“What should we do?”

“What do you mean, what should we do? We teach the ones left behind.”

The pirate crone pointed at the second-year classmates as she spoke.

The second-year classmates looked at Lee Han with eyes like squirrels whose acorns had been snatched away right in front of them. Their gazes seemed to be saying:

—Are you going to hit us?

These bastards. Did they learn silent telepathy magic while I wasn’t looking?

Lee Han could not bring himself to attack his classmates, guilty conscience weighing on him.

“I can’t do it.”

“What?! Are you ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) sure you’re a pirate?”

“I’m not a pirate. And I was already kicked out of pirate magic earlier.”

At the lingering resentment in Lee Han’s voice, Ragesa burst into giggles.

“Is this because of the pirate magic? You really are greedy for learning, just like Bagreg said.”

“No, it’s because you made me completely unable to use the thing I’d barely managed to learn...”

“Fine. I get it. I’ll concede on this point. I’ll just have to teach you. Come on, everyone gather round! I’ll teach you pirate-style fighting!”

“If we learn it, can we land a hit on Wardanaz too?”

“Of course!”

“...”

Lee Han glared at Raphaedel.

Had there ever been such an ungrateful bastard?

“Raphaedel.”

“Ah, no. I was just asking. It was academic curiosity.”

“Judging by your reaction, you do still have some conscience left. And that’s not what I meant. Why don’t I see any fourth-year seniors?”

Now that he thought about it, the third-year upperclassmen had just fled, and his second-year friends remained here, but the fourth-years were nowhere to be seen.

Of course, he understood that they were busy preparing for graduation, but not a single one of them was visible.

“The fourth-year seniors said they had something to do today and didn’t come?”

“...!”

Lee Han realized what had happened and was impressed.

The fourth-years really are different!

This was not even the level of tapping a stone bridge before crossing it.

They had quickly retreated after hearing only the information that Professor Kirmin Ku was busy and that a guest had come from outside.

To avoid being caught in any potential danger.

After all, if they let the underclassmen meet the guest first, they could confirm who had come later...

They’re really ruthless.

Was that what one had to be like to become a fourth-year at Einroguard?

*****

Unbreakable One: Hey! Everyone knows guests are coming next week, right? Are you preparing?

“!”

Lee Han, who had finished the dueling club business and come out, was puzzled when he saw <Whispers of Einroguard> writing out text.

It’s a senior I’ve never seen before?

The unfamiliar senior using the nickname Unbreakable One seemed very interested in the other members, going around and talking to them about all sorts of things.

Unbreakable One: Iactus. How about you?

Iactus: I’m preparing well.

Unbreakable One: What about you, Baquantalana? Wow. Aren’t you completely excited?

“...?”

Lee Han, watching the conversation, felt a strange awkwardness.

A sense of dissonance, as if the other person was forcing excitement.

I must be mistaken. There’s no reason to pretend to be excited.

Einroguard students were fundamentally gloomy beings. There was no need to pretend to be excited.

Baquantalana: Does anyone know who broke the sixth-floor corridor?

Iactus: Right. Someone broke the sixth-floor corridor. What kind of crazy bastard was it? More importantly, how did they break it?

Huh. There really are a lot of crazy bastards.

Lee Han was surprised as he read the text.

Apparently, some insane student had broken the sixth-floor corridor.

Since Einroguard’s main building was protected by powerful magic, breaking part of it from the inside would be no ordinary feat...

Gonadaltes: Is that really true? There really are a lot of crazy bastards.

Iactus: There have always been a lot of crazy bastards, so I’m not that surprised. I’m more curious about how it was broken. If I knew that, I’d use it too.

Unbreakable One: Iactus. That isn’t something you should do.

Iactus: Stop meddling in other people’s business.

Baquantalana: Seeing the scene, it wasn’t ordinary violence or force. It wasn’t typical magic. I suspect a hellish great demon or a high-ranking spirit went berserk.

Iactus: Damn it. Is it “monsters in Einroguard” season again? Why has it been like this lately? I heard some crazy bastard appeared in the outskirts of the territory too.

Gonadaltes: I agree. If insane monsters are roaming around inside the main building...

Lee Han, who had been moving his quill, paused.

Huh?

Come to think of it, wasn’t the dueling club located on the sixth floor?

And the place where he had learned pirate magic from Ragesa was also on the sixth floor...

Iactus: Should we ask the hunter club to track the monster? Those bastards say it’s too expensive.

Gonadaltes: Seems like a useless thing to do. Can’t everyone protect themselves from monsters? Spending unnecessarily will only be your own loss.

Iactus: Is that so?

Gonadaltes: Iactus. Don’t be fooled. While you sacrifice for others, those others will save their gold coins and spend them on themselves.

Iactus: Now that you put it that way, it does make me angry. Right. Whoever needs it can catch it.

Unbreakable One: Both of you, don’t think so selfishly. If someone steps up even when it isn’t their business, someday other friends will step up when it isn’t their business too.

Iactus: When? After I graduate?

I should change the topic.

Lee Han felt there would be nothing good about discussing at length who had broken the corridor and what kind of monster had been summoned inside Einroguard’s main building.

The longer they talked about it, wouldn’t an innocent second-year student come under suspicion?

Iactus: Does anyone have information about next week’s guests?

Fortunately, Iactus changed the topic at exactly the right time. Lee Han immediately went along with it.

Gonadaltes: I know one person.

Iactus: Oh. Gonadaltes! My friend with the terrible pseudonym! Who is it?

Gonadaltes: Pirate Ragesa. Since you might not know who that is, I’ll explain...

Baquantalana: You mean Ragesa, daughter of Torgerd?

Iactus: Admiral of the Southern Privateer Fleet!

