Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Fortunately, whether the disguises were working or not, the hounds kept scattering.

There were simply too many nearby presences giving off an aura similar to the target’s, and it had thrown them into confusion.

Professor Verdus looked at the hounds slamming themselves into the barrier overhead and grumbled.

“Why does it feel like the most of them are coming this way?”

“Aaaagh! Professor! It’s biting and hanging on!”

Gainando screamed.

The broad, bowl-shaped flying craft Professor Verdus had made was not all that stable to begin with, so every time one of the hounds crashed into it, it rocked violently from side to side.

“They can’t break through the barrier anyway.”

“But they keep glaring at us!?”

Gainando trembled as he watched the devils knocking on the barrier protecting the craft, acid drool dripping from their jaws.

Every time a drop fell, it let off black, burning smoke. It was terrifying.

“Then knock them off!”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Figure it out yourself, like Wardanaz!”

Professor Verdus was too busy using artifacts to sweep away the hounds charging in from the front.

Of course, even if Professor Verdus had been less occupied, the answer probably would have been just as sloppy out of sheer annoyance, but right now Professor Verdus was genuinely too busy to spare the effort.

Click!

A golden disc-shaped artifact appeared in midair.

It blazed as if it had condensed sunlight itself, then spat that fire at the hounds approaching by teleporting in from ahead.

FWOOOOSH!

That was not the end of it. This time, a round drum appeared, and every time it boomed once, another swath of hounds was swept away.

“That’s incredible!”

Anglago gasped before even realizing it.

At moments like this, it became easy to understand why someone like Professor Verdus could remain a professor at Einroguard.

Whatever else might be true, there was no denying that when it came to making artifacts, Professor Verdus was an unmatched expert.

“Garcia! Bagreg! Help!”

And yet Professor Verdus, who had gone to all the trouble of making these artifacts, had no desire to waste them on fleeing and fighting like this, and so desperately called out to the other professors.

Powerful as they were, artifacts like these were not particularly durable.

Every spell loosed at those beastlike devils damaged either the artifacts or the craft a little more.

Naturally, both professors ignored the plea without mercy.

Professor Verdus had no choice but to grumble and pull out another artifact.

“You brainless devils! Gonadaltes should have swept through the Demon Realm!”

“Professor!”

“This artifact is expensive. Ugh. This one is… too well made. This one’s awkward too…”

“Professor!!”

“What!”

When Anglago kept bothering Professor Verdus, Professor Verdus finally shouted back.

“Gainando is gone!”

“……”

Perhaps recalling Professor Garcia’s earlier warning, Professor Verdus’s complexion turned just a little pale.

*****

“Student Lee Han. You really went through a lot!”

“It was nothing. Thank you, Professor. And everyone else too…”

Once they reached the main building, the remaining hounds gave up on approaching any farther and turned back.

Professor Garcia let out a sigh of relief when she saw Lee Han and the other students had made it back safely.

“Professor Bivle! You worked hard too, Professor.”

“Mm.”

“Professor?”

“Mmm…”

“Why does it feel like one person is missing?”

At that, Lee Han and his friends quickly checked their numbers.

Gainando was gone.

“…He disappeared at some point…”

“……”

“……”

While everyone stood there in shock, Professor Garcia seized Professor Verdus and started shaking Professor Verdus up, down, left, and right.

“You! Call! That! Saying it!?”

“Ugh, ngh, gkk—”

“Go find him! Go!”

“Fine! Fine! I’ll go get him!”

Normally, that would have been the moment for several rounds of Why should I?, but with Professor Garcia’s fist knotted in the front of Professor Verdus’s robes, the answer of acceptance came out naturally.

Thud!

“Hm?”

At the sound from outside, the students leaned out in confusion.

The hounds threw Gainando down, then blinked away into the distance and vanished.

“……”

“H-how did you get back?”

At the question from his friends, Gainando answered with a sullen face.

“The duplicate saw me and told them to put me back where I belonged.”

