Chapter 1352

"Huh! Someone's coming!"

A student who had an eagle spirit familiar floating in the air gave the signal.

"O illusion..."

"Hide this mess!"

"...conceal it! Are you going to keep talking nonsense while I'm casting?"

At the news that someone was approaching from below, the students immediately began casting spells.

Objectively speaking, there was a chance the area around this palace looked slightly suspicious right now.

For one thing, tents and campfires had been set up all over the front courtyard, whole chickens skewered on spits were sizzling away...

...and both inside and outside the palace, moats, traps, boards covering the windows, and all sorts of other additions had appeared!

Of course, the Einroguard students had nothing whatsoever to be ashamed of, but there was no benefit in creating unnecessary trouble. It was better to conceal everything with illusions whenever outsiders looked this way.

"How is it?"

"Perfect. You're getting better and better."

"Heh. Thanks to this, even when we got trapped in the upper-years' storage room, nobody noticed."

"Should we add some laughter in the background? Would that be too artificial?"

"Hmm... I think it'd be fine. Let's add some laughter. O spirit, laughter..."

-Hahahaha! Hahaha!

"...Isn't that a little creepy? What classroom has laughter like that?"

Einroguard classrooms were normally places filled with sorrow, despair, suffering, and the like.

If Einroguard students were walking down a hallway and heard laughter like that coming from a classroom, there was a high chance they would run away first.

Something would clearly be very, very wrong!

"No. That's Einroguard thinking. I heard laughter like that comes out of Valdrogard classrooms all the time."

"Hmph! Those bastards. I'll never forgive them."

'Are we maybe being a little petty?'

Priest Sharukal suddenly had that thought.

In truth, the Valdrogard students had never directly picked a fight with them.

And yet they were trying to take revenge like this simply because those students had lived happily.

Was that really the right thing to do?

"Priest Sharukal. You can't really tell those man-eating fish apart just by looking at them, right?"

"Ah. Yes. I picked ones that look perfectly normal from the outside, so it should be fine."

"Shh! Someone's here!"

A servant who had climbed up the hill was looking around the main gate with a bewildered expression.

"Is anyone inside? Why is the door locked..."

"Ahem! A lecture is in progress."

"!"

When a person wearing a ragged cloak suddenly poked their head out from behind the bushes, the servant jumped in surprise.

Looking them up and down, the servant saw shabby clothes and a grimy appearance that made them seem like one of the workers employed inside.

"Are you perhaps a member of the stonemason guild working inside? Could you open the door for me..."

"I told you, I can't open it because a lecture is in progress."

"...What does the lecture being in progress have to do with that?"

The servant could not understand.

No matter how much they thought about it, they could not find any logical connection between the two.

The palace worker, who looked suspiciously proficient in magic, waved their arms around and began explaining.

"You may not know this, but magical lectures aren't something that only last a short while! If the participants are deeply moved, a magical lecture can go on for days and days!"

"What?? Really???"

The servant was greatly surprised by something they had never heard before.

Large banquets or balls sometimes lasted for days, weeks, and on very rare occasions even months.

But magical lectures did too??

"Can you hear the laughter coming from inside right now? Everyone's so absorbed in the study of magic that they've completely lost track of time. What do you think would happen if someone knocked on the door and barged in at a time like this?"

"It would ruin the mood."

If people were in the middle of an event like <Detective Toberiz-Who Is the Culprit?> at a banquet or ball and someone suddenly knocked on the door and walked in, how badly would that ruin the atmosphere?

The servant understood that principle very well.

"Exactly. That's why the professor and students asked us to seal the doors up tightly."

"I see... Is that so... Even so, I never imagined they would become this absorbed in magic..."

'Oh no.'

The Einroguard students broke into a faint cold sweat.

...Had that lie been a little too shameless?

'Should we have used an excuse other than magic?'

'We should've said the magic lecture was canceled and they were holding a mage-card lecture instead!'

"...Well, one never knows what fashion will become popular next, so I suppose it isn't strange for my master to suddenly become completely absorbed in magic. Understood."

-Phew!

The students all sighed in relief at once.

However, the servant was not finished yet.

"We were thinking of sending the professor a gift to express our gratitude for such an excellent lecture. Should I leave it in front of the door?"

"......"

"...The professor keeps public and private matters strictly separate, so he doesn't accept things like that!"

"I-I see."

When one of the students answered almost angrily, the servant became flustered.

Why are they angry?

-Hey. How can you reject a gift meant for Wardanaz on your own!

-Then what am I supposed to do! If he accepts even that, he'll really stay at Valdrogard! Those shameless bastards are the problem in the first place! Where in the Empire do people send professors gifts!?

"Then I'll be heading back down."

The servant bowed and was about to leave when someone called out.

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

"The lecture hasn't even been going for a full day yet. How did you get here already? Is the estate nearby?"

At that sharp observation, the others looked over with expressions of 'Oh.'

It was certainly a reasonable point.

If the household had noticed something strange and sent someone over, this was far too fast.

Had someone inside the palace perhaps managed to send out a distress signal?

The servant looked puzzled, unable to understand why they were asking such a thing.

"I came from the Traveler's Rest Palace down below... My master came to the school, so I came along and was waiting there."

"......"

"......"

As befitted their status and position, Valdrogard students kept attendants and servants with them even at school.

They were all honorable people who respected the school's authority and autonomy, so it was rare for them to bring attendants all the way into classrooms, but they often had them accompany them while moving around the school grounds.

The Einroguard students, whose carriages and servants had all been confiscated by the Skull Principal on their very first day of enrollment, felt their common sense collapse at those words.

