Chapter 1299

“I wasn’t cursing you with my expression. I also understand why Valdrogard is necessary.”

“That is not the face of someone who understands at all. Wardanaz, I do understand how you feel. Those Valdrogard bastards have an exceptional talent for getting on people’s nerves. What makes it even worse is that they don’t even mean to.”

The Skull Principal spat the words out in a voice mixed with admiration and jealousy. As an expert at getting on people’s nerves, he was clearly feeling a sense of rivalry.

‘Come to think of it, honestly, the Principal wasn’t born with an innate talent for getting on people’s nerves. He’s closer to a self-made talent who reached this point through effort. Someone like Professor Verdus is the kind of person who was born a natural genius.’

Just looking at the young prince was enough to tell that the Skull Principal had no innate talent for it.

“But if the grand festival is held, Valdrogard has to participate as well. We can’t deny their symbolic importance.”

“And their purses full of gold coins.”

“Don’t read my mind. Insolent brat.”

The Skull Principal gave an order to the knights outside. It was an instruction to lower their altitude.

“Wardanaz, have you ever visited Valdrogard before?”

“No. Though I’ve seen quite a few of their students.”

“I see. For reference, I’ll tell you this in advance. Even if Valdrogard’s territory is blessed with magnificent scenery and beautiful mountains and rivers, and even if their lives look comfortable and peaceful, that is nothing more than an empty shell. While those fools drown themselves in every kind of amusement under the delusion that it is pleasure, true mages walk a lonely path in pursuit of the solitary but worthwhile secrets of magic.”

“......”

Lee Han stared at the Skull Principal in disbelief.

He could not remember ever hearing the Skull Principal speak this long except when mocking or teasing a student who had fallen into a trap.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to start considering transferring to Valdrogard at this point.”

“Your third greatest virtue is precisely that judgment that allows you to choose your nest wisely.”

The moment Lee Han answered, the Skull Principal praised him.

From the way he spoke, it seemed he really had been worried Lee Han might consider transferring to Valdrogard.

“You may look out the window now.”

“How extravagant could it possibly be... No, what is that!?”

“I already told you. You’re not allowed to transfer.”

The scenery of Valdrogard was so shocking that Lee Han barely heard the Skull Principal speaking beside him.

This was less a magic school than a palace.

Not only were there beautiful towers and palace walls gleaming gold, but their roofs were decorated with enormous gemstones of every kind.

And between the various palaces, elegantly dressed students with gentle expressions could be seen laughing and chatting pleasantly.

At Einroguard, students usually joined forces to fight contaminated creatures that had escaped from laboratories or fought among themselves over supplies...

In front of a fountain spraying silver water, an orchestra, minstrels, and actors invited by Valdrogard had gathered to put on a performance for the students.

‘...Do they not practice magic?’

Lee Han, who had unconsciously begun looking around, spotted a rhombus-shaped magic tower floating in the air and nodded.

Fortunately, it seemed there were people at Valdrogard who took magic seriously too. A magic tower designed to float like that was difficult merely to maintain, so it was hard to see one in places with insufficient magical skill.

“A floating magic tower. It seems there are mages at Valdrogard who are serious about magic after all. I suppose the upper-year students study there?”

“That’s a scenery tower the Valdrogard bastards commissioned from outsiders so they can look at the landscape when they get tired.”

The Skull Principal answered in a listless voice.

Lee Han nearly fell out of the carriage at the answer.

“Sc... Scenery? If they want to look at scenery, they can just ride a flying mount! We’re riding a carriage right now...”

“It probably couldn’t compare to sitting leisurely in a tower while listening to poetry and songs as they look around. Wardanaz. Don’t attack it. If you so much as scratch that magic tower, the dark magic school will have to spend a year without subsidies.”

“...I won’t. Why would I attack another magic school’s facilities?”

As he spoke, Lee Han quietly relaxed the hand gripping his staff.

The moment he heard the tower’s purpose and likely price, his instincts had made him tighten his grip on it.

