Looking to the side, Princess Yukbeltire saw that the other two hadn’t noticed the faint phantom of the crown.

Not only that—even Princess Yukbeltire would lose sight of its shape if her focus slipped for even a moment.

It was clearly not a crown that could be seen through ordinary means.

Princess Yukbeltire calmly recited an incantation.

“Pierce through.”

As <Baquantala’s Blue Eyes> settled over her pupils, expanded information flowed directly into her mind.

The faint phantom of the crown came a little more sharply into focus, and its shape grew clearer.

It was a modest crown.

Woven from bronze, copper, and tree branches, it was so humble that it looked closer to a crown of thorns.

A crown was supposed to grant authority and dignity to the one who wore it...

That thing looks more like it would scrape the skin and draw blood.

But despite its strange appearance, the power dwelling inside it was real.

That was no ordinary crown.

True to her nature as a future artifact craftsman, Princess Yukbeltire quickly grasped its essence.

An essence divided and imprinted across countless parallel dimensions.

The total power drawn from each and every one of those concepts.

Though it took the form of a crown, it was a pure mass of power.

She couldn’t even guess which archmage had created this magic, but Princess Yukbeltire felt a thrill crawl up her spine. Any mage would have felt the same.

Magic that divided an existence countless times, imprinted it eternally across each dimension, and then drew that power back forth.

When a mage tried to summon power beyond a certain scale from their current position, enormous resistance was inevitable.

Just as the world disliked imbalance, it also disliked grand magic of excessive power.

Yet that crown mockingly bypassed those chain-like restrictions.

Whenever the world tried to disperse the overwhelmingly condensed power, it scattered across countless parallel dimensions, then gathered back again in the form of a crown...

Because of all those factors, the crown was difficult to perceive properly at all. Without the senses of an experienced dimension traveler or someone capable of seeing through dimensions, merely noticing it would be difficult.

...What is its purpose?

Of course, she was curious why her junior could wear that crown, or what qualifications allowed him to wear it.

But what interested her most at the moment was the crown’s purpose.

She could tell that power difficult to manifest by ordinary means had been gathered into one place.

Then for what reason had that power been gathered?

All magic had a purpose of its own.

Princess Yukbeltire was genuinely curious about what purpose the crown’s magic served.

It didn’t even seem complete yet...

“Phew.”

Her junior, who had been pouring out mana, sighed and stepped back.

The ore vein trapping Jarun was so sturdy that even her junior, who overflowed with mana, had begun to tire.

“Should I just give up...”

The moment her junior muttered those words, Princess Yukbeltire saw the crown above his head grow faint.

If that incomplete crown vanished like this, she would no longer be able to observe or evaluate it.

Princess Yukbeltire instinctively shouted.

“No!”

“??”

“You can do it. Don’t give up. Concentrate.”

“...Senior. I think this is the first time you’ve ever said something so warm to me.”

Lee Han was slightly moved.

Apparently, the time Princess Yukbeltire had spent traveling with Diret hadn’t been entirely meaningless.

To think that even this human-shaped little golem still had a warm heart left.

“I understand. I’ll try again. Come to think of it, hardship on this level is nothing special.”

As the fading crown became slightly clearer again, Princess Yukbeltire breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

“Junior of House Wardanaz.”

“I’ve received your encouragement, so please be quiet now.”

“...”

Above the junior’s head, after he had silenced his senior, the crown began to grow more and more vivid.

Then, without warning, the ground beneath them quietly moved.

It was a silent motion, like flowing water.

Unlike the other students, who were focused solely on the ore vein, Princess Yukbeltire was observing the entire area without leaving gaps. Her eyes widened slightly.

What was this phenomenon?

The movement wasn’t limited to the floor.

The cave walls beside the passage also shifted.

As if alive, they moved aside and revealed hidden ore veins within.

It was as though everything in the surroundings were helping her junior extract Jarun more easily.

A small world!

Faced with an unmistakable supernatural phenomenon that could not be explained by a single spell, Princess Yukbeltire realized the identity of the magic.

The crown’s power did not stop there.

The properties of the ore vein trapping Jarun began to change.

As if refusing to waste any more of Lee Han’s time by resisting, the ore vein transformed into a substance that melted easily before mana.

“Got it!”

Focused on circulating his mana, Lee Han didn’t notice the changes happening around him.

Having completed its work, the crown quietly slipped back into slumber beyond the dimensions.

“...Cough!”

Jarun coughed and rolled forward.

His entire body was stiff from being trapped inside the ore vein for so long.

“Cough, cough! You... you are...”

“Are you all right, Senior?”

“...I never asked you to rescue me! I absolutely won’t pay a single gold coin!”

After checking the students around him, Jarun frowned deeply and shouted.

It was not the wisest first thing to say after being rescued—especially while his body was still stiff and vulnerable to attack—but fortunately, nobody became angry.

The enchantment magic school seniors had no expectations of Jarun in the first place.

As for Lee Han, his patience had been thoroughly trained.

Patience forged by Wardanaz, Cow Wardanaz, Wardanaz’s disciple, and people similar to Wardanaz could not be shaken by words of this level.

“I don’t intend to ask for gold coins. I just rescued you.”

“What?”

The fierce-looking dwarf looked as though he had been slapped.

He probably wouldn’t have been this shocked even if his junior had threatened him with a knife.

“More importantly, Senior. What happened to the orichalcum vein? Did you actually find it?”

“As if he found anything.”

Behind them, Sigunting couldn’t hold back and muttered.

Judging from Jarun’s state after being freed, it didn’t seem like he had found even a copper vein, much less an orichalcum vein.

