Episode 686
Episode 686
"Who's the—"
Creak.
As the sliding door inside the workshop opened, the half-dryad senior revealed himself.
Ilendil, who walked out scattering oak leaves across the wooden floor, was visibly delighted upon spotting Lee Han.
"Wardanaz family's... Lee Han!"
"Yes."
Pointing at his junior while recalling his memory, Ilendil continued in his slow, drawn-out manner.
"That's right! The one who helped and cared for the Dark Spirit last time..."
'That seems quite different from what actually happened.'
To be precise, it was closer to attacking and subduing the rampaging Dark Spirit before forcibly contracting it.
Moreover, the contract wasn't something Lee Han had wanted—it was more like Ilendil had pressured him into it...
"Ah. Yes. That's correct."
"And the person next to you is... Ugh."
Ilendil quickly backpedaled upon seeing Diret's face.
"H-hello there... Senior..."
"Y-yeah. Hello."
Diret waved awkwardly.
Ilendil also wore an uncomfortable expression as he hid behind the workshop bellows, bowing his head.
Suddenly, the atmosphere grew as stifling as one of Adenart and his followers' tea parties, prompting Lee Han to glance around.
Unfortunately, there were no juniors present who were younger than Lee Han.
'I should hurry up and advance to second year already,'
Lee Han sighed deeply. Without any juniors around, it inevitably fell to him to resolve the situation.
"Senior Diret. What exactly happened between you two?"
Responding to his junior's whispered question, Diret kept his eyes on Ilendil as he answered in a hushed voice.
"I told you before, remember? The time when the Black Magic faction kids got attacked by Ilendil while gathering reagents in the forest."
"Ah."
Only then did Lee Han recall the past conflict between the Black Magic faction and Ilendil.
Though, strictly speaking, it wasn't limited to just the Black Magic faction.
Among Einrogard's factions, there wasn't a single one that didn't require the forest's reagents.
It was all too common for students entering the forest to act greedily and end up harming it, so Ilendil clashing with them was, in a way, inevitable.
"Uh, but Senior. Even if other seniors might feel awkward, why are you acting this way, Senior Diret?"
"Well, since we're from the same faction, I went to rescue them..."
Diret revealed the untold aftermath of the incident.
When the Black Magic faction students were captured after being attacked by Ilendil, Diret naturally went to rescue them as their senior.
Upon arriving, he found the Black Magic faction students restrained by Forest Golems...
Diret had no choice but to destroy all the Forest Golems before rescuing the students.
"Uh, aren't Golem-type Summons quite labor-intensive to create? You destroyed all of them?"
"In that situation, I had no choice! The Golems were pretty violent."
'Our senior is quite extreme himself.'
While imagining Diret grabbing him by the collar and shouting, "Who are you to talk?", Lee Han nodded.
From behind the workshop bellows, Ilendil, who had been staring intently at the two, cautiously asked,
"You and the Black Magic faction... seem close..."
"I do study under the Black Magic faction as well."
"Wh-what?! Why...!?"
"Hey, it's possible, isn't it?"
Diret flared up slightly.
What was so shocking about studying Black Magic?...
Well, it was surprising, but...
At that reaction, Ilendil flinched and lowered his stance.
"Eeek!"
"...Ah, no. I'm not angry. Junior, look. I'm not angry, right?"
"Don't angry people usually say that a lot?"
"Whose side are you on?"
"...Senior! Senior Diret isn't angry! See? It's safe to come out now!"
Ilendil hesitated before slowly rising.
But his eyes still brimmed with wariness toward Diret.
"Just how did you manage to destroy those forest golems..."
"Hey. Junior. You didn't see it back then! I'm not saying this lightly, but that guy's also one crazy junior in his own right!"
Diret was visibly upset.
As a senior, he'd tried to refrain from badmouthing juniors from other schools, but Ilendil was undoubtedly one of those dangerously eccentric juniors.
Without even exchanging a single word, Ilendil had commanded his forest golems to annihilate Diret's undead army.
Diret had wanted to resolve things peacefully too, but being ambushed left him no choice but to detonate his undead forces, obliterating the entire vicinity.
"What brings you here...?"
"Ah. About that."
Lee Han pointed outside the workshop window at the eerie crowd of mages still lurking about.
Their relentless pursuit of him, refusing to give up, eerily resembled a cult gathering.
Ilendil seemed to share the same thought, asking in shock:
"A cult?!"
"Not exactly."
Lee Han selectively explained only the less bizarre parts of today's events—how his performance at the exchange meeting had drawn all sorts of mages chasing after him...
"Ah. I've been through that too."
Ilendil nodded slowly in agreement, recalling his own experience at an alchemists' conference, where he'd been pestered by countless recruitment offers.
"Must've been tough... Wait a second."
Ilendil suddenly frowned, spotting someone outside the window.
It was Yukveltire.
Contrary to his usual indifferent and sluggish demeanor, Ilendil's hostility flared up as he asked:
"That wicked mage came too?"
"......"
"......"
Lee Han and Diret exchanged glances.
'We should probably hide the fact that we're friends, right?'
'Yeah...'
Ilendil declared firmly:
"Stay as long as you need. Rest easy."
"Thank you, Senior."
After finishing his conversation with Lee Han, Ilendil turned his gaze toward Diret.
