Chapter 1354

"Professor! Isn't this too much!"

'Oh no. Did I underestimate them too much?'

When one of the Valdrogard students finally lost patience and burst out angrily, Lee Han realized he might have gone too far.

The students still looked so innocent that he had used his scheme a little too openly. Maybe this really had been too much?

"Even so, you should give us at least 5 points!"

"H-Hey. Calm down. Professor, please forgive my friend's rudeness. I think around 4 points would be reasonable."

'Hmm. I can still fool them more.'

Lee Han relaxed.

The Valdrogard students really were still innocent.

"Very well. Your argument has merit, so I'll increase it to 5 points."

"!"

"Pr-Professor!"

The Valdrogard students nearly burst into tears from emotion.

Of course, if they had calmly thought about why they were trapped here in the first place, there was absolutely nothing to be moved about, but as mentioned before, the Valdrogard students were still innocent.

"In exchange, write one more letter."

"A letter? That's not difficult. But why two?"

The students couldn't understand Lee Han's intentions and looked puzzled.

He wanted them to send two letters home saying ? NоvеIight ? (Original source) they were doing well.

They couldn't understand why.

"The other one doesn't go to your estate. Send it to Valdrogard students outside who haven't attended the lecture yet."

As Lee Han spoke, he added another line to the blackboard.

<Ways to Earn Points>

If a friend who receives your letter comes to attend the lecture...

"......"

"......"

Standing behind Lee Han, Jandanni became slightly troubled.

'...Wouldn't it be enough to teach only the students who actually want to learn magic? He's telling them to trick their juniors like this. The backlash won't be small.'

Among the Empire's magic schools, Valdrogard students valued honor above all else.

They might accept being locked inside a palace and forced to study magic, but deceiving their other friends would not be something they could easily accept...

"If we write three letters, do we get 7 points?"

"......"

Jandanni looked at the juniors with a conflicted expression.

* * *

"The letters are out!"

"Everyone gather around. Let's check them. I'm betting fewer than five."

"I'm betting ten or more. Definitely."

Once the Valdrogard students had finished writing and submitted all the letters to their estates, the Einroguard students immediately gathered around.

Einroguard had many traditions, and one of them was inspecting letters.

When they were at school, the magical power cast over the grounds handled it automatically, but they were outside now, so they had to do it manually.

The students casually used magic to read the contents without even opening the envelopes.

Lee Han looked around.

His friends noticed and asked curiously,

"What's wrong, Lee Han? Aren't you going to inspect the letters?"

"Where did all the chicken that was here go?"

"Uh... we ate it."

"R-Right."

"...Want us to give the armbands back?"

Having eaten their fill of roasted chicken, his friends awkwardly started trying to remove the armbands from their arms.

There was not only 'Outstanding Student of the Month,' but also a variety of others such as 'Best Spatial Movement User of Black Tortoise Tower' and 'Striker Who Scored 10 Points.'

Anglago looked at an armband reading 'Master of Mage Cards' and thought inwardly,

'Should I keep that and sell it to that prince bastard later?'

"No. It's fine if you keep wearing them. Ingredients are easy enough to get here anyway... But are you seriously going to keep wearing those armbands?"

"Why? They're cool."

"...Never mind. Let's inspect the letters."

Lee Han shook his head.

He had thought that after going through so many incidents together, he had gotten to know his friends fairly well.

But at times like this, he still felt a slight sense of distance.

Why were they so obsessed with those armbands?

...I'm doing well. Professor Wardanaz's magic lecture is truly astonishing and mysterious, so I would like to stay for a while and learn more...

'No problem.'

There were a few tear stains and some shaky handwriting, but there was nothing suspicious enough to matter.

...I'm doing well. Sob. But it's so hard. Could you ask my servant Jaemal to bring me some things? I need a bed, blankets, and pillows too. Also my personal sleepwear. And raspberry cake, and gratin cooked with the finest white sauce...

'I'll have to make them rewrite this.'

Lee Han felt regretful.

Apparently this Valdrogard student still didn't understand what 'doing well' meant.

...There is no need to go on at length!

You would never know how amazing magic is until you try it.

It feels as though even attending lectures seven days a week instead of once a week would not be enough. Every time I count how many sessions remain,

my heart aches with regret.

I have not once thought about that popular play lately...

'Still a long way to go.'

Smiling, Lee Han set the letter aside.

At Einroguard, students mastered basic tricks like this within a month.

"5-point deduction..."

People naturally did pointless things whenever they were given an opportunity.

Once the Valdrogard students were given a chance to write letters, they began drawing on creativity they had never once displayed in their lives.

The Einroguard students checking letters here and there suddenly shouted in surprise.

"Look at this! One of the Valdrogard students used invisible ink!!"

"What!? Invisible ink!? No way! Let me see too!"

"Wait. How does this bastard know Seoharin script? Are they really a Valdrogard student?"

The resourcefulness of cornered Valdrogard students exceeded expectations.

One remembered a recipe for invisible ink they had seen somewhere and made it, while another used the script of an ancient kingdom they had learned about in a literature lecture...

But that was as far as it went.

Even if the Valdrogard students were awakening their talents right now, they could not surpass the Einroguard students, who were filled with spite and tenacity.

The gap in accumulated experience was simply too great.

"Seven letters! I win!"

