Episode 693
Episode 693
When the senior kept his eyes closed and continued trying to escape the illusion magic despite his words, Lee Han struck his senior's cheek.
Slap!
"Ow!"
"Senior! Snap out of it! This is reality!"
In a situation where no other magic could be used, the best way to break illusion magic was to provide stimulation.
A strong concentration or stimulus could subtly distort the flow of mana, snapping one out of the illusion.
Lee Han slapped the other cheek this time.
Slap!
"Wait, wait! This feels real!"
"Thank goodness."
Alde rubbed both his cheeks. The stinging sensation made it undeniably real.
'This kid is terrifying...'
Of course, it was right to help someone as quickly as possible when they were confused by illusion magic.
Though it might seem ridiculous, it was actually quite a serious issue.
Even if one wasn't under illusion magic, believing they were could blur the line between reality and illusion, driving them to madness.
But even so, not many people could immediately slap their senior's cheeks with full force.
Truly, it was fitting for someone who gathered first-years from the Four Towers to attempt a smuggling operation.
Alde found himself newly curious about the junior before him.
He'd be moving up to second year soon—there was no way someone like this wouldn't become famous...
"You, which family did you say you were from?"
"Senior, let me explain the plan in more detail."
"Ah, sure."
Lee Han began explaining the prepared plan.
The passage he was targeting was the underground tunnel he had used when going out with Professor Garcia during the first semester.
Among Einrogard's numerous underground tunnels, some were used as routes by external merchant workers.
Among them, Lee Han knew the location of a tunnel connected to a hidden brick door in the underground warehouse.
"I see."
Alde nodded.
"What exactly do you see?"
"You found that book, didn't you? The Secret Paths of Einrogard. That's a trap set by the Headmaster. Stick your head in there, and it's straight to the Punishment Room."
"......"
Lee Han couldn't help but feel exasperated—just how many books had the Skeleton Principal written and scattered around?
"I personally entered and verified the tunnel."
Alde's mouth fell open slightly.
Right now, Alde was experiencing firsthand the fact that if someone gets shocked too many times in a day, they can barely even speak.
"There are three merchant carts, and their scheduled arrival time is the dawn of the first day of March."
"W-wait."
"?"
"Sorry for interrupting, but how do you know the number of merchant carts or their scheduled arrival time?"
"I went and asked."
"They wouldn't just tell you!"
"I forged the Headmaster's and Professor Verdus' signatures and pretended to be there on additional errands."
"......"
Lee Han had visited the merchants with forged signatures of the Skeleton Principal and Professor Verdus.
Even the merchants, who would normally have gone through verification procedures, were fooled by Lee Han—who knew the underground tunnel routes and processes too well—into revealing their schedule.
"Hold on. If the carts arrive at dawn on the first day of March..."
"Correct."
The first day of March was a day akin to a nightmare for Einrogard students.
It was the day Einrogard's new semester began.
If everyone had to pass through the main gate in the morning, but the carts were scheduled to arrive at dawn...
"We'll pass through the underground at dawn, safely store the goods from the carts, then slip back out and arrive at the main gate."
"This is going to be tough...!"
Alde's body heated up, his collar fluttering.
Though he said it like that, he was actually excited by the thought that this might actually work.
"That's why we need you, Senior. I know the underground tunnel routes, but I've never experienced the inspection situation as a second-year. If we're running short on time during the operation, we'll need to delay the start of the inspection."
"How?"
"I don't know either. We can't afford to be picky about methods. Maybe summon a demon or..."
"Summoning demons is out of the question. Einrogard's defenses against demonic entities are far too robust—they wouldn't even glance at the inspection team for that."
Every time student summoning accidents increased, Einrogard's magical defenses grew stronger in response.
Lee Han spoke with a bitter expression.
"We'll just have to pray we can improvise when the time comes."
"One last question."
Alde was now completely swept up in Lee Han's plan.
Any condescension he'd held toward his junior had vanished entirely, replaced by sheer determination to see this operation succeed.
Among all the student smugglers currently in Granden City, this plan seemed the most viable.
"Ask away."
"How do you know the Warehouse Keeper won't be underground?"
Alde was quite familiar with the Warehouse Keeper too.
In fact, few Einrogard students didn't know of the creature.
After enrollment, when starving students desperately roamed the underground kitchens and storage areas, they'd eventually hear terrifying footsteps echoing from afar.
The Warehouse Keeper—a skeletal tracker imbued with the Headmaster's mana detection abilities!
Countless students had been caught mid-bite, cheeks stuffed with bread and cheese.
"I confirmed with the Death Knight. He said the Keeper's participating in inspections this time."
"That's disastrous for the inspection team!... Wait. Hold on. You confirmed with who?"
In the remaining days, Lee Han and his friends checked supplies and prepared their plan.
Then finally, the day arrived.
The last evening of February.
The moon hid behind clouds, making the night unusually dark.
"Everyone, good luck."
"May the skeleton shatter to pieces!"
Alde confidently offered this blessing...
Until his juniors stared at him in shock.
"Uh... isn't that going too far?"
"Huh? Don't you guys say stuff like this? We always did before..."
Alde shrunk back, suddenly feeling the generation gap.
'Wasn't that cool...?'
"Everyone, drink up."
Gulp!
