Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 694
Lee Han’s group drove the wagons and passed through the underground passage.
Each time the hard stone floor and the wagon wheels struck, echoes spread up to the passage’s high ceiling.
Seeing the lights that illuminated the long, long underground passage, Alde clicked his tongue to himself.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say there were so many passages beneath Einroguard that even the Skull Principal couldn’t grasp their full number.
To think there had been a road like this here.
“This reminds me of the passage I found last year.”
“A passage?”
Lee Han asked brightly.
As the junior finally escaped the face twisted with pain and hatred, Alde answered with a bit of relief.
“Yeah. Do you remember last year’s flood, by any chance?”
“Yes.”
There was no way he could forget.
How much Lee Han and the first-year students had suffered.
Lee Han had even had to face an enraged spirit directly to solve the problem.
“Einroguard’s natural disasters are painful, but at the same time, they become opportunities for students.”
That sounds like something the Skull Principal would say.
Lee Han thought that if the other party heard it, they’d burst into sorrowful tears.
“As the school’s solid order shakes, hidden side paths reveal themselves. It was the same then.”
“You were lucky.”
“Well…”
Alde made a bitter expression.
“It was a path, but of all things, it was a sewer where magical waste passes through. And even then, we got caught and failed.”
Escaping Einroguard always held countless failures and dangers.
Just because a path opened didn’t mean there would always be glory.
“Junior. With your abilities you’ll manage on your own, but never let your guard down. Einroguard is like a swamp. If you relax, before you know it, it’ll be up to your neck.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
“I just hope nothing goes wrong.”
With a worried expression, Alde looked back.
He was worried about what lay ahead soon, but truthfully, he was worried about behind them too.
Since this plan was built on a tight schedule, any variable could tangle the situation.
He wasn’t sure the first-years who’d taken the rear would do as well as the first-year beside him.
“It’ll be fine. My friends are all as outstanding as I am.”
“Well, yeah. Just from that potion, it wasn’t normal. Professor Thunderwalk will be pleased.”
“The one who made that is Priestess Siana, who’s in the back.”
“That’s reassuring. What about the other friends?”
“Dergeu is an excellent knight. He’s evenly matched with me in swordsmanship.”
“As expected… Huh?”
Alde hesitated.
If someone was evenly matched with a Blue Dragon Tower student in swordsmanship, that didn’t sound that outstanding.
“T-That’s so, then. And?”
“Nillia is a hunter from the Shadow Patrol.”
“What’s the Shadow Patrol?”
“No. How can you not know the Empire’s greatest patrolmen guarding the northern mountains?”
When the junior, who was always calm, snapped in anger, Alde panicked.
“S-sorry. I’m from the south.”
“Even if you’re from the south, that’s common knowledge!”
“I-I’ll remember it. Any other friend?”
“Hm. I think that’s everyone…”
Yonair, driving the wagon behind them, spoke quietly.
“Gainando.”
“Oh. Gainando. Gainando is a good friend too.”
“You just forgot him—”
“I misspoke because I’m tense.”
“So what’s so great about that friend?”
“Upperclassman. Your voice is too loud. Please be quiet.”
“……”
This bastard?
*****
“Will it be okay?”
“It’ll be okay.”
“Will it be okay?”
“It’ll be okay.”
“Will it be okay?”
“It’ll be okay.”
“Will it be oka—”
Nillia, Dergeu, and Siana exchanged glances.
Then they quickly grabbed both of Gainando’s arms and covered his mouth.
“Mmph! Mmph-mmph!”
No matter how much they tried to put up with him, it was too much for a friend to ask every five seconds whether it would be okay.
When the real Gainando signaled to let him go, Dergeu carefully removed the gag.
“Gainando. If you keep doing that, we’ll have no choice but to tie you up again.”
“Sniff… I’m worried, that’s all.”
“I’m worried too, Gainando. But it’ll be okay. Lee Han went, didn’t he?”
“Yonair can get caught, but I want Lee Han to get out.”
At Gainando’s mutter, Nillia and Siana shot him contempt-filled looks.
That trash bastard.
“Then let the upperclassman get caught instead.”
