Chapter 1236

Gainando, who had been sniffling, only opened his mouth after Diret soothed him several times (or, more precisely, after she even got angry at him).

"Actually, Lee Han is doing well..."

"?"

Diret tilted her head.

Imirg and Raphaedel tilted their heads too.

Huh?

"Th-then isn't that a good thing?"

At his upper-year student's words, Gainando flinched.

"Weren't you angry at Lee Han?"

"I was... angry, yes... But more importantly, if he's doing well, that's a good thing! Haha! Hahaha!"

To change the mood, Diret spoke more cheerfully than usual and patted Gainando's back with broad motions.

Honestly, it hurt, but Gainando endured it. His upper-year student was scary.

"H-hahaha. Ugh. So you really won't get angry even if Lee Han is doing well, right?"

"Of course not. How is he doing well? Is he lying down and reading books or something?"

If she had her way, Diret wanted to make her junior completely stop thinking about magic and rest properly, but she knew very well that was impossible.

That was why, even when she visited him, she had only handed over the magic books he needed for this semester's lectures and had not taken any other measures.

He was the kind of junior who would practice magic on his own even if someone hung him upside down...

'Right. If he's lying down and reading books, that's actually resting pretty well.'

Diret was already halfway prepared to compromise.

"Um, he also plays mage cards with the professor."

"...Really?!"

It was unexpected, but Diret's face brightened even more.

He really was resting!?

'Wait. How do you play mage cards inside a punishment room? Can you do it verbally?'

"Jowrin and His Highness Uman came too, so he calmed both of them down."

"......"

"...???"

The other dark magic school students froze too.

...Had Gainando accidentally inhaled some contaminated reagent?

"Who came and got calmed down??"

"Jowrin and His Highness Uman."

"Ah. Did they come to comfort him?"

Raphaedel offered the most reasonable interpretation he could think of.

But Gainando shook his head.

"No. They both got locked up."

"......"

"...Just keep going for now. What else happened?"

Diret already felt a headache coming on.

Why had two dragons been added to the punishment room?

'Her Majesty Jowrin... might have followed him in. I'm not sure why His Highness Uman went down there, though.'

"Then Lady Meikin came with a commission..."

"Meikin? Which Meikin? Who does she think she is, going into the punishment room?"

Diret's voice immediately sharpened.

Why had a commission suddenly entered the story?

The terrified Gainando trembled as he answered.

"I-I-I heard the p-principal allowed it..."

"......"

Diret looked up at the ceiling of the dark magic school's workshop at Einroguard's rotten state of affairs.

The cracks and cobwebs hanging everywhere looked just like the current Einroguard.

'He actually allowed that too?'

Diret thought she understood why Professor Garcia had been furious.

At a time like this, they should at least just let him rest, not let someone in because they applied for a commission.

"But upper-year student. If it was a commission, didn't Wardanaz agree to it too?"

"Be quiet. Even if my junior said he wanted to do it, they should have stopped him. They keep allowing things like that, and that's why he ends up fighting an evil god directly."

"......"

Ogoldos immediately shrank into himself.

He had no idea what allowing a commission while someone was supposed to be resting had to do with fighting an evil god directly, but he did not have the courage to argue.

"Haah. Fine. My junior probably happily accepted it too... What else? What happened?"

"P-Professor Bagreg held a lecture in the punishment room. Lee Han helped with it."

"That... yes. That's at least better."

"He kept giving his junior perfect scores while helping, so he got kicked out."

"......"

"......"

The dark magic school students froze again. Imirg looked at the work in front of him and frowned.

It seemed today's batch would be unusable.

Everyone had gotten far too distracted from their work.

"That... can happen. The combat magic school... doesn't have many students."

"Doesn't it only have two?"

"That's why I said it doesn't have many! Isn't two a small number?!"

"S-s-s-sorry."

Now the air in the dark magic school was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe properly. Professor Mortum felt a cough coming on, but forcibly held it back.

"Anything else?"

Diret spoke again. She had not meant anything particular by it, but to Gainando, it came across as tremendous pressure.

It sounded as though she were saying that if he could not remember something, she would bury him in the underground reagent pit outside.

"Um... um... um... Ah! L-Lee Han used an illusion... manipulated... flattered... n-no. I mean. Persuaded! He persuaded His Highness Uman and made the professor do work! He told him to make Professor Mortum prepare curse-neutralizing agents instead of you, upper-year student Diret!"

"......"

"......"

"What!?"

Professor Mortum could not hold back and shouted.

This wasn't the Skull Principal being spiteful!?!?

"...What are you talking about? Come on. There's no way my junior would do something like that. You must have heard wrong."

Diret denied it, but half the severity had already vanished from her expression.

As some of the pressure in the room lifted, the students sighed in relief.

'We're alive!'

'We're not going to die here today.'

"I-it's really true..."

"You heard wrong."

"Ah. Yes."

Gainando immediately accepted it.

I guess I heard wrong!

Diret spoke to the other juniors in the dark magic school.

"I think my junior cares a lot about the dark magic school, so that's why stories like that come up. Of course, he must have misheard what he just said."

"Exactly! I think so too!"

"Just how much does Wardanaz respect you for something like that to come up! Wardanaz probably considers it an honor that you lectured him in the punishment room!"

The juniors began pouring out fiery flattery.

