The Einroguard students murmured at the magic, which was far more complex and transcendent than they had expected.

Turning soulless works into living beings.

Among mages, those who became obsessed with difficult magic of that sort were exactly the dangerous kind.

Mages who gave themselves over to challenging magic, dedicating their very souls to it, eventually went mad.

“He sounds like a mad mage...”

“The Great Artist is not mad!”

Bunaljo flared up.

How dare they insult the artist who had inspired so many Petrogard students like that?

“I went out of my way to explain it to outsiders...! Hmph! Get lost.”

When the relatively cooperative Petrogard student got angry, the Einroguard students hurried to soothe Bunaljo.

If that Great Artist really was a mad mage, they needed to placate Bunaljo and draw out more information. They couldn’t simply part ways here.

“Ah, no. It’s a misunderstanding. You heard that wrong. This prince here misspoke.”

“Right! Why would you say something that could cause a misunderstanding? Apologize quickly!”

“Ugh. I was wrong. The mad mage was someone else.”

“Who?”

“Uh... our Skull Principal?”

“...”

Bunaljo looked at Gainando in disbelief as Gainando casually called the principal of his own school a mad mage.

“...Fine. I’ll accept the apology for now.”

“Thanks!”

The Einroguard students were delighted.

And immediately got to the point.

“Then tell us more about the Great Artist.”

“If there are any weaknesses, tell us those too. The Great Artist isn’t preparing magic that requires a lot of mana, right? That would be troubling.”

“...”

Bunaljo looked at the Einroguard students with slightly suspicious eyes.

Were they truly asking out of genuine curiosity about the Great Artist?

“This is suspicious.”

“Wh-what are you talking about? We’re just... interested in art. Right?”

“R-right. Art! We love art. Wow!”

“Then prove it.”

“What?”

“I said prove it.”

Bunaljo took out several more leather pouches and poured their contents onto the floor.

Painting supplies, sculpting tools, musical instruments, quill pens and paper for poetry and novels, and more spilled out.

“Each of you, take one and create something. If I can feel your sincerity, I’ll explain more about the Great Artist.”

“...Can’t we just handle this the Einroguard way?”

“Shh. This is Petrogard. Don’t make a scene.”

When the students who had no confidence in art tried to solve the matter with force, their friends urgently stopped them.

“Ugh. I only drew for a little while when I was young.”

“Tutanta would be better off. Tutanta is good at sculpting to begin with.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. I like making practical buildings.”

Grumbling one by one, they picked up tools they had some confidence with, or at least tools that looked easy.

Yonair, who had planned to use this chance to teach Nillia the flute, looked puzzled when Gainando grabbed a canvas and brush.

“Do you know how to paint? Why don’t you just write a short story?”

Of course, anything Gainando wrote would probably be terrible.

Before entering school, Yonair had already read the novel Gainando had written and submitted to an Imperial mystery magazine several times. It was a story about a prince of noble blood who was respected by everyone and made every criminal confess simply by meeting their eyes.

Still, writing would be better than most other options...

“No good. I haven’t fully developed the twist yet.”

“R-right. Then are you confident in painting?”

“Not really, but you just smear paint on, don’t you?”

Gainando said it without realizing that Bunaljo was staring from behind with eyes wide open.

Yonair shook Yonair’s head.

Gainando was definitely going to fail. That meant the remaining students would somehow have to create at least one work capable of satisfying that picky Petrogard student.

***

“Senior! Senior!”

Professor Garcia pounded on the door of the Great Artist’s residence and shouted.

The knocking was so forceful that the surrounding spatial magic surfaces trembled. Alshicle thought to himself.

Professor Garcia isn’t using the excuse of knocking to attack, right?

But that was probably not the case.

If that had been the plan, Professor Garcia would have told Alshicle beforehand.

...Probably!

Clang!

The door opened, and the Great Artist appeared.

Although the Great Artist had disguised every aspect of appearance with clothing completely different from the previous meeting, Professor Garcia could tell from the distinctive aura and movements that this was the Skull Principal’s former disciple.

“Ag... No, Senior!”

Professor Garcia quickly changed course after nearly calling out the name.

This was a mage who had abandoned that name along with the status of disciple.

There was no need to provoke anger by calling out the real name.

But Professor Garcia had forgotten one fact.

...That as long as Professor Garcia held the position of professor, anything said would inevitably displease the other party!

“Who said I was your senior? Get lost!”

Bang!

The Great Artist slammed the door shut and cast an eight-layer overlapping spatial distortion spell over its exterior.

“Gr-Great Artist...”

Realizing the mistake too late, Professor Garcia called desperately from outside, but the Great Artist ignored the call.

“...Wasn’t that Professor Garcia just now?”

“A traitor.”

As if nothing had happened, the Great Artist waved an arm again.

Then the bleak walls of the residence crumbled and turned over, revealing the paintings hidden within.

They were all covered with black cloth, so their contents could not be seen, but an extraordinary power could be felt from inside them. They were certainly no ordinary paintings.

“Where did I leave off?”

“You said you were trying to breathe eternal life into your works... Is that truly possible?”

“You’re the Skull Principal’s disciple and successor, so you answer. What do you think?”

