Chapter 1303

Realizing that the archmage and the knight were staring at him as if he were insane, the duke flushed.

“This is not begging!”

“That’s usually what people call begging... The students of this domain are quite shameless, but you’re no less impressive. Then again, considering you once stole something because you wanted the secret to an eternal life that didn’t even exist, I suppose you were shameless from birth.”

“I told you, that’s not what this is!”

Duke Ikalderen had learned many things in Einroguard’s underground, but he had not yet reached the level of an Einroguard student.

If Einroguard students were accused of begging, they would boldly respond, “Ah, yes. I suppose it is begging. Give me some more food, please.”

...But the duke’s pride would not allow him to accept being called a beggar.

“It isn’t begging. There’s a long story behind this.”

“You’re whining for someone to give you a meal and talking about some long story. You’re no different from a student going into the punishment area.”

“Listen!”

Duke Ikalderen angrily forced them to hear his explanation.

When Princess Yukbeltire, the rudest, most despicable, and most wicked member of the Imperial Family, had mocked and tormented him, the mage of House Wardanaz had lived up to his reputation and character by serving him a warm meal.

After returning to his own domain, the duke had tried every delicacy from land and sea, but none of them had tasted like that meal.

“I want to find that taste again. Well? That’s different from begging, isn’t it?”

“......”

-Master. You can’t hit him. He only just finished getting ready...

When the Skull Principal stared at the duke with an expression that plainly said, “So what?”, the Death Knight whispered nervously.

Truthfully, the knight felt much the same way.

Duke Ikalderen apparently thought his story of “I went without food for a few meals, so it tasted good when I finally ate” was moving and touching, but it was nothing of the sort.

“So what?” was genuinely the only response that came to mind.

“If we’d starved you a few days longer, you might have written a poem about it. If you want Wardanaz to make you a meal, ask him yourself. If you do your job properly, he might do that much for you. Let’s go! We’ve already wasted too much time.”

The Skull Principal kicked the duke and drove him outside. The servants inside the villa lowered their heads and pretended they had seen nothing.

Around Valdrogard, even a fairly extravagant carriage had a hard time standing out.

There were so many students from wealthy and prestigious families that people even said there was nothing more foolish than trying to show off with a carriage.

And yet, even in a place like that, Duke Ikalderen’s carriage was exceptional.

Several sharp-eyed nobles and Valdrogard students exclaimed in admiration or bowed their heads respectfully.

Just as Duke Ikalderen was about to let out a proud snort, the Skull Principal kicked him in the shin again.

“Just make it go faster, you slow bastard.”

“...Faster!”

Soon they arrived at the stable, and the Death Knight got out to look for Lee Han.

A short while later.

The Death Knight came rushing back out.

-He’s not here!?

“What?”

-I asked the others, and they said he already left for Valdrogard...

The Skull Principal was bewildered.

Leaving someone behind because they had kept him waiting was not like his disciple.

That was more the sort of thing the Skull Principal himself would do.

What was going on?

“Did he leave first because we kept him waiting too long...?”

“P-preparing for a banquet normally takes that long! Stop! Don’t hit me!”

When the knight moved to strike him, the duke shouted hurriedly.

The Skull Principal gestured for the knight to stop.

“Enough. If he left first, we just have to catch up. Wardanaz wouldn’t act without thinking.”

“Hmph. For someone with neither blood nor tears, you certainly trust your disciple.”

“Ah. I do. Especially when it comes to deceiving people in uniforms, Wardanaz is better than I am. He knows how to cunningly make the other side lower their guard.”

“Nonsense! Wardanaz wasn’t that kind of mage. Don’t describe your disciple as though he were like you!”

Duke Ikalderen protested in disbelief.

The Skull Principal pointed at the duke and spoke to the knight.

“See that? He really is good at deceiving people, isn’t he? The man he fooled is even taking his side.”

-Isn’t that true deception?

The duke could only grind his teeth at their conversation.

This was genuinely the first time he had met opponents he could not beat with strength, authority, or words.

Meanwhile, the carriage raced toward the palace on top of the hill.

When Duke Ikalderen saw the scenery of Valdrogard glowing brightly even in the darkness, his anger faded without him realizing it.

The beauty was worth it.

“It really is beautif—”

-If only we could steal a few of those towers floating in the air.

“Exactly.”

‘Barbarians who are only good at magic!’

It was a barbaric conversation utterly devoid of aesthetic sense or sensitivity.

The duke felt lonelier than ever.

“We’re here. Announce us.”

-His Excellency Gonadaltes, Lord of Einroguard, and Imperial Duke Ikalderen have arrived!

“...No! Who introduces people like that?!”

Duke Ikalderen shouted in outrage.

He had never heard a noble introduced like that in his life.

At the very least, shouldn’t one spend ten lines or so explaining all the titles, family connections, and status the noble possessed so the other party would understand who they were dealing with?

The Skull Principal spoke with irritation all over his face.

“Shut up already. I’ll throw you out of the carriage.”

“......”

At the much sharper and more threatening demeanor than he had shown back at the villa, the duke froze without realizing it.

“You’re the reason we’re late, and you’re still running your mouth? Something... something is strange.”

“??”

When the Skull Principal muttered quietly afterward, the duke grew even more frightened.

Was this mage perhaps starting to go mad?

“W-what’s strange?”

“I don’t know. But my instincts as an archmage are telling me that something feels off...”

“Your Excellency! When did you go out?”

“...What?”

The Skull Principal froze at the chief attendant’s shout as he approached.

