This should be enough to spot trouble in advance and escape.

Lee Han calmly checked the street outside the window, the staircase below, and the nearby café patrons.

There didn’t appear to be any suspicious figures that could be Einroguard informants.

Ting—

With a clear chime, Lee Han spun a tiny crystal top. Mana flowed from his fingertips as the top rotated smoothly in place.

It was one of the divination techniques he had learned after advancing to second year — .

If the top continued spinning, the situation was relatively safe.

If it stopped, danger was approaching.

The upperclassmen in the divination magic school didn’t think highly of the technique because it consumed mana while producing vague results with narrow practical use, but Lee Han had memorized it anyway, thinking it might prove useful someday.

Most importantly, it required only mana and no separate reagents.

Safe... for now.

Inside Einroguard, there were too many mages stronger than Lee Han for this sort of divination to matter much.

Outside the school, however, things were different.

If informants bought by Einroguard approached him, there was a good chance Lee Han would notice through divination first.

“Young Master Wardanaz. What sort of club business brought you outside?”

“At first, I came out because of Drama Club business...”

“Ah. Drama Club. That suits you.”

“After that, Kitchen Club, Stonemason Club, Jousting Club, Library Club...”

“...”

Arien nearly spat out the coffee in his mouth, but years of experience as a merchant allowed him to maintain composure.

Come to think of it, this young master of House Wardanaz did have eccentric qualities befitting the family’s infamous reputation.

For someone like that, joining countless clubs and enthusiastically participating in social activities wasn’t particularly strange.

House Wardanaz definitely isn’t known for being sociable, though. He really is unique.

Completely unaware he was being misunderstood, Lee Han carefully steered the conversation toward the real issue.

This was a delicate situation.

He needed outside help while simultaneously hiding his true objective from that same outsider.

That meant choosing his words carefully.

Hmm. The first item I need to retrieve is...

Retrieve <Axen’s Mystic Enhancement> held by the mage Upinum and deliver it to Professor Verdus.

Upinum confirmed at the <Dwarves’ Oath> workshop in the western district.

I really don’t want to start with this one.

Lee Han frowned after reading the note.

Stealing from an innocent Imperial citizen on Professor Verdus’s orders.

Even if it was a professor’s request, it left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Do you happen to know the mage Upinum?”

“Yes. Ah... Young Master, are you perhaps retrieving Einroguard items?”

This time, Lee Han nearly spat out his coffee instead.

How could someone he had only just met today casually know one of Einroguard’s deepest secrets?

“...I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Ah. My apologies. That was tactless of me.”

Arien immediately apologized sincerely.

Asking such a thing directly in front of an Einroguard student had definitely been careless.

“...I’d like to hear why you asked that.”

“Well... Young Master Wardanaz. The thing is, Einroguard’s retrieval operations are more famous than you might think.”

Arien spoke cautiously, wondering how best to explain.

He didn’t want to offend the pride of the prestigious Einroguard student sitting before him.

“...Excuse me?”

“Think about it. Valuable magical artifacts vanish without a trace, and the victims stay silent afterward. There aren’t many groups capable of doing something like that.”

“...”

Lee Han felt a wave of deep shame wash over him.

Did I really enter Einroguard for this?

He had assumed they weren’t getting caught, but apparently even merchants outside the school knew about it.

At this rate, if he went to the capital, people would whisper things like:

‘You’re from Einroguard?’

‘Shh. Hide your wallets.’

“...No, but even if Einroguard mages ignore Imperial law, how does °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that make any sense? Why would the victims stay quiet after being robbed?”

“Hm? Ah. I think you misunderstood. Young Master, do you perhaps believe Einroguard mages steal from innocent, law-abiding Imperial citizens?”

“Yes? Of course.”

“...Pfft— Ahahahaha!” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Not only Arien, but even Mrangse burst into laughter.

The deadpan joke from the statue-faced boy had landed perfectly.

At least, that was what they assumed it was.

“...Isn’t that right?”

“Hahahaha! You can stop joking now. Of course not.”

Arien laughed so hard tears gathered in his eyes. Wiping them away, he explained again.

People often assumed Einroguard mages were especially evil because of all the incidents and rumors surrounding them, but that wasn’t actually true.

Einroguard mages caused larger accidents simply because they were more capable.

Imperial mages, in general, were all terrible people.

Creatures obsessed only with themselves and their magic.

“Among magical artifacts, there are plenty of dangerous, contaminated items, or objects acquired illegally. Einroguard mages retrieve those kinds of things. Naturally, the people who lose such artifacts can’t exactly report it to the authorities.”

As an experienced merchant who dealt with rumors from across the Empire, Arien could occasionally connect incidents involving evil mages losing artifacts to the activities of Einroguard.

After all, if only the people dealing with dangerous magical items kept getting robbed...

“When you mentioned the mage Upinum from the <Dwarves’ Oath> workshop, that’s why I brought it up. Upinum has a terrible reputation. Recently, I even heard rumors that he stole an artifact from an Einroguard professor.”

“...That professor wouldn’t happen to be Professor Verdus, would it?”

“Probably.”

Good heavens.

Lee Han was genuinely shocked.

An outside mage had stolen one of Professor Verdus’s artifacts.