They could already tell Diret had been agonizing over whether she had treated her imprisoned junior too harshly, so this was the moment to flatter her and improve her mood.

Not only Imirg, but even Raphaedel started going on about 'how much Wardanaz respects his upper-year student,' and Gainando began feeling pressured to contribute something too.

"L-Lee Han respects you so much that he even told His Highness Uman that they should replace the dark magic school professor with you!"

"...What!? Really!?"

"Cough, cough!"

Even the friends who had been flattering Diret turned in surprise. Professor Mortum could no longer hold back and burst into coughing.

Was the dark magic school professor going to be replaced tomorrow?

When every mage present stared at him, Gainando could not withstand the pressure and confessed the truth.

"Th-this one was a lie... Sorry..."

"...What the. I thought..."

"No, I understand, Gainando. If it's Wardanaz, it wouldn't be strange for him to say something like that. He respects our upper-year student an incredible amount."

"Right. Right."

The atmosphere in the dark magic school immediately became warm and cheerful.

Diret tried not to show it, but she could not hide the faint smile that rose to her lips.

Once the mood of the upper-year student they respected had recovered, the students happily focused on their work again.

What a relief!

"......"

Professor Mortum watched the entire scene and thought inwardly.

'You little bastards!'

The Skull Principal had not been wrong.

No matter how much you raised disciples...

***

"What? He really said he won't get help from the principal?"

"The young principal."

Yonair quickly corrected him.

Someone might misunderstand if they overheard.

Professor Thunderwalk wore an uneasy expression.

It was good that Lee Han would not use the young Skull Principal's power, but now that he heard it, that was suspicious in its own way.

Could it be...

"A trap..."

"Here."

"?"

When Yonair handed him a letter, Professor Thunderwalk accepted it with a puzzled expression.

The contents were short and simple.

It's not a trap.

Lee Han Wardanaz

"...Of course I believed him. What kind of master doesn't trust his disciple?"

'You don't even trust the principal...'

Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed himself, Professor Thunderwalk cleared his throat several times and spoke.

"All right. I'll believe him. By the way. Wardanaz should still be in the punishment room. Is he keeping up with the lectures properly?"

Professor Thunderwalk worried about the poor conditions in the punishment room for professors.

It was wider and more comfortable than an ordinary punishment room, but there would not be many useful items there.

Tools, equipment, reagents. The more accomplished an alchemist was, the less empty space they tended to have at home.

"Yes."

"Really? He shouldn't have any tools or equipment there."

"Ah. We put them in an empty solitary cell. My sister brought them because she wanted to make him work."

"......"

Only then did Professor Thunderwalk belatedly remember that Lee Han was carrying out outside commissions even from the punishment room.

Still, even so, he had not expected it to be on that scale.

'That vicious brat...!'

As the two talked, they spotted a golem walking along the road ahead.

At first, they thought someone had summoned it, but its movements were clearly different from an ordinary summoned creature. The two realized that golem was actually a person.

Professor Thunderwalk spoke in disbelief.

"You're still transformed into a golem?"

"When misfortune turns into fortune, I'll undo the transformation too."

"Foresight mages are all lunatics."

"From my perspective, mages from the other schools simply don't have enough sense of danger."

The golem student did not waver in the slightest.

This talented foresight mage would use any means necessary to avoid misfortune.

Even if that meant walking around transformed into a golem!

'Every time I see that upper-year student, they're in golem form.'

"I interpreted a dream, and there is a great calamity headed my way this week. I need to be even more careful."

"If you predict ten of those, doesn't one of them eventually come true...?"

The golem student paid no attention to Professor Thunderwalk's words.

A foresight mage who could get one out of ten right had already reached the level of a master.

If being careful ten times could prevent one misfortune, then there was no loss at all.

"So where are you going?"

"I'm going to the punishment room for professors. Professor Paserlet gave me instructions."

"......"

"......"

Professor Thunderwalk and Yonair froze.

The golem student's expression looked so calm and peaceful that the professor asked, just in case.

"Do you perhaps... not know what happened recently...?"

"Pardon? Did something happen?"

"......"

There were plenty of eccentric students in the foresight magic school who shut themselves away.

In particular, this golem student was willing to use any means necessary to avoid misfortune, so staying inside the dormitory or magic tower for one or two weeks without coming out was nothing unusual.

"What... did Professor Paserlet tell you to do?"

"Ah. I can't tell you that. Professor Paserlet told me to keep it secret."

"...You're walking down the path to your death right now!"

"??"

At Professor Thunderwalk's shout, the golem student wondered what he was talking about.

"How is going to the punishment room for professors the path to death? Ah. I understand. You're trying to trick me into doing chores again... Do I look like a first-year student to you?"

"Hey! No! And you're still holding onto something that happened ages ago?! Forget it already!"

Flustered, Professor Thunderwalk wanted to grab the student and explain what had happened, but the golem student's distrust ran deeper than expected.

The student immediately detached the leg parts, then shot away through the air.

"I said don't! Come back!"

Once the other student had disappeared, Professor Thunderwalk let out a deep sigh.

"Foresight mages are all idiots who think they're clever."

"Don't you think Professor Garcia might have calmed down a little by now?"

"I don't think so..."

Professor Thunderwalk answered while rubbing the bruises that still ached.

Please let Professor Paserlet have assigned something sensible!