Chapter 1338

“Why is that?”

“I thought I saw a Valdrogard carriage. Strange.”

“Why is it strange for there to be a Valdrogard carriage? Maybe they came to learn magic.”

‘Still a long way to go.’

Alshicle realized that although his junior from the same house was progressing quickly in magic, Alhild still lacked understanding of Imperial politics.

To think such an amateurish question would come out.

“Alhild. I’ll teach you one thing. Listen carefully.”

At his serious tone, Alhild smoothed down the feathers and focused.

Whatever else might be said, Alhild respected Alshicle’s abilities as a mage.

“People from Valdrogard do not learn magic.”

“......”

“......”

The two first-year students stared at him in disbelief.

They had been prepared to listen seriously, and this was what he said...

“I’m telling you, it’s true!”

“N-No. It’s not that I don’t believe you. You just said it so solemnly...”

“That’s how strange it is for a Valdrogard carriage to be here.”

Karre made a reasonable guess.

“Maybe they came here to steal?”

“...You do know Valdrogard is the wealthiest of the Empire’s magic academies, right?”

“Then maybe they were invited here so someone could steal from them instead?”

“That’s...”

For a moment, Alshicle found the idea tempting.

But he shook his head.

Oculoguard’s rules had harsh aspects similar to Einroguard’s, but there were also clear differences.

‘Inviting guests over so you can rob them’ was Einroguard style, not Oculoguard style.

“No.”

“Ah. I heard Senior became a Valdrogard professor. Maybe they came to brag about that?”

At Karre’s words, the two penguin beastkin mages tilted their heads at the same time.

“Which senior?”

“Who are you talking about?”

“Great thi—... No, Senior Wardanaz.”

Karre had almost said Great Thief Senior, but quickly corrected it.

Karre meant it respectfully, but there was a high chance other people would find it strange.

The two penguin beastkin mages burst out laughing. Even Alhild, who was usually strict and rarely laughed, laughed as though the idea were absurd.

Karre bristled slightly at the sight.

“It’s actually a fairly credible rumor. I even heard it at the temple...”

“There’s absolutely no way! Lord Gonadaltes isn’t some idiot!”

Alshicle wiped away the tears that had leaked out from laughing too hard with a handkerchief as he spoke.

“Wardanaz is currently inheriting Lord Gonadaltes’s teachings. There’s no way he’d let Wardanaz waste that precious time as a Valdrogard professor.”

“Maybe Senior went in because he wants to rob Valdrogard.”

Karre, now worked up, stubbornly refused to give up.

Alshicle flinched at that argument.

“...T-There’s no way. Even so, Wardanaz wouldn’t... He wouldn’t do that.”

That junior’s argument had just struck a painfully vulnerable point.

Wardanaz did like gold coins quite a lot.

But even so, there was no way he had become a Valdrogard professor.

“If Wardanaz really has become a Valdrogard °• N ?? v ?? l i g h t •° professor, I’ll... Is there any magic you want?”

Alshicle was even prepared to make a small wager to back up his confident declaration.

That was how sure he was.

Karre looked briefly surprised by the offer, then fell into thought.

“How about <Pengerine’s Freezing Wall>? It’s quite a useful spell.”

“Rather than that, could you eat sardines for us? Alhild never does it in front of friends...”

“......”

Alshicle was dumbfounded. Alhild felt needlessly guilty and explained,

“Whenever I swallow sardines, everyone comes over to watch, so I don’t really eat them in front of people.”

“I understand. It’s the fate of penguin beastkin. Anyway, if Wardanaz really is a Valdrogard professor, I’ll show you how I eat sardines... But are you sure you don’t want magic? Are you perhaps interested in some rare ice-element magic you haven’t seen at Einroguard...?”

“I’m not very good with the ice element.”

Alshicle kept clinging to the idea with lingering regret, but Karre was not particularly interested.

There was already a long road ahead just focusing on the magic Karre could actually use.

-Halt.

Along with the emotionless voice, words rang out from atop the gray fortress walls of the prison citadel—no, Oculoguard.

-Please wait until the gate opens.

Alshicle nodded and began reading a book inside the carriage.

The two first-year students asked in confusion,

“Aren’t we going in?”

“Ah. Oculoguard only opens its gates at designated times. We’ll have to wait about an hour.”

More precisely, since the gates only opened on designated days and at designated times, that had to be taken into account as well.

Alshicle knew the exact time, but had deliberately arrived early because he did not want to risk being late.

“It’s like some temple or monastery.”

“I’m from a temple too, and even temples aren’t like that.”

Karre stared at Oculoguard’s gray walls in disbelief.

It was so quiet that, if not for the mana that could be sensed from within, one might have mistaken it for an abandoned place.

DONG- DONG- DONG-

After they had waited for some time, the bell began to ring, and the magic academy’s heavy stone gate rose with a tremendous rumble. Alhild tried to greet the mage standing guard above the gate.

“Greetings.”

“They won’t answer.”

“What?”

“They were assigned to guard the gate, not to exchange greetings. You don’t understand what I mean, do you? I didn’t either at first.”

Alshicle nodded sympathetically when he saw the two juniors’ surprise.

The magical methods used by Oculoguard mages definitely had their obscure and difficult aspects.

To create power capable of resisting the future by establishing strict taboos and rules across the entire academy and enforcing them...

“I see. It’s extreme, but definitely an effective method for foresight magic.”

“Even if it would be difficult to imitate, I think there’s a lot we could learn by getting along with Oculoguard mages.”

