Episode 666
Episode 666
"Ah. I should buy some snake food."
Eandurde tilted her head in confusion.
The snakes nestled in her hair didn't particularly need to eat.
"I'm fine, thank you?"
"Ah. Not you, this little guy here."
Lee Han rolled up his sleeve to show the baby basilisk coiled around his arm.
The basilisk hissed at Eandurde with clear displeasure, threateningly flicking its tail. 'Why would anyone raise something like that?' Eandurde couldn't quite understand.
Perhaps Lee Han kept such a creature because he lacked the Evil Eye?
It couldn't possibly be that he had a hobby of collecting peculiar and rare beasts...
"Wait here. I'll just buy some food and come right back."
"I'd like to look around too."
"Don't eat anything."
Eandurde patted her chest as if to say "don't worry." Lee Han and Durgyu exchanged a covert glance. 'We'll have to stop her if necessary.' 'I know, Lee Han.'
The <Stable of Ten Thousand Ghosts' Silence> in Plaha City used spatial expansion magic to maintain pasture-sized areas within its building.
Naturally, given its scale, it didn't just handle horses. It also dealt with various rare animals and monsters from across the Empire.
Lee Han surveyed the roughly constructed wooden interior of the stable.
-Flying ones.
-Walking ones.
-Crawling ones...
Just the crudely handwritten signs above each connecting gate to the pastures gave a clear impression of the owner's personality. 'Hmm. The owner's temperament seems about as far from the Einrogard professors' kindness as possible.'
"I'm here to buy a horse..."
"Go look for yourself over there."
"Yes. I'll take a look. But between the brown horse and black horse, which one is sturdier?"
"Both sturdy."
"No, but surely one must be sturdier than the other."
"Stop calling them 'ones.'"
"Excuse me?"
"I said stop calling them 'ones.' It's irritating to hear."
"Hear what? The horses? What are the horses hearing? Are you insane?"
Nearby customers stifled laughs and began slowly backing away.
Lee Han also sensed danger and moved aside with Eandurde.
BAM!
One unfortunate customer went flying out of the stable. The owner spat to the side before returning.
Durgyu muttered in shock:
"Even in the north, you rarely see people doing business like that!"
"Tell me about it."
"Lee Han. There seem to be quite a few regulars here—why on earth?"
"Because he's exceptionally skilled, no?"
"Even if he's skilled, that's no excuse." 'Well, he's got a point there.'
The man writes "flying ones" on his signs but gets angry when customers call horses "ones."
He was as absurd as the Einrogard professors.
"Well, personally, I doubt anyone could be friends with someone like—"
SCREECH—
"Professor Lightning-Step! Welcome!"
As if his earlier gruffness had been a lie, the owner warmly greeted Professor Lightning-Step.
The professor, wearing a leather jacket and aviator goggles, waved his hand.
"Been well, Skull-Breaker?"
"Professor Lightning-Step! Please, that's embarrassing. That old nickname..."
"Ah. My apologies."
The two appeared quite close. The Einrogard students who saw the professor shaking hands with the owner quietly turned their heads away.
But Professor Lightning-Step's eyes were sharp.
"Wardanaz. Choi. What are you doing there?"
"We came to buy some pet food."
"Head upstairs."
Skull-Breaker—no, the stable owner—yawned and gestured toward the back staircase.
The foods favored by pets were organized up there.
But Professor Lightning-Step stopped them to ask—
After all, Lee Han's "pet" was no ordinary creature.
"What kind of pet?"
"Uh, um, is it okay to say here?"
The owner yawned once more before speaking.
"All sorts of rare creatures come and go through here. No one will be surprised, so you can just say it."
"It's a basilisk."
CRASH! BANG!
Before Lee Han could even finish his sentence, the customers began hastily fleeing outside the stable.
Professor Lightning Step gave the owner a reproachful look.
"There's a limit to underestimating an Einrogard student."
"Ah, no! I've sold animals to Einrogard students several times, but none of them ever owned a basilisk!"
The owner looked deeply wronged.
No matter how many rare creatures people kept, who in the world would walk around with a basilisk!?
With all the customers gone, the owner hung up a "Closed for the Day" sign before introducing the stable's offerings.
"This meat is from a lesser imp."
"What effects does it have?"
"It's delicious! Your basilisk will love it."
"......"
"And this meat is from a kelpie."
"What kind of effects—?"
"It's delicious! Your basilisk will love it."
Lee Han shook his head vigorously.
Noticing Eandurde licking his lips nearby, he grabbed a chunk of meat.
'Should grill this for him later.'
As he fed small pieces of raw meat to the basilisk, Lee Han asked Professor Lightning Step, who was looking around the stable:
"Can I bring these kinds of animals back to Einrogard?"
"Officially, no. The Headmaster dislikes it."
The Skeleton Principal strongly disapproved of students making school life easier by bringing in outside resources.
He confiscated artifacts—there was no way he'd allow animals.
"Then unofficially...?"
"That could work."
Professor Lightning Step grinned.
Lee Han's seniors had already been smuggling in outside animals for various purposes—for polo matches, research assistance, or simply because they were cute.
The professor didn't particularly care. As long as it wasn't something enormous like an Immortal Slayer, bringing creatures to school was fine.
"But don't you already have Ponlig? If you bring another mount, he might get jealous."
