Chapter 1225

Lee Han's gaze unconsciously shifted toward the empty cell on the opposite side from Professor Voladi.

'Don't tell me we're about to get one more prisoner?'

That absolutely could not happen.

Professor Voladi was one thing, but Lee Han could not allow Jowrin to stay in a miserable place like this.

For the moment, Lee Han calmly asked,

"Are you all right?"

"Hm? Jowrin is fine."

"...I meant His Majesty Uman."

"Ah!"

Jowrin grumbled slightly, sounding displeased.

"Uman isn't the contractor."

The one who had contracted with Lee Han was Jowrin, not Uman.

Then even if Jowrin had returned to dragon form and thrown a punch, shouldn't Lee Han worry about Jowrin first?

"?"

Lee Han tilted his head at that logic.

'Has staying at Einroguard influenced her?'

This was about the level of shamelessness expected from an Einroguard first-year in the second semester.

To think she had learned so quickly.

"Your Majesty. You're above His Majesty Uman in rank, aren't you? Those above are supposed to look after those below them."

"That is true... Hmm, Uman was barely hurt."

'Phew.'

Lee Han let out a sigh of relief for the moment.

Fortunately, the other party was also a dragon and seemed sturdy. To remain fine even after taking a blow from Jowrin.

Of course, even then, Uman probably was not completely fine.

Especially when it came to emotional wounds!

This dragon Inspector looked tough and confident on the outside, but in some ways, there were parts inside that were more fragile than Jowrin.

Just last time, when the students had become enraged and started a riot, Uman had returned to his original form and sniffled. If his respected elder sister Jowrin had struck him with a forepaw...

'What if he gets depressed?'

Lee Han became seriously worried about Uman. At that attitude, Jowrin grew even more sulky.

"Hmph! Jowrin should have hit him one more time!"

"...Your Majesty. You're misunderstanding. It's not that I care about His Majesty Uman more. It's just that His Majesty Uman is, well... young and weak. Compared to you."

It felt extremely awkward to call a fully grown black dragon capable of swallowing him in one bite young and weak, but Lee Han shamelessly said it anyway.

That seemed to improve Jowrin's mood somewhat.

"...Uman is rather young."

"Exactly. Please understand him with a generous heart. And His Majesty the Emperor has already heard about this evil-god subjugation, so His Majesty Uman probably can't release me on his own authority."

Jowrin fell into thought.

If she went to His Majesty the Emperor and delivered one of Jowrin's blows...

"Your Majesty. You aren't thinking of going to His Majesty the Emperor to protest, are you?"

Lee Han asked as an ominous feeling came over him.

Surely...

Surely not?

Jowrin quickly changed her expression and pretended not to know anything.

Her time at Einroguard had truly taught this gold dragon many things.

"Jowrin wasn't thinking anything!"

"I understand. In any case, don't cause any more trouble because of this, Your Majesty. I'm doing perfectly well here. If anything, this might actually be good for you. We haven't had much time to play together lately. Would you like to play gold-dragon chess?"

At Lee Han's question, Jowrin thought for a moment.

Then she spoke with an expression as though she were enduring something.

"Ordinary chess is fine."

"??"

Lee Han found the unexpected answer strange, but brought over the chessboard.

With the bars of the cell between them, the dragon and the dragon's contractor moved their pieces.

Jowrin attacked rather fiercely, but she could not break through Lee Han's solid defense. Her pieces soon became blocked.

"Uuugh."

Jowrin stared intensely at the chessboard with a tearful expression.

Since she was a dragon, she might actually be able to bore through it with her gaze alone.

"Your Majesty. Is there a reason you specifically chose ordinary chess?"

"...Because Jowrin is a wise dragon, Jowrin no longer plays chess with a gold-dragon piece that can move forward, backward, sideways, diagonally, and breathe fire across the entire chessboard."

'Something must have happened.'

Lee Han realized that Jowrin had come to understand yet another truth.

Einroguard was not having only bad influences on her.

There were good influences like this too.

Jowrin kept glancing behind Lee Han.

Lee Han flinched, wondering if she had noticed the hole in the wall, but Jowrin was looking at something else.

"Ah. Would you like some cocoa?"

"Yes!"

"Please wait."

The moment Lee Han stood up with a smile, Jowrin moved the positions of the pieces on the chessboard with lightning speed.

It was one of the secret techniques she had learned from Eandurde.

Lee Han returned holding a mug, looked at the chessboard once, then stared directly at Jowrin.

"......"

"......"

'Is Einroguard only having bad influences on her after all?'

Perhaps feeling guilty in advance, Jowrin changed the subject.

"By the way, Lee Han. When you said not to cause any more trouble, that means the things Jowrin did before that are fine, right? Right?"

Whenever this gold dragon became flustered or excited, she tended to abandon her formal speech and revert to her original way of talking.

Instead of pointing it out, Lee Han focused on the question.

Things she had done before?

"Did you cause some other trouble?"

"Not necessarily... Anyway, it's fine, right?"

"Hmm. I suppose that depends on what happened. Was anyone hurt?"

Jowrin thought for a moment.

When Gonadaltes did not respond to her and Uman would not release Lee Han either, Jowrin had become slightly angry and summoned several students and a professor.

-Set fires and attack magic towers until they release Lee Han! Then Jowrin will personally train your Cerberus!

-Now I understand why Junior swore loyalty to Your Majesty! Let us do it!

-And... um... hmm... Professor, you can...

-Your Majesty. I require no reward. Loyalty offered to Your Majesty is itself the most precious and noble reward. Please, allow me to attack the magic towers of other professors for Your Majesty.

-...Can't you just take a reward? Jowrin feels a little uncomfortable about this...

