“I’ll first pay my respects to your wickedness. But there’s one thing you’re overlooking. Do you really think my help alone will be enough to get you out of here?”

Antagondals’s point was a sharp one.

The insane duplicate was unstable mentally, but in magical terms it was overwhelmingly powerful.

It had already been a great ancient archmage to begin with, and now that it had shed the limits of a living body and become a mana thought-form, it could practically be called an extradimensional monster.

Even for Antagondals, slipping past a foe like that without being noticed would not be easy.

At the very least, Antagondals itself would have to step in directly, and if it did that, it could very well die for certain.

It would be better to let the boy from House Wardanaz report it instead.

That way, Antagondals might lose a few lives, but it could still get away.

“I never planned to get out with only your help. There’ll be help from outside too.”

“The Imperial Mage Marshal? The Imperial Mage Marshal can’t come. Wake up from your dream.”

Antagondals sneered when it realized Lee Han seemed to be expecting the Skull Principal.

The Imperial Mage Marshal was a mage so great that even the title of great archmage felt insufficient, but nothing in the world existed without a weakness.

This insane duplicate was relatively indifferent to the approach of other mages or intruders, but toward the approach of its original body, it was extraordinarily sensitive.

If the Imperial Mage Marshal came here, the battle would begin at once.

And that battle would be violent enough to turn heaven and earth upside down and destroy the entire territory.

The lord of Einroguard cannot afford a sacrifice like that.

The fact that an insolent outsider had been allowed to remain inside the territory was proof enough.

What outsider in the Empire could preserve their life in Einroguard’s domain while behaving with such arrogance?

“Why would the Imperial Mage Marshal come into this?”

But Lee Han’s response was so lukewarm that it made Antagondals’s sneer look silly.

Momentarily flustered, Antagondals said,

“Because that is the lord of Einroguard and… the principal, is it not? Naturally the principal would intervene in a student’s problem.”

“There’s no way. If you ask me, the principal is leaving it alone because he thinks it’s a good opportunity to learn magic.”

“That… that can’t be right.”

Antagondals had absolutely no reason to defend the Skull Principal, but somehow found itself speaking up on the other’s behalf.

Of course, the magical criminal personally did think this was an excellent opportunity to learn magic.

Granted, it could lose its life, but how often did one get a chance to learn ancient magic? A life was cheap compared to that.

But it still did not seem plausible that the Imperial Mage Marshal would think the same way and simply leave things alone.

A mage like that would have no reason to accept a title such as lord of Einroguard in the first place—

“Ha! I’m only a student. Who do you think would know better, me or a magical criminal like you?”

“…”

“Anyway, it’s the other students who’ll help me from outside. They’ll break through the great magic spread across the mountains.”

Lee Han did not trust the Skull Principal, but he trusted Diret.

His senior would definitely gather Lee Han’s friends and open a path for them.

“The students! If they can shake the magic from outside, that would be useful.”

Antagondals pulled itself together and answered.

If someone from outside rattled the spell, the insane duplicate would have no choice but to focus on repairing it.

It had spread a great magic over such a vast range that once even a single crack appeared, repairing it took a fair amount of effort.

And once its attention was drawn in that direction, Antagondals would gain some breathing room as well, enough to carve out a side path through another part of the great magic.

But there was one problem with that plan.

“Students, however, cannot damage this spell at their level. As I said, you’re underestimating master far too much!”

“Aren’t you the one underestimating my senior? You don’t even know who it is.”

Right on cue, <Whispers of Einroguard> delivered a new message.

It /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ was from Diret. Faint writing rose rapidly across it.

—Junior. A bunch of students are gathered right now trying to break through the magic, but there’s barely any progress. I’m sorry…

“……”

“What is it?”

“My senior says they’ll shake the magic loose and open a path soon.”

Without changing his expression, Lee Han bluffed shamelessly.

Then he quickly sent a reply.

—You don’t need to worry! I learned a fifth-circle spell. I’ll be fine for a while.

—……

*****

Even though a new week had begun, the <Junior Rescue Camp> was still packed with students.

Students from every possible club kept coming and going, hammering at weak points in the magic and trying to chip pieces off it.

Inside the magical tent at the very center of the camp, Princess Yukbeltire carefully lifted the magical structural diagram she had drawn on paper.

“No attack gets through… It’s beautiful.”

“Beautiful? Are you insane? We’ve spent the entire weekend and haven’t managed even one scratch, and that’s what you have to say??”

“Diret. Refusing to acknowledge magic above your own level and belittling it doesn’t change anyth—”

“Hey. Get out. I don’t need you. And I’m not helping with your research either.”

“!”

Princess Yukbeltire stared at her friend with a genuinely shocked expression.

How could anyone say something so outrageously rude?

“But you promised.”

“I said I’d help with your research if you were useful. Have you been useful right now? You incompetent mage. It would’ve been better to bring in Professor Verdus instead!”

“How can you say that? Can’t you see how much I’ve contributed by analyzing the spell, Diret??”

“Analysis only means something if it helps!”

Diret snatched the magical schematic and hurled it into the air. Princess Yukbeltire, flustered by her friend’s verbal abuse, hurriedly explained.

“If the spell I’m preparing now is completed, it should be more than enough to inflict damage—”

“You said it would take half a year!”

“I can cut it down to five months—”

“Right. Get out!”

“The two of you, please calm down. The juniors outside will hear and start worrying.”

Ileg hurriedly stepped in.

The two were usually close enough that they bickered all the time, but today it was particularly bad.

“Diret. Did something happen?”

“Something happen? Yes, it did. My junior is on the verge of dying, and she’s standing there talking about five months!”