“If you had told me, I would have assigned servants to accompany you.”

“Say that again. Who went out?”

“What’s wrong? You clearly came in earlier, Your Excellency. You even remembered who I was and which family I came from...”

“......”

The Death Knight had never seen its master’s face turn so pale.

BOOM!

The Skull Principal immediately blasted Duke Ikalderen’s carriage apart and leaped out.

“This is bad. It’s a duplicate.”

-A duplicate of you, Master?

“Yes. Nothing else explains it. I thought something felt strange...”

The Skull Principal glared at the chief attendant, who still had not understood the situation.

“You idiot! You’re the chief attendant, and you let yourself be fooled just because someone treated you kindly? And you call that fulfilling your responsibilities?!”

“...????!”

“Let’s go!”

The Skull Principal launched an enormous spell into the air.

It was both a declaration of war against the duplicate and a delaying measure.

I’m here now, so if you don’t want to die, stop whatever you’re doing and run!

The magic spread across Valdrogard’s domain reacted violently, but the Skull Principal ignored it and slipped smoothly through the resistance.

A violent torrent of mana began circling around the hills of Valdrogard, forming a prison that no one could escape.

-Master. What sort of duplicate do you think it is?

“Hard to say. If it deliberately came to Valdrogard... it must be greed for wealth.”

-Then that’s fortunate! Isn’t it the weakest in terms of combat ability?

“That makes it more troublesome. It knows it’s weak, so it’s good at running away.”

Besides, the golden duplicate was currently with Wardanaz.

The fact that Wardanaz had come to Valdrogard first, despite that being completely unlike him, made it one hundred percent certain.

-Don’t worry. The successor was fooled once before, so he must have noticed quickly this time!

“...I don’t think so...”

The Skull Principal groaned.

He had thought this before, but like a proper Einroguard student, that turncoat Wardanaz often rebelled against the principal’s authority and was easily swayed by the words of people standing on the opposite side from the principal.

Especially considering what had happened with the duplicate of desire for honor, he could only be called an extremely treacherous and cunning bastard.

“And of all things, it had to be the duplicate of greed for wealth.”

-Gasp.

Even the Death Knight, which usually defended Lee Han whenever possible, felt its nonexistent heart drop at that observation.

Of course, the successor had always shown himself to be calm and capable.

But if the opponent was the duplicate of greed for wealth?

What if he lowered his guard and got deceived?

-...That won’t happen! Please trust the successor!

“I’d like to. The bastard... has already escaped.”

Having taken control of the area around Valdrogard, the Skull Principal clicked his tongue.

As expected of the slippery bastard, it had clearly fled the instant he arrived.

“Are any palaces missing? Towers?”

-No! It seems it failed to steal anything!

“His Majesty personally placed magic here, so it wouldn’t have been easy. That’s fortunate. ...Did any Valdrogard students get fooled?”

-It doesn’t seem so. Even if the duplicate fooled a few Valdrogard students, would that produce enough gold to satisfy it?

“That’s true. Then what did it actually do?”

-Maybe it didn’t manage to do anything!

“I sincerely hope so.”

***

“......”

-......

The real Skull Principal and the Death Knight stood speechless in horror after meeting the principal of Valdrogard.

“...So you’re saying Wardanaz is going to be a professor at Valdrogard this semester?”

“Yes! Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“Didn’t you think that was strange? Didn’t anything feel off?”

“I was surprised, but... Your Excellency, you definitely told me this before. ‘If good fortune rolls right up in front of you, grab it. Don’t doubt it.’”

“I said that when I accidentally received reagents that were supposed to be donated to another magic school! I didn’t tell other people to go around using that saying!”

“???”

Amaset thought today was a truly strange day.

A genius from Einroguard had agreed to serve as a professor at Valdrogard for one semester, and then the Skull Principal had suddenly come barging back in and started saying things like this...

“By the way, Your Excellency, why have your eyes returned to normal?”

“......”

-Master. You must endure! You can’t cause a disturbance at Valdrogard!

“Ughhh.”

The Skull Principal groaned at this trial he had not faced in quite some time.

A mage’s life was supposedly about overcoming one trial after another, but this was rather worse than he had expected.

“I leave for a few hours and... this insane...”

“Ah. Principal. Why have your eyes returned to normal?”

Lee Han, who had returned after briefly greeting the people of Valdrogard, spotted the Skull Principal and greeted him.

The Skull Principal let out a sigh so deep it seemed the floor might collapse.

***

A short while later.

Everyone involved in the incident had gathered in one place.

Lee Han sank into deep self-reproach.

How had he failed to notice?

People said that when someone fell for a scam, they got taken in as though bewitched, but this was still a bit much.

Yet no matter how deeply Lee Han sank into self-reproach, he was nowhere near as anxious as Duke Ikalderen.

The duke, who had effectively become guilty of high treason, kept his head bowed and could not even raise it.

“To think it was Your Excellency’s duplicate. I never suspected it at all.”

“Of course you didn’t. Did you notice that I surrounded the domain outside with magic earlier?”

“Something like that happened?”

“...Forget it...”

The Skull Principal realized there was no point in mocking the other man.

This was someone who did not possess the slightest pride as a mage in the first place. What was the point of taunting him with magic?

“I’ll be frank, Mahaset.”

“It’s Amaset.”

“...Amaset. No matter what, you can’t use a student who is only just entering his third year as a professor.”

“Your Excellency. But... Professor Wardanaz has learned several fifth-circle spells. Surely that is more than enough qualification!”

“......”

You already went around telling people that too?