I worried for nothing.
Giselle decided that from now on, she would simply ignore it whenever Wardanaz said things like, “I’m tired of getting involved with insane spirits,” “I’m troubled by getting involved with insane demons,” or “I’m annoyed by getting involved with insane giants.”
People often said things that didn’t match their true feelings.
Didn’t the students of White Tiger Tower also groan things like, “I really don’t want to do this, but I don’t have a choice. Just this once,” whenever they accepted jousting matches right before exams?
Wardanaz was probably the same.
“I see this lecture concerns the scholarship of learning.”
“?”
Sitting across from the insane duplicate, Lee Han tilted his head.
The books spread open before the insane duplicate were all related to .
“Magical algebra and arcane geometry...”
“They were not called that in the age of royalty. The field itself has advanced considerably as well.”
“!”
Lee Han brightened immediately.
If what the insane duplicate said was true, then this might actually be one of the easier lectures.
Back in the old days, the discipline would have been less refined. There would have been fewer classifications, fewer established formulas, and fewer convenient methods discovered later.
Compared to that era, modern Einroguard students should have held a significant advantage.
“I see. Then perhaps we can simply skip this lecture?”
“However, I also see excessive complacency. A learner should understand and prove the formulas being used rather than memorizing them blindly.”
Oh no.
A bad feeling crept over Lee Han.
It was the sharpened instinct of a veteran student.
Surely not—
“Gather the other mages. I shall begin the royal discourse.”
“...Yes...”
As he went to call his friends, Lee Han thought to himself:
At least is a second-year course.
Any suffering became more bearable when friends shared it.
...Though whether his friends would agree was another matter entirely.
***
“Mage. Using only a straightedge and compass, construct a cubic sanctuary with exactly twice the volume of this one.”
“What?”
Gainando, who had dragged over a chair and sat down with the others in front of the Principal—no, the insane duplicate—looked completely flustered by the sudden command.
“I-I can’t do it!”
“That is correct.”
The insane duplicate nodded.
Though the students possessed countless flaws, they were still companions of his disciple. Their fundamentals were unexpectedly solid.
The question he had just asked was impossible to solve in the first place.
“This problem cannot be solved without borrowing the power of arcane arts or magic. It has been famous since ancient times. Twenty-three mages died attempting to solve it...”
“Wow. How did you answer immediately?”
The Blue Dragon Tower students looked slightly impressed.
Of course, since they had learned this before, they probably could have remembered it if they thought hard enough. But Gainando had answered instantly, without hesitation.
Had Wardanaz’s education finally borne fruit?
“I just said I couldn’t do it because I didn’t know.”
“...”
His friends stared at him with contempt before quietly turning away.
Gainando felt unfairly wronged.
He had simply admitted what he didn’t know...
“However, merely memorizing that something is impossible and truly understanding why it is impossible are entirely different matters. A mage should naturally strive for the latter. You should all be capable of explaining the reason.”
The students listened intently to the insane duplicate’s lecture before suddenly turning toward Lee Han.
“Wardanaz. Wardanaz.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Is this going to be on the final exam?”
This semester’s course was being taught in an extremely unusual manner.
Because the professor was absent, Senior Yukbeltire had been handling the lectures instead.
Fortunately, Senior Yukbeltire’s classes were far more normal than expected—or rather, far more normal than Professor Ver’s. The students who had initially panicked over the professor’s disappearance had already adapted.
But what the insane duplicate was teaching now had absolutely nothing to do with the recent coursework.
What was this supposed to be?
“Uh... probably not? Master wouldn’t know the final exam material in the first place.”
“...Then why is he teaching this?”
“Hmm. That’s a fair question.”
Lee Han nodded and raised his hand.
“Master.”
“What is it?”
“Isn’t the final exam supposed to cover spirit polynomials? If the course schedule is proceeding normally...”
“That is unimportant.”
“?”
The gathered students immediately began whispering among themselves.
Unimportant?
“What does he mean, unimportant?”
“Maybe the exam’s being canceled?”
“Can he even do that?”
“Well, he is the Principal’s duplicate. Maybe he has the authority...”
Ignoring the murmuring students, the insane duplicate spoke calmly.
“What matters is that mages seek the origins of the scholarship they study and reflect upon them.”
“...”
“...”
“I shall begin again. The purest and most artistic elements of arcane geometry are the straight line and the circle. Great mages could produce endless transformations using only those two forms. Even after countless tools, spells, and laws were developed later, the wisdom contained within them has never vanished...”
“Wardanaz. What do we do?”
“This is bad, isn’t it?”
“Noisy. Stand.”
“!”
Several whispering students—including Gainando—were immediately singled out and forced to their feet.
“Explain why the construction problem I mentioned is ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) impossible.”
“Uh...”
“Wi-without the help of magic or spirits... it’s difficult... and the reason it’s difficult is...”
“To achieve that construction, one would need to construct irrational numbers using only straight lines and circles, but that is impossible. The numbers that can be constructed are—”
“!!!!”
Not only the students standing beside Gainando but everyone else present stared at him in shock as he recited the explanation smoothly.
