While the students in each carriage were writing anonymous letters whose handwriting could not be traced back to them, using transformation magic and fire-element magic, Gainando spotted a strange sight outside the carriage.
Several groups of people had gathered in a secluded area on the outskirts of the capital.
And among them was the figure of a familiar friend...!?
“Huh?!”
“Lord Gainando. Stop fooling around and move your hand.”
“You need to write quickly.”
The two priests scolded him at the same time.
Phoenix Tower students usually did not speak harshly to other students, but Gainando was an exception.
Gainando’s countless escape attempts had made even the Phoenix Tower priests lose faith in him.
“Ah, no. I saw someone over there who looked like Lee Han...”
“Gainando... you’re making the priests angry.”
“Stop telling such ridiculous lies. You’re embarrassing us.”
The Blue Dragon Tower friends spoke as if they were all ashamed of him.
It was fortunate that there were priests in the carriage. If this had been White Tiger Tower or Black Turtle Tower, the entire tower’s reputation would have been disgraced.
“I’m telling the truth! Look!”
When Gainando jumped up and down, his friends reluctantly stuck their heads out of the carriage.
Then they asked a nearby passerby a question.
“Excuse me, may we ask what is happening over there?”
“It seems monsters from another dimension contaminated the underground. I heard mages are gathering to purify it.”
“Thank you. See?”
The friends returned with that answer and looked triumphantly at Gainando.
There was no way Lee Han would be in a place like that.
“Uh...”
Siana hesitated.
A thought suddenly occurred to her.
‘Couldn’t he be there, though?’
Hesitating, Siana looked at Priest Tiziling, who was writing an anonymous letter beside her.
Priest Tiziling had been boldly moving the quill across the paper, writing, “The lord of Einroguard is making his disciple fight monsters!” but turned at Siana’s gaze.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Siana had been about to ask, but quietly gave up.
Looking to the side, it was not the right atmosphere to ask.
“Wait! If it’s Lee Han, he could be over there!”
Gainando belatedly thought of that possibility and spoke, but his friends scolded him.
“Say something that makes sense.”
“Did you forget why Wardanaz is in the capital right now? No matter how much of a Wardanaz he is, would he have already finished helping the Principal and gone off to work over there?”
***
Wardanaz? He’s probably out there helping wrap up the dimensional erosion incident.
“...”
“...”
The Einroguard students, who had encountered the Skull Principal in front of the Imperial Palace, gaped at the unexpected answer.
“...Don’t lie to us!”
You little rascal. You’ve grown rather bold just because you’re outside the school. But it is the truth.
“Didn’t Wardanaz come along to help you with your work, Principal?”
That is why he went after finishing all that work.
“...”
“...”
The friends were even more shocked than when they had heard Lee Han had left early for the capital to help the Skull Principal.
He had already finished everything?
“You didn’t take Wardanaz along for a robbery, did you?”
“There were no robberies in the Imperial newspaper...”
“Maybe he just made sure not to get caught?”
I can hear everything.
The Skull Principal spoke in a dry voice.
The speculation that he had funded the school through robbery was quite amusing, but far from the truth.
And I truly persuaded them all. If you do not believe me, go around and check for yourselves.
“That’s impossible!”
“Did you perhaps sell Wardanaz by promising to send him there after graduation, then receive gold coins in advance?”
“Surely... even if it’s the Principal, he wouldn’t do something like that.”
While the students unknowingly brushed against part of the correct answer, Gainando recovered from his shock and asked.
“Uh, was Mother persuaded too? She definitely said she’d cut off her own finger if she donated any more to Einroguard.”
...Did she say such a thing?
The Skull Principal was slightly hurt.
To think such a generous patron as Lady Kraha would say words like that.
Do you happen to remember when she said it? Was it after the western jewelry palace theft incident two months ago? Or the eternal ice communication ship disappearance incident five months ago? Or perhaps...
A list of incidents caused by Einroguard graduates, all of which had been published in the Imperial newspaper, was recited in order.
However, Gainando shook his head.
“I-I’m not sure about that. But how did you really persuade her?”
He was thinking of learning from the Skull Principal so he could use the method himself later.
She simply listened when Wardanaz asked.
“...Just with that?”
Gainando looked at his friends.
His expression clearly said he wanted them to shout, “Don’t lie to us!” together.
However, his friends accepted it immediately.
“That’s definitely possible.”
“I would have listened too.”
“!?”
See? Anyway, if you want to spend time with Wardanaz, go to the dimensional erosion site on the outskirts of the city. Practice some magic there as well. Your Principal is too busy to spare any time.
“Even though the Einroguard donation problem is all solved, you still have work left?”
Yonair asked with slight concern.
It had not mattered in their first year, but now that they had advanced to second year, the students knew.
When Einroguard’s treasury shrank, the students were hit directly too.
Do not worry. What remains is only a trivial explanation.
“Ah. So that’s why you came to the Imperial Palace.”
No. I came to the Imperial Palace because of Professor Voladi. I have to stop him from infiltrating the palace and making accusations.
“????”
‘What is he talking about?’
The students naturally did not understand. The Skull Principal shook his jawbone as if explaining would be a nuisance.
When you see Professor Voladi, you should also say a word to him and tell him not to sulk too much. Teaching disciples is originally work where injuries are expected...
“We do get hurt a lot.”
Not you. What a shameless little rascal.
After hanging Gainando upside down, the Skull Principal prepared to float away again.
Seeing the students murmur among themselves and try to head to the outskirts to find Lee Han, the Skull Principal casually opened his mouth.
By the way.
