Episode 606
Episode 606
Perhaps moved by emotion, Silvas found himself signing the document without realizing it as the conversation neared its end.
"I shall submit a report recommending that we support the <Research on the Species That Trolls Prefer as Prey> with my name on the line! This is research the Empire absolutely must undertake now. No—the Empire should be ashamed for not having conducted this research until now!"
"Thank you."
Lee Han exhaled a sigh of relief as he expressed his gratitude.
Unlike the Skeleton Principal, this bureaucrat named Silvas possessed a warm heart.
Thanks to that, appealing to his sense of justice alone had led to such success.
'We got lucky.'
After finishing his business and stepping outside, Lee Han checked his next research proposal.
-Research on the Most Efficient Wand-Swinging Motion
Lost in deep thought, Lee Han muttered to himself as he walked down the corridor.
"The number of mages and imperial citizens injured due to failed wand motions has been steadily increasing each year... Dozens of Einrogard students get injured annually, and some speculate this might be related to wand-swinging techniques..."
The Skeleton Principal sat waiting on the terrace of <Rock Spirit's Apple Jam Cafe>.
Though normally indifferent to the capital's trendy foods and drinks despite having sampled all manner of delicacies, this cafe deserved his praise.
"Magnificent. The coffee and apple pie are excellent, but this stone soup—it tastes like soul food."
Kreek-kreek.
The rock spirit shyly averted its gaze.
The Skeleton Principal left a tip, encouraging it to keep up the good work.
"Headmaster!"
"You've arrived?"
Seeing his disciple approaching with a weary expression from afar, the headmaster signaled for him to sit.
"You're much later than I expected. You've worked hard."
"Not at all. My apologies for being late."
"Apologies? As if persuading thieves could ever be easy."
"They're not exactly thieves—"
"Hmph. All imperial bureaucrats are thieves. Shall we ask?"
The Skeleton Principal called over a passing adventurer and inquired.
"You there. Are imperial bureaucrats thieves or not?"
"Them bastards are no-good thieves, I tell ya!"
"See?"
"...That adventurer seems to have paid rather heavy taxes recently."
The headmaster then summoned another traveler.
"Imperial bureaucrats—"
"I was wrong. Please stop."
"Good. As long as you understand."
The Skeleton Principal pushed the stone soup toward the exhausted Lee Han.
Despite being made by merely boiling stones, the soup carried the flavor of souls.
'...'
Fox and crane??'
To Lee Han's eyes, however, the soup looked rather unappetizing. He pushed the bowl aside and spoke.
"But despite being late, I achieved considerable results."
"Oh? Truly?"
The headmaster was genuinely surprised.
The research proposals he'd brought this time were among Einrogard's most notorious garbage.
Any proposals that weren't trash had passed review without needing the headmaster's personal intervention.
The very fact that the headmaster had to personally deliver and plead for these proved they were garbage proposals.
Yet one had actually gotten approved?
A truly astonishing feat.
"Which one got through?"
"All of them, actually?"
"...Don't lie. Haha."
"It's true."
Lee Han laid out the signatures from imperial bureaucrats on each proposal.
These were pledges where the officials had personally staked their names to participate.
The headmaster suddenly fell silent, rapidly scanning through the proposals one after another.
Reading once, twice, thrice...
As the silence stretched, Lee Han grew uneasy and asked.
"Are you alright?"
"I am genuinely proud of you."
The Skeleton Principal's voice trembled slightly. Lee Han only grew more puzzled.
"Thank y..."
Before Lee Han could even finish his words, the Skeleton Principal shouted to the people sitting at nearby tables.
"Everyone, listen up! This proud young man is my disciple! The bane of Einrogard's bureaucrats is none other than my student!"
"Why are you doing this?!"
Lee Han cried out in dismay, but the Skeleton Principal, now in too good a mood, ignored him and continued shouting.
"Innkeeper! Today, all the food and drinks in this café shall be on me!"
"Hurrah! Though we don't know where you're from, let's thank this generous patron!"
"Not sure who they are, but seems their disciple accomplished something remarkable!"
"The bane of Einrogard's bureaucrats!"
"Long live the bane of bureaucrats!"
Surrounded by people who were clapping and cheering without even understanding what was going on, Lee Han vowed never to wander around with the Skeleton Principal again.
Morning.
Having stayed overnight at the Skeleton Principal's capital villa (a mansion where Death Knights dressed like servants), Lee Han went downstairs for breakfast.
The Skeleton Principal, still in human form, was already there, reading the imperial newspaper.
With sharp eyes scanning the paper, the Headmaster gestured when he noticed Lee Han descending.
"Yesterday was truly splendid."
"No matter how I think about it, what you did at the café was a bit excessive."
"Hmm. I'm reflecting on it too. Even an Archmage can sometimes fail to restrain their joy."
The Death Knights nodded in agreement.
-It was a day worthy of our master's delight.
-Those bureaucrats, always so nitpicky, yet they fell for it so easily!
"They didn't just 'fall for it'—they understood the sincerity behind my words..."
-Haha. Understood. Let's go with that, then.
The Death Knights winked.
Lee Han was speechless but decided to keep quiet and focus on the meal in front of him.
The breakfast was an Eastern Empire-style spread, centered around rice, fish, and vegetables. Suddenly curious, Lee Han asked,
"Do you like Eastern cuisine?"
