Episode 927
Episode 927
"Hmm. The professor was wrong."
At Diret's words, Professor Mortum's face filled with shock and betrayal.
But Diret paid no attention. According to Einrogard's student regulations, it was considered justifiable self-defense even if a disciple betrayed and attacked their master.
And if one had to choose between a junior and a professor getting hurt, shouldn't it be the latter?
"That's right. You should have told us in advance."
"Exactly. I think so too."
"Cough. You wretched brats. Even after I went out of my way to give you a chance to learn on your own..."
Though Professor Mortum coughed and grumbled, Diret pretended not to hear and ignored him.
"Professor. Can't we negotiate with the main body?"
"The main body?"
Professor Mortum, who had been about to sip warm lemon honey tea (which Lee Han periodically brewed and placed on the first floor of Black Rock Hall), frowned deeply.
Attempting direct negotiations with the main body was an entirely different matter.
Controlling a doppelganger—especially a fragment-level one without ego—as an undead monster wasn't particularly dangerous.
Especially since they had the other party's permission.
But directly negotiating with a powerful undead main body...
"Cough. Is it really necessary to go that far?"
Beings from other dimensions were fundamentally unpredictable and eccentric. Those from the Undead Realm were even more so.
If they were weakened, it might be different, but if his current speculation was correct, they seemed to have mostly recovered their strength. Attempting negotiations now might just bring trouble.
"Of course we'll need to be cautious. But it's not like we're without grounds for this."
Diret expressed his thoughts with unwavering resolve.
If this were just ordinary theft—no, ordinary negotiation—Diret wouldn't have insisted on negotiating either.
Demanding the return of a doppelganger from a powerful undead being whose nature they didn't fully understand would have been meaningless.
But the current situation was slightly different.
His junior hadn't merely used the doppelganger—he'd steadily built a rapport and nurtured it.
Moreover, by gifting an enormous amount of additional magical power, he'd helped the main body recover its strength.
The contracts and laws of other dimensions had stricter aspects than the Empire's civil code. Even for powerful beings, it wasn't easy to casually forget debts of gratitude or grudges.
"If we point this out, there's a possibility the other party will acknowledge it and offer appropriate compensation."
"Indeed..."
Professor Mortum sipped his tea and gave his disciple high marks for his opinion.
Truly befitting a future professor of the Einrogard Black Magic School, he'd sharply identified the opening even in this situation.
A true black mage should be able to thoroughly loot a warehouse even when being dragged away by demons. 'Excellent.' Impressed by his disciple's growth, Professor Mortum decided to send Diret as his representative to the next Black Mages' Society gathering.
He'd postponed it, worried his disciple might be nervous among the gathering of heavyweight black mages, but now he saw the disciple was fully qualified.
Professor Mortum felt intoxicated by his own ability to keep presenting challenges to such a reliable disciple. Unlike the Skeleton Principal, Professor Mortum himself was truly an excellent teacher.
"I'll personally join my junior in the negotiations. I too—"
"No."
"?!"
Both were greatly startled by the unexpected refusal from the second-year disciple.
"Huh? Why not?"
"Senior, you're busy, aren't you? I'll go with the professor."
"......"
"......"
So I'm not busy, is that it?
"Junior. You shouldn't speak like that in front of the professor."
"Huh?"
As they walked up to the upper floors of Black Rock Hall together, Diret cautiously advised Lee Han.
Professor Mortum had pretended not to care, but he seemed slightly wounded.
Of course, it was appreciated that he respected his senior, but he should occasionally show some respect to the professor too.
Professors were secretly quite sensitive beings after all.
"What do you mean?"
"Well... when you said you'd work with the professor. You might not have intended it, but from the professor's perspective, it could sound like you're saying they're not busy..."
"Ah. You mean that."
"!?"
When his junior showed signs of already knowing, Diret was so startled that the feathers on his wings stood on end.
He knew all along and still said it?!
"You knew and still said that?!"
"Huh? Of course I considered that it might be perceived that way."
"But why would you say it then?"
"Well... because you're busy, Senior."
When faced with the choice between troubling a busy senior or letting the wicked professor nurse a wounded ego, Lee Han didn't hesitate to choose the latter.
What was so terrible about a professor who'd assigned a first-year student to handle an evil and powerful undead familiar without any explanation getting his feelings hurt?
Compared to that, making the most overworked senior in Einrogard suffer even more would be downright cruel. 'The most overworked senior in Einrogard... wait.' Diret, who'd been puzzled internally, realized belatedly and was horrified. 'D-do I really come across like that...?!' Diret resolved to stop complaining in front of his junior from now on.
Just how pitiful and miserable must he have appeared for his junior to think that way?
"But Senior, are you really alright? Even now, if we ask the professor—"
"No no no no. Stop it. The professor is busy too! Even if he doesn't show it outwardly!"
"Hmm."
Lee Han thought, 'No matter how busy a professor gets, can they possibly be busier than their students? If that were the case, why become a professor in the first place? Might as well stay a student forever,' but out of respect for his senior, he kept silent.
"Besides, there's some overlap with the mission I'm currently handling. Junior."
"Mission?"
"Yeah."
Diret readily explained his current assignment.
