Chapter 1222

"Thanks to you guys, I won't fall behind even while I'm in here."

At Lee Han's words, Gainando looked utterly unable to believe what he had just heard.

Why did a person have to study even inside a punishment room?

"Lee Han. You can relax a little while you're in the punishment room. I brought magazines and mage cards too..."

'Can't you play mage cards alone?'

Yonair thought to themself from beside him.

Playing mage cards alone?

Adenart seemed to have had a similar thought and spoke up.

"You can't play mage cards by yourself, can you?"

"...Why does everyone pick at everything I do!"

Gainando was furious at the lowly political attack from another member of the Imperial Family.

Of course, the other friends did not agree. They all sided with Adenart and stared at Gainando as though he were ridiculous.

Even Yonair did too (in fact, Yonair had been the first to side with Adenart).

"Hmph. If he can't play alone, he can just find someone to play with. Wait here!"

"Wai—"

Lee Han tried to stop him, but Gainando dashed over to the neighboring cell. Without even checking who was inside, he shouted,

"Could you perhaps play mage cards with Lee Han?!"

"All right."

"...P-Professor B-B-Bagreg???"

Gainando recoiled several steps in horror and fell backward onto his rear.

The person in the neighboring cell was someone he had never expected at all!

"Professor, why are you here?!"

"Did none of you know Professor Bagreg was here?"

Lee Han looked puzzled. Yonair whispered with an embarrassed expression.

"Lee Han. You're the professor's only disciple..."

"Ah."

Come to think of it, unlike the other professors, Professor Voladi was someone whose disappearance truly went unnoticed.

Even when Professor Voladi had actually escaped, only a few people had realized it...

Still, as a disciple who respected his master, Lee Han protested.

"There's Eandurde too."

"......"

"...Right..."

Honestly, one disciple or two did not seem like much of a difference, but the friends respected Lee Han enough not to say it.

Meanwhile, Gainando was sweating profusely as he explained the mage-card deck to Professor Voladi.

"S-so, this is... the deck I'm lending you... It's made up of giant monsters... very flashy... and it even has dragons..."

"It looks difficult to survive the early game."

"Th-that's not true! Of course, if you meet someone who plays cards without honor, it's at a disadvantage, but it's still fairly decent..."

"What is he even doing?"

The Blue Dragon Tower students stared at Gainando in disbelief.

He was explaining mage cards to Professor Voladi.

Lee Han called out to help his friend.

"Gainando. Stop bothering the professor and come back here."

"You could've called me sooner...!"

Gainando hurried back with tears in his eyes. He could barely remember what he had just said.

He had lost a few decks, and what else had he said?

Seeing the conversation about to go completely off course because of another undignified member of the Imperial Family, Adenart lightly cleared her throat.

Then she brought up what she had originally intended to say.

"Wardanaz. As a student in the same year, I am truly proud of what you accomplished this time in subjugating the anti-magic extremists together with Professor Bagreg."

Some students were so close to Lee Han that they tended to take it for granted, but having a mage like Wardanaz in the same year truly was something to be proud of.

The more fame Wardanaz accumulated, the more the mages of the same year would share in that glory.

As a friend in the same year, when gratitude was due, it should be expressed.

But Lee Han did not answer. At the unexpected reaction, Adenart became slightly flustered.

Huh?

"Was there something wrong with what I just said...?"

"Did you say anti-magic extremists?"

"W-was that not it?"

Adenart became even more flustered.

Had Lee Han not followed Professor Bagreg to subjugate anti-magic extremists?

Gainando burst out laughing as though he could not hold it in any longer.

"Anti-magic extremists! How do you even get it that wrong!"

"Th-then...?"

"Lee Han went with the professor to subjugate magical criminals!"

"......"

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Adenart could have misunderstood. All kinds of rumors must have spread while Lee Han was away.

But Gainando had been there when they fought the evil-god worshipers, and he was still confused.

Whack!

"Why?!"

After getting struck once by the staff that shot through the bars, Gainando widened his eyes in grievance.

