“Uh, is this really all right?”

Even as he flew away like an arrow, Lee Han did not forget to question the situation.

It was only natural.

When the Crazy Knight had come looking for the Great Artist, was it really acceptable to leave the senior behind and escape like this?

“If two powerful combat mages leave, then the senior will also...”

“Student Lee Han! It’s good to think highly of yourself, but! This! Is not something! Student Lee Han! Needs to! Get involved in!”

Pop!

Professor Garcia followed behind with spatial leaps while speaking.

Professor Voladi Bagreg was currently casting a fairly high-level composite enhancement spell that included strength enhancement, time acceleration, and spatial compression.

His speed was truly enough to make him vanish in the blink of an eye.

To keep up with that, Professor Garcia also had to grit her teeth and cast spatial leap.

‘Good grief. I did think he needed to have some confidence, but now he’s putting himself on the same level as Professor Bagreg.’

“No. By powerful combat mages, I meant the professors.”

“...I’m not a combat mage, Student Lee Han!”

Professor Garcia let out a scream full of bewilderment.

Because of that, her spatial leap was delayed once, and when Professor Garcia staggered, Professor Voladi Bagreg also stopped moving.

“This should be enough.”

“Th-thank you, Professor.”

“I’m grateful too?”

Lee Han also thanked him along with Professor Garcia.

The question mark at the end was because he still had doubts about whether this was really something to be grateful for.

“Still, with the Crazy Knight coming, leaving him behind feels a little...”

“You really don’t need to worry. That senior is someone who can easily shake him off even alone.”

Professor Garcia was not worried at all.

At present, the Skeleton Principal’s former disciples who were visibly active outside Einroguard—in the Empire, more precisely—basically all had the ability to take care of themselves.

The disciples who did not have that ability had long since been caught and dragged off to the punishment cells.

Considering the Great Artist’s skills, no matter how strong the knight was, the Artist would toy with him in an instant and escape.

“Even so, I’m still a little worried...”

“Graaah! You spell-caster! Disappearing again! Come out, I say!”

As soon as those words ended, the knight’s frustrated voice could be heard from far away.

Professor Garcia spoke as if to say, See?

“See?”

“I-I see.”

Lee Han spoke while trying not to show his disappointment.

“But Professor. I didn’t know the senior would be unab... no, unable to keep promises like other common enchantment mages.”

“The senior isn’t unab... no, not someone who can’t keep promises like other enchantment mages.”

Professor Garcia tilted her head.

Unlike Professor Verdus, who had no intention of keeping promises from the start, the Artist was relatively good at keeping them.

For someone like that to be unable to keep one and run away like this...

“Maybe the senior... No. No. This might be too extreme a thought.”

“!”

When Professor Garcia trailed off, Lee Han looked startled.

Could it be?

“Is what I’m thinking correct?”

“...It probably is. Student Lee Han. It’s exactly...”

“That knight is the Principal’s spy, and the senior figured it out.”

“Completely wrong!”

Professor Garcia was shocked by her disciple’s rich imagination. Even Professor Voladi Bagreg seemed faintly surprised.

“No? Nothing else comes to mind.”

“The senior’s work must have gotten stuck. If the magic hadn’t been blocked, there would be no particular reason to run away like that.”

Enchantment mages who accepted commissions with great confidence only to become stuck because of unexpected circumstances were divided into two types.

One type boldly shouted, like Professor Verdus, “It’s blocked! It’s not my fault! I did my best!”

The other type ran away and tried to find a solution.

The Artist was a typical case of the latter.

“Huh? Couldn’t he just explain the situation and ask for more time?”

“What are you talking about, Student Lee Han? How could he do something so embarrassing?”

Professor Garcia shuddered as if she did not even want to imagine the shameful act of throwing away one’s pride.

Even Professor Voladi Bagreg shook his head, as though that was not right. Lee Han felt unfairly wronged.

‘Am I the strange one?’

“Let’s go and try to stop him. The Petrogard students will suffer.”

