Chapter 1285

‘I just want to disappear like this.’

Lee Han fell into deep self-reproach and remained silent after tossing the bundle of papers onto the desk.

To think it had been a portrait of the Frost Giant King!

‘Right... The information wasn’t wrong.’

Thinking about it, none of the clues had been incorrect, which only made him more annoyed.

It was royalty, it was wise, and it knew Lee Han...

‘...Come to think of it, that applies to the Yaksha King too, doesn’t it?’

While trying somehow to find something positive about the situation, Lee Han eventually discovered one thing.

Wasn’t the Frost Giant King better than the Yaksha King?

It was a little infuriating that he had to comfort himself with something like this...

-The Frost Giant King. This is tremendous good fortune.

“......”

Lee Han glared at the hamster he had taken out and placed on the desk.

He had brought it out in case something unexpected happened and he needed advice, but he was already regretting it.

Unaware that the mage of House Wardanaz was considering whether or not to sentence it to punishment on the running wheel, the hamster squeaked away.

-There are plenty of worthless portraits. To draw the king of a powerful giant race from among them is something only a mage born with extraordinary luck could accomplish.

Surprisingly, the hamster was trying to flatter him in its own way.

Ever since the young prince disappeared, the way Lee Han looked at the tree spirit in his staff and the hamster had become extremely sharp.

In truth, from their perspective, it was quite unfair.

It was not as though they had sacrificed the prince. The prince had decided everything entirely on his own!

But people’s hearts were not rational. Both of them knew very well that making excuses like that in front of Lee Han would only make his gaze more murderous.

‘If he hears this praise, his pride will swell and his anger will subside, right?’

The hamster looked at Lee Han with a crafty gleam in its eyes.

This seasoned former magical criminal hamster could toy with a mage using nothing but its tongue.

SNAP!

-Aagh!

“Are you making fun of me right now?”

-No, why??

The hamster, struck by a sunflower seed, genuinely could not understand.

What had been wrong with what it just said?

“The Frost Giant King has been following people around and pestering them for ages. How is getting that person’s portrait supposed to be lucky? Did my master’s painting disappear because of some ridiculous idea like that too?”

-......

The last part was not even logical. The hamster was dumbfounded.

-Wait. When you say the Frost Giant King kept following you around and pestering you, are you talking about challenging it and earning its recognition?

The hamster doubted its ears.

In all its life, it had never met anyone who described the achievement of earning recognition from a powerful being of another dimension like that.

The frost giants strongly preserved the customs and bloodline of the ancient giants, and as such were warlike and revered strength.

To challenge the king of such a race and earn recognition was something one could truly take pride in. It was incredibly difficult for such a young mage to accomplish something like that.

And the fact that the Frost Giant King had continued to show interest afterward meant that the challenger’s potential was that exceptional...

SNAP!

-Agh!

“Recognition or whatever, because of that Frost Giant King, not only the other frost giants but even flame giants go berserk wanting to fight me whenever they see me. I’m worried the rumor might have spread to the other giants too.”

-That’s... normally...

The hamster wanted to say that there was no such thing as glory without pain.

All glory required a painful process.

If one wanted to obtain the mysterious wisdom possessed by the frost giants?

Naturally, one had to overcome the giants’ challenges.

There was no way that Wardanaz did not understand such a simple principle. Wardanaz himself was currently bowing and scraping under the Skull Principal in order to gain the Principal’s wisdom, wasn’t he?

Fortunately, the hamster did not say that far. If it had, it would definitely have been dragged onto the running wheel.

“Normally what?”

-Giants are just like that... If you want to steal the frost giants’ Authority, you have to play along with them.

“...I have no intention of stealing their Authority.”

-What are you talking about? If you had no intention of doing that, why did you challenge them?

“......”

Lee Han tried to answer, then gave up.

Compared to being a mage who somehow ended up challenging the Frost Giant King, saying he had challenged it to gain Authority somehow sounded less insane.

‘I should answer Gainando.’

When he grabbed the bundle of papers again, he saw Gainando’s desperate pleas being written one after another.

-Lee Han! Please come back! There are giants outside!

-From now on, I won’t secretly steal snacks from the food storage, I won’t slack off when preparing reagents in Black Dark Hall, and I won’t summon undead in White Tiger Tower and run away afterward either!

-That was you!? You bastard! Because of you, I couldn’t sleep at night and had to search for the undead!

“......”

-Calm down. I was surprised and couldn’t answer for a moment.

-Lee Han! I knew you wouldn’t run away! I knew you wouldn’t run away!

-For someone who claims he believed that, you’re repeating it an awful lot...

-Everyone, stop. So what is the Frost Giant King saying?

Gainando looked away from the bundle of papers and toward the portrait.

The Frost Giant King was inside the painting, and although it merely sat there without any particular expression, that did not lessen its majesty.

If anything, its cold, chilling dignity seemed to surge even more strongly. Gainando lowered his head, unable to bring himself to meet its gaze.

-Is the challenger ready to introduce himself?

“Ah... Yes...”

-It seems the challenger was unable to come here. You, mage. Serve as the challenger’s messenger and mouth.

“You mean I should read it out loud?”

-That is correct.

“If that’s all, I can do... Mmph?!”

Gainando felt the bundle of papers suddenly enter into him. The Frost Giant King’s Authority had merged the bundle of papers with Gainando.

-Now we can speak comfortably. Challenger.

“...Yes... Well... Hello.”

‘Wow. This is seriously creepy.’

Salco and Ratford stared at Gainando with strange expressions.

Hearing Wardanaz’s voice come out of Gainando’s mouth was unbelievably awkward.

The Frost Giant King sharply rebuked him.

