“Now that I think about it, there’s no way Eandurde would have done something that foolish.”
“That’s right.”
“...You knew?!”
Lee Han was flustered by the professor’s reaction.
Come to think of it, Professor Voladi Bagreg was the master of the school and had been observing Eandurde longer than Lee Han had. It would not have been strange for Professor Voladi to judge Eandurde accurately.
Then why didn’t you stop me?
“Then why did you come looking for him?”
“?”
Professor Voladi raised one eyebrow slightly and looked at the disciple.
Professor Voladi was not someone who expressed emotions very strongly, but Lee Han had accumulated enough experience to read what that meant.
That was a question mark. More specifically, it meant, What are you talking about now?
-You were the one making all that noise about Eandurde disappearing, weren’t you?
Ah.
Lee Han grew deeply embarrassed.
Now that he thought about it, Lee Han had been the one to make a fuss, saying, “Eandurde went to the underground fighting arena! We need to save him quickly!” based only on what Alhild had said.
From Professor Voladi’s perspective, even if Professor Voladi had been uncertain, there had been no choice but to accompany him when an upperclassman made that much of a commotion.
“...I’m sorry. I should have judged more carefully.”
“No. Deep friendship between members of the same school is something to praise.”
There are only two of us, though.
If a school had only two people in it, even Gainando and Anglago would probably become close.
As Lee Han left the slum area with the professor, he reflected once again.
From now on, he would make a habit of confirming the facts before recklessly attacking.
...It was a thought that would have made the guild members’ stomachs turn if they had heard it, considering half of them were sprawled out on the ground and the other half were being dragged away by the capital guards.
***
“I see.”
Professor Garcia looked at the disciple with an ambiguous expression, unable to decide whether praise was appropriate or not.
Eandurde proudly shook an old coin purse.
He had remembered hearing that one of the slave traders had hidden gold coins in a closed fighting arena, but who would have thought that information would prove useful like this?
Indeed, the saying that knowledge was power was not wrong.
“That is not how that saying is used... Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe...”
“Shouldn’t we tell Lee Han that he went looking for Eandurde?”
“Shh. He might feel sorry for no reason, so keep quiet.”
The second-year students who had gathered after hearing the news whispered behind them. Seeing that, Alhild asked with a puzzled expression,
“What are you talking about like that?”
“Huh? Oh... well, we were discussing how much the ratio of firegrass reagent affects the power of dark magic when casting it.”
Gainando hastily made an excuse.
At that excuse, Alhild looked at them with newfound respect. To be so absorbed in magic even during vacation.
Indeed, the second-year upperclassmen were somehow different.
We can’t even compare to them.
It was diligence on a completely different level from friends who indulged in delicacies and novel magazines as soon as vacation began.
“Hey. How did you come up with something like that?”
“Shh. I just copied what our senior was researching.”
“...”
While the friend looked at Gainando with pity, Lee Han and Professor Voladi returned.
Seeing the mages gathered in front of the pawnshop, Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.
“Sorry for being late, Professor.”
“No. I’m glad both of you returned safely. Nothing happened, right?”
“Yes. Nothing happened.”
At Lee Han’s answer, his friends nodded, thinking that must be the case.
However, Giselle tilted her head. There was a bloodstain on the upper part of Wardanaz’s left shoulder that she had not seen before.
Isn’t that blood?
She felt that something was off, but before she could ask about it, Lee Han called his friends together.
“Everyone, gather here. A graduated senior left gifts for all of you.”
“What? Really?”
His friends were bewildered by the unexpected words.
They had wondered why such a pile of gifts had been stacked up, but those were gifts for them?
“I thought Wardanaz bought those with his own money.”
“Didn’t Wardanaz buy them with his own money and make up an imaginary senior?”
His friends, who had no faith in Einroguard seniors, murmured among themselves.
Thinking of the graduates they had met so far, there was no way any of them would have left such gifts.
“Why would I do that? Hurry up and line up.”
The fact that he’s not strongly denying it makes it even more suspicious.
The second-year students were inwardly suspicious.
Considering Wardanaz came from a great noble house and constantly handled commissions without rest even during the semester, this level of wealth was not particularly strange.
“Well, Wardanaz doesn’t have much desire for gold coins.”
“...What?!”
Yonair was shocked by the voice of another tower student beside Yonair.
Why on earth had such a misunderstanding taken root?
“Why do you think that?”
“Wh-what’s °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° wrong, Meikin? Do you have complaints about Wardanaz?”
“No, no... It’s not that. I’m just curious about the reason.”
“He cooks without taking money.”
“...”
Yonair was momentarily speechless.
It was such a difficult statement to refute that the only answer Yonair could barely manage was this:
“He does... he does take money.”
“Huh? Oh. Imperial silver? Compared to what the seniors pay, that’s nothing.”
“That’s... I mean... never mind...”
Yonair pondered how to clear up the misunderstanding, then sighed deeply and gave up.
Even if Yonair said that Lee Han cared about gold coins more than they expected, they probably would not listen.
“Yonair. Here’s the <Triangular Flask of the Water Horse Mountain Range Magic Tower>.”
Lee Han handed the enchanted flask to his friend from the alchemy school. Reading the description, Yonair’s eyes widened.
“Component identification, replication, purification, and transformation? Isn’t that too many functions?”
Yonair examined the flask from various angles, looking puzzled.
One might wonder what the problem was with an artifact having many functions, but it actually was a problem.
