Chapter 1255

Gainando was always getting scolded by Lee Han and told to grow up, but he was still undeniably an Einroguard student.

And when Einroguard students received unfair treatment from outsiders, they preferred not to endure it and instead immediately fight back with force.

“Is that so? Then this is Einroguard’s principle!”

Gainando immediately pulled out a skull and was about to fire three consecutive curse arrows. The merchant quickly shouted.

“You’re free to attack me, but if you do, I’ll calculate the damages and submit a claim to Einroguard!”

“......”

Hearing something so absurd actually reduced Gainando’s urge to attack.

Lee Han stopped him as well.

“Calm down, Gainando.”

“Lee Han! Why are you taking their side?! Whenever you saw someone trying to squeeze silver out of you, you always tried to kill them!”

“...It wasn’t that bad. You’re going to give our guests the wrong idea.”

“What are you talking about!”

Gainando jumped up and down indignantly.

His friend was making him sound like some kind of strange person.

Surely...

-Upper-year student. How much is this reagent?

-Eight Imperial silver coins for ten bundles. And half a silver coin for answering the question.

-Ah. Is that so? Then please calculate how much your life is worth too.

-What? Wha... Ack! Ugh! Ghk!

These days, rumors about Lee Han—in other words, rumors about ‘that insane junior’—had spread widely even among the upper-year students, so incidents like this had become rare.

But during the early part of the first semester of their second year, things like this had happened fairly often.

There had been wicked and shameless upper-year students [N O V E L I G H T] who preyed on the innocent second-years of the other towers after they had been released from protective magic.

This friend from House Wardanaz was surprisingly respectful of the relationship between upper-year and lower-year students, so he would politely overlook most kinds of nonsense, but things became a little different when gold or silver coins were involved.

Gainando had once seen an upper-year student from the Black Tortoise Tower get beaten like a dog merely for trying to extort half a silver coin.

“You definitely asked how much that upper-year student’s life was worth back then...”

“I didn’t.”

“......”

“I said I didn’t.”

“...Okay...”

Gainando felt wronged, but had no choice but to shut his mouth.

‘That’s seriously dirty and underhanded!’

Twisting the truth with force...

“Here. Thank you for showing us the way. One silver coin.”

Lee Han handed the merchant a silver coin. Since he needed to ask favors for the sake of the magic-academy exchange, this much investment was unavoidable.

He looked calm, but Yonair clearly saw the faint trembling at the tips of his fingers.

‘I don’t think he even did that when he went to fight an evil god...’

Honestly, someone like Lee Han should already have secured as much gold as an upper-year student by now, so Yonair wondered why he was still saving so obsessively.

Just how expensive a kind of magic was he planning to research in his third year...?

“Thank you!”

The merchant beamed and pocketed the silver coin. Lee Han smiled artificially and asked,

“But why are you dressed like a merchant? If you’re selling goods made at Dekarogard, wouldn’t the auction house be more...”

“Oh, no!”

The mage disguised as a merchant explained with a smile.

“I’m doing business here by giving directions to people who are looking for Dekarogard. If I dressed like a mage, wouldn’t they realize we were staying at the nearby inn?”

“......”

Nillia clearly saw her friend’s fist clench tight.

‘...H-he isn’t going to hit him, is he?’

Seriously worried, Nillia glanced around.

If a fight broke out, she would first need to remove any witnesses.

“A-a remarkable... method.”

Lee Han felt a deep sense of defeat.

When it came to magic, even if he failed and lost dozens of times, he had never once felt humiliated.

But the Dekarogard mages had managed to make Lee Han feel defeated with one simple trick.

They were truly terrifying mages.

“They’re swindlers! Swindlers! Uman! Those wicked people must be arrested and locked up immediately!”

Fortunately, Jowrin was normal.

When her contractor had a silver coin squeezed out of him, Jowrin became furious.

“Elder Sister. Dekarogard mages are simply like that.”

“...Jowrin does not understand why Uman never visited a place like this.”

“!!!”

At Jowrin’s blunt jab, Uman turned deathly pale.

“O-of course the other magic academies also have problems, but Uman thought Einroguard was the most urgent...”

“Hmph. Jowrin thinks those people seem the worst.”

The Dekarogard mage seemed to have guessed that the other party was Imperial royalty. Bowing deeply, he said,

“I apologize if my rudeness offended you, Your Highness. However, this truly is a school rule passed down at Dekarogard.”

“Isn’t he lying?”

Gainando grumbled.

If that excuse worked, then from now on Gainando could just say ‘It’s an Einroguard school rule’ every time he caused trouble!

“The upper-year students actually do that already.”

“...Ah!”

Even after receiving the apology, Jowrin’s expression did not soften.

Lee Han unclenched his tightly closed fist and tried to placate her.

“Your Highness. Please be generous and understand. From the perspective of other mages, Einroguard probably looks strange too.”

“Einroguard mages are truly generous!”

Lee Han smiled at the Dekarogard mage’s words.

But that smile disappeared immediately at what came next.

“Would you perhaps consider giving a little more charity to a poor Dekarogard mage? Unlike the famous Einroguard, Dekarogard is always so poor...”

“...Actually, I come from the dark magic school.”

Lee Han finally lost patience and bared his teeth.

Let’s see how far you want to take this!

***

The sparks-flying contest ended in a draw for the time being.

The Dekarogard mage had no choice but to acknowledge that Lee Han was no easy opponent.

He had thought Einroguard contained only eccentric and powerful mages, but apparently there were also mages there with outstanding business sense.

‘Amazing. If he had come to Dekarogard, he might have aimed to become the next principal!’

“Would you like me to explain Dekarogard?”

“If I have to pay an explanation fee, I won’t listen.”

