It didn't seem like the skull principal would allow the professors to arbitrarily take a break from lectures and go out due to his personality.

'What is it? It's not like they'll take students with them... Hm?'

Yi-Han, who was lost in thought, suddenly felt an unidentifiable anxiety rushing in.

It was an anxiety that he himself didn't know why he felt it.

"Is anyone there?"

"!"

The friends on the second floor looked out the window beyond the front gate.

They saw the familiar face of a friend. It was Rowena, a follower of the princess.

"It's suspicious. Aren't the professors hiding behind her?"

"No way... Could it be possible?"

"Tell her to raise both hands and come in slowly. So we can close the door right away."

Yi-Han's heart ached at the sight of his friends having an ominous conversation.

The professors of Einroguard were corrupting his friends.

"Raise both hands and come in slowly!"

Of course, that was that, but Yi-Han accepted his friends' advice.

It was really possible that the professors were hiding behind her.

"What?! Mr. Wardanaz. Why..."

"Don't try anything funny! My staff is pointing at you!"

Gainando shouted loudly.

He was ready to cast a curse at any moment.

Rowena was confused, wondering what she had done wrong.

"What on earth did I do wrong..."

"I'll go and check."

Ratford hurriedly went down and cautiously poked his head out the front gate.

"No professors!"

"???"

"Ah. I'm sorry. We were worried that the professors might be hiding behind..."

At Ratford's serious explanation, Rowena was confused whether they were joking with her or not.

"Are you joking?"

"No. I'm serious."

"..."

Rowena had come to visit the Duke Icaldoren's mansion together with them.

"Even me?"

Yi-Han was puzzled.

He knew that the princess had received a riddle (packaged as a bribe) from Duke Icaldoren.

Didn't they work together at the staff workshop to solve that riddle?

If his memory was correct, they made it well, so why visit together?

"Yes. Mr. Wardanaz, you helped with the solution, right? Of course, the honor should be shared..."

"I'm fine with just sharing the reward."

Rowena showed an awkward expression at Yi-Han's words. It was a joke that was hard to react to.

"I'm not good at jokes..."

"It wasn't a joke, but anyway, I understand why you came. But there won't be any trouble for me, right?"

If the answer to the riddle was wrong and it flowed to 'Wardanaz gave advice but it was wrong!', things would become troublesome.

Originally, when the results of a group project are bad, the one who takes the most responsibility is the group leader with good grades, right?

"How could that be!"

Rowena was startled and denied it.

Adenart was never the type to shift responsibility to her followers.

"Yi-Han. Isn't it suspicious that she's denying it so strongly?"

"I can even swear on my honor as a knight!"

"Isn't it more suspicious that she's going that far?"

Gainando's ability was to be shamelessly nitpicky without hesitation.

Rowena glared at Gainando, feeling angry and wronged. She couldn't understand what kind of ill-natured motive he had for interfering with the princess's work.

'He's really too much!'

'If no one was here, he would have been hit.'

"Calm down. Visiting Duke Icaldoren's mansion isn't a difficult task."

In fact, it was a task where they just had to go, eat some food, drink some drinks, say 'The mansion is really pretty, haha,' and greet the duke.

When Yi-Han seemed to accept, Rowena's face brightened.

"It's not the first time for me."

"Have you been there before?"

Rowena tilted her head.

During the break, the boy from the Wardanaz family was so busy that he needed several more bodies.

He said he had visited the duke's mansion before, did he visit in the past?

'I don't think they had a close relationship?'

"Not the city mansion here..."

Yi-Han slightly changed the topic.

There was no point in revealing that he had visited the Duke's mansion during the semester with Professor Boladi, as it would only bring trouble if the Skull Principal ever found out.

"There's no need for any special preparation, right? We just need to visit?"

"Yes! The duke will also be waiting with a commemorative gift prepared!"

"That's... Wait, a gift?"

Yi-Han was surprised.

"What gift?"

"Ah. The duke always gives gifts to students who visit the mansion, saying they are the pillars who will be responsible for the Empire's future..."

"So what is this gift?"

Rowena, slightly overwhelmed by Yi-Han's force, stammered.

"L-Last time, he gave an accessory like this... Is there a problem?"

When Rowena took out a small medal made of pure gold, Yi-Han's eyes wavered.

The number of the princess's followers would be quite a lot, and he was scattering such things whenever those students came.

'Amazing!'

That wealth was surprising, and it was also surprising that despite having such wealth, he didn't give any reward when Yi-Han defeated the venomous pollutant that attacked the duke last time in his place.

In fact, the latter was mostly the case. Yi-Han still held a grudge against the duke.

'Only taking care of the royals like that, he must be a cowardly fellow who succumbs to power.'

"He's a kind person."

But apart from such a grudge, if he scattered such gifts, it was impossible not to receive them.

"Is it okay to bring other friends too?"

At Yi-Han's question, Rowena nodded as if she had been waiting.

"Whoever is here, the duke said he welcomes them."

Even if they weren't the wicked prince or of the Maykin family's bloodline, Duke Icaldoren welcomed any student from Einroguard.

In fact, when inviting the princess, he said to bring friends as she wished if she had any.

"There's no limit to the number of people?"

"Yes. He said the more people you bring, the happier he will be."

"I see."

Yi-Han nodded and began to write a letter with his quill.

To my dear Salko of the Tutanta family,

I know you don't like getting involved with noble families, but even considering that, I'm contacting you because a really good job has come up. Surprisingly, you can earn one or two gold coins just by having a meal...

