Chapter 1364

At Lee Han’s suspicious look, his friends quickly turned their heads away.

Of course, Einroguard’s combat magic school really was a punishment meant only for students with catastrophically bad luck, but this catastrophically unlucky friend became extremely angry whenever anyone pointed that fact out.

Before anyone could answer, Elya hurriedly stepped in to stop the Einroguard students.

“Lady Belnera isn’t a bad person! Please don’t be angry!”

“You’re being fooled. People from noble families are all arrogant, vile bastards without exception!”

‘Do these bastards even remember what tower they’re from?’

Salco and the Black Tortoise Tower students gave their Blue Dragon Tower friends strange looks.

Sometimes, watching them, it seemed as though these Blue Dragon Tower students had forgotten what families they themselves came from.

Who exactly were they insulting here?

Before his worked-up friends could deny their own bloodlines any further, Lee Han stepped in.

“Everyone, calm down. And Student Elya. You don’t need to worry. Like I said, no one gets sent to the punishment room just because they aren’t passionate about magic.”

Ambushing a professor, attacking the mages under a professor’s command, making insulting remarks, or stealing food could get someone sent to the punishment room, but Lee Han was not idle enough to send people there merely for being lazy.

However, Elya hesitated before speaking.

“Everyone. You’re all amazing mages, aren’t you? Is there perhaps some way to make Lady Belnera study magic seriously?”

This diligent and talented Valdrogard student (whom the Einroguard students had arbitrarily decided was being mistreated by her mistress) had won everyone’s favor.

They all began offering suggestions to help her.

“Send her on a field trip to Einroguard. Is that too extreme? Still, it would probably be the most effective.”

“I-I heard Einroguard mages... don’t really like outsiders and attack them...”

“No. They like outsiders. They just hate Valdrogard students.”

Elya had never once complained no matter what horrific magic the suspicious, sinister-looking ragged mages taught her, but at those words her expression hardened immediately.

They wanted her to send her lady to a place like that?

‘Wait, are these people really from Einroguard? Then... graduates?’

Her common sense was still lacking.

She simply could not imagine that students who had not even graduated yet had come here during vacation to do something like this.

“If sending her to Einroguard is too much, then starving her is the obvious choice.”

“Right. Once people get hungry, they learn magic on their own. Student Elya. There’s a saying in Einroguard. ‘Hunger is the best teacher a mage can have’...”

Listening from the side, Lee Han felt slightly embarrassed.

Did they really have to describe Einroguard’s reality that bluntly?

Naturally, Elya was still sane, so she rejected the ridiculous suggestion.

“Absolutely not! And if Lady Belnera were starved, she would really hold out until she collapsed!”

“What? Really? She’s a little different from Gainando, then.”

“What kind of person is this Gainando?”

“Mm. Just someone we know. You don’t need to worry about him.”

As the Einroguard mages kept coming up with nothing but strange and brutal methods, Elya tried to persuade them by sharing a heartwarming story.

“I won’t deny that Lady Belnera can look a little lazy.”

“A little?”

“She’s practically Gainando-level.”

Elya pretended not to hear them. Her basic stats were simply different from nobles who had grown up sheltered in greenhouses.

“But Lady Belnera came here during vacation to attend lectures with me because I showed an interest in magic!”

“!”

“That’s... impressive?”

Even the Einroguard students were slightly surprised by that.

That much consideration from a Valdrogard student?

“She’s better than Gainando.”

“Right. That prince bastard would’ve sent her off by herself so he could play with his mage cards.”

“?”

Elya doubted her ears.

Did they just say prince?

‘I-I must have heard wrong, right?’

In any case, the reaction was not bad. Elya spoke hopefully.

“Lady Belnera is such a kind and considerate person, so I’m sure she can learn magic well too. Right?”

“No.”

The Einroguard students were coldly realistic.

You could lead a horse to water, but you could not force it to drink.

If you wanted to make it drink, the only choice was to make the environment harsher.

“I recommend a field trip to Einroguard.”

“Or starving her.”

“...Is there no more normal method?”

“Sorry, but we’re just ordinary mages. Coaxing someone lazy and unmotivated is...”

The friends speaking trailed off and unconsciously looked at Lee Han.

Come to think of it, there was an Einroguard carrot expert right here.

Just watching him wrap a certain prince around his finger and toy with him was enough to tell that this friend was at the level of a great mage when it came to tricking lazy, unmotivated people.

“...Wardanaz is the expert. Now that I think about it, there was no reason for us to discuss this among ourselves, was there? We should’ve asked Wardanaz from the start.”

“What? What nonsense are you talking about?”

Lee Han looked puzzled by his friends’ words.

This was the first time he had ever heard that he was an expert in something like this.

They wanted him to coax a lazy, unmotivated person into learning magic?

“Ah. Do you mean sending her to Einroguard or starving her? You can do that yourselves.”

“No. Not that. You know, the way you deal with Gainando. Except with carrots instead of the whip.”

“Have I ever done that?”

“Yeah.”

“A lot.”

“At first, I thought the prince was your little brother.”

“......”

Lee Han was taken aback by the sharp reactions from his friends in the other towers.

...Had it really been that bad?

“Yonair. It wasn’t that bad, was it?”

