Free Web Novel“Don’t glare at me like that. Here.”
When his junior glared at him, the Great Artist pulled a small silver box out of thin air.
The surface of the silver box was decorated with beautiful geometric patterns. Lee Han, who enjoyed reading the economic section of the Imperial newspaper, immediately guessed the price of the item.
Is he going to give me something worthy of being put in a box like that? If so, there’s a high chance that the item is quite valuable too. Surely he wouldn’t put junk in such a box just to play a prank... But this senior is also from Einroguard. It’s entirely possible.
Unaware that Lee Han was rapidly and rudely thinking dozens of thoughts in less than a second, the Great Artist held out the entire silver box.
“It’s a gift.”
“...Pardon?”
“They’re works I made as a pastime, but they should fetch a decent price. It must be hard to get money when sneaking out of Einroguard, so bury them somewhere and use them as travel funds. Don’t let that bastard find out.”
Inside the opened silver box, various accessories were lined up. They were accessories crafted directly by the Great Artist.
While they were not masterpieces that would leave their mark on the Empire’s history, they were works that any noble auction house would gladly welcome.
Lee Han shouted passionately.
“This unworthy junior has finally opened his eyes after meeting you today, Senior! How could I ever repay this kindness?”
“Th-that much...? Calm down.”
The Great Artist was rather appalled by such gratitude.
“Where is that bastard? Tell me!”
“?”
The sound of arguing came from outside.
Shouting, fighting, and cries that seemed to be searching for someone...
At first, Lee Han thought the Skull Principal had come, but that was not it. The Skull Principal was not the type to attack so noisily.
“Could the professors have exploded?”
“No... Garcia and Voladi aren’t the type to do that.”
The Great Artist immediately denied it.
Although those wicked, despicable juniors had succumbed to power and were acting as the Skull Principal’s lackeys, they were not rude enough to cause such a commotion.
Rather...
“Oh dear. It’s Ram of House Garihi.”
“House Garihi... aren’t they knights?”
“That’s right.”
The Great Artist drew the scene outside the window onto the stone wall.
Then they could see a large knight with blazing red hair harassing Petrogard students.
“Where is he!”
“W-we don’t know what you’re talking about...”
“Shut up! I know everything, you despicable spell-casting scoundrels. Hand him over right now!”
“How dare he?”
As the saying went, blood was thicker than water. Lee Han was enraged by the other party’s rude attitude.
It was a different matter when someone from a knight family came into a magic school’s territory and acted like this.
An Einroguard student could go to Valdrogard territory and cause chaos, but a knight should not do such things.
“If he’s from a knight family, he should know propriety and manners, yet he’s doing this. I must go stop him immediately!”
“...Wait a moment.”
The Great Artist quickly grabbed the hem of his junior’s cloak.
The wise archmage full of profound mysteries he had shown earlier was nowhere to be seen, and a familiar atmosphere could be felt from him.
This was...
...Professor Verdus!
To be precise, it felt similar to Professor Verdus when Professor Verdus had been caught after refusing to do what the Skull Principal ordered.
It was absurd.
Why would Lee Han feel Professor Verdus’s atmosphere from such a kind, gentle, and thoughtful senior from the Skull Principal’s school?
“What’s wrong?”
“Well... you see.”
The Great Artist hesitated slightly, not wanting to show an ugly side in front of the youngest member of the school.
“Actually, I have a contract with that knight, and it’s gotten a bit... into an unexpected situation...”
“...Don’t tell me you promised to give him a work and didn’t?!”
Lee Han was shocked.
Why were the mages of the enchantment magic school like this both inside and outside Einroguard?
***
“Hmm.”
“...”
“Hmm.”
“...”
“Hmmm...”
“Ah! Get lost!”
Gainando finally exploded.
It was because Bunaljo kept going “hmm,” “hmm,” and “hmmm” behind him while he was drawing.
If Bunaljo did not like it, then Bunaljo should just say it was bad. Why keep making those sounds?
“The drawing is decent. Have you drawn a lot?”
“...What?!”
Gainando was startled by the other party’s praise.
Honestly, the drawing before his eyes did not look particularly outstanding even to Gainando.
Since he came from a wealthy family, Gainando had seen quite a few famous paintings come and go, and he naturally felt the difference between those paintings and his own.
“This is decent?”
Gainando sent a suspicious look.
Does this person actually know nothing?
“Of course the technique is terrible. But I can feel the sincere emotion contained within. Is it a beautiful moon spirit swimming in a night pond?”
“It’s my cool undead summon walking out of a poison swamp.”
“I see. So that’s why I felt resentment too.”
This person really seems to know nothing.
Gainando’s gaze deepened with even more suspicion, but Bunaljo did not care.
The upperclassman Petrogard student did not particularly mind such looks.
“Especially this purple. It’s mysterious... How did you make this color? Which guild did you buy the paint from?”
“Uh... well...”
Gainando was flustered by the sudden question.
He looked around and lowered his voice.
“Shh! Others shouldn’t know.”
“Is it a secret? That’s fine. Everyone has secrets. Especially with paint this good. I was just curious how you achieved such a fine color. I’ll definitely keep the secret.”
At the other party’s words, Gainando pondered for a long time before opening his mouth.
“Well... I made the color using poison from the cemetery where they dispose of poisonous insects.”
There was a reason Gainando had hesitated.
When drawing patterns on his coat last year, he had secretly taken dark magic reagents from near the Dark Tower and used them as dye.
Of course, Lee Han caught him and beat his back like a storm.
“Do! Not! Mix! Elements! Whose! Exact! Composition! You! Don’t! Know!”
“Ack! Ahhh! Sorry! Sorry!”
“Poison! Amazing...!”
