Episode 95
Episode 95
"I truly have no intention of going out at all. But if hearing this information is the only way you'll feel at ease, then I'm willing to listen."
Lee Han spoke with a completely serious expression.
Seeing that flawless face deliver the line without a trace of humor, Salko found himself confused without realizing it.
'Has he really never gone out at night?'
Salko glanced at his fellow Black Turtle Tower friend beside him. The friend shook his head.
It was a warning not to be fooled.
"......"
Salko's expression darkened slightly. As expected, these flashy nobles were too dangerous to trust.
"...Follow me. I'll explain."
Then Salko whispered something to his Black Turtle Tower friends.
Curious, Lee Han quietly asked the friend he'd once shared vegetable stew with.
"What did Tutanta say?"
The other boy replied with an apologetic expression.
"...He said not to have private conversations with you when he's not around..."
"......"
Truthfully, Lee Han wasn't the only one wandering outside at night. By now, most students had started sneaking out of their towers.
They'd realized that just lying still and sleeping at night wasn't sustainable in this school.
Whether for food, assignments, or even escape plans, they had to roam the school and search for anything useful.
Naturally, Salko was no exception.
"You criticize me while sneaking around the school at night yourself?"
"...I never criticized you."
Salko looked genuinely baffled.
Come to think of it, he really hadn't.
"I see. Carry on then."
"......"
Salko continued his explanation.
Recently, Salko and his friends had been repeatedly challenging the third floor of the main building.
The largest and most mysterious of all Magic School structures.
Rumors claimed even the headmaster didn't know everything contained within that building.
As if proving those rumors true, the third floor kept changing each time they visited.
Sometimes there'd be five corridors, other times the staircase leading there would vanish entirely, or they'd find their path blocked by walls after just a few steps...
But with stonemason-guild-level persistence, Salko had managed to identify a method to access it.
"How do you get in?"
"When both the hour and minute are odd numbers, when there are no clouds covering the moon, and when you hold your wand in your left hand. Only when all three conditions are met does the third-floor corridor open properly."
"......"
For a moment Lee Han wondered if Salko was messing with him. But Salko looked deadly serious.
"I... I see."
Well, this was the Magic School after all.
Lee Han felt grateful that the conditions for accessing the third-floor corridor at night didn't involve riding a unicycle while roasting peanuts with lightning bolts and jumping through rings of fire.
"Thanks. That's useful information."
This was particularly timely for Lee Han, who needed to reach the stables located in the upper floors of the main building. The third-floor intel would prove quite handy.
"The information isn't finished yet. There's a being on that third floor who could help you."
"Not the Lightning Spirit, I hope?"
"?"
"No, just joking. What kind of being?"
Lee Han grew curious.
Even among magical beings, the Magic School was already packed with every manner of strange entity.
Liches, troll hybrids, vampires, lightning spirits...
And most of them probably weren't pleasant to meet. Lee Han would have bet gold on that.
"I can't say."
"......"
"I swore an oath not to reveal that being's identity."
"I see. So you want me to go see for myself?"
"No. Finding that being is even more complicated and difficult than entering the third-floor corridor. I'll have to go with you. Depending on your decision, I'll guide you through the third-floor corridor to meet them."
Salko stated this with rock-solid determination. But Lee Han's first reaction was suspicion.
'Is this bastard setting me up?'
After suffering so many unfair attacks from other students, suspicion had become his default response.
"After all, doesn't that being dislike nobles and knights?"
If they went to the third-floor corridor, there might be Black Turtle Tower students waiting in masks.
Or perhaps the being in the third-floor corridor wanted a student as a sacrifice, and Salko had chosen Lee Han...
"Why the hesitation?"
Completely unaware that Lee Han was harboring such rude suspicions, Salko asked again.
"You swore an oath to that being—won't it dislike you for bringing me along?"
"No. It said as long as I don't reveal its identity, bringing new students doesn't matter. Just to be sure, I double-checked in the <Basic Imperial Language and Logic> lecture."
'Tch.'
The guy was as diligent a student as Lee Han. He couldn't be toyed with as easily as Gainando.
"Do you really think this will help?"
"On my family's honor, I believe so. Though my judgment isn't always right, of course."
Salko stroked his beard like a dwarf and spoke seriously.
'Well, I do need information no matter what.'
After some thought, Lee Han nodded.
If he wanted to find the way to the stables on the upper floors of the main building, this wasn't the time to be picky about cold or hot water.
"Fine. When do you plan to go?"
"Tonight."
Saturday evening.
A time when other students would be lounging in the common room, wrapped in blankets and basking in the warmth of a fire.
One hand holding a steaming cup of tea or coffee, the other gripping a quill, chess piece, or cards.
At that very hour, Lee Han was climbing the dimly lit main building stairs alongside Salko.
'Doesn't seem like anyone else is here.'
Lee Han checked his surroundings, wary of a potential ambush. The Black Turtle Tower students didn't appear to be following.
Salko carried a staff in one hand and a hammer at his waist.
