‘Could he have been an incredible mage?’

To be honest, when Lee Han first heard Alshicle’s explanation, he had not thought very highly of this mage.

After all, the ghost had been struck by a magic bullet and sent flying at once, and by Lee Han’s standards, truly outstanding mages either became liches or easily postponed death through the secrets of dimensional travel.

But when he thought about it, there was no rule saying excellent mages had to become liches.

Especially when it came to the magic this mage ghost had just described...

‘This is definitely beyond my level.’

He knew it was spacetime magic, but beyond that, he could not even begin to guess.

A door that created a predetermined space according to the mage’s will. Whether such a thing was even possible with a Lesser World was beyond imagination...

“Huh? Wardanaz?”

Nillia and Yonair, who had been cleaning up the potion preparation room and managing the remaining reagents, were surprised to see Lee Han coming up.

They had thought he would be solving the problem left behind by the mage ghost by now.

“What’s wrong? Did you solve it already?”

“No. It was too difficult. I don’t think it’s at a level I can handle.”

“What?!?!”

The two were so shocked they almost dropped their empty glass bottles. Nillia caught one with quick movements befitting someone from the Shadow Patrol.

“That startled me... But Wardanaz. Aren’t you mistaken about something? Saying it isn’t at a level you can handle.”

“...”

Lee Han looked at Nillia with a displeased expression. However, Yonair also took Nillia’s side.

“Right. Lee Han. Don’t just say you can’t do it. Try it once. It might work out unexpectedly.”

Resolving to have a serious conversation with his friends someday, Lee Han explained the difficult problem the mage ghost wanted him to solve.

“That ghost tried to create a space of infinite possibilities determined by will, but it got tangled and became an infinite spatial labyrinth. At this level, I can’t solve it.”

“...”

“...Wait. But if it’s Wardanaz, maybe you could do it.”

Nillia caught herself almost being persuaded and whispered to Yonair.

How many times had her thought, ‘Ah, this is really something even Wardanaz can’t solve,’ turned out to be wrong?

Yonair seemed tempted by those words as well, her expression wavering slightly.

“Hey. I can hear everything.”

Lee Han glared at his friends.

***

‘So this is all our friendship amounts to.’

Lee Han grumbled as he walked away, thinking of his two friends, who would not believe him even when he said he could not do something and were spouting nonsense instead.

When he looked through the first-floor window beside him, he saw Giselle, Dergeu, and Raphaedel diligently cutting away and burning vines.

“Do you think this much will be enough?”

“No. If we’re going to use it as a training ground, it needs to be wider. We need to clear everything up to over there.”

“But Moradi... isn’t this Wardanaz’s villa? Do we need a training ground?”

Raphaedel wondered why a mage family’s manor garden needed to have a training ground.

At that, Giselle’s expression hardened. She had been habitually making a training ground first without thinking, and he had struck where it hurt.

“...Wardanaz does swordsmanship too.”

“Does he do enough to need a training ground?”

“...He will. And having a training ground at a manor looks cool.”

Giselle looked at Dergeu and gave a signal with her eyes. It meant, Help me.

“L-Lee Han will be happy to see a training ground too. Training grounds are cool, right?”

“Really? I was talking to another Blue Dragon Tower guy last time, and he said he hated having training grounds at manors because they were crude and tacky.”

“...”

“...”

Raphaedel had merely brought up something he had experienced, but Giselle and Dergeu’s faces changed drastically.

Is...

Is that so?

Dergeu, who had trusted his friend and ended up in trouble, whispered urgently.

“Moradi! You said Lee Han would like it too!”

“Q-quiet. It isn’t confirmed yet.”

“Now that I think about it, it was strange! Lee Han is also from a great noble house, so why would he crudely put a training ground in front of a manor...”

While Dergeu stamped his feet anxiously, worried he might have ruined his friend’s manor, Lee Han walked over and called out to the three.

“Should I help?”

“?!”

The three were startled and turned their heads.

Giselle gestured for Dergeu and Raphaedel to move. It was to hide the temporary training ground.

“What... what is it, Wardanaz? Are you already done?”

“No. It was too difficult, so I don’t think it’s at a level I can solve.”

At those words, the three looked at one another.

Then they chuckled.

“Lee Han. Don’t say that. Go back and try again. You can definitely do it.”

“Right, Wardanaz. Stop exaggerating.”

Lee Han also smiled and responded to Dergeu and Raphaedel’s encouragement.

“Raphaedel. Let’s have a practice match at the training ground. Dark magic allowed too. Come up here, you bastard.”

“N-no...! Why!? Why only me?!”

“What do you mean? Why not practice?”

Lee Han was smiling, but Raphaedel could clearly feel killing intent. Giselle inwardly sighed in relief.

She had also been about to say something, but Raphaedel had beaten her to it.

“There’s a magic right now that was supposed to create desired spaces, but it got tangled and created an infinite labyrinth. How am I supposed to solve that? Huh?”

“...Uh, can’t you do it?”

At Raphaedel’s innocent question, Lee Han nodded.

“You come up. Should we each bring out a golem?”

Raphaedel was horrified, knowing that his friend had a Dragon-Tooth Golem, something rare even at Einroguard.

Dergeu anxiously fidgeted as he tried to stop them.

“Lee Han. Calm down. The training ground isn’t finished yet.”

“True. It still needs more refinement. Should I help?”

Lee Han waved his staff.

Although Lee Han did not have much confidence in his magical abilities, there were still a few areas where he had firm confidence.

One of them was exactly this sort of menial work.

He would not easily lose to any mage in this!

“...Uh, but is the training ground really okay?”

At Raphaedel’s question, Lee Han answered as if asking what nonsense that was.