Unbreakable One: ...Who on earth invited Ragesa?

No. Ragesa is famous?

Lee Han was slightly flustered.

Of course, Ragesa was somewhat well-known in the Empire, but he had not expected every single club member to immediately answer without exception.

Gonadaltes: Everyone is surprising me. I didn’t expect all of you to know.

Iactus: Haha. Well, I’m a cultured person, so that’s natural for me, but the others probably know for slightly different reasons. It’s because of Ragesa’s Achievement, right?

Gonadaltes: What Achievement?

Iactus: Hey. Hey. Are you seriously asking? Obviously, I’m talking about investing twenty chests of Imperial gold in Professor Verdus!

Gonadaltes: Ah. That Achievement...

“...”

Lee Han stopped his quill and fell into deep thought. He felt slightly sorry for Ragesa.

She had simply trusted Professor Verdus and invested chests of gold, yet among Einroguard students, her image had already been established as “that legendary sucker who trusted Professor Verdus and invested.”

It was truly merciless.

Baquantalana: I respect Ragesa.

Gonadaltes: Is that so?

Baquantalana: Ragesa is a captain with enormous wealth, and also a generous investor willing to invest in Professor Verdus. I really want to meet her.

Gonadaltes: ...

Club week was not simply a period when outsiders interested in clubs came to enjoy themselves and leave.

Of course, outsiders might come with that mindset, but ambitious Einroguard students were different.

What mattered to the students was the following:

Which person among the visitors this time was a rich and generous sucker?

If there was someone with heavy pouches of gold and the generosity to invest in any research?

They had to bring that person over somehow and persuade them before other mages thinned those pouches.

Einroguard students showed no mercy when it came to this kind of benevolent competition. If someone tried to snatch a sucker first, they would pounce with the resolve for all-out war.

This really wasn’t a story I wanted to know...

Iactus: Thank you, Gonadaltes. Thanks to you, I obtained very valuable information. I should prepare some rum.

Baquantalana: Preparing an Achievement suitable for a pirate wouldn’t be bad either.

Iactus: Oh my. I should have done some piracy.

Unbreakable One: How about everyone try sincerely persuading guests instead of thinking about deceiving them?

Surprisingly, all the members currently present pretended not to see Unbreakable One’s words and ignored them.

Lee Han thought to himself.

Unbreakable One doesn’t seem to have many friends here...

Iactus: Gonadaltes. I’ll give you some information too. The Kitchen Club seems to have invited big shots this time. I heard they invited the capital’s bakery guild and butcher guild, so try sneaking over to the Kitchen Club and tempting them by offering to show them research.

Gonadaltes: Is that okay?

Iactus: Of course it’s not okay! If the Kitchen Club members catch you, you’ll have to go into their cauldron, so definitely do it secretly. But it’s worth it. I hear they have so many gold coins these days they don’t know what to do with them.

Baquantalana: Then since I also received valuable information, I’ll offer one piece of advice. Dezie from House Lekobi is coming to the Stonemason Club.

Iactus: What?! That master craftsman from the construction guild is coming? How did they invite that person?

Baquantalana: According to rumors, they showed Dezie the <Tower of Echoes>. I don’t know if that’s true, though.

Iactus: If it’s Dezie... that person will be carrying gold coins equal to their own body weight. Damn it. If only we could steal Dezie away from the Stonemason Club!

Wait. Can I approach all of them?

Lee Han, who had been listening to the upperclassmen’s stories, realized for the first time the advantage of joining multiple clubs.

Because he belonged to multiple clubs, he could easily approach the visiting guests.

If I could get some money...

For the first time in a while, Lee Han briefly sank into happy contemplation.

What if he met an investor with heavy pouches of gold and a kind heart?

First, I should get investment for the dark magic school, and ask for support for Senior Diret’s research too. My own research hasn’t even started yet... Hmm. But I am writing a book on water crystals, so maybe I could ask for a little funding to complete that? That much should be fine. I could also get more support for Basil and Phoneig’s feed. Come to think of it, I need potions for practicing lightning-element magic too...

Lee Han, whose imagination had started running wild, barely managed to come to his senses.

The magic of gold coins was truly astonishing. Once one started imagining, it was difficult to escape.

Oh no. What was I doing? That was really dangerous.

Baquantalana: Gonadaltes. Which club invited Ragesa?

Gonadaltes: The dueling club. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Unbreakable One: Wow! Professor Kirmin Ku invited Ragesa? That’s really unbelievable.

Gonadaltes: No. As far as I know, Professor Kirmin Ku was busy, so Professor Voladi Bagreg was asked instead.

Unbreakable One went silent for a moment.

Lee Han tilted his head.

Is something wrong?

Or perhaps, like Lee Han, this senior also flinched just from seeing Professor Voladi’s name. If that was the case, it was perfectly understandable.

Unbreakable One: I see. Thanks, everyone. Something came up, so I have to go now.

Iactus: Unbreakable One. You’re the only one not sharing any good information. Instead of only liking to advise others, why don’t you share some information?

Unbreakable One: Ah. Sorry. I didn’t think about it.

Iactus: Of course you didn’t. Unbreakable One only likes to lecture!

Lee Han thought as he watched the conversation.

Isn’t Iactus making too many enemies? What if they actually meet?

Iactus seemed quite confident in Iactus’s own abilities, but one never knew how things would turn out in the world.

There was nothing good about making enemies.

Unbreakable One: ...Duke Ikalderen will be participating as a guest. Is that enough?

Iactus: What nonsense are you talking about, Unbreakable One? Why would Duke Ikalderen participate?

Gonadaltes: No. Unbreakable One has a point. Duke Ikalderen is currently confined in a corner of Einroguard.

Iactus: ...How do you know that?