Episode 856
Episode 856
"Kihihi. I actually think there's a good possibility."
After saying that, Lagesa called the Death Knight.
The Death Knight who had been standing at the main gate ran over in puzzlement.
"What is the matter?"
"Can you see this sailboat here?"
"I can see it."
"I'm planning to hand over this sailboat to this young man from the Wardanaz family. Would you mind acting as a witness?"
At first, the Death Knight didn't understand what she meant and asked again.
"Is this really something that requires witnesses?"
"Ah, well, it's technically Bible's sailboat. Though to be precise, it's my property since I funded the research with my gold coins. But Bible isn't the type to fuss over such things, right?"
"—!"
The Death Knight immediately grasped the meaning behind Lagesa's words.
And so, he called his comrades.
"Hey, you lot!"
"What's going on?"
"Professor Verdus is transferring ownership of this sailboat—which he researched using Lady Lagesa's funds—to Lord Wardanaz here. I need all of you to act as witnesses."
"Good heavens! Understood! If Professor Verdus shamelessly covets a student's belongings, we'll throw him into the hottest and most agonizing spot in the Deep Punishment Room!"
"I swear it too!"
The Death Knights, without waiting to see who would go first, eagerly swore their oaths.
Lee Han, flustered, spoke up.
"Ah, there's no need to go that far. It would be too much trouble for you."
"Oh no. We're doing this because we want to lock him up?"
"......"
Lagesa, as if she understood everything, patted Lee Han on the shoulder and bid him farewell.
"Well then, take care. Future Magic Tower."
"Yes, please travel safe..."
Lee Han politely saw her off but then paused mid-bow.
'Wait. She just casually dropped that bombshell as a farewell?'
No wonder she's a pirate!
* * *
"Good morning, Senior."
Monday morning.
Lee Han greeted as he stepped into the 7th-floor Kitchen Club's pantry.
Falkrius, who would normally be wearing a giant apron and deboning some unidentified monster meat, was instead sitting neatly at a table in his uniform, reading a book.
"?!?"
Startled by the sight, Lee Han asked,
"By any chance..."
"Oh? Wardanaz. You're here?"
"Are your graduation grades insufficient?"
Falkrius, who was usually cheerful and boisterous, asked with a sullen expression.
"Do I really look like that?"
"Ah, no. It's just that you're usually working in the pantry..."
"This week, I have to prepare for midterms."
With midterms coming up next week, even the students of Einrogard couldn't act as usual. Since even first-years had been the same way back then, Lee Han nodded in understanding.
"So that's why you're studying here."
"Studying... It's a bit different from that."
"Huh?"
"This is the midterm exam for the underclassmen."
"???"
Lee Han tilted his head in confusion at Falkrius's words.
Why would Falkrius be looking at the underclassmen's midterm exams?
"Why would you, Senior, be looking at the underclassmen's midterms... Ah, did a professor ask you to help prepare them?"
Falkrius chuckled at the absurd question.
"Pfft. Unless the professor was completely insane, they wouldn't ask a student who isn't even a fifth-year to help prepare exam materials!"
"......"
"Huh?"
"This is a club tradition, Wardanaz. Seems you didn't know."
Originally, clubs weren't just survival groups for making a living but were closer to gatherings for shared hobbies, interests, and maintaining traditions.
Though it was easy to mistake, Einrogard's clubs also had their own dignity and traditions.
And one of those traditions was helping the underclassmen!
Many clubs at Einrogard, including the Kitchen Club, had seniors step forward to assist underclassmen in preparing for exams.
'What? There was such a culture here?'
Lee Han was astonished.
Who would have thought that a cold, desolate desert like Einrogard would have such a tradition?
"What exactly does helping with exams entail? Explaining difficult concepts, summarizing key points...?"
"chuckle Well, things like that too. Raiding the professors' magic towers to steal exam questions in advance can also be considered helping."
"......"
Lee Han was starting to feel something was off.
No matter how he looked at it, this didn't seem like the warm senior-junior friendship he'd initially imagined.
Falkrius continued explaining.
Of course, answering juniors' questions or summarizing key points—as Lee Han had mentioned earlier—were also good forms of help.
But when clubs compete honorably among themselves, more aggressive—sometimes extreme—methods inevitably emerge.
Like raiding professors' magic towers to obtain exam questions, or preparing cheating methods for the exams...
"Just... why go that far?"
"Exactly! Wardanaz, it truly pains me. If those other club bastards would just compete fairly, we wouldn't need to resort to such measures..."
Falkrius gazed wistfully into the air.
If Einrogard only had places like the Kitchen Club, what a cheerful and harmonious school it would be!
'...That doesn't seem likely.'
"chuckle Now that I think about it, it might be fortunate you joined multiple clubs. If you'd only joined one, imagine how fiercely they'd have fought over you. Normally they wouldn't mess with a junior, but for someone like you, Wardanaz, they might have..."
"......"
"Anyway, Wardanaz! You came at the perfect time! Honestly, you seem capable enough on your own, but as a member of our club, it's my duty as your senior to help you."
"I am NOT capable enough on my own. Please help me."
Lee Han answered immediately.
Whatever else might be true, when someone offered exam help, he had no intention of refusing.
"booming laugh Of course! Then pick a lecture."
"Huh?"
"You're taking too many lectures for one club to handle. We discussed it with other clubs and decided to split the responsibility."
Normally, seniors would handle all of a junior's lectures themselves, but occasionally a junior like Lee Han—taking courses across all disciplines—would appear.
Rather than having club seniors collapse from exhaustion, wasn't it better to divide the workload among clubs?
