Chapter 1310

Once the Skull Principal's anger had subsided, he thought he ought to give some other advice as well.

Come to think of it, annoying as the brat was, he was still his disciple, so he could not simply leave him alone.

"But there is one thing you're overlooking."

"I'm listening. What is it?"

"The punishment room, of course. Every good magic school has a punishment room."

"Create... a punishment room..."

Lee Han wrote it down for now.

"But how am I supposed to make a punishment room there?"

"Your thinking still isn't flexible enough. Anywhere can become a punishment room. A mage's passion is all that's required. I'm in a generous mood! I'll lend you a few knights. Use them to guard the punishment room."

"Principal...!"

"Hmph. I can do at least this much for my disciple."

-......

The Death Knight tried to turn its gaze toward the scenery in the distance.

'What a beautiful field.'

Given the season, it looked rather bleak and desolate, but compared with the conversation inside the carriage, it felt fairly warm.

When dozens upon dozens of carriages appeared over the field, the knight immediately reported.

-Master. We have arrived at Petroguard.

"Already? I haven't even finished passing all my teachings on to my disciple."

"Do not worry. There will be plenty of chances to hear them in the future."

"I'm proud of you, Wardanaz. When did you become so mature?"

-Master. Student Yukbeltire is flying this way.

"What?"

The Skull Principal, who had been praising his disciple's growth, turned his gaze outside in puzzlement.

Yukbeltire could be seen flying toward them on a silver flying disc.

"Why is she outside? She should barely have enough time even if she stayed inside Einroguard."

-She is clearly trying to extort research funds.

"Again? I have no idea what Bivle teaches those disciples."

The Skull Principal stared at Yukbeltire as though thoroughly sick of it.

Of course, Einroguard students did become more brazen and shameless as they advanced into the upper years.

-Principal. I have no wealth saved up, but I want to do some research, so please lend me ten thousand gold coins. Ack! Aagh! They lend it in old stories!

-Principal. I'll pay you back once I become an archmage, so please lend me a few ancient treasures. I need compensation to persuade some hostile dimensional beings.

-Principal. I've locked the juniors in a cave. If you give me gold coins, I'll release them...

But even among them, Professor Verdus's disciples boasted a particularly distinctive kind of shamelessness.

They would simply walk up and boldly demand gold coins without any preamble. They were highway robbers without knives.

No matter how he thought about it, Professor Verdus behaved exactly the same way, so the only conclusion was that the disciples had watched and learned from the professor (though the disciples themselves became extremely angry whenever anyone said they resembled Professor Verdus).

"There is no gold! Yukbeltire, with your magical skill you should be earning more than enough, so stop this already! Your friend belongs to the dark magic school, yet carefully saves every last coin to continue their research!"

"I did not come to request research funds."

Yukbeltire replied calmly. Anyone watching might have thought she had truly come with no ulterior motive whatsoever.

But the Skull Principal was not fooled by that attitude.

"If it's not a request, then what is it? Extortion? A loan? A donation? Theft? No matter what rhetorical trick you use, I will not give you any more research funds. Earn them yourself!"

"Is the junior from House Wardanaz inside by any chance?"

"Why do you ask?"

The Skull Principal answered without so much as moving an eyebrow.

As expected of the Lord of Einroguard, even his ability to control his expression was on another level. Despite his disciple being right behind him, he showed absolutely nothing.

"The truth is, something happened recently."

Yukbeltire began calmly explaining what had occurred.

Her manner was gentle, but a chilly coldness drifted through her voice. Inside the carriage, Lee Han thought to himself.

'...Surely she won't follow me all the way to Valdrogard?'

This semester at Valdrogard did not have only disadvantages.

He would be able to avoid the upper-year student whose pride had been wounded for a while.

Though he had no idea whether she would forget her grudge within a semester...

"I see. That's why you shouldn't have picked fights with every mage you met."

"I have never done that."

"Ah. Yukbeltire. You're Bivle's disciple. I used to think that way too, but..."

"I am not Professor Verdus's disciple."

"Yes, yes. Fine. I'll take that back. In any case, I once thought the same thing. If someone's magical skill is terrible, isn't pointing it out truly for that person's own good?"

The silver-haired princess nodded without even realizing it.

The Skull Principal was a vile and stingy mage, but in some respects, he occasionally said things that made a surprising amount of sense.

"But ordinary people tend to harbor resentment when they hear such things. If you're not strong enough to cut down every grudge that comes your way, you need to watch what you say and do."

'That lesson sounds a little strange.'

Lee Han tilted his head as he listened.

Naturally, he had expected the lesson to end with, 'So don't hurt other people's feelings,' but why had it turned into, 'So hold back until you're strong enough'?

"If you're that angry, make something better than the work of the bastard who stole your commission and put it on display."

"...I don't think that will be possible using Petroguard's method."

"Hm?"

The Skull Principal looked at Yukbeltire in slight surprise.

He had only heard that someone had impersonated Yukbeltire and completed the commission in her place. He had not yet heard what kind of commission it was.

"If it's Petroguard's method, are you saying you're not confident you can make something better?"

"I absolutely cannot agree with that statement, Principal. If we were to score them comprehensively, Einroguard's enchantment magic methodology is far more rational, and judging superiority or inferiority based on an accidentally exceptional Petroguard result is..."

