Chapter 382
Clank!
As the wall behind the pillar was touched as instructed by the King of Ghouls, a hidden space was revealed with the sound of a mechanism moving.
Seeing that, Yi-Han suddenly became anxious.
'It's not bones again, is it?'
Come to think of it, the concept of treasure for the undead could be a little different.
Still, since he's a king, at least a few jewels...
"Junior!!!!"
Ogoldos, who had entered first, shouted with a voice full of joy. Yi-Han asked excitedly.
"What's in there?"
"It's bones! Bones!!! I said bones!!!!"
"..."
Yi-Han became serious for the first time in a while.
—
"Don't you know what treasure is?"
"Don't you know what kind of item those bones are? How dare you be so brazen..."
The King of Ghouls was enraged by Yi-Han's attitude.
He finally revealed the treasure he had hidden, and yet he was met with such a brazen attitude.
"Those bones are a treasure to dark mages, not to me."
"Nonsense! You are clearly a dark mage..."
Yi-Han summoned lightning elements and tried to compress them, but failed again and threw them at the King of Ghouls.
Not only that, but he also drew out the Morning Star.
"Look at this. Do I still look like a dark mage to you? Recall when we fought last time."
“...”
Yi-Han could argue as much as he wanted to get what he wanted.
And from the King of Ghouls' perspective, he couldn't help but waver.
Recalling when Yi-Han fought last time, he wasn't a typical dark mage.
"If you want us to trust each other! You should bring out something proper, shouldn't you!"
Yi-Han harshly reprimanded the wavering King of Ghouls. It was like a professor reprimanding a student who didn't do their homework properly.
Ogoldos looked at that scene as if he was looking at a madman.
'What the hell is he doing...!'
Although he had learned a lot about "points to be aware of when dealing with undead beings from other realms" in dark magic lectures, he had never seen anything like this before.
"...Wait a moment. I'm thinking."
"Are you trying to hide the treasure you have now?"
"Shut up and stay still. Do you think I, as a king, will remember every single treasure in the palace?"
The King of Ghouls snapped, annoyed by the disturbance while concentrating.
'Doesn't he remember everything?'
Yi-Han was surprised.
If Yi-Han were the king, he thought he would have memorized the entire list of treasures...
"I remembered one."
"I knew it! I had faith in you."
"But before that, swear on your honor."
Originally, he wanted to bind him with a proper contract, but now that they were separated by the magic circle, the only thing they could trust was each other's words.
"Swear you won't find fault anymore and will open the magic circle!"
The King of Ghouls had no intention of keeping his promise, but he didn't think the other party would break their promise.
It was because he believed that only he himself was wicked and vile.
However, there was an even more vile being right in front of the King of Ghouls.
"Of course. I swear."
"...There is one more hidden warehouse on the opposite side."
'Do undead have a habit of creating warehouses around them?'
To install several secret warehouses in the space where the throne is located.
It was very clear how little he trusted his subordinates.
"...?"
Yi-Han, who revealed the hidden warehouse as instructed by the King of Ghouls, hesitated.
A huge door he had never seen before was guarding the warehouse.
The metal door, engraved with unique patterns, was emitting a strange mana, though it was unclear what material it was made of.
Ogoldos, who was next to him, let out a groan.
"This is going to be tough."
People without experience often thought of exploring dungeons or ruins as a skilled technician (suspiciously close to thieves' guilds but definitely not a thief) skillfully unlocking locked doors and disassembling devices.
However, most explorations did not go so smoothly.
Usually, locked doors or devices were much sturdier than the skill of the person unlocking them, and most of the time, they had to turn back or avoid them.
"Hey. King of Ghouls! What's the meaning of this?"
"I clearly told you. It's just that you can't open it. Originally, that door can only be opened with my power imbued in it."
The King of Ghouls spoke, trying not to let his cunning show.
In fact, the door to that warehouse was made by the top undead sculptors and blacksmiths in the realm under the orders of the King of Ghouls.
A door made by gathering eight metals, mixing them, feeding them the blood of thirteen tribes, and tempering them with the flames of six realms.
As it was a masterpiece completed during the heyday of the kingdom, it was not a door that could be opened by a few mages trying hard.
"If you let me out, I will open that door for you."
"I see. Alright. I'll try my best to open it."
"Didn't you swear not to find fault anymore and open it!"
"That's when I have the treasure in my hands."
Yi-Han ignored him.
Even if he got it, he had no intention of keeping his promise, so if he couldn't even get it, he had no intention of even pretending to listen.
The King of Ghouls cursed from behind, but it didn't reach Yi-Han's ears.
"Senior. Please step aside for a moment."
Yi-Han made Ogoldos step aside and poured out magic.
Kwakwakwakwang!
From water bullets to arrows overlaid with enhancement magic.
He unleashed the maximum firepower he could, but the door was unscathed.
"Shouldn't we just give up on this and wait?"
"Hmm. It can't be helped... Wait a moment, senior. Please look at the side here."
Yi-Han pointed to the huge rock next to the door guarding the warehouse.
One of the water jade bullets that had just missed had left a small mark on the huge rock.
"Should we try digging through this side?"
"...Are you serious?!"
Ogoldos was dumbfounded.
If they went through the door and entered, they could come out right away, but if they dug through the rock on the side and took a detour, he couldn't even estimate how much they would have to go around.
"We have nothing else to do anyway."
"...That's true, but..."
Seeing his junior trying to dig through the rock when he couldn't break through the door, Ogoldos thought to himself.
'He would be really popular in the punishment room.'
If other students trapped in the punishment room saw him, they would swallow their saliva and attempt to recruit him.
