'Such a conscienceless wretch!' Yi-Han was inwardly furious.

He had treated the Duke with the utmost courtesy, yet the Duke had done such a thing.

Who was the target of the summoned poisonous contaminated being?

It wasn't Yi-Han or his friends, but Duke Icaldoren.

Then, if he had blocked the poisonous contaminated being, shouldn't he have naturally said, "Thank you. As expected, the spirit of Einroguard student is high," and rewarded him first?

Of course, Yi-Han had stepped forward knowing it was the skull principal's doing, but that wasn't important. Only the result mattered.

But suddenly, the Duke was trying to leave, spouting nonsense about thinking positively.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was only one answer.

The Duke was trying to save on the reward money.

'Unforgivable.'

If he were a poor man, it would be understandable, but for someone who lavishly showered gold coins on Adenart for useless riddles to be stingy with gold coins for saving his life...

"There can't be a more brazen and unscrupulous noble than him in the Empire. Disgusting."

"...Ah, no. Mr. Wardanaz. Duke Icaldoren is rude, but... that...?"

Rowena, who was initially happy that Yi-Han cursed together with her, gradually became perplexed.

Duke Icaldoren wasn't that bad.

He was rude, but he was ultimately one of the Princess's supporters and didn't cross the line, so...?

"Rowena. I think I understand a little why you consider Duke Icaldoren a lifelong enemy."

"Pardon? I, I didn't say that much."

Ignoring Rowena's explanation, Yi-Han moved his feet.

The Duke had already gone far away, but a few of the Duke's escorts remained to clean up the surroundings.

Their actions, thoroughly eliminating the burned poisonous contaminated being, checking for any contamination around, and calmly gathering traces and evidence of the summoning of the poisonous contaminated being, showed a familiarity that came from having done it more than once or twice.

Seeing that, Yi-Han became even more certain.

'It's definitely targeting the Duke.'

He had a bad taste in his mouth.

He should have just watched, but he unnecessarily intervened and lost his clothes...

"Did His Grace the Duke leave any message?"

Yi-Han asked the escorts just in case. The escorts stopped cleaning and tidied their clothes.

It wasn't simply because Yi-Han was from the Wardanaz family.

Just based on the performance he had shown, Yi-Han was worthy of the escorts' respect.

If he had that level of combat power as a mere first-year student, it was certain that he would become a prominent mage who would make a name for himself in the Empire as time passed.

Moreover, their master, Duke Icaldoren, also seemed to highly regard Yi-Han.

Didn't he just say he would think positively about the proposal?

The Duke never spoke empty words.

"Mr. Wardanaz."

"Yes. Did he leave..."

"There was no such message."

"..."

Yi-Han's expression turned serious.

Not knowing his inner thoughts, the escorts spoke with subtle glances.

"There's no need for that."

"That's right. You'll probably talk separately soon."

"...?"

Yi-Han thought the escorts had gone mad.

Why were they suddenly speaking like that, as if they were flattering him?

'Is the entire household of the duke also collectively insane?'

"You've worked really hard, Wardanaz."

After the security guards came and finished cleaning up, and the Duke's escorts left, Ctran praised Yi-Han.

Although he didn't have as much experience as the Duke's escorts, Ctran also vaguely felt how well Yi-Han had fought.

"Yeah. Thanks."

Yi-Han held out his hand. Ctran grasped that hand.

Then Yi-Han withdrew his hand and took Ctran's cloak.

"I meant to borrow your cloak for a bit."

"...Uh, ugh."

Yi-Han's top and cloak had become tattered from fighting the poisonous contaminated being. Yi-Han put on Ctran's cloak and said,

"Ctran. You're from the White Tiger Tower, so you'll often receive missions during the break from now on."

"I guess so?"

"Don't accept any missions from Duke Icaldoren. He's a very stingy person."

"Is... that so? But Wardanaz. The riddle..."

"What riddle? Even if you solve it, you might not get anything."

Yi-Han grumbled like that, but he knew it wasn't true.

Even if Duke Icaldoren didn't give Yi-Han the reward he deserved and ran away, he was definitely giving the Princess the reward she deserved.

Since gold coins came out last time, they would come out this time too.

'Thinking like that makes me even angrier.'

"If we solve it together, will I also get a share?"

"That's true, but gold coins aren't particularly important to you, right? Unlike someone like me."

At Ctran's words, Yi-Han was about to rebuke Gainando as well but held back.

He held back once because Ctran had lent him the cloak.

"Alright. Princess. Let's solve it together."

"I knew you'd say that, Wardanaz."

Ctran grinned.

He felt like he was gradually understanding what kind of person Wardanaz was.

Wardanaz often acted warmly even though he spoke coldly on the outside.

'It's not for nothing that Dolgyu said that.'

He thought Yi-Han would definitely participate this time too.

Even if he grumbled on the outside, there was no way Wardanaz would just let it go when it was a matter related to his friends.

As expected...

"What do you know, you brat? I'm already pissed off because of the Duke, and you want to provoke me?"

"S-sorry."

Ctran flinched for a moment.

Even though he knew it in his head, he couldn't help but be scared.

Clatter-

Yi-Han and his friends entered a nearby cafe and sat down.

Rowena ordered a juice made by grinding five kinds of vegetables, Ctran ordered eggnog with a bit more rum, Yi-Han ordered coffee, and the Princess hesitated between chocolate and vanilla before ordering a chocolate cake. Yi-Han ordered an additional vanilla cake and quietly pushed it in front of the Princess.

