Chapter 1274

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Then just sit there and watch.

Perhaps Senior Ilendil had actually been provoked, because they returned to the Watchers club and started taunting the other person again.

Since they could not answer, it was obviously a lie, they were just bluffing, and so on!

Watching that, Lee Han thought inwardly.

'This person really does have a different personality inside the Watchers club.'

Outside, they were timid enough that they hardly ever went anywhere crowded, but inside the Watchers club, perhaps because there was no chance of meeting anyone face-to-face, they were quite aggressive.

It was their freedom, but from Lee Han's perspective, it was also true that he was a little worried.

There was no such thing as a perfect secret in this world, after all.

They had already had their identity discovered by Lee Han, a junior...

While Lee Han was thinking, a one-on-one message suddenly arrived through the notebook from an unexpected person.

It was not a member of the Watchers club. It was Senior Diret.

-Junior. You're doing well, right? I'm sorry I got so angry last time.

'She calmed down!'

Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.

In fact, aside from Professor Garcia, the person who had been the angriest about his current trip to the professors' punishment area was this senior.

Her cherished junior had secretly escaped and gone off to subjugate an evil god, so that reaction was only natural.

She had looked extremely angry even when she came to the punishment area, so he had been worried, but as expected of the most respectable person among his seniors, it seemed she had forgiven Lee Han.

-I'm doing well! Thank you for worrying about me!

-Right. Um... Sorry for suddenly contacting you and asking such a strange question, but are you perhaps active in a secret club inside Einroguard under the alias 'Gonadaltes'?

"......"

Lee Han nearly threw the notebook away and screamed.

Even when confronting an evil god, such primal fear had not surged through him.

How?!

'Did Senior Diret cast some kind of magic on the punishment area!?'

When her junior fell silent, Diret seemed flustered and wrote the next message as quickly as possible. Perhaps she was in a hurry, because the letters shook and there were even a few typos.

-Sorry. I wasn't trying to scare you. You remember how I once integrated the <Whispers of Einroguard> artifacts you had, right?

'Ah.'

Only then did Lee Han realize how Diret had guessed it.

It was not that there was some dark mage's spying insect inside the professors' punishment area. It was simply the result of pure deduction.

Since Diret had once combined the communication artifacts Lee Han possessed into the <Whispers of Einroguard> notebook, it made sense that seeing this secret club would remind her of her junior.

'Wait. Fine, let's say she figured out that I'm active in the secret club, but how did she even figure out my alias?'

That was definitely strange.

After pondering it, Lee Han belatedly realized something and was impressed.

'Could Senior Diret have reverse-hacked the Watchers club like the young principal did and identified the members' mana patterns?'

Since Diret had made the <Whispers of Einroguard>, she might still remember the mana pattern of that artifact.

If so, all she had to do now was hack the Watchers club, analyze each member's mana pattern, and compare them.

It was truly astonishing. Lee Han once again felt respect welling up for this fifth-year senior.

'I should study hard like Senior Diret and hack the Watchers club too.'

-And I thought you were probably the only person who would use the alias 'Gonadaltes.'

"......"

Lee Han's expression hardened.

The reason was far more trivial and forced than the one he had imagined.

'Why would she suspect someone over something like that?'

-Senior. First of all, that is me, but I'm not the only person who would use an alias like that. For example, if it were the principal, they would probably use the alias Gonadaltes too.

-...Mm. Right...

Diret did not answer for a moment.

Lee Han assumed it was because she felt embarrassed about having made such a rash judgment.

At Einroguard, one must never judge anything too hastily.

-Anyway, that really is you, right?

-Yes.

-Then do you happen to know who Beaver-Penguin-Fox is?

'Gasp.'

Lee Han literally felt his breath catch.

This was exactly why he had told them not to provoke someone when they did not even know who they were...!

He did not want to lie to his senior for no reason, but he also could not sell out one of his few allies inside the Watchers club. Lee Han carefully chose his words.

-Senior. The Watchers club operates under strict anonymity.

'I didn't lie.'

He had not said whether he knew or did not know. He had merely explained the situation.

Lee Han prayed that this uncomfortable topic would please pass.

-You're right, Junior. Honestly, asking about your identity like this is rude too... I only asked because I was certain it was you. It also felt a little strange if I was the only one who knew your identity.

-For you to be this considerate... You really didn't have to.

-And I think Beaver-Penguin-Fox is from the alchemy school.

'Gasp!!'

Just when Lee Han thought the subject was finally passing, he almost dropped the notebook again.

How?!

-I've watched them talk about magic a few times before, and they gave me the feeling of someone from the alchemy school. Especially the reagents they need and the magic they're researching.

-You can tell from that? I've seen it a few times too, but I found it difficult to guess from just that.

Since every club member had something to hide, they were extremely careful about concealing their identities.

The same was true when discussing reagents or magic.

Revealing one's school meant drastically increasing the chances of one's identity being discovered.

For that reason, members mixed in several pieces of false information whenever they talked about such things.

In Lee Han's case, he was attending every school anyway, so simply picking anything and talking about it was enough...

-They do mix in a few fake things, but if you watch the letters appearing carefully, you can guess. They write the things they genuinely need quickly, but when it's fake, they hesitate a little and write more slowly.

"......"

Lee Han was horrified.

As expected, not just anyone could become a fifth-year at Einroguard.

To distinguish truth from lies by comparing the speed at which the letters appeared!

-But was there a junior like that in the alchemy school? I don't remember having such a rude junior.

