Chapter 1160
“I knew Baquantalana’s magical skill was extraordinary, but it seems Baquantalana’s skill in handling spirits was no ordinary thing either.”
Saratan bristled at Lee Han’s muttering.
‘This bastard?’
There was no spirit that enjoyed yielding to a mortal and being forced to work.
Even more so if the process was humiliating.
Saratan was a notorious brute in the spirit world and took a certain pride in that infamy.
The fact that such a spirit had been forcibly captured by a mortal mage and made to work was a secret that would not be enough to carry even until the day every dimension perished.
-Never tell anyone about this! If you do... If you do...!
“All right. I understand. Who would I even tell this to?”
They said that mages loved by spirits, like Nillia, even had all sorts of trivial conversations with spirits, but Lee Han was far removed from anything like that.
First of all, the number of spirits he knew was very small, and even those spirits were mostly strange and eccentric fellows...
‘It is impossible to have an ordinary conversation with them...’
If he summoned Perkuntra and suggested talking about what had happened today, that lightning spirit would immediately summon the Skull Principal.
It would make a huge fuss, saying that the Skull Principal’s disciple had finally gone insane!
“But how exactly were you captured? Could you perhaps tell me as well?”
Lee Han asked in a voice faintly mixed with expectation. Saratan shuddered at that insidious voice.
‘Th-This bastard, surely...!’
-I absolutely do not remember. Not even a little!
Saratan had never once felt a sense of kinship with spirits merely because they were the same kind of being, but this time, it felt a sense of responsibility.
It had to protect the spirits.
From that terrifying mage bastard!
“Really? That is unfortunate.”
Lee Han expressed his disappointment and secretly lowered his evaluation of Saratan by another level.
Seeing that it could not even remember this, it truly was an incompetent spirit in every respect.
‘I think it may be the most incompetent spirit I know.’
Considering that it had also made a mistake with the warning about Heavenly Fire General Zbagni last time, this spirit truly seemed to possess no talent besides fighting.
Then again, if it had possessed many talents and been capable, then no matter how much of a criminal it was, the talking oak trees would not have handed it over so easily to an outsider like Lee Han.
-What are you thinking about?
When Lee Han fell silent, Saratan became anxious and asked.
Could he perhaps be thinking about imprisoning spirits?
“Ah. I was wondering what kind of magic might be inside if these truly are Baquantalana’s ruins.”
Lee Han made the excuse without changing his expression in the slightest. Saratan was completely deceived by those words.
-Baquantalana created numerous ruins for magical research. In the process, whenever it was necessary, Baquantalana did not hesitate to commit the outrage of capturing innocent spirits and forcing them to work.
‘How magnificent.’
Lee Han’s eyes gleamed for an instant.
He could not understand why, when the Skull Principal did the same thing, he thought it was truly wicked, yet when an unknown mage did it, it felt impressive.
“Developing and completing advanced magic one spell at a time requires an enormous amount of expense and time. It is not strange that Baquantalana created new ruins.”
The expense being referred to here included not only reagents, but also the location and labor force.
Pure environmental mana was nearly essential for researching advanced magic.
If such mana could not be obtained, mages would create facilities artificially...
...and those facilities would sometimes later be revealed as one of the ruins that were excavated.
-Any mage would be like that, but Baquantalana was especially perfectionistic.
“There are mages like me as well. Not all mages are perfectionists.”
-Bullsh... That was why Baquantalana completely destroyed the ruins of failed magic.
Saratan nearly fell into Lee Han’s trap and hurled an insult, but barely managed to hold on to its reason.
‘That was dangerous.’
“Were you not about to curse just now?”
-Absolutely not.
“Hmm... I see. In any case, if the ruins remain intact, that means there is a high possibility that they contain completed magic, correct?”
What if he discovered magic Baquantalana had researched that had not yet been discovered?
Lee Han trembled.
How many things would become possible with that power?
Saratan watched from inside the staff, then suddenly became curious and asked.
-What do you intend to do first if you obtain it?
Saratan itself was a brute of the spirit world, but this mage was also no ordinary monster.
It was honestly curious about how he intended to shake the Empire with powerful magic.
“First, I will make Professor Verdus crawl on all fours... No. Professor Verdus is already crawling. In that case, I will make Professor Verdus roll from side to side. I will threaten Professor Verdus by saying that I will not show even a fragment of the magic unless my orders are followed. Every day, I will make Professor Verdus do my chores in my place...”
-......
Saratan cursed inwardly.
The desire was so trivial that it felt ashamed for having respected Lee Han as an equal just moments ago.
“Right. I almost forgot Princess Yukbeltire. I will make that person do Diret’s chores every day. I will make her polish Diret’s shoes and prepare Diret’s breakfast...”
-I understand, so please stop...
***
Garko of House Arjo was a mage of the transformation magic school who lived up to the reputation of the house passed down through generations.
Some idle gossips even said that if Garko had been a penguin beastkin rather than an elf, Garko would have been evaluated more highly than Alshicle of House Pengerine.
Unlike penguin beastkin, who were loved by most races in the Empire, elves were a matter of preference.
Of course, whenever Garko heard such words, Garko would instead become angry.
-Alshicle of House Pengerine is a genius mage who will lead the next generation of the Empire’s magical community! To insult such a mage like this!
-B-But Garko. Pengerine ignored you even though you sent several letters.
