Fortunately, the two of them did not know much about the newly arrived magic professor.
Their wounds regarding magic had been so deep that they had completely lost interest in it.
“Still, if you told us the name, we’d probably know.”
“N-No. You probably wouldn’t... It’s... um... the kind of mage only people in the know would know about? Something like that. Yeah!”
“???”
Ingsen and Basiu fell into confusion.
Was there really a mage like that?
‘If it were a mage who went into seclusion long ago, maybe...’
‘...But would someone like that normally come out to give lectures? No matter how I think about it, this is strange.’
“Then I’ll be going. Good luck with the play! I’ll definitely come watch it later!”
Irendi quickly rose from their seat.
No matter how they thought about it, it seemed better to recruit other students.
Even Irendi’s conscience hurt at the thought of bringing these two along.
“Wait, Senior.”
‘Gasp.’
Irendi broke out in a cold sweat.
Had they been found out?
“When I first heard you suggest that we try attending magic lectures again, to be honest, I resented you.”
“I see! Thank you for being honest. Good luck with the play! I’ll definitely come watch it later!”
“But while talking with you, I felt the passion for magic inside me beginning to stir again.”
“C-Could that perhaps be your passion for theater?”
Ignoring Irendi’s words, the two juniors began talking among themselves.
“Ingsen, you too?”
“So you felt it too! We may have forgotten magic, but magic never forgot us.”
“Magic... isn’t really a sentient being with that kind of will...”
Only then did the two juniors seem to hear their senior muttering and turned their heads.
“Yes? What did you say?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing. I-I have no intention of using my authority as your senior to force you to learn, you know? It’s fine to focus on theater. Come to think of it, I heard Professor Ndeon of House Sewalka is putting on an incredible play this time?”
“It’s Professor Seden of House Nwalka. And yes. But we’ve already made up our minds. We’ll attend the magic lecture once!”
Irendi looked ready to cry.
For this inexperienced mage who had done nothing but immerse themself in their own magic, a situation like this was far too difficult to handle.
‘What if they crawl through the bushes and escape again?’
In truth, there was no need to worry about that.
At the moment, the palace was not a place anyone could escape from even if they wanted to.
Just then, someone they had never seen before appeared in front of the café table where they were sitting.
The person was astonishingly beautiful.
Even the Valdrogard students, who had attended all sorts of extravagant balls and gatherings, were startled.
The aura surrounding the person who had just appeared possessed something almost transcendent.
‘Who in the world is that?’
‘I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere before...?’
“Hohoho. May I sit here for a moment?”
“Ah, yes! Please!”
When the Valdrogard students answered in unison, the other person gave an elegant greeting and sat down.
‘Golden eyes?’
Strangely enough, the person possessed brilliantly golden eyes.
When they removed their emerald glasses and placed them on the table, the color became clearly visible.
Ingsen was startled and asked,
“That hat... could it perhaps be one made by Master Rubanus?”
“Is that so? Hohoho. There are so many hats at the mansion that I’m not quite sure.”
Master Rubanus was an outstanding Imperial enchantment mage and tailor, particularly renowned for hats.
The goblin made only two or three hats a year at most, so even with enough money, they were difficult to obtain without the proper connections and qualifications.
To treat such a luxury hat so casually.
Ingsen guessed that the other person was no ordinary individual.
“May I ask what family you’re from?”
“Try guessing. What family do I look like I’m from?”
The other person smiled and called over an employee.
A spirit working at the café flew over to take the order.
“I’ll have black tea. Add three spoonfuls of Thunder Honey from the Eastern Highlands, and one spoonful of moonstone sap... What are your most expensive jam and whipped cream? Bring those too. The whole jars.”
The golden-eyed mage dumped all sorts of expensive things into the hot tea.
The Valdrogard students watching became puzzled.
‘Wouldn’t that taste strange? No matter how expensive and high-quality the ingredients are, if you throw them in that recklessly...’
And yet, perhaps because of the other person’s appearance, indiscriminately throwing everything in did not look vulgar.
If anything, it looked like the creation of a new trend.
The jewelry hanging all over the person was similar.
They wore an absurd number of expensive-looking rings and necklaces, yet it did not look vulgar in the slightest.
Instead, it made the viewer think, ‘Should I try dressing like that too?’
Overwhelmed without realizing it, the Valdrogard students spoke first.
“Um, what brings you here?”
“I happened to overhear something interesting while passing by... I heard there’s a new professor.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Surely War—”
“Cough, cough, cough!!!”
Irendi took a sip of the coffee in front of them and began coughing madly.
“W-What’s wrong, Senior?”
“Nothing... It’s nothing.”
At that, the golden-eyed mage nodded as though they understood.
“I don’t know the name, but since this is a professor at Valdrogard, they must be an excellent mage. What is this mage’s reputation like? Are the mages of Valdrogard treating them well?”
“I’m not a Valdrogard professor, but I can say for certain that Valdrogard’s professors and students are welcoming this War— this mage!”
Irendi spoke proudly.
They might have thought a little differently if they had entered the palace where the lectures were currently taking place, but fortunately, Irendi had not yet gone inside.
“Hohoho. Is that so.”
The mage looked extremely satisfied.
They had been forced to sell off their disciple at a bargain price for the sake of their long-cherished wish, but seeing that the disciple was doing well meant their choice had, as expected, been completely flawless.
They had gained gold, the disciple was being welcomed, and the mage-like fellows at that Valdu... Valda... whatever vaguely magic-school-like place were receiving instruction.
Everyone was happy.
“Are you perhaps here to attend the lecture as well, Mage?”
