Chapter 1280

“Urgh...!”

After suffering under the surveillance of a friend who could see a thousand li away even from inside the punishment area, Gainando nodded a short while later.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s move.”

“????”

Ratford and Salco blinked.

Could Wardanaz have cast some kind of illusion magic on this prince bastard remotely from inside the punishment area??

“What was that just now? What did you do?”

“What? I said let’s move.”

“No... Until just now, you were going on about whether Wardanaz was watching us or not, so why did you suddenly come to your senses? It’s scary!”

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it even if we worry.”

Gainando instead looked at Salco as though he were the strange one.

They had already checked whether there was surveillance around them or not, and now there was nothing more they could do.

All that remained was to accept their fate.

“......”

“...Are all the Blue Dragon Tower bastards like that, Ratford?”

“I-I’m not really sure either.”

The two were even more shocked by how easily Gainando accepted it.

Just what kind of tower was this...?!

“Hey. I can hear everything, you know? And I checked earlier because Lee Han sometimes puts surveillance on us.”

Gainando told the two of them about something that had happened in Blue Dragon Tower.

Whenever he secretly hid with the other friends to play mage cards or the magical yut game called Mado Cheoksa, Lee Han strangely often came barging in.

When they later asked him about it, Lee Han told them that he had placed invisible surveillance spirits in the lounge.

“That’s why I checked earlier too, just in case there was one.”

“...Ratford, is there really something like that? I’ve never heard of it.”

“As far as I know, Lord Wardanaz isn’t close with spirits, so I don’t think he could do something like that.”

The two whispered so Gainando could not hear.

No matter how they thought about it, that sounded like a lie from Wardanaz.

Rather, wasn’t there probably a spy among the members who played with Gainando?

‘Wardanaz, you bastard. You’re really playing that prince like a fiddle!’

He was being watched, yet Wardanaz made sure he did not realize where the real surveillance was coming from.

As the leader of his own tower, Salco could only admire it. Moradi of White Tiger Tower was said to manipulate her friends skillfully, but Wardanaz was on an entirely different level.

And this Blue Dragon Tower prince bastard here was simply accepting it as though it were perfectly natural!

‘This isn’t the time for me to talk about other people. I was naturally following along too.’

Once his thoughts reached that point, Salco had no choice but to reflect on himself.

In truth, Salco was in no position to criticize Blue Dragon Tower students either. He was moving as though being manipulated by Wardanaz, who was not even there.

Perhaps there might even be a spy beside him...

‘Gasp!’

Salco suddenly looked at Ratford.

Come to think of it, Ratford was also one of the mages who was very close to Wardanaz.

Could it be...?

Ratford asked in puzzlement.

“What is it?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Salco shook his head. There was no way a diligent friend with such a strong spirit of service as Ratford would do something like that.

“Right. Let’s move like the prince said.”

As Salco walked ahead first, Ratford, who was behind him, smiled meaningfully.

***

Einroguard had many underground areas.

There was an underground mine area, an underground section beneath the lake, and even an underground section beneath the mountain range, but...

...if one had to choose the most complicated and chaotic maze among them, it would be the underground beneath Einroguard’s main building.

Above all, there was no end to the underground beneath Einroguard’s main building.

The students would often whisper that probably even the Skull Principal himself did not know what lay on the lowest floor.

The deeper one descended, the more something kept appearing.

That was Einroguard’s underground.

That was why, in their first year, the students had rarely gone below the first underground floor.

Only strange bastards like Wardanaz fearlessly descended past the second and third underground floors. Ordinary students had no reason to go farther down unless something happened.

That was why Gainando’s group immediately became wary when they discovered other students.

“People!”

“Are they really people? They’re not undead pretending to be people, are they?”

“...Prince, did something happen to you?”

Salco was taken aback by the strangely specific suspicion.

Had some kind of undead that imitated people appeared in the dark magic school?

“N-no. Lee Han told me to suspect things like this first...”

To be precise, Lee Han had said, ‘Don’t trust them first. Be on guard first,’ but Gainando had reinterpreted it however he liked.

If Lee Han had heard him, he would have smacked him on the back.

“What? Who are you bastards?”

It seemed the other side had noticed Gainando’s group as well. Seeing the swords at their waists and their clothing, the group realized that the other party were upper-year students from White Tiger Tower.

“That senior is... Senior Palga of House Ukim. The one next to him is Senior Ivanna of House Esta.”

Black Tortoise Tower students were, as a rule, the most well-connected among the students of the four towers.

That was only natural, considering that merchants who kept Einroguard’s logistics flowing, starting from the black market, were gathered there.

With the exception of unusual cases like Wardanaz, most of Einroguard’s major commercial players came from Black Tortoise Tower.

Because of that, Salco and Ratford immediately recognized the faces of the two seniors.

Gainando asked tensely.

“If they’re from White Tiger Tower, aren’t they armed robbers with swords?! Shouldn’t we attack first?”

“Mm. That’s not entirely wrong. But those seniors are on the milder side.”

Salco also basically thought of White Tiger Tower students as armed robbers with swords, but the situation was different right now.

First of all, the fact that the two in front of them were third-year students bothered him. Their side had 2.5 second-years, while the other side had two third-years. No matter how he thought about it, they were at a disadvantage.

Besides, wasn’t this the fourth underground floor? He could hear the cries of monsters he had never heard before coming from somewhere, so he did not want to fight.

Fortunately, the two seniors were not unreasonable people.

Senior Palga was a member of the Dueling Club and valued honor, so he was not the kind of person to pick an unnecessary fight with juniors, while Senior Ivanna was a notorious smuggler in White Tiger Tower and had a fairly mutually beneficial relationship with Black Tortoise Tower.

