Novel Full Chapter 688
“I know it’s hard, but if we look for an opportunity during the semester—”
Now that Lee Han had been made into a pathetic junior by default, Lee Han desperately tried to make excuses, but Diret and Ilendil coldly shook their heads.
No matter how you thought about it, bringing things in when the new semester started was a much more plausible method.
“Understood. But even when the new semester starts, doesn’t the Principal inspect everyone?”
“Right.”
This was something even new students had experienced.
Once you passed through Einroguard’s main gate, what followed was the Skull Principal’s inspection.
In that process, any items, snacks, servants, and so on that new students had tried to sneak in had all been expelled outside.
Diret dragged over a chalkboard and grabbed a piece of chalk.
Since the opportunity had come up, Diret planned to explain as thoroughly as possible for the junior’s sake.
“But rules always have loopholes.”
‘Senior looks unusually cool today.’
Lee Han looked on with eyes full of respect at the sight of a senior pulling out a line that belonged in magical theory to explain smuggling.
Diret looked several times cooler than when teaching dark magic.
Risk of discovery: ★★★★☆
Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆
Capacity limit: ★★★☆☆
“As you know, Einroguard’s rules don’t block even legitimate items.”
The Skull Principal was a nasty person, but that didn’t mean all circulation of goods was forbidden.
The Principal didn’t ban students from taking in and out items they obtained within Einroguard, or items gained through activities in Einroguard.
Wasn’t Lee Han’s Dawn Star exactly that kind of item?
And even aside from special cases like Lee Han, as students rose in year, the number of things they had to take out of Einroguard increased.
You had to study even during break, so you had to carry out all kinds of research materials and spellbooks.
Students who studied hard used those piles of luggage to their advantage when returning to school.
“This pile is more of a mess than you’d think, so it’s surprisingly good for slipping things in. Even if there’s a sack of coffee beans in there, or an artifact for bread dough, it’s not easy to notice.”
“But if it’s inspected in detail—”
“Right. There’s no method without weaknesses.”
Diret wrote again.
Risk of discovery: ★★★☆☆
Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆
Capacity limit: ★★★★☆
Einroguard was a territory protected by powerful magic, but it had a weakness: the domain was too vast.
As you could tell from the fact that intruders appeared every year without fail, if someone set their mind to it, it wasn’t impossible to create a single hole from outside to ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) inside.
“If you circle around outside the school territory, there are places where the flow of magic weakens sometimes. You throw the contraband in through there.”
“Sounds like a decent method, but why is the discovery risk that high?”
“Because the Principal periodically releases dimensional hounds and recovers the contraband first.”
“……”
Caught in a chain of one thing biting another, Lee Han had nothing to say.
Of course. There was no way the Skull Principal would just watch those smuggling attempts.
“And in remote places, before the Principal’s minions arrive, other monsters often ruin the goods or take them, so the recovery rate isn’t high.”
Diret spoke as if it were regrettable.
If Einroguard’s environment weren’t so brutal, better methods would have been possible.
“Sometimes, fearless people punch a hole in the magic relatively close to the gate and throw contraband in. That’s dangerous too.”
“It certainly sounds dangerous, temporarily disrupting the defensive magic that protects the school walls.”
“Huh? Not that. It’s dangerous because if you punch a hole in the magic near the gate, it’s easy to get caught. And it’s easy to get tracked.”
“…And disrupting the defensive magic is—?”
“That’s for the Principal to deal with.”
At Diret’s words, Ilendil nodded like that was right.
Seeing that, Lee Han felt a faint dizziness.
As expected of Einroguard seniors, they were cold to the bone.
If a student’s duty was to bring items in, then the Skull Principal’s duty was to clean up afterward!
“Besides these classic, basic methods, all kinds of methods have been tried.”
Risk of discovery: ★★☆☆☆
Difficulty: ★★★★☆
Capacity limit: ★★☆☆☆
Risk of discovery: ★☆☆☆☆
Difficulty: ★★★★★
Capacity limit: ★★★☆☆
…
…
“Mostly transformation magic and subspace artifacts—”
“How do you smuggle with transformation magic?”
At Lee Han’s question, Ilendil kindly demonstrated. A potion bottle slipped into Ilendil’s hair and vanished.
“A lot of students put it in their stomachs. It’s especially popular with bigger races. And using subspace means using an artifact with space magic on it to store things.”
Diret, perhaps getting a little thirsty, sipped from a teacup and continued the explanation.
“Besides that, there are plenty of smuggling methods. What I just explained are just the best-known ones. How you combine different methods is what decides victory or defeat.”
Seasoned Einroguard students never attempted smuggling with only one method.
Instead, they tried as many different methods as possible. It was so they wouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket.
Even if ninety-nine times out of a hundred got caught, if it worked once, it was profit!
That was the basic Einroguard smuggling approach. If you could succeed just once, it was still a good deal even if all the other methods failed.
“The Principal’s inspection method changes every year, so you need some luck too. Sometimes it’s a detailed inspection, but other times the Principal waves it through. So, junior. If there’s something you want to bring in, you should start preparing now.”
Diret’s impromptu lecture had the value of a thousand gold.
Lee Han nodded, deeply moved.
“Thank you so much, Senior. I’m truly impressed.”
“Th-That much?”
“Out of all the lectures I’ve heard, I think this was the most memorable.”
“Yeah?”
Diret started to feel a little pleased, then flinched.
‘…Wait, this was more memorable than the dark magic I taught last semester?’
That was… a bit disappointing in its own way.