The knight of House Garihi, having lost sight of the Artist, was howling like a beast and making the Petrogard students flee in every direction.

As a professor of the same magic school, Professor Garcia could not simply leave that alone.

“Understood.”

“Wait!”

When Professor Voladi Bagreg was about to step forward, Professor Garcia quickly stopped him.

“?”

“...I’ll do it!”

“No. Professor, you’re not a combat mage.”

Lee Han made good use of what he had just learned. Professor Garcia glared at her far-too-clever disciple.

‘He doesn’t understand people’s feelings!’

If Professor Voladi Bagreg went, the knight might suffer more injuries than necessary.

Since, when tracing back the reason why the knight was causing a disturbance, the senior was also partly at fault, she did not want to be too harsh on the opponent.

However, Professor Garcia was overlooking the fact that her disciple had grown considerably in the meantime.

Naturally, Lee Han guessed what Professor Garcia was thinking.

“I’ll go with Professor Bagreg. If it looks like the opponent is going to get hurt, I’ll stop him.”

“...Student Lee Han. It’s not that I’m underestimating your abilities, but will that be all right?”

“You don’t need to worry. The Professor listens when I speak to him too.”

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Voladi Bagreg silently nodded as if there was no need to worry.

Professor Garcia felt reassured, but also worried in a different sense.

‘Isn’t he listening to his disciple too well?’

Einroguard professors fundamentally needed to have the habit of being somewhat suspicious of students.

“Students struggle against professors” was one of Einroguard’s unofficial mottos.

Of course, she was not exactly in a position to criticize others either...

“Then let’s go... Professor! You need to move together!”

Lee Han hurriedly chased after Professor Voladi Bagreg, who had already disappeared far into the distance.

***

Ram of House Garihi was an excellent knight, but he had one fatal weakness.

Carelessness.

The carelessness of assuming that, at most, there were only mages from Petrogard and Valdrogard here!

That carelessness caught the knight by the ankle.

“...Urgh?”

Professor Voladi Bagreg stabbed cursed daggers, created by projecting shadows, into each of the opponent’s limbs, then quickly withdrew from range.

Ram counterattacked the moment he was ambushed, but realized that his opponent had already vanished and that his limbs had become as heavy as if they were bound with lumps of metal.

‘...Strong!’

Ram, who had been angrily demanding that the Artist come out, felt his anger disappear and his head cool.

The blow he had just received was that fatal. Perhaps because it was a curse made by linking several spells together, it did not easily disappear even when he poured blazing mana into it.

To be cursed like this from the start without even confirming the enemy’s identity. It was an unbelievable mistake.

Thud!

“Urgh!”

At the same time, a powerful telekinetic force pressed down on the knight. It was <Wardanaz’s Telekinetic Force>.

“I’ll subdue you for causing a disturbance in Petrogard.”

“How, how dare...! Ugh!”

As the knight circulated all the mana in his body to overcome the telekinetic restraint, Lee Han immediately cast <Raven’s Eye> as well.

In response, the knight set his entire body ablaze.

The burning mana was not a metaphor. His body was literally on fire.

“Hrrruuup!”

‘Mana explosion!’

Lee Han was amazed by the knight’s rare technique.

Though not to the same extent as mages, knights could also imbue their mana with attributes.

The knight before him had clearly maximized the fire-element attribute in his body’s mana before exploding it. It was too simple to be called magic, but its power was certainly tremendous.

Not only <Raven’s Eye>, but even the telekinetic force pressing down on his body was swept away in an instant.

“For a mere mage to appear so carelessly before a knight!”

Although the cursed daggers had not yet been dispelled, Ram tried to catch Lee Han by supplementing the strength of his limbs with his remaining mana.

Since the magic had been deflected, the mage should have suffered some shock as well.

And at that moment, the telekinesis and the eye spell were cast again.

“Kuhheuk...! H-how?!”

The knight, who had never imagined that his opponent could continue pouring out mana and casting spells regardless of whether his magic was deflected or not, collapsed with a thud.

