Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 768
That bastard. So it didn’t trust me.
Seeing the response, Lee Han realized what had happened.
In that short time, Beaver-Penguin-Fox had obviously gone around asking the other members too.
Otherwise, there was no reason for that kind of reaction.
Gonadaltes: Judging by this, it seems someone advised Beaver-Penguin-Fox that pulling off magic like that on the spot in the current situation would be impossible?
Iactus: N-no. I recommended doing it.
Gonadaltes: Don’t lie.
In truth, Iactus really had recommended doing it.
The problem was that it had been phrased sarcastically…
Gonadaltes: Compared to you, Baquantalana’s insight is a level higher, Iactus. You should reflect on yourself.
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Actually, Baquantalana said it sounded like a lie too.
Gonadaltes: ……
Baquantalana: I do not think publicly revealing private conversations with others is a good habit.
Not one of them is trustworthy.
Lee Han grumbled to himself.
Sure, maybe it had sounded a little far-fetched, but still—he had just joined, and they had all been badmouthing him behind his back like this.
The club was called <Einroguard’s Watchers>, but what they actually acted like was a bunch of skeptics.
Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I’m busy, so I’m leaving now. Anyway, Gonadaltes, let me thank you again.
Gonadaltes: It wasn’t even difficult. Unlike certain people. I’ll be going too, then.
Iactus: ……
Baquantalana: ……
Iactus: That really isn’t the Skull Principal, right?
*****
With a clattering sound, Agdung reset the jawbone.
“Ugh. That really startled me. What kind of magic was that, exactly?”
The peach-wood wand artifact Professor Taswan had left behind was protected by fairly solid magic.
And considering the kind of spells laid on it, if it had malfunctioned, headlines like ‘Kalarogard Professor Terrorizes Einroguard!!’ or ‘Cause Presumed to Be the Humiliation Suffered During Night of the Dark Mages Seven Years Ago…’ could easily have ended up in the Imperial newspaper.
And yet Lee Han had broken through the protective magic with telekinesis.
Telekinetic spells were one thing when used for delicate control at low output, but once turned into combat magic, their difficulty rose sharply.
They consumed not only mana but mental focus as well, so even battle mages usually used telekinesis only as a support technique.
Embedding it into an item beforehand with enchantment magic, or using it to distract an opponent’s gaze and concentration…
But the Imperial Mage Marshal’s disciple had clearly shattered the protective magic and dragged the wand over using telekinesis alone.
From this distance, and with that level of destructive force?
What spell would do something like that? Something from the telekinesis line… <Summon Small Fist> wouldn’t have enough power. <Minor Shockwave> wouldn’t do it either…
“<Wardanaz’s Telekinetic Force>.”
“Ah. So it must be one of House Wardanaz’s secret spells.”
Only then did Agdung look slightly convinced.
The world of magic was vast, and among it there were sometimes secret spells that showed absurd power far beyond what their circle ought to allow.
What Wardanaz had just used must have been one of those.
After all, one of the famous stories about the head of House Wardanaz involved moving an entire body of seawater to make a reservoir.
“A house spell? Well… I guess you could call it that…”
“May I ask what circle it is?”
“It’s fifth-circle.”
“?”
Agdung wondered whether the jawbone had misheard.
“Fifth-circle?”
“Yes. If you want that much destructive force out of telekinesis, you need at least fifth-circle for it to be stable.”
“Uh, uh-huh. But that’s not what I meant…”
Apparently the Imperial Mage Marshal’s disciple had interpreted “Fifth-circle?” as Do you really have to use a fifth-circle spell just to produce something like that?
“…You remember <Tainted Ones, Begone!> and <Resolve Toward the Fallen>, right?”
“Pardon? Yes.”
One was a third-circle spell, the other a fourth-circle spell—both dark-magic defensive spells.
“And you hadn’t learned either of them?”
“I hadn’t.”
“And what did you say at the time?”
“I’m sorry I hadn’t learned the spells?”
“No! That’s not it! You said you couldn’t learn them because you were only a second-year!!”