...Come to think of it, traveling around with servants isn't actually strange, is it?

"I can't take this anymore. I'm going to throw a summon into the classroom!"

"Hold it in! Do you want to get sent to the punishment room?"

* * *

"I never thought the honorable Senior Jandanni would behave like that."

"Does magic come before honor? Even before friendship? Even before family ties?"

"Be quiet."

"Everyone, quiet down! The professor told you to be quiet!"

At Lee Han's words, Jandanni angrily scolded the juniors who were making noise.

The newly arrived professor was trying so hard to teach them, yet these ungrateful juniors still did not understand his sincerity.

'Einroguard students wouldn't act like this! Gasp. What am I thinking?'

Jandanni shook their head violently and reflected on such an unworthy thought.

They should not compare their juniors so arbitrarily. They had to trust them and lead them.

"Jangbir. Trust me and focus on magic."

"Please let us out."

"Arbel. Just try focusing on magic a little longer!"

"I just threw up from doing magic."

"Urgh!"

Unable to withstand the juniors' cold responses, Jandanni finally returned.

"Professor. I'm sorry. The juniors won't listen..."

"It's all right, Student Jandanni. Everyone is like that at first."

Even though the Valdrogard students' reactions had become lukewarm, Lee Han was not flustered.

In fact, the Einroguard students had once acted like that too.

Right after they first enrolled.

But once people were forced to face reality, they changed.

Lee Han was in no hurry.

'Time is on my side.'

"Now. If any of you are getting stuck on basic magic, tell me."

Grrrrrr-

It was impossible to tell whose stomach the sound came from, but it was quite loud.

Magic consumed more physical stamina than one might expect, and the students had gradually started feeling hungry without even realizing it.

"Professor. Could we eat something before we continue casting magic?"

"Of course. Help yourselves."

The Valdrogard students murmured among themselves as they opened the classroom door and stepped into the palace corridor.

They assumed there had to be a banquet hall somewhere in this enormous palace.

"Is it here?"

"No. This is another magic classroom. ...What is that vicious-looking undead supposed to be? Do you use things like that in lectures too?"

"I don't know. Sob. I didn't know magic lectures were like this... Are professors allowed to lock students up like this?"

"I didn't know he was this insane. When he exposed Count Bouillon's crimes and attacked his mansion last time, I thought he was a righteous person!"

'Come to think of it, attacking an Imperial count's mansion on his own does seem a little strange too.'

Gradually awakening from their illusions, the Valdrogard students searched throughout the palace.

"What about here?"

"A classroom."

"Here too?"

"Another classroom."

"Then what about this place??"

"Servants' quarters? Why are there servants' quarters here?"

"There's a sign above it saying <Temporary Student Dormitory>..."

The Valdrogard students' faces went pale.

But the beds in the temporary dormitory were not important right now.

They were genuinely hungry.

"The basement! Right. Maybe it's in the basement!"

"Who eats in a basement? We're not thieves."

Several Valdrogard students raised doubts, but those who could no longer endure their hunger rushed down in a crowd.

There definitely seemed to have been some stairs earlier...

-This is the punishment room.

"Aaaah! A Death Knight!"

-This is the punishment room. Turn back, students.

"......"

The Valdrogard students froze at the sight of an undead creature that was clearly conscious rather than some underground monster wandering the palace.

"Um... are you perhaps someone's summon?"

-That is correct.

"Then do you happen to know where the banquet hall in this palace is?"

-There is no banquet hall, but if you require a meal, the professor should have prepared one.

"!"

The students looked at one another.

No wonder the newly arrived professor had let them out of the classroom.

He had sent them out because he was preparing their meal!

"The professor certainly has a mischievous side!"

"What a prank. Hmph. Still, refusing to let us leave was going too far!"

Their anger slightly eased, the Valdrogard students returned to the classroom where Lee Han was, expecting all sorts of piping-hot dishes to have appeared through the mysterious power of magic!

But nothing had changed in the classroom.

It was exactly as before.

"...Huh?"

"Um, where's the food?"

Strictly speaking, there had been one small change.

A new cauldron had appeared beside Lee Han.

Inside it was a bubbling soup.

Made by simmering large chunks of all kinds of vegetables and meat together, the soup gave off clouds of warm steam that {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} stirred the students' hunger.

They had never imagined making do with a mere bowl of soup for a meal, but the hungry Valdrogard students had become remarkably flexible.

"Hmm. For the sake of a magic lecture, I suppose we can have a simple meal."

"Perhaps this sort of practical attitude is part of the profound meaning of magic."

The Valdrogard students lined up before Lee Han with dignity.

Lee Han asked in puzzlement,

"What are you all doing?"

"Uh... dinner... isn't it?"

"Didn't you eat outside?"

"......"

The Valdrogard students had always been generous and good-natured, but today they felt they were beginning to understand what 'anger' was.

If this continued a little longer, they might even come to understand 'hatred.'

"There was... no food outside, Professor."

"Oh dear. I suppose the door still hasn't been repaired."

"......"

Is this hatred?

Despite the murderous looks in the students' eyes, Lee Han asked calmly,

"Would you perhaps like some of this soup?"

"Yes!"

"But this soup isn't free. It costs 1 point."

"...1 point? What... what is that?"

Lee Han pointed toward the blackboard behind him.

New writing had appeared on it.

<Ways to Earn Points>

Pass Basic Elemental Magic Test-1pt

Pass Basic Elemental Magic Application-2pt

Pass Introductory Test for Each School of Magic-5pt

...

...

<Things You Can Do with Points>

Soup Meal-1pt

Palace Courtyard Chicken Meal-5pt

...

...