“Well. There would be no harm in attending a lecture... But looking at young and outstanding mages like you makes me think of something. Ordinary reagents do not suit mages like you. Extraordinary, magnificent reagents do.”
“W-We’re not that...”
Ingsen and Basiu smiled happily.
Meeting their senior today had reignited the passion for magic they had forgotten, and this mage they had only just met was now fanning those flames.
The golden-eyed mage lightly clenched and opened their fist.
With a rolling sound, gemstones used as magical reagents appeared on the table.
“What do you think? Aren’t reagents like these much more suitable for the two of you? Hoho.”
“!”
‘These are...?!’
Not only Ingsen and Basiu, but even Irendi was greatly shocked.
Irendi was an enchantment mage, and like a typical Valdrogard student, frequently used gemstone magic, so they had an excellent eye for judging the quality of gemstones as reagents.
These held the most intense and concentrated mana of any gemstone reagents Irendi had ever seen.
They were so extraordinary that suspicion arose for a moment.
‘...Does this even make sense? I don’t think even House Kraha’s merchants have ever managed to obtain gemstones like these.’
Irendi was not a fool.
No matter how mesmerizingly charming the other person became the longer one spoke with them, casually producing reagents this good was clearly strange.
“A-Amazing! With reagents like these, I could strengthen my Fire-Gold Bird Summoning even further.”
“What do you mean, strengthen your Fire-Gold Bird Summoning further?”
“If I use higher-quality ruby powder, the spell becomes stronger, doesn’t it?”
“...What kind of lunatic— Indeed! As expected, you are extremely wise. I could tell from the moment we first met.”
Ingsen and Basiu quickly became friendly with the golden-eyed mage.
The reagents were one thing, but the mage’s personal charm was simply overwhelming.
Both came from wealthy families, but compared to the aura of wealth radiating from the golden-eyed mage, there was no comparison.
The two became utterly captivated by the mage.
Growing uneasy for no particular reason, Irendi whispered from the side.
“You two, aren’t you trusting a mage you’ve only just met a little too much?”
“But Senior. The quality of these gemstones is unquestionably real, isn’t it?”
“That’s true... It is true, but...”
Irendi became confused.
If an Einroguard student had been here, they would have given this advice.
-If something feels strange, trust your instincts and run first!
An outstanding mage needed to know how to trust their own instincts.
Even if they had not specialized in foresight magic, mages developed intuition in matters like this.
But Irendi had not yet shaken off the shackles of Valdrogard.
‘The gemstones are all real, their performance is even better than normal, and surely someone that wealthy wouldn’t... lie.’
In the end, Irendi failed to strongly stop their juniors.
Ingsen and Basiu even arranged to meet the golden-eyed mage later for a proper transaction.
“Here. This is the address of our family’s villa. If you come, we’ll go out to greet you right away.”
“Hohoho. Thank you. Then I’ll look forward to our next meeting.”
The golden-eyed mage disappeared like the wind, just as they had arrived like the wind.
“...Shall we get going too?”
“Let’s do that, Senior.”
As the Valdrogard students stood up, the café spirit told them the bill.
When it differed greatly from what they had expected, the students tilted their heads.
“Was there a mistake in the calculation? Could you show us for a moment? Coffee, coffee, black tea, Thunder Honey from the Eastern Highlands, moonstone sap... What’s this?”
The students could not understand.
When had they ordered these?
-The person who just left said that you would pay together...
“......”
“......”
***
Watching the new students enter in twos and threes, Lee Han felt pleased.
Students who had attended once kept coming back, and new students were also arriving to attend the lectures.
That was proof that the lectures were going well.
‘Of course, I did use a few little tricks, but that should still fall within the bounds of extenuating circumstances, shouldn’t it?’
Lee Han looked at the Valdrogard students sitting in the lecture hall.
Their eyes definitely seemed much more heated than they had at first.
Of course, there did seem to be a little killing intent and anger mixed in...
“Professor. Hello!”
“Gasp. Is that Gainando’s relative?”
“You said that about another student last time too. Don’t be rude.”
The Einroguard students scolded their friend for making a rude remark.
Calling everyone Gainando’s relative every time they saw someone...
Belnera of House Duroyer had simply been a lazy person, not Gainando’s relative.
“...They are Gainando’s relative. They’re from House Kraha.”
“!”
“So close! I could’ve gotten it right!”
‘What exactly was close about that?’
Unaware that the Einroguard students were saying pointless things, Irendi hurried over and spoke.
“Professor. Actually, there are two students I need to tell you about.”
Worried about the shock the two juniors might receive, Irendi began explaining what had happened today.
The Einroguard students listening from the side remembered and nodded.
“Ah. The one who lost to Gainando.”
“But how did they get out? There weren’t any traces.”
“...N-No idea.”
Nillia broke out in a cold sweat.
She had never imagined she would meet those students again here...
“These two definitely have passion for magic, you know? Enough to arrange to buy reagents from a mage they met for the first time. Is there any way to keep them from getting hurt?”
“Shouldn’t you avoid buying reagents off the street?”
Irendi objected to the Einroguard students’ words.
“But they were really good reagents. Their mana was much stronger than ordinary gemstones... And the mage selling them was extraordinary too. Golden eyes, covered in all sorts of expensive things...”
“......”
Crack!
When a fracture suddenly appeared in the lecture hall wall as though it were about to split in half, the Valdrogard students cheered.
“The wall is finally coming down!”
“<Freedom of Valdrogard>, we knew we could trust you!”
“N-No. That wasn’t us??”