Episode 94
Episode 94
"You really grew that yourself?"
Salko asked with a voice mixed with surprise and curiosity.
This was a boy from the Blue Dragon Tower—no less, one from the prestigious Wardanaz family, counted among the Empire's great noble houses.
That such a boy had personally grown those fresh, appetizing, glossy, and plump potatoes...
It was hard to believe even when hearing it.
"Yeah. I grew them myself."
Lee Han nodded casually.
Other Black Turtle Tower students, who had been gauging the situation, stepped forward.
"It's true, Tutanta. Wardanaz grew them himself."
"Last time, he even served them to us directly! They were really delicious!"
"Is that so? What did you pay for them?"
Salko asked his friends.
At that, the Black Turtle Tower students hesitated.
...They had just eaten them...
"Don't tell me you got them for free without paying anything??"
Salko's eyes flared as he spoke. His murderous expression, as if he were about to swing a hammer any second, made the Black Turtle Tower students shrink in fear.
The Tutanta family's motto was simple:
-Those who do not work shall not eat.
No matter how close they were as tower mates, freeloading without working was an unforgivable sin.
The kind of behavior only shameless nobles or knights would pull!
"Uh... um... no..."
Unable to watch any longer, Lee Han stepped in.
"They helped me out, so I treated them as payment."
"!"
The Black Turtle Tower students looked at Lee Han with touched expressions.
'Wardanaz...!'
"That's right! Exactly!"
"We helped Wardanaz!"
At those words, Salko's expression softened.
"What a relief. I was worried you guys might have done something like taking food from others without giving anything in return."
"Like we'd ever do that, Salko."
"You know I hate the word 'idleness' more than anything, Salko."
"Alright. I get it."
As Salko turned to leave, Lee Han asked:
"Want to take a potato?"
Lee Han had a simple reason for asking.
First, everyone loved the potatoes he grew in his garden. Even the Princess had praised them highly.
(Though lately, Lee Han had been suspicious that—contrary to what her followers claimed—the Princess might just find everything delicious, like some glutton...)
And earlier, Salko had been staring holes into the potatoes in Lee Han's basket.
Either he loved potatoes... or had some deep-seated grudge against them.
"...No. I'm fine. I don't have anything to pay you with right now."
"You can just take one."
"Don't insult me, Wardanaz. A dwarf of the Tutanta family doesn't accept charity without working for it."
'But you're an elf...'
Before Lee Han could say it, Salko hurriedly left—as if staring at potatoes too long would tempt him into their clutches.
"Times are tough for thieves like me."
Ratford, upon meeting Lee Han, nodded and explained the recent developments.
Originally, Black Turtle Tower students—given their diverse backgrounds—had a strong tendency to stick to their own groups.
But over time, certain figures inevitably began to stand out.
Tutanta Salko was one such dwarf—no, elf.
Thanks to his exceptional magical skills and rock-solid sense of responsibility, the number of friends following Tutanta had grown.
'Why not Nilia...'
Lee Han suddenly felt sorry for Nilia.
Though Nilia had also done much for the Black Turtle Tower students, they liked her well enough but didn't trust or follow her as a leader.
The complete opposite of Salko.
'Is it the difference between dark elves and elves? No... That doesn't seem to be it.'
Regardless, Salko's followers increased, and with it, the underground market run by the Black Turtle Tower gradually expanded.
Students from the Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower, hearing rumors, began visiting to exchange all sorts of goods.
And with that, problems slowly started piling up.
"What the hell, why does this cost five loaves of bread?!"
"You can't cause a scene here!"
"Hey, this coffee is fake! Give me back my bread!"
"No refunds after purchase! And I told you upfront it's fake coffee made from dandelions!"
With students from other towers coming and going, conflicts were bound to increase.
Yet, the Black Turtle Tower students found it difficult to push back strongly when friction arose with students from other towers.
Their opponents were either from high noble families or knightly lineages.
So, the Black Turtle Tower students turned to the most reliable figure—not Nilia, but Salko—and pleaded for help.
After some deliberation, Salko agreed but sternly insisted they follow his rules.
"If you want those bastards from other towers to obey my rules, you lot have to follow them first!"
"Got it. Tutanta!"
"Of course we'll follow your rules!"
"Remember—no work, no food."
"That's a great rule!"
"Those guys from other towers would never stick to it, huh?"
"Also, no stolen goods."
"......"
"......"
"What's with the silence? Got a problem?"
"No! Not at all!"
Of course, there were complaints, but it was also true that Salko's growling presence made other issues disappear.
After hearing the full explanation, Lee Han was indignant.
'Same old story—decent folks suffer because of a few troublemakers. Because of those White Tiger Tower bastards, thieves like you and me are gonna starve to death.'
"Exactly."
Ratford nodded emphatically in agreement.
"Must be tough, Ratford. So, what are you up to now?"
"Ah, I'm fine. Still selling stolen goods... just more discreetly."
Lee Han was mildly impressed by Ratford's nonchalance. Truly, the man was a professional thief through and through.
Running a black market within the black market...
"Of course, since I can't do it openly, the scale's shrunk a lot. But I've got another gig going."
"?"
Ratford pointed to a corner of the black market. A few Black Turtle Tower students were sitting around, engaged in something other than trade.
"L-look closely. Among these three cards... there's an Emperor card. I-I'll shuffle them... f-find it, and you get double your money."