“Orichalcum? How do you bastards know about that... You! You bastards! You despicable thieves! You spied on my application!”

“We didn’t spy on it. The rumor spread throughout the school.”

“Despicable bastards! Sons of thieves! Scoundrels who think only of stealing a dwarf’s blood and sweat...”

“That’s enough, Senior.”

Sigunting cut him off, sounding tired of listening.

Anpagon nodded in agreement.

They had freed him because of their junior’s stubbornness, but honestly, nothing good would come from a long conversation with someone like Jarun.

Just as students from other schools were reluctant to interact with enchantment magic students, enchantment magic students were reluctant to interact with students from other schools.

Especially when that student was a lunatic like Jarun.

“Senior Princess Yukbeltire. Please.”

“Very well.”

Princess Yukbeltire immediately resorted to force.

With a squawk of alarm, Jarun was suspended upside down.

His body had weakened ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) too much after being trapped inside the ore vein.

“Compass. An ordinary item with no special magic.”

“Silver pieces. Aren’t these from the healing magic school’s area? When did you go there?”

“Map. No magic. No ore vein markings.”

“Mold clump. Is it a reagent? Strange for a reagent...”

“...That’s the bread I was eating!”

Jarun, enraged by the forced search, choked up and shouted.

After finishing the search, the enchantment magic students put Jarun back down and returned his belongings.

“Junior. I checked, but there’s no trace of an orichalcum vein.”

“Let’s dump him and go back. Staying any longer would be a waste of time.”

“I understand.”

Lee Han accepted it readily.

From the start, he had only come this far with the attitude of, Since we’re already here, we might as well pull him out and ask.

He hadn’t seriously expected an orichalcum vein.

“Ugh.”

Jarun staggered, his body still stiff.

Grrrrr—

Seeing him look so gaunt that he might collapse at any moment, like Gainando after skipping two meals, Lee Han carefully asked,

“Would you like something to eat?”

“I don’t need it!”

“...You don’t have to pay gold coins. I’ll give it to you for free, just this once.”

Although Lee Han usually hated giving things away for free, he made an exception for someone who looked ready to collapse.

Just this once should be fine...

“Don’t lie!!”

Jarun’s voice grew even louder.

A Soup Club student giving away food for free?

Impossible.

“It has to be a trick!”

“...”

Fortunately, the senior was in a severely weakened state.

Lee Han immediately subdued him with magic and poured warm meat broth down the dwarf’s throat.

“No, no! My gold coins! My gold coins!!”

The enchantment magic upperclassmen looked at Lee Han with expressions that said, Why is our junior wasting time like this?

Lee Han ignored them and continued.

Bread and sausage cut with a pocket knife, pickled vegetables, canned goods, and a surprisingly large amount of food quickly disappeared into Jarun’s stomach.

Lee Han dusted off his hands, released the dwarf, and said,

“When you recover, be careful climbing back up. Other people are looking for you too, so don’t forget to stay cautious. If you see anyone, shout first that there’s no orichalcum.”

With those final words, Lee Han turned to follow the upperclassmen.

Jarun, strength slowly returning to his limbs, stared blankly at Lee Han’s retreating back before suddenly shouting,

“...Wait!”

“???”

“Wait. Come here.”

“If you want more food, you have to pay. You have gold coins. I’ll accept payment later too.”

“That’s not why! Hurry up and come here!”

Now that he had eaten and regained some strength, Jarun was different from the vulnerable senior of a moment ago.

Lee Han grumbled as he walked back over.

“What is it?”

“Only you should know this. The orichalcum vein... actually exists.”

Jarun swallowed hard.

It was the first time in his life he had ever told anyone else about a vein he had discovered.

Even as he spoke, Jarun wasn’t sure he had made the right decision.

Perhaps being trapped in the ore vein for so long had damaged his judgment.

But he did not regret the choice he had just made.

Rather than leaving this debt unsettled and feeling uneasy, it seemed better to repay it.

“Yes. Well, I’m sure it exists somewhere in the world.”

“...It’s here in the mining district!!”

Jarun was frustrated by his junior’s indifferent attitude.

“That might also be found somewhere if you search hard enough...”

“I found the exact location, you stupid fool!”

“???”

Lee Han looked at Jarun as though asking what nonsense he was spouting.

Although Lee Han himself didn’t realize it, hearing Jarun speak made him newly aware of something.

I really don’t trust this person at all!

Even though he had said they should pull Jarun out and ask directly, now that Jarun was actually saying the vein existed, the only thought that came to mind was, What nonsense is this?

His trust in the other person was so low it was practically drilling through the underground floor.

“You found the location, but you were wandering around here empty-handed without a single piece of ore in your pocket?”

Jarun’s face flushed red at this deeply humiliating point for a western dwarf.

“That’s... There were circumstances.”

“Senior. Do you know the story of the shepherd giant? The one who tended the mountain-range-destroying sheep...”

As his junior scratched directly at his pride, Jarun nearly collapsed from anger and humiliation.

Enduring through superhuman willpower, Jarun clenched his teeth and growled.

“Shut up and listen! Be quiet and listen! I’ll explain!”

Whether the senior was throwing a fit or not, Lee Han took out his cracked pocket watch and checked the time.

Then he spoke sternly.

“I’ll give you five minutes.”

“...What?”

“The other upperclassmen have been waiting too long. I do have some sense, so I can’t make them wait any longer. You have to finish within that time. Not even one second over.”

Grrrrr—

Jarun foamed at the mouth and fell backward.

To think there was a bastard in this world who would treat an orichalcum vein like this...