Chapter 1256

'I should at least answer.'

“I’m Lee Han of House Wardanaz.”

“Lee Han of House Wardanaz?!!”

Not only the goblin professor, but even the Dekarogard mage who had swindled him—no, guided him—was startled.

No matter how insular a magic academy might be, there was no way they could fail to know the name of a genius of that caliber.

Not only was he taking courses from every school of magic, but hadn’t he recently made a name for himself by participating in the subjugation of an evil god?

“Truly... truly astonishing!”

'...This person seems less surprised than when he heard about the silver coin...'

There was nothing wrong with being surprised in itself.

But if losing only a single silver coin was more surprising than the fact that he was a second-year genius who had participated in the subjugation of an evil god, wasn’t that a bit of a problem?

“To think I guided a mage like that! If I’d known, I would have charged you more silver!”

“You still have a long way to go. Discernment is more important than anything else for a transformation mage.”

The goblin professor imparted a lesson to his student.

Training to scrape together gold in the marketplace was also training meant to sharpen this sort of discernment.

Judging the essence of a person and determining just how much could be scraped out of them.

The higher one’s level in transformation magic became, the more meaningless outward appearance grew, until only essence mattered.

That was precisely why they could never forget to grasp that essence.

“I see... I’ve learned something!”

“Have you? That will be five silver coins.”

The Dekarogard mage paid his teacher five silver coins with the expression of someone who had been had.

The goblin professor nodded in satisfaction, then turned his gaze toward Lee Han.

“Lee Han of House Wardanaz. It is truly an honor to meet Einroguard’s young genius.”

Lee Han nodded and held out his hand. The goblin professor grinned and reached out to shake it.

Lee Han smoothly pulled his hand away and said,

“I told you my name, so please give me one silver coin.”

“......”

The Dekarogard mage, Shabit, was deeply moved.

To think he had gone beyond adapting and had even managed to land a blow on a professor.

'No wonder a mage like him has earned such rumors. Truly incredible!'

***

The mages entered the inn’s spacious hall and sat facing one another.

The goblin professor, having taken a hit, radiated intense competitive spirit from his entire body. His gaze showed that he now recognized Lee Han as a worthy opponent.

“Truly astonishing, Wardanaz! I’ve never seen Professor focus that intensely against a student before.”

Shabit exclaimed with genuine admiration.

That goblin professor, Ukablock, was a mage capable of emptying a freshman’s pockets completely with a single snap of his fingers.

And yet a mage like that was burning with fighting spirit against a student.

“...We’ve each exchanged one silver coin, so how about we forget about it now?”

Lee Han subtly proposed a truce.

He had actually come because of Professor Garcia, yet he had not even managed to mention that matter. He was starting to wonder himself what exactly he was doing here.

'What am I seriously doing right now?'

“Hoho... Quite impressive. Trying to make me lower my guard. Professor Rzhi may be a mage ill-suited to our Dekarogard, but that professor certainly prepared a disciple properly!”

“I’m not trying to make you lower your guard...”

“Say whatever you please! Haha. I won’t be fooled twice.”

Ukablock laughed heartily.

The goblin professor felt his blood boiling from encountering such a formidable opponent for the first time in a long while.

As a professor of transformation magic at Dekarogard, he would show this youngster something!

“...I came this time because of Professor Garcia’s matter.”

“Ah. Professor Kim.”

Ukablock nodded and asked,

“Did you prepare the gold coins?”

“......”

Lee Han thought he now understood what Professor Garcia had meant by writing on the paper, ‘Let’s try negotiating first and see how much they want.’

The mages of Dekarogard were both easy and difficult to persuade.

Money!

With enough gold coins, they could be put to work immediately. From Lee Han’s perspective, if they paid twice as much, it seemed entirely possible to summon them all the way to the front of Einroguard’s territory and hold the exchange gathering there.

“The truth is...”

Lee Han was about to call over Duke Bellaron, whom he had brought along.

Despite being one of the highest-ranking people present, Duke Bellaron had been standing silently in a corner like a sack of barley someone had left there. Anyone seeing him might have mistaken him for an employee of the inn.

And that was exactly what the duke wanted.

Please, let these mages be so busy with their magic that they forget he existed!

'What is he doing over there?'

Lee Han stared at the duke standing in the corner in disbelief. He could not even guess when the man had moved over there.

“Are you perhaps Lee Han of House Wardanaz?”

It was then.

A plump, middle-aged elf suddenly poked his head out. Judging by his flamboyant clothing, he looked like a rather wealthy merchant.

'Wait. He isn’t another Dekarogard mage, is he?'

From now on, Lee Han felt like whenever he saw a merchant, his first suspicion would be that it was a Dekarogard mage in disguise.

Fortunately, the other person was not a Dekarogard mage. There was no movement of mana around him whatsoever.

“This is Lord Bolgas, owner of this grand inn...”

“I didn’t ask you to tell me, so I’m not paying you.”

At Lee Han’s cold reply, Shabit clicked his tongue.

'Strong!'

“What brings the owner of this inn here...?”

“So it really is you! It’s an honor to meet you!”

The middle-aged elf rushed over excitedly.

This prosperous great merchant had the peculiar... no, reasonably normal hobby of sponsoring talented ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) mages.

The Imperial capital was already a place where everything was expensive. There was no way the Dekarogard mages would refuse the support of such a merchant.

Lee Han looked at the elf with pity.

'How unfortunate that he ended up meeting mages like these!'

Unaware of Lee Han’s thoughts, Bolgas opened his mouth.