Ilendil, who had been listening quietly, opened Ilendil’s mouth and asked,
“This year’s smuggling method… what do you think will be popular?”
“Who knows. I heard someone’s planning to make a fake student and hide things inside, but I don’t really know what the exact method is.”
“……”
While thinking about what method would be best, Lee Han twitched at the seniors’ imagination.
Einroguard seniors truly weren’t normal.
*****
“Guys! This is bad!!”
“???”
“W-What is it?”
The friends, still sunk in deep sleep thanks to suffering in the mountains, jolted awake when Lee Han came to the annex and knocked on the door.
“We’re late!”
“…Huh? Huh?! I-Is it the new semester?!”
Gainando hurriedly checked the calendar.
Fortunately, the date of the new semester—written as “THE END OF THE WORLD”—still had time left.
“It’s still far away!”
“Gainando. This is not the time to let your guard down just because there’s over a week left. Everyone else is preparing.”
‘That sounds familiar.’
Gainando tilted the head.
It sounded like something Lee Han said all the time when studying for exams.
-Huff… huff. I did all the way up to here, so can’t I rest a little? Maybe play a round of mage cards…
-Gainando. This is not the time to let your guard down just because you did up to here. Everyone else is preparing! We need to do more!
-T-That can’t be! You’re telling me the other guys are ahead of me?!
-Of course. I checked the White Tiger Tower guys’ progress, and they’re way ahead of you.
-Yaargh…!
Later, Gainando found out the truth: the White Tiger Tower students’ progress was actually slower than Gainando’s.
Even now, remembering that truth made a bitter sense of betrayal rise up.
“Y-You’re not tricking me again, are you?!”
“Gainando. Again? Are you saying I’ve tricked you before?”
“N-No… it’s not like you haven’t…”
“How could you say that? When did I ever trick you? What month, what day?”
“N-No, if you put it like that, I can’t remember right away—”
“So you’re doubting your friend over something you can’t even recall on the spot?”
“…I’m sorry… what do I do?”
Gainando gave up and shut the mouth.
That Lee Han didn’t listen no matter what you said.
“Everyone, get up! Hurry and get ready—we have to leave for Granden City.”
“What’s going on? Why are we leaving so early?”
Alshicle looked at Lee Han and the students, startled.
“Pengerine. I missed something important.”
“W-What is it? Don’t tell me the semester start date was different? Gonadaltes would absolutely do something like that.”
Alshicle wondered if the Skull Principal had told them a different semester start date.
A clever trick—casting magic so the numbers changed over time, then ambushing careless students.
It was exactly the kind of thing the Skull Principal would do and enjoy.
“That’s not it. We need to go to Granden City now to prepare smuggling.”
“R-Right. …What? Prepare what?”
“Smuggling. Smuggling.”
“…Ah! Into Einroguard!”
For a moment, Alshicle considered whether Alshicle needed to report this somewhere in the Empire, then realized too late.
Well, for Einroguard students, it was only natural to think about smuggling.
“You have to go prepare that starting now?”
“Yes. The other seniors said they arrive even earlier and prepare.”
“I see…”
Nodding, Alshicle suddenly thought:
Was it really right that the pillars who would carry the Empire’s future poured that much passion and time into smuggling?
But the expressions on Lee Han and friends were too serious and burning to bring that up.
“Truly… I didn’t think of it. I’ve been caught off guard.”
“I didn’t think of it either. Ratford. I got lazy because it was break. The Principal was targeting that weakness. The later we arrived, the happier the Principal would have been.”
“First we should organize what we’re going to bring in by smuggling. How much food is left right now—”
“The Blue Dragon Tower has five sacks of flour and six sacks of rice, one box of cheese, and dried meat—”
Lee Han and friends spread out the supply list they’d organized before winter break and fell into deep thought.
Just what should they bring in to survive a whole year?
Alshicle sensed a presence behind and turned. A brilliant light spilling out from behind a veil.
It was Lady Kraha.
“Pengerine, what are you doing right now?”
“Ah, well, that is—so, to prepare for the new semester, we were studying in advance—”
-No, we don’t need chocolate right now!
-Chocolate is honestly a daily necessity! Can you survive studying without chocolate? Can you survive without hot chocolate?!
-A… a sharp point…!
Before Alshicle could even make an excuse, the students chattered about smuggling.
Seeing that, Alshicle lowered the head, thinking it was over.
As a senior mage, what had Alshicle been doing, failing to stop even that?!
‘But it’s unfair. The Wardanaz kid is the weird one…’
“It’s truly a lovely sight.”
“…?!””
At Lady Kraha’s words, Alshicle was flustered.
Surprisingly, Lady Kraha didn’t seem angry at all.
“Uh, it’s… okay…?”
“Look. You’re having a serious discussion about magic together with your friends, aren’t you?”
-I swear, you little—! I’m never lending you a magazine crossword puzzle again!
-Let go of me! And I don’t need crossword puzzles!
They were discussing magic so seriously they were grabbing each other by the collar, but Lady Kraha was very satisfied.
“Everyone. Your enthusiasm moves me deeply. If there are any supplies you need, House Kraha will prepare anything for you.”
“!”
“Uh… uhh.”
Ratford unconsciously let go of the hand that had been gripping Gainando by the collar. Seeing that, Lady Kraha gestured.
“You may hold on comfortably.”
“Th-Thank you.”
Ratford grabbed Gainando by the collar again. Gainando wheezed and sputtered, still insisting they had to pack the magazine.