‘I see. This place... really is closer to a monarchy or royal court than a magic school.’

Several palace-like buildings had been arranged beautifully, and between them were perfectly paved walking paths without a speck of dust, along with all manner of entertainment.

There were magic towers and libraries, but the magic here seemed closer to magic for interest and enjoyment than serious magic.

Lee Han shook his head when he saw that the pile of books students were carrying out of the library consisted of <Detective Toberiz Masterpiece Collection>. Not a single magic book was in sight.

The students, too, looked more like nobles in the classical sense than mages.

Thinking of it that way, Lee Han began to understand...

‘...Not at all. I just want to plunder all of it. Who knew I had such destructive desires inside me?’

Lee Han wondered whether the Skull Principal sitting beside him had infected him with some evil aura.

“Calm down, Wardanaz. It’s something every Einroguard student who comes to Valdrogard experiences.”

The Skull Principal spoke as though he understood his disciple’s feelings.

Any Einroguard mage who came face-to-face with the scenery of Valdrogard suffered from an intense urge to destroy and plunder.

Perhaps Valdrogard simply had terrible geomantic properties.

“Remove that murderous intent from your eyes and expression. The fledglings here might get scared and run away.”

“But I can sense a considerable amount of powerful magic from the school. What is that?”

“Sharp eyes. Correct. Valdrogard has powerful protective magic installed around it. Magic personally cast by His Majesty.”

“Surely not! ...Principal, have you ever plundered Valdrogard?”

‘As expected of the successor.’

The Death Knight driving the carriage was inwardly impressed.

An ordinary mage would have said something completely wrong, like, ‘Is this a sign of His Majesty’s goodwill toward the noble houses whose children attend Valdrogard?’ or ‘It must be a declaration that the Imperial magic school will be eternally favored and protected.’

But the successor immediately jumped to the hypothesis, ‘Did the Skull Principal plunder the place and force His Majesty to cast protective magic?’

It was quick judgment three steps ahead of everyone else.

“I didn’t. But that is a rather sharp guess. There are probably quite a few reasons for it.”

His Majesty had not personally cast protective magic on the other magic schools.

Einroguard was a place where ancient spells had been layered one atop another since antiquity, and its territory was managed by the greatest archmage in the Empire.

Not every magic school was on that level, but each had some of the Empire’s foremost mages maintaining their own territories and workshops there, so their defenses were superior to those of most fortresses or outer walls.

...Except Valdrogard.

Valdrogard did not even have walls.

‘How can they not have walls? How are they supposed to stop students from escaping? Ah. Valdrogard allows students to go out freely.’

Lee Han felt his fingertips tremble.

How could a school like this exist?

“The other magic schools are capable of protecting themselves, but Valdrogard is... Valdrogard. Otherwise, how do you think all that gold and those gemstones would still be intact?”

“I believe His Majesty made a wise decision.”

“Hmph. What a flatterer.”

“I learned from you, Principal.”

The master and disciple bickered until the carriage came to a stop.

Creeeak-

Once the carriage had completely landed, the two mages opened the door and stepped out.

The stable was lined with all sorts of expensive animals from across the Empire.

“A Sunsilk Turtle?! They ride that around?! How?!”

“Stop gawking at every single thing like some country bumpkin...”

The Skull Principal felt embarrassed for the first time in a long while.

Was this bastard doing it on purpose?

Whether he was or not, Lee Han kept shouting in a voice mixed with shock and horror.

“Could that bull possibly be a Foam Bull? A bull made of bubbles... That’s incredible!”

“It’s a useless beast only favored by wealthy collectors, so stop making a fuss and be quiet!”

At the Skull Principal’s words, the Valdrogard students in the stable gave him slight glares.

“Don’t listen, Testudo. You did nothing wrong. Let’s wash away the words of that rude person with clean water.”

“Taurus. You are the finest animal and the finest bull. That does not change just because you don’t participate in barbaric competitions like jousting matches. Come on. Let’s find another stable.”

