“Mana, you mean?”

“Yes.”

Was there such a thing?

The butler felt puzzled inwardly once again.

Noble families did not purchase mansions carelessly.

Buying things blindly simply because they were cheap was something done in Einroguard’s black market. Noble families actually checked such matters more meticulously than one might think.

What had happened to the previous owners of the mansion, what recent incidents had occurred, what families lived in the neighborhood...

Not only that, they even hired mages to check whether there were any abnormal phenomena in the mansion. Naturally, this villa manor had gone through all those processes as well.

There had not been anything particularly strange.

“I-indeed! I, too, have suspected this mansion’s mana several times. When I checked the magic that Senior Zandani created for me, it kept failing strangely.”

“...”

Lee Han barely stopped himself from saying, “That’s because your senior’s skill is poor.”

Oh no. What was I about to do?

To set such a trap.

The other party’s skill was sharper than expected. Lee Han reminded himself that he must never let his guard down.

“You saw correctly. It’s because the mana in the mansion’s basement is subtly twisted. It’s so minute and difficult to detect that it’s hard to notice, but it has a major effect on high-difficulty magic.”

“Such a thing! Even though I checked several times...”

The butler’s face turned pale as he exclaimed.

For someone of his caliber to have failed to notice such a thing. It was a shameful mistake.

“It’s not the butler’s fault. Things like this aren’t easy to notice. Don’t worry. I’ll handle it right away.”

“Th-thank you!”

The butler was slightly moved by the considerate behavior shown by the boy from House Wardanaz.

Perhaps this was why Einroguard mages wanted to visit the basement first.

Lee Han summoned a Skeleton Legion led by the Skeleton Warrior Gonadaltes.

For combat, he would have summoned golems, but Skeleton Warriors were far more suitable for doing odd jobs in a basement.

Master...!

The young prince was moved once again.

From the club pseudonym to the summoned creature’s name. His disciple’s thoughtfulness seemed deeper than the great sea.

...I must never tell him the origin.

Lee Han made that resolution as he began digging. The Skeleton Warriors carefully dug into the basement floor together with telekinesis.

“Shall I help too?”

Irendy, who had been glancing around in search of an opportunity, asked carefully. Lee Han readily accepted. There was no reason not to.

“Good. What magic will you use?”

“I’ll show you my gem dancers!”

Irendy held a ruby, an opal, a sapphire, and a garnet between her fingers and shouted.

This magic, which summoned precisely designed inanimate summoned creatures based on the magical power dwelling in gems, was one of Irendy’s specialties.

Although the gems evaporated after one use, it was worth the cost. It was not easy to command summoned creatures like these without contracts with other dimensions.

Lee Han held back the scream that was about to burst from him.

“...I don’t think you need to use it. We already have enough workers.”

“Is that so...”

Gainando’s distant relative nodded with a dejected face.

She had wanted to show off her skills in front of the senior mage from Einroguard.

Clank—

“!”

A sound rang out, qualitatively different from the sound of digging through dirt.

It resembled a metallic sound, but on closer inspection, it was different—a rupturing sound of magical power that only mages could recognize.

Master. Prepare yourself.

Lee Han nodded and gripped his staff.

Now the secret storage the young prince had hidden would soon appear...

Thud!

A bronze guardian walked out from the pile of excavated earth.

Such guardians, created to protect dungeons or ruins, were seen fairly often, but Lee Han felt a chill run down his spine.

With his excellent senses, he had detected the magic inscribed on the opponent.

What the...?!

Superior fire resistance, superior cold resistance, superior lightning resistance, superior darkness resistance...

Not only was its entire body covered in all kinds of resistances, but the resistance spells themselves were difficult to interpret. They seemed to be ancient magic, with several traps laid to prevent external reverse dispelling.

The moment he saw it, an image flashed through his mind.

This was definitely something created by the young Skull Principal.

Even if an archmage had roughly molded bronze to make a guardian, would it really possess this much power?

Lee Han gritted his teeth and cast magic.

The most powerful penetrating magic that came to mind now was the fifth-circle spell <Wardanaz’s Lightning Fire>, but he wondered whether it would truly be efficient to compete with pure lightning against an opponent with such strong resistance.

Then...

An excellent mage had to be flexible.

Lee Han immediately changed strategies. Water orbs appeared in the air and began rotating. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Regardless of whether it had strong resistance against the water element, the impact from the rotation would accumulate sufficiently. Lee Han pressed down on the opponent with telekinesis and immediately began to aim.

—Intercept. Intercept.

Surprisingly, the surface of the bronze guardian changed, and hidden magic emerged.

The information density of the densely carved spells and formulas was enough to give Lee Han a headache.

...It stops moving objects within a certain distance... no...!

It was telekinetic magic that stopped any projectiles flying nearby, without exception.

Grinding his teeth once again at the young prince’s meticulous preparation, Lee Han cast the next spell. Now was not the time to stand still.

Teleportation!

Even the magic he had recently learned was mobilized.