“Did Wardanaz teach him that?”
“No way. At that point he could probably teach rocks how to sing.”
When Gainando finally finished, the insane duplicate waved a hand, allowing the students to sit again.
“Not perfect, but you understand the essence. I shall overlook it this time. However, should you interfere with the royal teachings again, appropriate punishment will follow. Mages must remain vigilant.”
As soon as they sat down, the students frantically gestured toward Gainando.
-How did you answer that?
Gainando answered with hand signals of his own.
-Lee Han told me.
-What? How? There wasn’t even a chance!
-He stuck a note onto my hand with telekinesis while we were waking up.
“...”
The students were stunned.
What had improved wasn’t the prince’s magical ability—it was Wardanaz’s.
That monster... How did he pull that off in such a short amount of time?
Is telekinesis magic even capable of that level of precision?
More importantly, how did he do it while talking without getting caught?
While his friends admired him and the insane duplicate continued lecturing, Lee Han was thinking about something else entirely.
Am I going to end up taking a different exam again this semester?
Surprisingly enough, Professor Knighton—the professor in charge of —firmly believed in tailoring exams to suit each student’s level.
Or rather, one specific student.
As a result, Lee Han had spent the past year solving absurdly difficult problems by himself. Even now, thinking about it made him feel wronged.
Still, with the professor absent and the insane duplicate supposedly helping, he had thought things might improve a little...
Hmm. Somehow it seems worse instead.
Rather than spending time studying for the actual exam material, he was now listening to lectures about ancient history and the philosophical foundations of arcane geometry.
At that moment, the insane duplicate called out to him.
“Disciple. You must instruct the other mages.”
“...Pardon?”
“They do not understand. Someone must explain the royal teachings at their level.”
Lee Han looked up.
The other students were staring at him with exhausted, desperate expressions.
Apparently the insane duplicate’s relentless questioning had crushed them one after another.
“...Ah. So that someone is me.”
The insane duplicate nodded as though asking why it had taken so long to realize something so obvious.
Lee Han rose from his seat while grumbling inwardly.
It really did get worse.
***
Intarendals, the chamberlain who served the insane duplicate, received his master’s orders and traveled from the workshop in the mountain range to Einroguard.
Fortunately, with the Skull Principal absent, there was less need to worry about attracting the Death Knights’ attention.
If the Skull Principal had been present, wandering around the main building in broad daylight would have been unthinkable.
More importantly... isn’t Master behaving strangely?
Recently, Intarendals had begun to feel a growing unease.
It was the sort of unease only a chamberlain who had loyally served his master for many years could sense.
Who was his master?
A seeker who had devoted himself to correcting the deficiencies of the world through magic.
True, an unfortunate accident had stripped him of his physical body and turned him into a thought-form exiled from the world itself—but for a great archmage, such things were merely trials to overcome.
The current situation alone proved his greatness.
How long had it been since his descent? Yet he had already found a disciple worthy of inheriting his robes and had begun passing down his teachings. Such a feat could not be accomplished through mere talent alone.
And yet...
Shouldn’t he be teaching his magic more aggressively?
The reason his master sought a disciple was obvious.
The wish he could no longer fulfill himself after becoming exiled from the world had to be inherited and completed by someone else.
When the troublesome Skull Principal had still been interfering, caution would have made sense. But now the Skull Principal was gone, the surroundings were quiet, and yet his master continued to hesitate for reasons Intarendals could not understand.
-Master. The situation seems relatively stable now. I shall prepare the high-level magic for transmission.
-No need. Wait.
-Then perhaps the Lesser World...?
-No. That is unnecessary as well.
-???!
-The royal already has plans in mind.
Intarendals wondered whether this hesitation stemmed from the previous incident, when the evil aspect within his master had awakened.
Certainly, it had been unexpected.
But only to a degree.
Both the insane duplicate and Intarendals had always known such a thing could happen.
That was the inevitable fate of a thought-form exiled from the world after losing its physical body.
A life spent endlessly rejected by reality itself, never knowing when disaster might strike.
...Which only made the current situation even harder to understand.
Shouldn’t that make it even more important to train the disciple harshly?
If his master feared being reverse-summoned at any moment, then his current leisurely approach made even less sense.
Shouldn’t he be drilling knowledge into the disciple relentlessly so the teachings would survive until the next descent?
And yet his master remained strangely relaxed.
Intarendals began considering whether he should offer advice despite the impropriety of overstepping a chamberlain’s role.
And these items don’t seem like something that should be handed over to Lord Lee Han of House Wardanaz yet...
The objects Intarendals currently carried from the workshop were things the insane duplicate had personally ordered him to bring.
Rare reagents and materials gathered during the construction of the workshop and the installation of its surrounding magic formations.
And several books personally written by the insane duplicate himself.
They were undeniably valuable.
But handing such things to a disciple growing complacent would only encourage further laziness.
“Strange... Even though the royal is teaching personally, why has the amount of unfinished material increased?”
“Because Master keeps adding things that won’t even be on the exam!”
“!?”
The moment Intarendals witnessed the scene unfolding before him, he nearly fainted.
What in the world was happening here?