"So the riddle... Hmm..."

<To the honorable Princess Adenart, I hope this riddle will alleviate your boredom.

Here is a staff. When a mage walked with that staff, the stream opened a path. After crossing the stream, the wind cleared the wall blocking the way. As the wall disappeared, night fell. Then, a flashing light illuminated the way. I'm curious about what kind of staff this is.>

"????"

Yi-Han raised his head after reading it all.

"Is it asking to guess what kind of artifact it is?"

Yi-Han thought that just as the Duke was stingy, he also lacked skill in riddles.

Isn't it not a good riddle to guess what kind of artifact it is?

If that was a riddle, Yi-Han could also make a riddle.

Something like 'What is the 3rd card from the top of Gainando's card deck'...

"Ah. No. It's closer to saying to try making a staff like this directly."

"...No, why is that a riddle... Nevermind. That's not important."

Yi-Han newly realized how good the riddle of the talking oak tree he had met in the mountains was.

This wasn't a riddle, but just 'Can you make a staff like this?'

"A staff with at least 3 elements: water, wind, and light. Is it asking to make an artifact staff? Not only the difficulty level, but the power it requires is too much?"

"Ah. No. That's closer to a metaphor, and in reality, it's fine even if the power is much weaker."

"..."

Even though it wasn't his business, Yi-Han felt the urge to point it out.

'If you wrote that the stream opened a path, it should at least be able to part the stream. What the hell is this...'

While grumbling inwardly, Yi-Han realized that he was saying the same thing as the professors at Einroguard and flinched.

There was no reason for Yi-Han to ruin the mood when both the person giving the riddle and the person solving it were satisfied.

'Yeah. There's nothing bad about ending it nicely for each other. Let's just take the gold coins.'

"If the power can be weak, then it's just completing a staff with 3 enchantments... Oh. Isn't it easy?"

Yi-Han, who had been considering the conditions, was puzzled.

If the power could be weak, the difficulty level was much lower than he thought.

Of course, it wasn't an easy task to cast 3 enchantments, and with different elemental magic at that.

Because every time an enchantment was layered one by one, the casting difficulty increased, and if it was a different elemental type, it increased even more.

However, for Yi-Han, who had already experienced the hellish Beavle course in the first semester, that level was quite manageable.

Wasn't it much better than making a shield that floated, moved, attacked, and defended on its own?

"..."

"..."

At Yi-Han's words, Rowena and Ctran became gloomy.

The subtle madness of the top student made them dejected.

"Ah, no. On second thought, it's difficult."

Yi-Han noticed their reactions and changed his words, but it was already too late.

"No. Mr. Wardanaz. You don't need to consider us."

"That's right... Wardanaz. You don't need to consider us too. It wouldn't be strange even if we look like monkeys in your eyes."

"It's a misunderstanding. Ctran. I've never thought of you as monkeys. Maybe worse than Gainando... No, never mind. Anyway, it doesn't seem that difficult."

At Yi-Han's words, the Princess, who had finished her second cake, raised her hand and said,

"Even if you overlap only two, the casting difficulty increases as they conflict with each other, so three seems absolutely impossible."

"You can use a magic circle as an auxiliary tool."

"A magic circle... on an artifact like a staff?"

The Princess slightly raised the end of her eyebrow and asked.

The smaller the size and volume of an artifact, the more difficult it was to engrave magic on it.

In that sense, a staff wasn't a good tool for engraving enchantments.

Of course, truly outstanding enchantment mages would skillfully compress the magic circle and use techniques to engrave it on the staff, but that level of technique was absolutely impossible for a freshman.

Then Ctran answered instead.

"If it's Wardanaz, I'm sure he can do it. Right?"

"No?"

"...No?"

"Of course, unnecessary parts should be omitted. I'll remove all the parts related to maintenance or duration."

"???"

The Princess tilted her head.

Rowena and Ctran also tilted their heads, but they just tilted their heads because they couldn't follow the conversation, while the Princess tilted her head because there was a part she couldn't understand.

If all the parts related to maintenance or spell duration were removed, wouldn't the magic disappear a few seconds after being cast on the staff?

"Then the time..."

"You can make up for it with the amount of mana. If you pour in mana, the maintenance and duration will naturally increase."

"..."

The Princess became confused about whether she should agree with this crude method or not.

It was clearly logically correct, but was it okay to do it with such a loophole?

The Princess turned her gaze, curious about the opinions of the other two.

"What do you two think..."

"I think Mr. Wardanaz's opinion is correct."

"Me too."

"..."

Seeing the two immediately agreeing because they didn't want to be caught not following along, the Princess let out an inaudible sigh.

Yi-Han shook his head back and forth, seeing that.

'It can't be helped if there's only Gainando around.'

The despair of being the only one who understands the task in a group project.

This despair could only be understood by those who had experienced it firsthand.

There was no way to persuade the others to participate by any means, and it was a situation where he had to solve it alone!

Yi-Han nodded as if he understood. Adenart met his gaze with slightly emotionally charged eyes and nodded back.

Sipping his coffee, Yi-Han suddenly became curious and asked Rowena,

"But even if you try to practice, a staff will be quite expensive, so how do you plan to obtain one? If it's difficult to obtain, you can ask the professors to get damaged staffs and recycle them..."

"Ah. I can get them if I ask the sponsors."

"..."

Yi-Han slightly pulled his chair back, seeing the Princess's group, whose way of thinking was different from his own.