“There’s a prince like that?”

While Lee Han was stunned, Professor Garcia beside him looked puzzled.

The outstanding enchantment mages of Petrogard knew how to temporarily breathe life into works using primitive magic. That was a fact Professor Garcia knew as well.

However, if the painting had been in the Artist senior’s quarters, that made the story different.

A painting that senior would have hung up?

“Perhaps Prince Amlatbilma?”

“Who is that?”

Lee Han tilted his head at Professor Garcia’s mutter.

Then the Red Knight answered in her place.

“A prince from the old Seven Kingdoms period. He left behind several outstanding works.”

“Ah.”

“...You said you were from House Wardanaz, right? You’re from a great noble house, so why don’t you know that?”

Knight Ram’s innocent question hurt Lee Han a little.

He knew the fake gold speculation incident that had occurred during the Seven Kingdoms period in detail from beginning to end, but he truly had no interest in famous artist princes.

“I do know about the fake gold speculation incident.”

“There was an incident like that? No, why would someone who knows that not know about Amlatbilma...”

“Student Lee Han is smart, that’s why. Anyway, Student Lee Han. So it wasn’t Prince Amlatbilma?”

Professor Garcia, unable to keep watching her disciple be cornered, intervened.

However, the answer that came back was beyond imagination.

“Yes. It’s the Principal.”

“...”

Professor Garcia was so badly shocked that she froze on the spot for a moment.

It was a reaction as if she had been struck by time magic.

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-who?”

“The Principal...”

“Don’t lie! Why would there be a painting of the Principal in senior’s room?”

“Well, it’s a long story...”

Lee Han summarized it briefly and simply.

It was exactly the kind of plan that senior would likely think of, so Professor Garcia found herself nodding without realizing it.

‘He would do that!’

Given his personality, he was definitely someone who would do such a thing.

...Of course, that did not mean it did not feel strange.

“So there was originally a moving painting?”

Breathing life into works also had stages.

It began with simple movement and went as far as speech.

From the knight’s words, the painting seemed kind, which meant it was capable of speaking. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

‘Even for senior, that’s really amazing.’

If it could speak even when the Artist was not present, that meant a certain degree of sustainability had been secured.

Even taking the Great Artist’s magic into account, it was truly an astonishing result.

“No. There wasn’t.”

“What?”

“At least among the paintings I saw, I remember there being none... In the first place, senior’s goal was to complete a perfect work, not some half-hearted painting.”

What the Great Artist wanted was a completely living and moving benevolent archmage, not a kind archmage who spoke from within a painting.

Naturally, there was no reason to spend effort completing something like that.

“I see. Then there’s only one possibility.”

Professor Garcia spoke with a stern expression.

“What is it?”

“The knight was mistaken.”

“...”

“...”

Lee Han looked at Professor Garcia, who was escaping reality, as if dumbfounded. Even Professor Voladi Bagreg seemed slightly incredulous.

Knight Ram let out a small grumble.

“Even so, would I really mistake something like that...”

***

—Disciple! It’s been a long time.

“Aaaahhhhh!”

Professor Garcia, who had entered the quarters, let out a shrill scream.

Ram asked in confusion.

“Why, why are you doing that?”

For that powerful battle mage to scream like that.

Could it be a cursed painting?

“No. Einroguard mages all tend to scream when they see that prince’s painting.”

‘Mages!’

The knight clicked his tongue inwardly.

The mages of the Empire’s magic schools were each famous for different eccentricities, but Einroguard was indeed the strangest of them all.

“Quickly close the door and come in, Student Lee Han.”

“Huh. The knight can’t hear this?”

“Don’t embarrass the school... Quickly come in!”

Ram kindly went outside.

Inwardly, he thought things like, ‘Could it be a prince the old Einroguard mages attacked despicably?’ but originally, mages’ affairs should be resolved by mages, shouldn’t they?

With only three remaining, four if the painting was included, Professor Garcia was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

—Are you all right, disciple? You don’t look very well, so I’m worried.

“I’m fine.”

—Not you. The disciple next to you.

The prince in the painting pointed at Professor Garcia.

“Ah. Professor Garcia will be fine soon too. She received too much information... But more importantly, Master.”

—...

The prince pretended not to hear. Lee Han called again, puzzled.

“Master?”

—...Ah. Forgive me. It is such a pleasant word to hear... The fact that someone as lacking as I have such excellent disciples is something I never tire of hearing.

“Uaaahhh. Uaaaahhhhh.”

“Please calm down, Professor.”

Lee Han tried hard to calm Professor Garcia down.

Even though she was a professor who had experienced this once before, seeing her react like this showed just how unexpected meeting him in reality was.

‘It is surprising.’

And this was indeed shocking enough for Lee Han too.

Professor Garcia beside him was so overwhelmed that he had become calm instead, but the more he thought about it, the more astonishing it was.

First, it was amazing that a painting capable of conversation had persisted even when the Great Artist was away, and it was even more amazing that the other party was the Skull Principal Lee Han had met in the past dimension.

How was such a thing possible?

‘Artist senior definitely never visited that past dimension.’

“Master. May I ask you a few questions?”

—Ask me anything, disciple. Being able to help my disciples is my joy.

The young prince spoke shyly. Lee Han had to bite his tongue to avoid losing his mind.