“Right. Upperclassman will be fine.”
“Well, yeah. Upperclassman might be fine…”
While they picked a scapegoat among themselves, a faint light began to appear in the distance.
At that light, Nillia felt her heart drop.
“W-wagons!”
“What? No way. It shouldn’t be yet!”
Nillia lightly jumped down from the tree and whispered urgently.
“Three wagons. Two lanterns per wagon. It’s the merchant company wagons.”
“Damn it, Flameang!”
“?”
Dergeu doubted his ears for a moment at Priestess Siana’s curse, but there was no time to ask again.
A merchant company wagon coming at this time was the worst scenario among what they’d anticipated.
Lee Han had gone into the merchant company and delivered false contact by forging the Skull Principal’s and Professor Verdus’s signatures.
And part of that content had included delaying the real wagon arrival time by about three hours.
They were going to use that bought time so Lee Han’s group could punch through quickly…
“Since they’re delivering supplies to Einroguard, it looks like they came early to wait.”
“Why does Einroguard have such a uselessly terrible reputation?”
“It can’t be helped. Take out what we prepared! Gainando. Can you do it?”
“T-That.”
They’d prepared, but when the moment actually came, Gainando tensed up.
Dergeu grabbed both of Gainando’s shoulders and spoke firmly.
“You have to do it, Gainando! If you fail, Lee Han might get caught!”
“O-Okay. I’ll do it! Let’s go!”
“Good. Everyone to your positions!”
From far away, the merchant wagons approached with a clattering rattle.
Normally the laborers would hum as they drove, but today they were silent as dead.
They only muttered very quietly.
-Please let us drop it off and get out safely…
-Please let us drop it off safely…
Delivering supplies to Einroguard was terrifying no matter how many times you did it.
“H-Help!”
“?!”
“My friend collapsed!”
Nillia ran out and shouted at the laborers.
The laborers turned, flustered. Inside the bushes, a blond boy was collapsed, foam at his mouth.
“What happened?”
“We came out to see a big moonlight squirrel that only appears at night, but I think he accidentally ate a weird flower!”
“Why would he eat that?!”
The laborers, without realizing it, snapped in anger.
Even though the other side looked wealthy and high-ranking, they were so dumbfounded they still snapped.
“S-Sorry. It just… looked pretty…”
“If something looks pretty, you can’t just eat anything!”
The laborers rushed over and checked Gainando’s condition.
Gainando closed his eyes and concentrated.
I’m sick. I’m sick.
Remembering all the times he’d faked illness last year when he didn’t want to study, Gainando foamed at the mouth and trembled all over.
The laborers grew serious at the sight.
“It looks very serious.”
“If it’s around here, didn’t he eat a Kalaibi flower or a Lanaton flower?”
“Either way, we should get him to the village quickly.”
At the laborers’ reports, the person in charge hesitated, then decided.
“Bring him up onto the wagon! It’ll be uncomfortable since it’s a cargo wagon, but it can’t be helped. It’s good we departed early. ”
When they somehow succeeded, the students’ faces brightened.
They’d bought time!
CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP—
“?”
When hoofbeats sounded from the other side, the laborers and the students turned their heads.
A traveler they’d never seen before was riding a horse and approaching.
“Excuse me. Is someone injured? I was passing along the upper road over there, and it seemed like someone was injured…”
“Are you a healing mage, by any chance?”
“Yes. I’m Phil, a healing mage from Einroguard.”
“Gah!”
The laborers brightened. The students despaired.
Of all times, an upperclassman had to show up without reading the room!
“A healing mage from Einroguard! What a relief! There’s someone who ate a strange flower and collapsed!”
“Why would he eat it?!”
“We don’t really know either!”
“Alright. I’m coming!”
As Phil started approaching, the juniors looked at each other with eyes full of despair.
Then Gainando whispered to Siana.
“Priestess Siana.”
“Yes?”
“Th-that… give it to me. Hurry.”
“Don’t tell me…”
Siana panicked.
It was poison—made at Gainando’s request before departure.
It wouldn’t kill you, but it made you truly hurt—real poison!
She’d thought he’d use a drop or two if the act got awkward, but now? Right now?