“I’m Tutanta, seniors! We have no intention of fighting!”

“What? So you were Tutanta? Why did you come down here?”

“Wouldn’t it be for the same reason as you seniors!”

“The marshlands?”

Salco nodded at the question. The two White Tiger Tower seniors checked their surroundings first without lowering their guard.

At Einroguard, one must never look down on someone just because they were a junior. In particular, some juniors possessed extremely lethal poison.

And even without going as far as such juniors, there were also bastards who put juniors out front and waited in ambush behind them. There was no harm in being cautious.

“...Doesn’t look like there are any others. Did you come down after hearing the rumor about the portrait too?”

“Yes.”

“You came down here during exam season?”

Ratford, true to being from Black Tortoise Tower, quickly began flattering them.

“You seniors are amazing too. To think you already finished your exams and came down.”

“......”

“......”

The faces of the two White Tiger Tower students stiffened. Seeing that, Ratford realized his mistake.

Could these seniors also...?

Gainando whispered beside him.

“Why would you say that! The seniors might have come down without taking their exams!”

“Please shut up, you prince bastard...”

Salco spoke through gritted teeth.

There was absolutely nothing to gain from provoking upper-year students from another tower.

Palga cleared his throat. As a senior, there was nothing good about discussing this topic at length.

“Mm. Something like that. So you’re planning to go deeper into the marshlands too?”

“That’s right.”

“You’d better give up.”

The other senior, Ivanna, who had only been listening to the conversation, spoke.

“We were just on our way back after giving up.”

“What? Is that really true?”

“It is. You’ll understand once you stand in front of the marshlands.”

Salco cautiously approached the marshlands with the others.

The muddy marshlands occupying the entire dark passage of the fourth underground floor were so wide and deep that the end could not be seen.

Naturally, many of Einroguard’s marshes were enchanted, so the group had prepared for that as well. Salco tried to summon the small boat he had brought by breaking a sturdy wooden figurine.

“...?!”

However, the small boat instantly sank beneath the marsh.

It was as if buoyancy did not exist and instead worked in reverse.

“See? It wasn’t originally this bad, but it got worse while we weren’t looking. I think you’ll have to find another route.”

There was a reason the two White Tiger Tower seniors had been trying to retreat.

The marshlands here had become several times harder to cross.

“Understood.”

“Right. Then...”

The two seniors, who were about to leave, stopped.

Instead of giving up and retreating, the juniors had begun whispering among themselves in front of the marshlands.

Seeing that, Ivanna clicked her tongue and shook her head.

“They won’t give up until they try it themselves.”

“Don’t be too hard on them. We were like that in our second year too.”

“Even when you tell them nicely, they don’t listen... What’s that?”

“?”

Palga turned his gaze at his friend’s remark.

The dwarf student from Black Tortoise Tower had taken out some kind of paper and was writing on it with a quill.

-What did you give that prince bastard? It says to open it?

-Lee Han did give me a pouch. Does it mean this?

“That, what kind of artifact is it?”

“What artifact... He probably had it for contacting a friend. It’s nothing special.”

However, something happened that made the two doubt their own eyes.

When the juniors took something out and scattered it, the surface of the marsh suddenly hardened enough to walk across.

-It worked! Let’s go!

“...???!!!”

***

“Thank you, Professor.”

Lee Han expressed his gratitude to the room next door.

If Professor Voladi had not given advice before Gainando left, their progress might have been blocked at the marshlands.

“I didn’t know the marsh over there periodically prevents people from approaching. How did you know?”

“I used to train there often when I was a student.”

“......”

Lee Han paused.

Huh?

‘N-no. If it were truly dangerous, Professor would have stopped them.’

For a moment, he wondered whether it was really all right to send his friends to a place dangerous enough that Professor Voladi had gone there to train when he was a student, but on second thought, Professor Voladi was not such a coldhearted person.

If it were truly that dangerous, he would have told Gainando not to go.

“Professor. You don’t dislike Gainando or anything, do you?”

“Who is that?”

“?!!!”

Lee Han was horrified.

This was bad!

“You really don’t know!? The... blond friend who goes around with me...!”

“I’m joking.”

“......”

For a moment, Lee Han wanted to protest that he would never give him snacks or anything ever again, but held himself back.

With his friends currently underground, he could not afford to act insolent toward an expert on the underground.

“H-ha ha. Professor, your jokes are really... funny! So funny that I couldn’t answer right away!”

“I see.”

“...Professor, surely... Never mind.”

Lee Han felt uneasy, wondering whether Professor Voladi intended to make even more jokes from now on, but he could not bring himself to ask.

Surely...

Surely not?

***

-Wardanaz? Wardanaz? Nothing happened, right?

-Sorry. Professor Bagreg made a joke, so my reply was late.

-???

-??????

-Idon’treallyunderstandwhatyou’resaying.

-I don’t really understand either, so don’t ask me. I don’t know. Maybe Professor is in a good mood. Is it because the semester is almost over?

-Ah. Right. Professor gets released when the semester ends.

-Wardanaz doesn’t, though.

-......

-Lord Alpha, why would you say it like that!

-N-no. I wasn’t trying to tease him...!

-Everyone, be quiet. Salco. When you’re piloting the small boat through the marshlands, watch the ceiling. Apparently monsters sometimes come out of the ceiling.

“I see.”

Salco checked above with his friends. Sure enough, bat-shaped monsters could be seen hiding among the pillars and carvings.

“He got it right again...!”

“What the hell is that artifact?”

The two ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) White Tiger Tower seniors stared at the juniors with eyes full of questions.

Could that actually be the portrait of wisdom?