Episode 789
Episode 789
Nilia ran at full speed, as befitting a hunter from the northern mountains. She was in such a hurry that she even pulled out a potion from her pocket and drank it.
She absolutely wouldn't let the magic criminal spread false rumors!
"Wardanaz! Hurry!!"
"Ugh..."
'If we just stay still, no one would probably care...'
Lee Han extended his mana throughout his body to temporarily enhance his physical abilities before chasing after his friend.
He could have used a few more enhancement spells here, but it didn't seem necessary enough to go that far.
Honestly, if they just stayed still, even the Einrogard students would probably think, 'Who's that young hunter?' and move on...
"This Antagondals, losing to mere young hunters...!"
"Hey, stop right there!"
Gnashing her teeth, Nilia chased after the bat.
As they turned the corner, they saw third-year seniors playing a stone-throwing game at the end of the hallway.
"Should I throw it here or there..."
"Can't you hurry up?"
"Tsk. Be quiet. When to throw is my sacred right—even the Skeleton Principal can't interfere..."
"This Antagondals, losing to mere young hunters...!"
"Sorry!"
"Coming through!"
"???"
The seniors, who were about to throw magic circle-etched stones, looked up in confusion.
"What was that just now?"
"Wait. Did they just say Antagondals? That magic criminal?"
The seniors watched the two juniors running past with admiration.
These juniors these days are anything but ordinary!
Meanwhile, the bat turned another corner.
This time, they saw seniors playing a magical version of hopscotch. Nilia cried out in frustration.
"Why are there so many seniors in the hallway today?!"
"Since the toxic swamp erupted on the 6th floor, probably all the seniors who were there..."
"This Antagondals, losing to mere young hunters...!"
"?!"
A senior who had stepped on the fourth square and was wobbling from a spinning curse startled in surprise.
"Did they say Antagondals? What's going on?"
"From what I can tell, judging by that ugly bat form, it seems like a clone was sent out and destroyed."
"Even if it's just a clone, these juniors are really impressive!"
"......"
"......"
The two fell silent upon hearing the seniors' praise.
Lee Han thought to himself:
'Should I slip away now?'
Come to think of it, Antagondals had only been mentioned by Nilia.
If Lee Han quietly stopped now...
"Wardanaz...!"
"I wasn't thinking anything."
"What are you talking about? You stopped!"
"!"
As Nilia pointed ahead, the weakened bat suddenly dropped and collapsed with a thud.
Panting heavily, Nilia spoke in a relieved voice.
"At least no weird rumors spread, right?"
"Huh? Uh... Yeah. Sure."
Not wanting to hurt his friend's hopeful expectations, Lee Han told a white lie.
"...So that's the situation."
"Isn't that way too dangerous?!"
"Well, yeah. We have to be careful."
"......"
Nilia was horrified by her friend's tone, as if he were saying, 'It might rain tomorrow, so I should bring an umbrella.'
'Has his sense of danger completely dulled...!?'
Perhaps enduring so many hardships at Einrogard had numbed his sense of danger.
'No, even other friends who went through tough times didn't get to that point. Maybe Wardanaz was always like this...'
Nilia continued her rather rude internal speculation.
"By the way, Nilia. Are you taking <Life of a Wizard with Plants>?"
"Yeah, I am. Why?"
Lee Han cheered internally.
'It really is a second-year course!'
When he had only seen the course name, he thought it was a botany class, but he couldn't tell if it was for second or third years, which had worried him.
It being a second-year course made him incredibly happy.
"That's such a relief. It's a second-year course."
"......"
Nilia stared at her friend with a gaze mixed with pity, concern, shock, and horror.
"What was the last lecture about?"
"Nothing much. It was the first lecture, so the professor explained what the course was about and showed us some rare and interesting plants. Oh, right. The professor was a willow tree spirit."
"I see."
"Yeah. Wardanaz, you're taking Professor Verdus's class, right? How was it?"
Nilia asked curiously.
Though they were both in the Enchantment Magic school, Lee Han was taking a third-year course, so she wondered what differences there might be.
"Uh... yeah. <Staff Materials and Magic Amplification>. Nilia, you took <Introduction to Enchantment Magic>, right?"
"Yeah. Senior Yukveltire taught it."
"How was it? Is she as eccentric as Professor Verdus?"
"No? She teaches well."
"...?"
Lee Han doubted his ears.
'Teaches well'?
Had the meaning of 'teaching well' changed into something else at Einrogard?
"She teaches well?"
"Yeah, she does."
Nilia briefly explained about Yukveltire's lectures.
Though she wasn't particularly interested in juniors, Yukveltire wasn't the type to abandon her responsibilities like Professor Verdus, focusing only on her own work.
She meticulously prepared and systematically organized the material for each lecture, distributing detailed notes to the juniors, so the second-year Enchantment Magic students had little to complain about.
And honestly, compared to last year's lectures by Professor Verdus, it was undeniably better!
"......"
Listening to the explanation, Lee Han felt inexplicably wronged.
Of course, he didn't wish for Senior Yukveltire to torment the second-years, but still... 'Why do the crazy ones act normal when I'm not around?'
"Wardanaz, what about you?"
"We're... studying by stealing the professor's work."
"Hey, don't joke."
"......"
"...You're not joking?"
Nilia suddenly felt extremely guilty.
