Lee Han muttered as he collected <Axen’s Mystic Enhancement>.

In general, illusion mages had terrible compatibility against Lee Han.

On top of that, Lee Han had recently gained a deeper understanding of the principles behind soul fall.

Now that his comprehension of souls had risen sharply, it was unimaginably difficult for illusion mages to attack him.

I wish the other places were like this too.

Lee Han was delighted by this unexpected stroke of luck.

It would be nice if every place were like this, but that probably wouldn’t happen. Not every mage who possessed an item would be an illusion mage.

And even if they were illusion mages, they wouldn’t necessarily build every defensive spell solely around illusion magic.

What had happened in Upinum’s workshop should be considered pure luck. Lee Han reminded himself not to expect the same fortune again.

“...Hm. Did I break too much?”

Lee Han, who had been about to leave after securing the artifact, paused.

When he took one last look around the workshop before leaving, it did seem as though he had broken a bit too much.

To be more precise, every defensive spell had been destroyed.

That might sound excessive, but Lee Han had his excuses.

The spells installed throughout the underground workshop were so numerous and so intricately interconnected that he couldn’t afford to disable them carefully one by one.

Some of them were difficult to understand, and if he tampered with them carelessly, unexpected side effects could occur. From Lee Han’s perspective, he had no choice but to smash through them with all his strength.

He was still only a second-year student. What kind of delicate power control and consideration could anyone expect from him?

That was still beyond his reach.

In a way, this is also a method of relocation. The upperclassmen will understand.

It was closer to robbery than theft, but Lee Han shook his head.

His identity hadn’t been discovered, he had secured the target item, and he hadn’t caused any particular damage to the surroundings.

The spells in the workshop had been shattered miserably, but this much should be fine.

There must be upperclassmen who’ve done it this way too!

***

“Hm. I’m not sure this will be all right.”

Arien, who had been waiting on the first floor of the guild hall across the street, spoke with a worried expression.

“It’ll be fine. That student adapts very well.”

“I know Einroguard students are talented, but this is still a mage’s workshop.”

Originally, Arien had planned to make contact with Upinum himself.

If they wanted to approach someone holed up inside a workshop naturally, they needed an excuse to visit.

However, Lee Han had refused Arien’s proposal.

“In that case, it would be easy to trace things back to you when the item disappears later. I don’t want to cause you trouble, Arien.”

“But infiltrating alone is dangerous. This is a mage’s workshop, isn’t it?”

“Hm. I’ll explore carefully first and come back. If it seems impossible, I’ll ask for help.”

The boy from House Wardanaz had declared that he would cast invisibility magic and investigate the underground workshop on his own.

His will had been firm enough that they couldn’t dissuade him further, but regret still remained.

Arien knew very well how dangerous mages’ workshops were.

No matter how small or ordinary they looked from the outside, mages’ workshops were sturdier and more lethal than most fortresses. Even if Lee Han was an Einroguard student and a genius from House Wardanaz, another mage’s workshop was another matter entirely.

One mistake, and—

“It’s done!”

“?!!”

When Lee Han returned with a bright expression, both of them were startled.

He was back this quickly?

“Did you find a way inside?”

“Ah, no. While I was looking around, it seemed like I could break through by force, so I broke in, knocked him out, and took it.”

Lee Han carefully took out <Axen’s Mystic Enhancement>.

Since it was the target item, he had to handle it carefully.

Of course, neither of the two paid any attention to the artifact he had brought out. What they had just heard was far more shocking.

“Wait, wait a moment. Young Master. I don’t understand!”

“I thought you might say that.”

Lee Han nodded as if he had expected this reaction.

As expected of an experienced merchant, Arien had immediately noticed something strange.

“You must have sensed the evil aura coming from this artifact. I think it’s been corrupted.”

Though it wasn’t easy to detect with mana, Lee Han could see that the interdimensional spirit passage connected to <Axen’s Mystic Enhancement> had turned dark and murky.

Whatever could be observed through the artifact was clearly being secretly corrupted by the power of some other evil dimension.

What made it even more vicious was that it wasn’t easy for mages to notice.

A simple mana check revealed nothing abnormal, and the power from the evil dimension didn’t exert an obvious influence right away, making it even harder to detect.

By the time a mage realized something was wrong, they would already be corrupted beyond salvation.

“Corruption isn’t easy to notice, but as expected of you, Arien. Your eye for things is excellent!”

“...Ah, no. It was corrupted? That’s not what I meant.”

Arien hurriedly cleared up the misunderstanding in a panic.

How would he know that? Arien was an experienced merchant, not a mage.

He had heard rumors that Upinum collected suspicious artifacts, but he hadn’t expected this one to be that dangerous.

Lee Han looked puzzled.

“Then what don’t you understand?”

“...Everything that just happened! How did ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) someone who went in to check the workshop’s structure come back out with the artifact?”

Mrangse nodded beside him as if to say, “Exactly.”

Since he wasn’t talkative by nature, he was deeply grateful that Arien had asked the question for him.

“Ah. You mean that.”

Lee Han looked faintly embarrassed, as if he hadn’t thought much of it, and explained what had happened.

After casting invisibility and a few illusion spells, he had passed through the first floor and descended into the underground area, where the spells were densely installed. But when he looked at them, it seemed possible to break through by force, so he did.

“That’s all. Nothing special.”