-People tend to act a little differently when speaking face-to-face and when communicating through letters, don't they?

-That's true. But even then, people have their own way of speaking. It feels like a junior I'm not close with.

"......"

Lee Han started wondering whether it was time to cut ties with Senior Ilendil.

If Senior Diret discovered their identity anyway, it seemed unlikely they would ever be able to show their face in the Watchers club again...

-Right. This isn't the time to be talking about that. Professor Verdus really is completely obsessed with dark magic. Junior. They're probably on their way to find either the Descendants of Ahrak or the Legion of Oondorgu.

-No. Are they insane? Once they go outside, assassins, bounty hunters, and Einroguard graduates will all come to kill them, won't they?

After saying that, Lee Han realized his mistake.

Thinking about it, there was not much point in asking an insane person whether they were insane.

'Right. They were insane.'

-I'm baffled too, but you know how Professor Verdus never gives up once they get fixated on a piece of magic.

-I know that very well. How in the world did they get fixated on dark magic?

-I'm not sure. They seemed to be asking about <The Eye of Ahrak> and <Living Wall>. Oh, right. Yukbeltire asked about those too. Why is dark magic suddenly becoming popular?

Diret's handwriting carried a faint trace of excitement even though she was trying to act calm.

If someone said dark magic was becoming popular throughout the Empire, dark mages could only pretend to respond calmly with, 'What kind of ridiculous nonsense is that?' while secretly feeling excited inside.

Human hearts could not help being that way.

Of course, Lee Han could not sympathize with his senior's feelings.

"......"

'I was the culprit...!'

He had belatedly realized that he himself was the culprit.

Both <The Eye of Ahrak> and <Living Wall> were pieces of magic Lee Han had thrown at Professor Verdus to make life difficult for them.

More precisely, he had needed to submit his final exam, but Professor Verdus kept shutting themselves away, and Professor Thunderwalk had tempted him from the side like this.

-Hehehe... Don't you want to finish Professor Verdus off? You can do it...

'Hmm. I feel like they said it a little differently. I don't remember very well. It was probably something roughly similar.'

In any case, Professor Thunderwalk had corrupted Lee Han from the side with wicked whispers.

The lecture Professor Verdus was responsible for was <Magical Architecture and Its Materials>.

And Lee Han possessed a highly difficult blueprint containing secret dark magic that the Empire's dark mages had written for him (by force) during his visit to the north.

It had not been used because the project had been completed properly with a conventional and stable blueprint...

...But what if he submitted this to Professor Verdus?

There was no way Professor Verdus, curious and greedy when it came to magic, would simply ignore it.

Knowing that, Professor Thunderwalk had tempted Lee Han to submit that blueprint.

'Urgh. This is Professor Thunderwalk's fault. If it weren't for the professor.'

Lee Han blamed the professor who was not present.

Of course, he too had enjoyed watching Professor Verdus struggle over how to cast this dark magic, but as a professor, Professor Thunderwalk should have stopped him from the side. How could they encourage it instead?

After letting out a deep sigh, Lee Han decided to do what he could for now. Regretting it would not bring Professor Verdus, who had run away, back.

-In my opinion, perhaps people were moved by the many different aspects of dark magic and the warm personalities of the mages belonging to the school.

-Junior, don't flatter me! ...Do you really think so?

***

After finishing the conversation, Lee Han began grading the Basic Enchantment Magic lecture.

Seeing the names of several familiar first-year juniors made him happy.

'Karre, you little...'

The question was <Describe which magic would be most advantageous for maintaining body temperature on a snowstorm-covered mountain>, and Karre had written <I will cast invisibility magic and steal someone else's magical cloak> before going into a detailed explanation of invisibility magic!

By Einroguard standards, Lee Han wanted to give a high score, but as the junior who had taken over the work, he could not do that. Lee Han coldly deducted points.

'Sorry.'

It was not as though every junior was like Karre. In the case of Alhild of House Pengerine, the flawless answer left Lee Han impressed.

...It is easy to assume that placing magic on clothing is generally the most advantageous option, but when the outside temperature is extremely low, the efficiency of such magic drops significantly. Magic should first be invested into a heat source such as a campfire. The magic that can be used in this situation is as follows...

'Excellent.'

...However, there are exceptional cases. In the case of Senior Lee Han of House Wardanaz, it can be said that placing magic on clothing would also be perfectly acceptable...

'Unnecessary.'

Lee Han made an uncomfortable expression.

It was not enough to warrant a deduction, but he felt like he should add a note underneath telling them not to write unnecessary material.

As Lee Han was roughly finishing up the work, he heard the upper-year students whispering in another room.

'What is it?'

Lee Han could not help being bothered by it.

Everyone was already working in the punishment area because of him, and if one traced the reason for Professor Verdus's escape far enough back, it was his fault too.

He could not help wondering whether his seniors were insulting him behind his back.

'...Are they badmouthing me? I'm working hard, though.'

-So... wouldn't you say there's a good chance of it?

-There's no way. Absolutely no way.

-Hasn't this incident already disproven that, Senior Anpagon!

"???"

As the two voices rose as though they were arguing, Lee Han grew even more confused.

What were they arguing about?

-In my opinion, that Wardanaz bastard is highly likely to go out and retrieve Professor Verdus too. We need to stop him in advance. What an incredible waste of time that would be.

-...Even if that's true, it's his own freedom.

-How can you say that! That's not freedom. He's being deceived!

"......"

BANG!

Unable to endure it any longer, Lee Han angrily pounded the wall. The two seniors jumped in surprise.