Chapter 1273

"Professor???"

Lee Han called Professor Voladi again in case there had been some misunderstanding.

Honestly, no matter which school of magic Lee Han went to, he was considered a full person's worth of labor.

Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he did not know, but in any case, he was competent enough that a professor could trust him with work.

And yet Professor Voladi had so coldly rejected his offer to volunteer that labor.

If the other professors heard about this, they might criticize Professor Voladi for being spoiled.

"Professor. I said I'd help you."

"It's fine."

"...No. I'll do it instead! Leave it to me and get some rest, Professor!"

"It's fine."

"Professor, do you perhaps think I won't be able to evaluate him properly because he's my junior?"

Silence came instead of an answer.

When Professor Voladi stopped speaking, Lee Han urged an answer.

"It's all right. Please tell me honestly. I wouldn't be bothered by something like..."

"Yes."

"......"

He had told Professor Voladi to be honest, but hearing the honest answer still hurt a little.

Lee Han grumbled inwardly.

'What slander, just because I favored my junior a little.'

Of course, Lee Han had been slightly generous when judging Eandurde while helping him prepare for the exam.

But it had only been such a minor degree of generosity that anyone might have shown.

To ban him from grading his junior's exam over that...

And Professor Voladi had broken practically every academy rule there was as a student too...

"Professor. In fact, Professor Mortum once entrusted me with inspecting and repairing the dark magic installed in Black Dark Hall."

"Yes."

"Of course, I did an excellent job. I did so well that Senior Diret thought you had done it."

"Well done."

Lee Han did not mention that Professor Mortum had nearly been killed after Diret found out.

Because Lee Han had been too meticulous, Diret had discovered that even the parts Professor Mortum would normally have glossed over had been repaired.

Growing suspicious, Diret checked the mana concentration in the spells and immediately realized the truth.

"And that's not all. Professor Thunderwalk has more than one cabin. Do you know who manages all of them together? Me."

"You were still doing that?"

"Of course, I've been too busy this year to do much of the work on-site, but I still decide everything from inventory management to how food and reagents should be stored. And Professor Thunderwalk has never complained even once."

In truth, even if Professor Thunderwalk had complaints, those complaints were no longer voiced much to Lee Han.

There was nothing to gain from earning the future principal's resentment.

But Lee Han, unaware of that fact, simply assumed his work had become that competent. He was half right.

"Impressive."

"I could talk about the other professors as much as you like, but I'll stop here. There's no point bringing up Professor Verdus... Anyway, Professor. Have you perhaps changed your mind a little?"

"Wardanaz."

"Yes!"

When Professor Voladi called him, Lee Han answered with an expectant expression.

Had Professor Voladi finally changed their mind?

"Be quiet."

"......"

Lee Han sat back down while cursing.

And I served tea to someone like that!

'I miss Princess Jowrin.'

With Jowrin, Uman, and his friends all gone outside, this cell seemed unusually quiet.

The Oculoguard student on the other side was busy meditating...

'...Ah. No. That's not meditation. They're avoiding my gaze.'

Lee Han realized that Paridim was not actually meditating, but merely pretending to.

If Paridim had been meditating for foresight magic, mana should have been moving, but there was no movement at all.

Clearly, Paridim was pretending to meditate because they did not want to get involved in this conversation.

How long had it even been since Paridim arrived at Einroguard, and already Einroguard was rubbing off on them...

Lee Han considered calling Paridim over and asking for help persuading Professor Bagreg, then gave up. It felt like he was tormenting an outsider too much.

'Hmm. There's less to do than I expected. Should I work on one of the commissions I've been putting off?'

It sounded insane, but because he had finished his final exams in advance, he actually had nothing to do during finals period.

The other Einroguard students would have been horrified to hear such a thing, but Lee Han was serious.

It was a side effect of having lived far too busily without a break this semester.

It had gotten to the point where he was considering digging through his backlog of commissions to see whether there was anything usable.

