Chapter 1300

The Skull Principal with golden eyes, who had been walking quietly ahead, suddenly spoke.

“I’d like to hear about you while we walk.”

“What??? Why are you really acting like this?”

Lee Han was greatly flustered.

The Skull Principal was usually someone who only said whatever he wanted to say, not someone who suddenly listened to other people like this.

What was seriously wrong with him?

‘Is he doing this because he doesn’t want to go into Valdrogard? If not, maybe he’s practicing proper manners in advance before going inside...’

Now that he thought about it, Lee Han had spent so long at Einroguard that he had grown somewhat distant from ordinary banquet etiquette.

The Skull Principal was probably the same.

Perhaps this was a kind of rehabilitation training.

‘He’s restoring the manners that have deteriorated.’

“I understand. You mean you intend to prepare thoroughly even before attending the Valdrogard banquet. After all, once we attend the banquet, we’ll have to pretend to be interested even when listening to stories from people we have absolutely no interest in.”

Lee Han was already somewhat prepared thanks to regularly pretending to take an interest in the novel magazines Gainando rambled about, but there was a high chance the Skull Principal was not.

Listening to a disciple he did not particularly care about and pretending to be interested would make for decent rehabilitation.

At his disciple’s words, the Skull Principal immediately pointed a finger as though to say that was exactly it.

“Something like that. Very clever, aren’t you?”

“That compliment just now was excellent. The people of Valdrogard will never realize there wasn’t a shred of sincerity in it.”

“......”

The Skull Principal looked slightly taken aback, staring at him like a madman, but Lee Han did not notice.

“Then I’ll start from the beginning of vacation.”

“Good thinking. Explain everything in detail up to the moment we arrived here.”

Lee Han once again organized everything: the labor he had done at school since vacation began, the Skull Principal’s summons, and why they were entering Valdrogard.

Throughout it all, the Skull Principal kept nodding and listening intently.

He was concentrating so seriously that even Lee Han almost fell for it.

‘No. How is he this good at pretending to listen? Was he capable of this?’

The man was so sculpturally handsome that even when he normally did ridiculous things, he somehow looked convincing, and now that he was pretending to listen properly, he looked even more convincing.

Seeing that, Lee Han became certain.

‘The gold-filled purses of the rich people attending the Valdrogard banquet are ours!’

He did not think he had ever felt such a strong bond with his master as he did today.

Feeling a fierce competitive spirit, Lee Han looked toward the palace on the hill.

“I see, I see... Hmm. So you’re saying you’re my disciple?”

“??”

This question was too strange even by the Skull Principal’s standards, so Lee Han stared at him.

What was that?

The Skull Principal answered without the slightest sign of embarrassment.

“I tried speaking like someone from Valdrogard, disciple.”

“...Even this kind of humor? Principal, just how much are you planning to squeeze out of them?”

“Hohoho. I’m looking forward to that myself.”

“But Principal. You said earlier that you were going to bring a duke.”

“!”

The Skull Principal’s golden eyes trembled slightly.

A duke was not a creature one could hurriedly obtain in a situation like this.

They usually had the habit of hiding inside castles surrounded by numerous guards.

“So you were talking about a peacock after all?”

“...That’s right. Hoho. Clever as expected. Look at this.”

The Skull Principal extended an arm, his long sleeve hanging like a curtain, and a golden peacock blossomed atop his finger.

Lee Han was deeply impressed by the breathtaking transformation magic.

“You knew how to use magic like this too!? I thought you only used magic for killing people and sealing things away!”

“...You are definitely my disciple, right? Not my friend?”

“What? Why do you keep asking that?”

“Because pretending to be stupid will work better on the people of Valdrogard.”

At the Skull Principal’s words, Lee Han burst into laughter.

‘So even inside the Principal’s cold pieces of bone, there was this kind of sense of humor. I never knew!’

“This master-disciple relationship seems a little different from the one I had in mind...”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

As they walked up the slope of the hill decorated with flowers and ice sculptures, the cold winter wind wrapped around the two of them.

Then they spotted a couple beneath a tree, affectionately holding hands.

The two lovers were talking with troubled expressions, as though they had run into some sort of problem.

“I’m telling you, buying the townhouse here in the capital is better...”

“No. Buying a cramped townhouse on the outskirts of the capital would just make life too difficult. Let’s buy the ranch near the city of Ileinas instead. It’s close to Valdrogard too, so it’ll be easy for our friends to visit.”

‘Even their worries are so Valdrogard-like!’

Lee Han had to work to suppress the contempt rising from deep inside him.

He could not pick a fight in another magic school’s territory.

At that moment, the Skull Principal stopped walking.

The two students, encountering for the first time a stranger who gave off such a noble aura, looked up in surprise.

“Is something the matter?”

“Pardon the intrusion. I happened to overhear the two of you talking. Would you mind if I offered some advice?”

“Ah... yes! We’d like to hear it.”

Even when a complete stranger offered them advice, the Valdrogard students neither became suspicious nor wary.

At Einroguard, the first response would have been, ‘What are you scheming?’

While Lee Han’s thoughts wandered elsewhere, the Skull Principal began explaining while pointing at the catalog.

“This is merely my humble opinion, but buying this townhouse right now would not be a very good choice. The flow of gold around it is blocked, so its future prospects are poor. This ranch, however, is different. Looking at next year’s climate, the surrounding region will need more horses and cattle. If that happens, the ranch should profit greatly as well.”

‘No. That’s amazing. Can foresight magic tell you even something like that?’

Lee Han was startled.

Foresight magic was fundamentally a form of magic with limitations.

It was not a kind of magic that could simply tell someone how to make money in the future.

And yet the Skull Principal was using that magic to read the future with precision.

‘Then why does he always say he has no money? ...Could he have been lying?’

