Episode 796
Episode 796
Lagesa and the Chain Pirates drew their weapons, preparing for an ambush.
There was a solemnity to their demeanor, like hunters waiting for prey to appear along its usual path. 'They really are professionals.' To Lee Han, whose admiration was already welling up, they appeared even more respectable.
Professor Verdus, oblivious to the danger lurking nearby, strolled along with a carefree expression.
"Gonadaltes, that idiot. Did I ask for much? Just five crates of diamonds to use as fuel—and he refused! Is he even a proper mage!?"
"Attack! Crush that swindling debt collector!!!"
At Lagesa's shout, the pirates burst out from the corridor. Professor Verdus jumped in surprise and yelled.
"What!? What's going on!?"
"Hand over my gold, you damn scammer!"
"T-t-t-the investor bears the risk of failed investments!"
Professor Verdus reacted without panicking even under the assault of the Empire's pirate fleet. He had experienced far too many such ambushes.
The belt and amulet he wore activated in unison, emitting a glow and generating a powerful repulsion field.
Instantly, the distance between Professor Verdus and the pirates widened.
"You damn swindler! What? You promised to make me a flying pirate ship! Where is it!?"
"Great magic requires trial and error!"
"......"
Lee Han, having grasped the situation, wore a complicated expression.
Before him was someone whose standing in the Empire was even lower than pirates—a fraudster. 'To scam pirates of all people...'
"Whi—shhk!"
Professor Verdus's skin turned pale and swelled blue. Lagesa had interfered with the flow of blood in his veins, stopping its circulation.
Gasping for breath, the professor barely managed to twitch the tip of his boot. Then, the [Wave of Curse Expulsion] activated, dispelling the interference.
Meanwhile, the pirates, wrapped in clanking chains, charged forward.
Lagesa bellowed at the top of her lungs.
"The first one to capture him will be set free!"
"!!"
At those words, the pirates' eyes burned even fiercer.
For those who had been forcibly conscripted after being caught pirating in the archipelago, freedom was a blessing they could only dream of.
'Those chains are magic-resistant.' Lee Han realized as he watched the pirates advance, enduring the magical projectiles fired by Professor Verdus.
The chains not only restrained the pirates but also acted as shields, protecting them from external magic. They were an unusual artifact, even rare to see in Einrogard.
Clang!
The pirates swung their enchanted axes and cutlasses, attempting to shatter the repulsion field.
From inside, Professor Verdus shouted frantically.
"Within Einrogard, I'm protected by the laws of the domain, not the Empire's! You can't do this!"
"I'm technically here with the lord's permission, you fraud! Drop the barrier! I'll just beat you up a few times and take what you've got!"
"Who called these pirates here!?"
Grumbling, Professor Verdus began summoning artifacts from his subspace.
Fortunately, having recently suffered betrayals and ambushes from his wicked colleagues, he was well-prepared.
Seeing this, Lagesa grew even more furious.
"How much scamming have you done to be this heavily armed!?"
Those unfamiliar with magic might assume mages could conjure spells effortlessly—that a mere gesture could summon flying swords and shields.
But behind every dazzling spell lay immense effort.
Artifacts like those required daily maintenance, recharging, and inspection.
Waking up each morning to check each artifact one by one, preparing them for potential use throughout the day, carefully considering combinations to avoid interference between them...
At this moment, Professor Verdus was better fortified than most pirate captains.
Seeing him so thoroughly fortified after failing to build even a single sail for the pirate ship despite receiving investments made her blood boil even more.
"O raging mana, swirl and disrupt all magic!"
The old pirate woman swung her sword while chanting the spell.
Lee Han's eyes widened at the astonishing sight. 'The magic is being scrambled!' The flow of mana in any given space normally followed certain fixed rules.
Mages relied on that premise to read and channel mana flows to cast spells.
But now, Lagesa was deliberately disrupting those flows, throwing the surroundings into chaos.
As a result, the already cast spells began tangling together in disorder.
Professor Verdus's summoned sword—which normally shot radiant stakes to immobilize enemies—staggered and lost direction before embedding itself in the ceiling. The rapid-fire magic bullets also veered off their trajectories oddly before striking the walls and floor.
That wasn't all. The barrier fields protecting the professor collided with each other, creaking and groaning until gaps formed. A horrified Professor Verdus scrambled to reinforce them. 'Now I understand why Professor Bagrak called for her.'
Lagesa's magical combat style was highly unorthodox.
Put positively, it was unconventional and ingenious. Put negatively, it was chaotic and haphazard.
Had Yumidihus been the one attacking Professor Verdus, she would've either used Reverse Magic to temporarily disable the artifacts or overpowered them through sheer frontal assault.
But Lagesa dragged her opponent into a messy, chaotic brawl rather than a head-on confrontation.
This approach could easily backfire—the magical disruption she'd just caused might have harmed her as well.
But true to her veteran pirate nature, the old woman didn't care in the slightest and even seemed to relish it. The more chaotic things got, the more she clearly believed it worked to her advantage. 'Fighting someone stronger than me—no, why did the Skeleton Principal's name pop into my head just now? Anyway, observing a battle against a stronger mage offers many lessons.'
When facing a stronger opponent, victory couldn't be achieved through direct confrontation. The key was to disrupt the battlefield and create variables.
"...Tch!"
Realizing the situation was turning against him, Professor Verdus swiftly reached into the air and accessed his subspace.
