Chapter 1161
Still, because Saratan had made him needlessly wary, Lee Han looked at his friends.
“Are you really not curious what kind of magic it is?”
At Lee Han’s question, Caten’s ears perked up sharply.
As a senior, he could not interfere with his juniors’ commission, so he had remained quiet, but among the students here, this fifth-year had the greatest passion for magic.
Whether he could learn it or not did not matter. He wanted to hear what kind of magic it was.
“A lit...”
“Not at all.”
“I truly do not care even a little. Less than the short mystery story Gainando wrote.”
“You should just work hard and learn it yourself. You already have so much difficult magic that adding one more will not even be noticeable.”
“......”
Caten, who had been about to say that he was a little interested, lowered his head dejectedly.
Giselle, who was watching from the side, somehow began to feel restless.
‘These bastards... They cannot read the mood at all...!’
“The one who said that last part, step forward.”
“Damn. I thought I would not get caught.”
Bartreck was shoved forward with an expression that said he had been had.
He had thought it would simply be overlooked in the flow of the conversation, but Wardanaz truly was relentlessly vicious.
After disciplining his friend, Lee Han looked at the other students and continued lecturing them.
The indifference they had just shown had provoked Lee Han.
“Even so, how can you not be interested in magic found in ruins like these? Are you really Einroguard students?”
“Then tell us...”
“I cannot tell you yet because I am not certain.”
“......”
The White Tiger Tower students cursed Lee Han with their eyes.
Is that not seriously too much?
“Moradi. Should we not go back up and bring the professor down even now? Or at least Lady Jiklin...”
“Stop entertaining foolish ideas. Even if my sister came down, she would not take your side.”
Giselle replied indifferently. Her friends were startled by the cold answer and asked again.
“We come from knightly houses... And several of us are even from the north?”
Most of the Empire’s knightly houses had connections with one another, so they could not help but be close.
Especially compared to House Wardanaz, which was a mage house.
“She will not take your side.”
“But we have even met Lady Jiklin before?”
“Yes. She will not take your side.”
“Could it perhaps be because of the political alliance between northern House Moradi and House Wardanaz that you mentioned last time?”
“How astonishing. To think they would make such a decision while prepared for their political enemies to unite against them under the Empire’s current political system, which consists of the loyalist faction, the noble faction, and the neutral faction. The western nobles in particular will react even more sensitively. They have a strong sense of rivalry toward the north.”
“Moradi. Do not worry. Some of us are from the west, but as fellow Einroguard students, we will support this political alliance. Trust your friends.”
Giselle quietly raised her scabbard.
Then she began beating her friends.
“Ack! Aagh!”
Caten looked at his junior with newfound respect.
Giselle had always behaved so politely that he had wondered whether she might be lacking in the qualities of a swordsman, but seeing her now, it seemed he had been mistaken.
‘A swordsman should be like that. As expected of Lady Jiklin’s younger sister.’
***
Professor Garcia, who was outside, let out a pained groan. At the sight, Professor Kirmin spoke sympathetically.
“Professor Kim. If you were going to be like this, should you not have simply gone with them?”
“Someone deceived me by telling me to trust my student and leave it to him. I think that person must be a master of illusion magic.”
“...I apologize.”
At Professor Kirmin’s apology, Professor Garcia came to their senses and shook their head.
“No. I am the one who should apologize. We made the decision together.”
The serious advice Professor Kirmin had given in the city of Marheim had certainly struck a chord with Professor Garcia.
-Wardanaz is already skilled enough that there is no sense of incongruity even when he associates with fourth-years, and he is also proactive enough to subjugate evil-god worshipers first. Rather than blindly caring for him and protecting him, it may be better to guarantee him autonomy and wait for him to grow.
Of course, immediately after hearing that advice, Professor Garcia had tried to send the other professor back to Einroguard, but as time passed, someone as intelligent as Professor Garcia could not deny that the advice had merit.
Had Lee Han and his friends not ultimately resolved the incident in the city of Marheim as well?
