Chapter 1330

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Han, who had fallen into regret, frustration, lamentation, and various other emotions after hearing about the Frost Giants, hurriedly pulled himself together.

The fact that the Frost Giant King had been bothering him lately was actually a trivial matter.

The real problem?

That would be having a mage like Ragesa discover Lee Han’s current position.

“You just called him ‘Professor.’ How is that nothing, brat? What kind of crazy nonsense are you talking about? Did you somehow end up taking a professor position at Einroguard while I wasn’t looking?”

Ragesa asked the lieutenant with a puzzled expression.

Even as she asked, though, it felt rather strange.

'Would they really give a professor position to someone who’s only just becoming a third-year?'

It was enough to make her wonder whether some kind of professor rebellion or professor independence movement had broken out inside Einroguard while she had been away.

Unless things had become that desperate, why would they appoint someone who was only just entering third year?

“He’s a Valdrogard professor.”

“What?”

“A Valdrogard professor...”

“......”

Ragesa froze for a moment. Seeing that, Lee Han felt a faint spark of hope.

'Come to think of it, Ragesa is a wise and experienced mage. Maybe instead of laughing at her junior, she’ll ask what happened and comfort me?'

Ragesa burst into insane laughter.

The old mage laughed so hard that she threw the chain she had been holding onto the deck and rolled around on the floor.

“Valdrogard! Kihihi, Valdrogard! Valdrogard! The disciple of the Lord of Einroguard became a Valdrogard... Kihihihihi!”

'Come to think of it, even if Ragesa is a privateer now, she originally came from a pirate family. There’s no way someone like this would comfort me.'

Ragesa kept laughing for around ten minutes. She laughed so hard that even the lieutenant beside her grew embarrassed and avoided Lee Han’s gaze.

“I-is it really that funny, Admiral?”

“You’re not a mage, so you don’t understand how funny this is! What a shame. You can’t even appreciate this. Ah...”

Ragesa wiped tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. She almost regretted having no one with whom she could share the amusement.

“But why in the world did you become a Valdrogard professor? Did you do it to protest against Einroguard?”

“It’s a long story.”

“Hmph. Of course it’s long. How could it possibly be short?”

Becoming a Valdrogard professor required a long story. There was absolutely no way the circumstances behind it could be brief.

Ragesa tossed the empty rum bottle into the sea and pulled out a new one. Then she asked Lee Han,

“Want some?”

“...I’m fine.”

“You look like you need it. Kihi. All right. Tell me.”

With an expression full of spiteful anticipation, the privateer admiral urged him on.

Lee Han resigned himself and explained what had happened.

“...And that’s how it happened.”

“I see. At first I wondered what kind of insane reason there could possibly be, but hearing the whole thing, I can understand it in its own way.”

Sometimes emotion clouded reason.

That was what had happened this time as well. Respect for his master had clouded Lee Han’s judgment.

'She’s not wrong, so why does this feel so irritating?'

Lee Han thought inwardly at Ragesa’s explanation.

Objectively speaking, it was true that this had happened because he had trusted the Skull Principal too much, but having that described as respect somehow made him feel unfairly accused and resistant.

That wasn’t what it was...!

“It wasn’t respect. It was just trust in the Principal’s position...”

“That’s what respect is. So how are the Valdrogard students?”

“They’re very good.”

“You lie without even wetting your lips! There’s no way they’re good!”

When Ragesa mocked him again, Lieutenant Galvag, unable to watch any longer, stepped in.

Despite his fierce, scar-covered appearance, he possessed one of the noblest hearts among the pirates.

“A few Valdrogard students accompanied us aboard the ship, and after seeing Professor Wardanaz’s magic, they were deeply impressed and became very motivated.”

“He tricked them.”

“Pardon?”

“This brat tricked them. If he had shown them proper magic, there’s no way they would have become motivated. He must have cleverly shown them only the kinds of magic that would catch their interest! Am I wrong, brat?”

'As expected, she’s no ordinary person!'

Lee Han was greatly impressed.

As expected of a descendant of cunning pirates, Ragesa was sensitive to deception.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Playing innocent too... But I think your method is a good one. If you want to teach magic to those thickheaded idiots at Valdrogard, ordinary methods won’t work. If they did, they would already have been learning magic long ago.”

“They’re mages at a magic academy, yet they don’t learn that much magic?”

Lee Han had nothing to say to Galvag’s question.

Sometimes innocent remarks from ordinary people who had nothing to do with magic could wound mages deeply.

Questions like that one, or things such as, °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° “Why are you eating in such a hurry? Does Einroguard not serve meals?”...

“Kihihi. There are pirates who are terrible at piracy too, aren’t there? Same thing. Those people should rename their academy from a magic academy to a polo academy.”

“The trend changed again recently. Theater is fashionable now.”

“...The trend changes every year, so how has magic never once become fashionable?”

Ragesa looked disgusted.

Polo, horseback riding, mage cards, mage chess, literature, poetry, singing, painting, travel, mage cards, Imperial wine tours, theater—every possible trend came and went, yet magic never did.

In a way, that was impressive in reverse.

“Anyway, if you can bring even a single current of magical scholarship into Valdrogard, that would be quite an extraordinary achievement. I don’t know whether it would be a useful achievement, though.”

Lee Han pretended not to hear that. Continuing this topic would only put him at a disadvantage.

“What are the Frost Giant ruins?”

“Look over there.”

Ragesa pointed ahead with the bottle in her hand.

It was a gigantic iceberg like the ones they had seen several times on the way here, yet there was something unmistakably different about that iceberg.