Unlike earlier wariness, a hint of respect now flickered in his eyes.
To think this senior had barged into another school's workshop just to protect his junior from someone like Yukveltire.
"I never knew you were such a warm-hearted person, Senior."
"Uh... well."
Diret fidgeted awkwardly.
Truthfully, he was also friends with that "wicked mage" outside, but admitting that would probably ruin any chance of befriending this alchemy-school junior forever.
"I... just did what I had to do."
"And that's what makes it admirable."
Diret quickly changed the subject, fearing his conscience wouldn't withstand further praise.
"I'll keep watch over there in case that wicked mage shows up."
"......"
Lee Han watched Diret slip away with an exasperated look.
Really? That excuse?
"What were you working on?"
"Potion brewing... I need to secure this year's research funding."
Despite his alchemical prowess, Ilendil's forest-first principles limited the commissions he could accept.
Thus, he had no choice but to focus on potion-brewing requests like this.
"I want to conduct research on the preferred prey species of trolls..."
"......"
Lee Han was even more horrified now than when he'd met the Arrogant Duke earlier.
So Ilendil was the one who'd proposed that insane research!?
"Wh-why would you...?"
Ilendil brightened, pleased that his junior seemed interested in his work.
"Are you curious about it?"
"I-I was just wondering what kind of research it was!"
Lee Han hastily backtracked, fear creeping into his voice, but Ilendil had already interpreted it favorably.
"Forest trolls are powerful monsters... but they're also guardians of the forest's ecosystem. They eliminate external threats..."
"...S-so you're researching their preferred prey species to... raise forest trolls?"
Ilendil paused, intrigued by Lee Han's unexpected take.
"I never considered that approach... but now that you mention it, that could be an interesting angle."
"Oh, no. I think I misunderstood."
"Really? That still seems like a good idea though..."
Ilendil slowly unfolded his research notes with deliberate movements.
Given that forest trolls were formidable monsters, the damage they caused was substantial.
Amidst this, Ilendil had noticed that certain species suffered disproportionately heavy losses.
Perhaps forest trolls had preferred prey species?
If they could identify those, adventurers and forest wardens entering troll-infested areas could approach more safely.
After all, if a party didn't include any of the preferred prey species, the forest trolls wouldn't react.
'Wait, this is actually a sound research project?'
It was a perfectly valid study—analyzing forest trolls more deeply to reduce the damage they caused.
The title was just a bit odd...
"This seems like an interesting study."
"Really?!"
Ilendil looked ready to jump for joy.
Though his sluggish movements made it less noticeable.
"Then would you like to join the research? I'm sure it'll be fun."
From afar, where he stood by the window, Diret frantically waved his hands in refusal.
It was an absolute veto signal.
A second-year Einrogard student had nothing to gain from assisting seniors with their research.
Well, that wasn't entirely true.
Helping a superior mage with their magic could lead to personal growth.
But in Diret's eyes, Lee Han already had far too many opportunities to grow by assisting mages stronger than himself.
Starting with the professors...
'If he starts helping seniors too, he'll never survive!'
"I-I'll think about it."
"I knew you'd be interested...!"
"I didn't agree—I just said I'd consider it."
Lee Han suddenly noticed Yukveltire walking along the distant road.
Then he glanced back at Ilendil in front of him.
'...'
Wait a second. These two aren't all that different, are they?'
Since continuing the research discussion would only dig his own grave, Lee Han changed the subject.
"By the way, what about the potion you were commissioned to make?"
"Ah. This is... a potion I developed. I call it <Liberation from the Skeleton>."
"An unusual name. What does it do?"
"It temporarily paralyzes the magic spells cast by the Headmaster."
"......"
Lee Han was stunned by the unexpected effect.
Come to think of it, Ilendil had previously revealed himself in front of juniors in the forest.
He couldn't have done that without a potion of his own making.
"Wait, who would even buy this?"
"Other Einrogard students, obviously."
Diret, arms crossed, answered in his stead.
Ilendil's potion was already famous among certain students in the know.
"Is it really that useful? I've never seen any seniors using it..."
"It's not for meeting juniors—it's for avoiding the Headmaster's minions. Some of them track you by sensing the magic the Headmaster casts on you."
'This place is no joke!'
Lee Han reflected on his earlier thought after finishing his first year—that he had finally started to understand Einrogard a little.
It seemed Einrogard would forever remain unknowable. Even after graduation.
'Still, I'm glad I found out now.'
"Could you teach me how to make it too?"
In times like these, learning in advance meant at least one future chance to escape the Skeleton Principal's grasp.
Lee Han made his request politely. Fortunately, Ilendil readily agreed.
"Sure... it's not that hard."
'It's definitely hard...'
Diret thought to himself.
If it really weren't difficult, Einrogard students wouldn't be paying Ilendil exorbitant prices for it.
Potions in alchemy might seem simple at first glance, but their complexity could become boundless. Even Diret, who had some expertise, left the truly difficult ones to specialists rather than attempting them himself.
"Like this?"
"Not bad..."
"Then like this here?"
"Good... keep going."
"Is this the finished product?"
"Hold on. Let me check... Yep. It's done."
"!?"
Diret, who had been listening to their exchange, suddenly shot to his feet.
What in the world had just been completed?!