Chapter 1363

‘Oops.’

Lee Han realized that what he had just said might be a little problematic.

Not only the Valdrogard students, but even his friends from the Blue Dragon Tower might feel hurt if they heard it.

-Wardanaz... is that... really what you thought of us?

“Please forget what I just said. It would be better to pretend it never happened.”

“???”

“More importantly, I thought all Valdrogard students were nobles. Is that not the case?”

Now that he thought about it, it was strange.

All Valdrogard students should have come from powerful and prestigious families, so how was there a student who was not a noble?

‘Could Valdrogard perhaps have... something like scholarships?’

If so, his opinion of Valdrogard might rise by the tiniest amount.

He had thought they simply wasted gold, but apparently they spent some of it on good things too!

“Did you perhaps enroll on a scholarship?”

“What? Do they have something like that?”

“...Never mind. Forget I asked. Then... did you enter under a false identity?”

Lee Han lowered his voice as he asked.

If that was the case, he intended to call in the very best experts and help make the forgery more convincing.

If necessary, he might even be able to make use of his connection with Stedal Nago...

“A-Absolutely not! How could I ever do something like that!”

“You can be honest with me. Those friends over there are very skilled at forgery... no, calling it forgery sounds a little strange. Fabrication... deception... fraud... Hmm. Anyway, they’re very good at making something similar through magic.”

The Valdrogard student stared blankly at the Einroguard students behind him.

In fact, there had already been constant speculation about the true identities of those mages.

-Seeing how close they are with the professor, don’t they seem like Einroguard students? Einroguard has come up a few times too.

-You must’ve heard wrong. Even so, there’s no way students from the same magic school would act like that! They’re probably mages from some magic tower in the most remote, secluded corner of the Empire. Wild mages who chew dripping raw meat and use the earth itself as a pillow!

-For people like that, they seem pretty cultured when they talk... I heard them in the punishment room, and they knew a lot about theater too.

‘If they even know how to forge things... maybe they really are Einroguard students...?’

While pondering that, the Valdrogard student suddenly came to their senses and hurriedly answered,

“No! It’s absolutely not forgery!”

“Professor. Elya is not a student who entered under a forged identity.”

Jandanni, who had arrived late, realized what was going on and explained from the side.

“Then it really is a scholarship?”

“What? Is there such a thing? Elya is a maid who attends Student Belnera of House Duroyer. House Duroyer formally applied for her admission.”

Before Lee Han could answer, the suspicious mages dressed in rags shouted angrily.

“What despicable, petty bastards! I’ll contact my father and tell him to cut all ties with House Duroyer immediately!”

“They think they can insult an Imperial magic school however they please?! Sending a proxy in to take classes in their place! As if the rest of us couldn’t do that too!”

“But we really couldn’t...”

“???”

The other Valdrogard students nearby looked bewildered at those words.

What kind of power could these sinister, gloomy-looking workers possibly possess that allowed them to talk like that about a powerful family such as House Duroyer?

“Valdrogard doesn’t have exams.”

“What?”

“I said Valdrogard doesn’t have exams. Even if they do, they probably don’t have anything like failing the way we do.”

“......”

At Lee Han’s words, the Einroguard students suddenly froze.

After blinking a few times, the students drooped in dejection as if struck by a curse.

Jandanni asked in confusion,

“What’s wrong with them?”

“You can just leave them alone. They’re always like that.”

Now that Lee Han thought about it, this was a far more realistic and likely explanation than scholarships or falsifying one’s identity.

Valdrogard was originally a place where the children of families that made large donations enrolled, so if those families asked, admitting one extra maid probably would not have been difficult.

“More importantly, wouldn’t it be fine for her to attend to her without formally enrolling?”

Just looking at the people who came to the palace made it obvious that outsiders who were not enrolled could move around Valdrogard’s grounds without much difficulty.

Guards, attendants, servants, slaves, and every other kind of person had kept coming by to ask why the students still had not returned from the palace...

“I told you, Wardanaz. They obviously enrolled her so she could study in their place. What a vile, filthy family House Duroyer is.”

“Right. Even without exams, there are plenty of things you can make someone else do. Attend in your place, listen to lectures in your place, raid the food warehouse in your place, ambush professors in your place...”

The examples were strangely specific.

Lee Han felt like he now knew what kind of fantasies his Blue Dragon Tower friends had entertained during their first year.

Before Jandanni could answer, the Valdrogard student Elya flared up first.

“That’s not it! My lady enrolled me because I showed an interest in learning!”

No matter how suspicious, violent, and evil-looking these mages were, Elya had no intention of standing by while they insulted Belnera, who had shown her kindness.

Belnera of House Duroyer spent her days lazily without showing interest in any of the countless fields of study offered at Valdrogard—not even theater!—but she did possess one exceptional virtue.

She would do anything for the maid who had been close to her since childhood.

Other noble families could also have enrolled their servants if they wished, but very few ever did so.

They simply saw no need.

But when Elya showed an interest in learning, Belnera personally rolled up her sleeves and took action.

“...Impossible... there’s someone like that in Valdrogard...?!”

“Sniff. I need to contact my father and tell him to increase our business with House Duroyer.”

Even the Einroguard students were moved by this story and did not dare find fault with it.

Lee Han, who had been listening, felt puzzled and asked,

“But Student Elya. Is Student Belnera not here in the palace? I don’t think I’ve seen the two of you together.”

“......”