Frankly, that hammer felt more threatening than the wooden swords the White Tiger Tower students carried.
"I asked around about you, Wardanaz."
Salko spoke in a low, granite-like voice.
"What did you ask?"
"What kind of person you are."
"......"
Lee Han checked his surroundings again.
He was worried Salko might suddenly shout, "Die, Wardanaz! Your evil ends here!" and ambushers would leap out.
Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened.
"I heard you bring food for other students. Not just everyone in the Blue Dragon Tower, but students from other towers too."
"Yeah."
"Good deeds deserve respect, but I'd advise against that. People who've never worked for their own food and clothes won't appreciate their value, no matter who provides for them."
Lee Han found himself nodding unconsciously.
It was just too true.
"...?"
Salko was taken aback when Lee Han nodded.
He hadn't expected someone from the Wardanaz family to agree so readily without a hint of protest.
"You... understand?"
"It's not wrong, is it? People who don't work for things themselves never appreciate their worth."
"Exactly. What do those noble brats know about the sanctity of labor? Or those knights? All they're good for is strutting around with swords, acting high and mighty."
"Personally, I think both nobles and knights should be sent to farms to plow fields. If they can learn swordsmanship as part of their education, there's no reason they can't learn farming too."
The two young laborers bonded passionately.
When the conversation ended, Lee Han and Salko exchanged looks of mutual approval. Salko's stony face softened slightly.
"Seems I misjudged you. My apologies, Wardanaz. Some White Tiger Tower students called you a ruthless, evil archmage..."
"......"
"...Must've been the arrogant knights spreading nonsense."
"Exactly. Such baseless rumors always cloud our judgment, so we must always be vigilant. As mages, that is."
"True words."
Salko nodded with a repentant expression.
Lee Han thought to himself:
'From now on, no matter what rumors spread, I can just dismiss them as nonsense.'
Salko glanced at Lee Han's hands—hands hardened from tending gardens and various labor. No noble could possess hands like those.
Those who share the same hands recognize each other. Through this, Salko fully acknowledged Lee Han.
But then, Salko grew curious.
Why would a student like Lee Han bother looking after other lazy good-for-nothings?
"Wardanaz. I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Why do you take care of the students from your tower?"
"......"
Lee Han was taken aback.
Well...
'Because of money...'
He did it for the pay—who would prepare breakfast and deliver meals for free without compensation?
Of course, it was for the money.
But Lee Han figured that admitting this outright wouldn't sit well with Salko, who currently held him in high regard.
He decided to answer ambiguously.
"Because they're my friends."
"......"
Salko was deeply impressed by that answer.
He had assumed the students following Wardanaz did so because of his magical prowess, but now it seemed there was more to it.
"I could never do something like that myself... but now I think I understand a little of what you nobles call 'honor.' It wasn't entirely meaningless after all."
"......"
Lee Han subtly tucked the account book deeper into his pocket.
If Salko found out, he'd never trust nobles again for the rest of his life.
As they walked ahead down the third-floor corridor of the main building, Salko suddenly stopped. He pointed at a statue placed in the hallway—an unnamed mage's statue.
Though old, faded, and cracked in places, its beauty was breathtaking.
So strikingly handsome that it almost didn't seem human.
'Strange. Why does it feel familiar?'
"See how this statue is broken, Wardanaz?"
Salko pulled out a hammer. Lee Han took a step back, resting a hand on his waist, and nodded.
"I repaired this statue last time. I couldn't just leave a damaged stone figure like this."
'He's a workaholic.'
But Lee Han understood.
Just as Yoner felt compelled to water plants when she saw them, Nilia wanted to hunt prey when she spotted it, and Lee Han himself instinctively bowed at the sight of professors...
Salko had his own occupational habit.
"But it's broken again like this?"
"Yes. This statue keeps breaking no matter how many times I fix it. And that's the key to opening this hidden door."
Carefully, Salko repaired the damaged statue.
Then, with the sound of rolling stone in the darkness, the statue rotated once. At the same time, a hidden passage opened.
"Go inside, Wardanaz. From here, you must go alone."
"Tutanta... I trust you."
"I know. That's why you came this far."
"I really do trust you."
"Why are you repeating yourself?"
Unaware that Lee Han was reading his reaction, Salko tilted his head in confusion.
Has a new student arrived?
"!"
Inside the passage stood a statue—one resembling a fusion of various beasts.
Welcome. I am the Forgotten Beast Statue. I have been in this school since quite ancient times. Student who repaired the statue and entered—first, swear to me that you will not reveal my existence to others.
"...I swear."
As Lee Han answered, the dog-like tail part of the statue wagged happily.
"Excuse me, but what are you doing here?"
Just passing the time. The room I once guarded was sealed 187 years ago. Since then, I've been wandering the cooler spots of this school.
"I'm curious why I shouldn't tell anyone about you..."
Because the professors might put me back to work, of course.
"Truly wise...!"
I appreciate your understanding.
Lee Han was now certain—this statue was truly wise.