Chapter 1341

Paridim spoke again as if wondering what on earth Lee Han was talking about.

“We didn’t confirm it through foresight magic. The mages on site checked it themselves and sent a report.”

“Direct confirmation can also have a large margin of error...”

Lee Han tried to insist, but once Paridim held out the letter, he could no longer do so.

The mages of the Mulma Mountain Range were capable and experienced. They had marked the cleared areas on a map of the mountain range and written down in detail exactly how each one had been checked.

‘They really wrote this out in detail.’

“...Fine. I’ll acknowledge that a considerable number of the evil-god worshipers have disappeared.”

“Not a considerable number. All of them...”

Lee Han pretended not to hear that and moved on.

Paridim could not understand.

‘Why is Lord Wardanaz deliberately denying his own achievement? Is it because he is strict with himself as a mage?’

A proud mage might be dissatisfied with the fact that they had used Oculoguard’s magic to make the job easy.

To anyone who was not a mage, that reason would have sounded absurd, but mages were irrational in more ways than one.

When Paridim voiced the question, Lee Han practically jumped.

“Absolutely not!”

“Then why?”

“...Fine. I admit that all the evil-god worshipers have disappeared. Are you satisfied?”

“N-No. I wasn’t asking to trouble you, Lord Wardanaz.”

Leaving the flustered Paridim aside, Lee Han reflected a little.

He had reacted that way because the result was simply too ridiculous, but apparently it had caused some misunderstanding.

Lee Han was not someone with stubborn pride when it came to magic. He had no fixation on making a task harder just so he could solve it with his own magic.

‘It does seem like you have some stubborn pride...’

Paridim remained slightly suspicious, but did not say it aloud.

It would be rude to ask such a question of a guest who had come to help Oculoguard.

“Ah, Lord Wardanaz. We prepared some magic as compensation for your work.”

Even if this assistance was for the sake of the grand festival, making a mage from another magic academy work without any compensation would have been discourteous (and the Skull Principal had also raised a tremendous fuss about it).

Somewhere else, they might have offered material compensation, but a magic academy could offer something better.

Magic.

‘Material compensation would have been fine too.’

“Thank you. What magic do you have?”

“To begin with, there is a foresight spell that uses a golden idol. This was independently developed by Oculoguard...”

“Please tell me the next spell.”

“......”

You really do seem to have some stubborn pride?

***

Even after that, Lee Han listened to explanations of the other spells they had prepared, such as Oculoguard’s dream-vision magic and azure-gold mirror divination, but he was unable to choose one.

It was not because Lee Han had some pointless stubborn pride.

Something else happened.

“Lord Wardanaz. I’m told the Valdrogard students you brought are fighting with other people!”

“That’s impossible! They aren’t the sort of people who would do that!”

Paridim looked at Lee Han with respect when he denied it so firmly.

Any other mage might have lost motivation or become listless after being saddled with a position as a Valdrogard professor, but this mage was doing his utmost to fulfill his duty.

“Even if they are fighting, they’re probably just being beaten one-sidedly. They’re not the kind of people who could attack someone and win.”

“......”

Paridim looked bewildered.

Does he perhaps dislike the Valdrogard students?

“Let’s check first!”

Before Paridim could ask again, Lee Han moved first. Paridim panted as they hurried after him.

“Did you happen to hear who they’re fighting?”

“Huff... probably another guest from outside...”

“Oculoguard gets other guests too?!”

“......”

At Lee Han’s question, Paridim wanted to protest and ask what that was supposed to mean, but Lee Han had already reached far down the corridor.

“O-Occasionally... Occasionally we do.”

“How often?”

“There’s the dining hall!”

This time, Paridim changed the subject.

In truth, an ordinary Oculoguard mage would not have felt any resistance to saying how often guests visited.

There was nothing embarrassing about normally receiving zero guests a year.

But after visiting Einroguard and being influenced by its students, Paridim somehow felt embarrassed.

Especially because Oculoguard had even fewer guests than Einroguard!

Instead of pressing further, Lee Han opened the dining hall door and stepped inside.

There, he saw the familiar penguin beastkin mage and the younger students. They were arguing with the Valdrogard students.

-This is a conspiracy! Yes, they bribed the Oculoguard mages!

-Senior is right!

-Why in the world would we bribe the mages here...!

“......”

Lee Han understood the situation immediately upon seeing it. Alshicle spotted Lee Han, opened his eyes wide, and called out.

“Wardanaz!”

“Who are you?”

“...What’s wrong with you! It’s Alshicle of House Pengerine!”

When the junior who had gone through quite a few hardships alongside him pretended not to know him, Alshicle flapped his wings in protest.

“Ah! Lord Alshicle of House Pengerine! A pleasure to meet you!”

“......”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to acknowledge that I knew you.”

When Alshicle glared at him with deeply wounded eyes, Lee Han eventually gave up.

Hearing that, Alshicle apparently felt embarrassed too, because he blushed and cleared his throat.

“Sorry. I heard something so shocking that... So, is it really that?”

“Yes. It is that.”

“Why in the world did you do that?”

“It’s a long story.”

“???”

The Valdrogard students listening beside them tilted their heads.

Was this some kind of Einroguard code?

‘Wait. That person isn’t from Einroguard, is he?’