“Hurry!”
“H-Here.”
“Tell Lee Han. I drank it heroically…!”
“I will!”
Gainando opened the cap and chugged the real poison.
Then he started foaming and convulsing.
“GWAAAAAAGH!”
“Oh, oh no! Hurry and come! The patient’s condition is bad!”
Phil rushed over and checked Gainando’s condition.
Then he cried out in shock. The poison wasn’t a single ingredient.
“How much did he eat… no, how many different flowers did he eat?”
“W-We don’t really…”
“Let’s go to the village! The reagents I have right now might not be enough!”
“Understood!”
“Hold on a little! I’ll treat you soon!”
When Phil shouted while gripping Gainando’s hand tightly, the other friends watched with complicated expressions.
*****
-Organize it inside.
At the end of the underground passage, the storehouse came into view.
It was the storehouse Lee Han had seen before.
The storehouse keeper isn’t here!
Lee Han and Alde exchanged looks.
Since the Death Knights had no interest in organizing the storehouse, they wouldn’t come inside.
Now they just had to go into the storehouse and move as fast as possible.
Luck was with them.
SCRAPE!
Lee Han’s group lifted boxes from the wagons like skilled laborers and set them down inside the storehouse.
“Yonair, Ratford. I’m counting on you. If we can’t make it back—”
“Forget it. Let’s just get caught together.”
“No. Even if it’s just you, get the wagons moving. What’s the point of all of us being in the punishment ward together?”
In case of the worst, two people had to remain at the storehouse and leave an excuse.
The Death Knights might be indifferent to work like this, but “no one at all” was a different story.
“Rise, warriors of bone.”
Lee Han summoned skeleton warriors strengthened with dark element and even called Gonadaltes to take the leader role.
Since the cargo they had to move was what it was, they needed a lot of hands.
Alde stared blankly at the undead summons, then simply shut his mouth.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah, let’s go!”
Lee Han and Alde started running with the cargo.
They sprinted through the empty underground storehouse district, climbed the stairs, and the area behind the central entrance came into view.
An empty banquet hall, a large hall, and several closed doors.
“This way!”
From here, Alde knew the place too, so they ran without hesitation.
Cross into the area in front of the central entrance, then use the stairs to go up to the main building’s second-floor storehouse.
That was the original plan—
“!”
“!!!!”
Both of them froze in shock.
Where there should have been a door to cross into the front area, there was a wall.
“Damn Einroguard! The layout changed!”
Alde spat a curse.
They said Einroguard’s terrain changed often, but of all times, it had to change now!
“We have to find the door!”
“Without a clue, it’s hard. In a situation like this—”
Even with the upperclassman’s words, Lee Han didn’t waver.
Einroguard’s main building is unpredictable, but the first floor, where outsiders come and go often, doesn’t change that easily. There has to be a door not far from here.
Lee Han sharpened his senses and tried to feel the surrounding mana flow.
Where there was magic, there was a path.
If he could find the sense of wrongness, surely—
“Upperclassman. This wall isn’t a wall. It’s a door!”
“What?”
Alde reacted late and waved his wand.
Amazingly, the junior was right.
It wasn’t a wall—it was a door cleverly disguised as a wall!
If he’d specialized in illusion magic, he should have noticed first, but to make a mistake like this out of impatience…
Alde’s face reddened with shame.
“I’m sorry! I should have found it. I’ll dispel it right away.”
If he unraveled the illusion-wall, «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the door would appear. Alde dropped to one knee, pressed his wand, and tried to chant.
“Upperclassman. How long will it take?”
“Five to ten minutes!”
“That won’t do. Let’s break it by force!”
“How do you break that by force?!”
At the brutally stupid suggestion, Alde’s eyes went wide.
Lee Han pressed his wand and swung a mana hammer, blasting the illusion away.
BOOM!
The wall vanished, and the door appeared.
“Let’s go!”
“Y-You… what the hell was that just now—”
“It’s Valdororn’s Mana Hammer!”
“…Later, you absolutely have to explain in detail!”
Confused by the illusion mage’s name he’d never heard before, Alde ran.
