Chapter 1331

At this point, Lee Han was seriously starting to suspect there might actually be some gathering where all the major figures of the Empire except him got together.

'Could there really be one?'

While he wondered whether there was some way to secretly join it, and what alias he should use if he did(Gonadaltes seemed a little too dangerous to use there), Ragesa explained.

“The Frost Giant I met last time was talking about it enviously.”

“......”

It was a far more trivial and ridiculous reason than he had expected.

The Frost Giants were warlike beings who loved things like challenge, glory, and honor, and they held Lee Han, who had been acknowledged by their king, in considerable respect.

The problem was that the way they expressed that respect was twisted!

-So you are the challenger who faced the King!

-No, I...

-Then I shall defeat you fair and square and steal that glory for myself! As the possessor of that glory, accept my challenge! Wait! Where do you think you’re running?!

“Being acknowledged by the Frost Giant King isn’t something that happens often. It’s a good thing for you, brat.”

“If it’s such a good thing, Lady Ragesa can take it instead. Ah. I just had a good idea. When I meet the Frost Giant King, I’ll tell him I lost to Lady Ragesa. What do you think?”

'He’s really gotten venomous. I should stop teasing him.'

Ragesa reflected a little.

The news that he had become a Valdrogard professor had been so funny that she might have teased him a little too much.

With an ordinary student, she would not have cared at all whether they got spiteful or not, but if the disciple of the Lord of Einroguard got spiteful, there was no telling what might happen.

Inside that brat slept a madness that even pirates who had been through every imaginable hardship would not dare try to fathom.

“I wasn’t saying that to tease you. Listen.”

“I wasn’t saying it to tease you either. Then I’ll assume Lady Ragesa is taking it off my hands.”

“...Just listen first, will you? The Frost Giant King is a dimensional powerhouse who inherited the legacy of his race. He’s not someone you can underestimate.”

Ragesa hurriedly spoke in an attempt to placate Lee Han.

However, Lee Han did not lower his suspicions. Instead, he stared at Ragesa with eyes full of wariness.

What was she going to say to make fun of him this time...

“A confrontation with a powerhouse like that can give you many things. Just how many Authorities and spells must have existed throughout the history of the Frost Giants? Among them, there must be ancient spells that are difficult to reproduce with the Empire’s current magic. If you think about all the rewards waiting beyond those trials... Well, brat. Does being pursued by the Frost Giant King still seem entirely bad to you?”

“Yes. I listened to everything, so I’ll assume Lady Ragesa is taking it.”

“......”

Come to think of it, the mage in front of her was someone whose problem was that there was already too much magic he had to learn.

Telling a mage like that, "Aren’t you excited about what you might gain from the Frost Giant King’s vast legacy if you fight him?" was never going to get a good response.

If anything, it would only burden him more!

“It probably wouldn’t matter even if I agreed. The Frost Giant King’s acknowledgment isn’t something that can simply be transferred like that.”

“Tch.”

“Brat, you aren’t thinking something like, 'I should still try transferring it at least once,' are you?”

“!”

Lee Han was startled.

How?!

Lieutenant Galvag, who was standing beside them, thought to himself.

'They’re both absolutely relentless.'

Did mages really have to be this fierce and persistent even during a simple conversation?

Though this did seem a little unnecessarily fierce and persistent...

“Look at that microcosm magic over there. You see the traces of cold spiraling around above it, don’t you?”

“Yes. Judging by the way it pulses, I think there’s something inside connected to the mana. Probably an octagonal structure...”

“...I wasn’t telling you to sense that much from this distance, but I understand that your detection ability is impressive, brat. That should be the microcosm. I’ve seen similar records before.”

Ragesa let out an expectant Kihihi as she pulled a thick notebook from inside her clothes.

It was filled with all kinds of scribbled notes. <How to Pay Less Imperial Seizure Tax>, <Location of the Treasure Ship Gonadaltes Sank Long Ago?>, <Top 10 Rum Distilleries in the Empire This Year>, and so on.

The great pirate must have noticed Lee Han’s gaze, because she covered it warily.

“I’m not teaching you the secret to paying less seizure tax.”

“That’s truly unfortunate.”

“You can’t take your eyes off it, can you? Right? Even I think it’s an incredible method. Let’s see... Ah! Here it is. Hyperborea! A land formed from the Frost Giants’ cold, filled with blade-like winds. When you open a pocket connected to that land, the trapped winds come surging out...”

'A cold-element microcosm?'

Considering the Authorities the Frost Giants mainly wielded and the environment of the dimension where they lived, it was not particularly surprising.

It was difficult to grasp completely, but Lee Han nodded for now.

“Mages who handle the water element well are often good with the cold element too. Brat. You’re like that as well, aren’t you?”

“Certainly... I suppose I am.”

Just looking at spells Lee Han could cast, such as the fourth-circle spell <Pengerine's Cold Element Clone>, there were actually quite a few cold-element spells among them.

“Conversely, once you become skilled at handling the cold element, it often creates a synergistic effect when you use the water element as well. If you obtain this microcosm, the water-element magic you use might rise another level too, brat.”

“Oh...”

Lee Han felt slightly as though he was being tricked, but the explanation was more convincing than expected, and he found himself listening despite himself.

As expected, the experience of a great pirate who commanded a privateer fleet was nothing ordinary.

“So that’s why you’re after those ruins?”