The Wardanaz junior would probably find out soon enough anyway—Einrogard students often took on various requests and missions beyond the basic curriculum.
As a fifth-year student in the Black Magic department, Diret handled everything from personal requests to official missions assigned by the Einrogard Black Magic School. 'Ugh. Pathetic.' Diret had no idea that his explanation was making his junior pity him even more.
"My current mission is assisting in tracking Evil God Worshippers. Black mages are involved."
"How unfortunate. For mages to fall into worshipping Evil Gods..."
Even mages at the forefront of wisdom found it difficult to break free from faith.
The Skeleton Principal and the Wardanaz Family Head were exceptions—many mages still relied on faith.
And in the Empire, illegal faiths tended to promise more powerful and destructive power than legal ones.
Viewed that way, it was only natural that Evil God Worshippers would emerge among mages.
"...It's not that black mages are Evil God Worshippers, but that black mages are tracking Evil God Worshippers. Junior..."
"......"
Lee Han remained silent. Diret also stayed silent.
"Haha! My mistake!"
"It happens!"
They avoided discussing why he'd assumed black mages were Evil God Worshippers. They both knew it would only make them sadder.
"But isn't it dangerous? Evil God Worshippers are..."
"It's just auxiliary support."
Divine Magic had its capricious aspects, like psychic powers, wild magic, or primitive magic.
At least the Empire's legal religions had accumulated research over time, providing some theoretical foundation, whereas Evil God Worshipper cults lacked even that.
Ironically, this instability made dealing with Evil God Worshippers tricky.
They were enemies who recklessly wielded strange and unique powers unlike the Empire's established magic.
But Diret wasn't too worried. His role was merely auxiliary—analyzing and interpreting received information, not directly pursuing them.
The request received this week was to track down entities from the Undead Realm that Evil God Worshippers had contracted with.
Black mages who had witnessed the vile power these beings wielded realized they had formed pacts with powerful undead and reached out.
"What kind of undead are they?"
"Ones that wield the power of decay and corruption, but beyond that, I don't know. We'll have to investigate further. It might take some time."
As he spoke, Diret hesitated.
Come to think of it, if this matter wasn't resolved by the weekend, it would affect next week's lecture too.
"Junior, perhaps we could postpone the lect— No, forget I..."
"I'm perfectly fine with it!"
Lee Han cut off his senior before he could finish speaking.
"If you're busy, it's completely fine to postpone the lecture. We're already progressing at a remarkably fast pace as it is."
'He's not wrong.' The junior did have a point.
The <Poison, Bone, Blood> lectures were advancing far more quickly than anticipated.
This was entirely due to the junior's proactive attitude—he kept pushing forward without needing to be told.
Yet Diret felt a pang of guilt.
Was it right to arbitrarily delay his junior's learning opportunity just because of his own request?
If it were his friend Yukveltire, he wouldn't have hesitated for even a second—"Let's just push it to the week after next"—but Diret still had a conscience.
"Still, that seems a bit..."
"Besides, next week is club activity week anyway. There'll be plenty of students going out."
"Ah, has it already come to that?"
At Lee Han's words, Diret's eyes widened. Even in his fourth year, he'd been busy, but he'd still been vaguely aware of time passing. Now, as a fifth-year, it felt like his schedule operated completely independently of the rest of Einrogard's students.
With a slightly bitter smile, Diret said:
"I see. In that case... Alright. If you need to go out for club activities, postponing the lecture should be fine. Which club..."
Diret stopped himself mid-question.
Come to think of it, asking this junior such a thing was meaningless.
"Do you have any advice for me, then?"
"Hmm. Well... For starters, don't cause too big of a scene outside."
"And?"
"Don't get the club shut down."
"......"
At his senior's regret-laden answer, Lee Han began to feel apprehensive about asking further.
"We'll use this to explore the Undead Realm."
Brushing off the dust, Diret pointed to a purple door in the corner of Black Rock Hall.
The old wooden door creaked as if it might shatter any moment, but Lee Han could sense powerful magical waves emanating from it.
And that wasn't all. With his expanded perception from learning Withering, he could grasp the dimensional flow connected to the door.
"An Artifact linked to the Undead Realm?"
"Wow, how did you know? That's right."
Diret was startled that his junior had discerned it without any explanation. Normally, it wasn't easy to recognize this Artifact's function just by its outward appearance.
"This is <Mortum's Wooden Door>. It allows us to investigate and negotiate with the Undead Realm without physically entering it."
"!"
Even for mages, personally visiting another dimension for investigation or negotiation was no simple task.
Especially when it came to the perilous Undead Realm.
This door was a powerful Artifact that mitigated those risks, enabling exploration from a safe distance.
'Incredible...!' Seeing his junior's awe, Diret felt satisfied.
"Impressive, isn't it?"
"But did the professor really keep and use this Artifact all by himself? I'm sure there were opportunities to use it before—"
"N-No, that's not it. There are just... some finicky conditions for using this Artifact."
Diret hastily backtracked.
It wasn't entirely untrue—activating such Artifacts required reagents that weren't easy to come by, so they couldn't be used carelessly.
"I suppose that makes sense. There must be costs involved, so not just anyone can use it... But you can use it freely, right?"
"Here, let me show you how to operate it."
"...You can use it freely, right??"