“…It’s an insane duplicate, all right!”

“Exactly. It’s so crazy it has no standards!”

“I’m just glad you got back safe, Gainando!”

His friends crowded around Gainando and tried to comfort him.

Honestly, the fact that he had returned safely really was a stroke of luck.

Lee Han himself was proof enough of that.

Once he had been taken, he had suffered for nearly a week.

Compared to that, getting kicked out the moment you were caught was, in its own way, lucky…

“Garcia. He came back, so let go.”

“……”

“Why are you looking at me like th—khk. Kkhk!”

*****

“Lee Han. Are you okay?”

“I said I’m fine.”

“Wardanaz. You okay?”

“I’m fine…”

“Wardanaz. Those White Tiger Tower bastards left fruit as a get-well gift. In my opinion, the chance there’s poison in this…”

“……”

Fed up, Lee Han drove his friends out and hung a sign reading <Resting, Do Not Disturb> on the door to his private room.

Remarkably enough, Lee Han was actually resting.

Professor Garcia had ordered it for the sake of the pitiful student who had been seized over the weekend and made to suffer for nearly a week.

“You only have two days anyway, so get plenty of rest through the weekend. I’ll talk to the other professors.”

“Will that really be all right? The other professors…”

“Don’t worry. I can say at least this much.”

But I’m still worried.

Lee Han found himself worrying about Professor Garcia.

Of course, in terms of pure physical ability, Professor Garcia ranked near the very top among Einroguard’s faculty, but wasn’t the world of professors originally one where seniority and experience carried enormous weight?

Lee Han could not help feeling a little concerned about whether one of the youngest professors ought to be going around saying things like that.

Congratulations on returning safely from the most dangerous opponent. I’m sending this book as a gift.

Ileg of House Chagla

I plan to formally protest the principal’s duplicate for kidnapping you in the middle of club work. Once you feel better, let’s build a lighthouse together in the glacial region on the seventh floor. I’ll send the proposal too, so read it.

Alde of House Markang

I’m sending this basket for the junior who must have gone hungry while captured. Eat well, and don’t tell the other club members.

Priest Palcrius

I never thought something like the kidnapping of an outstanding jousting player could happen even inside the school. Even so, I applaud the resourcefulness it took to escape on griffin-back. Here, I procured a few toys, so use them on your friends while you’re resting.

Karnella Hormasi

Unlike his classmates, the older students had sent letters and gifts.

There was <Escape from Einroguard>, sent by Senior Ileg, about a mage trapped inside Einroguard escaping from it. Astonishingly, it was a novel written by a senior who had graduated decades ago.

There was the Stonemason Club’s plan for the <Tower of the Ice Mine> in the glacial region, a project they had been preparing for ten years in order to secure reagents steadily.

There was Senior Palcrius’s meat basket, packed full of beef, pork, lamb, horse, chicken, wyvern, venison, goose, duck, rabbit, drake, and more.

And there was the strange toy-like artifact sent by Senior Karnella.

What is this?

Lee Han stared at the artifact, which looked like a stick with a bell attached, in puzzlement.

Was he supposed to shake it every time his friends studied?

If I train them that way, maybe eventually all I’ll have to do is shake this stick and they’ll start studying.

—!

The moment he shook the stick, the basilisk gave an excited hissing sound and stuck its tail out.

Only then did Lee Han realize this was a toy meant for animals.

Reflecting on the fact that he had just treated his friends like animals, Lee Han quietly set the toy aside.

-I want to thank you again for helping me, Senior. I’m worried I ended up taking too much of your time because of me. Is everything all right in the dark magic school?

Lee Han left those words for Diret.

The reply came back faster than expected.

-You don’t need to worry about that at all.

-But Senior, there’s something I’m curious about. I heard Princess Yukbeltire took part too. Why did that senior help me?

-Same tower, same enchantment magic school, right? Even if she acts like she doesn’t, Yukbeltire was worried about you too.

-Aha. Thank you.

