Chapter 84

Yoner quickly took Lee Han’s words.

The willow tree praised the students as if they were very proud.

“That’s great. You guys were guarding the plants without a professor. It’s not something anyone can do.”

“thank you.”

When the atmosphere seemed to have improved a little, Lee Han asked the other person’s identity.

“Excuse me, but who are you?”

“ah. You don’t know me because you’re a freshman. I am a professor of botany at school. Call me Professor Willow.”

The opponent was really the name of the appearance.

When Kainando saw Professor Willow, he seemed to think of the talking oak trees he had met in the mountains. He carefully raised his hand and asked.

“Do you have any relation to the talking oak trees?”

“I am a willow tree, but they are an oak tree. Troll kid.”

“yes? Am I human?”

“okay. I am a willow tree, not an oak tree.”

“……”

Lee Han thought he should be careful with his words in front of Professor Willow. From what I can see, it seems that they don’t like to be grouped with roughly similar trees.

Professor Willow walked slowly over and swayed on a branch to touch the fallen bull.

Then he deepened the wrinkles caught in the knots and said,

“It must be the bull that Professor Thunderwalker raised. Anyway, you’re a poor dwarf.”

‘shit. It was a real professor’s bull.’

Lee Han cursed at Professor Thunderwalk, who was not there.

If the monsters were to be strengthened by feeding them potions, then why did they manage them well?

“Did you subdue this bull with a paralysis curse?”

Professor Willow looked at the students in a puzzled way.

It was a very strange thing for first-year students to do. I wouldn’t be able to use such a powerful paralyzing curse.

“I used a weakening potion and then put a curse on it.”

“It must have been hard though. That’s great.”

Professor Willow shook his branch. Then vines grew from the ground, and they wrapped themselves around the ox and locked it in a wooden pen.

“This guy will let me know when Professor Thunderwalker returns later.”

“Were you taking care of the… plants here, Professor?”

Priestess Cyana asked cautiously. Professor Willow answered in a slow voice.

“okay. Originally, my garden is somewhere else. I got a request from Professor Thunderwalk. I want you to take care of this crown for today only. It’s annoying, but I have to meet the emperor’s official, so what can I do?”

“yes? As far as I know, he said he was going to the market with Professor Lightning Step.”

“……”

Professor Willow stopped abruptly.

“…is that for real?”

“yes. If you ask Professor Lightning Step later, you will find out.”

“……”

Professor Willow stood still, but I could tell what he was feeling from the ferocious movement of the leaves hanging from the branches.

“You are of the Wardanaj family. yes?”

“?!”

When the professor suddenly guessed his name, Lee Han was slightly taken aback.

what?

“No surprise. I just heard your story from other professors. Anyway, thanks for letting me know.”

Professor Willow expressed his gratitude in a soft tone.

“Do you need anything? If so, tell me.”

“…We’re going to practice alchemy. Is there anywhere we can get useful materials or reagents?”

“Hmm…”

Professor Willow pondered.

Of course, materials and reagents were scattered throughout the vast grounds of the Magic School, but most of them were a bit dangerous for new students to go to.

Lee Han observed Professor Willow’s expression very carefully.

Even if the opponent was a tree spirit-like race, it didn’t matter. As a professor, he couldn’t escape Lee Han’s keen eyesight.

‘now!’

Lee Han threw a number close to gambling.

“You can borrow it from Professor Thunder Step’s lab… Oh no. That sounded very rude.”

Lee Han lowered his head as if embarrassed. But Professor Willow shook his branch as if it were a very good idea.

“That’s a great idea.”

“yes? But…”

“It’s okay. When Professor Thunderwalker returns, tell him the bull came in and stole it. I’ll pick out what you guys can take with you.”

Professor Willow said so and moved toward the stairs on the third floor.

Priest Siana looked at Lee Han and said.

“I don’t think Lee Han of the Wardanaz family should ever join the evil church.”

“?”

* * *

The moment they set foot on the third floor, a thick darkness greeted them. Light spells didn’t help either.

“Be careful not to get lost. The road here is so complicated.”

Professor Willow brandished a branch. Then something started running in the dark.

It was a door with the words ‘Laboratory 6’ written on it.

rattle!

Professor Willow turned the doorknob and opened it. Inside the laboratory, blue smoke was freezing everything. Professor Willow quickly closed the door.

“It would be better to close this laboratory permanently.”

Professor Willow pushed away lab number 6 and called in a few more labs. Most laboratories were a mess. In Lab 17, the space was distorted, so water dripping from the desk was flowing to the ceiling, and in Lab 29, black darkness was swallowing what was inside one by one.

Lee Han took out a piece of paper and made detailed notes on each and every action Professor Willow was doing. Because I didn’t know when I would come back to the third floor.

‘Right.’

Lee Han could understand the method of the 3rd floor at least roughly.

The reason there were not so many traps on the 12th floor was that the 3rd floor itself was a semi-maze-like configuration.

There was little point in coming to the third floor if you didn’t know what labs were there and if you didn’t know how to call them up.

It was dangerous to break the magic with force in such a jumbled space. Because I didn’t know what was going to happen.

The answer was to learn step by step from the beginning.

Just as there is no royal road to learning, so was stealing.