"My outstanding disciple, the bane of bureaucrats."
"If you keep calling me 'bane of bureaucrats,' I'm going back to the Wardanaz family."
"My outstanding disciple."
Despite this threat, the Skeleton Principal's gaze remained unbearably warm.
It seemed yesterday's achievements were truly that remarkable.
"Not a good question to ask a Lich about their food preferences."
"...S-sorry. I was just surprised you prepared Eastern food."
"I tailored it to your tastes."
Lee Han was even more astonished that the Headmaster knew his preferences.
Truthfully, at Einrogard, he ate whatever was available, so whether it was Western or Eastern-style didn't matter much.
It was the kind of detail one wouldn't know without paying close attention.
"Thank you. Honestly, I'm a little surprised."
"Why make a fuss over something like this? I even know which students steal what from where."
"But you didn't know about sneaking out, did you?"
"......"
The Skeleton Principal's gaze flickered from its usual affectionate warmth back to its usual coldness—before softening again.
Yesterday's accomplishments really were that significant.
"Magic always has its exceptions."
'With that kind of observational skill, and he wastes it on nonsense.'
It was a talent indeed to dedicate such keen perception—enough to discern someone's food preferences—entirely to setting traps.
"What's the plan for today?"
"You can rest for a bit. I'll meet with more bureaucrats in the morning. Now that the underlings have signed, the higher-ups won't dare make a fuss."
"Then I'll wait and write some letters."
He had quite a backlog of letters to send to friends, so he might as well use the time.
Not to mention the pile of magic assignments waiting...
"And in the afternoon, we'll meet with the capital's benefactors."
"Benefactors?"
"Did I say benefactors? Must've misheard. I meant the capital's sponsors."
"...Anyway, I suppose they're the people who sponsor Einrogard, right?"
"Correct. I'll be taking Pengerin along too. Just like we did with the bureaucrats, we can cast Mental Magic on the sponsors. Though sponsors will be much easier, so don't worry. You're an outstanding disciple."
"I didn't cast Mental Magic."
"Not casting it yet still making it seem like you did—that's the true pinnacle of magic. Splendid."
Lee Han briefly considered throwing the tomato on the table.
But there were still gold coins he hadn't received yet. He decided to endure a little longer.
"The bureaucrats were lucky. The sponsors are different from them..."
"Just do what you did this year, and it'll be enough."
"What exactly did I do this year?"
"......"
The Skeleton Principal stared at Lee Han as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
The Death Knights also stared at Lee Han in disbelief.
Were the insane feats he had shown in front of the sponsors this year just another mundane day that the boy didn't even remember?
"No, I genuinely don't know. What did I—"
"Ah, fine. Then stay ignorant. Outstanding disciple. Oh, right—when Pengerin wakes up, tell him to wait a bit before eating."
"Oh. Did you reserve a restaurant in the capital or something?"
"Hm? No. Pengerin has to eat sardines in front of the sponsors."
"......"
The Skeleton Principal wasn't lying. The sponsors were far more lenient and generous than the bureaucrats.
After all, these were people overflowing with wealth, sponsoring Einrogard—the Empire's premier magic school—for the prestige it brought.
Unlike the bureaucrats, they didn't nitpick over efficiency. They cheerfully handed over pouches of gold coins.
Accordingly, the Skeleton Principal's approach also changed.
He subtly guided them into increasing their donations by recounting the recent achievements of the students.
"You've all heard about how Einrogard's students surpassed the Alchemy Guilds and created the perfect potion, haven't you?"
"Ah, yes! Duke Gonadaltes! How incredible!"
"Though Einrogard's Polo Club lost again..."
"Tsk! Must you bring that up?"
Of course, there were moments when the Skeleton Principal's expression twisted, but most of the time, things went smoothly.
The sponsors were particularly intrigued by Lee Han, whom the Headmaster introduced as his disciple.
It was surprising enough that such a young boy was being treated as a direct disciple, but the fact that he was from the Wardanaz family made him impossible to ignore.
No sponsor would pass up the chance to forge ties with a future archmage in the making.
Lee Han remained unshaken by the attention, maintaining his composure and responding flawlessly. The Skeleton Principal gave him an approving look.
Meanwhile, Pengerin diligently ate his sardines.
It might have been his imagination, but every time Pengerin swallowed a sardine, the sponsors' donation amounts seemed to skyrocket.
"Well done. Today was smooth—no strange proposals to deal with."
"What kind of strange proposals...?"
"Rich nobles have this disease where they want to throw money at the most useless things."
The Skeleton Principal spoke as they walked back.
Like Professor Verdus' absurd projects, nobles often—no, far more often than one would think—dreamed up ridiculous ventures.
-Imagine installing teleportation gates across the entire Empire so we can travel anywhere instantly!
-Oh... how would that work?
-That's for you mages to figure out!
If they weren't sponsors, he would've slapped them and kicked them out. But since they were, he had to tactfully steer them away.
After all, if a sponsor went bankrupt from a foolish venture, Einrogard would suffer too.
"If you ever get such proposals, don't entertain them. Some idiots try to start projects with sponsors' money despite having no skills, and it almost never ends well."
"Ah. So how much did we get in donations?"
"...Did you not hear a single word I just said??"
"I was just asking."
The warmth that had briefly returned to the Skeleton Principal's gaze was slowly fading back to its usual state.