Chapter 1176
Despite the cold reaction, the Descendant of Ahrak did not waver.
Dark mages who had lived for over a hundred years were fundamentally shameless.
"Why are you saying it cannot be done without even trying to learn it? It might be possible, might it not?"
"Grrrrrk. (It is embarrassing, so do not act as though we are close.)"
"Let us simply take out more of the money we have saved and bribe him. We can also make a donation to Einroguard's dark magic school."
There was a sharp point in the Obsidian Magic Tower's proposal. Lee Han unconsciously hesitated.
It would have been one thing if they had said they would give the money only to him, but when they said they would donate to Einroguard's dark magic school, his heart wavered.
The delighted face of a certain Senior D suddenly began to appear before his ey...
"You young brat, do you even know which house that one comes from before saying that? He is from House Wardanaz. Do you think he can be bought just because you offer him a little bribe?"
"Prejudice is not good."
Lee Han muttered, but the dark mages were already too busy arguing among themselves to hear him at all.
"And a donation to Einroguard's dark magic school? Young brat, would you be moved and grant someone a request if they donated to the Obsidian Magic Tower?"
"...My thinking was shallow. I shall admit it."
Even the mage from the Obsidian Magic Tower had no choice but to admit that this had been a slip of the tongue.
What idiot would listen just because someone donated to the school?
"In any case, do not say it cannot be done without even trying to learn it! Your thoughts may change once you learn it!"
"Hmm. I would like to try learning , though."
Lee Han spoke lightly.
A spell that summoned a semi-permanent surveillance entity.
It seemed as though it would be useful mainly for watching White Tiger Tower students, Blue Dragon Tower students, or Black Tortoise Tower students.
"Grrrrrrrk. (That is not a spell you can learn so easily)..."
The undead answered as though dumbfounded.
It only sounded easy because that hundred-year-old dark mage had spoken of it lightly, but it was fundamentally dark magic beginning at the fifth circle.
It even contained a considerable number of elements from the summoning magic school. Spells with composite structures like this tended to leap sharply in difficulty even within the same circle.
"Why are you discouraging the young brat? Be quiet."
The Descendant of Ahrak berated the undead.
At a time when it was not enough to somehow entice this young brat, the one beside him kept pouring cold water on everything.
"Think about it. How thirsty will that young brat become once he hears about the magic?"
Whether he could learn the magic or not was not important. What mattered was making him thirsty.
A thirst for knowledge!
It could be called the deadliest and sharpest poison for a mage.
How many mages had destroyed themselves because of that thirst?
"Grrrk. (Indeed)!"
"That is certainly a convincing method..."
Once their discussion was over, the old dark mage called Lee Han over with a kindly expression.
"You are curious about ?"
"But if it is difficult, I am fi..."
"No, no! If you are curious, you must learn it. Do you not even know that suppressing curiosity after becoming a mage is a sin, young brat?"
"Well, I cannot learn every spell I happen to see while walking around. And I also have to meet the Devil Hag soon."
"......"
The Descendant of Ahrak cursed inwardly several dozen times before opening his mouth.
"...This spell was inspired by ancient dark magic."
Ancient dark magic.
They were magical words that always made the hearts of dark mages race.
But in truth, they were not words that were entirely good.
Because ancient dark magic was not separated as relatively neatly as the current Imperial magic system, there were many more things that had to be learned and many more preparations that had to be made in order to cast it.
"There is something called the Black Emperor Coffin. A young brat like you would not know it, but..."
"I know it."
"...You know it?"
The Descendant of Ahrak paused.
The Black Emperor Coffin was not simply magic for creating a sealing coffin, but magic for controlling an artificially created demigod.
Naturally, even among mages, few knew of its existence. All the more so for a mere second-year student of Einroguard.
"It seems you saw all sorts of strange books in the library. But what you saw in a book, young brat, must have been the shallowest and easiest part of the Black Emperor Coffin. This magic called the Black Emperor Coffin..."
"I also helped with summoning it."
Lee Han replied indifferently.
Remembering his memories with the insane duplicate made it difficult to answer pleasantly.
Professor Voladi had already run away like Gainando...
"What?!?!?"
Of course, the Descendant of Ahrak had no interest in the sorrow of the mage beside him.
What mattered more was that he had helped with the summoning of the Black Emperor Coffin.
The statement that a magic-school student had helped with ancient dark magic was enough to make even an old dark mage who had been through every hardship feel as though he might faint from shock.
"Just what bastard... C-Could it be Gonadaltes?!"
Only one name came to mind. The Descendant of Ahrak asked in a trembling voice.
"Uh... Well, strictly speaking, that is correct."
'Madman!'
The Descendant could only be horrified.
And yet the people of the Empire thought the Descendants of Ahrak were evil.
The truly evil mage was in Einroguard!
'I knew Gonadaltes treated disciples harshly, but this really... Is this not too much?'
No matter how harshly a disciple was treated, there had to be limits. To make a second-year student help with the summoning magic of the Black Emperor Coffin.
Confronted with true madness, the Descendant of Ahrak suddenly came back to his senses as though cold water had been poured over him.
"E-Even so... You must only have played a simple role. No matter what, even Gonadaltes... It is not as though this is some Dark Age... Right?"
"I did only play a simple role."
"Phew."
Only then could the old dark mage breathe a sigh of relief. The undead watching from beside him also barely managed to exhale.
'I truly thought he was insane!'
