Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 689

With the small commotion at the mansion quieted down, Lee Han and his friends quickly started getting ready to leave.

Mrs. Kraha was very kind. Because of her, getting the supplies they needed in Flaherty City was much faster.

At the same time, they also added some things they didn’t really need.

“Hey, you with the silver pot and the wizard card, Guinan, come over here.”

“Why, why me? Can’t it be someone else!”

“All set? Let’s go!”

After the final check, Lee Han climbed onto the carriage and gave the signal.

Clop clop clop—

Inside the carriage, his friends talked seriously. They were deciding which supplies to smuggle into Einroguard first.

“Shouldn’t food be the most important thing?”

“I don’t think so. In the second year, we can meet the upperclassmen, right? They’ll have more food than us, so food might not be as hard to find as it was in the first year. It might be better to bring expensive things like coffee, tea, or sugar to trade.”

“Won’t the upperclassmen share some food with us?”

“I don’t… think so.”

“If I were an upperclassman, I wouldn’t share food with the underclassmen.”

“Food and luxury goods are important, but I’m worried about the second-year classes. I heard it gets much harder, and we’ll have club activities too. Plus, we have to do our own research and get money for it. Shouldn’t we prepare for that?”

“Yes, like Yoner said, it might be good to bring in magical books or artifacts from outside, or at least potions.”

“But magazines and wizard cards would be good things to trade with upperclassmen who are bored, wouldn’t they…”

Lee Han watched his friends, a small frown on his face. *These guys,* he thought, *if only they used this much energy to study for exams!*

“Mr. Wodanaz, is something bothering you? Why are you making that face…”

“Haha, I’m just suddenly nervous about the new semester starting soon.”

Lee Han quickly changed the subject and sat down.

Siana laughed and said, “Haha, there’s no way Mr. Wodanaz would be nervous about something like that. You’re so funny.”

“…No, I can get nervous too…”

“Lee Han, what do you think?”

“Hmm?”

Dergyu, who had been talking with Raetford, called out to Lee Han. They both looked serious.

“This isn’t about something silly, is it? Like which wizard card is better.”

“We wouldn’t call you for something like that.”

They were both surprised.

Guinan flinched at their reaction. When he argued with his Blue Dragon Tower friends about things like that, they often called for Lee Han.

“We were talking about the upperclassmen.”

Deciding which items to smuggle was important, but it was even more important to figure out how to smuggle them.

Lee Han’s friends thought they should get help from the upperclassmen.

The upperclassmen had tried more ways and knew more magic than they did, so they would have better ideas.

The problem was deciding whose help to ask for.

Dergyu wanted to ask for help from the White Tiger Tower upperclassmen, who were good at transformation and enhancement magic. Raetford wanted to ask for help from the Black Tortoise Tower upperclassmen, who were known to be excellent thieves.

“I don’t think any of our mentors are good at smuggling…? Hmph.”

*Isn’t that a good thing?*

Nilia thought to herself, watching Siana look sad.

“Wait a minute.”

Lee Han took out a rolled-up piece of paper from his coat pocket. Yoner looked confused and asked, “What’s that?”

“One of the upperclassmen gave it to me to look at when smuggling.”

“It doesn’t really tell you to just read the reference book, does it? The Shadow Patrol often does that.”

“…W-well, it could, but this upperclassman wouldn’t do that.”

Lee Han answered, trusting Diret.

The Einroguard upperclassmen might do that, but not Diret.

…Probably.

Precautions for Smuggling (Burn After Reading)

1. Do not trust the upperclassmen.

2. Do not work with the upperclassmen.

3. Do not trust or work with the upperclassmen.

“……”

“……”

“Let’s do it ourselves…”

“…That would be better.”

The students were sad that they had been so naive.

Thinking about it now, they realized upperclassmen wouldn’t just help them for money.

If they were Einroguard upperclassmen, they could use and betray their underclassmen as bait any time!

