"Did you really grow that yourself?" Salko asked with a mix of surprise and curiosity in his voice.
The boy was a student of the Blue Dragon Tower and hailed from the prestigious Wodanaz family, one of the empire's most prominent noble houses.
It was hard to believe that such a boy had personally grown such fresh, plump, and glossy potatoes.
It sounded almost unbelievable.
"Yeah, I grew them myself," Yi Han nodded casually.
The other students from the Black Turtle Tower, who had been observing the situation, chimed in.
"It's true, Tutanta. Wodanaz grew them himself."
"We even got to taste them last time! They were really delicious!"
"Is that so? What did you pay for them?" Salko asked his friends.
The Black Turtle Tower students hesitated.
"... We just ate them."
"Don't tell me you got them for free without paying anything?!" Salko glared, his expression so fierce it looked like he might swing a hammer at any moment.
The Black Turtle Tower students were terrified.
The motto of the Tutanta family was simple: "Those who do not work shall not eat."
Even if they were fellow tower students, eating without working was an unforgivable sin.
It was the kind of behavior expected from shameless nobles or knights!
"Uh... no..."
Yi Han stepped in before things escalated.
"I treated them as a reward for helping me."
"!" The Black Turtle Tower students looked at Yi Han with gratitude. 'Wodanaz...!'
"That's right! We helped Wodanaz!"
Hearing this, Salko's expression softened.
"That's a relief. I was worried you might have been freeloading without paying anything."
"Of course not, Salko."
"You know how much I hate the word 'idleness,' Salko."
"Alright, I get it."
Yi Han then asked Salko, who was about to leave, "Do you want to take a potato?"
Yi Han's reason for asking was simple.
The potatoes he grew in his garden were loved by everyone, even the princess.
Of course, Yi Han had his suspicions that the princess might just find anything he made delicious, given how his followers talked about her...
But more importantly, Salko had been staring intently at the potatoes in Yi Han's basket earlier.
Either he loved potatoes or had some kind of grudge against them.
"... No, I'm fine. I don't have anything to pay you with right now."
"You can just take it."
"Don't insult me, Wodanaz. A dwarf from the Tutanta family doesn't accept charity without working for it."
'But you're an elf...' Before Yi Han could say anything, Salko quickly left, as if staring at the potatoes for too long would tempt him into taking one.
"Times are tough for thieves like me," Ratford said, nodding as he explained the situation to Yi Han.
Originally, the students of the Black Turtle Tower came from diverse backgrounds and tended to stick to their own groups.
But as time went on, certain individuals began to stand out.
Tutanta Salko was one such individual—a dwarf, or rather, an elf.
Thanks to his exceptional magical skills and rock-solid sense of responsibility, the number of friends following him grew.
'Why Nilia...' Yi Han suddenly felt sorry for Nilia.
She had also done a lot for the Black Turtle Tower students, but while they liked her, they didn't see her as a leader to follow.
It was the complete opposite with Salko.
'Is it the difference between a dark elf and an elf? No, that doesn't seem to be the reason.'
Regardless, Salko's followers increased, and at the same time, the underground market run by the Black Turtle Tower also grew in size.
Students from the Blue Dragon Tower and the White Tiger Tower began coming to exchange goods.
But with that, problems also started to arise.
"Why is this bread five loaves?!"
"You can't do that here!"
"Hey, this coffee is fake! Give me back my bread!"
"Once you buy it, there's no refund! And I told you it was fake coffee made from dandelions!"
With students from other towers coming and going, conflicts were inevitable.
However, the Black Turtle Tower students found it difficult to stand their ground when disputes arose.
Their opponents were from noble families or knight families.
So, the Black Turtle Tower students turned to Salko, the most reliable figure—not Nilia.
After some thought, Salko agreed but insisted on enforcing his own rules.
"If you want the other tower students to follow my rules, you have to follow them first!"
"Got it, Tutanta!"
"Of course, we'll follow your rules!"
"Remember, if you don't work, you don't eat."
"Great rule!"
"Those other tower students would never follow it, right?"
"Also, no stolen goods."
"......"
"......"
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"No! No!"
Of course, there were complaints, but thanks to Salko's strict enforcement, many issues were resolved.
After hearing the explanation, Yi Han was indignant.
"It's always the same. A few troublemakers make life hard for the good people. Because of those White Tiger Tower guys, thieves like you and me are starving."
"That's true," Ratford nodded in agreement.
"Must be tough, Ratford. So, what are you doing now?"
"Oh, I'm fine. I'm secretly selling stolen goods."
Yi Han was slightly impressed by Ratford's calm demeanor.
Truly, a professional thief.
Running an underground market within an underground market...
"Of course, since I can't do it openly, the scale has shrunk a lot. But I'm doing something else now."
"?"
Ratford pointed to a corner of the underground market.
A few Black Turtle Tower students were sitting there, not selling goods but doing something else.