“......”

Alshicle was slightly taken aback by how intelligent the two first-year juniors were.

He had not expected them to understand it this quickly.

“Isn’t this difficult? You’ve only just finished your first year, haven’t you?”

“We studied ahead during the semester. We kept studying during vacation too.”

“Doesn’t everyone do about this much?”

Alhild and Karre looked puzzled instead.

They had assumed the upper-year students all studied this much too.

‘Th-These kids! Wardanaz has completely warped their standards!’

Only then did Alshicle realize that these first-year juniors were laboring under a serious misconception.

Because they spent so much time around Wardanaz, their standard for ‘how much you should have studied by now’ had risen considerably.

Wardanaz’s friends absolutely did not go this far.

‘...Is that a good thing?’

After being flustered for a moment, Alshicle realized that, thinking about it, this was not entirely bad.

Of course, they might become furious later when they learned the truth and realized they had been misled, but there was nothing bad about studying magic diligently.

‘Right. Let’s not interfere.’

“You two are really... quick to pick things up! Yes. Everyone works that hard.”

At Alshicle’s words, the two juniors nodded as if they had known it.

Feeling a pang of guilt for no reason, Alshicle extended a wing and began explaining the scenery inside Oculoguard.

“That’s the astronomical tower used for foresight magic, and that is the giant brazier used for fire-based divination. That over there is...”

“I think I know. The punishment room.”

“...The dormitory.”

“!?”

The two juniors were greatly shocked.

That stiff, shabby-looking building was a magic academy dormitory?

“...Our towers are actually shabby and unimpressive inside too.”

“That’s right. Cold and rough and everything.”

‘Who are these two competing with?’

Alshicle felt troubled inwardly.

He had expected magic academy students to have magical competitiveness, but he had never imagined they would compete over who lived under harsher conditions.

“We’ll stop by the dining hall for a moment, then move to a classroom and hear about foresight magic. Don’t wander into or visit anywhere else. They dislike it when people deviate from the schedule agreed upon in advance.”

“Understood.”

“I’m sure they eat much tastier and greasier food than at Einroguard.”

Karre was not wrong.

Oculoguard’s dining hall served far more plentiful food than Einroguard. It was not luxurious, but there was enough to fill one’s stomach properly.

Well-salted meats, baked bread, cheese, fresh fish—the two penguin beastkin mages quickly pushed that aside—fried rice, milk, turnips, figs, peas, ripe pears...

The two first-year students looked slightly jealous, yet satisfied.

“Oculoguard’s rules don’t seem that strict after all.”

“Right. Looking at how well they eat and live, there must have been some exaggeration mixed into the rumors.”

Alshicle had given up by now and could only shake his head.

After a few more years, surely they would stop feeling competitive over things like this!

As he shook his head, Alshicle noticed several other mages in a corner of the dining hall.

Since Oculoguard was fairly quiet during vacation, they stood out easily. More than anything, their clothes were extremely flashy.

At once, Alshicle remembered the Valdrogard carriage he had seen at the entrance before arriving.

‘No way...’

The two mages looked pale, their expressions as heavy as lead. Alshicle cleared his throat and approached.

“Excuse me. I’m Alshicle of House Pengerine. Where have you two come from?”

“I’m Jandanni of House Aljadk, from Valdrogard! I never expected to meet a mage of House Pengerine here!”

Even though Jandanni had been looking gloomy, they immediately sprang to their feet and greeted him.

Jandanni had heard of Alshicle’s brilliant reputation among the Empire’s young mages.

“You’re from Valdrogard? What brings the two of you here?”

“We came here following our professor.”

“Ah. I s—... You did??”

Alshicle had been about to accept that explanation when he stopped.

At any other magic academy it would not have been strange, but for Valdrogard it was very strange indeed.

‘Does Valdrogard actually do things like this too?’

“I see. But is there perhaps some problem? Your expressions...”

“N-No. I suppose it showed too clearly.”

Embarrassed, Jandanni composed their expression.

As a noble, it was embarrassing to walk around showing every emotion so plainly on one’s face.

Normally, Alshicle would simply have moved on, but this was far too interesting to let go. He pressed again.

“We’re fellow mages. Feel free to tell me.”

“This magic academy is unbearably suffocating!”

Jandanni immediately began pouring out their grievances.

As soon as Jandanni and Alnoev arrived at the prison—no, the magic academy—they had been required to participate in a simple foresight spell.

It was a rule, so there was nothing they could do about it, but neither of them specialized in foresight magic. There were frequent mistakes, and success did not come easily.

The Oculoguard mages did not get angry or insult anyone, but somehow that made it even worse.

They simply kept waiting beside them with expressionless faces, and the pressure was maddening.

Still, once the magic ended and they finally got a brief break, the two of them tried to go for a walk.

But that was not allowed at Oculoguard. A walk could only be taken during walking time.

Feeling depressed, the two went to the library to see what books were there.

But at Oculoguard, that was not allowed either...

“I honestly don’t understand how the Oculoguard mages endure this!”

“Right. I agree.”

Alshicle nodded.

Indeed, it would not be easy for Valdrogard mages to accept Oculoguard’s rules.

“Where is your professor?”

“I heard Professor Wardanaz is helping the Oculoguard mages prepare a grand spell. I’m worried about Professor Wardanaz. Isn’t he throwing himself into magic without resting far too much...?”

“Oculoguard mages invited an outside mage to help prepare a grand spell? That’s truly unusual... unusual... What professor did you just say?”