“Yes?”
What are those bundles of paper you are holding?
“...”
***
“Alshicle, why do you keep looking around like that?”
Lee Han was puzzled by Alshicle’s behavior of casting one spell and checking the surroundings twice.
Right now, all the nearby mages were participating in the cleanup after the dimensional erosion phenomenon.
All the foreign matter inside had turned to ash, but that was not the end of it.
When worlds and dimensions overlapped and eroded each other, they naturally became unstable.
They had to inspect the area and perform stabilization work to prevent another disaster from occurring.
“Professor Voladi Bagreg isn’t here, is he?”
“No. Why would Professor Bagreg be here?”
“You say that because you don’t know anything.”
Alshicle cast another spell and checked the surroundings three times.
Professor Voladi was especially frightening because he was a combat mage. From Alshicle’s perspective, as someone not specialized in combat, it was a terrible matchup.
“If you’re that scared, why don’t you just go back to the mansion and rest? The remaining work isn’t very dangerous, so I can handle it alone.”
Lee Han said this while swinging his staff.
This kind of dimensional stabilization work only required senses and mana, so it suited Lee Han well.
He could walk around, intuitively find twisted places, and when such places appeared, call over the other mages...
“Space, solidify.”
...No, he did not even need to call them.
Thanks to the basic space-time magic he had learned from Professor Garcia, Lee Han could finish about four or five times as much work as the other mages by himself.
“The mansion is more dangerous, you know? No matter what, it’s better to stick together.”
Alshicle shook his beak as if telling him not to say nonsense.
The one thing Alshicle trusted was that Lee Han was Professor Voladi’s disciple.
Surely Professor Voladi would not conduct a bloody interrogation in front of his own disciple.
“Come on. You’re worrying too much.”
“Hmph. It’s easy for you to say when you’re his disciple.”
“I’ve been attacked plenty of times too, you know.”
Lee Han pushed aside the grumbling penguin beastkin mage and approached the spatial crack.
“Space, solidify.”
“Um, excuse me...”
Archmage Erindarvel approached with the most apologetic expression imaginable, as if Erindarvel were the sorriest person in the entire Empire.
“...Would it be all right to speak for a moment?”
“Ah. Yes. What is it?”
“I sincerely apologize for this mistake...”
The two exchanged glances. Lee Han whispered quietly so the other person could not hear.
“But Archmage Erindarvel is an Archmage, so why is Erindarvel so kind?”
“Not all Archmages are evil... No, wait. They are evil, but... anyway, this one is quite unusual.”
While the two whispered, Erindarvel fumbled around in space and pulled out an item.
It was a gift brought to compensate, even slightly, for the damage caused this time.
“This artifact is <Axen’s Staff>. It contains magic that rapidly restores mana related to light elements. I would like to give it to you as a gift...”
“Uh, Archmage Erindarvel. Wardanaz has a great deal of mana, so it won’t be very useful...”
“!”
At Alshicle’s point, Erindarvel realized the mistake.
Come to think of it, the boy of House Wardanaz here had endless amounts of mana. No matter how fine an artifact that only restored light-element mana in a limited way might be, it would be meaningless.
‘Another mistake like this!’
When Erindarvel lowered the head again, Lee Han poked Alshicle’s fluffy side.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Ah, no. Sorry...”
Alshicle apologized.
As a mage, when knowledge came to mind, his beak automatically opened. It could not be helped.
“Still, you’re the one receiving and using it, so you shouldn’t accept something you don’t need. It’s from an Archmage, too.”
“I can just sell it after receiving it. Please consider the other person’s feelings as well.”
“?”
Alshicle felt that something was strange and tilted his head.
“...Wait. Then you shouldn’t sell...”
“Anyway, you must say the next gift is definitely good. Understood?”
“A-all right.”
Erindarvel put away the staff and rummaged through space for a long time again.
After long consideration, what emerged was a round egg.
“This is a hippogriff egg.”
“That won’t work!”
Lee Han cried out urgently. Erindarvel, who had been about to introduce the egg, hesitated.
Why not?
Soothing the baby basilisk that was tightly coiled around his arm inside his sleeve, as if begging not to be abandoned, Lee Han quickly explained.
“Actually, I’m raising a griffin, so it would be terribly jealous.”
“I-I see... If that is the case, then it can’t be helped.”
Erindarvel lowered the head again. This time, it was Alshicle’s turn to poke Lee Han in the side.
“Just accept it!”
“S-sorry. The griffin gets upset often...”
“Really? I’ve never heard that griffins are particularly jealous.”
“My griffin is probably a little unusual.”
-...
The baby basilisk wriggled, feeling sorry for Phoneig, who was not present.
How wronged would Phoneig feel after hearing this conversation?
Perhaps feeling sorry for the Archmage, who kept rummaging through space, Alshicle offered advice.
“Um, Archmage Erindarvel. Wardanaz would be happy even if you simply gave him gold coins.”
“Do not say such ridiculous things, Pengerine.”
“...”
At Erindarvel’s firm rejection, Alshicle pouted with his beak.
It was true, though!
As the deliberation dragged on, Erindarvel simply poured the contents of that space onto the floor. Then the Archmage muttered while putting them away one by one.
“A pure-gold angel statue... too ordinary. The three-story mage villa in the capital that I received last time... this probably won’t be very useful either...”
“Alshicle. Please give some advice so Erindarvel chooses one of those.”
Lee Han appealed with a voice full of sincerity.
If those gifts were passed over and he ended up receiving some strange staff or a hippogriff egg, he felt as though he might really cry.