‘Damn it. Even their names sound impressive.’

The refined and cultivated Valdrogard students did not pick a fight even after an outsider spoke rudely right in front of them. Instead, they simply chose to leave themselves.

If an Einroguard student had heard something like that, they would have immediately fired magic straight into the offender’s face.

Seeing that, Lee Han suddenly began to wonder.

‘Are we the barbarians?’

He had always assumed the Valdrogard students were barbarians and the Einroguard students were civilized, but for some reason, this thought occurred to him.

Could Einroguard students perhaps just be barbarians who happened to be good at magic...?

“Excellent work the moment we arrive.”

“You were the one who said it, Principal.”

“You must have seen plenty of rare demons at House Wardanaz, so why are you making such a fuss?”

“Are demons and those things the same?”

The difference between a rare demon and a rare animal was as follows.

If you tried to sell a rare demon at the market, Imperial guards would immediately rush over.

If you tried to sell a rare animal, wealthy people and collectors would gather around and pile up mountains of gold coins.

“I’m begging you, don’t act like this once we enter Valdrogard. No matter how great your reputation is, there are limits.”

In the Skull Principal’s opinion, the best strategy available to his disciple was to ‘keep his mouth shut and stand still with a melancholy look in his eyes.’

It was a strategy he sometimes made a few professors at Einroguard use as well, the sort whose personalities failed to live up to their faces.

His disciple was not as eccentric as those professors, but having spent so long at such a rough magic school, there were still reasons to worry by Valdrogard standards.

“If you start giving detailed and specific descriptions of subjugating an evil god in there, the Valdrogard students will have nightmares for months. Understood?”

“I understand. Don’t worry. I’ll keep my mouth shut and follow your instructions, Principal.”

Lee Han looked confidently at the Skull Principal as though wondering who exactly he was worrying about.

Honestly, he could tolerate hearing such concerns about social relationships from someone else, but hearing them from the Skull Principal was rather irritating.

Someone who knows that much goes around behaving like that?

“But hadn’t Valdrogard already promised cooperation?”

“I’ll explain it to your dull mind in three words. Banquet, great success, additional donations.”

“That isn’t three—”

“Then wait here for a moment. There’s a duke I need to bring.”

‘Did I hear that wrong?’

Lee Han doubted his ears.

...He must mean he was bringing something like a peacock as a gift, right?

Before Lee Han could ask again, the Skull Principal vanished in a flash with a knight.

Lee Han had no choice but to wait obediently.

If it were up to him, he would have gone back to look around the stable, but the Skull Principal’s earlier warning bothered him slightly.

‘Would my reputation at the gathering really drop just because I made a fuss over some animals in a stable? I suppose it could. Those wicked Valdrogard bastards.’

A short while passed as he remained lost in thought.

The Skull Principal appeared again ahead of him.

“You came back faster than I expected? ...Wait, what happened to the color of your eyes?”

Lee Han was startled.

At present, the Skull Principal was in a human form with such sculpted good looks that anyone passing by would glance at him at least once.

But in the brief time Lee Han had not been looking, the Skull Principal’s eyes had begun blazing gold.

‘Is this a trend at Valdrogard these days? The Principal really is serious about this. At this point, it wouldn’t even be an exaggeration to say he’s gone mad for donations.’

Lee Han almost felt a little respect.

The Skull Principal tormented students a great deal, but he was diligent when it came to things like this.

Perhaps that was why the students had not assassinated him...

‘Or maybe it’s because he’s too strong.’

“Where is that?”

The Skull Principal with golden eyes pointed toward the distant hill where the palaces were gathered.

At the abrupt question, Lee Han wondered whether this was some sort of test.

“What? It’s Valdrogard, isn’t it?”

“I see. Would you like to go together?”

“What?? No... well... Are you preparing something like a Valdrogard banquet right now?”

Instead of answering the question, the Skull Principal gestured for him to follow.

Lee Han tilted his head and started walking.