Chapter 1167
Just in case, Lee Han checked the mana in the surroundings, but there was no change at all.
If someone had been dwelling inside the stone tablet like Saratan, or if even traces of magic had remained, he should have been able to feel the echo of mana clearly...?
“Senior.”
Lee Han called Caten.
Lee Han trusted his own senses, but he never relied on them blindly.
A swordsman who had reached a level as high as Caten’s might have sensed something Lee Han had missed.
“Did you happen to feel anything strange?”
“My poor ability to decipher the writing?”
Caten replied with a dejected expression.
“Not that. I mean a change in mana. Somewhere nearby.”
“I did not feel anything like that, Junior.”
‘Hmm.’
Lee Han wondered whether he had imagined it.
Then again, so many things had happened lately that perhaps exhaustion had made him hear things.
Could that voice from earlier have been a distorted version of the Skull Principal’s voice?
“Saratan. You did not happen to sense any change in mana or distortion of dimensions, did you?”
-There was nothing like that. Why?
Saratan wondered what nonsense this mage was talking about.
If something like that had happened, there was no way a spirit like Saratan would have failed to notice.
“No. It seems I imagined it after all.”
You did not imagine it, so stop whispering like a fledgling and listen quietly! If you whisper one more time, I will put a venomous curse insect inside your skull.
“......”
Lee Han realized his mistake.
He should have sensed that something was wrong the moment Saratan confidently insisted there was nothing...!
“Are you perhaps Baquantalana?”
Baquantalana? Who is that... Ah, you seem to have mistaken me for the mage who received the stone tablet?
Along with those words, the voice pulled a transparent poisonous insect from a crack between dimensions and tried to push it into Lee Han’s forehead.
A mortal who refused to listen after being told to remain quiet needed a light lesson.
However, the insect strained and struggled, but it could not penetrate Lee Han’s mana and fled back into the dimensional crack.
The voice was so dumbfounded that it fell silent for a moment.
“Who is there?!”
Caten sprang to his feet as every hair on his body seemed to stand on end.
It was a bizarre phenomenon unlike anything he had ever experienced.
He had not detected any kind of mana, yet he had felt such a chilling, spine-crawling sensation.
What in the world was that?
“Junior. Were you perhaps attacked by someone?”
“What? No.”
“Hmm... I suppose I have been studying magic too intensely.”
Caten sat back down and opened .
However, his ears remained raised high in vigilance.
......
The voice felt even more bewildered.
That mortal seemed to be a warrior who had absolutely nothing to do with magic, yet he had sensed the existence of the curse insect?
...Baquantalana merely received magic from this old woman. The stone tablet is proof of that.
“Are you saying Baquantalana shamelessly announced magic received from someone else as magic personally created?!”
Lee Han shouted in great shock.
To shamelessly claim magic learned from an other-dimensional being as one’s own creation.
Come to think of it, Baquantalana had not actually announced it, but Lee Han still felt somewhat disappointed.
Had Baquantalana not clearly written that the spell had been completed through personal research in the later years of life?
A transparent staff appeared in the air and struck Lee Han across the head.
Lee Han was caught off guard by the attack, which came without the slightest warning.
The voice was equally dumbfounded.
Normally, the mana throughout Lee Han’s entire body should have been shaken, causing all manner of hallucinations and auditory illusions, yet he did not budge, like some enormous boulder.
‘What is this...?’
“No matter how I think about it, this is strange!”
Finally, Caten sprang to his feet once again.
Honestly... Let us get rid of that troublesome little warrior before continuing our conversation.
Apparently tired of speaking in a way Caten could not hear, the voice cast a thin veil of confusion.
Even Lee Han could feel this veil.
Outside the veil, Caten admired how deeply Lee Han had immersed himself in studying the stone tablet.
For some reason, Lee Han was not blinking or even breathing, but somehow it suited the junior.
I said Baquantalana received magic from me. I never said this magic was that magic. I am quite certain this old woman told you not to whisper, did I not?
“I apologize.”
Now you are behaving nicely. Here. Will you return the stone tablet? That stone tablet originally belonged to this old woman.
‘As expected.’
An outsider might not have understood, but Lee Han was an Einroguard mage, and among those mages, he had encountered more other-dimensional beings than almost anyone.
He immediately understood the situation.
The stone tablet had clearly been a gift given to Baquantalana by some powerful being from another dimension—the same being currently speaking to Lee Han.
Lee Han possessed something similar.
The blue stone given to him by the King of the Frost Giants was exactly that sort of object.
Thanks to it, whenever frost giants saw the stone, they would say, “Ah! That challenger!” and immediately pick a fight with him...
‘...Should I remove that stone even now?’
Lee Han considered it briefly, but soon gave up.
Even without the stone, his appearance was already far too well known, beginning with the spirit markings, so it probably would not help much.
“May I copy the contents written on it before returning it?”
You may. ...Do you truly intend to do that?
The voice asked suspiciously.
An object from another dimension was not something one would easily surrender.
Especially when that object was a token gifted by a powerful other-dimensional being.
Moreover, the other party was a mage.
To a mage, an object like that was practically a powerful magical artifact that could be used in one way or another.
“What? Yes.”
If you are planning to switch the stone tablet with another one, you would be wise not to try.
“Someone actually did that?!”
Lee Han, who had been copying the writing, was startled.
‘Reckless, but creative. Educational as well.’
There really were things to learn from senior mages.
“How did they switch it? How were they caught?”
......
“Ah. I will return this stone tablet. I merely thought I might someday need to deceive Ver—no, another mage, so I wanted to learn...”
Why are you not being greedy? Do not lie and say you feel no desire for it. This old woman can distinguish lies like that.