"Ugh. Those Valdrogard bastards. Why did they make so few attempts? They should've tried more."

"It's always low at first. It'll increase soon."

"Anyone want to bet on which window they try escaping through first?"

* * *

"The following students will receive a 5-point deduction for 'being caught attempting to escape'..."

Lee Han announced it simply, as though nothing had happened, and resumed the lecture, but to the Valdrogard students it was pure terror.

How did he find out!?

They were so shocked that they were still talking about it even after climbing into the beds of the dormitory prepared inside the palace.

"Maybe there's a spy among us? Like Senior Jandanni."

"Ahem. I'm right here."

"No. I made invisible ink in secret because I was prepared for betrayal. I didn't tell anyone."

"...You hid it from us too? What about friendship? Honor??"

"That's not the important part. The important part is that they found out."

"My 5 points! My chicken meal! Could you share some of your chicken meal with me in the name of friendship and honor?"

"Are you insane? You were planning to escape alone."

"...The blankets are too cold!"

The whispering students finally couldn't bear it and came back outside.

They could tolerate the shabby beds.

They could tolerate the poor facilities that forced several people to sleep together.

But the blankets were so cold that sleeping was difficult.

"Professor! Do you perhaps have any other blankets? It's too cold to sleep."

"If we can't sleep, we won't be able to keep up with tomorrow's magic lecture properly!"

Lee Han had been preparing the spells for tomorrow's lecture in an empty classroom when he turned around.

The Valdrogard students flinched at the sight.

Standing alone in the pitch-black darkness with only faint magical light flickering around him, the professor gave off a strange sense of intimidation.

"Everyone. You're mages, aren't you? Instead of different blankets, couldn't there be a better solution?"

"...Ah!"

One of the students exclaimed as though they understood.

Lee Han nodded in satisfaction.

"We can light a campfire in the middle of the room!"

"......"

Lee Han's expression hardened.

"Rather than that, how about enchanting the blankets with warmth?"

"Ah. That sounds better."

'Tomorrow's lecture needs to be harsher.'

It seemed they still had a long way to go.

* * *

Two days later.

The Valdrogard students inside the palace had finished all the absolute basics and reached the introductory tests for each school of magic.

This was faster than Lee Han had expected.

Perhaps it was the power of an excellent teaching method.

In the meantime, the Valdrogard students' gazes had grown slightly fiercer and their attitudes rougher (there had even been one attempt to dig a tunnel out), but this was not bad at all.

"Everyone. Your achievements truly make me happy..."

"Start the next lecture, Professor!"

"We need to earn today's points!"

"Good. Very good."

Lee Han did not particularly mind the students' rebellious attitude.

In a way, this could be seen as an active approach to learning.

"From now on, we'll be checking your aptitude for the Empire's various schools of magic. If I handle all of this alone, it'll take a little too much time. So I've invited some outside mages to help."

"!"

"It must be those suspicious workers!"

As had been said several times already, the Valdrogard students were not idiots.

Those suspicious workers who cackled outside every time the students rolled around the classroom, got knocked about, and lost points!

Those workers had clearly sealed the palace's main gate.

"So they really were mages! Which Mage Tower sent them!"

"Those despicable, honorless...! Tell them to reveal their identities openly!"

The students were furious, but Lee Han paid no attention and continued.

"Everyone. You are the honorable mages who will carry the future of the Empire..."

-Cough, cough.

-Isn't Wardanaz being a little too... Ghk!

Lee Han swung his staff, suppressed the noise outside the classroom, and continued.

"...As such, when dealing with other mages from outside, you should naturally observe proper manners and etiquette."

"Well... that's true."

At the professor's words, the Valdrogard students' hostile attitudes softened.

Thinking about how the workers had mocked them still made them angry, but just because a dog bit a person didn't mean the person should bite the dog back.

Sometimes that happened at Einroguard, but that was because Einroguard was a rather unusual place...

"If you fail to observe proper manners as mages, you may be sent to the punishment room."

"What's the punishment room?"

"The punishment room is a room where you receive punishment."

"???"

The Valdrogard students tilted their heads at the explanation that explained absolutely nothing.

Isn't this entire palace already a punishment room?

'Can it really get worse than this?'

-Hah. This is why rookies...

-Shh. Be quiet. They'll hear you.

-Normally, if you're caught trying to escape, you get sent straight to the punishment room. Wardanaz's methods are way too soft... Wait! Wait! Sir Knight! Why are you taking me to the punishment room... No!

Lee Han sent a telepathic message to the Death Knight.

Regrettable as it was, rules were rules, even for friends.

After thinking carefully about the professor's words, one of the Valdrogard students raised a hand and asked,

"Professor. I have a question."

"Feel free."

"Those workers outside... no, those mages. Are they nobles?"

'Come to think of it?'

The other Valdrogard students began wondering too.

Could nobles really wear rags like that and display such sinister, underhanded laughter?

Of course, the answer was 'yes,' but instead of answering, Lee Han asked,

"Why do you ask?"

"Yes? Because even if we're going to learn from them, we should learn from fellow nobles."

"I see."

Lee Han snapped his fingers.

The door opened.

A Death Knight strode in, grabbed the student who had just spoken, and dragged them away.

"Now. Everyone. Let me explain again. You are the honorable mages who will carry the future of the Empire..."

"......"