"......"
"chuckle For the record, I'd prefer if you assigned us <With a Drop of Potion Instead of Complex Magic>. Our club members are generally skilled in alchemy."
"That does make sense."
With a few exceptions, alchemists tended to be proficient in cooking and brewing too.
Since Lee Han had no intention of spitefully requesting something like Professor Voladi's <Understanding Intermediate Combat Magic>, he decided to entrust them with the alchemy lecture.
BANG BANG BANG!
-"What the hell! Why's it closed?"
-"Kitchen Club! Not open for business today?!"
At the banging from outside, Falkrius abruptly stuck his head out and shouted:
"Preparing for next week's exams—closed!"
"Wh-what nonsense! Last year you stayed open even during exams!"
"Last year we were broke, so we had to! This year we've saved enough—no need! booming laugh"
Falkrius erupted into a carefree laugh.
Unlike last year, thanks to a certain junior who mysteriously kept bringing in high-quality ingredients, their revenue had jumped by orders of magnitude.
Enough that they could afford to close like this.
"Th-this is outrageous!"
"I woke up early and ran here for tomato dal soup..."
The seniors collapsed with expressions of utter devastation.
Unlike last year, the quality of meals from the Kitchen Club had improved so dramatically that expectations had skyrocketed.
Feeling oddly guilty, Lee Han peeked out and whispered:
"...Psst. Keep it down. I'll prepare something just for you two."
"Wa-Wardanaz!"
"You're like this 2nd year's gentle nanny!"
"?"
Lee Han froze.
"Was that an insult just now?"
"It... it was a compliment...?"
The seniors looked bewildered.
Wasn't that nickname given because he took such good care of them?
A short while later.
While the two starving seniors hastily cut and dipped the rye bread they had brought into the soup, Lee Han continued his earlier conversation with Falkrius.
"Then how exactly will you help me?"
"Pfft. For the <With a Drop of Potion Instead of Complex Magic> lecture exam, half of it ultimately comes down to securing reagents. The other half is about brewing them."
With the seasoned insight of a senior, Falkrius pointed out the crux of the matter.
Thunderstep Professor's alchemy lecture was notorious not just for the inherent difficulty of the brewing process itself, but even more so because students had to procure the reagents personally.
"At least for now, you can gather them by roaming the Einrogard territory, but if you go deeper into advanced courses, they'll ask you to bring back gemstones! Pfft. That's completely insane!"
"You're absolutely right!"
Lee Han responded with an impassioned voice.
"Who uses gemstones for alchemy? Those lunatics!"
"W-Wardanaz, what's gotten into you? Are you hungry or something? You'll have to use gemstones someday too..."
Alchemy wasn't merely about potions—it was a discipline that explored all kinds of materials. No matter how expensive, they couldn't avoid using them forever.
Falkrius cleared his throat once before speaking.
"You'll need to check the professor's magic tower or herb gardens to see what reagents are required."
"Killing two birds with one stone, I see?"
Falkrius gave a thumbs-up in admiration of his junior's sharp learning.
"But this year, the security's been tighter. You know Thunderstep Professor's cabin located south of the Alchemy Hall, right? Do you know who's guarding the garden there?"
"Hmm?"
Lee Han was puzzled.
He was relatively familiar with that cabin's garden since he was the one managing it.
Had additional security been added?
"Professor Bendozol! Pfft. Can you believe it? Professor Bendozol himself is guarding it!"
"......"
Lee Han had to focus to keep his expression neutral.
Professor Bendozol, who adored animals, had been taking on extra chores to free up Lee Han's time.
"W-Well... That certainly complicates things."
"But we still have to find a way through."
"Um. I have something to say."
A third-year student, who had not only emptied his tomato egg soup but also wiped the bowl clean with the last piece of bread, called out to Falkrius.
"I know about the secret herb garden Thunderstep Professor made in the mountains."
"What?! Really? How did you find out?"
"I spent a few days on a cliff for an assignment and saw the professor passing by below."
"Pfft. Lucky you."
'Is it just me, or does spending days on a cliff sound odd?' Lee Han thought to himself.
Falkrius eagerly noted down the third-year's testimony.
"Indeed, indeed... Good. We'll have to check this place too. We'll sweep up anything we need. Don't you have anything? Our junior even lit the pot to serve us a meal."
"Uh, well..."
Unlike his friend, the senior, who had nothing incriminating to report about Thunderstep Professor, hesitated before blurting out, "I... I do know who raided Thunderstep Professor's supply wagon last summer."
"What! This is interesting too. We might be able to negotiate with the professor. Tell me the name!"
"Carnella of the Hormasi family..."
While Falkrius conversed with the two students, other members of the Kitchen Club began arriving one by one.
The students seemed to immediately grasp what Falkrius was doing as they watched him interrogate and record various details.
"Preparing for midterms, huh?"
"Wait. Wardanaz is taking a cross-disciplinary course, right? Can we handle all of it?"
"They said they discussed it with other clubs to divide the workload."
"Whew. That's a relief."
"Pfft! This should be enough. Let's head out, everyone! We'll have to work hard all week to help our juniors with their exams!"
"Yes!"
At Falkrius's rallying cry, the members gathered energetically and prepared to depart.
When Falkrius distributed the pickled tentacle sandwiches he had prepared in advance for breakfast, their morale soared even higher.
Which was why, at first, they didn't notice...
"Uh, why is Wardanaz coming along?"
The second-year junior had slipped into their group so naturally that it took them a moment to realize—this wasn't something a second-year needed to do!