For the first time, Agdung snapped at the Imperial Mage Marshal’s disciple. Lee Han looked slightly flustered.
“I-I’m sorry?”
“No, that’s not— sorry. Forget that. Anyway, you said you couldn’t learn them because you were only a second-year!”
“Yes.”
“But the spell you just used was fifth-circle!”
“Agdung. Normally, of course, a mage is supposed to learn spells appropriate to the mage’s level. But every now and then, if a spell matches one’s aptitude, people do learn spells one or two circles above where they should be.”
“……”
Hearing the other side bring out orthodox Imperial magical theory made Agdung want to grind teeth.
Of course, what had just been said was technically true—but that was a matter for relatively manageable spells. The fifth-circle spell Lee Han had just cast absolutely did not belong in that category.
“Right. I’d forgotten that…”
Agdung fixed the jawbone in place again.
It had almost fallen off once more.
When I get back, I really need to tell this story without mentioning Wardanaz.
At this point, there was no room left for tact. It felt like the record needed to be erased entirely, or the younger students would lose all will to live.
FWOOOOOSH!
“!”
A massive clump of contamination source suddenly burst into flames.
Once the earth and water flipped over and exposed the contamination source, upperclassmen from Exiles’ Village on the seventh floor had come rushing in.
“Anyone confident with fire, over here!”
“Priestess! Can you use divine magic?”
“The only divine magic I can use turns water into wine…”
“Those are Einroguard mages! Let’s fall back.”
Agdung gestured to the younger students.
Now that reliable reinforcements had arrived, Lee Han and the others could retreat and rest.
“Agdung. Do you happen to have any spare <Tainted-One Cloaks>?”
“I do, but why?”
“Would you be willing to sell me some?”
“??”
The sudden proposal caught Agdung off guard.
“You’re not planning to take them later to some village or city and sell them, are you? I’m telling you in advance, <Tainted-One Cloaks> don’t sell well. …Actually, they don’t sell at all.”
Agdung tried to soften the wording for the sake of appearances, then hurriedly came clean in case the Imperial Mage Marshal’s disciple actually believed that and bought them.
“I’m planning to sell them to those upperclassmen over there.”
“Mm. Do you think they’d actually sell?”
Agdung took pride in the <Tainted-One Cloak> Kalarogard students had developed, but there was still no confidence at all about whether it would really sell.
Basically, once dark magic school mages reached the point of having to sell something, all confidence collapsed immediately.
“Well, for one thing, they’re mages too, so they probably know how to deal with this kind of thing already, and the appearance is a bit rough, and now that I think about it, I suppose it does smell a little…”
That’s the complete opposite of what was said earlier.
Lee Han stared in mild disbelief.
A moment ago Agdung had been so proud of its performance, but the instant selling entered the picture, the confidence vanished.
“Have more confidence, Agdung. This <Tainted-One Cloak> is definitely an effective item.”
“I-is it?”
Lee Han nodded and approached the upperclassmen preparing to purify the contamination source.
After speaking with them for a while, he came back.
“So what happened, Lee Han?”
“They said they don’t need them. That even without these sm— these items, they can handle it just fine.”
“Damn it. Why do mages have to know how to use magic? It’s infuriating.”
Gainando got angry at the upperclassmen’s refusal.
Mages really were specialized in versatility to an annoying degree, which made it hard to sell them anything.
“I’m going to take a look around.”
“Huh? Why? Where are you—”
While the others were still confused, Lee Han moved off, leaving the mushroom field behind.
Thirty minutes later.
Groups of tainted ones started appearing from several directions at once.
And Lee Han also arrived back at the mushroom field, dismissing the invisibility spell.
“There are a lot of tainted ones.”
“……”
“I’m going to ask the upperclassmen again.”
“D-don’t tell me, Lee Han…”
“Shh. Be quiet.”
Lee Han approached the upperclassmen once more.
Irritated by the swelling numbers of tainted ones, the upperclassmen listened to Lee Han’s proposal far more seriously this time.
