Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 857

Well, it’s Wardanaz. He must have his reasons.

If we ask carelessly and he gets angry, that’ll be a problem.

The upperclassmen quietly chose to say nothing.

It was easy to assume that Palcrius held the greatest authority in the Kitchen Club, but in reality, the Kitchen Club did not work that way.

Power in the Kitchen Club belonged solely to whoever secured the most ingredients—and was willing to share ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) them.

In that sense, Lee Han’s authority was naturally higher than that of the ruthless Palcrius, who never helped underclassmen cook. Lee Han brought out his own ingredients, shared them, and cooked together with everyone.

In other words, no one wanted to be the first to bring it up.

***

“Wardanaz. Do you know what you need to watch out for when raiding herb gardens?”

Palcrius asked as he watched his junior climb the sloping path.

For a moment, Lee Han wondered whether this was the <Teleportation> Club or the Kitchen Club, but he quickly came to his senses.

Come to think of it, wasn’t all of Einroguard basically one enormous <Teleportation> Club?

“Shouldn’t we check whether the garden has an owner?”

“Heh. That’s a good answer too. But before that, you need to confirm who the owner is.”

Palcrius spoke with the seasoned expertise of a veteran herb-garden raider.

The other Kitchen Club members nodded along.

“The owner of a herb garden is extremely important. The hardships endured by Arlekan Meikin, the great alchemist of House Meikin, after entering a dragon’s herb garden are famous.”

What in the world did Yonair’s ancestor do?

Lee Han silently resolved to ask Yonair about it later.

Setting that aside, identifying the owner was indeed important.

Herb gardens were usually cultivated and maintained by fellow mages. Naturally, any garden worth raiding would have defenses in place. Those defenses varied wildly depending on the mage who owned it.

There could be retaliation too.

“In that sense, we already know this belongs to Professor Thunderstep. You could say we have a major advantage.”

“What kind of owner is Professor Thunderstep?”

“Hmm. Petty and mean, but he doesn’t set lethal traps for students.”

“…Are there professors who do set lethal traps?”

“The Skull Principal and Professor Verdus.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han understood immediately.

Those two would do that and more.

“Still, Professor Thunderstep isn’t generous either. We’ll need to avoid leaving traces, or we might be tracked. Senior Palcrius, could we hear the testimony you recorded about the herb garden?”

Palcrius activated the record stored in the paper the student had handed him earlier.

Notes were useful, but it was also important for everyone to hear the witness’s own words.

-I was staying on the cliff when Professor Thunderstep passed below. He said, “That lunatic Bendozol has really gone too far. How is Bendozol doing Wardanaz’s chores for him…?”

“…”

“…”

The upperclassmen all stared at Lee Han.

Lee Han answered calmly.

“Professor Bendozol insisted on doing it by force.”

“…I-I see.”

Is that even possible? I don’t think so.

-The professor entered a hidden cave below the cliff, pulling three cargo carts behind him. After he left, I checked, and it was definitely a herb garden. I saw several related spells…

“You didn’t check inside?”

“The entrance was thoroughly camouflaged. It would’ve been hard to break through alone. And since it wasn’t even for my own lecture, there was no need to overdo it. There.”

Palcrius pointed below the cliff.

The green terrain was so densely overgrown with thickets that it looked impossible for anything to pass through.

However, it could not fool the eyes of experienced Einroguard bandits—no, students.

“Clear it.”

“Yes.”

Some upperclassmen drew potion bottles, while others raised their wands.

Streams of flame shot out, merged in midair, and, with alchemical assistance, transformed into a giant made of fire.

The flame giant cut and burned away the thickets near the cliff as neatly as a farmer harvesting crops. Each swing of its arm sent fire bursting outward, carving open a path.

For the first time in a while, Lee Han felt the comfort of not having to do anything.

It’s nice coming with upperclassmen like this.

Normally, he would have had to do the work of five people by himself, but with upperclassmen around, he could stand back and watch at his leisure.

Perhaps because he was their junior, they did not assign him any work either.

“Should I do something too?”

“Huh? Wardanaz, you don’t really need to.”

“…Thank you. I think joining the Kitchen Club was the right choice.”

“???”

The club member was bewildered.

Why had this junior, who had followed them even though he didn’t need to, suddenly moved himself?

Whoooosh!

“Found it! Senior! Over here!”

“Move aside.”

Palcrius rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a single boot.

Lee Han stared at it in confusion.

“What’s that?”

“Professor Thunderstep’s shoe. It’s useful for tracking in places like this. Now, show us the owner’s trail!”

At Palcrius’s command, the boot began moving along the footprints on the ground.

The upperclassmen followed it naturally, as though bringing a professor’s boot was standard equipment for this sort of operation.

Only Lee Han was inwardly confused.

Is stealing a professor’s boot normal for this kind of thing?

Perhaps he should have stolen Professor Verdus’s wand in advance too.

Once the obstructing thickets had been cleared and the exact footprints found, the tracking proceeded quickly.

The students soon discovered the entrance to the cave hidden below the cliff and whistled.

“Should we go in?”

“No. The professor set one final trap. This is troublesome.”

Palcrius, who was always smiling, frowned for the first time in a while as he glared at the entrance.

A very faint fragrance drifted subtly from within.

Thunderstep’s Submersion Incense.

Professor Thunderstep was an excellent alchemist, but among all his skills, his incense-blending technique was especially outstanding.