“If someone dies inside the territory, they can be revived—”

“P-Princess Yukbeltire, that doesn’t sound like a very good thing to say right now.”

Ileg urgently covered the princess’s mouth.

If left alone, it looked like someone here might die before the junior did.

After venting her anger, Diret let out a long breath and sat down heavily.

“My junior sent word that he learned a fifth-circle spell. He probably just sent it so we wouldn’t worry.”

“Couldn’t it be true?”

At Ileg’s words, Diret and Princess Yukbeltire rebuked him at the same time.

“Do you hear yourself??”

“Chagla. There is a limit to how much you can overestimate your juniors.”

“……”

The president of the Library Club looked faintly dejected.

Given the talent that junior from House Wardanaz possessed, maybe he really had done it.

After stealing a glance at Diret, Princess Yukbeltire cleared her throat and spoke.

“Diret.”

“Yukbeltire. Think very carefully before you say whatever you’re about to say. If you irritate me right now… you remember what happened the year before last, don’t you? It’ll turn into that all over again.”

“……”

Princess Yukbeltire hesitated for a moment, then wrote something on paper and showed it to Ileg.

Then she asked quietly,

“Does this sound like something Diret could hear without losing her reason?”

“Princess Yukbeltire, please keep your voice down… Yes. I think it should be fine.”

After getting Ileg’s confirmation, Princess Yukbeltire nodded and asked,

“It’s Wednesday now.”

“Yes.”

“And the junior still isn’t dead.”

“Yes.”

“Then I think we can discard your weekend-death hypothesis, Diret. It seems the junior may be capable of surviving longer than you thi—”

Ileg immediately whispered again in a panic.

“You didn’t show me the rest of that sentence. Why are you adding things on your own?”

“I tried offering the sort of comfort Diret would want to hear.”

“I don’t think it’s helping. Please stop.”

“……”

Listening to the two of them, Diret sank into thought.

It was true that, contrary to her fears, her junior seemed to be enduring quite well even under the insane duplicate.

She had no idea how he was persuading it, but…

He didn’t actually learn a fifth-circle spell and show off his talent, did he?

She thought it was the least likely possibility, but no other explanation really came to mind.

“Princess Yukbeltire.”

“What is it?”

“Professor Verdus has sent a letter.”

A letter flew into the magical tent.

Princess Yukbeltire picked it up with an elegant motion and tossed it straight into the bonfire burning in the center of the clearing.

“Is it really fine to burn it like that?”

“Of course it is. It’s obviously something useless.”

Princess Yukbeltire answered as if that were the most natural thing in the world.

It was surely some pointless message ordering her to make and submit a few artifacts Professor Verdus wanted this semester.

If he wanted to see the artifacts, then he should make them himself. Why was he ordering Princess Yukbeltire around?

“Let’s bring in more students and shorten the timetable. At the very least, we need to get him out before vacation. Chagla. May I ask you for a favor?”

At Diret’s words, the spectacled bear beastkin nodded with a gentle expression.

“Helping a junior is my pleasure. What would you like me to do?”

“Go threaten some juniors and drag them here.”

“……”

Ileg looked a little hurt.

*****

“Professor Garcia?”

“Yes. Professor Bagreg.”

“I think we need to put a new gag on Professor Verdus.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Professor Garcia swung the wand and reinforced the gag sealing Professor Verdus’s mouth.

The magic was already nearing its limit.

“Mmph! Mmph-mmph!”

Professor Verdus struggled atop Professor Garcia’s shoulder, but the seal spell, perfectly in place, refused to let the professor go.

There was, of course, a reason an honorable professor of Einroguard had been suddenly abducted and dragged into the mountains.

To understand it, one had to go back to the previous night.

—Professor Bivle! Are you in there?

—Come in! Ghk!

The two professors who visited Professor Verdus’s workshop had subdued Professor Verdus and kidnapped him.

Professor Verdus had dealt with all manner of raiders and assassins sent by investors.

Naturally, the workshop had always been protected against just such situations, but the strength of his fellow professors exceeded even those precautions.

“This is a secret from the principal, understood?”

“I know.”

As if uneasy on the inside, Professor Garcia asked Professor Voladi to confirm it again.

Unlike the other professors, this vampire professor had always been impossible to read.

Student Lee Han, please just hold on a little longer.

The Skull Principal had told the faculty not to intervene rashly and to wait, but the professors of Einroguard had never been particularly good at obeying the principal.

Instead of trusting the principal, Professor Garcia had decided to gather reliable colleagues and act directly.

First was the dependable battle mage, Professor Bagreg.

Fortunately, Lee Han also had a close master-disciple relationship with Professor Bagreg, so the professor had readily agreed.

Next was the outstanding enchanter, Professor Bivle.

Fortunately, this one also had a close master-disciple relationship with Lee Han, so Professor Garcia made the decision at once.

—Let’s abduct him.

—Understood.

Just as expected, Professor Bivle had agreed to the kidnapping and come along.

—I called my disciple! My disciple will come rescue me!

—Stop bluffing, Professor. You didn’t even have time for that.

—I did! My workshop is prepared for things like that!

Unfortunately, he had been so loud that they had eventually had to gag him, but at least the preparations were complete.

“Fortunately, the students found a weak gate in the magic and are already working on it. We’ll approach that area too and try breaking through the spell.”

Professor Voladi nodded, then pulled a pointed stone from inside the robe.

Professor Garcia recognized what it was at once.

That terrifyingly dense mana…

An ancient relic!

Where in the world had it come from?

“I borrowed it from the principal’s room. Let’s use this.”

“……”