"I was actually asking for my other friends. By the way, Professor, what brings you to Plaha City? Are you here to establish a Duel Club?"
"Do I look like Professor Bagrak to you? Why would I go to a Duel Club?"
"......"
Lee Han squeezed his eyes shut at the notorious eccentricities of the faculty.
'Better not mention that I got banned too.'
"The reason I came to Plaha City is... Hmm."
Professor Lightning Step studied Lee Han before asking:
"Would you be interested in a job during the break? The pay's quite good, but you can refuse if you're not interested."
"Who would refuse good pay?"
The professor stared at his student as if he were insane.
"Most students want to rest and relax during breaks..."
"That's prejudice. My friends and I all enjoy working."
"......"
Professor Lightning Step gazed at Lee Han with gloomy eyes.
That's not it!
"So what's the job? If it's too dangerous, I might have to pass."
"Not dangerous. Just a bit tedious. You'll need to camp while traveling through the mountains. We're searching for a unicorn."
The professor pulled out a worn-out request notice.
MISSING PERSON!
Einrogard Professor Bendojol went missing while searching for a unicorn in the Sorrow Mountains!
Reward offered—dead or alive!
-Os Gonadaltes
"......"
"......"
"Professors go missing too?"
At his junior's naive question, Professor Lightning Step kindly replied:
"If anything, it happens more often to professors than students. They're less cautious and venture into more dangerous places."
"I see. So you're going to find him."
Lee Han nodded his head.
Come to think of it, he remembered hearing that the original professor in charge of the <Basic Mount Training> lecture was Professor Bendozol.
But since Professor Bendozol had gone missing while searching for a unicorn, Professor Lightning-Step had hastily stepped in as a substitute.
Last year, he'd been too busy with lectures to search, but now that winter break had given him some free time, he'd come out like this to investigate...
"You thought I was looking for a professor?"
"Huh? But this is a request form to find a professor."
"Ah!"
Professor Lightning-Step laughed heartily at Lee Han's misunderstanding.
"I didn't explain enough! Didn't I say it? We need to find a unicorn. Rumors spread two weeks ago that a unicorn was spotted in the Sorrow Mountains. I came here to meet the unicorn."
"Then why did you give me this request form?"
"Because the map is well-drawn."
"......"
Lee Han checked the old request form again.
Perhaps because the Skeleton Principal had made it himself, the map of the Sorrow Mountains was surprisingly detailed.
Empire maps weren't free, and for remote, treacherous places like the Sorrow Mountains, you had to pay for maps made by explorers. And since they were made by individuals, errors were practically guaranteed.
In that regard, the map made by the Skeleton Principal was trustworthy.
"Aren't you going to look for the professor?"
"Professor Bendozol isn't some child... He'll come back on his own. If I go looking for him, he'll just get angry."
Lee Han gave him a deeply skeptical look. Professor Lightning-Step protested with an aggrieved expression.
"It's true. You just don't know Professor Bendozol well enough."
"I imagine Professor Verdus would say something similar about Professor Bendozol going missing..."
"That's different! Why would you even compare me to Professor Verdus?"
Professor Lightning-Step grumbled before putting his pipe in his mouth.
"So, are you coming or not?"
"I'll go. We just need to find the unicorn, right?"
"Find the unicorn, and while we're at it, we should also find the other bastards who came looking for it..."
"Cooperate with them?"
"What nonsense are you spouting? We beat them up and chase them out of the mountains."
"......"
When Lee Han gave him the same look as before, Professor Lightning-Step had to explain again.
"Those guys are poachers. Poachers who want to kill the unicorn and take its corpse!"
By imperial law, unicorns were a protected species whose hunting was prohibited.
Professor Lightning-Step's current trip to the Sorrow Mountains wasn't just to meet the unicorn—it was also to protect it from other poachers.
"Of course, Professor. I never doubted you."
"Did you know Thunder-Step sometimes curses you out?"
* * *
Upon hearing they were going to meet a unicorn, Lee Han's friends immediately got excited and agreed.
The Einrogard students, having gathered their necessary preparations, waited for Professor Lightning-Step at the city outskirts.
"Where's the professor? When is he coming?"
"He'll be here soon—"
From the distance, a terrifying sound echoed as a group of wyverns began stomping toward them.
People scattered in all directions at the sight.
"It's an attack! A wyvern attack!"
"N-no! There are people riding them!"
"It's an attack! A wyvern bandit raid!"
As the crowd screamed and fled, the hunters and patrol members riding the wyverns shouted loudly.
"Don't misunderstand, citizens! We're not bandits!"
"I'm from the Wasteland Star-Catchers, and this friend here is an explorer—"
"We've gathered here today under Professor Lightning-Step's orders to protect the empire's unicorn! These wyverns were borrowed for that very purpose!"
No sooner had they finished speaking than merchants began angrily hurling tomatoes and eggs.
The hunters and patrol members panicked and hid behind the wyverns' wings.
"You lunatics! Who the hell brings wyverns all the way here?!"
"L-look, we have a flag up, don't we?!"
"You think a flag excuses bringing giant monsters here? You maniacs! You're from the Shadow Patrol, aren't you?!"
"Wasteland Star-Catchers...!"
Lee Han and his friends quietly turned their heads away, pretending not to see anything.