"Where did magical criminals suddenly come from? They were evil-god worshipers. You saw the Sanguros Order too."

"Huh? Uh... huh? Th-then what happened to the magical criminals?"

Gainando fell into confusion.

Come to think of it?

Lee Han, utterly baffled, asked Yonair.

"What kind of rumors were going around for even Gainando, who was there, to get confused?"

'Anti-magic extremists, magical criminals, evil-god worshipers, separatists... I heard all of them.'

Yonair thought to themself with an ambiguous smile that was difficult to interpret.

Lee Han had definitely told a few friends about the evil-god worshipers, but rumors had a way of spreading regardless of the truth.

Einroguard students judged things however they pleased and embellished the story.

-Wardanaz finished all his midterms and left? To chase Professor Bagreg? I see. Magical criminals have been running rampant lately, so I suppose he's going to subjugate them.

-Obviously he's going after anti-magic extremists. It's not as though he's only done that once or twice.

Just from Yonair's ambiguous smile, Lee Han could imagine how badly the rumors had swollen.

He sighed.

"I'd like you guys to take the truth back and put an end to the rumors."

"Of course. We can do that much, Wardanaz. What should we tell everyone?"

Asan thumped his chest with a dependable expression as though Lee Han could leave everything to him.

Lee Han thought that at times like this, there really was no one more helpful than friends.

"I was chasing evil-god worshipers when I actually found the domain of an evil god. I went inside, fought the evil god directly, and was lucky enough to annihilate it."

"......"

"......"

"...Is Lee Han telling us what actually happened, or is he joking?"

Gainando asked the others in confusion.

***

Friends from the other towers came to visit one after another.

The White Tiger Tower students pushed a large, carefully wrapped slab of boar meat through the bars.

"Wardanaz! Congratulations on subjugating the separatists!"

"...R-right. Thanks."

Lee Han was too tired to correct them and simply accepted the gift.

After nearly two years at Einroguard, the White Tiger Tower students had become highly skilled. They could not even be compared to how they had been when they first enrolled.

Back then, after hunting a boar, they had made mistakes because they did not even know they needed to drain the blood or scrape the fat from the hide. Now they knew how to divide the meat by cut and make different preserved foods from each part.

After hanging the salted and smoked meat from a corner of the ceiling, Lee Han looked at Bartreck and asked,

This time, Bartreck's elder brother, Amrek, a knight of the Crescentless Night Knight Order, had helped Lee Han greatly.

"Didn't your brother say anything?"

"He asked why I can't be like Wardanaz even though I'm an Einroguard student too."

"......"

The White Tiger Tower students looked at him with sympathy and understanding.

Bartreck was hardly the only one who heard things like that. Any second-year Einroguard student could expect to hear something similar at least once.

"Um. Sorry."

"No... It's because I'm lacking..."

The atmosphere grew awkward. Giselle, who had been listening from behind, pushed her friends aside and asked,

"What happened to the evil-god worshipers? They were all subjugated, right?"

"Hey. Moradi, if you knew, why didn't you correct them?"

"...I did, but they wouldn't listen!"

Sparks flew from Giselle's eyes.

She had tried hinting at it to these White Tiger Tower idiots, but they simply refused to understand.

She could not explain every detail of Professor Voladi's past, so she had only said something like, 'Evil-god worshipers were probably involved.' The White Tiger Tower students had conveniently interpreted that as, 'I guess there were some evil-god worshipers mixed in with the separatists.'

Even the ones who had gone out on the last commission and subjugated evil-god worshipers themselves were acting like this...

-Moradi. Think about it carefully. Sure, Wardanaz tried to subjugate evil-god worshipers during the last commission. But is there any guarantee that was the case this time too? Considering House Wardanaz's political position, separatists seem more plausible to me.

-As expected, Gatono's insight is razor-sharp!

From Giselle's perspective, it felt like being the only two-eyed person in a village of one-eyed people.