The first-year students of Einroguard gathered at the city square were surprised.

"Today's not the first day of school, right?"

"For a moment, I thought it was Einroguard."

To that extent, students from various towers were mixed and gathered.

Even priest students from the Immortal Phoenix Tower were invited and present.

"I hope everyone has a hearty meal at the duke's mansion."

"...W-Wait. Mr. Wardanaz. The reason you invited us today isn't because of the meal, right?"

"Of course not."

The priests were relieved by Yi-Han's words.

Yi-Han had sent a letter saying, 'There is a place where you should participate as an Einroguard student to grace the occasion,' so they were a bit flustered when he brought up the meal.

After all, there was no way he would call the priests and take them to the duke's mansion just to have a meal.

'There must be another reason, of course.'

There must be a reason for the priests to be in the banquet hall of the mansion. The boy from the Wardanaz family didn't do useless things.

"But why aren't the White Tiger Tower guys here?"

"I sent an invitation, but they all said it was difficult because they had a schedule. I think they're too absorbed in adventurer missions, even though they're good."

"...?"

"???"

Nillia and Ratford looked at Yi-Han as if he were a thief.

Wasn't he the one most engrossed in adventurer's missions?

"I-I never thought you would gather this many people."

Rowena blinked in surprise.

She newly felt Yi-Han's wide network.

Adenart did have followers, but there was a limit after all.

When they received an invitation saying, 'Please bring the princess's friends,' the followers reacted like, 'Can we dare call ourselves her friends?'

The followers, who were seriously contemplating, eventually said, 'It would be better for the princess to invite friends separately instead of us,' but Adenart, not wanting to disappoint the followers, said she would take Rowena as a friend instead of calling friends.

Everyone was moved and let it pass, but Rowena was worried that Adenart had no friends.

As a knight, if the person she served had no friends, it was loyalty to forcibly make friends for them, so Rowena had been worrying a lot about this part recently.

"Mr. Wardanaz. How do you make friends?"

"Fri... Friends?"

Yi-Han flinched.

Of course, he was close with some students, but the students from other towers were a bit...

'Can I call them friends?'

"I'm not sure if I can call them friends."

'He's even humble.'

Rowena admired Yi-Han's generous attitude. It was indeed the attitude of someone with a wide network.

If it were the wicked prince, he would have boasted, saying, 'Because I'm great.'

"Then I'll change the question. How can you call people like that?"

"Uh... Um... That's... I think it's sincerity."

"Sincerity...!"

Rowena trembled at the textbook-like yet difficult answer.

"If I sincerely cross swords and then sincerely propose to recruit them as the princess's friends, will it work?"

"I'm not an expert on friends, but I don't think that will work."

Duke Icaldoren regretted his own decision to invite Einroguard students indiscriminately.

'It was a mistake to call those filthy, vulgar, and stupid knights.'

The duke originally didn't like knights.

Even if they were nobles of the same empire, the rough appearance shown by knight families felt closer to barbarians rather than nobles.

He thought it would be fine if they were students who could enter Einroguard, but their actions were just the same.

"Drink! Drink! Drink!"

"This glass is for the duke who prepared today's banquet!"

"This glass is for the monsters we hunted!"

"This glass is... I don't know! I'll just drink!"

Clang!

The White Tiger Tower students, who were drunk and excited, threw the glasses they were holding on the floor, threw the dishes, went out to the banquet hall corridor, headed to the kitchen, brought the wine barrel directly, and chugged it down.

The White Tiger Tower students staying in the knights' quarters had to eat only rough and solid food instead of greasy and abundant meals.

Of course, compared to Einroguard, it was edible food, but compared to the luxurious feast in this banquet hall, the food in the quarters was garbage.

Splat!

"This bastard?!"

"Who threw the pie?!"

"I'll throw it too!! Me too!!"

Duke Icaldoren, who was sitting at the head table, maintained a calm expression. Of course, he was cursing inside.

'There's no way these idiots have any information to dig up.'

"Long live the duke! Long live the duke!"

"Duke! Thank you for inviting us!"

"Hahaha. I'm happy that everyone is eating and drinking happiㄱ..."

A cake that someone threw by mistake flew towards Duke Icaldoren's face.

The guard immediately deflected it, but the duke's eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.

'...I'm going crazy.'

When everyone is crazy, only the sane ones suffer.

Students like Jijel Moradi and Dolgyu Choi put down their forks and were watching the duke's reaction.

No matter how much he had a smiling face, they couldn't help but be conscious of the mess being caused in the banquet hall right now.

"M-Moradi. Is this really okay?"

"Is it okay? What do you use your eyeballs for? Did you sell them along with your head?"

"Don't say that to me! We should stop them first, shouldn't we?!"

Even though a cake flew at the duke, these crazy students were drunk and couldn't come to their senses, causing a mess.

But if the two of them stood up and put on a serious face, the atmosphere would become chilly in its own way.

It was the same as spitting on the face of the White Tiger Tower.

Creak-

Meanwhile, the door to the banquet hall opened.

A White Tiger Tower student, who was too engrossed to notice the door opening, accidentally threw a roasted turkey with sauce towards the door.

"?"

Yi-Han tilted his head and dodged. Gainando, who was behind him, screamed and fell.

"Are they crazy?"

"W-What the hell is this...?"

While the students outside the door were whispering in shock, Yi-Han walked with big strides.

And he struck the solar plexus of the closest White Tiger Tower student with his staff.