Unlike Alshicle, who had managed to compose himself somewhat, Alhild’s shock was beyond imagining.

In truth, Alshicle had already begun preparing himself mentally from the moment he heard the story from the Oculoguard mage earlier.

He had insisted out loud that the Oculoguard mages had been bribed, but if even they were saying the same thing, then there was a high chance it was true.

But Alhild had denied it until the very end, so the shock was even greater. The junior began shedding round, beadlike tears and cried out.

“Senior...! Why!”

“N-No. Isn’t this a little much to cry over?”

At Lee Han’s words, Karre beside them nodded rapidly in agreement.

To be honest, Karre had been wondering why everyone was making such a fuss when becoming a Valdrogard professor did not seem like that big a deal, so at last someone seemed to share the same opinion.

“I was going to conduct research with you this new semester! Sniff!”

“What research are you doing in second year?”

Karre spoke to their friend with an utterly dumbfounded expression.

So that was why Alhild had been crying so bitterly? Because of such an absurd fantasy?

Every first-year Einroguard student imagined what they would do once they became second-years.

Raid the upper-year students’ storage rooms and eat until they were full, find a new escape route and get out of Einroguard, fire magic into the back of the Skull Principal’s head, and so on.

But among those fantasies, there was no such thing as ‘conduct research with Senior.’

Alhild was probably the only one who had imagined that.

Even at their friend’s attempt to console them, Alhild reacted sharply.

“If I don’t start preparing from second year, I’ll never catch up to mages who are ahead of me!”

“I think Karre is right about this. Alhild. In second year, it’s still fine to take things slowly.”

Karre thought to themself.

‘Wouldn’t it have the opposite effect coming from a senior who ranked first in every school?’

Even in Karre’s eyes, hearing ‘it’s fine to take things slowly’ from a senior who ranked first in every school would probably sound irritating.

But Alhild abruptly raised their head and said,

“I see...! Thank you! I’ll do that!”

“......”

“......”

Karre and Alshicle glared at this infuriating penguin beastkin mage.

You don’t listen to your friend or your relative, but you listen to Wardanaz!?

Thinking they had wasted their time for nothing, Karre moved slightly closer to Lee Han and whispered.

“Senior. I know what you’re thinking. It’s that, right?”

“...I don’t think so? What do you mean by ‘that’?”

He had understood Alshicle earlier, but this junior seemed to mean something entirely different.

Karre took out a gold coin and made it disappear from their hand.

It was an obvious signal that anyone could understand.

“No...”

“Senior! I may only be a junior who just finished first year, but when it comes to enthusiasm, I won’t lose even compared to a fifth-year. If you give me any kind of job, I’ll do my absolute best!”

‘I think you’re using fifth-years as an example in a strange way.’

The enthusiasm of a fifth-year was not a positive expression.

Instead of pointing that out, Lee Han addressed the important part first.

“It really isn’t that. Strictly speaking, I was tricked into it too.”

“T-Tricked? You, Senior?”

“...Yes. I can be tricked too, Karre. Are you perhaps admiring the person who tricked me right now?”

When the junior’s eyes began sparkling with admiration, Lee Han asked suspiciously. Karre was startled and waved their hands frantically.

“No! No! ...But who tricked you?”

“A duplicate of the Principal.”

“The Principal really is a great mage!! I thought he was just a spiteful undead!!!”

“Well, that’s also true... Anyway, all of you apologize to the Valdrogard students. What kind of nuisance is this?”

At Lee Han’s sharp rebuke, every mage present looked ashamed.

Even the Oculoguard mage looked embarrassed. Only then did Paridim notice something strange.

‘Why is this person here?’

“You shouldn’t be in the dining hall at this hour, should you?”

“Hmm. I heard the commotion and came over.”

“Checking disturbances isn’t your duty, is it?”

“...I will accept punishment. The story about the Valdrogard professor looked too interesting...”

“?!”

Paridim was shocked.

...Did everyone except me ask about it?

Alshicle led the juniors in a serious apology.

“I sincerely apologize for what happened. As a mage, I should not have behaved so emotionally.”

“It’s all right. I suppose the news about our professor was simply that shocking.”

Jandanni accepted the apology with dignity.

“If anything, I think this has shown me just how extraordinary our professor is. Ah! How about this? Once the new semester begins, we’ll invite all of you. It would be wonderful if you came and attended his lectures!”

“......”

“......”

The two Einroguard juniors’ expressions immediately hardened.

Are you joking?

Even Karre, who held no particular grudge against Valdrogard, bristled slightly.

‘How are we supposed to leave in the middle of the semester to attend?’

Alshicle cleared his throat and said,

“Einroguard students cannot go outside during the semester without a particular reason.”

“What? Ah... That’s right! I forgot. It’s so absurd!”

Lee Han was impressed.

He had thought the Valdrogard students were merely naive, but apparently they knew how to take revenge too.

Completely unaware that Lee Han was admiring this, Jandanni asked him again.

“Professor. Is there perhaps no way? Maybe if we asked the Principal...”

“Haha. That would be difficult.”

As the conversation continued, the gazes of the Einroguard students grew sharper and sharper.

Paridim thought to themself.

‘That Valdrogard mage might get ambushed at night later...’

This was a future one did not need to be a foresight mage to predict.