Besides, the members of <Einroguard’s Watchers> were so suspicious to begin with that even if someone impersonated them to approach others, it would be hard to gain much from it.

Lee Han alone would immediately block any contact like, “Hey, I’m Baquantalana. Can you lend me a hundred gold coins?”

“Forget the impersonation. Please just tell me what kinds of artifacts they use.”

Even if he did not know now, it might become a clue to finding the other members later.

Lee Han wrote down every piece of information the young prince told him without missing a word.

Baquantalana enters the club using a mirror artifact. Unbreakable One is... a room? He’s using an entire room as an artifact? Was there a place like that in Einroguard?

Lee Han grew curious as he wrote.

There was nothing particularly surprising about Baquantalana using a mirror artifact. Lee Han himself had used a similar artifact when he first entered <Einroguard’s Watchers>.

Mirrors were magical tools that gathered mana well by virtue of their conceptual and mystical form. They suited artifacts like the ones used by <Einroguard’s Watchers>, which required a steady supply of mana.

What was interesting was Unbreakable One using an entire room as an artifact.

The magic itself would not be too difficult. All one had to do was draw mana from every part of the room and circulate it. Realistically, however, doing that inside Einroguard was far from easy.

To enter <Einroguard’s Watchers>, one needed to be able to access it stably at any time, but could someone really secure a room like that in Einroguard?

Did Unbreakable One modify a private room? No. That would make the room too inconvenient to live in. Maybe there’s a good location I don’t know about.

As Lee Han was pondering this, a new contact came in. It was a one-on-one private message from Baquantalana.

Baquantalana: Some lunatic intruder is destroying <Einroguard’s Watchers> right now.

“...”

Lee Han hesitated.

The shared space used by <Einroguard’s Watchers> had been seized, but private messages were still working.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What the hell is going on?!

Unbreakable One: Could the Principal have entered?!

Not only Baquantalana, but other members with whom he had built relatively close relationships were also sending him one-on-one messages.

Lee Han replied first to the senior whose identity he knew.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Hey. Can you ask Baquantalana when and how this is going to be resolved? I need to find someone with smuggling plans before the semester starts so I can make a request.

Gonadaltes: Why not talk directly?

The young prince looked at Lee Han with shining eyes.

How had his disciple come up with such a moving pseudonym?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I blocked Baquantalana after we argued last time.

Gonadaltes: ...I’ll pass it on.

Lee Han relayed the message exactly as it was. Baquantalana soon replied.

Baquantalana: We’ll hurry, but it will probably take about a week. Tell Beaver-Penguin-Fox to be careful. We don’t know what the intruder might do.

Gonadaltes: Just talk directly.

Baquantalana: We blocked each other, so that’s impossible. Do you have any guesses about the intruder’s identity?

Gonadaltes: No idea. Maybe it’s the work of a Valdrogard spy.

Baquantalana: Indeed. That’s possible. We did recently accept an outsider as a member.

Phew.

Lee Han sighed.

Hiding his identity in <Einroguard’s Watchers> was harder than he had expected.

—Now, my disciple. Shall we depart?

“Understood. By the way, where are the outer garments being stored?”

—They are well preserved in an underground room beneath some ruins no one would have any interest in. Since I often travel across the entire continent, I have hideouts like that everywhere.

Mere strength and magic were not enough to wander the continent and constantly fight evil.

Steady and meticulous preparation was also essential.

—As I said, it is not something anyone can easily take, so you may look forward to it quite a bit.

Lee Han’s mood improved at the young prince’s confident promise.

An ancient relic obtained for free.

Perhaps this was what a real vacation felt like.

Following the Skull Principal and the professors around while suffering might have been a fake vacation...

“Hehe. Thank you, Master.”

***

“...”

Arriving before an unfamiliar noble family’s manor west of the capital, Lee Han was at a loss for words.

Huh?

Ah.

The young prince was flustered as well.

Originally, the prince had made a hideout in an underground room beneath ruins in a swampland no one approached. Now, however, the swamp was gone, and a luxurious noble manor stood in its place.

“...Hmm. Come to think of it, the capital must have expanded a great deal in the meantime, so the swampland would have been reclaimed too. Who took...”

The hideout has not been touched by anyone, my disciple.

“!”

Lee Han’s eyes widened slightly at the young prince’s words.

No one had touched it yet?

Then it’s still underground beneath the manor? Well, they wouldn’t have searched that deeply underground when building the manor...

Once the basement space was secured, they would not have dug farther down to search other underground areas.

In that case, it made sense that the prince’s hideout could still remain.

My disciple. There is only one way.

“Indeed. I understand.”

Lee Han nodded.

Using his status as someone from a great noble house to enjoy social activity was not exactly Lee Han’s preference, but in the current situation, there was no helping it.

As a member of House Wardanaz, he would visit another family’s manor to build friendly relations...

I meant we should find an empty house nearby, dig a tunnel through its basement, and enter that way, but your method is good too!

“...That would get us arrested...”

He suddenly remembered the fools who had been caught trying to rob a dwarf bank by digging an underground tunnel.

He did not want his name to appear in the Imperial newspaper like that.