“If it’s now, then I think I might actually buy…”
“Is that so…”
After the conversation ended, Lee Han returned.
His friends asked with bright eyes full of expectation,
“You sold them?!”
“Not yet. This time I refused.”
“Huh? Why!?”
“I thought if the number of tainted ones increased, I could sell them for more. Agdung. Could I perhaps also learn a bit about luring tainted ones…”
“……”
*****
“Everyone together! Fight for the forest!”
“Aaaagh! It’s Ilendil!”
“……”
Watching the students flee, Ilendil clicked the tongue in disapproval.
Just because some younger students had been attacked a little for cutting down trees in the forest—was that really a reason to run away in a situation like this?
Still, fortunately, the contamination sources were rapidly decreasing.
The students in Exiles’ Village on the seventh floor were all outstanding mages, and they had clearly realized this was a good opportunity.
“Hm…?”
As Ilendil came out leading the spirits, Ilendil was pleased to spot a familiar junior resting in the mushroom field together with a Kalarogard student.
It was that kindhearted junior who had warmly embraced the out-of-control dark-element spirit last time despite the rampage.
“You…”
“I-Ilendil…!”
Imirg muttered in a frightened voice. Lee Han looked puzzled at the reaction.
Of course, Ilendil was the kind of upperclassman who attacked juniors entering the forest and created artificial dark-element spirits only to let them run wild…
Mm. Fair enough. That is someone to fear.
Even by Lee Han’s standards, Ilendil counted as an evil upperclassman.
Anyone cherished that excessively by spirits couldn’t possibly be normal.
“What’s wrong?”
“The other upperclassmen told me to be careful around Ilendil. T-that Ilendil is really dangerous.”
“Oh, come on. Doesn’t look like it.”
Gainando, who didn’t know Ilendil very well, snorted.
Honestly, judging by appearance alone, Ilendil—a dryad hybrid—looked far less threatening than Imirg, who was a giant hybrid.
“No. Ilendil really is dangerous.”
“That’s right, Gainando.”
Siana and Yonair chimed in with solemn expressions.
Since both belonged to the alchemy school, they had already heard the stories from older students.
“They say Ilendil is the most dangerous one in the alchemy school.”
“What’s supposed to be the most dangerous…?”
Ilendil, having approached, tilted the head and asked. The two second-years from the alchemy school nearly screamed.
“We were talking about how Professor Thunderwalk’s greed is the most dangerous thing.”
Lee Han answered instead. Ilendil ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ nodded as though that made perfect sense.
Professor Thunderwalk was certainly brilliant as an alchemist, but the greed for materials from the forest was excessive.
“And the spirit is doing well…?”
“Uh, mm, yes. More or less.”
“And here…?”
“I was helping purify the contamination sources.”
More precisely, Lee Han had been helping purify them while making a profit, but that was the short version.
There was no point in going into the full story. It would only bore the other side.
“I knew it! I was right about you!”
Just like last time, Ilendil’s eyes shimmered with emotion. Not wanting to upset an evil upperclassman, Lee Han quietly nodded.
“What brings you here, senior?”
“I was helping with the purification too.”
“I see…”
Thinking about it, there was no reason an upperclassman who cared about forests this much would stay out of something like this.
Huh?
As Lee Han nodded, something started to feel strange.
Someone who cared about forests, who owned several forests, and who was eccentric and foul-tempered…
…!
Beaver-Penguin-Fox from the Watchers Club flashed through Lee Han’s mind.
There were plenty of upperclassmen nearby, so nothing was certain yet—but it definitely seemed possible.
“Senior. Come to think of it, I feel like I’ve been seeing animals around Einroguard territory a lot lately.”
“Really?”
“What animals do you like?”
“I like foxes… and penguins…?”
“I see.”
“And maybe beavers too…?”
“Ugh. Why would you like a professor like that?”
When Gainando recoiled in disgust, Ilendil turned serious and snapped back,
“I said beaver, not beaver beastkin. Can’t you tell the difference between a human and an ape?”
“S-sorry.”
