Episode 782
Episode 782
Of course, no matter how surprised Lee Han was, it couldn't compare to the shock of Ashan standing beside him.
Ashan literally fell backward.
"Are you okay?!"
"Y-your... your older brother?! That person?!"
To think he'd get to see a direct descendant of the Wardanaz Family, whom he'd only heard about in rumors.
Ashan felt both excited and terrified. He couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of person he might be.
"That's right."
"H-he looks like a normal human... even though he's from the Wardanaz Family!"
"......"
Lee Han gave his friend a strange look.
'This bastard. Then what did he think I was?'
"Didn't the others tell you? Some of them met him during vacation."
"Ah, that... right. That person is him? Lord Arsil, correct?"
Only then did Ashan begin to recover from his shock and recall the memory.
Starting with Gainando, several friends had visited the Wardanaz family mansion during the previous vacation.
"Yeah. That's right."
"I heard all sorts of things, but there were so many outlandish stories... Some said demons roamed the estate, others claimed a golem went on a rampage..."
"Well. Gainando does tend to exaggerate quite a bit."
Lee Han deftly deflected the comment.
If his friend believed that much, he saw no need to correct him.
"Lord Arsil is clearly someone who..."
"Yes. He possesses the wicked domination ability to command spirits at will."
"...Ah, no. I heard he's someone who cherishes and loves spirits. And is loved by them in return."
"Well, that's somewhat similar. Brother!"
While Ashan stared at Lee Han in disbelief, Lee Han called out to Arsil.
Arsil, who had been writing a book with spirits at the summit, turned his gaze and greeted them cheerfully. Then he shouted something.
Ashan, who couldn't understand spirit language, tilted his head in confusion.
"What did he say?"
"He says if you come up to the summit now, you might get torn apart by the blade winds summoned by a mad spirit, so you should wait a moment."
"......"
Arsil asked other spirits to clear the blade winds from the summit and welcomed his younger brother and friend.
Lee Han felt awkward seeing Arsil clapping excitedly and chattering away.
"No need to make such a fuss... It's really nothing special, Brother."
"He's praising you for making it all the way up here, isn't he?"
Ashan was 99% certain that was the case. There really wasn't anything else worth praising at the moment.
"He says he was worried I might not be able to make friends, but seeing me bring friends both during vacation and now makes him happy."
"......"
Ashan quietly closed his mouth. Lee Han pointed at his friend and explained the situation.
"This is Ashan from the Dalkard Family, and today's lecture... Yes. Map-making. No. What kind of nonsense are you saying?! How can you call this an easy lecture?!"
When his conversing friend suddenly became furious, Ashan was taken aback.
"W-what's wrong, Wardanaz?"
"He says we got an easy topic! ...You mean it was supposed to be something else originally?"
Arsil calmly soothed his younger brother and kindly explained.
Previously, the lecture topic for the Summoning Magic school was clearly...
"......"
Lee Han's face turned slightly pale. Ashan felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine as his friend fell silent.
"...Difficulty is relative anyway. I understand."
'What was it supposed to be?!'
Ashan grew afraid to imagine what topic Lee Han had heard about.
As they conversed, other students began arriving one by one from below.
"Wh-what?! Hello!"
Gainando was startled when he noticed Arsil.
"Who's that? Wait. If there's an outsider here, isn't that dangerous? Like that mage who kidnapped Wardanaz last time."
"No! That's Lee Han's older brother."
"...Doesn't that make him dangerous by default?"
Some of the friends whispered among themselves.
Even Lee Han, the relatively young direct descendant of the Wardanaz Family, was already that formidable—they couldn't even begin to imagine how much more terrifying his much older brother might be.
Gainando grew irritated at his friends' murmuring.
"How wonderful he is! He even gave me a gift, they say."
The leather case containing Wizard Card advice that Arsil had actually gifted him was one of Gainando's most treasured possessions.
"Hello!"
"He says hello back to you. And now he's asking if you've been winning many Wizard Card matches since then."
"L-luck hasn't been on my side..."
"He asks how luck can be so unfairly biased against just one person when it's supposed to be equal for everyone."
"W-well, sometimes bad luck just piles up, you know?"
"How about quitting Wizard Cards and focusing on your studies?"
"B-but Wizard Cards are... Did he really say that?"
"No. That last part was just me."
"......"
Gainando glared at Lee Han.
Watching this exchange, Arsil laughed and said,
"Brother. While it's kind of you to say his luck will turn someday, I doubt that helps much. Wouldn't it be better to just quit Wizard Cards?"
"...I heard everything! Right. Lord Arsil. My undead summon got reverse-summoned—is there any way to appease its anger?"
"Even Brother can't manage that. Gainando. Just wait until it recovers and summon it again. I'll help intimidate it for you."
Lee Han reacted negatively to Gainando's request.
Of course, it was understandable given the reverse-summoning situation, but Arsil wasn't a proper mage—just someone with a peculiar constitution.
There was no way to call back a destroyed undead summon and placate its resentment.
Lee Han's help would be more practical. With his abilities, threatening the undead into renewing their contract wouldn't be too difficult.
But Arsil lightly patted Lee Han's shoulder and said something.
"...W-wait, it's possible? How...? No, you're saying a spirit can do that? For an undead? If we borrow the power of a dark spirit you're close with, we can negotiate with the undead...? No, that's absurd. Sure, dark spirits are the most likely to get along with undead, but that kind of negotiation..."