Lee Han felt slightly sorry and said,

“I’m sorry. Please calm down first...”

“Val... Why is a Valdrogard mage so stro... kuhheuk!”

‘Oops.’

Lee Han, who had momentarily increased the telekinetic output, quickly stopped. However, his opponent had already fainted.

When he looked to the side, Professor Voladi Bagreg was staring intently at him. Lee Han found himself making excuses without realizing it.

“He isn’t seriously injured. ...Probably.”

***

When Ram regained consciousness, he apologized honestly.

It was not just because he had been subdued. As an Imperial knight, causing trouble in another magic school’s territory was shameful in itself.

“...I’m sorry to everyone. How shameful.”

“What kind of request did you make of the Artist to make him so angry?”

“Hmm. It’s a long story.”

Ram made an expression that showed he was not especially willing to talk. Then Professor Voladi Bagreg slowly began preparing to move from behind him. Anyone could see it was preparation for torture.

Lee Han was horrified and shouted urgently.

“Please tell us the story! We might be able to help!”

“Well... all right. I’ll tell you.”

The knight, after pondering for a while, finally gave up and opened his mouth.

Since he had been caught like this, it did not seem that the mages before him would give up easily.

Ram of House Garihi, a knight belonging to the Empire’s Fire Knight Order, had a lover and childhood friend with whom he had promised a future since childhood.

However, his lover had been constitutionally weak and eventually died young, unable to overcome a magical plague.

The knight, keeping his grief deep in his heart, sought out the Great Artist.

He wanted to obtain a work that would help him remember his lover as she had been when she was alive.

“...”

“...”

Lee Han and Professor Garcia, having heard the circumstances, broke out in a cold sweat.

The sweat would not stop because of guilt.

“...Professor!”

“I-I didn’t know either, Student Lee Han. I had no idea it was that kind of story!”

Unlike Professor Garcia, Lee Han had even directly participated in the subdual with magic, so he felt twice as guilty.

“This won’t do. We need to at least explain the situation.”

“Let’s do that, Student Lee Han!”

After finishing their conversation, the two approached. The knight was puzzled by the fidgeting appearance of the two mages.

What?

“Actually, the thing is...”

Thirty minutes later.

The red-haired knight, after hearing the full explanation, frowned.

“I see. So that’s what happened?”

“We’ll apologize on his behalf.”

“I’m sorry!”

As juniors from the same school, Professor Garcia and Lee Han apologized sincerely.

However, Ram shook his head.

“It’s fine. I thought he had given up entirely, but if that’s not the case, this is actually better. But why does he avoid explaining the reason?”

“...That’s what I’m saying!”

Lee Han strongly agreed.

If the Artist had just explained, this originally good knight would not have exploded like this.

Tap, tap, tap.

Ram, freed from his restraints, stood up and dusted himself off.

“Don’t feel too sorry. I also did something shameful, so let’s both forget about it.”

“Sob. I won’t forget the knight’s great magnanimity.”

“I told you not to do that... Please convey my apologies to Petrogard’s mages as well. I’m sorry I can’t do it directly. I caused too much trouble for such excellent mages.”

The knight praised each of the Petrogard mages’ works he had seen and expressed his regret.

The vividly lifelike wyvern statue, though the wings were shaped a little oddly, and the beautiful painting of a moon spirit swimming in a night pond.

And the living, moving painting of a prince that had been hanging in the Artist’s room...

“Petrogard mages certainly do have excellent aspects.”

Lee Han acknowledged it honestly.

His thoughts had changed through his conversation with the Great Artist.

Unlike Valdrogard, Petrogard certainly had excellent aspects.

“...Wait a moment. What did you just say? What painting?”

“The beautiful painting of a moon spirit swimming in a night pond? Come to think of it, it did look a bit like undead walking out of a swamp...”

The latter part bothered him, but Lee Han let it pass. There was something more important.

“Did you say there was a painting of a prince in the quarters? A living, moving one?”

“That’s right. He was very kind. Do you happen to know which prince it is?”

“...”