The Great Artist really holds a grudge.

Grumbling inwardly, Lee Han carefully opened his mouth.

“If it’s only temporary... I think it could be implemented with a Lesser World or Personal World. Any other magic would make the process too complicated.”

Making inanimate objects move as though they were alive was certainly possible, but he could not even begin to imagine how one would connect magic in order to breathe temporary life into them.

In that case, it seemed far more feasible to use a Lesser World or Personal World and disrupt the laws themselves.

But...

“Even so, wouldn’t that be far from permanent?”

“Correct. You’re sharp. Word-command magic, Lesser Worlds, even Personal Worlds... no matter what method is used, implementing it permanently is difficult. That is why I am considering a different approach.”

The Great Artist drew symbols representing the human form in the air.

Then, within those, the Great Artist drew symbols representing a Personal World and symbols representing eternal circulation.

Understanding their meaning, Lee Han asked in surprise.

“You intend to summon a Personal World inside the artwork and then maintain it continuously?”

“That’s right.”

“Is that possible?”

If a Personal World could be maintained continuously, then the artwork really could keep living like a being with a soul.

Great magic that twisted the laws of reality had that kind of power.

But continuously maintaining a Personal World sounded even more impossibly distant than breathing life into an artwork.

How could that possibly be done?

Lee Han hesitated as something occurred to him.

No way?!

“Don’t tell me you want my mana...!”

“By using the essence of primordial magic contained in art... What did you just say?”

“It was nothing.”

Lee Han coughed awkwardly, hiding his embarrassment.

This is all Professor Verdus’s fault.

Because that professor had become someone who thought only of freely using students’ mana, Lee Han had developed such paranoid delusions.

Unaware of Lee Han’s delusions, the Great Artist continued explaining.

“Perhaps... the reason mages cannot transcend the limits of magic is because they define those limits for themselves too quickly. Like fleas trapped in a glass bottle that cannot jump higher even after being released.”

“That is not actually how it works, though.”

“The truth is not important. Rather, that observation adds strength to the point I just made.”

Though the example was wrong, the Great Artist’s words certainly made sense.

Magic, the discipline of twisting reality, was inevitably deeply connected to a mage’s will.

If a mage placed constraints deep in the unconscious, thinking, This is impossible, then an already near-impossible challenge would become even harder.

“Indeed... I can relate, since I also lack confidence. Confidence is important when learning magic too.”

“Exactly.”

If his other friends had been present, they would have thrown stones at him and asked if he was joking, but the Great Artist accepted it completely.

Because the Great Artist was not a professor.

“I intend to break through that limitation with primordial magic. Though it is random and uncontrollable, those very traits can break through psychological constraints.”

It sounds absurd, but strangely plausible.

What the Great Artist was saying amounted to gambling on a low probability until success, since conventional methods were difficult anyway.

Normally, that would be nonsense. But considering the goal, there was something about it that seemed plausible.

“Indeed... That does seem to have the most possibility.”

“Right?”

The Great Artist was so thoroughly concealed that not even the smallest part of the skin was visible, but Lee Han could sense that the other party was smiling for the first time.

“It is a realization I gained after fleeing into art for a long time. I never would have known this if I had stayed under that bastard.”

“...”

Lee Han did not ask who “that bastard” was. Instead, he changed the subject.

“So what kind of artwork are you trying to breathe life into? Perhaps an imaginary lover?”

Lee Han asked while recalling a story about a sculptor who wanted to breathe life into a sculpture of an imagined lover.

However, the Great Artist responded with bewilderment, as though asking what nonsense he was spouting.

“Even when I was at Einroguard, I never heard anything so ridiculous. Why on earth would I pour all this magic and art into creating something like a lover?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

Lee Han felt very embarrassed.

Of course that made no sense!

I’ve read too many fairy tales.

“You will be interested once you see it too. Look.”

The Great Artist waved an arm once more.

From somewhere came a song from the ancient kingdom era that Lee Han had heard before.

At the same time, the cloths covering the paintings disappeared, and statues slowly rose from the floor.

Amazingly, every single one depicted the Skull Principal’s human form.

“...”

As Lee Han stared in speechless shock, the Great Artist explained as though expecting that reaction.

“Discard whatever outrageous speculation you are making right now. Surely you do not think I am doing this work out of respect for that person?”

“Uh... I thought you planned to breathe life into them, then torture them for revenge.”

“...What terrible thoughts are you having?!”

The Great Artist was horrified by the youngest member’s cruel imagination.

If one wanted revenge, one should take it directly against the person in question. Why would anyone do such a thing?

“I am not preparing all this art and magic for revenge. I am not such a foolish mage. Why do you think the Imperial mages bow and scrape before that person?”

“The Skull Principal bows and scrapes even more often...”

Perhaps never expecting Lee Han’s answer in the first place, the Great Artist continued speaking.

“The answer is that the evil one carries on the mystical lineage passed down from ancient times. Conversely, if one more person carried on that mystical lineage, it would mean escape from that ruthless tyranny. Can you imagine it? A mage with the same abilities as that evil archmage, but with a good and righteous heart?”

“Ah. I’ve met someone like that.”

“...Have you lost your mind?”