Then he frantically grabbed whatever he could and hurled it outward.
Clang! Clatter!
Imperial gold coins, gemstones, rare reagents, and artifacts scattered across the floor.
Like a lizard shedding its tail, Professor Verdus abandoned his treasures and fled in panic back the way he'd come. Lagesa snorted in amusement at the sight.
"Hmph. No need to chase him. I'll let him off with this much today."
"Truly magnanimous of you."
Lee Han quickly flattered her.
If he played his cards right, maybe she'd summon him to Professor Verdus's next lecture too? 'I'd love to show this to the seniors.'
"Kihihi. You've got a good eye. Wait—why didn't you activate the necklace?"
The old pirate was startled to realize Lee Han hadn't activated the necklace she'd given him.
"You told me to wear it, didn't you?"
"...Normally, you wear it AND activate it, you brat! If I told you to eat a meal, would you just shove bread down your throat and skip the wine?"
Lagesa was flabbergasted by his reply.
When she'd scrambled the spatial magic earlier, any mage should've felt intense dizziness.
It was rare for a mage not to feel disoriented when ambient mana was being chaotically twisted.
Yet this kid had remained perfectly composed without even activating the necklace.
"I'll activate it next time."
"...Good! Very good!"
Impressed by his talent, Lagesa burst into booming laughter and vigorously slapped Lee Han's back. As he swayed from the force, Lee Han thought to himself: 'What's so good about this?'
"Um. There's something I'm curious about, Lady Lagesa."
"I know, I know."
The old pirate woman nodded her head.
She had already been quite interested in her magic, and having witnessed a magical battle like this just now must have been hard to resist.
Normally, she would test the talents of challengers who came seeking trials and tests, but Lagesa decided to let it slide this time.
Partly because he was a disciple of both Yumidihus and Bagrak, but also because she found his cleverness and cunning rather endearing.
"Well, I suppose I have no choice! I'll just have to explain the magic I showed you today."
"Huh? Actually, I was curious about how much Professor Verdus scammed you out of..."
"......"
Lagesa stared at Lee Han in utter bewilderment.
The pirates following behind, clinking their chains, also wore expressions of disbelief. 'That's what he's curious about right now?'
"Ah. My apologies. I meant to say Professor Verdus."
"That's not why I'm surprised! Are you seriously curious about that? Hmm. Let's see... Bible roughly took... about twenty crates of imperial gold coins, I think? Something around that."
"!!"
Lee Han's pupils trembled in shock and horror.
"B-but you let him live after that?"
"At the time, I didn't know any better. I thought flying pirate ships would be coming out soon."
Lagesa deepened the wrinkles on her face as she grumbled. Even now, she seemed to feel wronged by the whole affair.
"By the time I realized I'd been scammed, he'd already fled to Einrogard!"
'Wait, does that mean if you want to catch magic criminals, you should raid Einrogard instead of the Empire?'
"Don't go making reckless investments yourself."
"Understood. I'll stick to receiving investments."
"Kihi. Right. You're different from that Bible fellow—you seem like the diligent type."
"......"
Lee Han averted his gaze for a moment. Fortunately, the great pirate didn't seem to notice.
"Anyway, about the magic you asked about. Let's see... where should I start?"
"?"
Lee Han tilted his head at Lagesa's words. 'Did I even ask about that?' He didn't think he had.
But he stayed quiet. The pirate seemed to be in a good mood.
"Remember earlier, in the underground lecture hall, when I cast magic with just one or two syllables?"
"Yes."
"What do you think that was?"
"Spell abbreviation... isn't it?"
At Lee Han's answer, the old pirate burst into laughter as if she'd been waiting for it. Clapping her hands and stomping her feet, she barely managed to stifle her cackling before speaking.
"Yes, yes! I knew you'd say that! Every mage who sees it for the first time thinks the same. But no. This is pirate magic—the pride of our family."
Spell abbreviation, which compressed incantations into short bursts, was fundamentally different from the spells Lagesa had cast with chants like "Ee-ha" or "Ai-ya." 'Now that I think about it, that makes sense.' Even with abbreviated spells, they usually contained words or acronyms symbolic of the magic being cast.
After all, incantations were originally tools to aid a mage's focus—they couldn't possibly be completely unrelated.
But chants like "Ee-ha" or "Ai-ya" seemed to have no connection at all to transforming chairs into flocks of parrots or turning back doors into walls.
"While imperial mages were giving themselves headaches binding, weaving, and fussing over mana, my ancestors simply surrendered to the flow of mana. And then, like true pirates, they shouted."
"...?"
Lee Han's expression grew increasingly strange as he listened.
So, what she was saying now was...? 'Don't tell me she means random magic?' Magic always required thorough calculation and control.
Otherwise, the magic could end up stabbing the mage themselves.
Yet, astonishingly, Lagesa was outright denying the very foundation of imperial magic.
Just roughly, casually, pull out some mana and fling it freely!
"Um... doesn't that make the magic a bit... random?"
"Well, it does tend to be that way, I suppose. Honestly, earlier I was hoping for a bald eagle, but parrots showed up instead. But hey, parrots are good birds too. Friends of pirates."
"What if the magic flows in an unexpected direction?"
"You've got to enjoy the flow! Haven't there been times when even normal magic went in unexpected directions?"
"......"
Lee Han recalled a time when his flame magic had threatened to spiral out of control. 'How am I supposed to enjoy that?'