Lee Han could not remember ever seeing Senior Yukbeltire speak that rapidly except when she was making excuses in front of Senior Diret.

The Skull Principal nodded as though he understood.

"Losers always become long-winded."

"How dare you say such a thing! ...What are you doing right now?"

"I'm writing a letter to Sir Erindarvel. They'll be delighted to hear that you lost."

"Stop that immediately!"

The enraged Yukbeltire launched magic at the Skull Principal, but the principal immediately blocked it and continued writing the letter.

In the span of only a few seconds, more than a dozen fierce magical exchanges flew back and forth. When the Skull Principal's paper bird finally flew away, Yukbeltire's fingertips trembled.

"How can you spread such a vile false rumor...!"

"It isn't particularly difficult, Yukbeltire. I'm strong enough to block your attacks while sending a letter. But what does your defeat in magical skill have to do with searching for Wardanaz? Don't tell me you're planning to borrow your junior's help to win?"

If that was the case, the Skull Principal intended to hurl scornful mockery at her.

He could respect kidnapping a junior for the sake of magical research, but he could not respect losing personally and then borrowing a junior's help.

What sort of disgraceful behavior was that?

But the answer he received was unexpected.

"That is not it. This is only my guess, but I think the junior from House Wardanaz may be connected to this."

"Gasp."

A startled intake of breath came from Lee Han inside the carriage. The Skull Principal gestured for him to be quiet.

"That's a bold guess. But as you know, Wardanaz spent this entire semester outside subjugating an evil god, and after it ended, he was locked in the punishment room."

"...He may have used the empty gaps in his schedule. Or perhaps he used a duplicate..."

Yukbeltire seemed uncertain about this part herself, and her momentum weakened slightly. The Skull Principal turned his head for a moment and asked.

"When you went out with Her Highness, did you do that too?"

"Yes."

"You really are talented."

The Skull Principal stuck his head back out the window. Yukbeltire asked with a suspicious look.

"Is someone inside?"

"There is a Valdrogard professor."

Yukbeltire immediately lost interest.

If it was a Valdrogard professor, there was nothing about such a person that could arouse magical curiosity.

"Of course Wardanaz is close with Her Highness Jowrin, but you said there was someone else at the scene, didn't you? What was the name? Stangdal?"

"Stedal of House Nago."

"Who was that again? I'm sure I heard the name last time too..."

Before the Skull Principal could realize it, Lee Han hurriedly whispered.

"I impersonated him. He's famous these days, so he seemed convenient to impersonate."

"If you're going to impersonate someone, impersonate people from Einroguard. Outsiders can make things complicated later."

The Skull Principal admonished his disciple with clear dissatisfaction.

There were dozens of upper-year students and professors at Einroguard he could impersonate, so why bother impersonating some outsider?

Yukbeltire did not give up and offered another hypothesis.

"The junior from House Wardanaz may know Stedal of House Nago. He could have put that person in front and secretly cast magic from behind..."

'Her deduction is sharp, but it's going in a strange direction.'

While Lee Han thought that, the Skull Principal replied.

"That's an excessively complicated theory. Is there really a reason to suspect Wardanaz that much? Did he refuse to help with your research or something?"

"The Petroguard mages suspected that the junior from House Wardanaz did it."

"......"

"......"

The Skull Principal and Lee Han, both struck squarely by that answer, were left speechless.

The Skull Principal turned his head back into the carriage and asked.

"What the hell did you do for those Petroguard bastards to say your name?"

"I don't know either! I even handled school matters for them..."

He had even persuaded the great artist to leave, so there should have been no reason for Petroguard students to hold a grudge...

'No. Come to think of it, didn't the Petroguard students respect that senior?'

Thinking about it again, a few Petroguard students might indeed have come to resent him for driving the great artist out.

It was utterly unreasonable, but mages were originally all like that.

"Why do you keep talking with the Valdrogard professor?"

Yukbeltire asked as though she could not understand. The Skull Principal shamelessly explained.

"The professor asked what Petroguard was."

"Ah."

"......"

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Even a Valdrogard professor wouldn't ask something like that!

'She fell for an answer that careless?'

"Anyway, Wardanaz isn't here, so keep looking. I have business to settle with those Petroguard bastards, so I'll be going."

The Skull Principal tried to drive the carriage into Petroguard.

But Yukbeltire followed behind.

"Why are you following us?"

"Because I am staying at Petroguard."

"...Why are you staying at Petroguard?"

"I became interested in methodologies for making inanimate objects move as though alive, so I am conducting a little research."

"......If I remember correctly, wasn't your research topic completely different?"

"I was always interested in it. I am only researching it briefly, so it is [N O V E L I G H T] fine."

"Don't lie! You're doing this because your pride was hurt after losing!"

The Skull Principal shouted in disbelief.

She barely had enough time even if she devoted herself entirely to preparing for sixth year, yet because of pointless pride she was researching magic she had never shown any interest in and that had nothing to do with her field.

Worse, Petroguard's approach was practically the exact opposite of Yukbeltire's, so there was little chance of producing meaningful results in a short period.

"What are you going to do about this?"

"Ah, no. I didn't know she would react like this either."

As the Skull Principal kept whispering into the carriage, Yukbeltire looked puzzled and asked again.

"What were you talking about this time?"

"We were discussing your ridiculous situation."

"With the Valdrogard professor?"

"...Yes. Why? Am I not allowed to?"