Chapter 1293

At Lee Han’s shout, not only Professor Verdus but also the dark mages coming up from below looked puzzled.

What was supposed to happen now?

They got their answer immediately. Gainando shouted an apology and began swinging his staff.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Poison, blaze like flame!”

Although Gainando had said, ‘I don’t think that’s right,’ the moment the order came, he moved without hesitation. As Lee Han’s friend, this was hardly his first time doing something like this.

Gainando knew very well that in a crisis, the most important thing was to act first without hesitation.

Well-refined Murdercrow Poison scattered down the stairs, then transformed into flames with the spell and flared up violently.

It was fire-element magic derived from the poison element unique to the dark magic school.

Because it was difficult to extinguish by ordinary means, it was extremely useful for confusing or harassing enemy mages.

But the dark mages coming up from below were all highly experienced and extremely skilled.

They recognized the magic at once and stared in disbelief.

“Does this magic school set its guests on fire?!”

“What the hell did that crazy Professor Verdus teach his disciple?!”

Strictly speaking, Gainando was a student of the dark magic school, not the enchantment magic school, but there was no way the Descendants of Ahrak could know that.

Cursing, they began extinguishing the flames on the staircase.

Gainando fidgeted anxiously at the sight. He could already imagine how Lee Han would lecture him if they managed to put out the fire.

-Gainando! You can’t even set a proper fire?! Now I know just how lazily you’ve been studying! This is all because you never learned the dark magic I gave you!

‘Aaaagh!’

Of course, his opponents were the Descendants of Ahrak, one of the most prestigious dark-magic schools in the Empire, but Gainando failed to realize that.

He had to set the place on fire somehow!

“Dark spirit, be summoned and blind the enemy’s eyes! Revenant, charge and scatter them! Powder, form a pattern according to my command!”

“What a promising brat.”

The Descendants, who had extinguished the flames in an instant, watched Gainando unleash dark spell after dark spell and, rather than becoming angry, gave him looks that said, ‘Well, look at this one.’

At first, they had assumed he was simply insane because he was Professor Verdus’s disciple, but judging by the magic he used, he seemed to have quite an interest in dark magic.

In that case, setting the place on fire could be viewed with some leniency.

Dark mages were allowed to set fires now and then.

All the more so if the place belonged to Professor Verdus.

“You handle dark spirits pretty well! They’re nasty-tempered things, so keeping them happy can’t be easy.”

“Did you see that thorn revenant? Look at that shine. Must be feeding it nothing but expensive stuff.”

“Wait, that pattern... Remarkable! I’ve never seen that dark magic before. Did he draw a pattern with poison powder to create an illusion-magic effect? That purple is truly mysterious!”

After blocking Gainando’s trump cards, the dark mages began evaluating them one by one.

The undead summons, such as the dark spirit and thorn revenant, were impressive enough, but what surprised them most was the final technique.

Instead of merely using poison as a tool, he treated it like paint and drew a pattern in midair.

It could hardly be called efficient, but the method was original and creative.

“N-no! Stop blocking everything!”

“Well, of course we’re blocking it. You’re trying to set the building on fire...”

Driven into a corner, Gainando even pulled out a potion bottle he normally avoided using because Yonair would mock him if she caught him with it.

Just as he was about to throw the glass bottle, in which flames sloshed like liquid, the dark mages spoke first.

“Calm down. We didn’t come here to kill Professor Verdus.”

“What? You weren’t invited by Professor Verdus?”

Lee Han asked from above, his voice thick with suspicion.

For the Descendants of Ahrak to suddenly appear like this...

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed Professor Verdus had sold out the disciple in exchange for the secrets of dark magic.

“Why would I invite people like them?!”

Professor Verdus shouted indignantly, as if unable to understand.

Why would the professor invite despicable people who attacked guests at night?

At those words, murderous intent poured from the dark mages.

“You broke into our mage tower and tried to spy on our dark magic!”

“We really will kill you!”

It had not even been that long since Professor Verdus had been thrown out after sneaking inside to steal magic, and now they had the nerve to say something like that.

The dark mages were almost tempted to take back what they had just said about not coming to kill anyone and declare that they had, in fact, come to kill the professor.

‘Hmm. Looks like I misunderstood.’

Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.

Of course, the relationship between Professor Verdus and the dark mages had gotten even worse, but that was none of Lee Han’s concern.

At least it seemed the professor had not been trying to sell him out.

“Then what brings you here? No, more importantly, how did you even get inside?”

Now that Lee Han thought about it, the fact that the dark mages had entered Einroguard at all was strange.

They had probably been waiting outside the main gate to catch Professor Verdus, so how had they gotten inside?

“...We were allowed in after swearing not to harm Professor Verdus.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han could deeply sympathize with the frustration in the dark mages’ voices.

If he were in their position, he would probably be just as angry.

The thief who had broken into their mage tower was standing right in front of them, yet they had no choice but to forgive the professor because they lacked the power to take revenge.

‘I’m getting angry on their behalf. Is there no justice in Einroguard?’

“And the reason we came in is...”

The Descendants of Ahrak pointed at Wardanaz.

These elderly dark mages might hate Professor Verdus, but they had not crossed Einroguard’s walls merely for that.

Naturally, they had come to meet again with the promising talent who would brighten the future of the Empire’s dark magic schools, strengthen their relationship, and—while they were at it—invite him to their mage tower.

“Ah. So that was it.”

Lee Han immediately understood what they meant.

He had received invitations from various dark-magic factions when he went north last time, so it was not particularly surprising for these Descendants to visit him again.