Among the Kitchen Club members present, there were few who had never fallen victim to his incense.

“What’s Submersion Incense?”

“Exactly what it sounds like. Incense that submerges you underwater. It’s quite tricky.”

The moment a mage smelled the fragrance, they would be dragged deep underwater.

It was not a simple illusion or sensory disturbance. For an instant, it truly pulled the soul into another dimension.

Blocking one’s nose was useless. The fragrance seeped through the skin and expanded through all five senses.

“The professor keeps complaining about not having reagents, but apparently he has enough to make things like this!”

“Seriously. He’s disgustingly petty!”

The students who had come to raid the herb garden cursed the professor merely for defending it properly.

Lee Han glanced around and spoke cautiously.

“Should I try breaking through?”

“No. What are you talking about? You just rest.”

“Puhuh. Wardanaz, don’t worry. It’s tricky, but not impossible to break through. Has anyone here visited the underwater dimension recently?”

“I visited a week ago, but I happened to get into a fight with a mermaid there…”

“Uhahaha. Then you’re absolutely out. You can’t go in.”

“I’ll just try breaking through…”

Lee Han spoke again, but Palcrius waved a pot-lid-sized hand and stopped him.

“No, no. Stay still, Wardanaz.”

“…”

While the junior sat there with a dissatisfied expression, the upperclassmen began discussing seriously.

“Should we break in through a completely different entrance?”

“We don’t know what kind of herbs are inside, so let’s not take risky measures. If the herbs get damaged, that defeats the purpose.”

“What if we break in the night before the exam? Even if the herbs get damaged, we won’t have to take the exam.”

“That’s too much of a gamble. Don’t we have any gifts that would work in the underwater dimension? We need to negotiate.”

“Ah. Those bastards will probably demand pearls again. Why do they only like expensive things? Why won’t they accept seashells? …Wardanaz! Hey!”

As the upperclassmen’s discussion dragged on, Lee Han quickly rushed inside.

The moment Thunderstep’s Submersion Incense permeated his entire body, his soul wavered and nearly slipped into another dimension. But his seemingly endless mana held firm, pushing the incense away.

Having forced his way through, Lee Han swung his obsidian staff and erased the incense’s effects.

The upperclassmen who arrived late stared in shock.

So that’s why he came along!

A genius really is different…!

“Wa-Wardanaz. Is that why you said you’d come with us?”

Even Palcrius seemed startled, stuttering slightly.

Lee Han did not understand what he meant.

“Huh? What do you mean, why I came with you…?”

“Puhuh. No. Never mind! Anyway, thanks for opening the way. This was originally something we should have done. It really is convenient having a clever junior.”

Palcrius laughed heartily.

The other Kitchen Club members beside him laughed too.

“That’s true. You have no idea how convenient it is that Wardanaz brings us food too.”

At those words, Palcrius immediately stopped laughing and turned serious.

“That’s not something to laugh about.”

“S-sorry.”

One should feel shame, not amusement, when comfortably living off food brought by a junior.

“Anyway, let’s go in. Follow me. This is… Nephertem. Oh no. Everyone, step back.”

“!”

Inside the cave, blue lotus-like flowers rested upon the surface of a pond.

Though they looked like ordinary lotus flowers from the outside, they held pure, translucent mana of a kind rarely seen.

Palcrius approached with extreme caution, worried even the slightest contamination might damage the surroundings.

Nephertem was an exceptionally contamination-sensitive plant, requiring tremendous care from cultivation to harvest.

“This is for a second-year exam?”

“Right.”

Lee Han turned curiously toward the upperclassmen beside him.

“How do you know? Did you use Nephertem in your exams too?”

“Huh? No.”

The upperclassman pointed to the side.

There was a sign Professor Thunderstep had put up.

Nephertem

(Vulnerable to contamination. Handle with care. For second-year exams.)

Lee Han was once again moved by Professor Thunderstep’s kindness.

“…Then we just need to harvest this? We’re lucky.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“?”

“If the exam were about obtaining Nephertem, the professor wouldn’t have gone to all this effort to grow it. He’d just tell you to go find some. This is one of those very rare exams where the professor provides the materials.”

“!”

Lee Han was shocked.

Professor Thunderstep was providing reagents for an exam.

“Is that really true?!”

After blurting that out, Lee Han paused.

Actually, maybe this isn’t that surprising.

Ordinarily, exams were probably supposed to provide the necessary materials.

In reality, Professor Thunderstep might be the strange one.

“Sometimes the professor provides materials. Very rarely, though. The problem is…”

The upperclassmen looked at Lee Han with pity.

“Those exams are much harder. His logic is that since he prepared the materials, he can raise the difficulty.”

This is absurd.

Lee Han cursed inwardly, but he could not refute them.

If it were Professor Thunderstep, he would absolutely raise the difficulty to make sure his own effort did not go to waste.

Why is he suddenly trying to make things harder? It’s not like second-years are especially smart.

Without realizing he had unconsciously struck the correct answer, Lee Han wondered.

“But don’t worry too much. We’ll organize a list of potions likely to use Nephertem and tell you. You can focus your studying on those.”

“Right. Honestly, you didn’t even need to come with us today.”

“?”

Lee Han finally realized the source of the discomfort he had been feeling.

Could it be…?

“…By any chance, did I not actually need to come today?”

“Huh? No.”