Chapter 614

"No, no way... This can't be...!"

There weren't many mages who had experienced the sky falling.

Although it could be seen occasionally at Einroguard, generally, the sky falling was a rare occurrence.

However, for young Alhidle, today's event was like experiencing the sky falling.

How could this happen?

"Th-this is a trick! A trick!"

Alhidle, with a reddened face, stood up abruptly and shouted.

Being still young, his attitude was strongly tinged with immaturity.

"That... that senior must be a 5th-year student, right?!"

"He was a 1st-year student until this year, young Pengerin."

"Th-then... then that senior must be the top student of his year! There's no way he could be ordinary!"

"!"

'What?'

The skull principal and Yi-Han were startled by Alhidle's sharp observation.

As expected of someone rumored to be outstanding in his family, he was no ordinary intellect.

"He's not, though?"

However, the skull principal's shamelessness was one step ahead.

Yi-Han averted his gaze in embarrassment, but the skull principal continued speaking without blinking an eye.

"Top student? Students like this guy in Einroguard are as common as pebbles on the street. Right, Wardanaz?"

"..."

"Stop it! Alhidle. How shameful!"

Fortunately, an old penguin mixed-blood flared up in anger instead of Yi-Han.

"How dare you blame others for your own shortcomings! Since when did the bloodline of the Pengerin family become so vile?"

"Th-that's not what I... I just thought the senior surely couldn't be ordinary..."

"How dare you ignore His Excellency Gonadaltes' words! You, who can't even reach the heel of the reputation His Excellency Gonadaltes has built!"

The old penguin mixed-blood scolded Alhidle with a trembling beak.

Alhidle lowered his head deeply and felt ashamed.

'Wait, is this okay?'

Yi-Han sent a glance to the skull principal, asking him to stop this.

However, the skull principal was nodding with an expression that suggested his praise was very reasonable.

Do more!

"..."

"I-I'm sorry. I was wrong."

"It's not just your fault. Our entire family was wrong. We overestimated your talent because you're a relative. Your Excellency Gonadaltes. Please, I beg you. Take this talentless kid to Einroguard and train him! If you do that, we'll consider it the family's honor."

"Haha. Of course, that's what I came here for."

The skull principal spoke like the kindest grand mage in the world.

"Young Pengerin. Even if you lack talent, don't worry too much. If you enter Einroguard and study hard, you might become like your ordinary senior here."

"Principal. That's enough, isn't it?"

Yi-Han whispered to the skull principal who was excitedly teasing Alhidle.

After all, he was a junior, so Yi-Han felt a bit sorry for him.

"Se-senior. I apologize for my rudeness earlier."

Not knowing what conversation the two were having, Alhidle approached hesitantly.

When he came to his senses, he realized how rude his words had been earlier.

"I was wrong."

"...No. I don't mind at all."

Yi-Han quickly comforted the child.

His conscience was pricking him too much to just leave it be.

"And your skills were truly impressive. You'll achieve great things when you enter Einroguard."

"No! There's no need to comfort me like that."

Alhidle shook his head vigorously.

Today's events had made him realize it clearly.

That he had been deceived within the Pengerin family!

"I'm still very lacking. Until I enroll, no, even after enrolling, I'll study harder and definitely reach the level you showed today, senior."

"Uh... well... no..."

Yi-Han was about to say 'Even among my friends, there's no one like that' but stopped.

"Please remember me. I will! I will definitely come to see you again!"

"...Did I mention my family name by any chance?"

Yi-Han briefly considered if saying 'My name is Gainando' would work even now.

But it was already too late.

As Alhidle left full of motivation, Yi-Han sighed.

"I'm afraid he might come looking for me later."

"Then you should be grateful that he'll study hard thanks to you."

"..."

'I really want to hit him just once.'

***

[...Yi-Han, what on earth did I do so wrong for you to do this? Of course, I didn't study the black magic books! But it's vacation! I'll really study from now on, so please don't do this kind of thing again! Okay? You really shouldn't do this again! How could you do this! Is it such a big sin that I didn't study a bit!?...]

"This brat. Not studying and then getting angry."

"?"

Eandurde, who was reading <History of Imperial Guilds> next to him, raised her head.

Yi-Han waved his hand as if it was nothing.

"Junior. It's not about you, so don't worry. I have a friend who doesn't study. But he's getting angry instead."

"A huge crime!"

"That's right. It's a very serious crime. You're smart, aren't you? Have a cookie."

The junior ate the cookie excitedly.

"Death penalty!"

"Not quite death penalty. But have another cookie."

The junior started reading the book again while munching.

Yi-Han shook his head at the annoying letter Gainando had sent.

Not studying the black magic books. What an annoying brat.

[...Gainando. If you haven't studied when we meet at school after the vacation, I'll tell you in advance all the events in the magazines you read... No negotiation or compromise is possible... If you don't get at least nineteen out of twenty questions I'll ask right...]

After finishing his reply, Yi-Han opened the letter from Yonaire.

[...Yi-Han. I received your letter well. I'm doing fine now. Oh, Nillia also asked me to send her regards. The signature you prepared was really helpful, she says. Nillia is also preparing a letter now, but her handwriting is bad so she wants to practice a bit more. Yoanen is looking for you, so it might be better to avoid the workshop area for a while. When she looks for people like that, it's usually when she wants to give them a terrible job. Don't be fooled even if she says the pay is good...]