A strange force of mana emanated from within, and if one stared intently into the iceberg, what looked like the entrance to some ruins shimmered like a heat haze.

“Those are underwater ruins left behind by the ancient Frost Giants. There should be all kinds of treasures inside, but the one that would interest you is probably the microcosm, right?”

Ragesa spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Just as what a freshman entering Einroguard needed was a sturdy, durable, warm cloak that could double as a blanket, what a mage of Lee Han’s level needed was a microcosm.

However, Lee Han shook his head.

“Actually, I don’t need a microcosm that badly.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? No matter how talented you are at magic, brat, you shouldn’t be able to cast high-level spells without the help of a microcosm.”

“I didn’t mean I don’t need a microcosm. I meant I’ve been offered too many microcosms lately.”

Lee Han told her about the things that had happened recently.

“Lately, whenever people see me, they all...”

“Make fun of you for being a Valdrogard professor?”

“...I’m not saying anything else.”

“No! Tell me. Honestly, don’t you have to watch what you say around professors and other mages?”

Ragesa comforted Lee Han with a warm and kindly attitude.

Of course, Lee Han was not fooled. The resentment from her laughing on the deck for more than ten minutes was still fresh.

“Lately, whenever people see me, they all recommend microcosms to me.”

“Well... that’s because you studied every school of magic, brat...”

It was logical enough that even the lieutenant beside them unconsciously nodded.

That was true, wasn’t it?

But naturally, Lee Han himself did not accept that.

“Ah, I didn’t know this would happen back then. Not a single professor mentioned microcosms.”

If someone had prophesied when he was choosing schools, “Two years from now, you will fall into microcosm hell,” he might have thought about it a little more carefully.

Ragesa nodded.

“Garcia didn’t advance as quickly as you did either, so it probably wasn’t something they expected.”

“That’s true.”

“And even if the other professors did expect it, they probably didn’t care because it wasn’t their problem.”

“...You really didn’t have to tell me that part...”

It was even more irritating because he could not refute it.

The other professors really did seem like they would have thought that way.

If a student studied every school, an Einroguard professor was not supposed to think, 'Hmm, that student studies every school, so I should be considerate.'

An Einroguard professor was supposed to think, 'Since that student studies every school, I should make sure mine takes priority.'

“I know microcosms are more difficult and unfamiliar than the lower-circle magic you’ve learned before, but don’t be too afraid. Just establish your priorities one step at a time.”

There was sincerity in Ragesa’s advice. Lee Han was slightly moved.

Whatever else could be said about her, when it came to magic, the advice of this great mage could be trusted.

“Do you have any advice regarding priorities?”

“Of course! Learn the microcosm magic I recommend before anything else.”

“......”

The emotion vanished instantly.

Lee Han stared at Ragesa with a gaze as cold as the freezing wind of the Frost Giant sea region.

Ragesa responded with the shamelessness befitting a pirate.

“What?”

“You just told me to establish my priorities one step at a time.”

“I did. But then you asked me what order would be best, didn’t you? Kihihi. So I honestly told you to learn the microcosm I recommend.”

“Is there a magical reason?”

“No? What magical reason would there be? Honestly, what difference does it make whether you learn the enchantment magic school’s microcosm first or the dark magic school’s microcosm first?”

“???”

Lee Han grew even more confused.

If there was no magical reason, then why?

“It makes me look good.”

“......”

“Don’t glare at me. This is a more serious reason than you think, so focus and listen, brat. Right now, you’re a genius drawing attention throughout the Empire’s magical community because you major in several schools, the disciple of the Lord of Einroguard, and a Valdrogard professor.”

“Why did you have to include Valdrogard professor...”

“I added that to remind you to stay humble. Even if you learn the magic of every school, you won’t use all of that magic equally. And even if you somehow did use it all equally, people would talk first about the magic that left the strongest impression on them.”

If Lee Han had mainly cast dark magic during the evil-god subjugation incident, people would remember him primarily as a dark mage. They would not carefully remember every kind of magic he had learned.

Lee Han understood that much, but he still did not understand why they were talking about this.

“That seems likely. But why does that matter...”

“If you, brat, learn the microcosm spells I recommend before the others, then people will think you especially respect me more than your other teachers.”

“......”

Lee Han was dumbfounded. For a moment, he thought she had to be joking.

“You’re seriously calling that a reason...”

“The other professors probably have similar reasons. Ah. Professor Verdus probably doesn’t. That one is probably thinking about increasing the amount of labor available.”

Ragesa’s words were certainly convincing.

Lee Han was not sure about the other professors, but there was a high chance Professor Verdus wanted to teach him purely so there would be more work they could make him do, rather than because of any desire for prestige.

'Somehow that sounds even more horrifying.'

“Since it won’t make much difference which microcosm you learn first anyway, you might as well start with the one I recommend. That’s why I called you here! Kihihi.”

“I’m dumbfounded because the reason is much more ridiculous than I expected.”

“Hmph. There are reasons in magic far more ridiculous than this. I bet there are even Einroguard professors wagering on which microcosm you’ll learn first.”

Lee Han did not argue.

Honestly, it sounded entirely plausible.

'As long as Professor Garcia isn’t doing it, I suppose it’s fine.'

“I’ll explain the microcosm magic left behind in those ancient ruins. You have a strong affinity with the water element, so you’ll be interested once you hear about it.”

“But I’ve recently had some bad history with the Frost Giant King...”

Only then did Ragesa exclaim as though she had just remembered.

“Right! I heard the Frost Giant King is hunting you down, brat?”

“...Where in the world did you hear that???”