“I was truly moved by the subjugation of the evil god. You should only be a second-year student, yet you accomplished such a feat... Perhaps I am looking at a future great mage!”

“You’re seeing exactly right!”

“You flatter me.”

Gainando and Lee Han answered at the same time. Lee Han then kicked Gainando in the shin.

“Since Wardanaz comes from Einroguard, I imagine you must also be close with the mages of Dekarogard?”

“That is correct.”

When the elf merchant asked, Goblin Professor Ukablock nodded.

Since they were living comfortably thanks to the merchant’s goodwill, they could hardly go against his expectations.

If he said, ‘We aren’t close,’ the elf’s expression would stiffen slightly, and beginning tomorrow their meals would become dreadful.

The day after that, their rooms would shrink, and the day after that, new mages would probably move in to replace them!

Lee Han held out his hand.

“I’ll take gold coins.”

“......”

Ukablock handed over a gold coin while shooting Lee Han a look filled with hatred and respect. The elf merchant asked curiously,

“What is this?”

“It means we’re that close. It’s just a little joke between us.”

“I see!”

When Lee Han smoothly covered for him, the goblin professor let out a small sigh of relief.

Tap tap-

“??”

“Please pay the additional fee.”

“...Have you truly never been to Dekarogard? Did Professor Rzhi tell you about us or something...?”

Ukablock grumbled as he handed over another gold coin.

This mage of House Wardanaz knew far too well how to make use of his reputation.

And on top of that, he possessed the meticulousness to never let even a single coin slip away.

Great Merchant Bolgas wore an expression of disbelief that he had been granted an opportunity to converse with one of the central figures in the subjugation of an evil god.

“Wardanaz. Might I hear a little about magic? Ah, I’ve heard that Wardanaz is also deeply versed in transformation magic!”

“Hmm. There is an upper-year student researching a spell called <Gold, Come Forth With a Tap>, no, <Dimensional Transformation Gold Observation and Collection>...”

With nothing in particular coming to mind, Lee Han spoke about the research Jarun was currently conducting.

His dragon transformation would actually have been the easiest subject to talk about, but unfortunately, the only dragon he could transform into at the moment was a black dragon.

'And if I mention that, the Emperor’s nine children might become eight.'

“Such research exists! Astonishing!”

“Jarun of House Ironshoe is an outstanding transformation mage. I’ve invited him several times, but unfortunately the opportunity never arose.”

Ukablock added regretfully. Lee Han knew very well why.

'He must not have received the invitations because he was underground...'

There was a high chance that Jarun would remain underground even during vacation, so invitations did not mean much.

“I see!”

The elf merchant slapped his knee, then asked the goblin professor again.

“Still, if you’ve invited him that many times, I suppose you must have some degree of friendship?”

“You could say that.”

The instant those words left Ukablock’s mouth, Lee Han held out his hand. Ukablock was beginning to break out in a cold sweat.

This was dangerous!

To think a mage of his caliber had fallen into such a swamp-like situation.

If Oculoguard mages had been present, they would probably have explained why foresight magic was superior to transformation magic.

At the very least, it allowed one to avoid situations like this.

The goblin professor wiped the sweat from his forehead and attempted to change the subject.

“There are many outstanding mages in the Empire besides those of Einroguard. For example...”

“That’s right! Garko of House Arjo! He praised Wardanaz so highly!”

Bolgas exclaimed as he remembered.

This mage, who traveled throughout the Empire uncovering and restoring lost transformation magic, had met Wardanaz during his previous journey to the north.

Garko, who insisted that the enchantment mage Baquantalana had actually been a transformation mage, had managed to break through the ruins with Lee Han’s help...

...and even after meeting this great merchant, he had not forgotten to tell him all about it.

“Ah. That person.”

“As expected...! It seems outstanding transformation mages have a way of understanding one another! Lord Ukablock, are you close with Lord Arjo?”

“Well...”

“They are. When we spoke last time, he mentioned Dekarogard as well.”

Lee Han continued the conversation with one hand already extended. Ukablock could only shudder at the sheer breadth of this fledgling mage’s connections.

How did an Einroguard transformation mage have connections of this caliber!

***

After the elf merchant returned satisfied, Ukablock stared hollowly at his empty purse of gold coins.

Seeing this, Yonair whispered,

“Lee Han. I’m not trying to get in your way, but didn’t we come here to persuade them?”

“...I’m going to persuade them now.”

Only then did Lee Han come back to his senses and call over the duke.

“Your Grace? Could you perhaps help us?”

Duke Bellaron, who had been trying to blend into the corner, cleared his throat regretfully.

The Dekarogard mages were greatly startled to discover that the duke had been there.

“Your Grace?! What brings you here...”

“His Grace here will pay the price on Professor Garcia’s behalf.”

“!”

At the sound of something so appetizing, Ukablock looked Duke Bellaron up and down as though licking him with his eyes.

There was hardly an easier target to strip of gold than a noble who cared about appearances. And this one was a duke at that.

“Such... It is truly an honor, Your Grace! To think you would aid poor people such as ourselves...”

“...Just tell me how much you need.”

The resigned Duke Bellaron spoke because he wanted to escape this place as quickly as humanly possible.

Gold coins were no longer particularly important.

As long as he fulfilled the Emperor’s order, he would return to his estate!

At the duke’s attitude of agreeing to pay whatever price they named, smiles blossomed across the faces of the Dekarogard mages.

A person like this was a stroke of luck one might encounter only once in ten years.

Tap tap-

“?”

When someone tapped his shoulder, Ukablock turned around in confusion.

Lee Han was holding out his hand.

The meaning was simple.

Introduction fee!