Three cards flipped over, shuffled with dazzling dexterity—find the Emperor card, and double your bet.
...This was straight-up gambling!
"Is gambling allowed?"
"Tutanta hates gambling... but he let this slide. Figured banning even this would... stir up too much discontent."
Statistically speaking, Black Turtle Tower had the highest concentration of criminals.
Thieves' guilds, gambling dens—those kinds of folks usually ended up here.
Salko knew that, so he turned a blind eye to these money games, considering them a form of labor.
Aside from the card-guessing game, there were chess bets, lock-picking services (likely Ratford's side hustle), and other assorted "entertainments."
'What is this, an Adventurers' Guild?'
"AAAH! My bread!! Three days' worth of bread!!"
"S-sorry... I shuffled as slow as I could..."
A White Tiger Tower student clutched his head in despair—clearly, he'd just lost his fortune.
"Don't give up, Duke-ma. Just bad luck this time. Try once more!"
"It's not that hard! You'll get it this time!"
Lee Han studied the opponent. A familiar face—the giant hybrid, Ymirg, whom he'd met in Professor Mortum's Black Magic class.
Lee Han was oddly impressed.
'A giant's presence alone would make opponents drop their guard.'
To anyone watching, Ymirg's massive hands should've been clumsy and slow.
But Lee Han saw clearly—
The subtle sleight of hand as Ymirg shuffled the cards.
'He's good.'
In a world with magic, one might assume there's no place for sleight-of-hand tricks.
But that didn't mean such skills had completely vanished.
It was precisely the gamblers from the gambling guild.
Since using magic to cheat would significantly increase the chances of getting caught, they relied purely on manual dexterity to win.
Lee Han suspected that Imirg might have come from a gambling guild.
"Never challenge Imirg to a match."
Perhaps misinterpreting Lee Han's gaze, Ratford offered this advice.
Even Ratford, who had some skill with his hands, had never managed to win against Imirg.
To that extent, within the Black Turtle Tower, Imirg was an unmatched master.
"I'm not really interested in gambling, Ratford. I was just watching because it looked fun."
Lee Han clenched and unclenched his fist, making the coin disappear. Ratford exclaimed in amazement,
"As expected of Lord Wardanaz! I had a feeling you possessed the qualities of an exceptional thief, and it seems I wasn't mistaken!"
"Lower your voice. It's embarrassing if others hear you."
Receiving such an enthusiastic reaction for a simple coin trick only made Lee Han feel more awkward.
"Not at all, Lord Wardanaz. With skills like that, you could easily claim a spot right here beside us."
"......"
For a moment, Lee Han was tempted.
It sounded quite appealing.
'Was all the practice I did in my spare time precisely for this moment?'
Just to pilfer bread and meat from the pockets of White Tiger Tower students...
"But I don't belong to this tower."
"I'll speak to them on your behalf. There are several friends here who owe me favors, so it should be fine."
However, before Ratford could even stand up, Salko appeared from behind.
Behind Salko stood the Black Turtle Tower students they had just been discussing, looking as guilty as criminals.
"Wardanaz. I asked again, and these friends here said they got their food without paying anything in return."
'Those big-mouthed bastards.'
Lee Han cursed the Black Turtle Tower students inwardly.
If they were going to lie, they should've stuck to it till the end. How could they fail at even that?
Lee Han was different. He was confident he could keep up the lie until the end of the world.
"There was no other way. Our family motto is, 'Share food with those who are hungry.'"
Lee Han's appearance had a way of making even nonsense sound utterly convincing.
The listening students found themselves nodding in agreement without realizing it.
As expected!
No wonder Wardanaz was always feeding other students...
"I'm not blaming you, Wardanaz. It's not your fault. I came to apologize for my friends' mistake. That was the kind of irresponsible behavior you'd expect from lazy nobles or reckless knights."
Salko bowed his head in apology. The Black Turtle Tower friends also took the hint and lowered their heads.
At that, the students from other towers waiting outside the Black Market protested loudly.
"That's too harsh!"
"Calling us lazy nobles? You have no idea how grueling a noble's life is!"
"Do you even understand the weight of the honor and responsibility we knights bear?!"
'They may be from the same tower, but they're really insufferable.'
For a moment, Lee Han almost took Salko's side.
These shameless, conscience-lacking brats...
Salko ignored them completely, pretending not to hear.
"I wanted them to pay for what they ate, but my friends don't have the means to do so right now."
"Don't worry about it."
While the Blue Dragon Tower friends kept meticulous records down to the last copper coin, Lee Han had no intention of doing the same for the Black Turtle Tower students.
"No. I'll pay on their behalf."
"!"
Lee Han was stunned.
Paying on their behalf?
'The Tutanta Family must be loaded.'
Being from the renowned Stonemason Guild in the empire, it made sense they wouldn't lack money.
Lee Han began mentally calculating how much to charge for last time's tomato vegetable stew.
"I heard rumors that you, Wardanaz, have been sneaking around the school at night. Is that true?"
"I have no idea what absurd rumors you've heard, but that's a complete lie."
"......"
"......"
The Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower students listening outside the Black Market were flabbergasted.
'Does this guy have a face made of steel...?'
'The Wardanaz family must train them in emotional control too.'
Undeterred by Lee Han's denial, Salko pressed on stubbornly.
"I have some information that might be useful for that."
"!"