“...I’ll keep that in mind, if another opportunity like this ever comes up.”

“Good. You’ll be doing this many more times in the future, so remember it.”

I was joking, though.

Lee ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Han stared blankly at the back of his senior’s large head, feeling absurd.

Where else would something like this ever happen?

This bizarre situation, where they secured promises of donations simply by telling stories, would surely be the first and last time.

“Anyway, Senior. Is this much enough?”

“Puhehe. Wardanaz, there’s no fixed amount. Strictly speaking, we don’t even have to do this kind of work.”

“That may be true, but...”

Even if they could proceed with however much they had, whether it was enough or not, wasn’t Palcrius doing this precisely because that wasn’t good enough?

“Don’t feel burdened. Just do what you can. Besides, Wardanaz, you’ve already done several times more than expected. You must be busy with other club work too.”

Lee Han couldn’t exactly say that he had only ended up helping while avoiding Professor Garcia’s pursuit, so he deflected the praise.

“If we’re talking about hardship, you have it worse, Senior. You’re a fourth-year right now.”

“Uhahaha. Wardanaz, don’t believe too much of what other seniors complain about. Only the ones who didn’t study in advance whine. If you prepare steadily, fourth year isn’t especially difficult.”

“...”

Looking at Palcrius smiling as he said that, Lee Han felt two things.

First, if his senior hadn’t been that huge, he would probably have been beaten up several times by now.

Second, a strange sense of déjà vu.

Why did Palcrius’s words feel so familiar?

I have no idea why.

Since there was no mirror nearby, Lee Han ultimately failed to identify the source of that feeling.

“And I have a debt of gratitude to repay.”

“A debt of gratitude?”

“It’s an old story. From the time of the Southern Spirit Great Famine.”

Palcrius patted his thick belly as he spoke.

“Puhe. I may look like this now, Wardanaz, but when I was young, I was so thin I could barely finish a bowl of porridge.”

Farming was, at its core, a struggle between farmers and an uncertain climate.

Unfortunately, the continent’s farmers had one more enemy.

The magical beings that grew by feeding on the continent’s abundant mana.

To mages, spirits were convenient beings that could be negotiated with, and sometimes even subjugated.

But to most citizens of the Empire, spirits were terrifying, unpredictable beings.

And when those terrifying, unpredictable beings gathered into a massive storm through coincidence and inevitability, natural disasters descended upon the Empire.

The Southern Spirit Great Famine had been large enough in scale that even Lee Han had heard of it.

He had heard that a fertile, mild granary region had been devastated, and countless people from that area had migrated elsewhere.

“The ones who helped me while I was wandering alone were priests from the Flameang Order. I made a vow to myself then. I would pass on the grace I received to others.”

“Senior...”

“And I also vowed never to go hungry again, but that one broke the moment I entered Einroguard. Uhaha.”

“...Senior.”

Lee Han felt the emotion from moments ago rapidly vanish.

“Puhe. Wardanaz, you don’t need to worry about my vow. My vow is mine. You only need to worry about your own. Like dedicating your life to the development of Imperial magic...”

“I never made a vow like that!”

“Hm? Doesn’t everyone from House Wardanaz make vows like that?”

Palcrius looked genuinely confused.

There were so many rumors about House Wardanaz that even this senior had absorbed misinformation without realizing it.

“Well, it must be something roughly similar.”

“There is nothing similar about it at all.”

Despite Lee Han’s protest, Palcrius paid it little mind and kept walking.

Their next destination was the home of a peddler belonging to the Imperial Western Allied Merchant Guild.

THUMP THUMP THUMP—

“The peddler’s name is Jongseonun. He imports wheat in large quantities, and he agreed to donate some this time too. Since we have time left thanks to you, Junior, we should move it in advance.”

“I see.”

“We’ll need to borrow a cart and a carriage...”

“I’ll just carry it myself.”

“Hm? Won’t that be too much?”

“I can lift whatever’s left with magic.”

“Puhe. Wardanaz, sometimes you make the wildest jokes.”

“...?!”

When the door opened, the person who appeared before them was a peddler whose face had gone pale blue.

Palcrius asked in surprise.

“What happened?”

“I-I’m sorry, Priest Palcrius. I won’t be able to give you the wheat I promised.”

“That’s all right. But did something happen?”

“Well...”

***

“That damn bastard!”

Palcrius stormed down the street, fuming.

It was a rare sight from a priest who usually smiled no matter what.

Lee Han’s expression had also hardened.

The peddler’s plea had angered him as well.

The one who had taken the sacks of wheat Jongseonun had set aside was Bardan, a city noble of Granden City.

Bardan, a branch noble of the powerful Greenbel family, had recently lost a great deal of face after being attacked by an evil mage.

To restore that reputation, Bardan decided to hold a grand banquet.

In the process of preparing for it, the peddler had suffered.

Banquets were always like that.

While nobles laughed and enjoyed themselves, their subordinates exhausted themselves handling the preparations.

And even though Bardan had lost considerable property in the evil mage’s attack, the banquet still had to be held on the same grand scale.

So Bardan’s servants had gone to Jongseonun and threatened him into selling ingredients at a dirt-cheap price.

As long as he continued working in Granden City, Jongseonun couldn’t ignore Bardan’s influence.

In the end, he had no choice but to hand over the wheat he had reserved for donation.

“Wardanaz. There’s something I need you to do.”

“Should I cast invisibility and pick the lock? Or climb over the wall?”