As the students swallowed the disguise potion brewed by Yoner and Siana, their appearances shifted.
Though not advanced enough to alter species, it was perfectly sufficient for smuggling operations.
Lee Han nodded approvingly at his now-bearded, burly physique.
"Let's move. We meet at the main gate tomorrow!"
The group split into two teams.
One would infiltrate Einrogard's underground passages directly to reach the warehouse—Lee Han and Alde joined this team.
The other would remain in reserve as backup—led by Durgyu and Nilia.
Clatter clatter—
"Three cartloads of contraband... If we pull this off, Einrogard's black market will feast this year."
Alde, disguised as a cart driver, muttered beside Lee Han.
During first year, since freshmen only traded among themselves, Einrogard's underground economy barely functioned. But from second year onward, everything changed—the black market expanded, and even restaurants emerged.
Yet this economy remained vulnerable. Whenever key suppliers—like Kitchen Club members or resourceful students—got sent to detention, prices skyrocketed instantly.
Such was Einrogard—where even silver coins couldn't guarantee necessities at times.
But three cartloads of smuggled goods?
Even after dividing the haul generously among participants, the surplus alone would bring prosperity to Einrogard for months.
"Junior, have you thought about what you'll do if we succeed?"
"You mean with the goods?"
"Yeah. With that mountain of supplies. After setting aside enough for your semester, what'll you do with the rest?"
"I thought I'd cook and sell meals to friends."
"That's good too."
Alde nodded, unsurprised. Someone this shrewd would naturally consider monetizing excess inventory.
"What'll you charge?"
"One silver per meal?"
"...What?"
Unable to believe the price, Alde doubted his own ears.
"Uh, is it too expensive?"
"No, no. It's too cheap. Are you joking?"
"I'm not joking."
Alde wondered if his junior was misunderstanding something.
Perhaps he was deceiving people about portions or using cheap ingredients (though even then, one silver coin would be absurdly cheap).
But no.
After listening, it seemed this junior simply wanted to feed people until they were full and then take one silver coin.
"Are you insane?! Why would you sell it that cheap?! If the Kitchen Club bastards heard this, they'd have heart attacks!"
"Actually, compared to cost price, this is on the expensive side..."
"Cost price my ass. There's no such thing as cost price in Einrogard! Original sin exists though. Getting admitted here is the original sin. And when you've sinned, you should pay five silver coins for a single rye bread."
'Is that how it is?' Lee Han felt bewildered by his senior's words.
He'd thought he was making exorbitant profits, but apparently not.
"Wait. Have your friends ever gotten full meals for just one silver coin?"
"That's usually the case when I cook."
"What kind of foods were they mainly?"
Grain-based dishes using rice, wheat, and rye.
Vegetables from gardens or cottages - onions, ginger, corn, mushrooms, peas - along with goat milk, cow's milk, eggs. Grapes, peaches, pumpkins, even figs.
For sauces and spices - maple syrup, honey, marmalade, chili peppers, nutmeg, olive oil, whole peppercorns, tomato sauce.
Various dried fish, pickled sardines, mackerel, herring. Meats like large cured hams, beef, pork, lamb. Sausages, bacon and so on...
"...Those were mainly used. I'm not a professional chef, so the menus were simple."
"......"
Alde felt three overwhelming emotions simultaneously:
1) A desperate urge to disbelieve what his junior just said
2) A mad impulse to chase all the juniors who'd eaten their fill like this straight to Baldrogard
3) And finally, a violent hatred toward himself for enrolling one year earlier
"I should've never asked..."
"This way."
Lee Han guided the carriage along last year's route.
He'd even scouted the path several times just in case. As the carriage passed between two completely ordinary-looking trees, a sudden mana fluctuation occurred.
"!"
Alde belatedly sensed the magic and was astonished.
There really was a path here.
Rumble rumble
Suddenly the road ahead dipped downward, beginning its descent underground. Alde swallowed hard, realizing it had begun.
This wasn't his first time stealing from Einrogard, but he'd never been anything less than nervous.
Especially for theft on this scale...
-You came earlier than expected.
Alde felt his heart stop at the familiar voices of the Death Knights. 'What should we do?' 'Please stay still.' Lee Han remained perfectly silent and motionless. Seeing his junior (disguised as the supervisor) staying still made Alde fidget.
Should he do something?
-Don't speak to the workers. You're frightening them.
"!"
Lee Han knew from experience that all workers here kept silent and stayed still.
If they remained motionless as if frightened by the Death Knights, the undead would interpret it accordingly.
-We merely said you arrived earlier than expected.
-Isn't it possible to come early? With all the extra inspections this year, finishing early would be good.
-Probably because of that boy?
-Most likely.
-Our master seems to torment the Wardanaz boy too much. If this continues, he might suddenly snap like the other disciples...
-Hush. Don't speak such irreverence.
The Death Knights casually let the carriage pass.
As the wheels slowly began rolling again, Alde wiped his brow.
They'd successfully passed the most dangerous checkpoint!
The plan was half-successful already.
In an excited whisper, Alde murmured:
"You crazy bastard. You did it. You actually did it!"
But Lee Han's face was twisted with pain and hatred rather than joy.
"What? What's wrong? What happened?"
"It's nothing. Let's keep going."