"Here, look closely. There's an emperor card among these three cards. I'll shuffle them, and if you find it, you get double your money."
He flipped three cards and shuffled them in a dazzling manner.
If you found the emperor card, you'd get double your money.
...
It was gambling!
"Is gambling allowed?"
"Tutanta doesn't like gambling, but... he allowed it. If we banned that too, there'd be too much discontent."
In terms of criminal activity, the Black Turtle Tower had the highest ratio.
Thieves' guilds, gambling guilds—those kinds of people usually ended up in the Black Turtle Tower.
Salko knew this, so he turned a blind eye to such money games, considering them a form of labor.
Besides card gambling, there were chess bets, lock-picking (which was probably Ratford's job), and other various activities.
'What is this, an adventurer's guild?'
"Ahhh! My bread!! Three days' worth of bread!!"
"Sorry... I shuffled a bit too slowly..."
A White Tiger Tower student was tearing his hair out, having lost his fortune.
"Don't give up, Duke. You just had bad luck this time. Try one more time!"
"It's not that hard! You'll get it this time!"
Yi Han looked at the opponent.
It was a face he'd seen before—Imirg, the giant hybrid he'd met in Professor Mortum's dark magic class.
Yi Han was oddly impressed. 'Being a giant definitely makes your opponent underestimate you.'
To anyone watching, Imirg's massive hands seemed clumsy and slow.
But Yi Han could see clearly—Imirg was subtly using sleight of hand while shuffling the cards.
'He's good.'
In a world with magic, one might think there's no place for sleight of hand tricks.
But there were still those who mastered such skills—gamblers from the gambling guilds.
Using magic to cheat was too risky, so they relied purely on manual dexterity.
Yi Han guessed that Imirg might be from a gambling guild.
"Don't ever gamble against Imirg," Ratford advised, misunderstanding Yi Han's gaze.
Even Ratford, who had some skill, had never beaten Imirg.
He was that much of a master within the Black Turtle Tower.
"I'm not really interested in gambling, Ratford. I was just watching for fun."
Yi Han clenched and unclenched his fist, and a coin disappeared.
Ratford was amazed.
"As expected of Wodanaz! I always thought you had the makings of a great thief, and I wasn't wrong!"
"Lower your voice. People might hear and get embarrassed."
Yi Han felt more embarrassed than proud at the enthusiastic reaction to his simple coin trick.
"Not at all, Wodanaz. With skills like that, you could easily take a spot here."
"......"
For a moment, Yi Han was tempted.
It sounded plausible.
'Was all the practice I did secretly for this moment?'
To steal bread and meat from the pockets of White Tiger Tower students...
"But I'm from a different tower."
"I'll talk to them. There are several friends who owe you favors, so it should be fine."
But before Ratford could get up, Salko appeared from behind.
Behind him were the Black Turtle Tower students he had mentioned earlier, standing like criminals.
"Wodanaz, I asked again, and it turns out these friends of mine did get the food without paying anything."
'Those big-mouthed idiots.'
Yi Han cursed the Black Turtle Tower students in his mind.
If you're going to lie, at least stick to it.
Yi Han was different—he could lie until the end of the world.
"It couldn't be helped. Our family motto is 'Share food with the hungry.'"
Yi Han had a way of making even nonsense sound serious.
The listening students found themselves nodding in agreement.
Of course! No wonder Wodanaz always fed his friends so well...
"I'm not blaming you, Wodanaz. It's not your fault. I came to apologize for my friends' mistake. It was an irresponsible act, the kind lazy nobles or reckless knights would do."
Salko bowed his head in apology.
The Black Turtle Tower students also bowed, glancing nervously.
Then, the students from other towers waiting outside the underground market protested.
"That's too harsh!"
"Lazy nobles? You have no idea how hard a noble's life is!"
"Do you know how heavy the honor and responsibility we knights carry are?!"
'Even though they're from the same tower, they're really annoying.'
For a moment, Yi Han almost sided with Salko.
These shameless, conscience-less guys...
Salko completely ignored them.
"I want them to pay for what they ate, but my friends don't have the means right now."
"Don't worry about it."
The Blue Dragon Tower students kept meticulous records, down to the last penny, but Yi Han had no intention of doing the same for the Black Turtle Tower students.
"No, I'll pay on their behalf."
"!"
Yi Han was surprised.
Paying on their behalf? 'The Tutanta family must be rich.'
They were a famous stonemason guild family in the empire, so it made sense they had money.
Yi Han pondered how much to charge for the tomato vegetable stew he'd made last time.
"I heard a rumor that you wander around the school at night, Wodanaz. Is it true?"
"I have no idea what nonsense you've heard, but that's completely false."
"......"
"......"
The Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower students listening outside were baffled.
'Does that guy have a steel plate for a face?'
'Do the Wodanaz family train in emotional control?'
Despite Yi Han's denial, Salko pressed on.
"I have some information that might be useful to you."
"!"