‘Is this really something an Einroguard mage should be doing?’

Arien found himself wondering.

At the very least, their identities hadn’t been exposed.

With invisibility magic layered over disguise magic, there was no way anyone could identify them.

...Though I guess that’s because he went at them so aggressively!

He had heard plenty of stories about Einroguard mages secretly reclaiming stolen items without leaving a trace, while the victims fumed helplessly afterward.

But this was the first time he had seen someone beat the targets senseless and take the items by force.

“The Young Master of House Wardanaz probably thought everything through before acting, right?”

In the end, that was all Arien could say.

No matter how experienced a merchant he was, Einroguard’s affairs were still outside his expertise.

Watching a student behave like this, all he could think was:

‘So this is how Einroguard does things.’

‘Is this actually okay?’

Amur, meanwhile, found the whole thing fascinating.

He came from rough frontier lands himself, where strength ruled above all else, but he had assumed city culture worked differently.

Still, the Young Master of House Wardanaz’s methods were undeniably satisfying.

A little too satisfying, in fact.

“It’ll probably be fine. And you won’t do this again in the future, right?”

“Of course not. Please trust me.”

Lee Han answered firmly, reassuring the two who had come to help him.

To begin with, Lee Han didn’t particularly like violent methods.

If possible, it was better to quietly retrieve what you needed. Why attack people unnecessarily?

***

-Master. This one’s sealed with ancient script. Could you help me?

-...I’m only doing this once. Read it exactly like this. αρχαίος...

-Who’s there?! Show yourself! What bastard dares— Gahk!

-Damn it!

It was an abandoned underground prison hidden near the city.

The place had been built at enormous expense as a magical warehouse accessible only through the interpretation of ancient script.

Unfortunately for its owner, the intruder happened to have an ancient being accompanying him.

And even more unfortunately, the owner had chosen today of all days to stop by personally.

-Phew. All right. This time we’re definitely resolving things quietly, without fighting. ...Hey, basilisk. Basil. You there?

-Yes!

-Good. Then I need you to—

-Ba— Basilisk! There’s a basilisk in here!

-...Damn it!!

It was a secret alchemy workshop hidden beneath a fabric shop.

The reagent vault, which could only be opened through basilisk whispers, was effortlessly unlocked by an intruder traveling with a baby basilisk.

And the owner, upon hearing the basilisk’s hiss, screamed in terror and was immediately subdued by the intruder.

-...That was genuinely bad luck. Next time will be different. Understood?

-Wouldn’t it just be easier to beat them up and rob them from the start?

-No! As a thief— no, as a relocation specialist—that would be dishonorable.

The baby basilisk silently concluded to itself:

Humans really are incomprehensible creatures.

After that, Lee Han continued recovering the remaining items tied to the commission, and succeeded in reclaiming all of them.

Considering the amount of time involved, the speed was astonishing. If the club seniors had witnessed it, they would have applauded in admiration.

...The problem was that he had beaten up every single owner connected to the items before leaving.

“...”

“...”

“...”

The three silently stared at the ground.

Eventually, unable to endure the atmosphere any longer, Arien awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Well... what’s done is done. More importantly, you gathered everything incredibly quickly. That’s impressive!”

“...I don’t think I handled this commission properly.”

“No, no. Why say that? This is more than enough.”

“I should’ve resolved everything quietly...”

“Haha! Come on now. What’s wrong with beating up people who only understand violence?”

At this point, Amur actually seemed excited.

Earlier, when they talked about mages, the whole world of magic had sounded incomprehensible and difficult to understand.

But now that he’d seen it firsthand, it seemed surprisingly simple.

You found evil bastards, punched them in the face, then confiscated the dangerous artifacts.

That was all there was to it.

Seen that way, Einroguard mages suddenly felt a lot more approachable.

“And don’t worry. The people who got beaten up are too embarrassed to tell anyone what happened.”

-Did you hear? Some mage is running around Granden City attacking people with evil artifacts and hanging them upside down. Apparently Uap got beaten half to death.

-Ah, I heard too. After tormenting people all this time, he finally got what he deserved. I heard they hung him upside down in the canal.

-That’s nothing. I heard they branded the mark of a villain onto his face...

“...”

“...”

“...”

Lee Han lowered his head even further.

***

“That son of a bitch!”

The hamster beastman, Sebius, roared furiously.

Beside him, the guinea pig beastman—his outside accomplice and a member of the thieves’ guild—looked over in confusion.

“What happened?”

“Verdus, that bastard! He dumped sloppy information on me again because he was annoyed!”

While preparing to deal with the commission, Sebius had learned something shocking.

Uap, the thief who had stolen 【Asen’s Polarizing Mirror】 from Professor Verdus, had additionally purchased 【Asen’s Soul Scream】 to defend the workshop.

If the place had been protected by that kind of malicious defensive magic, the entire situation changed.

‘I thought this would be a relatively easy job, so I handed it to a junior!’

“...Who’s Verdus?”

“A professor.”

“...Is he insane? What kind of professor casually gives students dangerous information because he’s irritated?”

The guinea pig beastman looked utterly baffled.

Wasn’t a professor supposed to teach and support students?

But casually handing out dangerous information because he was annoyed?

It was completely different from the masters the guinea pig beastman knew.

“That’s why he’s a bastard. I need to find my junior. Follow me.”

“That crazy idiot’s only going to slow us down. Just make him drink this poison later. One dose and he’ll be bedridden for a week.”