That was why, for this exploration of the ruins, the two professors had only assigned Caten to them and had not interfered or accompanied them.
If the students could resolve it among themselves, there was no reason for the professors to accompany them.
Even when the achievement was the same excavation of ruins, there was a completely different impression between a professor taking command and students resolving it among themselves. The former was ordinary and natural, while the latter was astonishing and remarkable.
“If you are that worried, I will go down.”
“......”
“......”
When Jiklin suddenly interjected, the two mages were so dumbfounded that they could not even answer.
It was so absurd that even the Death Knights stared at her.
‘They went down to gain the reputation of having resolved it among the students, so what are you planning to do by going down?’
If the person who had just said that had been a knight from another house rather than Jiklin, the Death Knights here would immediately have become suspicious.
Since they had also been knights, the Death Knights knew very well how ugly knights could become before the desire for glory.
They would have asked whether the knight had suddenly become greedy because the Einroguard mages had gone down into the ruins, or whether the knight was trying to steal their achievements, and so on.
Fortunately, however, the Death Knights knew what kind of knight Jiklin was.
Naturally, they did, as she was a genius who, even at such a young age, had proudly made a name for herself among the Empire’s renowned swordsmen.
She had been born with talent equal to Caten, whom the Death Knights counted among the greatest swordsmanship geniuses, and possessed even more experience...
These exacting knights of death were even willing to accept Jiklin if she joined the Death Knights after her death.
‘She must simply want to move together with her younger sister.’
-It is the students’ contribution. What would it become if you went down, Sir?
“Ah. Is that so? I did not think of that. ...Then what if I disguise myself as Giselle? The achievements I earn will become Giselle’s achievements.”
“......”
Professor Garcia opened and closed their mouth in disbelief. Their eyes were already saying, ‘Do you hear yourself?’
The Death Knights let out deep sighs as though they were not even surprised and spoke again.
-Then what would become of Student Giselle’s dignity? What about her pride as a knight?
“Indeed...”
Jiklin reflected deeply.
Her desire to care for Giselle as family had nearly caused her to wound Giselle’s pride.
“Then what if I disguise myself as Wardanaz?”
-Go over there and look for suspicious people.
The knights of death coldly drove Jiklin away.
This knight had a stubborn and obstinate side, so if they left her alone, she would clearly continue bothering them.
Once Jiklin withdrew, the Death Knights finally breathed sighs of relief.
-...It could have been dangerous if the Successor had heard that.
-He definitely would have accepted.
Since he was not from a knightly house and did not care at all about such schemes or deceptions, there was a high possibility that he would have readily agreed.
To begin with, someone with strong pride in such matters would never create a name like Stedal Nago.
“......”
Ibinta shook their head from side to side, muttering that they had not heard anything just now.
***
“Whew. Everyone, you have worked very hard.”
Garko greeted them while regenerating the arm that had been half blown away with a magic scroll.
The arm regenerated quickly, but his appearance did not return to normal. The hat and cloak he had been wearing had disappeared somewhere, and half his beard had burned away. That was how fierce the battle had been.
“W-What in the world was that thing?”
The guardian of the ruins was a form of chimera that even the experienced adventurers had never seen before.
It was reminiscent of the monster Bokabat, but it was by no means the same monster, and aside from having six legs and using its elongated tail like a weapon, there were no similarities.
What was especially terrifying was the evil ultrasonic curse it emitted when it opened its mouth and screamed. If someone was struck without properly blocking it, their body would stiffen as though they had been petrified.
Then it would drive the sharp stinger at the end of its tail into the opponent and immediately drain all of their vital blood. It was a powerful and threatening attack that followed almost simultaneously with the ultrasonic scream.
If only the adventurers had been there, they could never have won, and even if they had fled, roughly half of them would have died.
Fortunately amid the misfortune, Garko truly was an outstanding mage. Even though a chimera he had never seen before had appeared, Garko did not panic.
He immediately expanded his body to about five times its original size like a flesh golem, then divided it and created duplicate bodies.