"S-Sorry. I didn't know you were serious."
"Stealing the professor's work to study is kind of fun, though. It's educational too."
"Really?"
"No. I just lied."
"......"
"......"
An awkward silence lingered between them.
Nilia tried to lighten the mood with a suggestion.
"W-Well, let's go to the <Life of a Wizard with Plants> lecture hall first! I'll show you around before today's lecture starts!"
The lecture hall for this botany class was a greenhouse filled with all kinds of plants.
Just tending to and observing them was entertaining enough that even outside lecture hours, several students could be seen studying there.
Of course, Lee Han barely had any free time due to his packed schedule, but since it was almost mealtime...
"I promised to help out at the Kitchen Club."
"Then let's go together after that. I'll help too."
"After that, I have to go to the Polo Club to take care of the animals for a bit."
"...Then we'll do that together too."
"After that, I have to go to the Stonemason Club—"
"Hey, enough already!"
Unable to hold back any longer, Nilia finally snapped at her friend.
After hearing his friend's genuine anger, Lee Han reflected and canceled his club commitments.
Well, most of them.
"I can't cancel the Kitchen Club duty this week. I heard the seniors are on the verge of rioting."
"...Well, the food is pretty bad."
Nilia had no choice but to admit it.
The meals prepared by the Kitchen Club, responsible for feeding the countless hungry students of Einrogard, were always precarious.
With limited ingredients, they had to prioritize quantity over quality, so taste inevitably suffered.
But such circumstances did little to appease the students who paid a gold coin per meal.
-Hey, you lunatics! Stop serving bread made from ground beans! At least mix in more than half wheat flour!
"Get that corn porridge out of here!"
"If you're gonna keep serving this salted meat, just give us rocks instead. At least rocks would be easier to break!"
"I'm curious—where on earth do they even get that salted meat?" Nilia wondered aloud.
Second-year mages and above could use various preservation spells, so keeping meat fresh shouldn't have been difficult.
So why did the Kitchen Club keep serving rock-hard, salt-cured meat?
"I asked about it too. Apparently, the Headmaster usually buys it in bulk from outside," Lee Han explained.
"......"
Nilia was horrified by his answer.
What kind of...?
"Now that I've been around the school more, I've noticed some kitchens are easier to break into than others. Turns out, a lot of those are fake kitchens. The Headmaster deliberately stocks them with terrible ingredients just to mess with us."
'He's obsessed with the most pointless things!' Nilia shuddered at the Skeleton Principal's sheer dedication.
Instead of just leaving the pantries empty, he went out of his way to make students suffer like this...
"Still, it's better than nothing. If you cook it right, it's edible."
Even if the meat was tough as leather, pounding it, shredding it, chopping it finely, then boiling it with bread and water could at least make a salty, passable meal.
Of course, whether the students eating it would actually be satisfied was another question...
"Seniors. I'm here."
"Wardanaz! We've been waiting for you!"
The Kitchen Club members cheered as they welcomed Lee Han.
To be precise, they were cheering for the ingredients he brought. To the members who constantly suffered from limited supplies, this junior was nothing short of a miracle worker.
"What about flour?"
"Used it all yesterday. Tried to secure more wheat, but the sixth floor's been poisoned..."
"Rice?"
"Got a little left."
"Meat..."
Lee Han laid out the ingredients he'd brought and carefully discussed options with the seniors.
Watching them, Nilia felt ashamed for having complained about the Kitchen Club's meals.
'This is worth one gold coin? If Wardanaz saw this, he'd be so shocked he'd faint, hmph!'
'How could I criticize without considering their circumstances?'
"Let's make oatmeal porridge first."
"Oatmeal porridge doesn't go over well. Bowls might start flying."
"Let's trick their eyes by adding other ingredients. Onions, carrots... ugh. Cheese too."
"Cheese!? Isn't that too extravagant?"
"Slice it thin. Chop up the salted meat and mix it into the porridge, and slice the ham I brought separately on the side. How's that?"
"Sounds good. That might fool them!"
"......"
Nilia forgot her earlier shame and glared at the seniors.
As expected, the Kitchen Club members were half swindlers.
To drag her honest friend into such deceitful methods...
"Nilia. Thanks for helping."
"This isn't the kind of help I had in mind."
Nilia muttered as she walked.
She'd imagined skinning animals and preparing fresh cuts—not pounding meat to make it look like there was more.
"Three, two, one... Here we are. The Yggdrasil Greenhouse. Right?"
"Right. Just open the door and go in."
Wanting to show her friend the classroom before the lecture started, Nilia hurriedly pushed the door open.
Helping the Kitchen Club had taken longer than expected (the students gathered for the meal had debated throwing plates but ultimately set them down).
Whoosh—
The humid, warm air unique to the greenhouse rushed out. Inside, Professor Willow, the sentient willow tree, looked at them curiously.
"Class hasn't started yet?"
"Good afternoon, Professor. I wanted to show my friend the classroom early."
"I see... What exemplary young mages. Feel free to look around."
Professor Willow, who had been adjusting his branches, smiled kindly.
Then he paused when he saw Lee Han.
"It's been a while, Professor."
"Wardanaz... It truly has been since last year! I've heard many rumors... But more importantly, why aren't you using your staff? It looks quite displeased."
"......"
Feeling wronged, Lee Han glared at his staff.