'Come to think of it, an upper-year student gave me a commission to visit an alfalfa ranch, but I never got to go. I was supposed to do a commission with the Phoenix Tower priests too, but I couldn't do that either. And Black Tortoise Tower...'

Thinking about it, he had only ended up doing commissions together with White Tiger Tower and Senior Yukbeltire(even if that one had been fake).

For some strange reason, it felt like only the annoying people had benefited.

Lee Han was about to go through the commissions again to see if he had missed anything when...

"Wardanaz! Is Wardanaz here!"

A dwarf student with a geometrically braided beard came hurrying down with an urgent shout.

It was Sigunting, a third-year student from Einroguard's enchantment magic school.

"There you are! Junior. We're in trouble!"

"??"

Lee Han was puzzled by the claim that they were in trouble when he had barely been down here any time at all.

What kind of trouble had happened?

"That bastard disappeared!"

"????"

For a moment, Lee Han thought this was about His Highness Uman returning to the capital.

'Bastard? Isn't that a bit harsh?'

Uman might have had no tact, and Lee Han did think Jowrin would hit him at least once someday, but calling him a bastard was too much.

And it was hardly a disaster either. He was allowed to return to the capital...

At that moment, a cold order came from beside him.

"Check the spire stables first and seal the gates. Tell the knights to block the skies, and mobilize the sirens and giants to block the waterways and underground passages. When did he disappear?"

"O-One or two days ago..."

"Too late. He's already gotten out."

"Ugh. Ughhh! That rotten bastard!"

Sigunting dropped to his knees in the corridor and burst into tears. He sounded genuinely furious enough to cry.

Lee Han realized he had misunderstood something. There was no way Uman would provoke a reaction like this.

"Um, Professor. Who are you talking about?"

"Professor Verdus. Professor Verdus escaped."

"...Ah!"

No wonder!

* * *

In truth, escaping was not necessarily the exclusive privilege of Einroguard's students.

As Professor Voladi had demonstrated this very semester, Einroguard was also a place where professors escaped whenever something displeased them.

But there was one difference from the students, who were always punished severely as an example to others.

The punishment professors received for escaping differed depending on the individual.

If Professor Verdus escaped....

-That bastard who ought to be locked in the punishment area forever ran away again because they didn't want to do their own work! That bastard deserves to be thrown into the void beyond the dimensions! Bring them back even if you have to break all four limbs!

If Professor Voladi escaped...

-Professor Bagreg? ...There must be some reason. Find out the circumstances first.

If Professor Garcia escaped...

-Tell Professor Garcia everything is my fault and to come back immediately. Say I'll accept every demand. Bivle! This is because you dumped your work on Professor Garcia, isn't it!

Because of that, even when Professor Verdus escaped, the professors did not worry and the students did not become agitated.

'Someone who would do something like that did exactly the sort of thing they would do.'

That was most people's reaction.

But for the students of the enchantment magic school, it was a different story.

When a professor escaped, that professor's work had to be divided among their disciples.

"......"

"Die. Die. Seriously, just die."

'The atmosphere is terrible.'

Lee Han thought inwardly as he looked at the upper-year students of the enchantment magic school gathered in the professors' punishment area.

Even Anpagon, a fourth-year who was preparing for graduation, had been dragged here. The killing intent was so tangible that it almost looked like mana.

"First, let's divide up what needs to be done. Wardanaz. You handle grading for the Basic Enchantment Magic lecture and the Basic Magical Materials lecture."

"Yes. Understood."

"Sigunting, you handle the Wand Magic Enhancement lecture and the plan to loot Professor Verdus's warehouse."

"Understood."

Lee Han wondered for a moment whether he had misheard, but the atmosphere was so grave and solemn that he could not bring himself to ask again.

'Loot the warehouse... Well, I suppose they can. The owner isn't here.'