-Right. Get plenty of rest! And don’t go wandering outside for a while!

You’re lying.

Lee Han judged coldly.

For someone as much of a Professor Verdus expert as Lee Han, that kind of clumsy lie would never work.

Appeals to sentiment like same tower, same school of magic would never work on Professor Verdus.

And as far as Lee Han could tell, Yukbeltire was the same kind of person Professor Verdus was.

She didn’t make some bizarre deal just to help me, did she? Like paying in Imperial silver…

Or, in the worst-case scenario, maybe even Imperial gold.

If such a horrifying contract had been made, Lee Han did not think he could bear the guilt.

Iactus: So in the end, did they get the situation under control?

Baquantalana: You could say that.

Iactus: Damn it. Looks like nobody’s going to be able to get near the mountain range for a while. Still, that second-year «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» managed to escape. No wonder he’s the guy taking classes from every school.

Baquantalana: I generally dislike overpraising people, but I can’t disagree.

‘!’

For the first time in a while, Lee Han checked the <Einroguard’s Watchers> page and found the members talking at that very moment.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Nothing magical worth salvaging?

Iactus: There probably is. But unless your life means nothing to you, I wouldn’t recommend going near the place. I heard even the fifth-years were completely tied hand and foot and couldn’t do a thing until the professors arrived.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What a shame. I’m interested in ancient magic.

That’s someone I haven’t seen before.

He had seen Iactus and Baquantalana last time, but Beaver-Penguin-Fox was a member he was seeing for the first time.

Why a beaver, of all things, in an alias?

It was an ominous name if ever there was one, but Lee Han greeted the others first.

Gonadaltes: Good to see you all.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: …P-principal??

Iactus: No. He’s just a lunatic rookie.

Iactus and Baquantalana explained the new member’s alias.

Once the misunderstanding cleared up, Beaver-Penguin-Fox covered the page in a twenty-nine-line stream of abuse.

“……”

Feeling slightly wronged, Lee Han protested.

Gonadaltes: Your alias is weird too.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: My alias? What’s weird about it?

Gonadaltes: It has a beaver in it. Professor Verdus is a beaver beastfolk.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: …I just picked cute animals. The way your mind works is way creepier.

Iactus: Exactly. Gonadaltes. Why are you putting Professor Verdus on top of cute, innocent animals? If I start thinking of the professor every time I see one of those beasts from now on, it’ll be your fault.

What a pack of vile people.

Lee Han lamented the hazing from the older members.

No matter how he thought about it, the other side was the weird one, yet they were trying to make it his fault. In the end, hazing was unavoidable anywhere.

Gonadaltes: Speaking of fifth-year students, does anyone know anything about Diret from the dark magic school?

Iactus: How could we not?

Baquantalana: If you didn’t, wouldn’t that make you a freshman?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Why?

Gonadaltes: I want to send a letter asking for help with magical research, but I’m wondering what payment would make Diret agree.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: That’ll be hard for a while. I heard Diret is helping with research for the enchantment magic school.

Gonadaltes: Helping with research for the enchantment magic school?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Yeah.

Lee Han put down his quill in despair.

At a time like this, if Diret was helping with research in the enchantment magic school, there was only one possibility: Yukbeltire.

That was a far more wicked bargain than Imperial silver or Imperial gold!

That wretch barely deserves to be called a senior.

Using a junior’s misfortune for personal gain.

No wonder Diret had studied under Professor Verdus.

Gonadaltes: I see. Thank you, everyone. I should be going now.

Iactus: What, already? Don’t ask your question and leave. If you’re going, answer something first.

Gonadaltes: Then ask.

Slightly irritated by the arrogant attitude of the new member, Iactus deliberately threw out a difficult question to needle him.

Iactus: There’s a rumor that a magical criminal was involved in what happened this time. Do you happen to know who it was?

Gonadaltes: It was Antagondals. Everyone should be careful. That isn’t your average eccentric mage.

Iactus: ……