Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 696
“What about Senior?!”
Yonair was startled when Lee Han came back alone and immediately asked.
“Caught.”
“That’s a relief, at least! Since Lord Wardanaz didn’t get caught.”
“At least it’s one bit of luck in all this misfortune. Let’s go!”
“……”
Lee Han stared at his friends in horror.
Did his friends perhaps have no such thing as a human heart?
*****
After safely getting out, the three hurriedly erased the wagon’s crest and removed the cargo compartment.
Then they moved to the place where they had parted with the others.
“!”
“No one’s here…”
“Lee Han. We need to move.”
“I know. Let’s go.”
Just because the other friends were not there did not mean they could go looking for them.
Hadn’t this been one of the situations they had assumed in advance when making the plan?
If anyone had to leave because of some response measure, they would meet again in front of the school’s main gate.
As Lee Han drove the wagon, he kept looking worried, so Yonair comforted him from the side.
“They’ll all be fine. Maybe the merchant wagons just came out a little early?”
“That’s probably it, right? They didn’t run into a Death Knight patrol, did they?”
“Uh, is that… a possibility too?”
“I don’t know. But it could be.”
“……”
Yonair looked dumbfounded, but Lee Han was completely serious.
He had felt it strongly while going in and out of the school.
Even if there were a Death Knight patrol, that would not be strange at all!
“Lord Wardanaz. I hear something strange.”
Ratford pricked up Ratford’s ears and signaled.
Somewhere, a gloomy crying sound could be heard.
“Sob… sob…”
“…W-what is that? A monster…?”
Yonair asked in confusion.
Dawn had already passed, and most of the darkness was gone, so what kind of ghost-type monster would show up now?
“I don’t want to go back to school…”
“Waaahhh…”
“……”
“……”
Lee Han and his friends found their other friends bawling their eyes out on the far side of a hill and made bitter expressions.
It was not a monster. It was their friends returning to school.
“Guys.”
“Wardanaz!”
“Stop crying and let’s go.”
“How would you know, Wardanaz? You’re someone who fits Einroguard perfectly!”
“…You bastards.”
Lee Han angrily pulled out his wand.
Normally, he might have laughed it off, but the mental exhaustion piled up during the smuggling had wiped out his patience.
There were things a person could say and things a person could not. How could they say something like that?
“If you don’t stop crying and start running right now, I’ll give you even more to cry about here.”
“Y-you bastard!”
Cursing Lee Han, the friends hurriedly ran off toward the school.
Lee Han glared at their backs and muttered,
“How dare they say something like that.”
“……”
“……”
Yonair and Ratford quietly kept their mouths shut. Lee Han turned toward the two and asked,
“You two think that was nonsense too, right?”
“Huh? Y-yeah. Of course.”
“I-it was nonsense, definitely.”
The closer they got to the school, the more familiar faces began to appear.
Lee Han spotted Adenart and the group of followers around Adenart and greeted them.
“Oh. Your Highness.”
“Wardanaz. I received your letter well.”
“Yes. I received yours well too…”
As he answered, Lee Han trailed off at the end.
Even saying that he had received Adenart’s letter well felt a little risky.
‘Would it be all right to tell Adenart to write less next time? Wouldn’t that be a little rude?’
One of the followers at the side spoke to Lee Han in envy.
“You got a letter from Her Highness too? I’m jealous!”
“You could have sent one too.”
“It would be rude to act that familiar on your own, Wardanaz!”
‘Wouldn’t it be ruder for the whole group not to send anything…?’
Put kindly, it was courtesy, but honestly, Lee Han wondered whether this was just ostracism.
That was what Lee Han thought, but he decided to put it nicely.
“Well, I suppose you all stayed close even during winter break, so there was no need to send letters.”
Adenart nodded, satisfaction showing even on that expressionless face.
After finishing their visits with their respective families, the followers had gathered around Adenart and spent the break together.
It had been an extremely full and fulfilling winter break.
Hunting, exploring snowy mountains, touring mage guilds, participating in workshop jobs, banquets, and so on.