-Surely the King of the Frost Giants told the challenger! Do not grow complacent after a single challenge, but refine yourself further and come at me again. Yet what is this state now? Have you become lazy?

“......”

Lee Han could not answer.

Not because he was reflecting on the sharp criticism, but because he was simply dumbfounded.

‘Is he insane?’

How many years had it even been since they met, for the king to make a fuss about his progress being slow? Even Einroguard’s professors would not go that far.

Gainando seemed to feel the same thing and struggled as though trying to protest. When the messenger tried to interfere, the Frost Giant King glared at him as though annoyed.

-I will not forgive worthless words. Go on, speak!

“L-Lee Han has done plenty of things! He even subjugated an evil god...”

Lee Han tried to stop Gainando, but his friend had already spoken.

And in truth, there was no need to stop him. The Frost Giant King already knew.

-I know. The evil-god subjugation could be judged fairly impressive. The fact that you did not break through alone and instead deployed an expeditionary force is a minor flaw, but commanding subordinates is also the ability of a warrior.

“......”

Lee Han sighed deeply.

The dimensional realms were supposed to be an infinitely vast and distant place made up of countless dimensions, so why did rumors spread so quickly?

-However, if you become complacent because of that subjugation and grow lazy, Challenger! It may have been better not to carry out such a subjugation at all.

“I agree with that.”

Lee Han agreed with the Frost Giant King’s criticism of the subjugation.

He was not sure about anything else, but he felt he could agree with that part.

But just as Lee Han had interpreted the words however he pleased before answering, the Frost Giant King also interpreted his answer however it pleased.

The king shot a piercing gaze through the portrait.

-Since you agree, I feel the need to spur the challenger onward. Who here is the mage the challenger cherishes most?

The Frost Giant King asked the messenger, Gainando.

Gainando hesitated for a moment, then immediately pointed at Ivanna.

“That person!”

“What? Huh? Hey. Don’t tell me!”

Ivanna’s instincts, honed through smuggling, immediately warned her.

-Then receive this!

“Wai—”

Before she could finish speaking, bitter frost surged up from beneath her feet and turned the White Tiger Tower student into an ice statue.

-Hidden within this ice is the king’s Authority. If the challenger unseals the ice and discovers the Authority, have the challenger challenge me again!

“(Let me out!)”

Ivanna moved her lips from inside, but the Frost Giant King’s Authority was indeed powerful.

Unlike ordinary ice, it did not melt or break from mana or impact.

Unlike his friends at the scene, Lee Han was only hearing what was happening, so he had not yet fully grasped the situation.

Thinking someone had been hit, he urgently shouted.

“Who got caught? Gainando?”

“Gainando’s fine, Lee Han.”

“Salco? Ratford? If both of them are fine, then...”

“Senior got caught.”

“...Why??”

At the obvious question, everyone looked at Gainando. Even Ivanna, trapped inside the ice, glared at the junior.

Gainando answered with an awkward expression.

“I didn’t know it would cast magic that strong.”

“Well... Can’t be helped.”

“Hmm... I suppose so.”

The two friends thought about it, then simply gave up.

Come to think of it, she was not even from the same tower, and they were not close...

Only Palga shouted in alarm.

“We can’t just leave her like this!”

“Don’t worry, Senior. If it’s Lee Han, he’ll quickly uncover the secret and release the ice.”

“N-no. How are we supposed to know when that’ll happen and wai— Your Majesty! Please show mercy!”

Palga shouted toward the Frost Giant King.

But this merciless being with ice flowing through its veins did not so much as blink.

Unless one was a worthy challenger who had passed the trial, one could make no demands of the king.

-Mercy does not make a mage stronger. Only trials make a mage stronger.

“No... That...”

Palga wanted to say that Ivanna was not particularly close to the junior, but worried that if he did, one of the other juniors might be frozen instead.

Ivanna cursed.

“(Hey! Is this really the time to worry about the juniors!)”

Fortunately, Palga could not hear her. The ice summoned by the Frost Giant King’s Authority even blocked a mage’s telepathic speech.

-Seeing that weak reaction makes me think one person is insufficient. Mages, speak! Name the teacher the challenger cherishes most!

“......”

“......”

For a moment, the students experienced the miraculous sensation of their thoughts perfectly aligning and resonating without any magic whatsoever.

Everyone exchanged glances. Even Ivanna, trapped inside the ice, managed to exchange looks with them.

And they shouted simultaneously.

“Professor Verdus!”

***

“So that’s why we brought her here like this.”

“......”

Lee Han stood in the corridor of the punishment-area cells, staring at the frozen senior with a complicated expression.

He really was experiencing all kinds of things in life!

“What about the Frost Giant King’s portrait?”

“We brought that too, but it’s empty right now. Wardanaz. I think it went off to find another target. Profe—”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Salco. I didn’t hear anything.”

“Indeed. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I heard anything either.”

Ivanna was impressed by the extraordinariness of the second-years.

Sending an assassin after a professor and then acting that shamelessly afterward was not easy. This year’s second-years really were on a high level overall.

“So... Do you think you can release her?”

“I don’t know... Wait, now that I think about it, do I really need to?”

Lee Han suddenly became puzzled.

Thinking about it, if he undid this, the Frost Giant King would know, wouldn’t it? Then he alone would lose out.

The senior inside became furious, but Salco and Gainando strongly agreed.

“That’s definitely true.”

“Right. Everyone has to take care of their own life.”

“Student Lee Han, are you there?”

The door at the top of the stairs opened, and Professor Garcia entered.

Lee Han immediately scolded his friends.

“How can you say something like that when a senior from the same magic academy is trapped? Do you really think it makes sense not to release her!”

“......”

“......”