Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 852

The calmest person examining the backpack’s sixth compartment was Sebius.

While Zandani was moved by the miraculous friendship and Lee Han stood there with a grave expression, Sebius quietly inspected the interior.

“…Wait.”

“What is it?”

“This looks like it was opened once already. Look here.”

Sebius cast a spell, projecting the sixth compartment as an illusion. An enlarged image of the interior appeared before the mages.

It resembled the workshop of a retired mage. The only difference was that, rather than taking everything along upon retirement, the mage seemed to have deliberately left the place behind for a successor.

A birch workbench for sorting and examining reagents.

A high-grade alchemy cauldron with eight burners.

Gem drawers organized by color.

Shelves packed with spare wands and spellbooks.

Boxes filled with Imperial gold and Imperial silver.

Lee Han frowned in confusion.

“Couldn’t some Einroguard senior have stocked this place before sealing it?”

“No. That’s not…”

“Ah. Right. It is strange! There’s no way an Einroguard student would leave piles of gems, gold, and silver lying around like this.”

Lee Han smacked his fist into his palm as though he had finally understood.

Sebius glared at his junior.

“…Look at the wall too.”

“?”

Lee Han turned his head.

Words had been carved into the wall of the sixth compartment.

In honor of my friendship with my great friend from Einroguard,

I leave behind my passion for whichever Einroguard student opens this backpack someday instead of a Baldrogard student.

Please make good use of it.

And even if the Baldrogard student gets upset, please forgive him.

— Ipelldrem

“Sen… Senior!”

Zandani cried out at the legendary Baldrogard senior’s name.

“It’s Senior’s name! The senior who passed down this backpack!”

“…Why would he write something like this?”

“Well… perhaps Senior foresaw what would happen?”

Flustered, Zandani hurriedly offered a theory.

If the senior had opened the spatial maze and finally heard the message left behind by his friend, even belatedly, he would have been deeply moved by that friendship.

And then he would have thought:

Einroguard ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) and Baldrogard are the twin carriages that lead the Empire—

“…Ah, this bastard seriously.”

“Senior! Why are you acting like this?!”

Lee Han was just about to swing at him, but Sebius lunged first, forcing Lee Han to hurriedly stop him in shock.

When someone calm suddenly exploded, it was even more alarming.

Zandani stared blankly.

“W-Why are you reacting like this?”

“Continue. But skip the twin carriages part.”

…In any case, the senior may have thought that the misunderstandings between Einroguard and Baldrogard should be resolved, and that the two academies ought to grow closer.

Einroguard students possessed magic, while Baldrogard students possessed dignity and honor—

“…”

“…”

Zandani flinched at the murderous stares aimed at him.

“D-Did I say something wrong again?”

“Please continue.”

“…qualities that could be shared with one another.”

But misunderstandings were not so easily resolved.

So the senior sealed the backpack again and left it behind for his juniors.

So that one day, when the younger students opened it, they would hear the goodwill left behind by his friend from Einroguard with their own ears and be moved by it themselves.

“Then what about all the things he left for the Einroguard students?”

“That part’s simple. Baldrogard students wouldn’t be able to open this on their own, so eventually they’d have to call an Einroguard student over. Then they’d witness everything together.”

“…What kind of nonsense is that? Does that even make sense?”

“But that’s exactly what happened…”

Lee Han was speechless as Zandani hesitated while stubbornly continuing to defend the logic.

…Actually, he wasn’t wrong.

“Senior. Please refute him.”

“…Hmm.”

“Senior!”

Despite Lee Han’s desperate protest, Sebius remained silent.

Now that things had turned out this way, it really was difficult to argue against it.

Galar spoke in astonishment.

“So this Baldrogard senior opened the backpack personally, listened to the message left by his friend, filled the place with gifts, and sealed it up again?”

“Yes!”

“A mage with that level of skill existed at Baldrogard?”

“…What exactly are you implying?”

“Ah, no, nothing…”

As his employer glared at him, Galar quickly looked away.

Meanwhile, Lee Han, having finally recovered somewhat from the shock, quietly asked Sebius:

“Then this mage named Ipelldrem must’ve reunited with his Einroguard friend afterward, right?”

“Probably.”

“That’s good, at least.”

“Not necessarily.”

“Huh? Why? Because he stayed friends with a Baldrogard student?”

“…No. If he went looking for the Einroguard senior, there’s a good chance he got dragged into the punishment cells together with him. That sounds exactly like something the Skull Principal would do.”

The Skull Principal was relatively lenient toward outsiders.

Students from rival magic academies, however, were another matter entirely.

If someone secretly entered Einroguard to visit a student in the punishment cells, the Skull Principal would absolutely throw them in there too without hesitation.

“Come on. It’s not that serious. Everybody ends up in the punishment cells at least once.”

“…”

Sebius nearly replied that outsiders would refuse to even spit in Einroguard’s direction after experiencing the punishment cells a single time, but held his tongue.

“More importantly, it’s fortunate things ended without the two sides misunderstanding each other.”

“That’s true.”

“But considering he went out of his way to reseal the spatial compartment instead of simply handing the backpack to any Einroguard student, I don’t think the punishment cells taught him much.”

My junior can be terrifying sometimes.

Sebius shuddered at Lee Han’s cold remark.

How could he say that after hearing such a story?

“Please accept this.”

Zandani held out the backpack.

After reading the message left behind by his senior, he finally understood why the backpack had been entrusted to Baldrogard students.

The instruction had been simple: someday, when they found an Einroguard student worthy of friendship, pass the backpack on.

Senior… I think I finally understand your intentions.

“But technically we stole this…”

“Shh. Quiet.”

Sebius immediately covered Lee Han’s mouth.