Instead of answering, Lee Han waved his staff.
The stone given to him by the King of the Frost Giants emitted a blue glow.
That ice-brained fool whose skull is filled with frost?
Lee Han did not stop there and showed the spirit markings as well.
The voice shouted in great surprise.
Even that noisy, reckless thunder brat?
‘This is somewhat entertaining.’
Lee Han felt a little amused.
Every time he showed something, the voice insulted the corresponding being in a fresh and inventive way.
Could I perhaps introduce the Skull Principal as well?
“I also know the wicked King of the Yakshas.”
Ah, that intelligent young man.
“......”
Lee Han immediately felt hurt.
Was the Yaksha King not the most wicked and underhanded of all the figures mentioned so far?
‘Hmm. Perhaps this voice belongs to someone just as eccentric and underhanded as the Yaksha King.’
Lee Han did not realize that he had inadvertently approached the truth.
“The truth is, I am already carrying several burdens that are difficult for me to handle. I do not have the confidence to take on this stone tablet as well.”
It certainly seems that way. I smell the scent of a star. Have you made a contract with a star as well? What star’s oath do you bear?
“...A guest star...”
I cannot hear you! You little brat. Do you want this old woman to hit you again?
“...A guest star named Arna... You do not know it, do you?”
The other party suddenly fell silent.
Lee Han became needlessly nervous.
...This old woman struck you for no reason! You poor little child who will burn away on your own even if left alone!
“......”
Lee Han stared at the stone tablet.
‘Should I refuse to return it and smash it instead?’
As though reading that irreverent thought, the voice kindly consoled him.
A contract with a guest star is not necessarily entirely bad. Even if your life is unfortunate, your name may remain in history. Kekeke.
“I have not given it to you yet.”
And that temper too? No wonder the guest star likes you.
‘Endure it. I already have too many enemies.’
There were the powerful other-dimensional beings he had become entangled with, not to mention the evil gods who were practically his mortal enemies.
It did not seem wise to create even more enemies right now.
Besides, the other party’s personality seemed just as eccentric as the Yaksha King’s.
Good! You have made this old woman laugh, so I will reward you with a piece of advice.
Had the dark mages elsewhere in the fortress heard those words, they would have fainted in shock.
The right to ask the question they so desperately desired had been granted to this fresh-faced junior with absurd ease.
Of course, from Lee Han’s perspective as the junior, he would immediately have replied, “If you think it is unfair, then you can make a contract with a guest star instead”...
“Advice... Is it perhaps possible to cancel a contract with a guest star?”
I said you no longer need to make me laugh. Do not be too greedy.
‘Hmm. I asked seriously, but apparently it is impossible.’
Lee Han quietly withdrew the question without letting it show.
It seemed there truly was no way.
“Do you perhaps know much about powerful beings from other dimensions?”
If you had not made this old woman laugh, and if you had not deflected my insect, I would have taught you a harsh lesson immediately.
“Insect?”
You do not need to know. In any case, I know them well. This old woman’s hobby is inviting others over for tea.
‘I hope Arsil has never been invited too...’
Lee Han felt that asking might only make him sad, so he changed the subject.
“I have something troubling me these days. Could you perhaps offer me wise advice?”
There is nothing this old woman does better. Go on and tell me.
“The truth is, one of my masters has run away.”
...I expected a question about magic, but very well. Continue.
The voice was slightly taken aback.
It had naturally expected a question about dark magic, or at the very least some other kind of magic, yet Lee Han had suddenly begun asking for life advice?
***
I see. The extortionists and the tentacle freaks... You are saying that dealing with either one alone would already be difficult, yet you have made enemies of both?
When Lee Han complained that he wanted to wipe out the Sanguros Order, but that all kinds of disasters and even the Frahgal Order had become involved, the voice quickly understood.
At first, the voice had wondered whether Lee Han had stolen something from his master—though in that case, it seemed more likely that the student, not the master, would have run away—but this truly was an entertaining question.
The voice now understood why this mortal had been able to form a contract with a guest star.
Ordinary mages would normally remain still and gather strength in a situation like this, but this one was trying to step forward first and help his master despite being merely a student.
Two of them are not particularly difficult!
‘I should leave out the Ksaksarigol Order.’
Lee Han resolved this inwardly.
If he mentioned the Ksaksarigol Order as well, the other party might begin to think he was far too strange.
Yes! I have thought of a good method.
“What is it?”
First, you need not concern yourself too much with the disasters. They occurred because of distortions in mana and dimensions, so they will soon settle down.
The disaster in the west would naturally subside with time, and the disaster in the north would settle once the stone tablet was recovered, so it was not a lie.
“When you say soon... roughly when...?”
The important point is that the extortionists and the tentacle freaks are both troublesome, is it not?
“That is true.”
When this old woman raises insects, I think carefully about how to make them plump and strong. One method is to make them fight one another.
“Ah. I learned about that in dark magic. If you gather insects together and make them kill one another...”
A transparent staff appeared in the air and moved to strike Lee Han across the head, then stopped.
The voice had realized that there was no point in hitting him when it would have little effect anyway.
Interrupt this old woman one more time while I am speaking, and instead of advice, I will introduce you to a new evil god. You would not want to become entangled with another evil god like that blind lunatic, would you?
“I apologize.”
Lee Han once again thought that he had made the right decision not to mention the Ksaksarigol Order.
Yes. This old woman’s advice is simple. Join forces with one side and strike the other.
“...I may have met the King of the Frost Giants and formed a contract with a guest star, but I am by no means an evil mage. I believe there may be some misunder—”
Unable to endure any longer, the voice struck Lee Han across the head once again with the transparent staff.