Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Why is that bastard here?

Kitarenannum still didn’t know who had brought the man here, but Kitarenannum was a seasoned magical criminal.

There was no reckless impulse to face a powerful combat mage before fully recovering.

When something feels strange, run.

Surprisingly few criminals in the Empire followed that simple principle.

Kitarenannum gathered every belonging scattered around the cramped room, then went to the storeroom at the end of the corridor and swept up all the dried meat and bread.

Then, after putting on an invisibility cloak, Kitarenannum ran toward the underground escape routes.

Good luck, Ibinta! May a thief’s fortune follow you!

***

“Strange.”

In truth, Professor Voladi hadn’t come here looking for Iron Cloak Ibinta.

Professor Voladi had come in pursuit of a ranch owner who had fled into the nearby forest, and discovered this ruined village along the way.

“It certainly is. There’s even far-sight magic installed over there.”

Lee Han noticed the magic placed among the ruins with his sharp senses.

There was a peculiar sense of discomfort, as if the flow of mana was different only around that area.

Giselle stared at the friend who had spoken.

“Why?”

“It’s nothing.”

That friend’s senses were increasingly rising to the realm of monsters rather than humans.

Really, by next semester, Wardanaz might be closer to a professor than a person...

“Wow. Whoever it is must be a real idiot.”

Gainando sneered.

Setting up such easily detected magic nearby was practically the same as shouting, I’m here!

Of course, this was an unfair insult to both the thieves and Kitarenannum.

For the thieves, the magical criminal had caused trouble all on Kitarenannum’s own...

...and Kitarenannum had an excuse too.

The monster is the one who can find magic hidden in places like that with nothing but senses, so was I supposed to anticipate that and camouflage it?!

Kitarenannum’s injuries were already serious, and there was no mana to spare for such things.

“Could it be magic set up by the ranch owner hiding in the forest?”

“No. The level of the spell is too high.”

Professor Voladi shook the head while recalling the information about the ranch owner.

The ranch owner had secretly imported and sold variant cockatrice eggs banned under Imperial law, caused an accident, and then fled. If the ranch owner had been skilled in magic, such an accident wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

It was a typical amateur’s mistake.

“There are traces in the village.”

“Traces?”

Lee Han asked, puzzled.

Aside from the magic, he hadn’t sensed any particular traces in the ruins.

“The debris is artificial.”

“!”

Lee Han was greatly surprised by the professor’s answer.

Rather than dismissing the dusty, broken debris as simple rubble, Professor Voladi had found artificial regularity within it.

Ruins untouched by human hands should have been irregular.

Indeed.

“There may be people hiding underground.”

After saying this, Professor Voladi said the forest would be checked first and told them to wait.

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

Lee Han and Giselle answered immediately. Gainando happily sat down on a nearby rock.

Hehe. This time will be easy.

“Has Professor Bagreg left?”

“Mm.”

“Then let’s go.”

At Giselle’s words, Lee Han nodded and approached the ruins.

Gainando, who had just sat on the rock to rest, shouted in surprise.

“Where are you going?!”

“We’re going to catch the people hiding underground before the professor comes back.”

“...”

Seeing Lee Han and Giselle say it as if it were obvious, Gainando wondered whether he was the strange one.

Am I the weird one?!

Professor Bagreg had clearly said to wait...

“L-Lee Han. Did you fight with Professor Bagreg or something?”

“No. If I’d fought Professor Bagreg, I wouldn’t be this intact.”

That makes sense?

Giselle was inwardly impressed.

It was certainly a logical answer.

“Then why are you trying to go in on your own?”

“Mm.”

Lee Han and Giselle exchanged glances.

Could they persuade Gainando without telling him that they first had to hide information related to the evil god, in order to prevent Professor Voladi from going berserk?

“I’m originally crazy about challenges, aren’t I?”

“Right. You’re completely insane.”

At Lee Han’s words, Giselle chimed in supportively. When Lee Han stared, Giselle panicked and whispered.

