Chapter 1290

“That’s a good idea, actually. I was already feeling a little guilty toward Wardanaz.”

Salco readily agreed.

The consciences of Einroguard students had deteriorated considerably, but even taking that into account, they had received far too much help from Lee Han.

To ignore all of that, they would practically have to remove their souls.

“I think it’s a good idea as well. If a friend stays with him, he won’t be lonely during the vacation.”

When even Priest Tiziling of the Phoenix Tower spoke up, Gainando was completely cornered.

Gainando stammered.

“M-maybe Lee Han would rather have a different friend stay! I... I’m from the dark magic school, so I might not be much help...”

“Hmm. That might be true.”

‘That worked?’

Gainando was dumbfounded by Giselle’s reaction.

Even as he said it, he had thought he was throwing out a rather desperate excuse, yet his friends were taking it seriously.

Part of him wanted to shout that the dark magic school could be useful too, but if he did that now, there would be absolutely no way to back out.

Gainando swallowed his pride and decided to endure it.

“Then should I stay? I could put up a few buildings with the spare time.”

“I would be fine with it as well. If I tell the temple it’s for a friend, they’ll understand.”

“Well... I didn’t really want to go back north this vacation anyway. If I go, everyone will keep pestering me with questions about the evil-god worshiper incident. I might as well stay and prepare for third year in advance.”

“?????”

Seeing his friends volunteer one after another to stay behind, Gainando could hardly believe it.

‘A-are they serious? Maybe they’re lying? Maybe they’re just showing off because they think they won’t actually be the one who has to stay...’

Cold sweat trickled down Gainando’s back. Somehow, he felt as though he alone was complete trash.

And perhaps he really was...

“N-no! I’ll stay. The dark magic school can actually be applied in all sorts of different ways!”

“Is that really true? Wardanaz said something similar, but he takes classes from every school, so I couldn’t tell whether it was actually true.”

“What are you talking about?”

As Gainando and his friends gathered together and made a commotion, the other students came over as well.

The students were surprisingly willing to volunteer to stay during vacation for Wardanaz.

“Oh. This works out well! I was already worried about third year, so I should prepare in advance while getting Wardanaz’s help.”

“I was too busy this semester to do much club activity. Staying at school during vacation and doing it together wouldn’t be bad either.”

“But Ratford, weren’t you definitely in the Spatial Movement Club?”

“I’m not sure what you mean?”

“I want to do commissions together. There’s somewhere I’d like Wardanaz’s advice regarding summoning magic.”

The area quickly grew noisy, and before long an argument broke out. The students began fighting over who would stay and who should leave instead.

Gainando felt relieved, yet confused at the same time.

‘...Am I the only one living without thinking about anything?’

Everyone else was living far too diligently, talking about preparing early for third year or catching up on club activities.

Even Anglago, who had played mage cards with him just yesterday, was volunteering because he wanted to do commissions together!

“Enough, enough! This is never going to end. Hey. If all of you stay, you’ll just annoy Wardanaz. Stop for now.”

“What? Why?”

At Giselle’s words, Anglago protested as if he could not accept that.

Unlike the others, he had been planning to ask very conscientiously.

In return, he had even planned to hunt deer outside and bring some of the cured meat stored in the White Tiger Tower, so why would that be annoying?

“Does that bastard seriously have no conscience?”

“Plameng is a generous god, but even Plameng would probably throw a glass bottle at your face after seeing something that shameless.”

“All right. I get it!”

When criticism from students of the other towers immediately poured in from behind, Anglago had no choice but to concede.

Honestly, if several people stayed, Wardanaz might find it just a little annoying.

Anglago himself was a conscientious friend, but some of °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° the others were shameless bastards.

Giselle looked thoroughly fed up as even students she had never expected began gathering around and arguing that they would stay.

“Let’s make it fair. Exactly one person stays. We draw lots. No complaints, no objections, no redraws, nothing. Bring any of that up and it’s a duel. Anyone have something to say?”

The students gave a short cheer.

It meant they agreed.

The drawing was prepared in an instant.

Magically created lots poured into a huge jar, and the students crowded around it.

“Good. Then...”

***

“So you’re the one who ended up staying?”

“Yeah.........”

“Why didn’t you just ask someone else to stay in your place?”

Lee Han spoke while looking at his Imperial friend, who appeared to be the most miserable member of the Imperial Family.

Even when the dragon had been tricked by the Skull Principal into taking the Emperor’s throne, it probably had not looked that miserable.

If he hated it that much, why didn’t he just ask someone else to do it!

“That wasn’t the kind of atmosphere where I could do that!”

Gainando shouted mournfully.

He could still vividly remember what had happened a few days ago.

-The winner is... Damn it! It’s Gainando!

-What? Why is that prince bastard so ridiculously lucky?

-Is this really the power of true friendship? I thought he was just calling it friendship himself.

-I guess there really is something to it...

The glorious position that only one student among all the second-years could claim.

Gainando had drawn it exactly.

The students congratulated Gainando while looking at him with a mixture of jealousy and respect.

In that situation, Gainando simply could not bring himself to say, ‘Actually, guys, I didn’t want to do this. Will one of you stay instead?’

The moment he said it, he felt as though whatever dignity or self-respect he possessed as a human being would disappear forever.

“......”

Lee Han looked at his friend with a mixture of pity and exasperation.

What was wrong with this guy?

‘I never even asked him to stay...’

Lee Han had never asked him to remain behind, yet Gainando had practically dug his own grave three times deeper all by himself.

“Ugh... Lee Han. Tell me the others didn’t really want to stay either. Tell me they only went along with it because of the mood.”