"Lee Han. Didn't you just say it's possible?"
"No. Brother must have misunderstood. Wait."
"You did say it's possible! You definitely said it's possible!!"
After much whining, Gainando finally got his permission.
Arsil called upon a friendly dark spirit, examined the contract sigil on the back of Gainando's hand, and sent a message to that dimension.
"......"
Lee Han watched nervously as Arsil conversed with the spirit. 'This makes no sense. That a spirit's friendship could achieve something like this.' Theoretically, dark spirits were beings aligned with Yin energy, making them relatively closer to undead than regular spirits.
But even so, to have that spirit mediate and reconcile with an undead's wrath...
If that were possible, Lee Han's entire worldview might collapse.
"...Lee Han. You're not hoping this fails, are you...?"
"What nonsense. Gainando."
Lee Han flinched. The imperial family's intuition was especially sharp at times like these.
Pop!
Instantly, the contract sigil on Gainando's hand glowed red. It meant the scattered, broken energy had reconnected.
No one could feel the result faster and more clearly than Gainando himself. Overjoyed, he shouted,
"Thank you!!!"
"......"
"Lee Han? You're saying something, aren't you?"
"It worked, he says."
"No...! You said way more than that!"
"Fine, fine. He says he asked the dark spirit to restore the revenant's shattered body, procure materials, and in exchange, repair the broken contract and make it forget its grudge. Damn it. How does anyone have the pull to make a spirit do all that?"
Gainando pretended not to hear the last part. The gift he'd just received from Arsil was too great to join in his friend's frustration. 'Sorry, Lee Han.' "Wardanaz. Actually, I wanted to ask you something else."
Salko, who had been gauging the atmosphere, cautiously made a request.
It was Gainando who was unusually proactive in speaking to Arsil—the other students were currently keeping their distance, standing stiffly.
That was how terrifying the name 'direct descendant of the Wardanaz Family' truly was.
"What are you curious about?"
"...First of all... why are you here...?"
"Ah. Right."
Lee Han nodded at Salko's words.
Now that he thought about it, he had been so surprised by encountering Arsil here that he'd missed something important.
"Brother, what brings you here? This dimension doesn't seem particularly significant."
Given that Professor Milley had assigned this place as a task for second-year students, it couldn't be that dangerous a dimension.
Of course, the second-years might argue, 'Not dangerous? Then what was that thing we just faced?' But as mentioned, difficulty was always relative. What was dangerous for second-years might not be for a direct descendant of the Wardanaz Family.
Flap!
Arsil opened the book he had been writing in and showed them. The book contained a map of the current dimension along with some notes.
-No Frost Giant artifacts. Confirmed.
-Further verification needed, but likelihood low.
-No Frost Giant artifacts. Confirmed.
-...
'??'
Surprisingly, Arsil had been searching for artifacts in this dimension—and not just any artifacts, but those originating from the Frost Giant dimension.
"Are there Frost Giant artifacts here? Ah. It's not confirmed yet? You're planning to explore other dimensions too?"
The second son of the Wardanaz Family nodded, then pointed to a small spirit perched on his left shoulder.
The butterfly-shaped spirit was so docile and well-behaved that it emitted no aura whatsoever, but when Lee Han locked eyes with it, he was startled.
'...'
It's strong!'
For a moment, an overwhelming presence brushed past him, strong enough to send shivers down his spine. This was a spirit that had nearly perfected the art of concealing its power.
'And it didn't even try to flee upon seeing me.'
He suspected it was at least on par with Perkuntra.
Arsil tapped the butterfly spirit lightly and explained that with its help, he planned to visit other dimensions.
"As expected..."
"Wardanaz. May I ask Brother one more thing?"
Salko raised his hand timidly. Arsil gestured for him to speak freely, but Salko remained tense.
"He says go ahead."
"Um, it seems like you're searching for Frost Giant artifacts... is that correct? It must be, right? From what I remember, Frost Giants were active here."
"Right. I met them."
"Then... that artifact—isn't it something the Frost Giants are also searching for?"
Arsil smiled knowingly and explained. Lee Han relayed his words verbatim.
"He says since the Frost Giants stole the artifact in the first place, it's fine if he steals it back."
"......"
"......"
The students fell silent.
A few of them even looked slightly impressed, murmuring, 'That's... logical?'
Arsil closed his book, copied the map inside onto a scroll, and handed it to Lee Han as a gift.
"...Brother!"
Lee Han was deeply moved for the first time in a long while.
Compared to receiving gifts like malevolent dimensional irregular polyhedrons or bizarre hybrid demons, this was far more touching.
"Thank you. With this, I can finally relax this semester without suffering under the professor's torment—"
Tap. Tap.
—Arsil unrolled the scroll and pointed to several locations on the dimensional map. Those spots were marked with: 'Further verification needed, but likelihood low.'
These were places Arsil hadn't personally confirmed for the presence of artifacts.
"...Uh, you want me to go check them? And if I find anything, I can... keep it? Ah, no. Shouldn't you verify them yourself, Brother? It's the treasure you've been searching for, after all..."
...
You're saying you'll look for other artifacts instead? Wouldn't it be better to secure this one first...?"
'Something feels off here.'
'100% agree.'
Salko and Ashan exchanged glances.
As students of Einrogard, they could feel an unmistakable sense of foreboding creeping up on them.