Episode 852
Episode 852
The one most calmly examining compartment number 6 of the backpack was Sebius.
While Zandanni was moved by this miraculous friendship and Lee Han maintained a stern expression, Sebius calmly inspected the contents.
"...Wait."
"Why, what's the matter?"
"Someone seems to have opened this before. Look here."
Sebius cast a spell to project an illusion of compartment number 6. The enlarged image of the space appeared before the mages.
It resembled the workshop of a retired mage. The only difference was that instead of packing up his belongings upon retirement, the mage seemed to have left them behind for his successors.
A birch workbench for inspecting and categorizing reagents, an advanced alchemy cauldron with eight burners, neatly organized gemstone drawers for reagents sorted by color, a bookshelf filled with spare staves and magic tomes, a chest filled with gold and silver coins...
Lee Han asked in puzzlement:
"Couldn't Senior Einrogard have stocked this before closing the space?"
"No. That's..."
"Ah! Now that you mention it, it is strange! It doesn't make sense for an Einrogard student to have piled up those gemstones, gold, and silver coins here."
Lee Han nodded in understanding, tapping his palm with his fist.
Sebius glared at his junior and said:
"...Look beside it too."
"Huh?"
Lee Han turned his gaze. Written on the wall forming compartment number 6 were words:
"In honor of my friendship with my big-boned Einrogard friend, I leave behind my passion for the Einrogard student who will one day open this backpack in place of a Baldrogard student. Please make good use of it. And forgive the Baldrogard student even if they turn everything upside down in frustration."
—Ipelldrem
"Se... Senior!!"
Zandanni exclaimed in shock at the name of the legendary Baldrogard senior.
"That's the senior's name! The one who passed down this backpack!"
"...Why is that written there?"
"Could it be... that the senior foresaw a situation like this?"
Flustered, Zandanni proposed a hypothesis.
If the senior had opened this dimensional labyrinth and belatedly heard the message left by his friend, he would have been deeply moved by that friendship.
And then, he might have thought this:
Einrogard and Baldrogard are the twin pillars leading the Empire...
"...Ah, this bastard is really—"
"Senior! Senior, why are you acting like this, seriously!!"
Lee Han was about to hit him, but when Sebius suddenly lunged forward first, he panicked and stopped him—it's always more startling when someone who's usually composed suddenly explodes.
Zandanni asked in surprise:
"Why—why are you acting like this?"
"Continue. Just leave out the 'twin pillars' part!"
"...Anyway, the senior might have thought that the misunderstanding between Einrogard and Baldrogard should be resolved, and that the two should grow closer."
Einrogard students excel in magic, while Baldrogard students uphold dignity and honor...
"......"
"......"
Zandanni flinched under the murderous gazes of the two mages.
"D-did I say something wrong again?"
"Keep going."
"...They can exchange knowledge."
But misunderstandings aren't so easily resolved.
So the senior closed the backpack again and left it for his juniors.
So that one day, when the juniors opened it, they could hear the goodwill left behind by the Einrogard friend and be moved by it themselves.
"Then what does 'left for the Einrogard students' mean?"
"That's simple. Baldrogard students wouldn't be able to open this, so they'd call an Einrogard student, right? And then they'd witness this together."
"...What kind of nonsense is that? Does that even make sense?"
"But that's exactly what happened..."
Lee Han was left speechless at Zandanni's hesitant yet persistent explanation.
"...Right?"
"Senior. Please refute this."
"...Hmm."
"Senior!!"
Despite Lee Han's shout, Sebius kept his mouth shut.
At this point, it was too difficult to argue against.
Garal still looked astonished as he spoke.
"So you're saying this senior from Baldrogard personally opened this, checked his friend's message, then filled it with gifts and sealed it again?"
"Yes!"
"There was a mage with that level of skill at Baldrogard?"
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Ah, no..."
When his employer glared at him, Garal averted his gaze, sensing the mood.
Meanwhile, Lee Han, who had somewhat recovered from the shock, whispered to Sebius as they conversed.
"Then that mage named Ipelldrem must have reunited with his Einrogard friend, right?"
"Most likely."
"At least that's a relief."
"Not really."
"Huh? Why? Because he maintained his friendship with a Baldrogard student?"
"...Not that. If he went to meet an Einrogard senior, he probably got dragged into the Punishment Room along with them. Given the Headmaster's personality, that's more than likely."
Though the Skeleton Principal was relatively lenient toward outsiders, students from other magic academies were a different matter.
If someone sneaked into Einrogard just to visit a student in the Punishment Room, the Skeleton Principal would have locked them up without hesitation.
"Eh. That's nothing. Doesn't everyone end up in the Punishment Room at least once?"
"Sebius almost told his junior, 'Outsiders don't even dare spit in Einrogard's direction after just one visit to the Punishment Room,' but stopped himself."
More importantly, it's a relief that there were no lingering misunderstandings between the two of them.
"That's true."
"But the fact that he went through the trouble of resealing this space instead of just handing the backpack to any random Einrogard student suggests he didn't learn much of a lesson in the Punishment Room."
'This junior of mine can be truly terrifying at times.' Sebius shuddered at Lee Han's cold assessment.
How could he say something like that after seeing all this?
"Here. Please take this."
Zandanni held out the backpack.
After reading the senior's note, it became clear why he had left this backpack for Baldrogard students.
He had written that if they ever found an Einrogard student worthy of friendship, they should pass it on to them.
'Senior. I think I finally understand your intentions now.'
