Chapter 1277

Lee Han was left speechless.

'I still have a long way to go. To think I still considered Professor Verdus a normal person.'

The seniors had immediately realized, upon hearing that Professor Verdus had been attacked at night, 'Ah, this person must have done something at night,' while Lee Han had been one step behind.

His respect for his seniors only welled up for no reason.

"Seniors. You're truly amazing."

"Huh? Why?"

"You immediately figured out what Professor Verdus had been up to."

"...Hey. Wardanaz. It does make me proud to be praised by a genius like you, but don't praise me for something like this."

Sigunting reacted with considerable discomfort.

Being praised by a future archmage was certainly something to be happy about, even if that person was a junior...

...but he did not want to be praised for something like Professor Verdus behavioral studies.

"In the end, I didn't even manage to figure out the magic, so there's no reason to be that angry!"

Professor Verdus grumbled as though still feeling wronged.

More than having been attacked, the professor seemed aggrieved that the attack had stopped them from stealing the magic.

***

-You really think that bastard will come? Even the lab mice we raise wouldn't stick their heads out in a situation like this.

-Not just anyone walks around with several castles' worth of bounty hanging over their neck. It's entirely possib... They really came, that lunatic!

The old dark mages, lying in ambush inside the shadow dimension, erupted in fury.

They had predicted it, but actually seeing Professor Verdus crawl up the wall of the mage tower, punch a hole through the barrier, and sneak inside made their blood boil backward.

How the hell does someone like that really exist in this broad daylight Empire??

-Die!

-Agh! I'll just look at the magic and leave!

-...Even if this means settling things with Einroguard once and for all today, I will finish you! Chase them! Release the sulfur wolves!

-Stop chasing me! I already went outside!

-You, shut your mouth!

Ambush, surprise attack, collision, confrontation...

The mages, who exchanged dozens of moves within the tower in a brief span of time, soon shifted the battlefield outside.

The Descendants of Ahrak now understood exactly how Professor Verdus had managed to stay alive until now.

It was not simply because the lord of Einroguard protected them. Professor Verdus was also a mage thoroughly accustomed to defense and evasion.

Despite being ambushed, Professor Verdus reversed the dark magic's yin mana to weaken its power, severed the connection to the undead realm, and canceled the summons.

At the same time, the professor activated the artifacts they were wearing one after another to block the dark mages' artifacts.

The Descendants of Ahrak were all dark mages over a hundred years old themselves, yet Professor Verdus still displayed this much prowess against them. It was indeed the strength befitting an Einroguard professor.

-Stop chasing me! Why do you keep chasing me!

-Do you truly have no conscience at all?!

...Of course, what followed afterward was quite ugly.

In the pitch-black middle of the night, with only moonlight overhead.

Professor Verdus and the Descendants of Ahrak flew over a remote mountain path, chasing and being chased by one another.

Every time the professor said a single word, the dark mages felt their anger and blood pressure shoot upward.

-From the lowest place to the coldest place, hand of hatred and rage, come forth!

-Aaagh! Activate <Anti-Gonadaltes Amulet No. 15>!

Even while steadily taking attacks from behind, Professor Verdus endured to the very end.

It was thanks to the dark-magic detoxification artifacts and defensive artifacts the professor normally carried.

Faced with that atrocious durability and sheer quantity of equipment, the Descendants of Ahrak could only click their tongues even as they beat the professor down.

***

"Ha. Should've just died on the way back."

"......"

Someone muttered. Lee Han pretended not to hear and looked away.

Professor Verdus rubbed a bruised cheek and said,

"Those dark mages were way too persistent."

"Usually, when you break someone else's mage tower barrier and sneak inside, that's the kind of reaction you get. More importantly, Professor. I more or less understand everything now, but there's one thing I don't understand."

"What?"

"The Descendants of Ahrak are furious with you right now. What exactly changes if you take me along?"

There were limits even to being acquainted with someone.

Maybe before secretly robbing their mage tower, but after getting caught and staging a midnight escape, would that really work?

"Wouldn't it?"

"Professor. That's your delusion. Normally, people don't react well to a thief who tried to rob their home..."

Lee Han tried to lecture the professor, who knew nothing about how the world worked.

But this time, the seniors sided with the professor.

"I think it'll work."

"I think so too."

"The odds are probably pretty high."

"?!!!"

Lee Han was startled by the sudden betrayal.

"Why?"

"From what I heard, those dark mages seem to like you quite a lot... At that level, they'd probably set aside a minor grudge."

Anpagon explained as though it were obvious.

In the world of mages, it was foolish to let petty emotions get in the way of something important. There was no way seasoned mages like the Descendants of Ahrak would fail to understand that.

If it meant doing a favor for a promising young dark mage, they would probably overlook a minor grudge against Professor Verdus.

"From what I can tell, if it's you, Wardanaz... I think they'd just barely forgive you even if you set their mage tower on fire."

"I already told you, I'm not joining their mage tower."

"I'm saying that under the assumption you don't join. If you did join, I think they'd forgive you even if you killed about 2.5 of those dark mages."

'Do these people actually know what they're talking about?'

Lee Han immediately looked suspiciously at his seniors.

No matter how much they liked him, would they really forgive him just because they recognized his face even if he had no intention of joining the mage tower?

Come to think of it, Einroguard's enchantment magic school was a school full of people lacking social skills to a degree comparable to the transformation magic school.

