Lee Han glanced at his senior for a moment.

'It would be impossible to dump this on her, right?'

No matter what, it seemed impossible to make them believe that Princess Yukbeltire had beaten up Count Bouillon.

“I did do it, but technically, the one who beat him...”

“You are my hero!”

“......”

Whoosh!

The members of the stonemason guild fought among themselves to hug Lee Han. They were so strong that even Lee Han was pushed around.

“To think you beat up Count Bouillon!”

“I did not beat him up. It was a confiscation carried out according to proper procedure...”

“Where and how did you hit him? Hm?”

Petty clients were bound to earn the resentment of guild members.

And if there was a type of client who earned even more resentment, it was one who tried to pull tricks instead of paying a fair price.

Count Bouillon had been exactly that sort of client.

The members of the capital’s stonemason guild had been robbed blind by Count Bouillon several times, and this grudge would not be resolved unless they desecrated his corpse after death.

“...The moment I saw him, I punched him in the face!”

Lee Han shouted, half giving up.

What meaning was there in explaining to these guild members that he had only done it because he had no choice?

It seemed better to give them the answer they wanted to hear.

“Oh! You were able to act so boldly because you had secured evidence!”

“...Exactly. How could I have done something like that without evidence?”

“True. A mage is supposed to remain calm even in a moment of anger.”

“......”

“Can we not talk during the lecture about how Count Bouillon was beaten up?”

“No matter what, that would be difficult. What does that have to do with the lecture?”

“How can beating up someone who refuses to pay not be important?”

The members of the stonemason guild whispered among themselves. Fortunately, the atmosphere was not bad.

After successfully finishing their first meeting, Lee Han cautiously made a request.

“I would like to consult with you about the lecture content in advance...”

“Ah. Understood. But there is something I am curious about.”

“What are you curious about? The damage Count Bouillon suffered to his internal organs?”

“Ah. I am curious about that too. But what I was just talking about was not that. Why is Professor Verdus absent, leaving only two students here?”

“......”

“......”

Lee Han and Princess Yukbeltire fell silent at the same time.

Even for Einroguard’s top second-year student and a fifth-year senior, it was not easy to talk about a professor who had been sent to the punishment room.

'Senior. Do something.'

'H-How am I supposed to say it...?'

Princess Yukbeltire could not hide her embarrassment.

How was she supposed to put the fact that the professor was in the punishment room in a favorable way?

“...The senior here is so exceptionally capable that she has taken over the professor’s lecture. You could call it an Einroguard tradition.”

It was not a lie.

The tragic reality of Einroguard was that the more outstanding a student was, the more of a professor’s work the student had to share.

“That sounds good.”

Princess Yukbeltire nodded with a satisfied expression at her junior’s quick thinking. Lee Han shot her a brief look of contempt.

Was now really the time to look satisfied?

“I see. I understand. But may I ask just one more thing?”

“What are you curious about?”

“I can understand Her Highness the Princess being here, but why is Wardanaz, who is still only a second-year student...?”

“......”

The other members of the stonemason guild unconsciously nodded at that question as well.

Why in the world was a second-year student discussing the lecture content with them?

This time Princess Yukbeltire spoke. Since her junior had shown resourcefulness, it was time for her to show something.

“He admires me and wants to help. As a junior from the same school... Ow.”

Princess Yukbeltire let out a small cry when her junior stepped on the toe of her shoe.

“Ah. I am sorry. My foot slipped.”

“......”

Leaving his senior to stare at him suspiciously, Lee Han once again took control of the conversation.

“According to Professor Knighton, during the previous lecture, the students personally made models of structures you had built and discussed magic and materials while doing so.”

“That is correct. But...”

The members of the capital’s stonemason guild suddenly looked suspicious.

Lee Han was flustered by the change in their attitude.

Why?

“...As far as I know, Professor Verdus does not readily hand out the materials required for lectures. Will you be able to prepare the materials needed to make the models?”

“Of course that is impossib—ow.”

Princess Yukbeltire cried out again when her junior jabbed her in the side.

This time, it was definitely not an accident. Princess Yukbeltire glared at her junior with tears in {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} her eyes.

“Of course we can. Just tell me the list, and I will bring everything.”

“??”

Princess Yukbeltire forgot the pain and looked puzzled.

How in the world was he going to bring the materials?

***

-How did you bring them?

The knights were puzzled as well.

Surely he had not paid for them out of his own pocket?

The successor did have a slight tendency to be a pushover, but even so...

“Hmm. Well.”

Lee Han glanced at Professor Verdus beside him.

Princess Yukbeltire, who naturally did not care about Professor Verdus’s reaction, spoke proudly.

“We took them from Professor Verdus’s storage room.”

“Mmmmmph!!!!!”

Professor Verdus shouted, “Thieves!” but no one paid any attention. The knights exclaimed in admiration.

-Now that I think about it, that would work! Why did we not think of that?

-Because we are too honorable.

“...Yes. I asked His Highness the Inspector and received permission to access the underground storage room of the Carving Hall.”

-Did you also take plenty of reagents that might be useful to you personally, besides the lecture materials?

“Mmph! Mmph!!”

“I did not.”

-Why in the world not?!

***

“We should go back even now and take more...”

“Ah. Please be quiet.”

Lee Han answered his noisy senior behind him in an irritated voice.

Of course, Lee Han did not dislike plundering Professor Verdus either, but there was still a line that should not be crossed.

If they completely cleaned the place out beyond the materials needed for the lecture, even Professor Verdus might go mad with rage.