“I-I was supporting you.”

“It sounded like there was some emotion mixed in... Anyway, thanks.”

Gainando stared at the two of them, then let out a deep sigh.

“Well, Lee Han was always like that. Let’s go.”

“...”

As his friend accepted it far too easily, Lee Han felt slightly torn between being pleased and worrying about him.

“Right. Then let’s go in.”

“But won’t it be dangerous?”

“It’s not far from the capital, and the village isn’t that large, so there are probably only ten or so people at most.”

Lee Han checked for danger with crystal-ball divination. Looking at the result, it didn’t seem that dangerous.

“Rise, golem made of bones.”

After summoning the Dragon-Tooth Golem, Lee Han ordered Gainando to summon his own creature as well.

While preparing for battle beside him, Giselle thought to themself.

But how are we going to find the entrance?

Even if the village wasn’t especially large, finding the entrance wouldn’t be as easy as expected if a hideout was hidden within these ruins.

Moreover, judging by their camouflage skills, they weren’t amateurs. Anyone other than a hunter like Professor Voladi wouldn’t have noticed the discomfort.

“Are you all ready?”

“Yeah. But how are we going to find...”

Lee Han began firing large water orbs at random into the floor of the ruins.

Trusting in his mana and firing continuously until something worked, the area turned as loud as if giant hailstones were falling.

Crash!

At last, one unlucky section of floor collapsed and revealed itself. Lee Han widened the hole and jumped inside.

“...”

“...”

And locked eyes with twenty heavily armed thieves surrounding the area.

Both Lee Han and the thieves were greatly startled.

“Intruders...!”

“There are more than expected! Everyone, be careful! Split apart, lightning of Perkuntra!”

“Aaaaah! This crazy bastard mage!”

The thieves screamed and retreated behind the passage at the sight of a mage casting chain lightning so quickly despite being flustered.

“Gainando! Don’t come down. Just send your summoned creatures!”

“Stop talking and focus!”

Giselle, who had come down at some point, struck Lee Han’s back and shouted.

The scale of the hideout was much larger than it had appeared from above. Not only the number of thieves who had just fled, but the passages alone revealed its size and quality.

Passages carved into rock. Walls designed to be sealed. And all sorts of traps on top of that.

This was no time to worry about the prince above.

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pak—

The fleeing thieves must have already activated them, because throwing knives flew in from every direction.

Lee Han had the Dragon-Tooth Golem destroy the walls and devices, then blocked the remaining attacks with telekinesis.

“What kind of fortress is this?!”

“We were too hasty!”

Giselle felt regret.

Giselle had focused too much on Wardanaz’s goal and underestimated the enemy.

Giselle had assumed that people hiding in a village like this wouldn’t be anything special...

I still have a long way to go. To think I was this careless!

Clank!

At some point, the passage above had closed, and the walls on both sides opened anew. Thieves charged in with battle cries.

Giselle fiercely swung a sword, neutralizing the approaching thieves. Waves of cold air surged with every swing, making the thieves grit their teeth and shout.

“It’s a mage! Bring cold-resistance potions!”

“Wardanaz, support...!”

Giselle, who had been pushing forward while thinking they would sweep away the enemies here and climb back up, sensed something strange.

The friend who should normally have been pouring out magic with firepower several times greater than Giselle’s was quiet.

“...I summon you!”

With a massive distortion of space, the Thunder King tore through the bedrock of the underground fortress and revealed its deadly majesty.

Giselle shouted in shock.

“You summoned the Spirit King?!”

“The... the enemy is stronger than expected.”

Lee Han was certainly an excellent Einroguard mage.

The moment his expectations proved wrong, he did not stubbornly persist, but instead deployed the strongest force available.

Of course, from the outside, it might look like using a dragon-slaying sword to kill a chicken...

Impressive! To summon the Thunder King for such a reasonable cause! Why do you not do this normally?