“...”

Sebius considered it for a moment, then shook his head.

“That mage is more cautious than he looks. Poison won’t work.”

“Seriously... These mages. Einroguard’s supposed to be the Empire’s greatest magic academy, so why do they keep a lunatic like that as a professor?”

Sebius chose not to explain Einroguard’s internal circumstances.

Most of it couldn’t be spoken aloud anyway because of the prohibition.

-Someone hung Uap upside down!

-What?! Seriously?

“...Wait.”

Sebius, who had been running, abruptly stopped after hearing the passersby.

“Didn’t they just say Uap?”

“I didn’t catch it. What’d they say?”

“They said somebody hung Uap upside down...”

“What nonsense. Didn’t he buy extra defensive magic? Who could possibly hang that guy upside down?”

“...That’s true. Unless it was the Principal...”

“Why are you bringing up the Principal all of a sudden?”

“...Nothing.”

Sebius shook his head.

His anxious state must have been making him hear things.

“Let’s head back—”

-Hey! Someone shoved Uap into the canal!

-Why are you only telling us now?! Hurry up!

“!!!”

This time, he definitely hadn’t misheard.

Sebius hurried after the crowd in shock. A large group had already gathered around the canal.

“There’s Uap!”

“That lunatic dwarf finally got divine punishment for tormenting workers all this time!”

-Get lost!

“Uap, you bastard! If you keep living like that, divine punishment’s going to strike you again!”

-Hiiiek!

He had heard the man was a vicious, greedy dwarf, but looking at him now, it was impossible to imagine.

Every time someone spoke, Uap flinched in terror.

He had clearly been traumatized properly.

“...Sebius. Could this possibly be your junior’s doing?”

The guinea pig beastman arrived at a logical conclusion.

Einroguard mages were powerful.

Uap had tampered with an Einroguard mage’s belongings.

And now Uap was terrified out of his mind.

“...No. My junior is cautious and careful. Showing off like this and making an example out of people is something only the Skull Principal would do.”

“That’s true. You said he bought extra defensive magic too. Maybe Professor Verdus personally came to help his disciple?”

“Absolutely not.”

“...R-Right.”

“Let’s move. First I need to check Uap’s workshop and look for my junior.”

-Everyone! Everyone! The Bardan estate’s been robbed!

-What?! The Bardan estate?!

-What the hell is happening in Granden City today?!

The crowd gathered at the canal erupted in shock.

No matter how ruthlessly Bardan exploited people and extorted valuables through intimidation, nobody had imagined someone would actually attack the estate itself.

-There’s a rampaging spirit wrecking the manor!

-...Everyone, now’s our chance! Let’s settle our grudges against Bardan!

“...”

Before even checking the workshop, Sebius followed the crowd to the estate and froze at the sight of the half-destroyed manor.

A ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) rampaging water spirit summoned by someone was tearing through the property, while furious citizens took advantage of the chaos to loot valuables from inside.

“...This wasn’t your junior either, right?”

The guinea pig beastman asked carefully.

“N-No... probably not. Even if my junior got angry, he wouldn’t summon a spirit and let it rampage through an estate...”

‘He didn’t exactly deny it immediately,’ the guinea pig beastman thought silently.

After that, rumors spread rapidly throughout Granden City about villains being attacked one after another.

In the end, Sebius gathered the club members together.

“Did any of you participate in what’s happening right now?”

“Huh? Wasn’t your junior the one doing it? I thought it was pretty impressive.”

“I assumed you ordered it too, Sebius.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?!”

Sebius exploded.

Who would recommend such a reckless method to a mere second-year student?

The entire point of relocation work was that it had to be done quietly and secretly. That was the safest approach.

If you were strong enough to beat people up and rob them openly, there would be no reason to steal in the first place.

“I thought you were intimidating people so future jobs would be easier...”

“Same here. I figured you were putting your talented junior to work.”

“...No!”

Professor Garcia, who had come downstairs from the inn’s upper floor while reading 【Imperial Magic Journal】, quietly sighed.

‘This is the Principal’s fault.’

Whatever the case, shoving people into canals and wrecking estates was definitely behavior learned from the Skull Principal.

Where else could a kind student like Lee Han possibly have learned such things?

***

“...What’s done is done.”

“You’ve made the right decision!”

When Lee Han finally gave up and resigned himself to reality, the two wicked outsiders applauded as if he had reached some great enlightenment.

What could he do now that everything had already happened?

“Young master, if you think positively, at least you finished the job quickly. That’s an incredible accomplishment.”

“There are rumors saying you shoved an innocent citizen into the canal...”

“He wasn’t innocent. Anyway, you said you wanted to attend the theater viewing?”

“Yes.”

“The one Einroguard students are attending?”

“That’s right.”

Half resigned, Lee Han decided to take comfort in the fact that neither his name nor identity had been exposed.

Now it was time to focus on the next problem:

Escaping the Theater Club.

Since he had already finished all the other theft-relocation commissions...

“That part’s easy enough. I know a few people you can go with. Ah. There is one small issue... No, actually, considering your background, it should be fine.”

“What issue?”

“It’s nothing major. Gatherings like theater viewings are social occasions too, so people naturally discuss Imperial theater. If you don’t know anything about it, it might seem suspicious. But since you’re from House Wardanaz, it should be all right...”

“...”

Lee Han’s face instantly turned pale.

Knowledge he had once been absolutely certain he would never need in his entire life had suddenly come back to stab him in the back.