‘Lab 6 swings twice to the left, then 6. Lab 17 swings four times to the right and once upward, then 17 times. Lab 29 is…’

“Found it.”

Professor Willow has found a suitable laboratory. Lee Han quickly put the paper into his coat.

The laboratory opened this time was really ordinary, like an alchemist’s laboratory. It was full of various alchemy tools and flasks.

The students came in with slightly frightened expressions from the labs they had seen before.

“Now take it.”

Professor Willow swept away the alchemy tools and flasks and started tossing them one by one. Lee Han took it flexibly without panic and carefully put it into the leather bag he had brought.

“Did I give you too much?”

“no. professor. I can only thank you.”

As soon as the leather bag was full, Lee Han handed it over to his friends and took out a new leather bag.

It was so fast that Professor Willow would mistake it for ‘Is it an artifact?’

“This should be enough for you guys to practice. I didn’t give them ingredients that were too risky or that Professor Thunderstruck cherished too much.”

“That is enough.”

Professor Willow shook a branch to clean up the laboratory, which looked like it had been robbed.

The messy tools returned to their places and the open drawers closed again.

Professor Willow frowned at the wilting flower pots in the corner and called for a watering can.

“I will help.”

Lee Han voluntarily came forward.

‘It should look good.’

It was unlikely that Professor Willow would inform Professor Thunderwalker, but people didn’t know.

Besides, there was nothing wrong with being good to the professor. You never know when you will be able to listen to Professor Willow’s lecture.

Not knowing Lee Han’s intentions, his friends rolled up their sleeves to help. However, Lee Han shook his head.

“You guys go back.”

“why? Wodanaz? We too…”

“We don’t know when Professor Thunderwalk will come back. You guys take your sacks and go back to the dorms.”

“!”

Friends admired Lee Han’s words.

indeed…!

said Ratford, looking impressed.

“You are really great. There is nothing more I can teach you.”

“Don’t praise me too much. Ratford. I still have a lot to learn from you.”

Yoner suddenly felt that the situation was a bit strange, but he didn’t intervene because the atmosphere seemed warm.

“Then, Wodanaz. I will move first.”

“See you at the dorm!”

The students groaned and carried their sacks down. Lee Han was puzzled when he saw that Yoner was still there.

“why?”

“I thought I might need someone to help me. Even if I’m missing one, I’ll be able to take the sack with me.”

“thank you.”

“With something like this.”

“for a moment. Eun…”

“…Don’t ask me if I should be angry.”

Yoner stretched out his finger as if warning. Lee Han turned around.

“…Thank you, Jenna.”

“Is it southern?”

Along with the horse, Yoner picked up the watering can.

In fact, Yoner didn’t expect Yihan to take good care of the plants.

Caring for plants was a more difficult and complicated job than I thought. It was the same with simply giving water.

Some plants needed less water and some needed more water.

When the weather was nice and hot, I had to water more, and when the weather was bad and humid, I had to water less.

Common plants are better, but rare and fragile plants are even more difficult.

It is something that requires both knowledge and intuition.

When I was at Yonerya’s parents’ house, the things I did while reading the alchemy encyclopedia were growing plants, so I was confident, but Lee Han…

“You’re doing well.”

Professor Willow said in a voice mixed with admiration.

Neither Lee Han nor Yoner were skilled at handling plants once or twice.

Lee Han felt Yoner’s surprised gaze and asked in a puzzled manner.

“Why?”

“Ah… no. Because they watered me so well.”

“Because you’ve done it a lot?”

Yoner wasn’t the only one on the path of plant management. It was the same with Lee Han.

The professors forced me to start, but once I had a hobby, it doesn’t go away easily.

If he had taken care of the professors’ flower pots in his previous life, in this life he had been taking care of the garden of the Wodanaz family out of boredom.

Yoner looked at Lee Han with a mixture of joy and emotion.

Originally, people with minor hobbies couldn’t help but be very happy when they met each other.

“So did you…! You said why do the servants who work in the family do it by hand?”

‘I didn’t.’

Lee Han was a little taken aback.

The Wodanaz family was a laissez-faire family, so they didn’t care too much whether Lee Han wielded a sword or cared for plants.

However, Lee Han did not want to disappoint Yoner, who helped him at best.

“Of course it was. But I didn’t care. I thought it might come in handy someday for alchemy.”

“Lee-han…”

Yoner looked at Lee-han with an expression that made him want to hang a medal right away if there was a ‘best friend award’.

Yoner wasn’t the only one who was moved. Professor Willow was also impressed.

“I never thought I’d meet students who care about plants like this… everyone, follow me.”

Professor Willow led the way down the stairs. Yihan and Yoner wiped themselves dry and followed him.

‘Do you want to give me something more?’

Hearing the joy in the professor’s voice, Lee Han secretly looked forward to it.

Isn’t that what I’m left for?

Arriving at the corner of the botanical garden on the second floor, Professor Willow stopped and pointed at the plants.

“Now, water everything from here to here.”

“?”

Lee Han’s face hardened at the unexpected situation.

Could it be that Professor Willow is the kind of professor who gives more work as an extremely rare award among professors?

If that was the case, it really couldn’t have been more terrifying.