“...No. If I get too angry, I want you to stop me, Wardanaz...”

Palcrius had been worried about losing control and causing trouble, but now wondered if the wrong junior had been brought along.

This junior from House Wardanaz seemed excellent at causing trouble, but not especially suited to stopping it.

“You want me to stop you, Senior?”

“Yes. I’m counting on you.”

Is that possible?

Lee Han wondered if he would have to blast Palcrius from behind with magic if things got out of hand.

“Oh, right, Senior. This alley is blocked, so we’ll have to go around. When Bardan’s manor collapsed last time, the alley was blocked too.”

“Wardanaz, how do you know that?”

Palcrius tilted his head curiously.

Lee Han controlled his expression as he answered.

“I came out early because of other club work, remember? I heard rumors then. Apparently, some mad mage attacked Bardan’s manor.”

“Ah. Stedal of House Nago? I heard about that too.”

“...”

Lee Han squeezed his eyes shut at the speed of rumors.

“Puhe. Could that person be one of the principal’s disciples?”

“What????”

“Why are you so surprised? Sometimes mages who cause major incidents turn out to be the principal’s disciples.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

For a moment, he had thought Palcrius suspected him.

“The mad one here is Bardan, who forcibly took donation wheat for the sake of personal extravagance. A mage like Stedal is not mad, Wardanaz.”

Lee Han felt embarrassed by his senior’s praise.

Palcrius, walking ahead, didn’t notice.

“Hmm. Still, that mage is dangerous.”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

In response to Lee Han’s question, Palcrius pointed ahead.

Bardan’s manor still bore the scars left by the rampaging water spirit.

Even after mages and craftsmen from the Stonemason Guild had been called in, broken areas remained everywhere, showing just how violently it had rampaged.

“Look at that. The place was destroyed quite thoroughly.”

“...What if this mage named Stedal only visited the manor peacefully, and the spirit guarding the manor happened to go berserk by accident?”

“Hahaha. Wardanaz, why would you make such a ridiculous joke?”

Ugh.

Lee Han groaned inwardly at his own lack of persuasiveness.

If a mage infiltrated a manor and massive destruction followed, of course anyone would think, Ah, that mage must have destroyed it.

But this was truly unfair.

Lee Han had merely infiltrated the manor and relocated the requested item.

Though he had met the manor’s owner and knocked him unconscious in the process...

The spirit going berserk wasn’t my fault, was it?

“Is anyone there?”

Palcrius called loudly toward the people inside.

The chamberlain, who had been chasing servants around like rats while preparing for the banquet, came out with an irritated expression.

“What is it?”

“We came regarding the wheat from peddler Jongseonun.”

“Who?”

“The mages of Einroguard and priests of the temple are planning to distribute food to the poor this time, but there seems to have been a misunderstanding.”

Palcrius explained as politely as possible, smiling all the while.

The wheat had originally been promised as a donation.

Perhaps due to some mistake, the manor’s servants had taken it.

They would return the silver, so they hoped the wheat could be returned as well.

However, the chamberlain remained unmoved.

“No.”

“...Pardon?”

“No. We’re busy preparing our master’s banquet too.”

“We said we would return the silver.”

“Then the servants would have to go around looking for new wheat and buying it again. We can’t waste time on that.”

Lee Han quietly took a step forward.

Just in case the other person happened to be obsessed with jousting.

The chamberlain merely snapped back at him.

“What?”

“It’s nothing. Um, I’m from House Wardanaz.”

Even as he said it, Lee Han felt a faint surge of self-loathing.

He had never used his family name like this in his entire life.

But if it was to help his senior, this much shame was bearable.

If jousting didn’t work, then perhaps the family name would...

“...Are you threatening me now? An Einroguard mage from House Wardanaz? Do you think our master has no backing?”

If Bardan, the actual owner of the manor, had heard this, the reaction would have been, I’ve threatened plenty of easy targets, but touching House Wardanaz is a little...

But ignorance bred courage.

The chamberlain, accustomed only to arrogantly ordering around subordinates, failed to grasp the difference in power.

Thanks to that, Lee Han had to bear the shame alone.

It was already embarrassing enough to bring up his family name, but since it failed, the rebound struck twice as hard.

“Get lost. There’s no wheat here to fill beggars’ bellies. Be grateful we aren’t chasing you out of the city.”

At that moment, Lee Han saw sparks flare in Palcrius’s eyes.

Remembering their earlier conversation, Lee Han hurriedly intervened.

“Senior! Please calm down!”

“Th-Thanks, Wardanaz.”

Palcrius came back to the senses at his junior’s shout.

A senior couldn’t cause trouble in front of a junior.

“Did I stop you for no reason? Should we just attack?”

“Haha. No, Wardanaz. If we attacked everyone who acted this arrogantly, an entire year wouldn’t be enough. Let’s go back.”

Although Palcrius clearly wanted to smash the front gate, the senior gave up cleanly.

When doing this kind of work, meeting rude people like this was inevitable.

Compared to some, this was not even especially severe.

As the two turned away, the chamberlain muttered from behind the door.

“Really, priests and beggars are impossible to tell apart.”

“Let’s go, Wardanaz. We don’t have time to get involved with people like that.”

“Senior, please go ahead. I have somewhere to stop by briefly.”

Lee Han spoke in a cold voice.

He had tried to let it pass peacefully, but that last comment had crossed the line.

...It seemed Stedal of House Nago would have to appear once more and smash this manor to pieces.