The students' mood darkened rapidly.

Seeing this, Yi-Han clicked his tongue inwardly.

'Isn't it because of the skull principal?' He thought.

The principal, who enjoyed tormenting others, evidently influenced the seniors' character...

"Let's eat cake," Yi-Han proposed, trying to change the mood.

"Right! Cake!"

"Call the other tower kids too."

"...Oh. Do we have to?"

"Yes. Call them properly. Don't pick fights for no reason."

"Wh-what are you saying, Wardanaz? There's no way I would."

Caught revealing his true thoughts, the Blue Dragon Tower student stammered.

The students from other towers arrived faster than expected. The White Tiger Tower students, who arrived last, looked around armed with wooden swords and shields, but upon discovering the cake, they lowered their weapons with sheepish expressions.

"What did I say!"

"S-sorry, Dolgyu."

"Wait. The cake might be poisoned..."

"Shh. Be quiet. Even if it's poisoned, cake is still cake. We can think about it after eating."

The White Tiger Tower students sliced the cake on plates and took a piece each. The cake was delicious.

"See, I told you Wardanaz doesn't mess around with food."

"Definitely..."

'Next time I need to set a trap, I should put it in the food.'

Yi-Han thought as he passed by.

As expected, the students all looked very satisfied as they chatted, seemingly becoming happy after eating something sweet.

“Give me a piece too.”

The skull principal suddenly appeared.

"Here you go."

Two students beside him screamed and tumbled, but Yi-Han calmly cut a piece of cake and handed it over without surprise.

The skull principal threw the cake into his mouth with telekinesis and spoke to the students.

“Everyone is having a happy and enjoyable time.”

"Yes!"

"We're really happy!"

“My, my. I wonder if you'll be this happy even after seeing your exam results.”

"..."

The skull principal succeeded in freezing the students' mood without using a single spell.

The only student among them immune to the attack on exam scores opened his mouth, "Isn't it because we're happy the semester is over? Everyone worked hard to get through a semester, so grades don't matter."

“...Says the top student of the year. Everyone, take a good look. You need to be at this level to say grades don't matter. Understand?”

'Oops.'

Yi-Han had no choice but to admit he let his guard down in front of the skull principal.

Befitting someone who enjoyed sowing discord for thousands of years, his skill was impossible to match.

"Indeed, that jerk Wardanaz is the top student but says such annoying things..."

"Want to spit out the cake?"

"Ah, no. Come to think of it, there's a point to what he's saying."

However, the grumbling White Tiger Tower student was quickly suppressed.

Yi-Han had done too much for his fellow students for the skull principal's instigation to work.

"I can't accept that! I also go around saying grades aren't important!"

When Gainando shouted that, even the skull principal seemed slightly taken aback.

“G-good for you to be so confident.”

"Thank you?"

“That wasn't a compliment. You're going to the punishment room soon.”

"What?? What did I do wrong?"

Gainando asked in surprise. Then the skull principal summoned white bony fingers in the air and spread them wide.

“Do you know what this is?”

"Bone... fingers?"

“It's the number of classes you failed.”

"..."

"..."

The students suddenly lowered their heads and tried to avoid the skull principal's gaze.

“You think avoiding eye contact will make your failed subjects disappear? Those who failed will stay in the punishment room over the weekend before leaving.”

"No! Principal!!"

"It's vacation!"

“To be precise, vacation starts next week. You should've done well on the exams. I trust you didn't let your guard down just because it was the final exam. A mage couldn't possibly have such lax negligence, right?”

The students who thought they would get to leave right after the final exam made faces like they had been hit.

They wanted to happily chat with friends over the remaining weekend, leisurely pack up, and leave with a smile when the sun rose on Monday...

The skull principal folded one of the summoned bony fingers and asked again.

“Do you know what this is?”

"I... don't really know."

At those words, the skull principal folded another finger.

And another, and another.

Once all the fingers were folded, the skull principal spoke with a smile.

“Those who failed, to the punishment room!”

"Principal! I haven't eaten the cake yet!!"

"No! Tomorrow! Can't we go tomorrow morning!"

Suddenly, death knights jumped out from all directions and dragged the students who failed away.

The skull principal nodded with a satisfied expression.

“The less competent students should rest well over the weekend before leaving. You all worked hard for a semester. See you next semester.”

There weren't many times they agreed with the skull principal's words, but this time they had no choice but to concur.

'We really worked hard.'

Seeing his friends' faces, it seemed everyone was thinking the same thing.

"Where will you stay during the break?"

"Granden City."

The Empire was so vast it was dizzying. Most students chose to stay in a nearby major city during breaks instead of returning to their hometowns each time.

'As expected, everyone is staying in Granden City.'

Of course, there were some differences in how they stayed.

"The family arranged a mansion."

"You too? That's great. Same for me."

"I'm going to stay at a close family's mansion."

"..."

Yi-Han remained silent after hearing the Blue Dragon Tower students' conversation.

'Hmm. No wonder the other tower kids dislike them.'

The mansions in a major city like Granden were unimaginably expensive.

Moreover, the Blue Dragon Tower students were all from the Empire's noble families.

Even for the same mansion, there was a big price difference between one in the city's noble district versus other districts.

Yet they went and bought such mansions to use as villas during breaks.

It was no wonder the other tower students cursed at them.

"Where will you be staying, Mr. Wardanaz?"

"...I'll also be in Granden City."

Yi-Han answered Ratford's question with embarrassment.

In fact, it wasn't Yi-Han's place to criticize others.