"Now you understand, right? Help me!"

Professor Verdus immediately tried to sell the disciple's face to calm the enemies' anger.

Not even the slightest trace of dignity or conscience as a professor could be seen.

'Even if the outside dark mages can be placated, what are you going to do about Professor Garcia?'

Given Professor Garcia's personality, if they heard Professor Verdus was doing this, they might genuinely fold the professor in half...

"Professor. For now, I'm assigned to the punishment area, so I can't just go outside whenever I please. I'm only out here because this is a special situation. Because some insane professor ran away without doing their own work."

"It's fine. The dark mages are in front of the castle gate."

"...They chased you all the way to the castle gate!?"

Lee Han was horrified.

You didn't shake them off, you brought them all the way here?!

Once again, the seniors were not surprised and calmly explained.

"They'll probably stay in ambush nearby for a few months. It's something you often see from bounty hunters who nearly caught the professor and then lost them."

People who had nearly caught Professor Verdus once and then let the professor slip away all tended to react the same way.

Unable to give up, they wandered around Einroguard thinking, 'Maybe they'll come out again?' and waited longingly.

That was how devilishly charming Professor Verdus was.

"...All right. If that's the case, I suppose I can at least climb onto the castle wall and try to persuade them. More importantly, Professor. I'm a little surprised. Since you came back inside Einroguard, I thought you wouldn't care about what happened outside, but you're actually going to apologize..."

"Wardanaz. Do you seriously think the professor is taking you there just to apologize?"

Anpagon stared at his junior with an appalled expression. At that look, Lee Han felt a sudden chilling realization.

'No way?!'

"Wait. ...Professor, don't tell me you're planning to ask them to teach you the magic again?!"

"Huh? Yeah."

Professor Verdus answered as though it were obvious.

If not for that, why would the professor bother trying to calm down the mages outside?

Lee Han could no longer restrain himself and tried to attack Professor Verdus. But before he could, all the windows of the mage tower shattered at once.

'Did the dark mages climb over the castle wall!?'

It was close, but no.

The ones who smashed through the windows and entered were the Death Knights.

The knights glared at Professor Verdus with blazing blue light in their eyes.

-Professor Verdus. Because of you, we traveled from the northern ice region all the way to the southern outer sea swept by storm vortices.

Whenever a professor escaped, the knights suffered.

They had to search and block every place the professor might normally go, making it an enormous nuisance.

Professor Verdus answered innocently.

"I went to meet the Descendants of Ahrak."

-We know. They're protesting in front of the castle gate right now!

The knights stood on either side of Professor Verdus and fastened chains around the professor. Lee Han shouted in alarm.

"You can't take the professor to the punishment area! We need to make the professor work!"

The knights smiled at the successor's heartwarming concern.

-You needn't worry. We're not taking the professor away. We're only going to stand beside them and keep watch.

"Ah. Then you can add more chains."

The knights thoroughly fastened mana chains around the professor. When the chains were wrapped tightly around the wrists, ankles, waist, and neck, Professor Verdus complained.

"My senses get dull when I wear these."

-That's fortunate. It'll hurt a little less when we hit you. Now. Continue your work! Stop tormenting the students!

"Can't you persuade the dark mages outside for me? Just one spell... Agh! Why are you hitting me!"

The students of the enchantment magic school experienced the joy of ten years' worth of resentment being washed away. Even Yukbeltire's lips curved upward slightly.

Love them or hate them, these knights truly were the bulwark that protected Einroguard.

"Everyone worked hard."

"What are you saying? You seniors are the ones who worked hard."

The enchantment magic school students looked at one another. It had not been that long, but somehow they felt as though they had grown much closer.

However, Yukbeltire had been lost in deep thought for some time. Anpagon became concerned and asked,

"Senior. Is there some problem?"

"I heard from a trustworthy friend..."

"Are you talking about Senior Diret?"

"...I said a trustworthy friend."

"That's Senior Diret."

"It is Senior Diret."

Yukbeltire ignored the juniors' rude guesses and continued.

"...I heard that the junior from House Wardanaz definitely received secret teachings from outside dark mages. Weren't <The Eye of Ahrak> and <Living Wall> among them?"

"You must've heard wrong."

Sigunting scoffed.

No matter how much those dark mages coveted their junior, there was no way they would simply teach him secret magic.

However, Lee Han readily admitted it.

"It's true that I was taught them. Since they're secret magic, I couldn't leak them however I pleased, so I kept quiet."

"......"

"......"

The seniors froze.

He had known the secrets of the magic Professor Verdus coveted so desperately, yet without changing his expression even once, he had simply asked questions like, 'Wow, really?'

If they had been in their junior's position, they never would have been able to hold back from bringing it up in front of Professor Verdus.

-Professor. Actually, I know that magic. If you want to hear about it, from now on, just transform into a beaver and go around like that. Don't speak like a person either. It's irritating.

-All righ...

-Ahem! Beaver noises!

...Something like that!

And yet he had endured to the very end without showing even the slightest sign.

"You... really are amazing!"

"Huh? Ah. The dark mages were so kind when they taught me... And I still have a long way to go before I'm proficient. It feels awkward even saying I learned it in front of other people."

"That's not what I meant! Anyway, you're amazing!"

Sigunting patted his junior on the back.

If Professor Verdus ever collapsed after being struck by an assassin's blade someday, he absolutely wanted to tell the professor this fact!