“No. The biggest reason I’m after those ruins is the jewels the Frost Giants left behind. I’m not some magic academy principal. Why would I go through all this just to obtain a microcosm and record it!”

“......”

“Anyway, now that you’re here too, brat, I suppose it’s about time we started going in.”

The old pirate carefully examined the iceberg and the ruins trapped inside it as she spoke.

The entrance was obviously sealed tight. Lee Han wondered how she intended to get inside.

“Are you going to blast it open with the ship’s magic cannon?”

“No.”

“Then did you bring some separate fire magic or scrolls? Or an artifact that can melt it, even if slowly...”

It would cost quite a lot of gold, but those were also possible methods.

They could fire scrolls continuously and force their way through with sheer firepower, or deploy stationary artifacts and steadily melt the entrance.

But Ragesa shook her head again.

“What kind of pirate wastes money like that? Don’t say ridiculous things.”

'You use money just fine when you need to...'

Lee Han grumbled inwardly, then asked again.

“Then what is it?”

“Originally, I planned to wait for the wind and current to align so I could maximize the power of the magic.”

Lee Han immediately understood what Ragesa meant.

This great pirate was a powerful archmage who had learned numerous secret spells passed down through her family, and above all else, she knew how to use the unique(and dangerous) magic known as pirate magic.

Magic that did not control the mana flowing through the surrounding environment, but instead amplified that flow until it ran wild!

It was unstable and dangerous, but if used properly, it could produce even greater power than ordinary magic.

A pirate of Ragesa’s caliber would be able to accurately read the flow of mana moving above and below the sea, so with proper preparation, she might indeed be able to open that entrance.

“That sounds like a good method.”

“Kihihi. It actually isn’t a good method. You have to keep waiting until the timing is right. There’s a truly good method.”

“What is it?”

“You use pirate magic again, brat. Just like last time.”

“......”

Lee Han recoiled in disgust.

The last time Ragesa had forced him to learn pirate magic, things had not ended particularly well.

'Didn’t I use that once and destroy the building corridors, ceiling, and everything else?'

Even now, it made him dizzy remembering the Einroguard upper-year students talking afterward.

'What bastard destroyed the corridor?'

'Probably the Principal being malicious again.'

“After I got off the pirate ship that time, you told me not to use this magic again for a hundred years.”

When teaching him the magic, Ragesa had persuaded Lee Han with all kinds of sweet talk.

-Right now, you’re steering a ship across the sea. Got it? You’re the captain of a pirate ship.

-I asked what you want to do! A pirate captain doesn’t ask, ‘Pardon?’! A pirate captain decides for himself!

-The sea wind is definitely there. Come on, come on, come on... You can feel it!

...It had been a little rough to call it sweet talk, but persuasion was persuasion.

However, when Lee Han unleashed far more destructive power than expected and smashed the building corridors, ceiling, and walls apart, Ragesa firmly ordered him to disembark.

“Kihi. Brat. Do you know why sailors get off a ship? So they can board it again. Now. Look at that iceberg and think about what you want. Just like you wanted to smash those brats apart last time, think that you want to smash that entrance too!”

Just because someone told him to, Lee Han could not immediately ignite hatred in his heart.

To begin with, Lee Han was not normally someone overflowing with grudges.

When the wind of mana swirling around them continued moving without any particular disturbance, Ragesa decided this would not work.

She needed to draw out this mage’s venom.

“Now. Imagine that iceberg is Valdrogard.”

“......”

“If it doesn’t feel enough like Valdrogard, imagine the Lord of Einroguard’s duplicate who sold you off! There! The Lord of Einroguard’s duplicate just appeared on the horizon! He’s piled the gold he got for selling you all over the deck!”

The lieutenant and the Death Knight watching from the side thought inwardly.

'Isn’t that a little childish?'

'No matter how important emotional state may be for primitive magic, with persuasion that crude...'

WHOOOOOOOOSH-

When the wind of mana suddenly intensified, Ragesa stomped her foot on the deck with a hearty laugh, as though she had known it would work.

“I knew that would get you! Good. You’re doing well. You’re doing well! Just keep going like that! Looks like the Lord of Einroguard is standing beside that duplicate too? Oh dear, after all the trouble you’ve gone through because of him, he’s getting angry at his disciple!”

-...Um... Lady Ragesa...

“Quiet! Can’t you keep quiet!”

The Death Knight wanted to defend its master’s honor, but Ragesa quickly cut it off.

The flow was good right now. She could not let it be interrupted.

“Good. Very good. Gather the wind this way!”

Ragesa gave orders to the crew. The sails of a ship moved by this kind of magic were no ordinary sails.

As the square sails unfurled, the wind of mana swirling around them began to gather toward one side.

WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!

“Excellent! Now. Move to the rear!”

At the next command, Ragesa and the sailors ran across the deck toward the stern.

The Death Knight followed them in confusion.

'Why are we moving over here? Is there some separate magic in this area?'

-Lady Ragesa. What magic is here that made you come to this side?

At the knight’s question, Ragesa answered as though it had asked something idiotic.

“What magic would there be here?”

-Pardon? Then why did you come over here?

“When the brat’s magic explodes, I’m going to jump into the sea for a moment.”

Ragesa was a wise pirate.

When setting off powerful magic that was difficult to control on the deck, she knew enough to prepare a good place to jump into the sea just in case.

-......