"The conversation has gone in another direction. In any case, begins from a principle similar to the Black Emperor Coffin. It is embarrassingly insignificant compared to a demigod... You create an eye of dark magic that does not exist in reality within the element of darkness, and then summon it."
To a mage, the continent of reality represented by the material world was always a place filled with restrictions and rules.
This did not mean the laws of the Empire. It meant the laws of nature.
Why did the ground pull objects toward it, and why could people not pass through solid walls?
If mages could handle such rules however they wished, they would be able to do far more.
One of the attempts born from such thinking was precisely this sort of detour.
If something was created not in reality, but inside a mass of pure elemental power and then summoned, it was possible to avoid the laws of nature while realizing the desired magic.
"Ah, I understand!"
"You understand quickly, perhaps because you helped with the Black Emperor Coffin. Yes. This is that kind of magic. Do you understand what sort of spell it is?"
"I did not mean that I understood what kind of spell it is. I meant that I understood how to cast it."
Lee Han corrected the other's misunderstanding.
At first, he had not been able to grasp at all how it was cast, but after hearing about the Black Emperor Coffin, he became able to separate and examine the structure of the spell.
Several magical formulas used in summoning the Black Emperor Coffin had been placed throughout it.
"......"
"......"
Of course, to the dark mages, this was an extraordinary and bizarre thing to say.
They had not even begun the explanation yet, and he understood how to cast ?
"Young brat. Do not bluff. This is not that kind of spell."
"In any case, I do not think you need to explain any further. May I choose one of the other spells and ask about it? There was one that seemed useful..."
"...You young brat, seriously!"
Lee Han's attitude made the Descendant of Ahrak even angrier.
If he had been caught, he should say, 'I was wrong.' Where did he get the nerve to react so shamelessly?
"Then try casting it! If you cast it, young brat, I will crawl around this fortress on all fours!"
At the other's words, Lee Han suddenly thought.
'Why do mages insist on making bets that they will crawl around on all fours?'
They could simply tell him to try it once. He could not understand why they always had to add a bet about crawling around on all fours afterward.
Did they actually want to crawl around on all fours?
"Understood. I will try preparing it."
"Hmph!"
And ten minutes later.
"Oh. It seems to be working. This is correct, right?"
"......"
"......"
The dark mages could say nothing and merely blinked.
In response, , which was floating in the air, also slowly blinked. Judging from its reaction, it had indeed been summoned properly.
'...Right. This young brat was no ordinary genius...!'
He had forgotten because he had been acting emotionally, but the young brat before him was clearly a madness-filled genius taking classes not only in the dark magic school, but in several other schools as well.
Had Professor Mortum bragged just a little less, he might have properly remembered this useful information...
Professor Mortum bragged about so many useless things that the truly important information had failed to come to mind.
'I was so focused on the fact that he had made contact with the Devil Hag that I failed to take a deep interest in his actual skill. What a ridiculous sight this is.'
'Even so, he summoned this on the spot? Did he really only help with the Black Emperor Coffin?'
"The eye is..."
"The eye is?"
"A little cloudy."
The Descendant of Ahrak shamelessly found fault with it.
It was a desperate struggle to find some sort of fault so that he would not have to crawl around on all fours.
"Grrrk. (It is not.)"
"Sorry, but it is close to perfect."
"...Fine, you damned bastards. I understand! Are you satisfied!"
The Descendant of Ahrak suddenly flew into a rage at the words of the dark mages, who were no help whatsoever.
***
As was usually the case with mages who had gone outside, the Descendants of Ahrak periodically contacted their companions.
Found traces of the Devil Hag
Very high possibility of sealing off the north(the head of the house is nearly convinced)
...In this manner.
Of course, this was not the only message sent. There was another message afterward.
Found traces of the Devil Hag
An Einroguard mage reportedly made contact(the northern situation has been resolved)
"The situation has been resolved?!"
"It is more surprising that an Einroguard mage succeeded in making contact. An impressive fellow. Could we perhaps bring that one in as a new Descendant?"
"No matter how tired we may be of our membership remaining unchanged for so long, we cannot add a new Descendant so carelessly."
The Descendants of Ahrak seated around the round table spoke with their robes and masks pulled down low.
Even if they could not see one another's faces, they had no trouble identifying each other's identities.
While the other Descendants expressed their surprise, the messages continued to arrive.
In order to ask the Devil Hag a question, we were told to formally inquire with Einroguard's dark magic school...
"No!"
"Are you telling us to listen to Mortum show off again?"
...Fortunately, we were told to inquire with his disciple Diret rather than Mortum
"Phew!"
"That is fortunate, at least. We must first decide what question we will ask the Devil Hag."
And a little while later.
The Einroguard mage learned immediately while sitting there(we had no intention of teaching all of our magic)
We truly did not even teach it properly, but he listened to a few words and learned it on his own
"......"
"...J-Just what kind of bastard is he?"
Even the Descendants who had remained calm were so shocked that their complexions changed.
He had simply learned that, immediately, while sitting there?
No matter how outstanding his talent was, that was truly...!
"What matters now is not how he learned it. It is how we respond."
"That is correct. If he learned so easily, does that not mean he has some connection with us as well? It may not be bad to invite him once. Even if we cannot make him join immediately."
"Was it the Second and Third who went to the north?"
"That is correct."
"Do they not have the worst possible personalities for inviting someone?? It seems we should send someone else."
"It is not as though the others have personalities suited to inviting someone either..."
While they spoke, another message arrived.
Good news
The bastards from the Legion of Oondorgu also immediately had spell stolen from them
"......"
"I told you we should have sent different people."