—
"Is that something you should be saying now!"
When Professor Garcia roared, Professor Mortum shrank back.
"If there are such dangerous ruins, you should send the students out first!"
"That... That's a bit overprotective..."
The saying that a person who doesn't usually get angry is scary when they do get angry was a perfect fit for Professor Garcia.
Professor Mortum couldn't meet Professor Garcia's eyes and crawled away.
"And why did you take a 1st-year student into the undead realm!"
"Well... I thought it would be fine since he had faced the King of Frost Giants."
"..."
Even Professor Garcia, who had been angry, was momentarily at a loss for words.
Thinking it was an opportunity, Professor Mortum quickly sent a request for help to the skull principal.
"Mr. Gonadaltes. Please help me. It's not good to always protect the students, is it? To become a great mage, they need to overcome hardships..."
As the skull principal was someone who usually tried to forcibly give students a crisis, Professor Mortum thought the skull principal would take his side.
-Protecting students is meaningless.-
-They need to be thrown into a crisis to improve their magic skills.-
Wasn't this the theory that the skull principal usually argued for?
However, the skull principal coldly refused.
"No matter what, there's a limit. Taking a 1st-year student into the undead realm was a bit too much."
"!??!"
Professor Mortum looked at the skull principal with eyes full of betrayal.
He could understand Professor Garcia getting angry. She was originally someone who cherished her students.
But the skull principal acting like this was very hypocritical.
"Isn't this too much!"
"The one who went too far is you for taking a 1st-year student in. Don't you have any sense? That's why the number of students wanting to take dark magic is decreasing."
The skull principal coldly cut off Professor Mortum.
He had already been warned by the Emperor of the Empire. In such a situation, even if he couldn't stop Professor Mortum from causing an accident together, there was no way he could look favorably upon him.
Rather than taking his side and getting scolded by the Emperor together, it was best to put the blame on Professor Mortum.
'I'll remember this!'
Professor Mortum gritted his teeth at the betrayal of his respected mentor.
He had no intention of ever giving out useful undead when asked for them later.
"So... Is that all for the current situation? You've organized it quite neatly, better than I expected."
The skull principal spoke while floating around and looking at the surroundings.
In fact, Professor Mortum had made the best choice.
When Yi-Han and Ogoldos went missing inside the palace, he immediately took the remaining students out and went in alone with the undead to search.
If he had found him well like that, he would have been told "Well done" by other professors, but unfortunately, reality was different.
The palace was protected by such powerful magic that the search took a lot of time.
As the start of the semester approached, Professor Mortum swallowed his tears and sent a message to the skull principal, who then relayed it to other professors...
Thanks to that, the professors of Einroguard gathered like this in a town near the realm gate.
"I was going to get rid of the other adventurers if they were here. I didn't know the knights had such a sense of work. Could it be you?"
"No, it wasn't."
"Then I won't praise you. Call the knights. I should praise them a bit."
"..."
To break through the defense of the profound ruins inside the realm gate, it was best to minimize variables.
If there were adventurers wandering around and making a fuss that the way to another realm had opened, he was going to catch and devour them all to drive them away, but the knights had already done it.
The skull principal was quite impressed.
The knights accepted the skull principal's praise with the most polite attitude possible.
While the professors could joke around with the skull principal, the knights absolutely could not.
If they did that to the notorious grand mage Gonadaltes, they could end up being turned into frogs and trapped in a cage for the rest of their lives.
"Thank you, Mr. Gonadaltes!"
"Yes. Keep doing that in the future."
"Uh... But the adventurers are strongly requesting to be released. What would be the best course of action?"
"Keep them locked up. Nothing good will come from releasing those noisy adventurers."
The skull principal spoke indifferently.
From now on, he had to concentrate on breaking through the realm ruins, so he didn't want to release the annoying adventurers.
If he released them and they sneaked in again, how bothersome would that be?
Professor Garcia cautiously asked.
"Won't they protest?"
"Let them do it. If they want to die."
The skull principal ignored it as if he would no longer pay attention to such trivial matters.
Saving his students was important, so what did it matter if a few adventurers were locked up for a few more weeks?
They would be well-fed anyway...
Of course, it was a bolt from the blue for the anti-magic extremists who were locked up.
-No! Why can't you release us! Is this how imperial knights should behave!?-
-According to imperial law, I have the right to be protected! Call an administrator!-
—
Day 1.
"How much progress has been made?"
"I've found about half of the rules."
"That's a relief."
Professor Mortum answered with relief.
No matter how old they got, the mentor was always a reliable presence in front of their students.
Day 2.
"How much progress has been made?"
"There were some traps in the rules."
"Oh no..."
"That's really unfortunate."
...?
When Professor Garcia sat next to him, the skull principal tried to say something but stopped.
Day 3.
"How much progress has been made?"
"I removed the defensive magic and reinforced it so the palace wouldn't collapse... Wait. Why do you guys keep increasing in number?"
The skull principal was displeased with the increasing number of professors in the town.
The semester had already started, so who was going to teach the lectures?
"I just stopped by after doing it."
"Professor Garcia is fine... But the other professors don't seem to be that diligent. Do I really have to evaluate you seriously? Professors who abandoned their lectures and came here, go back immediately."
At the skull principal's petty threat, the professors grumbled and got up from their seats.
However, there was also someone who didn't get up.
The skull principal spoke to Professor Boladi as if it was absurd.
"...Professor Bagrak. Before I hang you upside down and chase you out, go back quickly."
"??"
"Why are you dumbfounded? The one who should be dumbfounded is me!"
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