Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 690

“?!”

At the shout that it was done, Siana’s eyes went wide as she turned around.

It was shocking enough that Lee Han had been analyzing magic he’d seen on the spot—yet he was already finished?

“Oh, you’re done?”

Gainando, however, didn’t look surprised at all as Gainando opened the door.

“Then shall we play a round of mage cards—”

“No.”

“Right? I was just asking.”

Watching Gainando immediately backpedal and retreat, Siana fell into slight confusion.

‘…Am I the weird one?!’

Maybe this wasn’t actually something to be shocked by, and only Siana found it unbelievable.

“What is it, Priestess?”

“He said he finished analyzing the seniors’ magic.”

“GASP!”

Dergeu was so startled he nearly fell over.

At that reaction, Siana let out a sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness. It was Lord Gainando who was weird!’

“So it really was transformation magic.”

Lee Han came out from inside and looked his friends over. Spotting Dergeu standing in an awkward half-crouch, Lee Han stared as if it was odd and asked,

“What are you doing like that?”

“J-just… a bit of exercise.”

“Aren’t you training too hard? Anyway, it was transformation magic.”

A third-circle spell that transforms living creatures under a certain size into wooden crates: <Low-Grade Crate Transformation>.

From the outside, the flow of mana had been familiar and easy to understand, so Lee Han had judged it would be something within his expectations—and it was.

“Feels like luck is on our side. The seniors used a spell I could watch and analyze.”

‘That doesn’t feel like luck at all…’

Siana thought to herself.

From the seniors’ perspective, it was honestly an outrageously unfair statement.

How could anyone possibly predict that a junior who’d only just finished first year might be able to skim a spell, grasp its structure, and learn it?

Nillia whispered to Yonair.

“I always thought Wardanaz was good at magic, but lately doesn’t he seem more and more like a lunatic?”

“Mm. I want to deny it, but I can’t…”

After quieting the idle chatter, Lee Han spoke again.

“They were probably going to toss something noisy into our luggage pile to cause a disturbance.”

“That’s vile beyond words!”

“Let’s definitely do it next year too!”

“……”

When the others all stared at him, Gainando flinched.

“Huh? You’re not going to do it next year?”

“Now that we’ve figured out the spell, there isn’t much to worry about on that end.”

Ignoring him, Lee Han kept going.

If you could learn the spell and simply tell it apart, stopping this kind of method wasn’t difficult.

You just found what was mixed into the luggage, dispelled it, or threw it back into the seniors’ luggage pile.

“Then everyone, get ready to go out and wander around.”

“Again?”

“Again? How many times have we even done it?”

At Lee Han’s words, the others sighed and rose from their seats.

When they arrived in Granden City, Lee Han chose the least popular, outermost gate among the dozens of city gates and entered through there.

That still wasn’t enough—Lee Han also tossed a rough, worn cloth over the carriage so nobody could guess it belonged to a noble house.

All of it was to slip into the villa without the seniors noticing. If they arrived in Granden City with plenty of supplies and the seniors spotted them, it could become a nuisance.

After safely storing the supplies at the villa, what Lee Han chose next was to make contact with as many seniors as possible.

To pry a bit about their smuggling methods, and if they had malicious intentions, to prepare in advance…

For that, Lee Han and the others needed to roam all around Granden City like naïve first-years who didn’t know anything.

“Alright. Everyone, remember this. If a senior brings up smuggling, or starts talking about Einroguard’s secrets—”

“GASP!”

“I’m shocked!”

“No way!”

“How could that happen! That’s impossible!”

At his friends’ blatantly fake reactions, Lee Han nodded in satisfaction.

“Good. Don’t forget to react like that and pretend to be fooled. Everyone, move out!”

*****

The Skull Principal’s loyal knight, the Death Knight, walked down Granden City’s main avenue with a robe pulled low.

In truth, it could have walked in the bright midday sun just fine, but this was goodwill—consideration for the people of Granden City.

‘House Wardanaz’s villa…’

Arriving in front of House Wardanaz’s villa as ordered, the Death Knight knocked on the front gate.

-Who is it?

-I have come under the Principal’s orders. Students, please open the gate.

-…AAAAH! It’s the Principal’s raid!

-It’s not a raid, it’s a message—

The Death Knight tried to explain in a fluster, but the students began preparing with a loud clatter of running footsteps.

-Lee Han! A death knight came to the door!

-What the… what did they find out?

-I don’t know!

-I’ll contact the temple. Let’s call the priestesses and attack!

Today’s Death Knight messenger had relatively little experience dealing with students.

Unlike the seasoned Death Knights, it shouted in panic.

-There is a misunderstanding, everyone!

-Don’t listen! It’s trying to trick us into opening the gate!

-It came to take the first-years away! The first-years!

-……

CREEEAK—

The villa’s inner manor door opened, and students poured out with eyes full of suspicion.

Only then could the Death Knight finally breathe out.

“Is it really true?”

-I can swear on my honor as a knight. The first-years must enter first.

The Skull Principal had left Eandurde in Lee Han’s care over the break, but with the semester about to start, that couldn’t continue.

And now that Lee Han was becoming a second-year, Eandurde couldn’t be kept attached to the first-years either.

“…A trap?”

Eandurde, who had been solving equations, stared at the Death Knight with eyes full of suspicion.

“It’s not a trap.”

“But… it’s a Death Knight.”

“Oh. The Principal uses Death Knights as minions.”

“?!”

Leaving the horrified Eandurde behind, Lee Han opened the gate.

No matter what, he couldn’t keep the Skull Principal’s messenger standing outside forever.