There was no reason to ruin a perfectly heartfelt ending while receiving free artifacts at the same time.

***

Lee Han slung the newly acquired backpack over his shoulder and left the Visitor’s Dormitory village alongside Sebius.

To his surprise, Sebius surrendered the backpack to his junior without the slightest hesitation.

Without asking for compensation, either.

“Are you really sure about this?”

“Yeah. I only intended to take it because I thought it originally belonged to Einroguard. Based on the message the senior left behind, you’re the one who should have it.”

“?”

Lee Han tilted his head.

“What do you mean?”

“He left it to a friend from Baldrogard. And that Baldrogard student left it for a future friend from Einroguard.”

Since the person Zandani had chosen as a friend was Wardanaz, it only made sense for Wardanaz to inherit it.

Lee Han looked horrified.

“We’re not friends though???”

Becoming friends with a fourth-year Baldrogard student who believed Lee Han was a sixth-year to begin with was no easy task.

Where was he even supposed to start?

Sebius replied irritably.

“Then go give it back.”

“…Now that I think about it, I suppose we could be considered friends.”

Lee Han immediately surrendered.

After all, if trouble came later, saying I received it from a friend sounded far better than I stole it.

Right. For an artifact like this, I can tolerate being his friend.

Even if he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it, the backpack and the treasures inside more than compensated.

Lee Han inspected the contents of the sixth compartment again.

The magical tools were impressive enough, but the reagent gems and boxes of gold were especially moving.

Do those Baldrogard bastards seriously practice magic surrounded by this kind of wealth? This is absurd.

At that point, it barely qualified as magic anymore.

It was simply extravagance.

Sebius, meanwhile, had gone quiet beside him, deep in thought.

Lee Han glanced over suspiciously.

“What’s wrong, Senior?”

Does he want a share of the contents?

If Sebius asked to divide the spoils, Lee Han was fully prepared to be generous.

After all, Sebius had helped him tremendously.

Sebius could take compartments one through five, and Lee Han would modestly settle for the sixth compartment alone—

“I was thinking about that curse on the spatial maze earlier. Something about it feels strange.”

“Wasn’t it just a precaution? If the Skull Principal or Professor Verdus got hold of the backpack, they would’ve opened it immediately.”

From the perspective of the Einroguard senior, he would naturally have prepared for situations where someone other than his friend forced it open.

Especially considering the materials had apparently been stolen from the Skull Principal and Professor Verdus in the first place.

Come to think of it, I should change the backpack’s appearance too.

Lee Han made a mental note to disguise it as soon as he returned.

Quite a bit of time had passed, but the Skull Principal and Professor Verdus remained two of the most persistent people in all of Einroguard.

“Normally, yes. But this was opened by a Baldrogard student and then sealed again. If he reset the curse afterward, he would’ve known future juniors could get caught in it.”

Sebius’s reasoning made sense.

If future students opened the backpack in hopes of becoming friends and immediately got blasted by a curse, their first reaction would not be friendship.

It would be:

Those filthy Baldrogard bastards! It was a trap!

Sebius couldn’t understand why no explanation had been left behind.

“Rather than expecting people to force it open like we did, I think he would’ve left instructions explaining the correct method… This feels odd.”

“Ah. I think I know what happened.”

“What?”

“Those Baldrogard bastards probably saw the instruction manual, assumed it was some boring magic book, and threw it away without reading it.”

“…”

Sebius suddenly found himself genuinely worried that his junior might hate Baldrogard too much.

…But it does sound plausible.

***

“Where did you get this backpack?”

“From a Baldrogard student.”

“I see. So you stole it.”

“No. I said I got it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I understand.”

“…”

Lee Han frowned at his friends’ reactions.

“Yonair. Does the phrase got it sound the same as stole it to you?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“…I really did get it legitimately.”

“What? How?!”

Yonair looked even more shocked by that than by the backpack itself.

How could someone legitimately obtain something like this?

“Well… we became friends by chance, and he gave it to me as proof of friendship.”

“…”

Yonair briefly considered pretending to believe him for the sake of friendship.

Lee Han shook his head bitterly.

“Forget it. Don’t force yourself.”

“No, I believe you! I said I believe you!”

Meanwhile, the others had already started reorganizing the backpack’s compartments.

“Wait. Why are you putting mana potions inside? Wardanaz doesn’t need those!”

“Then why put food in there? Most of the food Wardanaz carries gets eaten by everyone else anyway!”

“…Fine. Put the mana potions in too.”

“See?!”

The first compartment was emptied of expensive wine bottles and refilled with potions.

The second had its various luxury toys removed and replaced with food.

The third lost its expensive outdoor clothing and was stocked with survival gear instead: sleeping bags, cloaks, coats.

The fourth compartment was cleared of the Toberiz series—

“Wait, what?! How did someone get their hands on this?!”

Gainando nearly screamed after spotting the rare out-of-print edition.

“Lee Han! Who gave you this?! What kind of person was it?!”

“Gainando. Is that really important right now? Hurry up and pick replacement spellbooks.”

“Hey! This is incredible…!”

The fifth compartment had its sporting equipment removed and replaced with tools and gear for handling magical beasts.

As for the sixth compartment, they left it untouched for now.

Whenever they needed something, they could simply take it out later.

“…?”

As Lee Han prepared to close the entrance after one final look inside the sixth compartment, he noticed something he didn’t remember seeing earlier.

What’s this? Was this here before?

It was a letter.

A letter left behind by Zandani in the name of House Alzardek, inviting Lee Han to visit Baldrogard someday.

Lee Han stared at it for a moment before letting out a long sigh.

Then he quietly pulled out a quill pen.

“Lee Han. What are you doing?”

“Writing a reply.”