Chapter 718
“You can always sleep later.”
Despite the upperclassman’s concern, Lee Han’s eyes shone with enthusiasm for club activities.
Sebius unconsciously took a step back and said,
“…We found all the books for today. And not pushing yourself is important too. If you overdo it, mistakes happen.”
“This much is not overdoing it.”
Lee Han was about to bring up his personal record for longest time without sleep, but Sebius waved a hand as if unwilling to hear it.
“And if this is because of the pay, don’t get too greedy. Someone like you will have plenty of chances to earn much bigger amounts later. This only looks like this because I’m paying you personally. I don’t have much money.”
What nonsense.
Lee Han snorted inwardly.
Right now, in Lee Han’s mind, Sebius ranked second only to Gainando’s mother among the rich.
How could anyone casually hand over gold coins like this to a junior?
“If what you need is gold, then I’d rather recommend putting real effort into the Kitchen Club or the Stonemason Club. They’re far more stable. And the income is better too.”
Sebius spoke firmly, worried that the junior might get intoxicated by the sweet taste of succeeding in a first commission and become addicted to relocation.
Most relocations ended without any profit at all.
Since you had to strike it big once and then make that cover future spending, you could not afford illusions.
The Teleportation Club had the advantage that it let you get rare items or materials more easily than other people, but in truth, it was not the kind of club where you steadily accumulated gold.
The clubs for that were the Kitchen Club and the Stonemason Club.
Listening, Lee Han suddenly grew curious and asked,
“But, Senior. Even if the Kitchen Club is stable, it does not seem like it would make that much money.”
“It’s the power of thin margins and high volume. How much do you think it adds up to if you take one coin at a time?”
“If you collect one silver coin each time…”
“What are you talking about?”
As Lee Han tried to do the math in his head, Sebius looked at him ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) as if wondering what he was babbling about.
“?”
“One gold coin. Then as now, one gold coin for a single meal.”
“……”
Lee Han felt terror at the absurd prices in Einroguard.
It was a greater terror than when the Skull Principal had appeared using ancient magic.
“T-t-t-that makes no sense. How can anyone take such outrageous profits? No, wait, do they not get attacked?”
Lee Han’s question made Sebius even more flustered.
“Hey. Calm down, calm down. Come to think of it, I forgot you just became a second-year. In Einroguard, one gold coin is actually on the cheap side. The Kitchen Club members have principles, in their own way, so they sell at that price.”
“What kind of principles? The principle of gathering all of Einroguard’s gold in one place?”
“Do you have some kind of grudge against the Kitchen Club?”
Basically, supplies were scarce in Einroguard, and many of the materials students used in magical research were extremely expensive.
On top of that, mages from Einroguard were, by default, talents counted among the Empire’s finest, so if they took outside commissions, they received extremely generous compensation.
Once all those factors came together, things like the following happened.
“Please! My artificially created Hell Sulfur Bull is starving. I need two bundles of Soul Frost Hay!”
“Of course I can give you some. For just twenty gold coins.”
“Are you insane?! Outside, that costs three imperial silver coins!”
“I’m sure it does. That noon mistletoe you sold me goes for one and a half imperial silver coins outside too. So the price just went up to twenty-five gold coins.”
“…Urgh! Fine, fine!”
Since most people charged whatever they could get away with, everything in the student market at Einroguard was priced absurdly high.
Naturally, the Kitchen Club, which had to cover research costs through club activity, had no choice but to set its prices accordingly.
Some Kitchen Club members even grumbled that they ought to raise the prices further…
If I lived on my entire fortune at these rates, it would melt away in two or three months!
Lee Han felt a stronger urge to escape than ever before.
“I find that hard to believe.”
“You’ll get used to it soon enough. Earn a lot, spend a lot.”
“Do people perhaps buy on credit? Pay it back once they get outside, I mean…”
Sebius looked at him as though Lee Han had just asked the stupidest question in the world.
For any Einroguard student who had spent at least two years inside, there was no reason whatsoever to honor promises made inside once they got outside.
“…That was a foolish question. My apologies.”
“Yes. I was a little shocked too.”
*****
With his heart in turmoil, Lee Han walked toward the Blue Dragon Tower.
To think the clubs of Einroguard had been taking such insane profits.
This place really is too terrifying to live in.
Just imagining selling the meals he had sold for one silver coin for one gold coin instead sent a shiver through him.
He doubted even a devil duke would think like that.
“H-hello!”
“Oh. Hello—”
A Blue Dragon Tower student he had never seen before greeted him in front of the grove, and Lee Han almost waved back without thinking, but then he felt a chill.
Something about it felt off.
Not an upperclassman, I think. If it were a classmate, there is no way I would not know. Then that means…?
Lee Han quickly checked the other student’s clothes. Then he gritted his teeth.
The other person was a first-year freshman.
Damn it!
The shock of club activities and Einroguard’s prices had made him careless.
“…Hello. I’m… well… Gainando, a student from the Black Turtle Tower. I’m a freshman too.”
But Lee Han had spent far too much time and gained far too much experience to panic like an amateur.
In that brief instant, he decided to disguise himself as a freshman.
If the other side failed to notice and let it pass, then even the Skull Principal would not notice, would he?
“Black Turtle Tower!”
“What. Why. Looking down on me because of my background?”
“N-no! I do not think that way at all!”
The Blue Dragon Tower junior flailed both hands in alarm. Deciding this was enough to count as a convincing Black Turtle Tower disguise, Lee Han nodded.
“I must have judged you correctly. Yes. You did seem different from a typical Blue Dragon Tower student.”
“I-is that so? But you seem really calm. It’s nighttime, after all…”
Damn.