He could not accept their offer, but their sincerity was still worth appreciating. Lee Han was about to apologize for misunderstanding them.

“I get it! You came to teach me magic!”

“......”

“......”

At Professor Verdus’s shout, the atmosphere turned cold again.

***

Fortunately, there was no bloodshed this time.

The Descendants of Ahrak thought extremely highly of Lee Han, and because of that, they respected his face as well.

In other words, when Lee Han said, ‘Please, the professor is insane. Just let it go this once,’ they restrained themselves and did not attack.

“Once again, I’m sorry, and thank you.”

“...It’s not your fault.”

The elderly dark mages sat around the table, sipping the tea Lee Han had served.

Professor Verdus looked around for their own teacup, but strangely enough, there were no empty cups left.

“Come to think of it, where’s the Ninth?”

“The Ninth? Who is that?”

“??”

The dark mages froze at Lee Han’s answer.

Huh?

“You’re saying you never met the Ninth? The Ninth went after you, saying they’d persuade you.”

“Yes. I’ve never met them.”

“?!!”

The elderly dark mages were flustered.

Then they immediately grew suspicious.

“Did the Ninth tell you to say that? That sneaky bastard. I knew it!”

“I told you we never should’ve sent that one!”

People were judged according to their usual behavior.

The Ninth Descendant of Ahrak had in fact been attacked by the wicked dark mage Professor Mortum and locked beneath Black Dark Hall, but no one suspected anything of the sort.

Instead, they suspected the Ninth had bribed Wardanaz and was trying to keep all the benefits for themselves.

“I truly haven’t met them...”

“And what would the Ninth even bribe him with? None of you can persuade Wardanaz either.”

Professor Verdus, sitting nearby, coldly pointed out reality.

The dark mages wanted to kill the professor.

“Haha. Why don’t we talk about something else?”

Lee Han hurriedly changed the subject.

The Descendants of Ahrak also nodded, deciding that continuing the conversation would only lead to trouble.

“That enchantment mage from earlier was fairly skilled in dark magic. Did you teach him?”

“What? Who... Ah, Gainando? Gainando is a student of the dark magic school.”

“!!!” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

The elderly dark mages stared at Gainando in shock.

No wonder they had found him somewhat likable.

He really was from the dark magic school.

“I knew it! Those other-school bastards can’t handle dark magic that well.”

“I thought he seemed decent from the first moment I saw him. That fire-setting technique definitely wasn’t his first time.”

“Hehehe. Thank you.”

Gainando was delighted to receive praise for the first time in quite a while.

He had thought nothing good would happen during vacation!

“How did you make that purple color earlier? It was truly mysterious.”

“Live another hundred years and we’ll invite you to become a Descendant of Ahrak.”

‘Is that actually a compliment?’

Lee Han wondered inwardly as he listened, but his friend looked happy enough, so he said nothing.

“To reach this level in your second year... You may be proud. But why was a student of the dark magic school in such a hideous and revolting place?”

They casually insulted Professor Verdus’s mage tower, but Gainando did not particularly care and answered honestly.

“Lee Han is seriously learning microcosm magic now, so I came to watch.”

“What?!?!”

“Microcosm magic?!”

CLATTER!

The dark mages shoved back their chairs, slammed down their teacups, and sprang to their feet.

Then they rushed toward Lee Han and surrounded him in a circle.

“You say you’re [N O V E L I G H T] seriously learning microcosm magic. Are you telling us you’re learning microcosm magic from an enchantment mage right now?”

“Einroguard doesn’t have just one or two schools, and it doesn’t have just one or two professors either, so why?! You’d be better off learning from that Mortum brat!”

‘Shouldn’t they be surprised first that he’s already learning microcosm magic?’

Gainando thought as he stole sugar cubes from the plates beside the dark mages’ tea.

He had expected them to react with something like, ‘What?! You’re already learning microcosm magic?!’

Instead, their reaction was closer to, ‘Of course you’re learning microcosm magic, but why are you learning the enchantment school’s version first?’

“What the hell has that greenhorn Mortum been doing to let you learn an enchantment microcosm first?”

“That disgrace of a dark mage! All he knows how to do is come to gatherings and brag about his disciple!”

The elderly dark mages erupted in rage and began criticizing the absent dark-magic professor.

The intensity of the insults was greater than Lee Han had expected, so he became slightly flustered and tried to explain.

“It just happened by chance. And it’s not as if Professor Mortum hasn’t taught me dark magic.”

“Tell us the dark-magic microcosms you know. Quickly!”

The Descendants of Ahrak pressed him without giving him room to breathe.

Their eyes burned with the desire to find some fault with Professor Mortum and damage his reputation.

“Pen... Pentagrammaton?”

“Pentagrammaton?”

Pentagrammaton, the dark-magic microcosm mastered by Diret.

At the name of that microcosm, the Descendants’ momentum eased slightly.

“If it’s Pentagrammaton... that’s not bad. Well... we can’t give it full marks.”

“For Professor Mortum, you could call it a decent choice. Not a perfect one, though.”

“You’re from House Wardanaz, so subjugating demons should be much easier for you anyway. Fine. How far has Professor Mortum taught you?”

Cold sweat ran down Lee Han’s back.

Beside him, Gainando tilted his head while chewing on a sugar cube.

“Wasn’t that Senior Diret who taught you? I don’t think Professor Mortum would teach you that.”

“I knew it! That useless bastard who only knows how to brag about his disciple!”

Lee Han sighed.

Why was Gainando so unnecessarily perceptive at times like this?