"But technically, we stole this..."
"Shh. Keep it down."
Sebius covered his junior's mouth.
There was no need to make things difficult when the other party was ending things amicably and even handing over the item.
Lee Han left the Visitor Lodging village with Sebius, carrying the newly acquired backpack.
Surprisingly, Sebius readily handed the backpack over to his junior without asking for anything in return.
"Are you really okay with this?"
"Yeah. I only took it because I thought it belonged to Einrogard in the first place. According to the senior's wishes, it's rightfully yours."
"?"
"Lee Han tilted his head in confusion."
What do you mean?
"It was left for a Baldrogard friend, and that Baldrogard friend left it for a future Einrogard friend."
Since Zandanni considered Wardanaz his friend, it was only right for Wardanaz to have it.
Lee Han was horrified.
"We're not friends though???"
Becoming friends with a fourth-year Baldrogard student who thought he was a sixth-year wasn't exactly easy.
Where was he even supposed to start with this?
Sebius replied dismissively.
"Then give it back if you don't want it."
"On second thought, I suppose I can consider him a friend."
Lee Han gave in immediately.
Admittedly, saying 'I got it from a friend' sounded much better than 'I stole it' if problems arose later.
'Fine. I can tolerate being friends if it means getting an artifact like this.'
Though he wasn't thrilled, the contents of the backpack made it bearable.
Lee Han checked the items inside the sixth space again. Along with various magical tools, the gemstones for potions and the chest of gold coins were particularly impressive.
'Do those Baldrogard bastards just hoard stuff like this in their workshops while practicing magic? Insane.'
At that point, calling it magic instead of indulgence and luxury would be an understatement.
Sebius, who was standing beside him, seemed lost in thought and remained silent.
Lee Han asked cautiously,
"Why are you like this, Senior?"
'Does he want to take something from inside?'
If Sebius asked to share the items inside as his share, Lee Han was prepared to divide them.
Considering how much the senior had helped him, Sebius could take the items from spaces 1 to 5, and Lee Han would humbly settle for space 6.
"I was just thinking it's strange that the spatial maze was cursed earlier."
"Wasn't that just a precaution?"
"If the Headmaster or Professor Verdus had gotten their hands on it, they would've opened it immediately."
From the perspective of the Einrogard senior, he must have prepared for situations where his friend might open it through abnormal means.
Especially since it was made by stealing items from the Skeleton Principal and Professor Verdus.
'Come to think of it, I should be careful too.'
Lee Han resolved to change the bag's outer appearance as soon as he got back.
Though some time had passed, both of them were among the most tenacious figures in Einrogard.
"That would've been the case originally. But this was opened and then closed again by a Baldrogard student. If they re-cursed it, they should've known it would endanger the juniors."
Sebius's observation was reasonable.
If juniors later opened the bag to bond and got cursed, any talk of friendship would be overshadowed by shouts of "Those sneaky Baldrogard bastards set a trap!"
Sebius couldn't understand why such a thing had been left behind.
"If they didn't force it open like we did, they probably left advice on the proper way to open it... It's strange."
"Ah. I think I know why."
"What is it?"
"Baldrogard bastards never read magic books, so while they used the bag the senior left behind, they probably mistook the accompanying book for a magic book and threw it away. How's that?"
"......"
Sebius felt slightly worried that his junior might hate Baldrogard too much.
'But... it does sound plausible!'
"Where did you get this bag?"
"From a Baldrogard student."
"Ah. So you stole it."
"No. I said I received it."
"Yeah. Got it. Got it."
"......"
Lee Han made a sour expression at his friends' reactions.
"Yoner, does saying 'I received it' sound like 'I stole it' to you?"
"Huh? Yeah."
"...I really received it."
"What? How?!"
Yoner was even more shocked than when she had opened the artifact.
How on earth could he have just received this?
"Well... we happened to become friends, and it was a token of friendship."
"......"
Yoner didn't believe her friend but debated whether she should lie and say "I believe you" as a token of friendship.
Lee Han shook his head bitterly.
"Forget it. Don't believe me."
"N-no! I believe you. I do!"
Meanwhile, his friends began emptying the spaces inside one by one and neatly filling them with necessary items.
"Wait, why are you putting in mana potions? Wardanaz doesn't need them!"
"By that logic, why are you putting in food? Most of the food Wardanaz carries gets eaten by others!"
"...Let's just include the mana potions too."
"See?!"
His friends removed all the high-quality wines from space 1 and replaced them with potions.
In space 2, they cleared out various toys and stored food.
Space 3 had expensive outerwear removed and replaced with survival gear like sleeping bags, cloaks, and coats.
Space 4 had the Toberiz Series removed and—
"W-wait! Who would do this?! How?!"
Gainando was shocked when he saw the out-of-print rare editions.
"Lee Han! Who gave you these?! What kind of person?!"
"Gainando. Is that really important right now? Hurry up and pick out the magic books to store."
"Hey! Do you know how incredible these are...?!"
Space 5 had polo equipment removed and replaced with various tools and gear for animals.
Space 6 was left as is for now, to be used as needed later.
"Huh?"
As Lee Han opened the bag's entrance to check space 6 before closing it, he noticed an unfamiliar item and frowned.
'What's this? I didn't see it earlier.'
It was a letter.
A letter left by Zandanni of the Aljadk family, inviting him to visit Baldrogard sometime.
Lee Han sighed softly upon reading it. Then he took out a quill.
"Lee Han. What are you doing?"
"Writing a reply to the letter."