This duplication magic was one of Garko’s specialties and was characterized by the duplicates being made of real blood and flesh. The guardian chimera of the ruins could not distinguish the duplicate and swallowed one whole.
-It would be best to cover your ears and prepare for the cursed sound. Also, be careful of its tail.
-L-Let us retreat! Mage! To think it is such a threatening creature.
-We cannot. We must defeat it to find a clue.
In order to descend farther below, Garko intended to find a clue no matter what.
That chimera was a dangerous element, but at the same time, it could also be a clue.
Garko instantaneously transformed the floor into something like a swamp, causing roughly half of the chimera’s body to sink into it. Then he transformed it again into burning lava stone, inflicting additional damage on the chimera.
The enraged chimera abandoned the other duplicate bodies and focused entirely on targeting Garko. Ferocious ultrasonic waves shot out in rapid succession.
However, Garko had already transformed into a bird of paradise. The bird of paradise, which was immune to this type of sound-wave attack, lightly broke through the opponent’s attack, flew forward, and drove its talons into its shoulder.
Those talons were not ordinary talons. The instant they touched, they transformed into dozens of venomous snakes and poisoned the opponent.
Poison used by an outstanding transformation mage was never ordinary. The poison that had entered the body repeatedly changed, attempting to tear the chimera apart from within.
The extremely enraged chimera attempted to bite Garko as a final struggle. No matter how violently the poison was rampaging, it still had enough strength left to make an attack of this degree.
Surprisingly, however, Garko willingly allowed the opponent to devour one of his arms. At the same time, he shouted.
-Attack!
The instant the chimera bit off one of his arms, it could no longer move. Garko had clearly performed some magical trick on his own arm.
The adventurers had been unable to follow the dazzling battle and stood there dazed before belatedly moving. As long as they could properly pour out their firepower, the adventurers’ attacks were more than enough to tear the chimera apart.
They had barely managed to defeat the enemy in that manner, but...
...the adventurers were completely sick of it.
Would it not be better to withdraw from ruins where such a dangerous guardian appeared and investigate again later?
“It seems that it was not an ordinary guardian of the ruins, but was contaminated through some route. There is a high possibility that it was due to evil-god worshipers.”
Unaware of how the adventurers felt, Garko kindly explained.
The chimera that had just appeared had an appearance roughly similar to guardian monsters that had been commonly used in ancient times and that he had seen several times in other ruins, but its characteristics were greatly different.
There was a high possibility that it had been contaminated after coming into contact with evil mana or power.
“Evil-god worshipers? W-Why are their names coming up? Are you saying they entered this place?”
“Goodness. That is not what I mean. You said that the north has been unsettled lately, did you not?”
A region being unsettled could have various meanings.
Disasters, the activities of evil-god worshipers, the mana of that region becoming contaminated or fluctuating violently...
...and all of these could create the possibility that a chimera in ruins hidden underground would become contaminated.
Even if the evil-god worshipers had not entered this place, something like this could easily occur.
‘That is even more horrifying!’
It sounded almost preferable for the evil-god worshipers to have entered first.
“I-I see.”
“We must trace the direction this chimera came from. We need a clue in order to descend farther below.”
“......”
At Garko’s resolute determination, the adventurers wanted to cry. In their hearts, they wanted to leave this mage behind and flee by themselves.
However, they were not irresponsible mercenaries. They were adventurers who had built up reputations of their own.
Since they had promised to follow and escort their employer, they had to go with him.
Even if it was an extremely dangerous place!
‘From now on, no matter how normal and renowned a mage seems, I will investigate more thoroughly.’
‘What do you mean, investigate? We should refuse altogether.’
“I-Is there no other way to obtain a clue?”
“There is not.”
“One of the people wandering around above may possess information.”
“If they did, they would have found the passage and come down.”
Garko did not lose the appearance of a dignified gentleman, but that did not mean he was easily swayed by the adventurers’ words.
A mage could never be moved by any words unless personally convinced.
“Oh. Someone arrived before us?”
“We entered somewhat late. Let us pass without approaching them unnecessarily and causing a misunderstanding.”
“...?!!!”