...Besides, if one looked at the matter closely, Professor Verdus had been confined because Lee Han had said something, so his conscience pricked him slightly.

“This amount of black spirit thread should be enough. As for the flame iron...”

“The quality is a little poor, but we can overcome that with magical treatment. One minute will be enough.”

Lee Han was slightly moved when his senior said that one minute would be enough to treat all the materials in the chest.

'Whenever she only talks about magic, she seems perfectly respectable.'

“This tower that controls lightning. Even if we make it as a small model, will it be able to control lightning in the same way?”

“If the same principles are applied, the effect should be identical. The power will be reduced, of course. And from the standpoint of learning, understanding the principles is more important than copying it exactly. To put it extremely, if magic can only be reproduced by imitating the materials exactly, then you have not truly learned it.”

“...!”

After speaking about magic twice in a row, this senior suddenly looked like a reliable professor.

Lee Han spoke in a voice filled with trust.

“Senior. I think you should give the lecture.”

“What are you talking about? I was already supposed to give the lecture.”

“Ha ha. Right. I must have forgotten.”

Now that both the materials and the lecture were prepared, there was nothing left to worry about.

At least, not until the members of the capital’s stonemason guild shouted the following.

“Wardanaz was the student who helped the Kudrin Stonemason Guild build the Pocketknife Fortress!? And that was last year, when you were only a first-year student?!”

“...Could we not discuss that after the lecture?”

***

-I see. So the core of the lecture was making a model of a tower that controls lightning.

The knights summarized it simply.

Looking around, the students had each received a generous share of materials and made models of towers that controlled lightning in their own ways.

The members of the capital’s stonemason guild looked over them and advised the students on realistic problems that would arise if the structures were actually built, while Princess Yukbeltire advised them on magical problems.

'It is so perfect that I almost feel sorry for releasing Professor Verdus.'

But since they had come this far, Professor Verdus had to be released. The knights warned the professor.

-If you say anything unnecessary, we will send you back to the punishment room.

“Mmmph.”

-No complaining that the reagents in your storage room were wasted, no rude remarks to the members of the capital’s stonemason guild, all of it is forbidden... No. Speak only about magic.

“Mmmph. Mmmph.”

Professor Verdus nodded as though agreeing.

Thinking that they truly did not want to release the professor, the knights removed the gag. The moment Professor Verdus was freed, the professor tore apart the model directly in front.

Not literally, of course, but figuratively.

“What kind of idiot thought it was a good idea to put the lightning-guidance magic in the center? If a severe thunderstorm strikes, the current will immediately flow backward and damage the tower!”

“...B-But when there is only a little lightning, it would be efficient...”

“Why would a place with little lightning need a tower like this? Are you stupid?”

The third-year student looked pitifully at the knights. The expression asked whether they could not silence the professor again.

The knights shook their heads apologetically. They could not interfere with a magic lecture.

Professor Verdus looked at Princess Yukbeltire and asked.

“Why did you make them build it like that?”

Princess Yukbeltire, who took great pride in her magical ability, naturally became indignant.

The fact that the third-year junior had built it like an idiot was the junior’s fault, never Princess Yukbeltire’s.

“The junior being an idiot is the junior’s... Aagh.”

“Please think before you speak!”

Lee Han whispered after jabbing her in the side again.

The atmosphere in the lecture hall, which had been cheerful and happy until just moments ago, was already about to split into two factions.

The students versus Professor Verdus.

At the very least, Princess Yukbeltire had to be on the former side, not the latter.

Princess Yukbeltire muttered while thinking that she needed to add an artifact to protect her sides.

“I did not say anything wrong at all...”

“Professor. As I just explained, this lecture is not about making a finished product. It is a lecture where the students test principles in order to understand the magic imbued in architecture. Naturally, there are bound to be many free attempts.”

“Hmph. Stupid is still stupid.”

Perhaps because Professor Verdus had been confined for so long, the professor’s opinions were much sharper than usual.

The professor would point out every flaw in the students’ magic on sight!

Professor Verdus thought that and the eyes gleamed. The professor intended to tear apart any foolish magic immediately.

Overwhelmed by that momentum, the students held their breath and avoided the professor’s gaze.

They had forgotten, but Professor Verdus was at the most frightening when criticizing magic. Because the professor criticized it with a pure heart, the mage on the receiving end could only feel even more pain.

'Should we hit Professor Verdus now for the sake of the students?'

While the members of the capital’s stonemason guild worried over the lecture hall’s ruined atmosphere, Professor Verdus found nearby prey.

“Why is the upper part of this tower missing?”

“Ah. I applied . It is the magic you taught me before in relation to airships. I thought it would be much more efficient to float part of the structure in the air and control it rather than keeping everything above the ground.”

Lee Han controlled the upper section of the tower model floating in the air and brought it over.

Seeing the professor’s own magic implemented perfectly, Professor Verdus closed the mouth with a displeased expression.

Whoever had taught this student had been so persistently thorough that there was not a single flaw to criticize.

“...Repeatedly raising and lowering the tower into the air will cause serious durability problems! What will you do about that?!”

'Since when have you ever cared about problems like that...?!'

The members of the capital’s stonemason guild clenched their fists.

This was a mage who often declared that the walls and pillars could be made of glass as long as the professor’s magic was successfully implemented, so hearing something like that made murderous intent well up inside them.

“I expected you to say that, so I also prepared .”

“...It is perfect! Why is it perfect?!”

Professor Verdus became angry at the unnecessarily outstanding disciple.