“Is anyone there?”

“What... no, what brings you here?”

The gatekeeper was about to respond irritably, then quickly straightened his posture after seeing Lee Han’s face.

He had thought it might be some random merchant, but anyone could see that this person’s status was extraordinary. Moreover, judging from his attire, was he not a mage?

“I am Lee Han of House Wardanaz. I have long respected your family, and if it is all right, I was hoping to pay a brief visit and have a conversation...”

“P-please wait a moment!”

The gatekeeper hurriedly called for someone.

If this was a direct descendant of House Wardanaz, he was not someone the gatekeeper could dare handle carelessly. At the very least, the butler had to come running.

But why is he here in person?

As he ran, the gatekeeper was puzzled.

The usual process for invitations or visits went like this:

A servant would come to deliver a letter. After several such letters went back and forth, the parties would meet at an outside club or hunting ground, and only after that would one invite the other to the manor or suggest a visit.

Of course, some steps could be skipped. Sometimes the meeting and socializing at a club or hunting ground could be omitted.

But appearing like this without even sending a servant first was truly unusual.

I suppose it’s because it’s House Wardanaz.

The gatekeeper convinced himself. Mage families tended to be somewhat eccentric in the first place, and among them, House Wardanaz was the most famous.

While waiting, Lee Han checked his surroundings. He wanted to confirm which family this was.

This was not some Einroguard black market where they would refuse to hang the family name on the main gate. If one had an eye for it, however, one could still identify the family from various clues.

The best method was to look at the family crests or flags decorating the manor or garden.

“...?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

It seemed like a family crest he had seen somewhere before.

Huh. What is it? This is House Kraha...

“This is an honor!”

The butler came running in a hurry.

Who would have imagined that a mage from House Wardanaz would visit like this?

There could be only one reason.

“To think a mage from House Wardanaz would come to visit Lady Irendy. This truly is an honor.”

Who is Irendy?

Lee Han quickly racked his brain.

It did not seem to be an Einroguard mage, and certainly not a famous established mage who had already made a name in the Empire.

Well, if it were that kind of mage, they would not be saying that Lee Han’s visit was an honor.

Then is it a young mage? Someone like me? From another magic school?

The moment his thoughts reached that point, Lee Han felt a chill run down his spine.

If not Einroguard, then what magic school would be attended by a noble family wealthy enough to own a villa manor in the capital?

Ipelldrem: Please help me!!!!

That startled me.

Lee Han was greatly surprised when the new member contacted him one-on-one through <Einroguard’s Watchers>.

He had not expected to receive a message in this situation.

Gonadaltes: Sorry, but I don’t have time right now either. Ask someone else.

Ipelldrem: The other members also refused, saying they’re busy right now. Please, I’m begging you!

It seemed the other members were on edge because of the unidentified intruder.

In this situation, the Einroguard students were not generous enough to indulge the complaints of a mere Valdrogard student.

Gonadaltes: Sor...

Ipelldrem: An Einroguard student has come to visit my manor right now?

Gonadaltes: Pretend you aren’t there and tell them to get lost. They probably came to extort money.

Ipelldrem: Really... Gonadaltes, you’re truly rude! How can you insult an Einroguard student you’ve never even seen?

Hmph.

Lee Han made an indifferent face.

Someone who had never even been to Einroguard—what would they know?

Gonadaltes: I’m saying this for your sake. Most Einroguard students are evil.

Ipelldrem: Even if I concede a hundred times, ten thousand times, the person who visited today isn’t like that. They’re an upperclassman.

Gonadaltes: Being an upperclassman probably doesn’t make them any different.

Lee Han considered warning the innocent Valdrogard student about the upperclassman from the enchantment magic school whose name started with “Yuk” and ended with “tire.”

If the student met the wrong person, they could be cleaned out completely.

Ipelldrem: The other person is from House Wardanaz. How should I respond so I can treat them well without being rude? How do you treat guests at Einroguard?

“Cough.”

Lee Han choked and coughed. The young prince was concerned enough to ask if he was all right.

...Crazy...!

Only then did Lee Han understand why he had felt that chill down his spine earlier.

It was the manor of a Valdrogard student!

At the same time, the family crest came clearly back to his memory.

House Kraha...!

Then the other party was Gainando’s distant relative and a student currently attending Valdrogard.

Lee Han genuinely wanted to run away.

Damn it. Should I have said Gainando instead of House Wardanaz? No. That would have been discovered even faster.

Even a distant relative would know what the prince looked like as long as they belonged to House Kraha.

If some black-haired person came to commit fraud, they might immediately call the knights...

Ipelldrem: Excuse me? Are you perhaps angry? I’ll apologize. But Gonadaltes, your rude attitude is also...

The young prince, who had been watching, offered advice.

Disciple. This is a good opportunity.

“Do you have any good advice?”

Lee Han brightened when he spotted his master’s text amid the confusion.

An experienced prince would surely be able to handle such a tangled situation wisely.

If the other party wants to learn from you, tell them to donate their manor to my disciple. Seeing how thirsty they are for magic, it should work well enough.

“...Is there no advice that’s slightly less aggressive?”