Perkuntra, summoned for a reasonable cause for once, was extremely excited and began sweeping through the underground fortress.

Watching the devices and passage barriers, which must have been bought from dwarves at great expense, get swept away like they had been caught in a natural disaster, Giselle unconsciously felt sympathy.

They’re thieves, but they’re really unlucky...!

***

“Professor! Professor!”

Gainando tried to run toward the forest, shouting.

When even the open entrance closed and his friends disappeared, Gainando fell into complete panic.

However, Professor Voladi suddenly appeared beside him as if standing there from the very beginning.

“!??!”

Gainando, who had fallen backward, blinked for a moment, wondering whether he had seen wrong.

But it was indeed Professor Voladi.

“Wh-when did you get here?!”

“I was waiting over there.”

Professor Voladi explained calmly.

The professor’s disciple had been acting strangely lately, and there was no way Professor Voladi wouldn’t notice.

Professor Voladi had predicted that as soon as the forest search began, they would immediately charge in recklessly.

“But, but...! Of course Lee Han has been risking his life doing reckless things lately, but that’s how he originally was...!”

Gainando, who was about to say that Lee Han was originally like that, trailed off.

Though he had kept denying it for the sake of friendship, honestly, Lee Han did seem a bit strange lately.

Could the shock of losing to the Skull Principal still be lingering?

Kwa-rrrrrrrr-rumble!

“Wh-what’s that sound?”

“He summoned the Thunder King.”

From the sound coming from below and the powerful spirit’s aura, Professor Voladi immediately guessed the situation.

The only spirit the professor’s disciple would summon in that situation was the Thunder King.

...It did sound somewhat strange that Lee Han had brought it out just to fight thieves, but considering Lee Han’s mana capacity, it wasn’t that strange either.

“Then... what about the lesson?”

“Lesson?”

“Weren’t you planning something like going in to help, then making Lee Han reflect and say he won’t go to dangerous places anymore?!”

Professor Voladi slowly shook the head.

Gainando’s elaborate plan was far removed from Professor Voladi’s original thoughts.

The level of thief bands hiding in places like this wasn’t enough to push the professor’s disciple into a crisis severe enough to cause reflection.

Even now, hadn’t Lee Han immediately summoned the Thunder King?

Professor Voladi was merely standing by in case an emergency arose.

Gainando looked as if struck by lightning upon hearing that his friend couldn’t learn a lesson from this.

No way!

“Professor! You need to give him a stern talking-to!”

“I’m not sure about that.”

Professor Voladi was skeptical.

You could lead a horse to water, but you couldn’t make it drink.

The professor’s disciple did not have the kind of easygoing personality that would listen simply because someone said not to do something.

That was even more true because Professor Voladi had not listened during student days either.

“Lee Han keeps trying to subjugate things alone these days! And recently, he seems obsessed with evil-god worshippers again, but who tries to subjugate evil-god worshippers alone?”

Because Gainando was stamping his feet in anger, he didn’t see Professor Voladi flinch.

Even if he had been calm, he probably wouldn’t have noticed.

“If there is thorough planning and iron will, it is not impossible...”

“It’s impossible! Only a complete madman would do something like that!”

“...”

Professor Voladi hesitated slightly.

After trying to argue back, Professor Voladi eventually gave up.

“That may indeed be the case.”

“Right?! You need to tell him that, Professor!”

“Which cult is it? Prahgal?”

The cult with the deepest grudge against the professor’s disciple could be said to be this cult of life-force-overflowing chimeras.

It wouldn’t be strange for Lee Han to become obsessed with subjugating them during vacation.

“I don’t think so? I’ve never seen Lee Han reading related books.”

“Then is it Ksaksa-rigol?”

“No. He didn’t react much even when looking at related wanted posters.”

Gainando displayed an unexpected sharpness that no one could have predicted.

Professor Voladi was puzzled by that sharpness.

Was there an evil-god cult related to the professor’s disciple other than those two cults?