absurd, near-impossible feat.
—I'm never trusting a professor's suggestion again!
—Huh? Why? Why so mad? You built a golem thanks to me!
—YOU CALL THIS BUILDING?! I almost died with it!
—But you stopped it fine, didn't you?
The conversation ended there.
Because Lee Han's friends had to frantically restrain him from lunging at Professor Verdus.
—Calm down! Wardanaz!
—He's a professor! A PROFESSOR!!
* * *
Lee Han repeated the thought he'd had hundreds of times since entering Einrogard:
'Trusting a professor—what was I thinking?!'
"...Cheer up, Wardanaz."
"At least the exam's over."
"Yeah. The exam's over."
Accepting Professor Verdus' suggestion mid-finals had been a mistake.
—It's done, Professor.
—Huh? That's it?
—...Didn't I make it well? It even has some defensive functions...
—Pfft. Let's make something more fun. You can do it.
—Wait. You passed other students as-is—why only me...?
—Look. See this? Know what this is?
—Not really...?
—A wooden golem's leg part. And this? A bronze cleaning golem's arm. And... here. This is a close-combat golem's helmet. See? Got it now?
—...Still don't get it??
—Dumbass! I'm telling you to combine these into a golem!
—...Excuse me?? Is that even possible? I've never built a golem before, and aren't golems supposed to be made properly, not stitched together like rags...?
—It's fine. It's fine. Look, we've got leftover magic circles here. Piecing parts together is way easier than building from scratch.
—Sure, assembling is easier than creating from nothing, but that's when the parts are from the same golem, right? I've heard combining parts from different golems could cause backlash. Hell, it might not even function at all...
—Nah. It's fine. I checked—it'll work.
—Are you absolutely sure?
—Of course!
—...Well, I'll give it a try, but...
Succumbing to Professor Verdus' devilish, irresponsible whispers, Lee Han somehow lashed, fused, and connected the mismatched golem parts.
Discrepancies in mana circuits or magic circle calculations? He just brute-forced mana into those spots and mashed them together.
After half-assed repairs on the damaged power source, he poured mana into it with sheer determination—
—It's moving! Wait, I didn't actually think it would...
—Told you it'd work.
—Hold on. Professor. The golem's moving on its own—what's the activation phrase or command?
Embedding an activation or command phrase to control a golem was basic common sense when building one.
For a chimera golem like this, pieced together from mismatched parts, Lee Han assumed Professor Verdus had already figured it out beforehand.
—There isn't one.
—...What?
—There isn't one. How could there be when we just slapped random parts together?
—Then how do I command it?!
—You'll have to make one now.
—...It's already moving, though?!
"Make one and put it in from above."
"I-I've never learned how to do that!"
"No? Here's a book."
"Professor Verdus! Please help! We need to stop it!"
"Why? It's working fine. Stopping it now would damage the golem..."
And that's how things ended up this way.
It was only by making contact with the golem's mana circuit, forcibly infusing mana to halt its movements, and barely managing to extract the power source that disaster was averted. Otherwise, the forest would have been wrecked, Lee Han would have been wrecked, or Professor Verdus would have been wrecked.
"I should've just submitted it as it was."
'Doesn't the Wardanaz kid have some issues too?' Salko thought seriously.
If it had been Salko, he would never have accepted Professor Verdus' suggestion in the first place.
Telling someone to assemble scrap parts and activate a golem was downright impossible.
"Salko? What are you thinking about?"
"Ah, nothing. Just that Professor Verdus is truly a wicked man. If it were our Stonemason Guild, we'd have made someone like that kneel and placed a huge boulder on them for the crushing punishment!"
"Ooh... that's a good idea?"
Lee Han's eyes lit up with interest. Seeing that, Salko once again sensed the deep-seated resentment lurking in his friend's heart.
"Wardanaz. Let's go prepare for Professor Lightning Step's exam."
"Right. Let's just forget about Professor Verdus."
With his friends' encouragement, Lee Han's expression softened slightly.
Just then, students who hadn't taken Enchantment Magic appeared in the distance.
"Hey, heard you guys messed up during the exam?"
"What kind of mistake makes a golem go berserk? Study Enchantment properly— Aaah! W-Wardanaz! Why are you doing this?! What did we even do wrong?!"
The students, who had only meant to tease them lightly, fled in terror as deadly Water Orbs came flying at them.
They hadn't even considered that Wardanaz might be the one who messed up.
"PEGASUS!!!!"
Even before reaching the exam grounds, excited voices of other students could be heard.
Lee Han's friends, walking alongside him, also widened their eyes at the mention of a pegasus.
"A pegasus?!"
"That pegasus...?!"
Though the Empire had many rare Phantasmal Beasts, the pegasus was among the most highly regarded.
Other flying mounts—wyverns, griffins, and such—were notorious for frequently threatening or even eating their owners, as reported in imperial newspapers...
But pegasi were known for their relatively gentlemanly and well-mannered temperament.
"How on earth did Professor Lightning Step manage to borrow such magnificent pegasi?"
"The professor is one of the Empire's top explorers. He must've pulled some strings."
The students looked at Professor Lightning Step with eyes full of reverence.
Pegasi of this caliber were incredibly difficult to obtain, no matter how much money you had.
Yet he had prepared them just for the students' sake.
"Don't look at me like that. It was just luck."
"Professor... I respect you the most...!"
"You'd better not say that in front of the other professors. Now, your exam today is to persuade one of these pegasi. And don't get cocky—pegasi may be gentler than wyverns, but they're by no means pushovers."
Lee Han wasn't surprised.
While pegasi didn't directly eat their owners, they weren't so easygoing as to let just anyone ride them.
The Empire's Phantasmal Beasts always judged their masters' worth, and gaining their recognition required passing their trials.
'Pegasi... value diligence and honor.'
How well had one cared for animals over the past year? How honorable had one's actions been?
A pegasus could glimpse those traces in a worthy soul.
Lee Han locked eyes with one pegasus.
It blinked at him very amiably, its gaze seeming to acknowledge everything he had done.
'It recognizes me!'
Grateful for all his efforts, he was about to step forward when Professor Lightning Step called out to him.
"Hold on. Wardanaz."
"Yes?"
"You can't go near them."
"Why not?!"
"Because Ponlig would get jealous...?"
"......"
Lee Han was speechless at the unexpected reasoning.
From within his sleeve, the basilisk made a noise as if in full agreement.