Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Despite the fear hanging over them, not a single adventurer stopped or suggested turning back.

Anyone who retreated because of fear would never have become an adventurer to begin with.

These were people who trampled fear beneath desire and smothered terror with greed.

And ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) after serving under Antagondals for so long, their greed was hardly weak.

“Death Knights. Scrolls!”

The moment Death Knights and flocks of Bone Wyverns appeared overhead above the forest, the members of Kangle’s Shadow reacted as one.

They activated not only invisibility magic, but also spells that erased their presence and aura while distorting the perception of anyone observing the area.

“Did it work?”

“Wait. Death Knights can see through concealment easily.”

Even after the patrolling Death Knight vanished into the distance, the adventurers remained frozen in place.

Just as they were preparing to move again, another group of Death Knights appeared from a different direction.

“…”

“What the hell is wrong with this damned territory? Do they raise Death Knights in legions?”

In any ordinary ruin or dungeon, encountering even a single Death Knight was enough to call your luck ruined for an entire year.

Yet within Einroguard’s territory, Death Knights wandered around every few minutes.

To the adventurers, it felt like icy blades were sliding down their spines.

“…Alright. Move out. Candlemaker, confirm the location.”

“Give me a moment…”

The adventurer called Candlemaker pulled out a long brass telescope and carefully checked their bearings.

They had already crossed Einroguard’s infamous barrier and entered the territory, but they still had a long way to go.

The land itself was as vast as a small nation. If they made one wrong turn, they could easily lose their way and stumble directly into somewhere catastrophically dangerous.

Crack!

Without warning, the telescope lens shattered.

Candlemaker collapsed forward.

The adventurers recoiled in horror, unable even to scream. The Archer hurriedly checked Candlemaker’s pulse.

“…No. His soul was absorbed.”

“Th-those insane cursed mages… What kind of trap did they set up?”

“He looked in the wrong direction. He was supposed to observe the mountain range, but he must’ve glanced toward the mage tower.”

The adventurer known as Craftsman gave the cold assessment.

Among them, Craftsman possessed the deepest knowledge of magic and artifacts, making him the quickest to grasp what had happened.

Mages always protected their workshops and mage towers with defensive magic.

Naturally, the mages of Einroguard had done the same.

Still, the fact that merely observing from afar—without even approaching—had resulted in soul absorption was difficult to believe.

“That’s absurd. No matter how infamous Einroguard is, this isn’t some isolated labyrinth hidden atop a forbidden peak. Would they really install something that dangerous inside their own territory? Outsiders pass through here too.”

“Entirely possible. Lord Antagondals infiltrated the place himself, didn’t he? It wouldn’t be strange for them to be on high alert.”

“Hngh…!”

In reality, the territory’s security had tightened because of the insane duplicate rather than Antagondals, but the adventurers had no way of knowing that.

“We abandon Candlemaker. Move immediately. Once his soul was absorbed, our location may already be compromised.”

“We still haven’t confirmed the destination—”

“No choice. We’ll rely on a temporary measure.”

The Swordsman flipped open a silver case and pulled out a compass.

The needle spun wildly before finally settling in one direction.

The artifact only identified the correct destination fifty percent of the time, making it far less reliable than Candlemaker’s telescope had been.

But under the circumstances, they had no alternatives.

“Move!”

The adventurers ran at full speed without pausing to breathe.

The fear that Death Knights might descend on them from every direction the moment they slowed drove them onward.

After a long while, the Swordsman frowned to himself.

Strange. There’s no pursuit.

Candlemaker’s soul had been absorbed. By all rights, pursuit teams should already have been searching for the corpse.

Yet no matter where he looked—sky, forest, or horizon—there was nothing.

Only silence.

As though one stray intruder dying inside the territory wasn’t even worth mobilizing over.

That silence frightened the Swordsman even more.

“The mountain range!”

When towering peaks finally emerged before the adventurers as they escaped the dark forest, they let out sighs of relief.

They had reached the mountain range that served as their original destination rather than wandering toward the mages’ tower.

The very place Antagondals had mentioned in his message.

It was a barren, isolated region. Having made it this far, they could finally breathe a little easier. If they began searching the mountains carefully, they should eventually locate Antagondals—

Whoosh!

“Will we even be able to catch those intruders if they hide in the mountains? What if they’ve already gone deeper inside?”

“That’s possible. But the deeper parts of these mountains are harsh even for Einroguard students. Those intruders won’t last. They’ll come back down eventually. We strike then.”

Einroguard mages were busy laying ominous magical traps all throughout the area.

The traps were lethal enough to activate the instant someone who wasn’t an Einroguard student stepped on them.

And that wasn’t all.

“Tsk tsk. Those lazy idiots. Do they think apples fall by themselves if they just wait under a tree?”

“You’re right, Karnella. This needs active pursuit. They can’t respond properly at times like this because they never take care of their mounts.”

-Grrrrowl…

Some mages were tracking scents and traces while leading Cerberus that exhaled sulfurous breath from all three mouths.

“Anfargon. Isn’t this device ridiculously expensive?”

“It’s reasonably priced. Better than having people run around personally. If intruders entered from outside, this thing will detect them immediately.”