Lee Han belatedly realized he had made yet another mistake.
Apparently Einroguard’s prices really had shocked him that badly today.
“I’m shaking on the inside, but I don’t show it. In the Black Turtle Tower, if you show weakness, you die.”
“What?! That’s…!”
“And who from which house are you?”
“I’m Arman of House Dalcard.”
“!”
The first-year student in front of him was, surprisingly enough, a relative of Asan’s. Lee Han cautiously asked,
“Do you know Asan of House Dalcard?”
“Ah. I do! He’s my cousin. …But why did he not tell me Einroguard was like this?”
Arman muttered with a gloomy, betrayed expression.
“…Probably because of the Skull Principal’s geas. You saw the Headmaster use magic, didn’t you?”
“Ah, yeah. I saw it during admission. He swallowed one person.”
“…?”
Shivering inwardly at the Skull Principal, who showed the freshmen a new performance every year, Lee Han kept it from his face and said,
“If the Headmaster does things like that, do you think he would just let upperclassmen go without doing anything?”
“I suppose not… Maybe he makes them swear something.”
“Exactly.”
“Then was it also because of the Headmaster that Asan kept telling me Einroguard is such a wonderful place, and even sang me, ‘Einroguard, Einroguard, such a lovely place. A place with warm meals and soft beds. Einroguard’?”
“…Y-yes. Something like that.”
Lee Han resolved that later, when he saw Asan, he would have to tell him not to torment his relatives.
He would protect his friend’s honor, but was that not going too far?
“Gainando. Do you happen to know where the Blue Dragon Tower is? I snuck out and got lost.”
“I’ll guide you there. But why did you sneak out?”
“Because I was hungry. I came out to look for something, anything, to eat.”
“…I heard rumors that Einroguard students boil leather boots and eat them.”
“I already tried that earlier.”
Lee Han, who had thrown out the line as a joke to lighten the mood, stared in horror.
It had not even been a full week since they came in. What in the world had they been doing?
“It wasn’t very filling. Alhild said that instead of wasting time on things like that, we should study, because if we didn’t, we’d repeat first year.”
“Normally, repeating first year would not—wait. Who? Alhild? Alhild of House Pengerine?”
“You know people really well.”
“It’s a hobby of mine, memorizing noble house names.”
Lee Han thought of the prodigy from House Pengerine he had met during winter break.
The contemptible archmage had happened to shove Lee Han forward and crush Alhild’s pride, but Alhild was undoubtedly still a talented junior.
I feel bad for no reason.
“What kind of person is Alhild? Is Alhild rude, by any chance?”
“Hm? Alhild is really humble. Ah. Did you also fall for the rumors? I used to hear rumors that Alhild was rude and arrogant too, but after meeting Alhild in person, that didn’t seem true at all. Somebody must have been spreading nonsense.”
“?”
Lee Han found the talk of Alhild being humble strange.
Am I thinking of a different person?
“Other than being a bit insane about studying, Alhild is a good friend.”
As Arman spoke, his stomach growled audibly. Lee Han could not bear it anymore, so he pulled out some bread, cheese, and ham and pressed them into Arman’s hands.
“Take this.”
“W-w-w-what… how?!”
“I raided a kitchen in the Black Turtle Tower a little. You should consider doing the same.”
“Gainando… you… you’re an angel! Not even the kindest priest could be as good and kind as you are!”
Sniffling, Arman gathered up the food. Just thinking that he could go back and share this with his friends gave him strength.
Lee Han looked at the junior with aching sympathy.
“But… was it Eandurde who raided it?”
“Hm?”
“You know, Eandurde. The boss of your tower.”
“……”
Hearing the name of the junior who, apparently, had already become the leader of the Black Turtle Tower this quickly, Lee Han was inwardly shocked.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Well, I guess you’re scared of Eandurde too. I was shocked when I saw it. Some White Tiger Tower bastard and one of our tower’s friends were completely…”
What in the world did Eandurde do?
“Gainando. If Eandurde ever tries to kill you too, run to the Blue Dragon Tower anytime. I’ll let you in.”
“…R-right. Thanks, Arman. But you should be careful about letting in friends from other towers.”
When they reached the Blue Dragon Tower, Lee Han let the junior go inside and sighed.
How pitiful.
How many more juniors would have to inherit this suffering?
*****
But aside from that, Lee Han still had to live his own life in Einroguard.
When day broke, he entered the classroom where Professor Voladi was waiting and called out,
“Professor. There’s something I want to learn.”
“!”
Professor Voladi looked at him in surprise when Lee Han shouted that the moment he came in.
Voladi had always known this disciple as someone who hungrily sought the techniques of magical combat, but to think he would show even more enthusiasm than before?
It was enough to make Voladi wonder whether there had ever been a disciple, in past or future alike, as greedy for learning as this one.
“What is it?”
“I want to avoid the juniors!”
“I see.”
Professor Voladi immediately understood what he meant.
The Skull Principal had already gone around telling the professors about it with great delight.
“If Wardanaz makes contact with a first-year junior, it’s the punishment ward! If Wardanaz makes contact with a first-year junior, it’s the punishment ward!”
“Headmaster. Please stop already.”
“That does indeed sound necessary.”
“Thank you for understanding, Professor.”
Lee Han inwardly thought it was a perfect plan.
He could prepare a way to avoid first-year juniors and, as a bonus, avoid Professor Voladi’s lectures for about two weeks…
“The great magic the Skull Principal uses, the one that makes people forget the existence of the target…”
“Professor. Is there not something a little easier than the Skull Principal’s magic?”
“Hm.”
At the sight of Professor Voladi sinking into thought, Lee Han felt a slight foreboding.
…Maybe I should have asked a different professor.