“Of course it’s fine. Why?”

“But it’s a manor belonging to a great noble house?”

“Dergeu, you’ve been to our family territory, right?”

“I have...”

Dergeu recalled his memories of the past.

The territory had demons and golems and all sorts of things...

...Huh?

‘Why was I worried about a training ground?’

Now that he thought about it, House Wardanaz’s territory had things far more bizarre and grotesque than a training ground.

Once he remembered that, having one training ground at a villa manor felt truly insignificant.

“Training grounds are good to have. They’re good for practicing swordsmanship, and they look cool.”

“R-really? Last time someone else said they hated training grounds...”

“Who?”

“The Prince...”

“...”

“...”

“...Gainando dislikes every facility except the Mage Card storage room. How could you just take that at face value?”

At Lee Han’s scolding, Raphaedel honestly felt wronged.

How was he supposed to tell the difference?

“We’ll finish the rest, so Lee Han, go deal with that mage ghost first.”

“Thanks, Dergeu.”

Lee Han nodded and expressed his gratitude for his friend’s kindness.

Watching this, Raphaedel whispered quietly.

“Anyone want to bet on whether Wardanaz can solve it alone after saying that? I’m betting on yes.”

“I’ll bet on yes too.”

“Hey. We can all hear you.”

***

Lee Han moved around, grumbling even more than before.

When he poked his head out at the clattering noises, he saw Gainando, Adenart, and Asan talking in the kitchen they had cleaned earlier.

“I get it.”

With an expression that said he understood without asking, Lee Han called out to his friends. His friends looked at him in surprise.

“You were looking for snacks because you’re hungry, right?”

“...No, we weren’t?”

Asan answered as if he were bewildered.

He could not even guess what basis Lee Han had for saying such a thing.

Adenart thought to herself.

He definitely said that because of Gainando!

“What? You weren’t looking for snacks?”

“There’s an artifact storage room upstairs, but the mana connected to it seems a bit insufficient. We were discussing whether we could redirect some spare mana from the kitchen.”

Noble manors above a certain size usually required magic for maintenance and operation.

Storage rooms required considerable amounts of mana, since they needed various isolation and amplification spells.

“Ah. So that’s what it was.”

“But Wardanaz. Shouldn’t you be solving the ghost problem right now?”

“It’s difficult, so I came out to get help.”

“I see.”

“Got it.”

“...????”

Adenart was flustered by Asan and Gainando’s lukewarm reactions.

“N-no. Wardanaz says he can’t solve it, but is it all right for everyone to react like this?!”

“No... well... Wardanaz will solve it soon after saying that, won’t he?”

“Right. Lee Han just says that and then solves it right away.”

Lee Han felt a deep sense of betrayal.

Asan was one thing, but Gainando had not even digested the sandwich from earlier yet!

Suppressing his anger, Lee Han explained the problem left behind by the mage ghost. Then Asan and Adenart’s expressions became serious.

“No. So Wardanaz really wasn’t joking when he said he couldn’t solve it.”

“...”

“It’s certainly difficult. ...But you said your mother gave this to you with this in mind?”

Adenart felt something strange and tilted her head.

If the manor had been given to him as a gift because of this riddle, then had that not been a mistake after all?

“Then it seems she chose wrong...”

“The process of solving it with help also has meaning. Haha. Don’t judge too hastily.”

Lee Han quickly deceived the Imperial Princess and changed the subject.

“Anyway, I’m going to get help, so you can handle things well on your own, right? Oh. After you finish the work, make dinner too. Gainando.”

“...Wh-what did I do wrong?!”

***

“There’s no need to help with temple work after coming all this way, is there? Really now. It would be fine to have some fun.”

Alshicle was troubled by the Phoenix Tower students’ request.

The Empire was a place where various incidents occurred, as vast as its territory was, and whenever that happened, priests from various temples took the initiative in charity work.

It was good for students to help with temple work in their spare time while they were in the capital, but the temples had not been doing this work for only a day or two.

They would manage without help, so would it not be all right for the students to do something for themselves?

“That’s right. Priests, isn’t there anything else you want to do?”

Salco seemed to think the same and supported Alshicle’s words. Priest Siana stared at Salco and asked.

“Last time, when I asked for just half a cup of honey, you refused very coldly...”

“Th-that was because we needed to use it too, so we had no choice. Sorry.”

Although Black Turtle Tower had a good relationship with Phoenix Tower, they did not have a storage warehouse that flowed endlessly like Wardanaz’s.

They could not easily hand out whatever was requested.

“Salco, Ratford, how about you two go around the capital market with the priests?”

“That’s a good idea... Oh, Wardanaz. Did you solve it already?”

At Salco’s question, Lee Han got angry.

“I might not have solved it! Why do you automatically assume I solved it?”

“Ah, no... but you would have solved it anyway, right?”

“I didn’t solve it. I need help. Alshicle.”

When Lee Han explained the situation and tried to ask for help, Alshicle smiled slyly.

“Wardanaz.”

“If you say I should just go back and try again, I’ll kick you out of the manor even if you’re Alshicle.”

When Lee Han glared and spoke, Alshicle was shocked.

“How... how did you read my mind?!”

To read someone’s mind so specifically, especially a mage’s, would require very deep and precise observation of the soul even with illusion magic.

No matter how much of a genius Wardanaz was, surpassing even Alshicle himself, how could he already...?!

“Is it soul magic?!”

“It’s just a prediction.”

“What? Prophecy magic?!”

“...Alshicle. Just listen to me, please.”

“Mmm.”

When Lee Han became serious, Alshicle grew slightly dejected.

‘There’s no need to get that angry...’