Chapter 32

“......”

“G, Gai-nando was taken away!”

“Screeech!”

Naturally, the students fell into a panic. A monster had flown in broad daylight and taken away a friend; it would be strange not to be flustered.

But Lee Han felt strangely calm.

‘I’ve really been influenced by this school.’

He had seen so many crazy situations that a monster kidnapping Gai-nando didn’t faze him anymore.

“Everyone, get down!”

Lee Han shouted first.

The students from the Blue Dragon Tower, who were standing beside him, hastily lowered their stances upon hearing his words.

-Screech!

“It’s coming back!”

“No!”

One of the students, who was floundering, was grabbed again. This time it was a student from the White Tiger Tower.

Seeing this, a flash of inspiration struck Lee Han.

‘No way!’

There had to be a reason for the monster to choose one student out of the many gathered here.

Gai-nando had bright blonde hair.

And the student who was just taken had bright silver hair.

“Everyone, cover your heads with your cloaks! It’s after the shiny ones!”

“It’s after the bald ones?”

“No, the hair color, you idiot!”

The Blue Dragon Tower students, though taken aback by the sudden command, did not doubt Lee Han’s words.

As a result, they were able to react more quickly than the students from other towers.

When they crouched low and covered their heads with their cloaks, the monster lost interest in the Blue Dragon Tower students.

‘It worked!’

Lee Han knew his judgment was correct.

He had known that many birds liked shiny things, but he hadn’t expected it to apply to monsters.

If not for Gai-nando’s sacrifice, he wouldn’t have figured it out.

Tap tap-

“?”

Lee Han, who was crouched low, realized that an elf he had never seen before was touching him.

From the attire, it was clear that the elf was a student from the White Tiger Tower.

Long black hair, elongated ears, a well-trained body characteristic of a knight family. She was undoubtedly from the Eastern Elf Knight Family.

Before Lee Han could respond, a strong reaction came from beside him.

“Who’s touching Wodanaz!”

“Honorable friends! A bumpkin from the White Tiger Tower is touching Wodanaz...”

The Blue Dragon Tower students reacted quickly and intensely, like a domino effect.

The White Tiger Tower female student, taken aback, hurriedly explained.

“I have no connection with the Moradi family! Princess, please explain.”

The princess, Adenart, stepped forward to block.

Lee Han was puzzled.

“What’s going on? Do you know each other?”

Adenart nodded with her usual expressionless face. To buy some time, the elf quickly explained.

“I am Rowena, a knight serving the princess.”

“Serving the princess? But students aren’t allowed to bring attendants or guards to this school... Oh, I see.”

Lee Han understood without needing an explanation. Rowena looked at him with surprise.

Originally, bringing attendants or guards to this school was prohibited.

However, every rule has its loophole.

If a fellow new student voluntarily offered to serve, there was no way to stop them.

The princess had been famous in the empire since she was young, so it wasn’t strange for some of the new students to have already pledged their loyalty before entering the school.

‘Besides, it was the same during the alchemy class.’

At that time, Lee Han had wondered why students from various towers had gathered around the princess, but now it made sense if they had already known her before entering the school.

‘Suddenly, I feel sorry for Gai-nando...’

Lee Han felt sorry for Gai-nando, who was probably flying in the sky right now.

The princess, who could attract loyal followers without doing anything, was in stark contrast to Gai-nando...

Despite being of the same royal family, the difference was too great.

“So, I understand that you’re a knight serving the princess, but why are you telling me this?”

“We’ve hidden from the monster’s sight, but we don’t know when it might change its mind. Lord Wodanaz, please stop it as per the princess’s instructions.”

“...??”

Lee Han thought he had misheard.

‘What am I supposed to command?’

For a moment, he wondered if there were undead soldiers under him that he didn’t know about.

But there really were unknown subordinates.

Swish-

The Blue Dragon Tower students wiped their noses and stepped forward.

“Huh. Wodanaz, I leave it to you.”

“Wodanaz, I trust you. Please lead us honorably.”

“......”

Lee Han was taken aback.

He had unknowingly become the class leader of the Blue Dragon Tower.

‘Traditionally, being a group leader is never a good thing...’

Though flustered, he couldn’t do nothing in this situation.

Lee Han nodded and started giving orders based on what came to mind.

* * *

Rowena watched Lee Han’s movements with a curious gaze.

Among the new students, she wasn’t the only one serving Adenart. There were others from different towers.

The reason they served Adenart wasn’t because she was one of over a hundred royals. It wasn’t for the wealth and power of the royal family.

The diverse group of different races, statuses, and origins had gathered solely because of Adenart’s demonstrated abilities.

Therefore, Rowena naturally thought that the leader of the Blue Dragon Tower would be Adenart.

However, surprisingly, the leader of the Blue Dragon Tower was not Adenart.

It was a boy from the Wodanaz family.

-Impossible!

-How could this happen?

Of course, Adenart wasn’t sociable.

She was quiet, spoke little, and her cold expression often intimidated others.

But Adenart’s followers didn’t see this as a problem.

Especially not in the face of her overwhelming abilities.

Adenart, who showed genius talent in any field, was someone even the picky and arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students couldn’t help but acknowledge.

