Chapter 1328

“So there was a reason the Admiral thought so highly of him.”

“Keep it down. Outsiders often don't like hearing things like that.”

The sailors whispered among themselves.

Ragesa was an admiral and captain of a fleet famous throughout the Empire, but praise from her was not necessarily considered a good thing.

Admiral Ragesa was certainly an extraordinary person, but there were quite a few people who felt uneasy hearing things like, “From the way you handle things, I can see why Admiral Ragesa would think highly of you, haha.”

Unaware that such suspicious conversation was taking place behind him, Lee Han prepared his divination.

“Professor. Is it really all right to use divination already?”

Lieutenant Galvag asked with surprise.

In truth, the pirates here knew how to use this sort of foresight magic as well. Not because they were mages, but because of the artifacts they possessed.

Old silver coins blackened from being struck by lightning, navigational charts drawn with shells and bones, or compasses purchased from Oculoguard (which had to be replaced every year) were all such artifacts.

However, they did not use foresight magic carelessly.

That was because Ragesa had drilled it into their heads countless times that foresight magic was not omnipotent.

Accuracy was one thing, but if they abused it whenever they pleased, they might find themselves unable to use divination when it truly mattered, so they did not take out their artifacts lightly.

That was why it was honestly somewhat surprising to see Lee Han already preparing a divination.

'Wouldn't it be better to narrow down the location a little more before using it?'

“We've narrowed the range enough for it to be fine.”

Lee Han spoke as though there were no problem.

If Lee Han had one advantage over other foresight mages, it was that he did not have to cling to a single divination and could use them flexibly.

If this divination was blocked, he could use another. If that one was exhausted, he could use a new one.

It was an absurdly unfair strategy made possible as long as he could satisfy the condition of sacrificing an enormous amount of mana.

On top of that, Lee Han also used the restrictions employed by Oculoguard mages.

By reducing the number of times he used a divination, he could increase its accuracy.

This, too, was only possible for Lee Han because he had access to many different forms of divination.

'For the search right now, stone divination, leaf divination, spirit-coin divination, and mage cards should be useful. Four times should be enough to narrow it down.'

Alnoev, the Valdrogard student beside him, showed great interest when Lee Han began preparing one divination after another.

Among the various schools of magic, this student was especially interested in foresight magic.

“Professor. From what I know, if you use divination recklessly... especially several times in succession, I heard the mage can be seriously injured.”

“That's right. But if you diligently train in magic, you'll eventually be able to read the future while cleverly avoiding those dangers.”

“I see! If I train hard too, will I eventually be able to use divination several times in a row like this?”

“No. You must not imitate this.”

“?”

Alnoev was slightly confused by the professor's immediate answer.

All the more so because, until now, the professor had encouraged them by saying they could do anything when it came to magic.

“Y-you mean I can't do it now because I haven't trained enough, but I'll be able to later?”

“If you train diligently in magic, the range of magic you can use will broaden.”

“So that means I can?”

“No. You cannot. It's dangerous.”

“......”

Alnoev looked at him with eyes that seemed to ask, 'Then are you doing something dangerous, Professor?'

Lee Han felt troubled by that look.

'I never knew teaching could be this difficult...!'

He had only half-listened whenever the Skull Principal grumbled that he could not use dangerous magic because of the students, but now that Lee Han was in this position himself, it no longer felt like someone else's problem.

There were forms of magic Lee Han used naturally that he still had to explain should not be attempted by Valdrogard students yet (and perhaps ever).

This was different from coaxing them into diligently practicing basic magic. Since it concerned safety, he had to explain it properly.

“It's because of the amount of mana. I was born with an enormous amount of mana, but none of you were, so you may have to pay a much greater price for divination.”

“But from what I've heard, even with divinations that consume mana as the price, you can still be badly injured if you make a mistake. Isn't casting them repeatedly dangerous?”

“...Then you just don't get injur—”

“Pardon?”

“It's nothing.”

Lee Han cleared his throat.

He could not say, “Then just don't get injured,” in front of Valdrogard students. If he did, the students might actually get injured.

“Professor. Then if it's a divination that takes gemstones as the price, is it all right to cast it repeatedly?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it's dangerous.”

“But Professor, you—”

“Ah! A barghest over there!”

“?!”

After redirecting Alnoev's attention, Lee Han quickly cast the divination.

Since one had to concentrate while performing divination, it would not seem strange even if he pretended not to hear anyone talking to him.

As he read the future, Lee Han found himself reflecting a little on the magic he had built up until now.

'...Have I been using magic in a slightly strange way?'

Whenever he used it himself, the situation had always been urgent and necessary, so he had simply gone ahead and used it. But now that the time had come to teach someone else, he had nothing to say.

When the Valdrogard students asked, “It's dangerous, so why do you use it that way, Professor?” the only answer that came to mind was, “That's just how Einroguard is!”

The evasion he had just used worked because the Valdrogard students still did not know much about magic, but he might have to be more careful from now on.

'I should use the more dangerous forms of magic secretly. I should only show them magic that's safe to imitate.'

In truth, he could simply have resolved not to use magic in dangerous ways, but he could not bring himself to do that.

Lee Han had already grown far too accustomed to Einroguard's methods.

After using stone divination to determine the rough direction, leaf divination to gauge the distance, and spirit-coin divination to hear a prophecy, Lee Han finally drew a mage card.

The card showed mages from each magic academy gathered together in one place.

'Brawl.'

“?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

A brawl on the island where they had followed Ragesa's trail.