These experienced mages had caused a disturbance as promised, but the effect had not been particularly impressive.

Einroguard already had plenty of people who set fires and attacked magic towers even when left alone, so suspicious anonymous mages causing havoc now only drew reactions like, 'They're at it again.'

From Jowrin's perspective, such indifferent reactions were naturally bewildering.

Shouldn't a disturbance like this make everyone jump in shock and say, 'Gasp! Something this outrageous happened at Einroguard! Come to think of it, there was a junior who was unjustly imprisoned, wasn't there? We should release that junior!'?

Why was everyone reacting with things like, 'Who's it this time?' or 'Who cares? Let's use this chance to steal the seniors' things. Wardanaz would like that'...

'Hmm. But it doesn't seem like anyone was hurt.'

"Your Majesty?"

Jowrin snapped out of her thoughts at her contractor's call.

There definitely had not been anyone injured!

"No one was hurt..."

"Then it should be fine. Don't worry about it too much."

Jowrin beamed.

Lee Han could not even imagine that the dragon in front of him had gathered professors and students together and started a disturbance.

"Oh. Your Majesty. Both bishops are on black squares."

"...H-how, how, how surprising. P-perhaps there's a ghost in the punishment room..."

As Jowrin hurriedly turned her gaze away, she noticed something strange inside Lee Han's solitary cell.

It was not the fact that it was filled with all kinds of household goods and belongings...

"Lee Han. What's with that wall?"

"Pardon?"

Lee Han casually turned his gaze and was horrified.

At some point, the blanket covering the hole had fallen down!

"...That wall was always like tha—"

"An escape attempt!!!"

Jowrin leaped into the air, her golden eyes filled with delight.

Did not magazines like <Toberiz Escapes the Fortress> contain similar scenes?

As expected, Jowrin's contractor had a plan for everything.

"N-no. It's not an escape attempt. I was just... digging a small hole leading into the next room so I could live a little more comfortably. Your Majesty, you can't tell anyone about this."

Especially not Professor Garcia.

Jowrin was not stupid.

She nodded with a grave expression.

"If anyone finds out about this hole, Jowrin will swallow them."

"Th-there's no need to go that far... Just keep it a secret."

"I heard that in the next room... there is Professor Verdus. Right?"

"No. It's Professor Bagreg."

"Ah."

Jowrin looked disappointed.

Even though she had clearly heard that it was Professor Voladi, she had somehow gotten confused again.

Strangely, whenever she heard that a professor had been imprisoned in a punishment room, they all seemed like Professor Verdus.

"Then Lee Han is exchanging letters with Professor Bagreg in secret ink! Made from blood and ash!"

"No. It's quiet here, so we can just talk."

There was even actual ink.

At those words, the excited Jowrin looked slightly disappointed.

"Then what about the letter paper? You made the letter paper by weaving blankets and leather together, right?!"

"I have ordinary letter paper sold in stores..."

Jowrin looked even more disappointed.

Lee Han felt strangely guilty at the sight.

Had he brought too many things into the punishment room?

"Novels really are different from reality..."

"......"

"Ah. Jowrin has a good idea!"

Undeterred by the cold reality, Jowrin energetically came up with another idea.

Lee Han asked curiously,

"What kind of idea?"

"Jowrin has the best tool for digging a hole through a wall. Namely..."

Jowrin rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a familiar material.

It was a dragon's tooth!

Lee Han's expression immediately became stern.

Afraid that her contractor would scold her again for recklessly pulling out part of her own body, Jowrin hurriedly shouted,

"Wait! You're misunderstanding! It's not Jowrin's tooth!"

"Pardon?"

"This is Uman's tooth... It fell out when Jowrin struck him..."

"......"

"...J-Jowrin didn't pull this one out herself, so strictly speaking, Jowrin didn't break the promise from last time..."

Jowrin spoke hesitantly while watching her contractor's expression.

Lee Han felt deeply troubled at the sight.

Was Einroguard really having a good influence on Jowrin?

***

"Phew."

After Jowrin left, Lee Han sighed and gripped the dragon's tooth.

He felt a little sorry for His Majesty Uman, but he could hardly refuse to use something he had already received.

Was it not the perfect tool for digging through the solid cell wall?

"It's Professor Verdus."

"Pardon?"

Lee Han paused at the completely out-of-nowhere statement from the neighboring cell.

Professor Verdus was here??

Regardless of how Professor Voladi had noticed, the very idea made no sense.

If there were a list of professors least likely to come visit him, would Professor Verdus not be right at the very top?

'Did Professor Garcia get embarrassed and send Professor Verdus in their place? No. There's no way there was no one else to ask.'

Had Professor Garcia chosen Professor Verdus because there would be less guilt involved in threatening them?

Professor Voladi was soon proven correct.

From the far end of the corridor appeared the wicked yet adorable face of a beaver beastkin mage.

"How did you notice?"

"Footsteps from the floor above."

"...!"

Lee Han realized his mistake.

He had only been thinking about presences and mana in the corridor, but footsteps from above were also perfectly valuable information.

Not that he particularly wanted to memorize the sound of Professor Verdus's footsteps...

"Professor Verdus. I didn't expect you to come here."

"Do you know how to use <The Eye of Ahrak>?"

Professor Verdus asked abruptly the moment they met.

Lee Han was slightly taken aback.

Of course he knew.

Was that not one of the spells the insane dark mages he had met this year had forcibly injected into his head?

"I do..."

"What about <Living Wall>?"

"I know that too."

"Then write everything down in detail here!"

Professor Verdus shoved a thick book filled with blank pages through the bars.

At that moment, a sharply honed knife flew from the neighboring cell toward the back of Professor Verdus's neck.