As it stepped inside, the Death Knight swept its gaze over House Wardanaz’s villa. It felt practically clean and utilitarian, as if it had no interest in appearances or luxury.

-You aren’t preparing smuggling, are you?

“KEUGH.”

“KHUHK.”

The Death Knight had asked lightly, but when the students started coughing as if they’d choked, it panicked.

-A-ah, no. You’re already preparing smuggling? You’re first-years?

“What… what are you basing that on?”

-You arrived early, and I can see you’ve piled up all sorts of luggage… Do not smuggle. I’m saying this for your sake.

At the Death Knight’s words, the students shot it a look that said, So you really are the Skull Principal’s minion.

Realizing that look too late, the Death Knight shouted,

-I’m not saying this because I serve my master!

“Of course you aren’t…”

-Truly, I’m saying it for your sake. Smuggling is bad! At a glance it looks tempting, but you can lose everything you prepared and end up in the punishment ward. And…

The Death Knight hesitated.

It didn’t want to sow discord among students for no reason.

-…A-and, trusting seniors too much is dangerous.

“Yes.”

“Right.”

“We know.”

-?!!

When the students reacted with flat, dry responses, the Death Knight was thrown into confusion.

-A-are you not surprised?

“I’m surprised.”

-You don’t look surprised at all—

“My friends all tend to be expressionless.”

Lee Han lied shamelessly. The Death Knight was bewildered, but could only nod.

“How has the Principal been lately?”

-Yes. Thanks to Lord Wardanaz knocking down all the bureaucrats, things have become much easier.

“????”

The friends beside him doubted their own ears.

What had Lee Han done?

But Lee Han didn’t have the leisure to correct the misunderstanding. Since he’d run into the Principal’s minion anyway, he needed to squeeze out as much information as possible.

“Is there anything the Principal is wary of, or paying special attention to?”

-Are you asking that in order to smuggle?

The Death Knight wasn’t stupid.

It could tell what was behind the students’ question.

-But I will answer.

“!”

-If you learn about Einroguard’s ironclad defenses, you will abandon the thought of smuggling.

“Oh…!”

If the Skull Principal had been listening, it would have snapped, Some people abandon it and some don’t!—but fortunately, the Skull Principal wasn’t here.

-My master has increased the number of Death Knights in preparation for the new semester. Knights who were patrolling elsewhere have returned as well.

‘You’re going this far just to inspect smuggled goods?’

While writing down the increased Death Knight numbers, Lee Han lamented inwardly.

Wasn’t it enough to just use the people already on hand?

-Dimensional hounds have also been summoned. They will patrol from the school’s main gate to the mountain range and check for any contraband trying to cross.

“…D-do you usually inspect this intensely?”

-Usually about once every ten years. We must gather knights from other places, after all… and the dimensional hounds are rather troublesome creatures.

‘Why does it have to be this year?’

Lee Han seethed inwardly at the fact that, among the cycles where smuggling difficulty rose and fell, he’d drawn the losing ticket.

Couldn’t he have picked the low-difficulty year!

“And the skies—”

-Good question! The number of Bone Wyverns has increased. I thought it unnecessary to go so far as the skies, but my master is meticulous. Perhaps my master judged that there may be students who attempt to cross from above.

“…!!”

That sent a chill down his spine.

It might have been coincidence, but Lee Han instinctively felt the Skull Principal was targeting him.

‘No. Break is over and you’re still…!’

The Skull Principal had been waiting for a chance to repay last year’s humiliation—when Lee Han escaped through the spire stables—no matter what.

If Lee Han had tried smuggling with Amur’s help without knowing this, he would have been badly caught out.

‘It’s good I found out beforehand, but losing one of my methods hurts.’

Unlike the seniors, it was one of the methods only Lee Han could use—yet it was blocked.

Even if it was frustrating, there was nothing to be done. Lee Han decided he would shelve the spire-stables route until the Skull Principal’s wariness eased.

“But aren’t there many outstanding mages among the seniors? Is it really possible to check every last one of their spells, one by one?”

With a sore spot pressed, the Death Knight hesitated before answering.

-We cannot catch… all of them. But that does not mean you should smuggle. Only a tiny fraction succeed, and do you truly want to bear that risk?

‘Yes…’

‘We do want to bear it.’

The students thought to themselves.

“Hearing it like this does make the thought of smuggling fade a little.”

-Does it!

The Death Knight’s eyes brightened.

If its words helped prevent the students’ mistakes even a little, it was satisfied.

-Then that is a relief. You will understand once you experience it, but there is no end to the chaos. There is no student who passes the inspection quietly. They cast magic, cause disturbances, slip away, and sometimes riots even break out—

“…A riot?”

-They must think that if everyone runs wild together, we cannot put them all in the punishment ward! Of course, my master does. That year, for the first week, lectures were held in the punishment ward.

The seniors’ past was extremely interesting.

Lee Han listened with intense focus, wondering if there was anything he could use.

-And this time, the storehouse keeper will also come out to assist with the inspection. No matter how skilled the students’ magic is, it will be truly difficult to pass!

Lee Han nodded.

The storehouse keeper, with its ability to detect mana, was the very embodiment of fear for students taking /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ night walks.

Lee Han himself had had a few close calls.

‘Wait. If the storehouse keeper comes outside to help with inspections, then the underground…?’

-Wardanaz, sir?

“Yes?”

-Who is that?

The Death Knight pointed forward with a bewildered look.

A senior bound tight in ropes was trying to escape through the villa’s outer hall, only to get caught by the students and dragged back inside.

-Y-you bastards. How did you even find out? Who told you?!

-Senior. Please stay quietly!

THUD!

When the door slammed shut, Lee Han shrugged.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

-……