Moreover, the Wodanaz family wasn’t particularly sociable.

Though one of the top magical families in the empire, they were known for being eccentric and terrifying.

The idea that a boy from such a family was leading the Blue Dragon Tower was hard for the followers to believe.

How could this happen?

‘Maybe I’ll find out this time.’

Rowena, while protecting Adenart, stared intently at Lee Han.

She had no choice but to ask him for help.

If Rowena or Adenart had given the command, the arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students would never have followed.

Honestly, it was frustrating.

If she could figure out how Lee Han led the Blue Dragon Tower students, maybe Adenart could do it too.

‘I’ll find out and advise her!’

Rowena couldn’t have imagined.

That Lee Han had won over the arrogant students with food.

* * *

‘There’s not much I can do even if I try to give orders.’

He didn’t have a bow or a mace, and there was no way he could deal with a monster flying so high.

Then?

‘I have to scare it like a beast and drive it away.’

Fortunately, Lee Han had a few methods.

“Everyone, line up and form a wall!”

At Lee Han’s command, the students lined up to form a temporary wall.

Lee Han crouched behind them to maximize the element of surprise.

‘It’s coming!’

As the monster descended from above again, Lee Han immediately cast a spell.

“Light!”

It was the simplest 1st Circle spell, Light Creation, but its effect varied greatly depending on how it was used.

As a glowing sphere as bright as the sun rose in the air, the charging monster screamed and abruptly changed direction.

-Screech!

The monster was caught off guard and startled by Lee Han’s sudden spell.

“Ah! Ah! Turn!”

‘What’s happening?’

Thinking the monster was running away, Lee Han was surprised to hear a human voice from atop the monster.

Lee Han somehow knew.

‘It can’t be a professor? No, it must be. There’s no way this school has a normal professor!’

Though he had no evidence other than his intuition, Lee Han realized that the monster was being ridden by a professor.

This school is really...

The frightened monster, perhaps thanks to the professor, calmed down and changed direction again.

-Screech!

The monster, embarrassed by its fear of a harmless light, seemed angry and clacked its beak.

Then it charged directly at Lee Han, clearly recognizing who was leading the students.

“No! Wodanaz, take cover!”

Rowena, who was watching, shouted urgently.

Lee Han’s plan was clearly successful.

He had exposed the monster’s weakness and made it run away.

But now he had to take cover.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Does this guy even know who he’s talking to?’

The other White Tiger Tower students looked at Rowena as if she were ridiculous.

Rowena, who didn’t attend swordsmanship classes, seemed to have a major misconception.

The boy from the Wodanaz family was more than capable of taking care of himself.

However, Lee Han didn’t take cover. He stiffened his face and swung his staff.

“Move!”

A stone rose with the spell.

Though it was just a 1st Circle spell, to the students, Lee Han looked like a noble high mage.

* * *

‘Please don’t hit the allies. Please don’t hit the allies.’

With only a few spells he knew, Lee Han naturally intended to use a low-level control spell if the Light Creation spell failed.

The problem was...

When Lee Han lifted the stone, it shot out like an arrow, completely out of control.

Aiming was impossible. He had to rely on luck.

If he could aim, he would have used this spell from the start.

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

Unaware of Lee Han’s inner thoughts, the Blue Dragon Tower students chanted his name enthusiastically.

Even students from other towers were calling his name.

Ping!

The stone shot out sharply.

“!!”

Surprisingly, the stone grazed the monster’s beak precisely.

‘Is it over?’

Lee Han sighed inwardly.

Honestly, he was grateful it had flown that far and couldn’t complain about bad luck.

-Screech!

But surprisingly, it had an effect.

The monster, startled by the stone grazing its beak, stopped and changed direction again.

“Waaaaa!”

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

A few White Tiger Tower students looked at him with a mix of fear and anger.

Honestly, they had to admit it.

The boy from the Wodanaz family was on a different level.

While they couldn’t even create a light sphere, he had already mastered rock control magic and used it in battle...

Originally, using magic in battle was several times harder than just learning it.

In a brutal and chaotic situation where blood splattered and weapons flew, even well-practiced spells could fail due to lack of concentration.

But for him to succeed like that...

‘What a monster!’

‘Hmm? Did it work?’

Everyone was impressed, but Lee Han himself was bewildered.

Did it get scared by the near miss?

‘Just lucky, I guess.’

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Good job!”

The professor’s voice from atop the monster was heard again, and it landed with a thud.

Thud!

Before landing, the professor threw the students who had been grabbed one by one. Gai-nando was foaming at the mouth and unconscious.

Thud!

The professor landed gracefully.

Wearing leather pants, a leather jacket, and a pilot’s goggles (an artifact that felt magical), the dwarf clearly exuded the aura of an adventurer.

But Lee Han felt something else.

The dwarf seemed familiar.

Could he be related to Uregeum?

‘No way. Just because dwarves look similar to me doesn’t mean they’re related. That’s a prejudice.’

Thud-

The dwarf walked over and grabbed Lee Han’s collar, then said in a cheerful voice.

“You have potential!”

“......”

He sounds like he’s related to Uregeum...