Compared to the suffering the students now had to endure, Professor Verdus's warehouse catching fire would be nothing.

"What is Senior Yukbeltire doing?"

"Don't worry, Wardanaz. She's working at the Engraving Hall."

"Phew. That's a relief."

Lee Han sighed in relief. He had been worried that perhaps the senior was somewhere relaxing alone.

At that sight, the other enchantment magic students drew gentle smiles across their lips.

As expected, their hearts were one.

People said Einroguard's enchantment magic school was the school whose members were least close to one another, but perhaps that was wrong.

'Well, even Senior Yukbeltire couldn't possibly do nothing as a fifth-year when her professor has disappeared.'

Even if curses rose into one's throat and one's chest burned with a desire for revenge, the immediate work still had to be handled first.

The semester had ended, so there was the magic of the Engraving Hall, the magic tower, to inspect; various lecture plans to review; necessary reagents and supplies to confirm; next year's lectures to plan; expected students to consider...

Perhaps Senior Yukbeltire was the angriest of them all.

Thinking that made Lee Han feel slightly better.

"But why did Professor Verdus disappear?"

"Don't know."

"Guess it's time for them to die."

"......"

Lee Han decided it would be better not to ask these two upper-year students.

But asking Professor Voladi also felt a little...

'I think I'd get a similar answer.'

For the first time in a while, Lee Han opened <Einroguard's Watchers>. It seemed countless lines of text had appeared and disappeared while he had not been looking.

...Iactus live revenge! The god of revenge has answered my plea! Ruin upon the wicked Inspector!

Gonadaltes anyone know why Professor Verdus disappeared?

Iactus do you suddenly show up and deliberately bring up things that ruin the mood?

Iactus, who had been celebrating, became deeply displeased.

Why mention Professor Verdus on such a wonderful day?

Baquantalana was curious about that myself. If anyone knows why Professor Verdus disappeared, tell us. I will provide a reward.

Iactus the hell, are both of you from the enchantment magic school?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox't say something that horrible. Some things should never be said.

"......"

Of course, Lee Han knew Beaver-Penguin-Fox, Senior Ilendil, was helping him.

But he could not help feeling uncomfortable.

'Hmph. As if the other schools are so different. Once you go outside, they'll treat all of you as Einroguard mages anyway.'

No matter how much someone said, 'Compared to the others, we're relatively normal, haha,' inside Einroguard, once they went outside, everyone would be lumped together as, 'Eek! An Einroguard mage!'

Lee Han stopped grumbling and twirled his quill.

What could he say to encourage these members?

Hugin-Munin know something.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox?

Hugin-Munin don't need a reward. As a new member, I'll tell you for free as a gesture of goodwill.

'A new member?'

The membership of this Watchers club was always fluid.

Members were added or changed whenever someone discovered or transferred an artifact that allowed participation, so there was nothing strange about someone new appearing at any time.

Baquantalana served as a sort of gatekeeper, but even that was not absolute. The young prince, for example, had done the reverse and broken in to seize authority.

Lee Han privately contacted Senior Ilendil, whose identity he at least knew.

Gonadaltes is that person?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox new member who joined recently. Their magical skill is excellent. They're a little suspicious.

Senior Ilendil had a point.

If a new member's magical ability was unusually high, they might not be a student at all, but a graduate, an outsider, a spy, or, in the worst case, a professor.

Hugin-Munin heard Professor Verdus has recently become completely obsessed with dark magic. Since they couldn't reverse-engineer it alone no matter what they tried, apparently they were planning to seek out the Descendants of Ahrak or the Legion of Oondorgu.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox is genuinely the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! There's no way Professor Verdus would ever take an interest in dark magic!

Perhaps angered, the other person suddenly went silent. Worried about Senior Ilendil, Lee Han asked.

Gonadaltes don't even know who that person is yet. Is it all right to provoke them like that?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox cares? It's not like we'll ever meet.

Gonadaltes is true, but...