-Surely it was because Pengerine was busy. To focus on magic that much, is that not also proof of being a genius mage?
Most mages of the transformation magic school tended to be cheerful and sociable, but Garko was special even among them.
That could be understood merely from the fact that Garko continuously sent letters to Alshicle, who shut himself inside his tower without replying.
Because of that, the adventurers who had followed Garko treated this mage with an attitude mixed with respect.
“To be honest, I had many worries about this commission, Mage. I have had several bad experiences with mages.”
“Goodness. I apologize on behalf of the mages. Mages are people who become so absorbed in magic that they sometimes make mistakes in matters of etiquette.”
Garko spoke as though genuinely distressed.
Alsh... No, it °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was a mistake that various mages sometimes made when dealing with outsiders.
Because they were absorbed only in magic, they were unable to distinguish whether their actions were rude or not.
To avoid this, they needed to participate in social events regularly and interact with people, but unfortunately, there were many mages who did not do so.
“No. Please do not pay too much attention to what my companion said. And the true reason we were worried was not because of the mage, but because of the rumors in the area. The north has been unsettled lately, has it not?”
The northern Empire had always been a harsh land, but lately, it had been especially severe.
Monsters were running rampant, rumors of evil-god worshipers were stirring, and for some reason, criminals from the west were crossing over in droves...
It was common for criminals from the north to go to the west because it was difficult to make a living, but the opposite was rare. No matter how much of a disaster had occurred in the west, it was difficult to understand.
Some old adventurers even suspected that it might be part of some enormous conspiracy.
“That is correct. It is truly a worrying matter.”
“Is that so? I thought you were not afraid at all, Mage. You hired us like this and entered the ruins, after all.”
“What does death matter when magic is waiting?”
“Hahaha, what a joke... ...Wait, that was not a joke.”
“Goodness. Because my sense of humor is so excellent, all of you were mistaken! That was not a joke.”
“......”
The adventurers’ atmosphere grew slightly cold.
The fact that their employer did not fear death was not particularly pleasant news.
The one who currently knew the most information about the ruins was this employer, but if the employer was reckless and fearless...
“Of course, I absolutely do not mean that I want to die! It seems there has been a misunderstanding. To explain, what I mean is that if I die for magic, I can fully accept it. I can face death proudly.”
Despite the mage’s kind explanation, chills were already running down the adventurers’ spines.
An old proverb about not associating too closely with mages suddenly came to mind.
Garko had been so kind that they had not thought of it before, so why had it suddenly come to mind now?
“Ahem, hmm... But what exactly is inside the ruins?”
One of the adventurers quickly changed the subject. The other adventurers also seemed curious and nodded.
At that moment, they had descended beneath the cave ruins located halfway up the mountain while escorting the mage.
Perhaps they had been fortunate, but so far there had been no particular danger. There were no traps, and every path that appeared was a well-paved stone passage.
Other wanderers had been unable to enter any farther and had gone outside after gathering a reasonable number of items, but this exceptional mage had located the hidden passage leading underground and opened the door.
Thanks to that, they had also been able to descend this far.
“Goodness. If I told you the true nature of that magic, I would have to take all of you away, imprison you, and then erase your memories.”
“...This is not a joke either, correct?”
“Pardon? That is correct. I do not joke about things like this. Surely you do not misunderstand me as a frivolous and unreliable person?”
“Absolutely not.”
The adventurers suddenly missed the second-circle mage they had met in the past.
That mage had acted disgustingly arrogant merely because he knew how to use magic, but at least they had not felt chills or fear while speaking with him.
Even his life goal had been full of familiarity.
His goal had been to earn money and retire. What a wonderfully relatable goal that was.
Ge... t... o... u... t...
“D-Did you hear that just now?”
It was certainly not the voice of a mortal with a physical body. The adventurers became tense at the ominous voice belonging either to a being from another dimension or something of comparable nature.
However, Garko did not hesitate and immediately gave an order.
“At last! It seems to be the guardian of the ruins. Let us advance.”
“How should we deal with it?”
Although they were tense, the adventurers diligently began moving, as they had accepted the commission.
They intended to deal with that guardian according to the mage’s instructions.
“It seems I will only know after seeing that guardian directly.”
“Underst... Wait, you do have at least some general information, correct?”
One of the adventurers asked just in case.
Surely Garko would not approach it without any information at all.
‘There is no possibility of that.’
This mage possessed a reputation guaranteed by several Magic Towers of the Empire and had also successfully found and opened the path to the hidden passage.
Garko must have information and was acting with such confidence because of it.
“I do not. However, I promise that I will do my best.”
“......”
“It is coming! Block the path!!”
The adventurers did not even have time to argue and had to begin moving quickly.
***
“Everyone, even if we obtain useful magic, the right to threaten Professor Verdus belongs solely to me.”
“No one desires that right, Wardanaz.”
The White Tiger Tower students stared at Lee Han as though dumbfounded.
They merely wanted to leave their names on the excavation of magnificent magical ruins.
Even that alone was sufficiently glorious for a mage.
And honestly, regardless of what kind of magic emerged from the magical ruins, it seemed that the only person capable of learning that magic would be Wardanaz.
It was unlikely that second- or third-circle magic would come out of ruins like these...
-It was wise not to tell them which mage’s magic this is. Even trusted companions may betray you.
Saratan whispered so that only Lee Han could hear. Lee Han thought inwardly.
‘I did not tell them because I was worried you might be wrong.’