“We had a good time together too.”
Ratford, perhaps wanting to boast as well, spoke up for the first time in a while.
It had been a winter break with little profit, but all the more friendship because of it.
“Oh? How did you spend it?”
“We visited House Wardanaz’s estate and looked around the territory.”
“!”
At Ratford’s words, Adenart looked surprised and even a little envious.
Anyone serious about researching magic could not help but be curious about House Wardanaz’s territory.
“I’m curious. House Wardanaz’s territory?”
“Right. Is it like Einroguard?”
“You’re all being too harsh. Ha ha.”
When the followers reacted unexpectedly positively, Adenart was intrigued.
If everyone was that interested, then perhaps next break…
“Shouldn’t you all visit too?”
“Oh, that won’t do. If Her Highness visits another noble family’s territory, pointless rumors could spread.”
“It’s the kind of thing that needs a very careful sequence, considering the Empire’s politics. If Her Highness visits a loyalist territory, then next would have to be an aristocratic-faction territory.”
“But my house is neutral.”
“Even so, no. Her Highness is strict.”
As Adenart’s own words came back to catch Adenart by the ankle, Adenart looked dejected.
“And after that?”
“We went to Plaher City and visited Lord Gainando’s estate.”
“I’m not very jealous of that.”
“That sounds boring.”
“Her Highness’s estate sounds like it would have been better.”
The followers instantly responded with indifference.
Adenart also shrugged, apparently not particularly envious of that either.
Then, remembering something, Adenart jabbed the followers with an elbow.
“It seems like now would be a good time.”
“What do you mean?”
“…What I mentioned last time. Do you not remember?”
“What are you… Ah! Ahhh!”
The followers remembered and exclaimed.
“Wardanaz!”
“Hm?”
“I heard you’re under a major misunderstanding. The misunderstanding that Her Highness stole the White Tiger Tower students’ bread.”
“Not quite that much—”
“That is a misunderstanding! We had our bread stolen first, and Her Highness merely got it back for us.”
“That’s right. Her Highness absolutely did not take it first.”
“……”
“……”
Yonair and Ratford looked at the pleased followers and Adenart with pity. Whatever else might be true, none of them seemed particularly skilled at clearing things up.
If they were that blatant about it, wouldn’t they create an accusation that had not even existed before?
“I did think something felt strange.”
Lee Han answered like that, then looked at the two beside him. Yonair immediately chimed in.
“I said from the start that something felt off!”
“That’s right. I remember saying that not just anyone can be a bread thief. Ha ha!”
At the three responses, Adenart and the followers left in great satisfaction.
Then a new friend appeared.
It was Asan of House Dalcard.
“Asan. Have you been well? Did you get my letter?”
“I’ve been well. It was a good break. My older brother and older sister were very happy to get the letter.”
“That’s good.”
“They said they wish you were their younger brother.”
“Ha ha. Even as a joke, that’s nice to hear.”
“It didn’t sound like a joke. They even asked when you, Wardanaz, were coming next.”
“……”
Lee Han decided he should be a little more careful when visiting House Dalcard in the future.
He already had more than enough eccentrics around him and had no desire to add more.
“Lee Han. Over there!”
Yonair whispered, unable to hide the joy. In the distance, Nillia’s group was coming toward them.
“Everyone’s safe!”
“That’s a real relief!”
“…Why does Gainando look like that?”
Lee Han muttered in confusion.
Unlike the others, only Gainando’s complexion was so pale that Gainando looked half-undead.
“Wasn’t Gainando always like that?”
“I think so.”
At the two reactions, Lee Han wondered if he had just seen wrong for a moment.
But he had not.
“That really is pale!”
“Maybe it’s because Gainando learned dark magic?”
“That doesn’t cause an effect like that. Is everyone all right?”
As the friends approached, Lee Han checked their condition first. Fortunately, aside from Gainando’s pale complexion, there seemed to be no other problem.
“Gainando. Why does your face—”
When Lee Han asked, Gainando grinned as if waiting for the question.
