“What? Really?? Where???”

Seeing Gainando immediately poke his head out, Siana whispered in what sounded like slight admiration.

“Gainando is really good at helping his friends.”

To think he would go along with such an obvious lie.

Usually, even when people wanted to help, they could not be that shameless, which made it difficult. In fact, Priest Tiziling beside her was hesitating over whether to say there were clouds or not.

However, Gainando spoke as if he had no idea what she meant.

“What are you talking about? Where is the wyvern-shaped cloud?”

“...Ah! There’s a griffin-shaped rock over there!”

Siana changed the subject once more. Gainando believed that too and turned his gaze.

“Wow! Look over there!”

“???”

When the prince pointed outside in a deeply startled voice, Siana was surprised.

Huh? Was there really one?

She had only said it casually, but had there just happened to be a griffin-shaped rock outside by coincidence?

However, Gainando had not been startled because of a griffin-shaped rock.

He was startled because something like a corpse was lying on the sloped grassland of a hill.

“Isn’t that a corpse???” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The Petroguard mages smiled.

Guests from outside sometimes misunderstood when they saw the free-spirited Petroguard mages. The corpse over there right now was also one such—

“It isn’t a corpse, is it? Corpses aren’t that color.”

“Right. Prince, how can you fail to recognize a corpse when you’re from the dark magic school?”

“Ah, oops. Keep it a secret from Lee Han.”

“...That isn’t a corpse. That is a Petroguard student.”

“What? No, why is a student lying on a hill like that at this hour, not even inside the school?”

“Haha. Shall we ask directly? Bunaljo!”

The mage Dalseur, who served in a professor-like role while insisting that he was not actually a professor, called the student.

The student who had been lying like a corpse on the hill opened his eyes in annoyance at the call.

“What?”

“Come here for a moment. The guests here have something to ask.”

“Don’t want to.”

Bunaljo closed his eyes again and lay back down.

Clap clap clap clap clap—

The Einroguard students unconsciously gave him a standing ovation at the sight.

“...”

“S-sorry. Our hands just suddenly...”

At the students’ excuse, Professor Garcia covered Professor Garcia’s face as if dying of embarrassment.

Dalseur spoke as though it was nothing particularly surprising.

“It can’t be helped. Let’s go to him ourselves.”

When the carriage drew closer, Bunaljo got up as if irritated.

“Bunaljo. If you don’t answer, this will only become more bothersome.”

“...Fine, I’ll do it. Professor. What are you curious about?”

Then Benjamin, who had been listening nearby, sternly scolded him.

“Bunaljo! Watch your words!”

“...Fine, fine! I won’t call you Professor! What are you curious about!”

Lee Han, who had been listening to the conversation, asked Professor Garcia in a small voice, unable to understand.

“Uh, why did he get angry just now?”

“He called him Professor, Lee Han. That is a title that goes against Petroguard’s freedom.”

“...”

Wasn’t forcibly preventing someone from calling you Professor also quite restrictive?

Lee Han had that thought, but said nothing.

They had not come here to provoke the Petroguard students, but to help them.

“What were you doing here?”

“I was making a piece.”

“????”

At that answer, the Einroguard students murmured among themselves.

Adenart asked, as if she could not understand.

“I don’t see any tools, workbench, or materials...”

Creating magic items required a great deal of time, effort, and equipment.

Even the Einroguard enchantment school students could not escape that.

There was a reason the upperclassmen worked in Professor Verdus’s tower despite hating Professor Verdus.

But this student was working without any of that.

Could it be that Petroguard students had some new method of crafting?

“Is that student sending his soul to another dimension to work?”

“Something that insane... That’s not Wardanaz.”

“Hey.”

While the guests from outside murmured, Bunaljo tapped the side of his head with a finger and said,

“I was looking for the most important thing.”

“Materials? Reagents?”

“Necessary arcane magic? A design?”

“No. Artistic inspiration.”

“...”

“...”

The Einroguard students reacted like barbarians who had fought for survival their entire lives hearing the word “art” for the first time.

“Art...”

“...istic inspiration...?”

“Uh, is that the name of a spell?”

“No. I think he means actual art, not magic. The art covered in liberal studies. In the Empire, it is expressed through music, fine arts, poetry, and the like.”

“I, I see. ...Why is that needed for magic items?”

“Maybe he’s making a work of art, not a magic item?”

Bunaljo looked at the barbarians from outside with disgust.

“I am making a magic item, you barbaric bastards. Do you people not even know what art is?”

At those words, the Einroguard students flared up.

“How dare you say that? We know what art is too!”

“We go out to watch plays, and we even compose songs! Dalcard! Show him!”

When Asan was about to begin the “Einroguard, Einroguard, so wonderful” song, Lee Han quickly stopped him.

The moment Asan sang it, Einroguard’s social dignity would shatter, and Professor Garcia might have to hide Professor Garcia’s origins for a while.

Fortunately, Bunaljo, who had not heard the song, reacted a little differently.

“You compose songs too? That’s impressive. But I don’t understand why people capable of that would ask such stupid questions. You should know what is most important in magic items.”

“Magic... isn’t it?”

Everyone nodded at Lee Han’s words. However, Bunaljo sighed deeply.

“No.”