“That Wardanaz kid makes the strangest requests. I only agreed because I owe him one, but why exactly is he so obsessed with catching outside thieves?”

Elsewhere, other mages floated magical surveillance devices through the air to monitor the surroundings…

The adventurers froze solid as they watched far more mages than expected sweeping through the mountain range area like hunters chasing rats.

No matter how experienced they were, no matter how many life-and-death battles they had survived, numbers like this made resistance unimaginable.

And above all—

This was the mages’ territory.

“Our location was definitely exposed when Candlemaker’s soul got absorbed earlier.”

“Gah…!”

The adventurers let out low, despairing groans.

None of them could possibly have guessed that, independent of any traps or defenses, some student had simply gone around personally requesting help.

***

After stationing the giants as guards, receiving a bit of praise from the insane duplicate, and petting the hamster once—the hamster had immediately tried to bite him—Lee Han returned to the academy and approached his upperclassmen.

“Senior. I’ll handle my own exams, submit materials for the club, and work especially hard on regular club duties, so could you grant me one favor?”

“Haha, Wardanaz! If you offered even one of those three things, we’d already have no choice but to agree!”

“There are intruders inside the academy grounds. Could we mobilize club members to catch them?”

“That’s not difficult, but… why?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you, Wardanaz, doing this?”

Palcrius tilted his head.

Intruders sneaking into Einroguard happened constantly.

Catching them was the Skeleton Principal’s responsibility. Or the professors’. Or the Principal’s undead servants’.

Not the concern of a second-year student days away from midterms.

“Well… it’s just…”

Lee Han hesitated.

Admitting he had scammed a magical criminal and mocked the guy while he was trapped in hamster form wasn’t exactly easy.

Palcrius nodded as though he understood everything immediately.

“Haha. I think I get it without hearing the explanation.”

“Really?”

“Of course. It’s because you’re the Principal’s disciple, right? The Principal really goes too far.”

“…That’s not it!”

As Palcrius developed an increasingly bizarre misunderstanding, Lee Han hurriedly tried to explain himself.

Whether the explanation actually worked was questionable, but Palcrius still promised to ask club members and nearby underclassmen to search the area.

And Palcrius wasn’t the only person Lee Han approached.

“Senior Karnella. I’m currently taking care of a baby basilisk, a unicorn, a griffin, and His Majesty Jowurin, so could you possibly help me with something?”

“…Are you about to ask me to guarantee something in my family’s name?”

Karnella looked horrified.

What kind of request required an introduction like that?

“No. There are intruders—”

“Why is a junior handling that?”

“…Well…”

“Ah. Never mind. I think I understand without hearing it.”

“You’re not assuming it’s because I’m the Principal’s disciple, are you?”

“That’s exactly it. Wait. How did you read my mind?”

“…”

And so the requests continued.

Club seniors.

Upperclassmen from nearly every academy Lee Han attended.

All of them readily agreed to help their unusually hardworking junior.

Diret, who had promised to patrol with dark magic school underclassmen, suddenly asked curiously,

“But Junior.”

“I’m not doing this because I’m the Principal’s disciple!”

“…Ah, no. That’s not what I was asking.”

Diret looked flustered.

He hadn’t connected Lee Han’s search with the Skeleton Principal at all.

If anything, it seemed more likely related to the insane duplicate.

“…You’re right, Senior. Senior Diret truly is Einroguard’s greatest senior!”

Lee Han exclaimed with genuine emotion.

Diret looked awkward instead.

“That’s a little excessive. There are probably plenty of seniors better than me.”

“Like who? Name even one—”

Pretending not to hear his junior’s response, Diret hurriedly changed the subject.

“What I wanted to ask about was the divination magic school seniors.”

“Ah. I didn’t ask them.”

“Why… Actually, I think I understand without asking.”

Diret could already guess the reason.

Unlike the other schools, the divination magic school students generally didn’t care what their juniors did unless there was profit involved.

“There’s a method.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Just tell them the intruders are carrying expensive reagents or artifacts.”

“Huh? But I don’t know whether they actually have anything like that.”

“Right. Neither do I. Doesn’t matter.”

“…”

Lee Han was momentarily speechless at the shameless suggestion.

Could Senior Yukbeltire be disguised as Senior Diret right now?

Perhaps sensing the suspicious look in his junior’s eyes, Diret hurriedly tried to defend himself.

If things continued like this, he might lose his status as Einroguard’s greatest senior.

“No! I don’t normally lie like this either. But it’s fine when it comes to the divination magic school kids! …That sounds strange, but it’s true!”

The more Diret explained, the more suspicious he sounded even to himself.

Fortunately, Lee Han was an excellent junior.

He immediately grasped the deeper meaning.

“I see. Since the divination magic school seniors never reward me no matter how much I work for the academy, misleading them counts as self-defense.”

“Uh… that’s not entirely wrong, but… how did you get that from what I said?”

“Thank you, Senior Diret. I’ll do exactly that. You truly are Einroguard’s greatest senior!”

“Hey, it’s nothing. Really.”

Diret waved his hand as though unaffected, though the pride practically fluttering behind him was obvious.

Watching him, Lee Han decided he should prepare a cup engraved with Einroguard’s Greatest Senior as a year-end present.