If the students of Einroguard learned about this, they wouldn’t just award that person a medal — they’d probably erect a statue.

Honestly, I kind of want to build one too.

The guilt Lee Han felt now was entirely different from before.

He was being forced to personally punish a righteous thief who had struck Professor Verdus on behalf of suffering students everywhere.

But... work is work.

At last, Lee Han understood what the upperclassmen had meant about not mixing personal feelings with business.

Suppressing his sympathy, he resolved to retrieve the artifact anyway.

“I understand your anger too, Young Master. That bastard Upinum is greed incarnate. I truly hope this incident teaches him a lesson.”

“Ah... yes.”

Arien completely misunderstood Lee Han’s expression as righteous anger toward someone who had dared steal from his professor.

There was no way he could imagine Lee Han was mentally designing a commemorative statue.

***

The western guild district of Granden City was filled with noises entirely different from ordinary city sounds.

Exploding alchemy potions belching smoke into the air.

Failed medicinal herbs escaping from cultivation fields while screaming loudly.

Runaway enchanted sewing needles from the seamstress guild smashing through walls.

And beneath it all, the rhythmic clang of hammers echoed from the <Dwarves’ Oath> workshop.

“Stop slacking off, you idiots! This is why Eastern Dwarves are useless!”

The dwarven mage Upinum shouted while swinging a hammer.

Throughout the Empire, there was a stereotype that Eastern Dwarves loved alcohol, food, and festivals, while Western Dwarves loved only solitude and gold.

Upinum seemed born specifically to embody every negative stereotype about Western Dwarves.

The dwarf laborers muttered curses under their breath while hammering away.

Damn mage bastard.

Quiet. His temper’s horrible.

“If those ingots aren’t finished by evening, I’m docking everyone’s pay!”

After shouting another threat, Upinum descended into the basement.

The spacious first floor had been converted into a workshop filled with tools and equipment for workers, but the basement served as the mage’s personal laboratory and was strictly off-limits.

After unlocking three separate seals and opening the door, a strange, dense current of mana surged outward. Upinum hurriedly shut the door behind him.

“Damn it. What a waste of mana.”

Maintaining the underground workshop in such a high-density mana state consumed enormous resources.

For a miser like Upinum, those costs constantly gnawed at him like a thorn embedded in flesh.

Still, it can’t be helped.

Though the underground workshop was empty, Upinum still glanced around cautiously before approaching the center.

Atop a worktable forged entirely from pure silver sat a brilliant box engraved with ancient script.

Inside rested <Axen’s Mystic Enhancement>.

“Beautiful... truly beautiful. Axen really was a genius.”

As Upinum admired the wisdom of the ancient mage once more, his expression suddenly twisted.

An unpleasant face had surfaced in his thoughts.

“Verdus, you bastard! Just wait. I’ll destroy your reputation myself!”

Plenty of people hated Professor Verdus.

But Upinum’s reason was somewhat unusual among them.

He hated Professor Verdus because he envied his genius.

If Einroguard students had heard that, they would have asked why he chose that reason when there were ninety-nine other perfectly valid reasons to despise Professor Verdus.

But Upinum didn’t care at all about the professor’s personality or character.

“Once my magic is complete, his reputation, his disciples, and all the mages supporting him will flock to me instead!”

Upinum shouted toward empty air as though making a grand declaration.

Of course, there was a major delusion hidden inside that statement.

Regardless of Professor Verdus’s reputation, neither his disciples nor the surrounding mages remained near him because they particularly liked him.

Even if Upinum completed his research and achieved spectacular results, nobody would suddenly flock to him.

To begin with, it was questionable whether anyone had ever truly “flocked” to Professor Verdus at all. Most people around the professor simply did their own work independently.

“...Ugh. Dizzy.”

After staring into the polarizing mirror for too long, Upinum suddenly staggered.

Recently, every time he examined the mirror, he suffered mysterious headaches and dizziness.

Rationally speaking, he should have stopped immediately and investigated the cause.

But jealousy had clouded Upinum’s judgment to the point where such thoughts never occurred to him.

I should head back upstairs.

After resting briefly and regaining his balance, Upinum turned toward the stairs.

Those workers would slack off the instant he took his eyes off them, so he needed to keep pressuring them relentlessly—

Thud!

Upinum collapsed sideways.

A perfect ambush.

Even as consciousness faded, shock filled his mind.

Impossible! The defensive magic—!

The underground workshop was protected by countless spells beginning at the entrance itself.

The door carried <Axen’s Soul Scream>, a spell that tore the soul from the body of anyone who touched it without permission.

The magic circle beneath the entrance was layered with powerful illusion curses.

And even aside from those, the remaining defenses possessed enough destructive force to shred intruders apart.

So how had something like this happened?

Using the last remnants of his fading awareness, Upinum extended his senses outward.

To his horror, every defensive spell between the entrance and his current location had been completely destroyed.

Upinum had meticulously prepared for invasions by rival mages.

But he had never once considered the possibility of such brutally direct intrusion.

A monster? A demon?

He couldn’t even imagine what sort of terrifying being could force its way in like this.

“Phew. Good thing he specializes in illusion magic.”