Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 869

Even under harassment from his wicked seniors, Lee Han remained unmoved.

Gonadaltes: As mages, we must not give in to irrational fear. You need to face that fear head-on and overcome it.

Iactus: You should go stare at the Principal more, then.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: You should go overcome the Principal more, then.

“…”

Lee Han nearly struck back with, Will you even graduate at this rate? but managed to come to his senses.

No matter how badly he wanted to attack someone, there were lines one simply did not cross.

Besides, this won’t help.

Unlike other topics, the moment the Skull Principal came up, everyone became so sensitive that it was difficult to gather useful information.

Just as Lee Han was wondering whether he should give up, someone posted a message.

Klzenbereg: The Principal has gone up to the capital.

“!”

Lee Han was startled by the unfamiliar name. It seemed he wasn’t the only one surprised.

Iactus: Klzenbereg! I thought you’d graduated.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I thought you’d been locked in the punishment cells forever.

Klzenbereg: Haha. I have been busy with work lately.

Gonadaltes: …Am I the only one bothered by Klzenbereg’s old-fashioned way of speaking?

Iactus: Hey. Your alias is Gonadaltes.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Exactly. You’re in no position to criticize anyone else’s quirks.

From that brief exchange, Lee Han learned several things.

First, Klzenbereg was a student who spoke in a strangely archaic manner.

Second, Klzenbereg seemed fairly popular among the other members.

It was the complete opposite of Unbreakable One, who got jeered at almost every time a message appeared.

If I had to sort them, Klzenbereg would be one of the popular members of <Einroguard’s Watchers>, while Unbreakable One would be near the bottom.

Lee Han briefly wondered where he ranked, then immediately stopped when he remembered his alias was Gonadaltes.

Klzenbereg: By the way, Beaver-Penguin-Fox, how is the research you mentioned last time progressing?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Perfectly, of course. The poison vapor cloud came out exactly right. Anyone who approaches will die in three seconds, right?

Unbreakable One: …Isn’t that a little too extreme? Other students could get hurt.

The whispering artifact suddenly stopped carving words.

Even though Lee Han couldn’t see anyone’s faces, he could feel the atmosphere turn cold.

Klzenbereg: I understand Unbreakable One’s concern. But Beaver-Penguin-Fox has always shown excellent judgment as a member. Even if such a poison vapor cloud was made, it surely wouldn’t be used on other students.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: …

Unbreakable One: You aren’t going to use it, right?!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Ah, noisy. Who are you to keep butting in?

Unbreakable One: See? See that! Look at that!

Klzenbereg: Everyone, calm down. Beaver-Penguin-Fox surely—

Hmm. I can see why Klzenbereg is popular.

Klzenbereg reminded him of Alalarong, the veteran knight of House Wardanaz.

A kind, considerate veteran knight.

Having finished that rough assessment, Lee Han picked up his quill again.

He was curious where Beaver-Penguin-Fox intended to use a poison vapor cloud that killed anyone who inhaled it for three seconds, but right now the Skull Principal mattered more.

Gonadaltes: Klzenbereg. You ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) said the Principal went up to the capital. Can you give more details?

Iactus: Ugh. We finally changed the subject.

The others grumbled, but Lee Han ignored them. Klzenbereg answered kindly.

Klzenbereg: Of course. …But why did you choose such a peculiar alias?

Gonadaltes: …

Klzenbereg: In any case, the Principal went up to the capital to prepare grand magic. It seems various permissions are required.

Unbreakable One: Huh? Really? That was why?

Iactus: What grand magic?? What is it? He isn’t adding more curses to all the students’ necks, is he?

Klzenbereg: I do not know that much. Besides, that would hardly count as grand magic, would it?

Iactus: True. He could do that easily.

Grand magic?

Mages usually cast spells using the reagents and mental strength they personally possessed, but not all magic could be performed that way.

Some spells were so vast in scale and difficulty that they required hundreds of mages preparing for decades.

Such spells were generally called grand magic.

Magic so difficult that an individual mage couldn’t even dream of attempting it alone.

The problem was that the Skull Principal was no ordinary mage.

Grand magic that even the Skull Principal has to go to the capital to prepare for? What could it be?

The Skull Principal could handle most grand magic on his own level, yet even he needed special preparations.

And not ordinary preparations, either. This required going to the capital and convincing everyone from the Emperor to the bureaucrats.

At this point, Lee Han began to feel genuinely frightened.

Frightened enough that the Valdrogard merger seemed preferable.

The other members seemed to feel the same way, judging by their uneasy chatter.

Iactus: What could it be? What is he trying to do?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Maybe he’s trying to enroll the Imperial Family member who visited recently?

Iactus: Is that grand magic? Stop talking nonsense.

Gonadaltes: I agree with Iactus. Stop saying such horrifying things.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Can’t even make a joke?

As Lee Han pondered, another question suddenly occurred to him.

Gonadaltes: But Klzenbereg, how do you know this?

Unbreakable One: Right. How do you know? That’s suspicious.

No matter how he thought about it, Klzenbereg knew too many details.

Could there be another disciple besides me?

There might be a hidden disciple somewhere in the fifth or sixth year, or even above that.

Someone who had still failed to graduate and was trapped in the darkest, deepest part of the school…

Iactus: Klzenbereg could know. Why are you interrogating Klzenbereg?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: You sound suspicious. You’re the suspicious one!

A fierce attack flew toward the two lowest-ranked members in Lee Han’s unofficial popularity ranking of <Einroguard’s Watchers>.