Because of the opponent’s counter-magic, he could not teleport directly into the main body to pierce it, but he could break through the opponent’s interception.

The rotating water orbs moved chaotically through the basement. It was not movement connected by lines, but movement that flickered like points.

It lasted less than a few seconds, but it was truly an intense exchange. The bronze guardian tried to bind and stop the projectiles, while Lee Han tried to teleport them one step faster and break through.

And the winner was Lee Han. Using his massive mana as a foundation, Lee Han launched a numbers offensive and finally seized the advantage.

I broke through!

There was no longer any sensation of the projectiles being blocked. The rapidly flying orbs embedded themselves in the opponent’s torso, making heavy impact sounds.

One hit, two hits, three hits, four hits...

Suddenly, he felt the opponent’s counter-magic waver. Then the magic recorded inside became more clearly discernible. Lee Han did not miss the opportunity and cast reverse magic using the magnetite in his staff.

The spells I need to stop first are...!

The water-element resistance magic and the counter-magic stopped at once. Lee Han immediately teleported a water orb directly into the torso.

It was a critical hit. The impact that had already accumulated burst out rapidly along with the damage.

Thud!

Phew. I survived.

Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.

Because he was digging in the basement of someone else’s mansion, he had been even more tense.

If this were Einroguard, it would not matter much even if the opponent destroyed buildings and caused chaos, but unfortunately, this was a noble family’s mansion. If he had failed to subdue it immediately, a disaster could have occurred.

Mainly for Lee Han’s coin purse...

More importantly, not warning me about this.

Lee Han took out his notebook, intending to complain.

Not telling him the most important thing.

He even wondered a little whether this had been an intentional provocation, like something the Skull Principal or Professor Voladi would do.

Master?

Master. You don’t need to fight that one. Since I’m here, it won’t attack you.

Master? Ah. You wanted to try fighting it once. I’ll cheer you on.

Well done! Excellent!

“...”

Looking at the text that had been added in that brief moment, Lee Han made a dejected expression.

...Honestly, there was no way I could have seen this!

How was I supposed to check all this in such a short time?

The most important thing in magical combat was speed.

The moment you saw your opponent, you had to immediately launch a surprise attack.

In fact, the fight between Lee Han and the bronze guardian had also been a short, intense battle that lasted less than ten seconds when measured by time alone.

If he acted leisurely, he might be defeated, so there was no way to read the notebook’s text line by line before acting.

Your unwavering spirit of challenge always makes your noble character shine even brighter.

“...Thank you for the compliment...”

***

“T-to think there was something like this underground...!”

The butler could not contain his shock.

He had never imagined that the disrupted mana meant something like this.

So it had not been simple murky mana?

Lee Han quickly managed his expression before speaking.

“That’s right. Sometimes the mana is merely murky, but there are also cases like this, where ancient magical constructs are slumbering underground.”

Although it was slightly different from what the young prince had originally expected, they had at least reached their destination properly.

The two people looked at Lee Han with eyes full of respect.

As expected, Einroguard upperclassmen were truly different!

“Did you see that just now? That guardian had dozens of spells embedded in it, and he defeated it!”

Irendy shouted in an excited voice. At those words, Lee Han was flustered and unconsciously asked back.

“You could sense that?”

To think she had gauged the number of spells carved into the bronze guardian.

Although she could not count them exactly, even estimating that there were dozens was sufficiently impressive. Even Lee Han himself had not been able to count the exact number in that brief moment.

“Yes? Yes.”

The Valdrogard student answered with a face that had no idea how outstanding the ability she had just displayed was.

“...You’re definitely Gainando’s relative, right?”

“Yes...? That’s right.”

“And you’re a Valdrogard student?”

Irendy nodded in bewilderment. She could not understand what the other person meant by asking.

No matter how much divination magic isn’t absolute, for such a talent to be at Valdrogard...!

Lee Han shuddered inwardly.

Like Alshicle Pengerine, he had occasionally seen excellent mages who had not enrolled in Einroguard.

But for that mage to enter Valdrogard. Was this not too cruel a trick of fate?

Shouldn’t I tell the Principal right now and have her forcibly transferred to Einroguard?

After thinking that far, Lee Han hesitated.

Come to think of it, that was a radical idea that did not consider the other person’s wishes at all.

There was a ninety-nine percent chance the other party would become unhappy.

Oh no. What kind of ridiculous thought am I having? I must have caught it from the Skull Principal during vacation.

No matter how he thought about it, there was no way he would normally have such radical ideas. He must have caught it from the Skull Principal.

“Are you all right?”

“...Yes. I’m fine. Could you wait just a moment? I think I need to check for other threats...”

Lee Han slightly avoided the gazes full of respect and expectation that the two people were sending him, then checked his notebook again.

“What should we do now? Dig deeper?”

No need. I already took it out and draped it over your shoulders.

“???”

At the unexpected answer, Lee Han looked around.

Surprisingly, he could not feel anything at all.

...Could it be clothing that only good people could see?