As a member of the Wardanaz family himself, a mansion in Granden City was prepared for Yi-Han as well.

Originally it would have been Philonae Town, but the academy probably moved everything to Granden City…

"Why is that?"

"It's nothing."

Yi-Han overcame his awkwardness and spoke.

"Ratford, where will you stay during the break?"

"I also plan to stay in Granden City. I'm going to board."

"If it's alright, why don't you stay at our family's mansion?"

"Oh. Is that okay?"

"Of course. It might be a bit small compared to other families' mansions, but it's not so small that it can't accommodate a few guests."

The Wardanaz family was known among the Empire's great noble families for having less greed for wealth or power and focusing only on magic, but that was only relative to other great noble families.

No matter how frugal a renowned family in the Empire tried to be, how frugal could they really be?

The mansion the Wardanaz family arranged was probably spacious enough to fit all the first-year students.

"Dolgyu. Are you thinking of staying too, by any chance?"

"Thanks for the offer, Yi-Han. But I'm going to stay with my tower friends at the knights' hall."

The Black Tortoise Tower students used various connections to board at guild lodgings or decent inns.

The White Tiger Tower students, being from knight families, used the knights' quarters located in Granden City.

The Immortal Phoenix Tower students, being temple priests, used the temple dormitories in Granden City.

'No, it's only those from the Blue Dragon Tower who are slackers, right?' Yi-Han mused. While students from other towers earnestly made their own arrangements, it seemed like those from the Blue Dragon Tower were merely leveraging their family's power.

"Yi-Han. Yi-Han."

Yonaire poked Yi-Han and whispered.

Yi-Han, who had been offering Priestess Tijiling and Priest Nigisor to stay at his family's mansion (both priests politely declined), was puzzled.

"What is it?"

"Look over there."

Yonaire lightly pointed with her finger. At the end was their friend Nillia.

While discussing with the Black Tortoise Tower students which inn or guild lodging would be good to stay at, Nillia kept glancing over at them with a gloomy expression.

'Oops.'

Yi-Han realized his mistake.

He had naturally assumed Yonaire would offer first, so he spoke to Ratford first…

"Let's go."

"Okay."

The two hurriedly moved their feet.

"Nillia! Why don't you stay at the Wardanaz family mansion during the break?"

"What are you saying, Yi-Han! Nillia will stay at the Maykin family mansion!"

The Black Tortoise Tower students who were discussing where to stay looked at the two with eyes that said, 'Why are these noble bastards suddenly acting up?'

"It's the Wardanaz family!"

"It's the Maykin family!"

When the Yi-Han and Yonaire pushed and pulled with all their might, Nillia's face brightened.

"Oh, what should I do? Both offers are so kind, but choosing one seems a bit..."

"Then let us help you decide."

"That's right. Nillia."

The Black Tortoise Tower students who had been listening joined in. Nillia was flustered by the unexpected situation.

Salko took out a map of Granden City from his bosom and frowned.

"Where is the Wardanaz family mansion located?"

"I think I'll have to go and check."

"I see. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to deduct points, Wardanaz."

"Y-yeah. That's too bad."

"What about the Maykin family mansion?"

"It's at the top of the hill street in the central noble district here."

"The transportation is convenient and there's an alchemy workshop nearby that specializes in nobles. It's a very good location."

"Th-thanks?"

Salko and the Black Tortoise Tower students seriously compared the two mansions.

Naturally, Yonaire, whose family had a mansion in the city for a long time, had an advantage over Yi-Han, who didn't even know what kind of mansion they arranged yet.

"Nillia. It would be better for you to stay at the Maykin family mansion."

"R-really? But I feel bad for Wardanaz..."

"If it's that hard to choose, do you want to stay at the Gainando mansion? That one will probably be the biggest."

"No! I'll stay at the Maykin family mansion! Thank you!"

Nillia answered immediately.

“Well, it's good that everyone is chatting, but there's one thing you need to do.”

The skull principal approached them and opened a conversation.

"What is that?"

“As you all know, this Einroguard is full of mysteries and knowledge passed down from ancient times.”

The students nodded their heads.

“The problem is that there are also monsters passed down from ancient times, not just mysteries and knowledge.”

“And these treasures must not be carelessly leaked.”

"I see."

“So before you leave, let's swear. That you won't leak the mysteries and knowledge of Einroguard to the outside.”

Yi-Han, who was listening, felt something strange and asked.

"Wait. If we swear to this, does that mean we can't talk about the academy's rules or education either?"

The skull principal ignored him, pretending not to hear.

“Now, one by one!”

"..."

The freshmen made the oath with the skull principal with reluctant expressions.

"I will protect the secrets of Einroguard with my pride and honor?"

“O souls, guard the secrets of the mages.”

A prohibition was created along with a complex wave of mana.

It was a powerful prohibition that imprisoned important information about Einroguard within the student's soul and prevented it from coming out.

Yi-Han also stood in front of the skull principal with a reluctant expression like his other friends.

However, instead of casting the spell, the skull principal spoke.

“Wardanaz, you keep your mouth shut on your own.”

"...Pardon?"

“Think about it. How much mana would be consumed to place a prohibition on you.”

Considering Yi-Han's mana capacity, he couldn't even imagine how much mana it would take to imprison information within his soul.

The skull principal had no intention of committing such a waste.

"Aha!"

“If oddly specific rumors about Einroguard start to circulate, think carefully about who I'll suspect first.”

"Why would I ever do such a thing?"