The Valdrogard student hesitated and avoided his gaze.

Jandanni could no longer stand watching and answered instead.

“She’s in the dormitory upstairs.”

“She must be planning an escape.”

Lee Han replied with a considerate smile as though he understood everything.

As expected, a trustworthy pair working together could employ all kinds of strategies.

One person attended the lectures while the other planned an escape upstairs...

“No. She’s just... relaxing.”

“...It must be a disguise.”

“She really is just relaxing. Junior Belnera is a little... well... fond of meditating while lying down.”

‘Huh? Is she related to the prince?’

The Einroguard students tilted their heads at the strangely familiar excuse.

Whenever Gainando was caught sleeping, his excuse was always, “I was meditating while lying down!”

Lee Han could not understand.

“With the way the palace lectures are going right now, isn’t it difficult to even eat one meal a day if you spend your time lying around?”

Before he had even finished speaking, everyone present stared fixedly at Elya.

Now that they thought about it, there was a top student right here who must have earned several times as many points as everyone else.

Surely not?

Elya hurriedly tried to explain.

“Th-The professor said how we use our points is our own personal freedom!”

“......”

“......”

“Excuse me!”

Unable to endure their gazes, Elya hurried out of the lecture hall.

She was clearly going to find Belnera and explain the situation.

The Einroguard students were deeply impressed by her loyalty.

“A mage like that is wasted on a Valdrogard student. She’s talented too.”

“Right. I never thought there’d be a Valdrogard student I actually liked this much.”

“?”

Jandanni doubted their ears.

...What about me?

Lee Han patted Jandanni on the shoulder.

This Valdrogard upper-year really had been helping them a great deal.

His spiteful Einroguard friends might grumble, but no one could deny Jandanni’s contributions.

‘More importantly, has everyone forgotten that Senior Jandanni is a fourth-year?’

Lee Han himself was serving as a professor and Jandanni was under a misunderstanding, but Lee Han had no idea what the others planned to do when the truth eventually came out.

‘Then again, if they thought that far ahead, they wouldn’t be Einroguard students.’

Meanwhile, after recovering his spirits somewhat, Jandanni said brightly,

“Actually, that is true. Junior Elya is intelligent enough to stand out even among the juniors. It’s hard to believe she isn’t from a noble family... Wait. Why?! Why?!”

The Einroguard students gleefully seized Jandanni by both arms and dragged him away toward the punishment room.

This noble bastard had finally slipped up!

***

‘There is mystery within the stain on the ceiling.’

Belnera of House Duroyer gazed at a stain on the dormitory ceiling and sank into thought.

Depending on how she looked at it, the stain transformed endlessly.

Sometimes it looked like an evil lich.

Sometimes it looked like Detective Toberiz.

Sometimes it looked like Elya.

“Belnera. How about joining our <Freedom of Valdrogard>?”

Another Valdrogard student whispered beside her.

This second group, full of initiative and desperate to escape, had already gone so far as to give themselves a name.

From an Einroguard perspective, this was very promising growth.

But Belnera shook her head.

For now, she needed to observe the ceiling stain a little longer.

“Belnera! Aren’t you cold? Aren’t you hungry? All of this is because of this palace. We have to escape! I knew nothing until I was imprisoned. Only after being trapped here did I realize it. If I don’t have the strength to protect what I have, then none of it has any value! I’m going to escape this palace through my own power and be reborn!”

After being confined, this Valdrogard student had realized many things.

To gain freedom, one needed strength!

Theater and everything else no longer mattered.

Once they got outside, they planned to seek out even more powerful magic and make it their own.

Even though her friend beside her was undergoing an extremely solemn spiritual awakening, Belnera remained completely unconcerned.

It would open eventually when the time came!

‘Looking at it again, it kind of resembles a mage card... If the opponent summons a giant legion... then on this side, the evil lich...’

“If you change your mind later, come join our <Freedom of Valdrogard>!”

Apparently short on time, her friend quickly hurried away.

“This is terrible, Lady Belnera!”

“?”

Belnera stopped calculating the ceiling stain and turned her gaze.

Elya stood in front of her with a flustered expression.

“Did someone steal your points?”

“No! The professor and those mages realized that Lady Belnera hasn’t been properly attending the magic lectures! You might be sent to the hell room soon!”

“Don’t you mean the punishment room?”

“...That’s not what matters right now!”

“It’s fine. There’ll probably be stains in the punishment room too.”

Ignoring Belnera’s ridiculous nonsense without hesitation, Elya quickly pulled her mistress off the bed and dragged her down to the lecture hall.

“Professor! Lady Belnera came down because she wants to attend the lecture!”

“Y-Yes? Then she can simply sit down and listen.”

Lee Han was slightly taken aback.

In truth, contrary to Elya’s fears, Lee Han had no intention of sending Belnera to the punishment room.

It was impossible to make every single Valdrogard student devote themselves to magic without exception.

He had never expected that in the first place.

If anything, he would simply push a student like Elya harder because she was doing well.

Why would he send someone with no motivation to the punishment room...

But Lee Han’s friends reacted differently.

The Einroguard students, who had grown fond of Elya, protested fiercely.

“That noble bastard. She doesn’t even know how grateful she should be, and that’s her attitude?”

‘You’re from the Blue Dragon Tower too...’

“Wardanaz. Create a separate combat magic school right now and send her there!”

“...Do you perhaps think Einroguard’s combat magic school is a punishment?”

“Ah, no. Of course not.”