The difficulty and cost increased exponentially with each added enchantment.
There were issues such as the magic conflicting with itself, mana supply problems, and the need to add reagents for stability.
In that case, it was better to use several artifacts with separate functions. There was no need to force everything into one.
“Yeah. That’s why the mage who made it was disciplined. Another mage brought it to the auction house as a proxy.”
“...Th-thank you. I’ll use it well.”
Lee Han nodded. From the reaction, he was confident he had chosen the right gift for his friend.
Asan received a crystal astrolabe. The moment Asan received the gift, Asan flustered Lee Han by declaring that neither brothers nor sisters were needed. Dergeu got leather gauntlets with barrier shields, Ratford received new lockpicks and magic insects that explored the inside of keyholes, and Nigisor got a lantern that reacted with fire spirits to create flames of various properties.
“Wait. Wardanaz. Were you, by any chance, the one who went around the pawnshop earlier and bought everything before the auction started?”
“It wasn’t me. It was a graduated senior...”
“I see.”
It feels like there’s some other meaning behind that.
Lee Han was puzzled by his friend’s response, but did not bother pressing further.
There was no time. He still had to distribute the useful items from everything he had bought today.
“Here. Nillia. This is for you.”
“Th-thank you?”
Nillia was flustered as she received the <Cursed Red Spear>.
She could not understand why he was giving her this as a gift, but since Wardanaz had given it to her, she assumed he must have some intention.
“...No. Why are you taking that?! The gift is this quill pen next to it!”
Lee Han, belatedly startled, snatched the spear away and pointed to the quill pen.
This quill pen, which helped write according to its owner’s commands, was an artifact meant for Nillia, who would need to write hundreds of invitations for social activities in the future.
...The spear seems more useful, though...
Nillia thought this to herself as she received the quill pen. No matter how she thought about it, spear > quill pen seemed right.
Lee Han continued distributing the remaining gifts.
Raphaedel received a thick book organizing beings from the Undead Realm that dark mages could contract with. Raphaedel grumbled, but eventually expressed gratitude. Priest Siana received the monocle of wisdom, and Salco received a pitch-black shovel enchanted with decomposition magic.
“Moradi. Here, this sword is...”
“I already have a sword I’m using.”
Giselle answered with slight bewilderment.
She did not want to refuse the gift, but she already had the sword from her family that she used.
“Listen to the end. This sword looks like a sword, but it’s actually a magic artifact with a hidden blade built inside it. A famous dueling mage used to favor it. If you pretend to draw your sword like this and activate it, compressed wind bullets shoot out from the hilt...”
“...”
Giselle was horrified by Lee Han’s excited explanation.
It was a far more underhanded gift than she had expected.
It sounds so plausible that it’s even more ridiculous!
Giselle felt slightly ashamed of herself for being tempted by that explanation.
When there was no reaction from the other person, Lee Han became slightly dejected.
“You don’t like it? I thought it was a really good weapon.”
“Ah, no. It’s not bad... It does seem good... Thank you...”
Giselle accepted the gift and fastened it to her waist. If anyone asked why she was carrying three swords, she planned to smack them in the mouth.
After giving Priest Tiziling the <Cursed Red Spear> (Nillia sent an envious glance), Adenart the blessed picnic basket (Adenart tilted her head after receiving it), and Sharucal the conch shell imbued with water-element magic, Lee Han called Gainando.
“Gainando. This ink bottle is an artifact for mages who lack concentration. If you sit at your desk and do something else, it shoots ink at your face.”
“...I feel like I’m the only one getting a weird gift...”
“And here’s a bonus set of Mage Cards. I got them at the auction house.”
Lee Han held out a thick bundle of cards.
Seeing the familiar card list, Gainando was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes.
“This is a miracle!!!”
“...I don’t think it’s that much of a miracle?”
***
After returning to the villa estate with his friends, Lee Han called Eandurde aside.
It was to discuss when they would go meet Jowrin.
“Should we go meet Jowrin after buying your gift?”
“That sounds good. But...”
Eandurde hesitated, which was rare. Lee Han was slightly surprised by the sight.
What?
What on earth could make Eandurde act like that?
Is he short on gold coins?
“I have a question.”
Eandurde raised a hand and opened his mouth after thinking it over several times.
Although he expressed it in a roundabout and lengthy way, the summary came down to this:
When friendship toward a friend conflicted with respect for an upperclassman, which should one choose?
This guy...!
Lee Han was slightly moved and called Yonair.
“Yonair. Yonair.”
“Huh? What?”
“It seems Eandurde has already made a lot of friends.”
Lee Han called Yonair over and explained what he had just heard.
It seemed clear that Eandurde was wondering whether to spend the remaining vacation with upperclassmen, or whether it was okay to choose to hang out with friends instead.
“?”
Yonair tilted Yonair’s head.
Something’s strange.
Yonair had a strong feeling that this was not what Eandurde meant, but Lee Han was already opening his mouth.
“Of course you should choose friendship with friends. Eandurde. Upperclassmen are originally meant to be used conveniently and then thrown away.”
“...Hey...”
Yonair looked at Lee Han with an extremely complicated expression.
We’re upperclassmen too!
“...Is that so?”
“Of course! Do you happen to have plans with friends?”
Eandurde shook his head from side to side. Then he spoke with a determined expression.
“I’ll go meet His Majesty with you tomorrow!”
Is that really something to say so resolutely?