“Sure, sure. I’m sure that was it. Who would want to stay during vacation?”

Lee Han casually agreed in a voice utterly devoid of sincerity.

To be fair, he could understand his friends’ reactions.

Lee Han himself had plenty of magic he needed to review or study in advance during the vacation (though admittedly that was because he was taking every school and was also attempting microcosm magic), so the others probably were not exactly free either.

This year’s vacation was different from last year’s.

The pressure of fourth year, faintly visible in the far distance, weighed heavily on a mage’s heart.

“By the way. Did you learn all the dark magic spells I told you to learn?”

“...Ah. Where did the professor go?”

Gainando cursed his friend inwardly and changed the subject. ℴ

Only three days had passed since then. How was he supposed to learn all of that in that time!

One day had been spent holding the feast and drawing lots, and the remaining two had been spent rolling around on the floor of his private room while cursing Einroguard.

“The professor was released since the semester ended.”

“What about the Oculoguard mage?”

“Paridim? Same thing. Vacation started, so Paridim went back to Oculoguard. Left a letter too.”

Lee Han pointed toward the now-empty punishment rooms as he explained.

“Come to think of it, Gainando, you are lucky. The solitary room Professor Bagreg used is empty now. It has all the facilities you’d need...”

“......”

For the first time, Gainando glared at his friend.

Being teased or mocked would probably have hurt less.

CLACK!

The sound of a door opening came from the top of the stairs, and Death Knights entered.

The knights looked puzzled when they saw Gainando standing in the corridor.

-Why are you here... Ah. You failed.

-Seems you came to the wrong place. This is the punishment area for professors. The punishment area for students who failed is elsewhere. Come. Follow us.

“...I didn’t fail!?”

Gainando became furious.

He had even taken his exams early and finished ahead of everyone else!

“I’m just staying! Because Lee Han might get bore—”

-What? Why would you do such a thing... Ah. Are you preparing for third year in advance? Truly wise. That is not something easily done.

The way the knights looked at Gainando suddenly changed.

They had thought he was a dark mage obsessed with short-term pleasures and living only for today, but apparently he was more dependable and capable of thinking about the future than expected.

-A fine decision! At last you’ve begun taking magic seriously. It was about time.

-The sweat you shed will never betray you.

“......”

Gainando, who had been about to say, ‘Because Lee Han might get bored,’ simply gave up and closed his mouth.

Lee Han intervened because it looked as though his friend might actually start crying if he left him alone any longer.

“But why are you here?”

-Ah. Heir. Vacation has begun, hasn’t it? You may come out now.

“?!”

Gainando was even more surprised than Lee Han.

“He’s being released!?”

-Not exactly. It’s closer to house arrest. During designated hours, you may walk around the academy grounds.

‘Ah.’

Lee Han immediately understood what the knights meant.

Come to think of it, any mage bad enough to be locked in a punishment area for professors would probably be either a professor or practically one, so there were bound to be quite a few things they still needed to handle during vacation.

That was why they were given walking hours during the vacation.

‘But wouldn’t anyone who wasn’t going to do their work simply not do it anyway?’

Someone like Professor Garcia would probably get all their work done even while locked up (though Professor Garcia would never end up down here in the first place), while Professor Verdus probably would not go do any work even if given walking hours.

“Lee Han, let’s go! Hurry!”

Worried that the knights might suddenly change the rules, Gainando hurriedly pulled his friend out.

“Calm down. The rules aren’t going to suddenly change... Actually, they might. This is Einroguard.”

When they climbed the stairs and stepped outside the professors’ punishment area, the familiar grounds of Einroguard greeted the two mages.

Endless mountain ranges, the main building packed with immense magic, knights flying through the sky...

Everything looked the same, except for one thing.

All the students were gone.

‘It’s quiet, like somewhere else. It used to be so noisy.’

Einroguard was a place where students chased one another while shouting for someone to stop, where failed magical experiments caused explosions or forest fires, and where people yelled fiercely to sell their goods.

This kind of silence was the furthest thing imaginable from this magic academy.

“Lee Han. Do you know what I’m thinking?”

“I think so. You’re thinking the school feels different from usual.”

“Huh? No. I was thinking I want to climb over the main gate and run away.”

“......”

Lee Han shook his head and continued walking. Gainando hurried after him and asked,

“So what are you going to do?”

“Stu—”

“Besides studying.”

“Hmm. I should inspect the places I couldn’t check while I was locked up, sort through the supplies and throw out whatever needs to be discarded... Come to think of it, with the upper-years gone, I might be able to raid their storerooms if I’m careful.”

“!”

Gainando’s mood improved slightly at his friend’s words.

Just thinking about having to spend the entire vacation in this hell had been depressing, but being together with his friend (and stealing things) made it different.

Maybe he really could endure it...

-Chase him! He’s escaping!

“I don’t need that damn skull-head’s graduation certificate! Let me out! I said let me out!”

-Calm down! Didn’t you clearly say this yourself? ‘From now on, if I say anything while I’m doing research, that won’t be what I truly mean, so please make sure to stop me’!

“Shut up! That wasn’t me! That was a fake me! Let me out! I’m not graduating! I said let me out! Damn it! I’m going to send a petition to the Emperor! Curse you, knights! Aaaagh! Curse this decrepit magic academy too! Curse magic! A curse upon all of it! Curse! Curse! Curse!”

-Then you should have prepared for graduation earlier! Why are you acting like this after failing? Come along quietly!

The knights dragged away a fourth-year student who had failed to graduate on the first attempt.

At the sight, Gainando went deathly pale.