'Are the Valdrogard students and the sailors going to fight? No. There's no reason for that... Could there be other people on the island?'

***

Surprisingly, Lee Han's divination turned out to be correct.

As they narrowed down the location and approached, they found traces of another expedition.

The expedition, which had set up near a spring whose mana fluctuated strangely and flowed in reverse, reacted irritably when they spotted Lee Han's group.

“Don't come any closer!”

“Wait. Under Imperial law, ruins or phenomena like this cannot simply be monopolized—”

“I don't give a damn about Imperial law. Our expedition found this place. Come any closer and we'll attack!”

“Hah!”

Lieutenant Galvag let out a startled sound.

The other pirates reacted similarly. It had been far too long since they had encountered enemies brazen enough to say, “Let's settle this without the law,” right in front of them.

Normally, their enemies shouted things like, “Imperial law! Under Imperial law, you're not allowed to kill an enemy who surrend— I surrender! I said I surrender! Stop pretending you can't hear me!” rather than, “I don't care about Imperial law.”

“Are they insane?”

“If they're going to run their mouths about not knowing what Imperial law is, let's teach them. They'll learn once we throw them into the sea!”

Expeditions and adventurers who searched the Empire's frontiers and remote regions often dreamed of striking it rich overnight.

Because of that, it was common for them to arbitrarily monopolize places they had discovered first or block others from approaching.

The problem was that if they tried that against former pirates far more vicious and dangerous than themselves, they might personally experience exactly why Imperial law existed.

“Wait!”

Lee Han immediately stopped the sailors from drawing their weapons.

The sailors looked at him in confusion.

“Why, Professor?”

“If we attack them now, the Valdrogard students may develop a strange misunderstanding in the future.”

Specifically, they might come to believe that if they encountered rude enemies in a deserted place, it was acceptable to resolve the matter with magic.

Lee Han did not want the Valdrogard students thinking that way.

“???”

'What's wrong with that?'

Of course, the privateer fleet's sailors did not really sympathize with Lee Han's concern.

If you ran into rude enemies in a deserted place, wasn't it fine to beat them up?

“But Professor. Eight years ago, I met a mage from Einroguard, and when someone acted rudely, that mage beat the enemy like a dog—”

“They were probably an impostor.”

“......”

The sailors were dumbfounded, but did not dare argue with Lee Han and instead asked again.

“Then what should we do?”

“Let's split into two groups. Galvag, please take the Valdrogard students somewhere else for a moment. In the meantime, I'll attack that expedition.”

“......”

'Does being a professor really require going this far?'

The sailors thought inwardly as they followed his instructions.

They had truly never imagined that being a professor carried such heavy responsibility.

***

“Find the key to the spring! We can't keep hiding this forever!”

“The ones who went in first definitely have it. Hey! Open it! You have no right to monopolize this! Even under Imperial law—!”

The <Broken Bone Expedition> primarily operated in the southern seas of the Empire, searching old ruins left on islands and submerged remnants.

When they discovered a spring leading to another hidden sea region, they had initially been overjoyed, but that joy soon turned to sorrow.

No matter what they did, they could not enter the spring.

Worse, it seemed there were already people inside.

-You... idiots... morons... I'm telling you... if you come in... you'll die immediately...

Rather than being warned by the scolding voice coming from inside the spring, the expedition members only became angrier.

“What kind of lie is that? Even a child wouldn't fall for it! Get out here right now! Come out before we sue you in an Imperial court!”

“Hey. What happened to those other guys who came earlier?”

“Looks like they backed off. They must've gotten scared.”

“Just in case, make sure the magic is properly set up.”

At those words, the elf mage nodded. This third-circle elf mage was a seasoned explorer and often played an active role whenever the expedition needed magic.

“I've already set up four spells. There's the barrier preventing approach, and if someone breaks through that— H-how?!”

The elf mage recoiled in horror upon seeing attackers surging up from the side of the slope.

All the magic had been installed, so how had they approached this quietly?

Lee Han first subdued the opposing mage with telekinetic force, took the staff away, and immediately planted a foot on the mage's back.

By subduing someone this way, he could detect the opponent's mana flow or voice first and prevent any possible surprise spell.

At the same time, the sound of pounding drums rang loudly around the spring. The pirates, who had grown violent after their admiral went missing, swung their fists with vicious force.

“Still don't know Imperial law, huh?!”

“Aaagh! Let's settle this according to our own laws! The laws between explorers!”

In less than ten minutes, Lee Han and the sailors finished subduing the expedition.

The moment they were done, Lee Han immediately spoke.

“We're going to go back down and come up again. When we do, please negotiate with us as though nothing happened.”

“Excuse me??”

When the sailors glared at them with murderous intent, the expedition members hurriedly shouted.

“No, we're not saying we won't! We just don't understand what you're talking about...”

“We're going to go back down and come up again. When we do, treat us as though nothing happened. And cooperate properly with the negotiations as well.”

“...Understood...?”

Having gotten what he wanted, Lee Han politely asked for their cooperation, then vanished with the sailors like the receding tide.

The expedition members merely blinked, feeling as though they had just experienced a nightmare.

“What the hell was that mage?!”

“With how eccentric they were, they must be an Einroguard mage...”

A short while later, Lee Han's group came back up and introduced themselves.

“We're sailors from the southern privateer fleet, and these are a Valdrogard professor and students.”

“...?!!”

The expedition's elf mage was shocked.

To think the mage had been from Valdrogard rather than Einroguard.

'What is going to become of the Empire... Even Valdrogard mages are this eccentric and violent now...'