Episode 911
Episode 911
"Wh...what in the world is happening!?"
After successfully sealing the Demigod Hamster back into the Black Emperor's Crown with the aid of the dragon's breath and completing the reverse summoning, the two professors were stunned by the unexpected sight before them.
The dragon was wailing so loudly it seemed the very earth would split open.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Y-Your Highness, what's wrong?"
Lee Han is dying! Th-this isn't the kind of adventure Jowurin had imagined...!
Jowurin was sobbing too hard to even speak properly.
The adventures she'd heard about in fairy tales and legends always involved heroic warriors bravely defeating enemies alongside their remarkable companions—never once had they featured helplessly watching over a collapsed contractor.
If this was what adventures were like, Jowurin would have the Empire ban them immediately!
"Wh-what are you... Rather than that, isn't he just sleeping?"
Professor Garcia checked Lee Han's condition and spoke up.
"Professor Bagrak?"
"That's correct."
"Yes. It seems he just collapsed from exhaustion."
Despite the professors' assurances, the dragon—who had grown increasingly suspicious lately—refused to believe them.
How could she trust that they weren't trying to deceive or placate her!
"...D-did someone deceive Your Highness recently or something? No. Check for yourself. He's really fine."
At Professor Garcia's words, Jowurin hesitantly checked.
She'd been too afraid to look earlier, but his pulse was indeed beating.
Th-then why did he collapse? Did Jowurin use too much breath?!
"No, that shouldn't be the reason."
Professor Garcia, who knew Lee Han's mana capacity well, immediately denied it.
She'd assisted him with breath attacks before—there was no way he'd suddenly be unable to handle it now.
B-but he used way more than last time!
"Even so, there shouldn't be much difference, Your Highness."......
Jowurin inwardly doubted Professor Garcia's answer.
Was this professor actually a cold-hearted person who wouldn't care even if her student collapsed and coughed up blood? 'Come to think of it, Lee Han did say all the professors were cold and ruthless!'
"His collapse was probably due to overusing magic even before arriving here. Regardless of mana, human concentration has its limits too."
"He used Lightning Transformation."
"Huh?"
Professor Garcia tilted her head at Professor Voladi's words.
In response, Professor Voladi launched into one of his lengthy explanations—the kind he often gave in the faculty lounge, quite unlike his usual demeanor.
This Authority, which originated from the power of the Spirit King known as the General of Lightning or Thunder King, was originally called Flash Lightning Fire... 'I shouldn't have asked,' Professor Garcia deeply regretted.
There was so much cleanup to do—there was no reason to be listening to this now.
But Professor Garcia was the youngest among the Einrogard faculty, which meant she had once been a student under the other Einrogard professors.
The hierarchical relationship between professor and student, once established, was more powerful than most curses or vows.
Grumbling internally but not daring to interrupt, Professor Garcia listened obediently.
Fortunately, the content was somewhat interesting...
"Wait. Did you recommend that?!"
"I did not recommend it."
"I-I see. That makes sense."
Professor Garcia secretly doubted, just like the dragon beside her.
Had he really not recommended it?
Ahem. "I understand Lee Han has been interested in Lightning Transformation magic lately, but that's not proof he used it now, is it?"
Still, as his teacher, Professor Garcia subtly took Lee Han's side.
Even without resorting to reckless magic like Lightning Transformation, Lee Han was more than capable of collapsing from exhaustion.
Just look at what he normally does...
Professor Voladi pointed behind them with an outstretched hand. There, visible against the cliff face, were traces where conceptualized lightning bolts had pierced through the Demigod Hamster.
"...I see."
Wh-when is Lee Han going to wake up?
"He'll wake up as soon as he recovers a bit. There's no need to worry."
Professor Garcia administered simple first aid.
Having more magical power meant his resilience was proportionally stronger.
With a student whose mana was so abundant that the word 'plentiful' didn't do it justice, his recovery would be swift even in this situation. It seemed there was no need for excessive concern.
"Right. Let's seal the remaining Black Emperor's Crowns before they activate."
Professor Voladi nodded in agreement. The Death Knights also signaled their assent.
Even with just one Black Emperor's Crown opened, this much chaos had ensued—they couldn't even imagine how troublesome things would get if more were to open.
Jowurin had something she was curious about.
"What is it you're curious about, Your Highness?"
Professor Garcia kindly asked in return.
This soft-hearted dragon seemed deeply shocked today, evoking an odd sense of pity. No matter what she asked, it felt right to answer her kindly.
Why aren't the other professors coming?
"......"
Professor Garcia and the Death Knights all fell silent at once. Professor Voladi was the one who finally spoke.
"That's—"
"I'll answer that! I'll answer!"
"!"
Lee Han, who had been sound asleep, jolted awake in shock at the sight of a massive dragon curled up and dozing beside him.
"Your Highness!"
Uuuh... wha—?!
"How fares the continent? Has it already been conquered by the demigods—"
Waaah! Lee Han has gone crazy!
Unaware of the situation, Jowurin burst into tears again, mistakenly believing Lee Han was hallucinating from pain and exhaustion.
'Not yet, then.'
Belatedly grasping the situation, Lee Han checked the Einrogard Main Building at the foot of the mountain range.
It was as peaceful as ever.
Sure, there was an explosion on the 11th floor, and giant tentacles were pouring out of the 4th-floor windows, but...
'Perfectly fine.'
"My apologies, Your Highness. I was mistaken. Einrogard wasn't attacked while I was unconscious, was it?"
Mmm...
Hearing the confirmation, Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.
As expected, the two professors were incredible. They had somehow managed to stop the summoning of the Demigod Legion.
"Lee Han, you're awake?"
"Professors!"