“Ah! If you put sulfur in there, it’ll explode! Wait! I’ll come help you!”

Lee Han cast a gloomy look at his red-haired friend as she quickly fled toward the alchemy area.

You’re the one who’s related to him!

“...Gainando’s mother gives me such a generous allowance that I couldn’t help it.”

“Wasn’t she just paying you to make sure he didn’t die? Lady Kraha probably wasn’t expecting you to act as his nanny too.”

If Gainando’s mother had expected Wardanaz to do everything he was currently doing in exchange for that amount of money, she could fairly be called the most shameless person in the Empire.

Realizing that continuing the conversation would only make things worse for him, Lee Han gave up and said,

“So you want me to teach Student Belnera the way I teach Gainando?”

“I don’t know who Gainando is, but as long as you don’t imprison or starve her, anything is fine! Please, Professor!”

“Hmm. Contrary to what they’re saying, there’s no guarantee that what worked on Gainando will work on Student Belnera too, Student Elya.”

Since he had taken the position of professor at Valdrogard, Lee Han had no intention of avoiding the duties that came with it.

If he could get even one more student interested in magic, that was certainly a good thing.

...But people were not that simple. Would a method that worked on Gainando really work here too?

“I think it’ll work just fine. Student Elya. Trust us. Wardanaz is a genius at tricking lazy people.”

“You lot go over there and finish teaching magic.”

Annoyed, Lee Han chased his friends away.

***

Remembering what Professor Wardanaz had taught her, Elya walked over to where Belnera was sitting.

Belnera was staring intently at a stain left on the desk.

‘This looks like a bloodstain...?’

Had someone been attacked here?

“Lady Belnera. This time I learned about dark magic.”

“Mm.”

Belnera nodded with an indifferent expression.

She could already more or less guess what the next conversation would be.

Dark magic was so much fun, Belnera should learn it too, she definitely would not regret it, and so on and so forth.

But surprisingly, Elya said nothing and simply began reading the book she had been given.

“?”

Belnera, who had been considering methods for dating the bloodstain on the desk, turned her head.

Huh?

“Aren’t you going to recommend it?”

“Ah. No. This book, <50 Poisons You Can Make Easily and Quickly>, is just so interesting.”

“I see.”

Elya grew extremely nervous under the gaze she could feel fixed on her from the side.

She wanted to recommend the book right away and explain one by one just how useful it was and how fascinating the Ankle-Catching Poison or Belgarung’s Poison inside it were.

But Lee Han and the Einroguard students shook their heads sternly.

When persuading a student like Gainando—no, Belnera—you could not show interest first.

About ten minutes later, Belnera finished analyzing the bloodstain and spoke.

“Can I read some too?”

“...Yeeees.”

“?”

“N-No. You can’t. I need to keep reading it.”

Elya nearly said yes, but barely managed to stop herself.

“Is it that interesting?”

“Yes. I think I understand why dark magic is so popular.”

“......”

“......”

The Einroguard students passing by stared at the two of them with utterly bizarre expressions.

What exactly was supposedly popular?

“Can’t I just read a little?”

“...Th-The professor said students who aren’t qualified aren’t allowed to read it. He said it’s difficult and dangerous.”

“Okay.”

Another ten minutes passed.

Even while reading the book, Elya remained nervous.

‘What if it doesn’t work? I don’t know what kind of person this Gainando is, but he sounds strange. There’s no guarantee the same thing will work on Lady Belnera, right?’

Tap-

Elya heard Belnera stand up beside her and panicked, thinking Belnera was going back upstairs to meditate.

But Belnera walked toward the dark magic school section of the lecture hall.

-How much do I need to learn before I can read that book?

“!!!!!”

Elya nearly dropped the book.

Barely catching it, she looked toward the professor with a gaze filled with awe.

He had made Belnera interested in magic in less than an hour!

The Einroguard students felt proud for no particular reason and said,

“Hmph. Compared to that prince bastard, this wasn’t even difficult.”

“You really need to see Wardanaz’s masterpiece, <Red Herring Trick>. It’s so good you can’t help admiring it even after you fall for it.”

“Everyone, be quiet.”

***

Running away from a gigantic undead monster with forty-four limbs chasing him from behind, Gainando sobbed.

“I should’ve studied more magic! I should’ve studied magic seriously!”

-Don’t give up! Focus! You have the talent to overcome this! If you cannot overcome even a trial like this, how will you ever become a great dark mage?!

“I don’t need it!”

Gainando thought Lee Han’s teaching was a hundred times better.

Whenever he was on the receiving end of it, he had complained, ‘I must be the only person in the Empire being taught this harshly,’ but after some lunatic dark mage put his life in danger today, he had changed his mind.

Compared to this, his friend’s teaching was kind enough to rank in the top one percent!

‘I’ll never complain while learning again!’

-What exactly are you so dissatisfied with? We, the Descendants of Ahrak, inherited the traditions of the magic tower founded by the great Ahrak. And among those Descendants, I possess the most powerful and extraordinary vision. I am saying that I will take you as my disciple and pass down all of my dark magic to you. This is an opportunity no dark mage has ever received!

“I said I don’t need it! Let me out of the forest!”

-This forest is not a forest of the material realm. It is the manifested Wraith Forest of the undead realm. If you want to get out, focus on your magic!