“!”

The Dekarogard mage looked at Lee Han with even greater surprise.

This mage was already displaying the kind of adaptability that ordinary visitors to Dekarogard only showed after being victimized for several months.

“Since you caught me, I’ll explain for free. Haha.”

Even though his trick had been exposed, the Dekarogard mage showed no embarrassment whatsoever.

Anyone who felt embarrassed by something like this was simply not suited for Dekarogard in the first place.

Why should one feel ashamed?

The process of gathering gold, the most perfect of all substances, was itself a magnum opus.

The term had begun with the creation of the alchemical Holy Grail known as the <Philosopher’s Stone>, then broadened to refer to the masterpieces of enchantment mages as well, and although nobody acknowledged it, dark mages occasionally used it too.

Therefore, Dekarogard’s transformation mages also declared proudly:

The process of gathering gold transformed an ordinary mage into a great mage, just as lead was transformed into the Philosopher’s Stone.

“And the gold left over is excellent for transformation magic!”

True to its title as the most perfect material, transforming other substances into gold was nearly impossible, but transforming gold into other substances was extremely easy.

There was hardly any reagent better suited to a transformation mage than gold.

“But isn’t it painful to spend all that hard-earned gold like water?”

“...!?”

The Dekarogard mage stared at Lee Han in astonishment.

Lee Han asked back with an uncomfortable expression.

“What now?”

“You’re the first mage I’ve ever met who heard that explanation and reacted like that! Are you truly completely unrelated to Dekarogard?”

“......”

Gainando, unaware that his friend was mentally cursing the other mage dozens of times over, urgently interrupted.

“Lee Han! Don’t fall for Dekarogard’s sweet talk!”

“R-right. You’re already doing perfectly well at Einroguard!”

Nillia joined in too, apparently seriously worried.

This friend had such an unrivaled position among Einroguard’s black-market traders that even powerful upper-year figures in the Black Tortoise Tower’s underground market bowed and scraped when Wardanaz appeared.

Rumor even had it that if he vanished somewhere inside Einroguard starting today, he had enough supplies stored away to survive for ten years!

“...I’m not going. What exactly do you people think of me?”

“If you came, I do think you’d adapt remarkably well.”

The Dekarogard mage looked at Lee Han with interest.

If he was from Einroguard, his magical ability had already been proven, and with this kind of business sense...

He might seize a professor’s position within a few years.

“I said he’s not going, you bastard!”

Gainando genuinely lost his temper.

He should have fired those curse arrows earlier!

“Then I’ll take just one gold coin in exchange for stopping him from coming! How does that sound?”

“...G-ghk. I suppose there’s no choi—”

Smack!

Lee Han smacked Gainando across the back as he reached for his wallet.

You’re already falling for it again?!

“Forget it. Tell us more about Dekarogard. How does the place operate?”

“To be honest, we aren’t all that different from the other magic academies. We train in magic on the school’s territory, using the mana there.”

“And extort money.”

“Yes. The only addition is the process of gathering gold coins.”

A massive permanent market had been established on Dekarogard’s territory.

Ordinarily, merchants from the surrounding lands exchanged trade goods there, but Dekarogard mages regularly participated and raked in gold coins.

‘...I’m jealous.’

Lee Han was honestly a little envious.

Why didn’t Einroguard do something like that?

When he asked Professor Voladi, the professor kindly explained.

“Einroguard’s conditions are unsuitable.”

Unlike Dekarogard, which lay along a major trade route in the southern Empire, Einroguard had nothing like that.

A magic academy surrounded by mountain ranges and deserts could hardly be expected to have good transportation access in the first place.

‘The Principal truly lacks strategic insight in areas like this.’

Lee Han lamented inwardly.

Why had the Skull Principal chosen a place like that?!

Gainando, thoroughly irritated by now, picked another fight.

“Hmph. I bet you go to the market and trick innocent people of the Empire.”

“We don’t consider that tricking anyone. For example, suppose I sell this pebble for ten gold coins. Do you think that’s deception?”

“Of course it is!”

“No. The person bought it because they believed it was worth ten gold coins. There was no deception at all. This also touches upon the concept of transformation magic. What has value and what lacks value are ultimately determined by our perception...”

At a loss for words, Gainando looked at Lee Han and asked,

“I-is transformation magic normally like that??”

Lee Han shook his head.

He could not even imagine how Einroguard’s transformation mages, who lacked social skills, would react if they heard that.

‘Using the core concepts of transformation magic for something like this... In a way, that’s impressive.’

“What do you use all the gold you collect for?”

“As I said earlier, any amount of it can go into magic, and it is also used for advancing to the next year.”

“......”

“......”

“Isn’t it a good method?”

Paridim, the Oculoguard student, asked in confusion at their lukewarm reactions.

From Paridim’s perspective, advancing by proving one’s ability like that seemed far more reasonable.

“That is why Dekarogard has considerable influence, since it has no need to ask the Empire for assistance.”

Uman spoke with obvious displeasure.

A gold-devouring monster like Einroguard was a problem, but a self-sufficient magic academy like Dekarogard was troublesome in its own way.

There was rarely any justification for intervening.

“Professor. You have visitors.”

At the student’s report, a goblin mage walked out with a yawn.

Then the goblin held out a hand.

“I gave permission, so the fee.”

“Here you are.”

“Why only half a coin? If it were you, you should have squeezed at least five coins out of them on the way here.”

“No, Professor. I only managed to get one silver coin. They noticed everything else...”

“...Truly astonishing!! An outsider! Might I hear your esteemed name?”

The goblin professor straightened his clothes and adopted a respectful attitude.

Lee Han found himself thinking that being acknowledged for his magical ability had been much better than this.