Even while reeling from being sickened by poison, Gainando had been waiting only for a chance to boast.
“Well, that’s—”
“Where’s Senior?”
“Caught.”
Lee Han answered with a grim expression.
Afraid the other friends might react as cold-bloodedly as Yonair and Ratford had, Lee Han quickly explained what had happened.
Adding as much stylish embellishment as possible!
“No way…!”
“Incredible! To think Senior was that kind of person!”
Maybe the effect worked, because the friends reacted differently this time.
Yonair and Ratford, apparently embarrassed, whispered separately to Lee Han.
“I was only saying it was a relief that at least you made it out. You know that, right?”
“I thought that senior had been caught while betraying us.”
Siana spoke as if it were truly hard to believe.
“To think Senior would even use magic like that to draw attention. That’s really astonishing.”
“I fully agree. Senior may not be from a knightly house, but it was a knightly sacrifice. I never thought Senior was that kind of person when I first met him.”
“Your actions changed Senior’s heart, Wardanaz. There are hunters in the mountains too who are prickly, but good once you get close to them.”
Lee Han and his friends nodded and commemorated Senior Alde’s sacrifice.
After the conversation ended, Lee Han looked at Gainando again and asked,
“So why does your face look like that?”
“…Wait. I want to say it later. If I say it now, my story will be a little…”
“What do you mean later? Say it now.”
“No! If I say it now, it’ll seem weak by comparison!”
While they were talking, Lee Han suddenly felt something off.
‘What is it?’
It felt as if some vast magic had slipped past in secret while deceiving Lee Han’s senses.
FLASH!
“!”
Sure enough, that strange feeling had been exactly right.
When Lee Han came to his senses, every single second-year student who had been waiting outside the main gate had been moved inside.
Welcome back!
“…Yes…”
“Nice to see you…”
The second-year students grasped the situation and greeted the Skull Principal in lifeless voices.
The year they had spent at Einroguard had educated them well.
Are you not glad for the new semester?
“We’re glad…”
Of course you are! You are no longer iron heads! After spending a valuable year at school, you should at ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) least be bronze heads now!
“……”
“……”
The students who had earned the qualification of bronze stared at the Skull Principal with eyes that looked ready to collapse from joy at any moment.
And that is not all. Now you have earned the right to meet your seniors and speak with them! Those who entered before you, studied before you, and encountered plunderers far more vicious and malicious than anything you have known!
“Can we join clubs too?”
Of couuurse! But seeing how you ask about social activities instead of magical research or new lectures you can take, your future is obvious to me!
The White Tiger Tower student who had asked one question and been cursed out for it muttered under the breath.
What lectures you will take, what research you will pursue, how you will secure gold coins, and how you will carry out club activities—those things will be explained not by me, but by your seniors. There is no need to be so impatient. During the inspection time that comes later, you will get to see your seniors’ skill for yourselves.
“Inspection time?”
“What’s that?”
A few who still did not know tilted their heads.
Lee Han’s group kept their expressions under control. There was nothing to gain by looking like they already knew.
I shall be going now, so have a good day… is what I would like to say, but there is one thing I must do first.
The Skull Principal spoke while drawing up mana like a waterfall.
Now that you have earned the right to meet your seniors and speak with them, you also bear the obligation not to meet the juniors and speak with them. Let this geas protect those innocent iron heads from you wicked creatures!
With that shout, a powerful spell sent wave after wave of green ripples weaving among the students.
The geas had begun for every second-year student this year.
A geas that made them unrecognizable to first-years, and prevented direct contact with them!
The students had already been first-years themselves, so they did not panic and simply accepted it calmly. Geases, restrictions, and secret oaths were things one dealt with at Einroguard as naturally as breathing.
In the middle of that, Lee Han tilted his head.
No matter how he looked at it, it did not feel like the magic had taken hold on him.
“Uh, Skull Principal? I think you left me out.”
You have too much mana, so it does not stick well. Avoid them on your own. You can manage at least that much, can’t you?
“……”