“...”

“...”

The two men felt as though every piece of magical common sense they possessed had just been denied.

Were workshop defenses really something that could be broken through that easily?

No matter how much he’s from House Wardanaz, to destroy the spells Upinum installed so easily...

Arien felt a deep thrill in his chest.

It seemed he would have to raise his evaluation of the young master of House Wardanaz much higher.

To rob Upinum’s workshop so easily in broad daylight.

“Excellent. Magnificent.”

Mrangse was the first to regain his composure and praise him. Lee Han answered modestly.

“I was just lucky. If it had been any other type of magic, I wouldn’t have been able to break through so easily.”

“Haha. In my hometown, there’s a saying that bringing good luck is also part of a person’s ability.”

Arien, belatedly recovering his senses, joined the conversation.

“Young Master. Is there anything inside that needs to be cleaned up?”

If fire had broken out or dangerous summoned creatures had been released, they would need to send people in.

Otherwise, no one knew when the danger from the underground workshop might spread outside.

“Ah. You don’t need to worry about that. All the spells inside were destroyed. There’s no particular danger.”

“I-indeed... I see.”

Facing the Einroguard student, both men thought the same thing at once.

Can this really be called a quiet retrieval?

Strictly speaking, it had been quiet.

But it also seemed far too close to a direct assault.

No. This time was just a coincidence. The young master of House Wardanaz wouldn’t deliberately cause such a commotion.

***

The next target was a manor located in the noble district at the center of the city.

It belonged to a branch family connected to House Greenbell.

In Granden City, House Greenbell was an old urban noble house whose influence could not be underestimated. Arien warned Lee Han that they needed to be careful.

“Even if it’s only a branch family, if the commotion grows too large, members of House Greenbell will move to help. And even setting that aside, they’re wealthy. Their defenses will be thorough.”

A manor protected by influential patrons who couldn’t be ignored and backed by abundant gold.

Arien thought this was the time to choose the orthodox method.

They would disguise themselves as merchants bringing gifts, then thoroughly investigate the manor’s strengths and weaknesses.

“Hm. I’ll go inside first, look around, and come back.”

“...You aren’t going to beat everyone up and take it like last time, are you?”

Lee Han burst into laughter at Arien’s joke.

“Haha. You’re quite good at joking!”

“It was a joke, but...”

Though there was a bit of sincerity in it.

“I’ll simply check the manor’s structure and come back out.”

The two men waited for Lee Han’s return in a nearby tavern.

About thirty minutes passed.

Lee Han emerged from an alley, dispelled his invisibility magic, and let out a deep breath.

“You’re back! You must have worked hard. Now, how should we help you prepare?”

“Hm. Well, the thing is.”

Lee Han hesitated before lifting his backpack. Then he pulled out a squirrel statue artifact from inside.

The copper statue, which glowed with a vivid red light, was the divination magic artifact Professor Paserlet had requested.

“Actually, I brought it out.”

“...”

“...”

Mrangse nearly dropped the tin cup in his hand. Arien was so dumbfounded that he forgot his merchant’s principles and glared at the young master.

What in the world was going on?

“You said you were only going to check the structure and come back!”

“No... there were circumstances.”

“Did the opponent perhaps look too weak?”

“What are you talking about? It wasn’t like that.”

Lee Han waved his hands at their reaction and did his best to explain.

While he had behaved somewhat like a bandit at Upinum’s workshop thanks to sheer luck, Lee Han was originally a mage who preferred quiet, traceless work.

Mages who enjoyed frontal confrontations and showing off couldn’t join the Club in the first place.

As such, Lee Han had genuinely planned to use the most orthodox of orthodox methods when dealing with this manor.

Secretly examine the manor’s structure.

Identify its weaknesses.

Then, with help from others, enter the manor and gradually create disturbances until the gaps widened.

Once countless seemingly coincidental events were woven together in an order only mages understood, the target would vanish quietly without anyone knowing.

Even after Lee Han’s explanation, the two men remained unimpressed. Their expressions clearly told him to stop delaying and explain how he had raided the manor.

“...Well, when I went inside, I found that the eastern section of the manor was guarded by a water spirit.”

Not only that, but powerful water-element magic was swirling throughout the eastern wing, watching for intruders.

Seeing it, Lee Han decided to attempt elemental control, just in case.

It probably wouldn’t be easy to steal control from an outside mage, but there was no harm in trying.

And Lee Han succeeded in taking control of the element.

“...Huh.”

His immense mana and trained elemental magic gave him the strength to seize control of the manor’s spell.

The water spirit, realizing that some intruder had stolen control of the element, rushed over in anger.

Then it spotted Lee Han and immediately fled.

“Uh...”

Lee Han realized that things had become bigger than expected and decided to retreat.

The other sections of the manor hadn’t noticed the disturbance yet, but it was only a matter of time before he was discovered.

“Who goes there?! Which bastard is tampering with the magic— Gack!”

“Damn it.”

Unfortunately, a noble wearing a red silk vest came running after hearing the commotion.

Lee Han had no choice but to knock the opponent out using the water power under his control. He couldn’t just leave whoever it was alone.

“After that, I searched him, and he was carrying this. So I just took it.”

“...”

“...Is it really all right to take things that blatantly?”

“I don’t know either...”

It was the first time they had ever seen a thief who stole things this aggressively while still avoiding being seen.