Lee Han suddenly became suspicious.

Could it be that the school supposedly having no money was a lie from the Skull Principal, and somewhere underground there was a mountain of hidden gold coins...

“Th-that’s... incredible, isn’t it?”

‘Oops.’

At the Valdrogard student’s reaction, Lee Han realized something.

Lee Han knew that the Skull Principal was an archmage, so he would believe him even when he suddenly said something absurd like that.

But to the Valdrogard students, it would look like a complete stranger suddenly spouting strange nonsense.

Naturally, they would become suspicious and find him dubious, right?

“But I feel certain that meeting like this must itself be a kind of omen and revelation! We’re mages too, so we can tell!”

“......”

Lee Han could not understand his own feelings.

‘It’s good if the other side accepts it, so why am I angry?’

Perhaps it was because they were using omens and revelations from foresight magic in such a strange way.

Suddenly trusting a strange mage they had just met was not an omen or revelation.

It was simply stupidity.

‘If they acted like that at Einroguard, they’d lose their entire fortune in less than a minute.’

“You both have good eyes. I knew you would listen to me. If you buy the ranch, you’ll need to find animals for it. Do you already have somewhere in mind?”

“Not yet.”

“Then I’ll help you. Would you write down your address?”

“Thank you so much! Thank you!”

Receiving a genuinely grateful farewell, the Skull Principal slipped the contact information into his clothes.

Lee Han asked in confusion.

“Why did you take that? ...Y-you’re not planning to plunder the students, are you?”

Einroguard students might have been skilled at theft, but they still had principles.

When invited to Valdrogard, stealing silverware from inside the palace was acceptable, but following a Valdrogard student back home and robbing their family estate violated all sense of righteousness.

‘And by ordinary Imperial law, it’s also a crime.’

“Now you’re the one making jokes.”

“What? That wasn’t a joke—”

“The reason I took this is because this paper is imbued with the aura of gold.”

The Skull Principal lightly flicked the paper with a finger as he spoke.

“The townhouse in the capital they mentioned earlier had no aura of gold around it. But the ranch had good fortune. This paper is the same.”

It was likely that enormous amounts of gold could be earned simply through the rights to supply animals to that ranch.

Perhaps the ranch was enormous, or those students had extraordinary status, or there was some other reason hidden behind it.

Lee Han was even more shocked and shouted,

“You can do something like that with foresight magic? I want to learn it too!”

Of all the magic the Skull Principal had ever told him about, none had ever sounded as powerful or attractive as the magic he had heard about today.

How could magic like this exist?

If he properly learned even this one spell, he would never have to worry about gold coins for the rest of his life.

Lee Han imagined himself idly grabbing fistfuls of gold coins and throwing them into Professor Verdus’s face whenever he was bored.

-Hahaha. Professor. You said you needed gold coins, didn’t you? Take them!

“That’s impossible. It’s an Authority obtained only by sacrificing several forms of magic... I can’t really recommend it to a mage.”

“How did you overcome the penalty, Principal?”

“We’ve reached the palace. Disciple. Let’s go inside.”

At the palace entrance, the Skull Principal greeted them naturally.

The chief attendant, who had been waiting after receiving word, was startled and hurried over.

“Y-Your Excellency! I heard you were coming, but to actually see you like this is truly an honor!”

“I’m pleased to see you as well.

You were... Simind of House Belfar, weren’t you? House Belfar was... yes. Famous for metalwork.”

The chief attendant nearly fainted.

For the Imperial Spirit Chancellor to remember the status and family of someone who merely worked at Valdrogard...

It was so shocking that it almost felt like a dream.

In truth, the Imperial Spirit Chancellor’s eccentric temperament was quite famous.

“An... an... an... an honor!”

“There’s no need to go that far. Be at ease. By the way... it seems your family has discovered a new gold mine... the location is... never mind. Ah. And don’t tell anyone else that I’ve arrived yet. I’d like to enjoy the beautiful scenery of this palace.”

“Y-yes!”

After patting the chief attendant on the shoulder, the Skull Principal memorized the location of the gold mine he had just read from his mind.

Lee Han let out an admiring exclamation.

“Principal. I’m genuinely impressed. I didn’t realize you had prepared this thoroughly.”

“Hoho. Really? This is only the basics.”

Even if one possessed a mountain made of gold coins, one must never overlook a single gold coin lying right before their eyes.

Without that kind of obsession, such an Authority would be impossible.

With golden eyes, the Skull Principal once again looked over the scenery of the palace.

The aura of gold was truly blazing fiercely in every direction.

There was so much of it that he could hardly tell where to begin.

He did not particularly favor coercive methods, but wealth on this scale could not be taken through any other means.

A true merchant had to know how to resort to force when necessary.

As the Skull Principal considered what magic to use, he glanced at the disciple beside him and was greatly startled.

An explosive aura of gold was now pouring from his disciple, something that had definitely not been there before they entered this palace.

It did not lose out even when compared to the other places around them.

‘What is this?’

For this disciple to possess the value of such immense wealth.

He was curious why that aura had suddenly erupted.

“Your Excellency! Your Excellency! You’re here!”

A mage came rushing over in a panic.

The Skull Principal spoke with a light note of reproach.

“I’m quite sure I said not to tell anyone...”

“My apologies. But the chief attendant wasn’t the one who told me! When I came down, I heard Your Excellency had already passed through. I had originally intended to come down and wait for you.”

“And why were you planning to do that?”

“Your Excellency, you’re being mischievous. There can only be one reason, can’t there?”

The mage gave an awkward, bitter smile.

“I sent you a letter asking to invite your disciple as a professor at Valdrogard, even if only for one semester. If you would only agree, whatever compensation you ask...”

“I see. So that was it. Hohoho.”

“???”