"I see. I understand. The Blue Dragon Tower kids believed strange rumors too."

"...Did you find the professor?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes. The professor's fine."

Lee Han glanced sideways.

Giselle had no idea that Professor Bagreg was in the cell next door.

"So what happened to the evil-god worshipers?"

Giselle asked again.

Rumors had already spread that the evil-god worshipers had suffered a devastating blow, but hearing it directly from someone involved would still be the most accurate.

How thoroughly had they been destroyed?

Lee Han answered seriously.

"While chasing the evil-god worshipers, I fought the evil god directly. I annihilated it completely, so the remaining followers won't be able to hold out and should decline rapidly from now on."

"...Are you making fun of me right now??"

***

As soon as the Black Tortoise Tower students arrived, they began cursing the White Tiger Tower students.

"Wardanaz. Those idiots are underhanded too! They overheard us talking about whether preserved food would be a good idea and rushed ahead of us!"

"But it doesn't matter. We prepared a different gift anyway. It won't even compare to some meat."

"Oh. What is it?"

Lee Han became curious at how confident his friends looked.

Ratford presented the gift through the bars on everyone's behalf.

"Here you are."

"...A hammer, a chisel, a shovel... rope...?"

"Tools for escaping prison!"

"......"

The Black Tortoise Tower students were completely serious.

Even if this was a punishment room for professors, it was naturally prepared against magic.

In that case, ordinary physical tools could unexpectedly exploit a blind spot.

In fact, methods like this had worked in punishment rooms several times before.

"These tools were made by gathering frost iron and purple-light stone. If you start digging in a corner now, you should be able to get out before the semester begins."

"Thank you, everyone. Really."

Lee Han was half skeptical inwardly, but thanked them for now.

His skepticism came from the Skull Principal's attitude.

The truth was that students could escape from punishment rooms because the Skull Principal did not impose particularly severe surveillance or restrictions.

If the principal truly watched them relentlessly, escaping at a student's level would not be easy.

At present, the Skull Principal had been forced by one particular professor's pressure and threats to lock Lee Han up seriously.

Under those circumstances, escape was likely to be extremely difficult.

While wondering whether there might still be some way to use the escape tools, Lee Han suddenly became curious and asked,

"Did you hear what kind of fight Professor Bagreg and I were involved in?"

"Didn't you go subjugate doomsday cultists this time?"

"...No."

"Then what was it?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure you'll believe me even if I tell you."

Salco looked hurt by Lee Han's words.

"Wardanaz. We may be from different towers, but I've always respected how diligent you are. Do you really think I wouldn't believe a single thing you said?"

"All right. I faced an evil god directly and fought it. I annihilated it too."

"Can I take back what I just said?"

***

The Phoenix Tower students were the last to visit. Lee Han waved to the priests.

"Thanks for coming, everyone."

"Sir Wardanaz. Fighting an evil god directly is truly amazing!"

Priest Siana spoke with sparkling eyes.

Unlike the other students, the priests here had received news from their respective orders.

News of the evil god's annihilation had been transmitted by multiple orders, and since each order had accurately shared the information it received, the Phoenix Tower priests had no reason to believe any other rumors.

Lee Han stood there silently.

The priests became worried at his reaction.

Had his body still not fully recovered?

"...Out of all four towers, you people are the most reliable and intelligent! Thank you!"

"??!?"

The priests were startled by Lee Han's intense reaction.

They had not expected him to respond so strongly to such a simple compliment.

After hearing the circumstances belatedly, the priests nodded.

"Ah. To be fair, even we had trouble believing it the first time and reread the report several times."

"I'm just glad you believed me right away. Really."

"Don't worry, Sir Wardanaz. There is a way to convince anyone who doesn't believe you."

Priest Siana spoke confidently.

"What is it?"

"I heard an official announcement will be published in the Imperial newspaper soon."

"...About what?"

"The subjugation of the evil god! The cleanup is finished, so it's time to announce it."

"......"

He had not wanted a method of persuasion on quite this enormous a scale...?!