“Perhaps the deadline?”

“That is what you need to worry about least. The most important thing is beauty. Look at this.”

Bunaljo took a small necklace from his pocket.

Inside the sapphire, which had been crafted into the shape of a regular dodecahedron, fairly complex and sophisticated magic swirled.

Is it cold-control-type magic?

Lee Han grasped the magic at a glance.

However, there was something strange about it. There were many unnecessary parts in the artifact.

For example, the pure gold ornamentation wrapped around the sapphire was exactly that.

The pure gold ornamentation, shaped like an angel, initially seemed as though it had been added to efficiently increase cold-air control, elemental amplification, or spirit sensitivity.

However, there was no need to shape it specifically like an angel. If it were Lee Han, he would have wrapped it in gold, carved minimal magic circles into it, then forcibly poured mana through it.

Why carve it like that?

“What do you sense?”

“I’m not... really sure.”

At Lee Han’s question, Bunaljo let out a deep sigh.

“This necklace is a piece that can block nearby cold air and summon blizzards when desired.”

“No. I understand that. The pure gold around it must be for increasing control over cold air and sensitivity to nearby spirits.”

“!!”

Bunaljo was startled.

He had not expected Lee Han to understand the role of the decorative elements just by looking, aside from the artifact’s magic itself.

“But I don’t understand why it was carved like that... Wouldn’t it be most efficient to simply wrap it in gold and then carve magic circles?”

At Lee Han’s question, Bunaljo’s startled expression changed again.

It was an expression as if he had heard something repulsive.

“Such an ugly method... That is not beautiful at all!”

“So, you are saying this carving was done purely for aesthetic purposes?”

Adenart asked as if she could not believe it.

“It has magical effects too.”

“But doing it the way Wardanaz just mentioned would be much more efficient...”

“I said that is not beautiful!”

The Einroguard students began murmuring all at once.

Naturally, the contents were not positive. Murmurs like “idiot,” “fool,” and “dumber than Verdus” could be heard.

However, Lee Han was slightly impressed.

I’ve been corrupted by Einroguard and forgotten my original intentions.

In the past, he had only worried about how to sell artifacts for a high price, but at some point, he had started thinking only about how to make good artifacts.

Perhaps constantly experiencing threats to his survival had made him lose sight of important things and think only about immediate problems.

That’s right. Regardless of performance, making things prettier would sell better. I can’t believe I forgot this.

“I understand. Beauty is important too.”

“As expected. I knew someone with such keen observation would also possess aesthetic sense. Now go. Don’t disturb my contemplation.”

The Petroguard student closed his eyes and lay down again.

He planned to keep lying on the hill like a corpse until the form of the piece he desired came to mind.

Seeing this, Gainando became indignant.

“That lazy bastard! When there isn’t enough time even if you swing staffs and hammer things, he’s playing around like that?!”

“The prince is saying something right for once. That is not the proper attitude for a mage.”

“It’s worse than what Professor Verdus does!”

As the students’ reactions grew intense, Professor Garcia hurriedly stepped forward to calm them.

“Everyone, calm down! Of course, Petroguard’s methods may seem a little unusual.”

“They aren’t unusual, they’re wrong!”

The Einroguard students’ eyes blazed with hostility.

—Such mages should not exist!

...was what they seemed to be saying.

“...But if there are ten thousand mages, there are ten thousand ways of magic. That is Petroguard’s academic tradition, so you should know how to respect it. Everyone understands, right?”

“...”

“...”

“Everyone understands, right???”

When the sound of space being compressed and crushed came from Professor Garcia’s empty fist, the students quickly shouted.

“Yes!”

“We honorable Einroguard students always respect other magic schools!”

“Thank you all. Petroguard has many free-spirited artists, so you cannot think of them like Einroguard.”

“We should have asked to visit Kalarogard instead...”

Someone among the second-year students muttered.

It was a dark magic school that was not very popular in the Empire because it was located in the most secluded, gloomy, and smelly land, but to Einroguard students, it felt like the best option.

As the carriage departed, Dalseur laughed pleasantly at the shock the students had received.

“Einroguard students always show the same reaction whenever they visit.”

“I’m curious about something. Does work actually progress like that?”

Lee Han asked curiously.

Having learned at Einroguard, Lee Han also could not imagine such methods.

“Of course it is slow, and there are quite a few students whose work does not progress at all.”

“Then isn’t that a problem for Petroguard?”

“What do you mean? It is the student’s own choice.”

“!”

Petroguard was not a place that transformed students by applying intense heat and pressure like Einroguard.

It was a place that freely admitted students with a certain level of skill and let them live freely.

Even if students starved to death because they could not create any pieces, that was the student’s own choice.

Of course, the number of pieces produced was inconsistent and their quality varied greatly, but the occasional masterpieces were responsible for Petroguard’s reputation.

“Lee Han. Lee Han.”

“Why are you calling me?”

“Let’s use music magic to humble those bastards. With ‘Einroguard is so wonderful’...”

“...At least let me play something like <Escape to the Shadow Fortress>.”

Lee Han casually brushed it off.

However, Professor Garcia beside them hesitated.

Huh?

Come to think of it, the school that would show the most interest in the music magic currently being researched again at Einroguard was right here at Petroguard.