'The pay is good?'

Yi-Han felt the urge to abandon the skull principal's work right away and run to the workshop.

What if other alchemists took his place while Yi-Han was away?

[...Oh. It seems that business needs a bit more improvement. Some of the sponsors become violent if it fails...]

Yi-Han nodded at his friend's reply.

'She's saying to secure some force.'

[...And this is a bit different, but you didn't copy and paste the same content in your letter because you had nothing to write, did you? When I was talking with Nillia, I saw some of the same content. If that's the case, you don't need to maintain formalities, so there's no need to paste it...]

"!!"

Yi-Han was startled.

[...Yonaire. I received your reply well. Recommend magic to Nillia. If she masters the <Lesser Control> spell well, she can write a large number of letters without arm fatigue even with bad handwriting. Or finding another scribe is also a good method. I do that too when I have to write a lot of letters.]

[Thanks for the advice on the business method. It would be good to secure more force so that sponsors can't act violently.]

[And the content feeling the same is a complete coincidence. I wrote about recent events while maintaining formalities, so it might have overlapped a bit. Don't misunderstand...]

'I shouldn't send letters to Nillia anymore.'

Yi-Han made a cold resolution and opened the next letter.

[...Astheweathergetscoldandthesnowfallsseasoncomesthisstorycomestomindahundredandtwentyyearsagothemageoloedeasaid...]

'...Who sent this?'

Yi-Han was surprised by the letter content, which was written much more densely than the set format.

It was written so densely that it was hard to feel the spaces between words.

-Imperial bloodline, Adenart

"..."

Yi-Han was at a loss for words at the unexpected person.

He didn't know the princess would be so talkative on paper.

[...AndsoallproblemsweresolvedandwecandrawmanylessonsfromthispointcometothinkofitIamremindedofthemeatpieyougavemepreviouslyItwasreallyexcellentcookingEvenifIaskedthecookitwouldn'ttastethesameohlreceivedaletterwhilewritingthisletterI'llreadthatandfinishthisthen...]

'It hurts my eyes.'

Yi-Han frowned while reading and put it down.

It seemed like there would be a lot of useless content at the back as there was a lot of useless content at the front.

I'll have to read the rest later!

[...IreceivedyourletterWardanazThankyouforyourletterButthereisoneThingIwanttosayIstoletheWhiteTigerTowerstudents'breadbecausetheyhadstolenmyfriends'breadfirstandIwastryingtoreturnitsoyouunderstandright?Youmustnotmisunderstand...]

***

After finishing their work in the capital and taking a short rest, Yi-Han's group set out again.

It was to meet those among the students across the empire, excluding the capital, who needed to be met in person.

In the flying carriage, Alcicle tried to teach Yi-Han's junior about 'The History of the Pengerin Family'.

"So, at this time, the Pengerin family stopped the rebellion of the beaver mixed-bloods and gained the title of imperial nobility."

"What did they do after that?"

"After that... well... they didn't do much in particular, but that's the same for other families too..."

"When there was a great drought in the western part of the empire due to mana backflow, the head of the Wardanaz family moved the entire sea water, removed the salt, and made a reservoir?"

"..."

Alcicle didn't expect to be caught off guard by such a novice.

"The... the Wardanaz family is the strange one!"

"Mr. Alcicle..."

"Ah, no. I don't mean you're strange..."

The skull principal, who had his eyes closed, spoke as if he found it pathetic.

"How can you lose in words to a kid who hasn't even enrolled yet?"

"I didn't know she had learned so much...!"

"Tsk tsk. What an ugly excuse."

Yi-Han, who was looking at the scenery passing by quickly below, spotted the northern great mountain range in the distance and asked.

"Wait, is there a new student in the northern mountains?"

"No. It's at the foot of the mountains."

'Phew.'

Yi-Han breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't want to meet the Shadow Patrol by going into the mountains.

Apart from the Shadow Patrol members being somewhat troublesome people, there were lies he had told...

Thud-

When the carriage arrived at the basin and they got off, a group came up from the road below.

It was the Shadow Patrol.

"!!!"

"The servants in the shadows greet you. Your Excellency Gonadaltes. Do you have business visiting the mountains?"

"No. I didn't come to visit the mountains today."

The skull principal accepted the Shadow Patrol's welcome familiarly.

From this appearance, Yi-Han realized that the skull principal had been here more than once or twice.

Well, even hunters operating in the mountains, which are considered one of the harshest in the empire, would need the power of magic.

And there weren't many imperial mages who could help such places.

"Then we'll take our leave. Please call us if you need us."

"Yes. Thank you."

"Oh. Is our young hunter doing well?"

"She's doing very well. Her future looks promising."

"Thank you! It's a delicate matter to boast about our hunter, but she's really an admirable kid. She went to meet a friend to do the special homework you gave this time, and she didn't complain at all."

"Ah! Principal. There are knights over there! Wow! There are knights here too!"

Yi-Han naturally changed the subject. The skull principal didn't notice and answered.

"They're knights from near the northern mountain range. Looks like those guys are also after new students."

"Oh my! What impudent knights."

"Knights are originally ungrateful and impudent bastards."

"I agree!"

The Shadow Patrol members nodded their heads repeatedly.

They didn't know who that young boy was, but he was a boy who only said the right things.