Never had the sight of the two returning professors felt so awe-inspiring. Lee Han bowed deeply, his voice brimming with respect.
"You've saved the continent, Professors!"
"W-well, I wouldn't go that far..."
Professor Garcia looked slightly embarrassed.
Of course, if they hadn't stopped it, things might have escalated, but hearing that they'd "saved the continent" over something like this was a bit flustering.
"You did well."
"Thank you. Has the Demigod Legion been completely eradicated?"
"No. We just sealed them away."
Professor Garcia shook her head as she explained.
The Crazy Doppelganger had made remarkably efficient use of the short time after making his decision.
After consecutively casting the Black Emperor's Crown, he had planned to impose contracts on the demigods inside and summon them one by one.
Naturally, such advanced magic required immense power, so the Crazy Doppelganger had intended to summon only the first demigod using magic, then leverage that demigod's power to summon the rest.
Fortunately, after stopping the first demigod, they had been able to swiftly seal the remaining Black Emperor's Crowns—they'd gotten lucky.
"We stopped the first demigod and sealed the others before they could emerge, so things should be fine for now. Reverse Summoning something like that isn't easy anyway."
The Black Emperor's Crown was such a powerful spell that performing a Reverse Summoning without causing collateral damage was a feat in itself.
Even for Einrogard's professors, it wasn't something two people could pull off on the spot.
"Did you meet the Doppelganger?"
"Yes. We saw him. We also met the King of the Yakshas. He was an unusually wise individual."
Professor Garcia spoke favorably of the Yaksha King.
Most beings from other dimensions tended to be eccentric or unpredictable.
The more powerful they were, the more this held true.
Yet the Yaksha King, despite possessing enough power to seal the Crazy Doppelganger, never lost his courtesy or dignity when dealing with mortals.
He was truly a rare being indeed.
"It's a good thing that Lee Han made a contract with such a being. What a relief."
"...Y-yes, I suppose."
Lee Han wanted to curse the fact that because of the Yacha King, he'd been forced into making an unnecessary contract with a star, but he held it in.
Now wasn't the time for that.
"Is there any way to return the Headmaster's doppelganger to normal?"
"Hmm."
When Lee Han cautiously asked, Professor Garcia made a troubled expression.
"It won't be easy. Unlike the Black Emperor's Crown, the Headmaster himself is an exceptionally powerful archmage..."
The seal currently being maintained by the Yacha King might appear ordinary at first glance, but it was actually an extremely high-dimensional arcane art.
Not just one, but dozens of overlapping arcane arts.
Containing a mad doppelganger of an archmage's caliber was like playing multiple simultaneous games of Go against dozens of master players. A single misstep in any one game would hand the initiative to the opponent.
One of the arcane arts the Yacha King was using involved superimposing his own existence onto the enemy, rendering them incapable of any action.
It was a powerful seal, but this very aspect became a weakness when facing external attacks.
Someone could either strike the Yacha King directly or interfere with him to break the seal on the mad doppelganger.
"So resolving this through force seems difficult, Lee Han."
"Eh? Weren't we just talking about restoring things to normal? Why bring up attacking?"
Lee Han was puzzled that the professor had answered a question he hadn't asked.
He'd asked if there was a way to restore the doppelganger, not if there was a way to destroy it through attack.
Professor Garcia hesitated at Lee Han's reaction.
"...I just thought you might be curious about it! Haha! Hahaha!"
"???"
Lee Han didn't quite understand why the professor was acting this way but nodded along anyway.
Hiding her embarrassment at having mistakenly assumed her student was as battle-crazed as Professor Voladi, Professor Garcia continued.
"So I'm planning to research Downfall Magic together with Professor Bagrak."
"!"
Hearing the name of a magic he recognized, Lee Han was startled. 'Well, they did meet the Yacha King, so of course they would have heard about it.' Thinking about it, there was no way that talkative king would have stayed quiet.
He must have advised them about the most effective method for the current situation.
Which meant the two professors had likely decided to research <Gonadaltes' Downfall> as quickly as possible.
"I'll help too, though my contribution may be lacking."
"Really? Lee Han. You must already be exhausted."
Professor Garcia was inwardly pleased but tried not to show it outwardly.
In truth, based on what the Yacha King had told her, Lee Han's involvement was likely crucial to this solution.
Not because of any magical aspect, but because his status as the mad doppelganger's student would play a significant role.
The persuasiveness of <Gonadaltes' Downfall> being used by a complete outsider versus being used by the doppelganger's own student would be entirely different...
"That may be true... but this is my responsibility too."
Lee Han spoke with half-resignation.
He was already too deeply entangled with the mad doppelganger to simply leave it to the two professors and wash his hands of the matter.
Who knew when someone might come to kidnap him again?
"......"
"Professor Bagrak?"
Professor Garcia found it strange that Professor Voladi had been quietly lost in thought without saying a word this whole time.
Wasn't this the moment to praise their admirable student?
"Ah. My apologies. I was contemplating something."
"What is it?"
Professor Voladi slowly explained.
There had originally been midterm exams prepared, but given the special circumstances, he was considering whether to count today's events as the midterms and call it done...
"......"
Professor Garcia was speechless. 'Does he have no human compassion??' Her second-year student had single-handedly stopped the rampage of a demigod!
"I think it would be fine to approve that?"
"But we had high expectations for these exams."
At those words, Professor Garcia turned to look at Lee Han. Lee Han gave a small shake of his head.
"Disregard the student's opinion, Professor! We're the professors here."
"Hmm. I find Professor Garcia's perspective somewhat hard to agree with."
Scratching where it didn't itch (quite literally grating on Professor Garcia's nerves), Professor Voladi declared that they would count this as passing the midterms.