“Ugh... Yes. Have you ever met the Artist senior?”

—No. I have no relationship with that mage in the first place.

“What? Uh, that senior is also, strictly speaking, your disciple, Master...”

—No.

When Lee Han tried to explain the lineage and structure of the school, the prince firmly cut him off.

—That person is not my disciple. He denied it himself.

“...”

“...”

Lee Han and Professor Garcia exchanged glances.

So, by any chance, right now...

“Are you sulking?”

“Shh. Student Lee Han. Anyone can feel hurt.”

“...I, I see.”

Lee Han decided not to provoke the other party.

Though this was the Skull Principal from his benevolent prince days, he had still manifested by borrowing the power of the painting.

Since Lee Han did not know how unstable he might be, there was nothing good about needlessly provoking him.

“Wait. Master. Then how did Senior Artist summon you?”

—That person did not summon me, my disciple.

The prince in the painting readily began to explain.

Originally, until yesterday, the prince had not existed in this dimension. He had merely been a simple painting.

However, while Lee Han was practicing Music Magic under the Artist, the prince had realized that he had awakened.

“...What?!”

Lee Han was shocked to realize that he was the culprit.

Professor Garcia and Professor Voladi Bagreg looked at their disciple without saying anything.

The two professors might have been looking at him without any particular thoughts, but Lee Han strangely felt as if he were hearing the hallucinated words, ‘You did it again without knowing?’

‘But... it makes sense.’

There was no way the Artist, who had never directly met the living Skull Principal in the past, could summon him directly like this.

There had only been two mages present, so if it was not the other person, then Lee Han was the culprit.

“I didn’t particularly intend to do it. I was just practicing.”

—Well, my disciple. That is something even I find difficult to guess in detail. But magic originally contains mysteries that cannot all be known. Perhaps the connection between us filled in what the magic lacked.

“Student Lee Han. Your mouth is bleeding. Bite gently.”

“I’m sorry.”

Professor Garcia cast healing magic. It seemed her disciple had bitten his tongue too hard in an attempt to regain his senses.

Having bitten her own tongue the same way, she could understand.

“Then did Senior Artist leave you behind to tell us this?”

—No. I simply hid myself.

The prince was kind and benevolent, but not soft enough to explain his awakening and circumstances to a mage who was not his disciple.

Immediately after awakening, he had hidden himself, then revealed himself when the Artist gathered up his works and fled.

“...”

“It’s getting faint.”

“I’m fine, Professor. I’m perfectly all right.”

When Professor Voladi Bagreg suddenly voiced his concern, Lee Han waved his hand as if he was fine.

However, the professor looked at his disciple with eyes that regarded him as a strange person.

“The painting is getting faint.”

“Ah!”

Embarrassed, Lee Han quickly turned his gaze.

Professor Voladi Bagreg was right.

Because Lee Han and Professor Garcia had been in shock, they had not noticed, but the colors of the painting were gradually fading.

—It is probably consuming mana to maintain its composition. My disciples, do not be too surprised.

The prince did not seem to mind much.

Just being able to meet and speak with his disciples again like this was sufficiently wonderful and worthy of gratitude.

This mage’s dwelling had abundant residual mana, so he had somehow maintained the painting’s form by absorbing that mana, but once all the mana was consumed, the time for farewell would probably come.

“I’ll lend you my mana!”

Lee Han hurriedly stepped forward.

With the painting already growing faint, he did not know how much time was left.

Lee Han approached the painting and strongly emitted mana, then asked,

“How is it?”

“It’s becoming clear again, Student Lee Han. But...”

“?”

“...Wouldn’t it be difficult if Student Lee Han had to keep replenishing mana periodically?”

Professor Garcia asked carefully.

Storing that large painting and periodically replenishing its mana could somehow be managed.

Of course, it would have been impossible for other mages, but the disciple before her originally had the peculiar habit of giving mana to others.

Even now, wasn’t the line stretching from monsters to ores quite long?

However, if it was a painting of a living, moving young prince, the story was different.

Starting with Senior Artist, then the Skull Principal and the Imperial mages.

She could not predict how they would react if they learned the truth.

It was an object destined to become entangled in all sorts of troublesome problems if kept!

Just thinking about strangers he had never seen before coming to attack and saying, ‘Hand over the young Skull Principal,’ was already horrifying.

—My disciple. Do not force yourself to maintain the painting. If there are meetings, there are partings.

The prince did not care at all and urged him to release the mana.

He did not want to make his disciple suffer just to stay a little longer.

Lee Han, who had been conflicted, finally made his decision.

“...Ugh. I’m fine. I can just put it in my backpack and carry it around!”

‘Oh no. I shouldn’t have asked.’

Professor Garcia regretted it too late.

She should have forcibly taken it away or hidden the truth and let it naturally dissipate, but the moment she asked the kind disciple, there was absolutely no way he would give up.

“Would it be all right to put it in the backpack?”

—My disciple. Even if you threw this painting into a bottomless swamp, the inside of this painting would always be peaceful. A backpack would be more than enough.

As Lee Han carefully tried to put the painting into his backpack, the prince spoke.

—My disciple.

“Yes?”

—This does not look like the inside of a backpack. It looks like a basement.

“...?!”

The villa estate basement again?!