Lee Han had no choice but to step back.

Tsk. This person is too popular.

Klzenbereg: Everyone, calm down. I was simply in a position where I could obtain that information.

Baquantalana: I’ve been thinking this for a while, but is Klzenbereg perhaps the Principal’s disciple?

Klzenbereg: Hehe. I shall leave that to your imagination.

“…”

Suspicious!

Lee Han found that overwhelmingly suspicious.

Of course, there might be senior disciples in Einroguard’s darkest depths that Lee Han didn’t know about, but no matter how he thought about it, Klzenbereg didn’t feel like one.

If Klzenbereg really were the Skull Principal’s disciple, there should have been the appropriate level of hatred.

As a true disciple of the Skull Principal, Lee Han resolved to expose that imposter’s identity someday.

Right. I almost forgot to ask how to use the <Star Guide>.

Lee Han had meant to ask about Professor Paserlet Kraer’s midterm exam artifact.

There might be an upperclassman here who knew how to operate it.

Unbreakable One: Do you think Professor Kraer is still angry? Could there have been some misunderstanding?

Iactus: Oh, no. The professor just doubled the bounty on Professor Verdus’s head. There’s also a bounty on the stolen artifact now.

Hmm. Bad timing.

Lee Han quietly closed the book.

If he asked how to use the artifact now, several anonymous informants might suddenly appear.

-Are you done?

Basil poked its head out from his sleeve. Lee Han nodded.

“Yeah. But why have you been sleeping so much lately?”

-I was pretending to sleep!

“Why?”

-There’s a dragon here.

Unlike its usual curious self, Basil looked around warily.

It seemed to be checking whether Jowrin was nearby.

“She’s sleeping over there.”

-!

When Lee Han pointed to Jowrin dozing by the common room fireplace, Basil shot back into his sleeve like an arrow.

-Waaah… You tricked me…

“No, I didn’t. I really didn’t.”

-You tricked me…

“I’m sorry.”

Lee Han slipped snacks into his sleeve to comfort Basil.

Even while crying, Basil gobbled them up.

“Besides, Prince Jowrin isn’t that frightening.”

-Dragons are frightening.

“Of course, you might feel threatened by her species, but you saw her too.”

-Saw what?

“…Several things that made her seem less threatening?”

-?

Basil tilted its head.

No matter how hard it thought, it couldn’t remember anything that made her seem less threatening.

She had grabbed Lee Han with her front paws, tried to kidnap him to her nest, tried to wrap him up with her tail…

-She seems dangerous?

“No. By that logic, you’re dangerous too.”

-What?!

When Lee Han pointed this out, Basil started crying again.

But from Lee Han’s perspective, the two of them behaved in roughly similar ways.

The only difference was that Jowrin was much stronger and had fiercer mana.

“…You understand, right?”

-Hmph.

After Lee Han’s long persuasion, Basil finally nodded while grumbling.

Maybe that dragon called Prince Jowrin was a relatively less dangerous dragon…

Mmm.

Jowrin, who had been fast asleep after playing happily all day, heard Lee Han’s voice and immediately reached out with a front paw.

“Gah.”

Jowrin grabbed Lee Han tightly so he couldn’t escape, then pulled him into her embrace and curled up around him.

She looked like a child sleeping while hugging a precious doll.

Of course, from Lee Han’s perspective, he had been kidnapped into a dragon’s nest without warning.

Basil whispered in shock.

-Sh-she really is scary!

“…This is just playing.”

-Master just went “Gah”!

“You misheard. I was planning to sleep here today anyway.”

Lee Han stubbornly insisted while protecting his body with telekinesis.

Basil gave him a suspicious look.

That sounds like a lie…

***

“…Gasp!”

A wasteland where the sky and horizon were both utterly empty.

Realizing it was an illusion created by the black book, Lee Han let out a sigh of relief.

For a moment, he had thought he was having a nightmare about being kidnapped into a dragon’s nest.

“What is it this time? Is it a spell for secretly escaping without waking Prince Jowrin?”

If so, it would certainly be useful.

A spell that could discreetly undo a dragon’s restraints…

However, instead of teaching magic as usual, the black book merely floated slowly through the air, wasting time.

Lee Han asked, puzzled:

“What are you doing? If you aren’t going to teach me magic, let me out.”

If the book thought Lee Han would desperately beg to learn magic, it was mistaken.

He was already learning too many spells as it was.

Midterms were approaching, too.

If it wasn’t going to teach him, that was perfectly fine.

But the black book avoided answering again and simply drifted slowly through the air.

What’s with this thing?

Lee Han grew irritated by the black book’s unusual behavior.

Normally, it would force magic into him as if every second were precious, so why was it acting so leisurely now?

What the…

While thinking, Lee Han casually turned around.

And there it was.

The dimensional gate with the golden wheel pattern.

The same dimensional gate the Skull Principal had visited in his youth.

The one the black book had recommended before, as if saying, The Principal entered it to learn magic when he was young, so you should go learn too.

…It was right in front of Lee Han’s nose.

Lee Han, who had assumed the dimensional gate could do nothing as long as he refused to enter and held his ground, was stunned.

The dimensional gate… is sneaking up on me?!

As always, the Skull Principal’s minions possessed a remarkable talent for screwing him over in creative new ways.

Vowing to physically retaliate against the black book the moment he escaped the dream, Lee Han was forcibly sucked into the dimensional gate marked with the golden wheel.