Bunaljo looked at Gainando with a surprised expression.
“D-don’t tell anyone.”
“Tell others? Of course not. Rather, there really was someone respectable at Einroguard after all.”
“Respectable?”
“You boldly cast off constraints for the sake of the beauty you desired.”
“That’s normal at Einroguard, though.”
Bunaljo pretended not to hear that and ignored it. Instead, Bunaljo looked at another part of the painting and asked.
“Is this blue color also perhaps...?”
“...That’s made by grinding blue bones into pigment. You really can’t tell anyone, okay? If we get caught, I’ll have to throw it away.”
“I understand. I understand. Gainando... I’ll remember your name. Finish it. It is sure to become a good work.”
“Wait! Then I passed the test, right? Tell me about the Great Artist before you go!”
Gainando, who had briefly nodded and was about to resume painting, belatedly came to his senses and called out to the other person.
“Ah. The Great Artist. Well, for a mage like you, meeting the Great Artist once would not be a bad thing either. The Great Artist is a great enchantment mage and an excellent artist.”
“What are the weaknesses?”
If he needed to rescue Lee Han, Gainando had to know the weaknesses first, so he asked directly.
“There are no weaknesses like that.”
“Don’t lie. There’s no way there aren’t any.”
Thud!
While the two were talking, a large knight appeared.
The moment they saw the knight, both Gainando and Bunaljo strongly thought of red.
That was how red everything about the other person was.
Blazing red hair that seemed to be on fire. Crimson eyes. Red-dyed armor and a red cloak.
“I am Ram of House Garihi. Students. I am a knight belonging to the Fire Watch.”
“H-hello?”
Ram looked around with beast-like movements.
Then Ram looked at the painting Gainando was drawing and nodded.
“Pretty decent. A beautiful moon spirit swimming in a night pond?”
“No... it’s my cool undead summon walking out of a poison swamp.”
“I see. You chose an ambiguous description befitting someone from Petrogard.” freēwēbnovel.com
“No...!”
Gainando was about to jump up and down at the insulting words.
However, the other person moved first. The knight spoke in a growling voice.
“I heard someone called an ‘artist’ came here. Do you know where that person is?”
“...I don’t know?”
“You’re lying. You two were just talking about it!”
The knight’s last words exploded in volume, overwhelming them both like a hammer.
Threatened, Gainando reacted like an Einroguard student.
“Guys!!!”
Fwoosh!
When paralysis and blinding poison burst out like fog at close range, Ram thought, Oh no.
Ram had not expected to lose the initiative to a weak Petrogard student and had let down his guard.
“What kind of bastard is this?!”
Einroguard friends who were working nearby came rushing over in a crowd.
No matter how much trouble Gainando caused, he was an Einroguard troublemaker.
Because blood was thicker than water, the friends immediately launched a fierce attack on the knight in front of Gainando.
“Earth, bind his feet!”
“Light shall deceive the eyes...”
“How, how dare...! I am Ram of House Garihi, belonging to the Fire Watch. You fools! Do you know what you’re doing right now?!”
Ram roared, his whole body swelling with rage.
Then the Einroguard students hesitated.
“...We’re from Valdrogard! Come find us anytime if you want revenge!”
“Hey. Run! Run!”
“Does anyone have a fog potion?”
The Einroguard students quickly retreated like the wind, taking Gainando with them.
Ram, who had enhanced his body with mana, drove out the poison, tore through the illusion magic, and even smashed the spells binding his ankles and wrists.
“Ugh! Why are those Valdrogard bastards here...”
If Ram had been a little less excited, Ram would have noticed that the magic had come suspiciously fast and precise for Valdrogard students, but the knight was too worked up to notice anything amiss.
Instead of chasing the vanished mages, Ram grabbed another nearby student.
“Where is that person? Tell me!”
***
“...I absolutely didn’t delay on purpose. Please don’t think of me as the same kind of person as Verdus.”
Even as the Great Artist spoke, he felt as if he were sinking deeper and deeper into a quagmire.
The feeling of being despised by the youngest member of the school!
The Skull Principal enjoyed being despised by the disciples, but the Great Artist absolutely did not.
“Believe me!”
“I believe you, Senior.”
“...!”
The Great Artist felt tears forming behind the mask.
This was a disciple too good for the Skull Principal.
How had the Skull Principal obtained such a disciple not once, but twice...?
Thud thud thud thud thud!
“Senior! Senior!”
An urgent voice was heard from outside. It was Professor Garcia.
“...Wait. I’ll open it for you.”
The Great Artist gave up and opened the door.
Now that an unwelcome guest had come, there was no point in continuing to be stubborn.
“There’s a knight outside right now. What’s going on?!”
“Well...”
In front of Professor Garcia and Professor Voladi, the Great Artist repeated the story already told earlier.
Honestly, it was embarrassing, but it couldn’t be helped. These juniors were now old enough to know everything.
“I absolutely didn’t delay on purpose...”
“I believe you, Senior.”
“...!!!” ƒreewebɳovel.com
At Professor Garcia’s words, the Great Artist felt even thicker tears forming than before.
Even after being tormented with accusations of treachery, Professor Garcia still showed such faith.
“Thank...”
“Then we’ll excuse ourselves now! Student Lee Han can’t get involved in this!”
Professor Garcia quickly pulled Lee Han closer and threw him to Professor Voladi.
Swoosh!
Professor Voladi put the disciple on one shoulder and escaped by piercing through the wall. Professor Garcia also quickly escaped behind them using spatial magic.
Regardless of their faith in their senior, they could not leave their disciple in a place where a fight was about to break out.
“...”
The Great Artist could only bitterly admire the growth of those juniors.