Granden City, just before the start of a new year at Einroguard, felt different than usual.

First of all, professors were waiting above the city gates.

“Professor Thunderstride, good to see you.”

“Yes. Dehumcha, good to see you too?”

“Yes! I’ve gathered a lot during the winter break.”

“Your training must have worked well. Go on in. Don’t cause any trouble.”

Professor Thunderstride yawned above the city gates.

Students who had spent their first and second years at Einroguard usually arrived much earlier than the first semester of the new year.

It was obvious they wanted to prepare for smuggling, but the professors didn’t really care.

Even if the students smuggled, only Headmaster Skull would be upset; the professors didn’t really mind.

It was more important to manage the magic of Granden City.

If they let the students cause trouble and didn’t take care of accidents, even the kind people of Granden City might add ‘Einroguard student entry prohibited’ to the city laws.

“Professor Begrek, good to see you. Did you have a good break?”

“I visited a new dueling club.”

“…Were there still dueling clubs that hadn’t banned you?!”

Dehumcha ignored the professors talking behind him and went to the meeting place.

He had arranged to meet with other Black Tortoise Tower students there.

“Dehumcha, over here!”

“Everyone’s already here.”

“Who would be late? We’re not idiots.”

The Black Tortoise Tower students who had finished their second year and were now moving on to their third had serious eyes.

Their eyes meant, ‘We can’t be the only ones to suffer.’

They had learned a bitter lesson when they came to Granden City early at the end of their first year and were tricked by the upperclassmen and used as bait.

-Are you perhaps, Einroguard first-years?

-Yes, we are. Are you perhaps upperclassmen…

-That’s right! And do you know about smuggling?

-Smuggling?

-Oh dear. There’s this tradition in Einroguard…

-Gasp! We haven’t prepared at all.

-Don’t worry. You can join our group. How about it?

-Th-thank you!

At first, they were touched by the upperclassmen who kindly told them about it, thinking, ‘There’s still trust and faith left in Einroguard,’ but they were wrong.

In Einroguard, the upperclassmen who are nice are the most dangerous.

As soon as they passed through the main gate, Dehumcha and his friends’ luggage suddenly turned into gargoyles and attacked the headmaster and his minions!

The upperclassmen used the chaos to quickly smuggle in the things they needed!

Dehumcha and his friends learned a very important lesson from that.

And they were planning to teach that lesson to this year’s underclassmen as well.

“You know, Dehumcha? You have to talk to them before anyone else does.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Dehumcha nodded.

They weren’t the only mean upperclassmen trying to use the freshmen as bait.

There were at least two or three more groups around.

To get ahead of them, they had to talk to the freshmen quickly and get them on their side.

Fortunately, Dehumcha had something that would help.

Because he was a dwarf, Dehumcha looked like a typical dwarf craftsman, someone stubborn and unlikely to lie.

So much so that one of the upperclassmen thought Dehumcha was from the blacksmith guild and hired him, only to lose money.

This was especially helpful when dealing with other races.

“Just you wait. I’ll…”

“Dehumcha, there! There!”

“!”

The students’ eyes widened, full of excitement.

Students were walking from far away.

They were clearly Einroguard wizards, but they looked young and unfamiliar.

They were definitely the first-years who would be moving up to the second year.

‘Huh?’

Dehumcha felt confused.

The group of first-years was a bit strange.

They seemed to be from the Blue Dragon Tower, the Phoenix Tower, the White Tiger Tower, and the Black Tortoise Tower…

He wondered if they were all together, but that couldn’t be. Why would students from different towers hang out together?

“Dehumcha! Hurry!”

“Okay, I’m going!”

Dehumcha cleared his throat and ran out.

Then he shouted, “Wait, are you perhaps Einroguard students?”

“Are you perhaps an upperclassman?”

“I’m not a suspicious person… Uh, wait, how did you know I was an upperclassman?”

Dehumcha was a little surprised by the words of the aristocratic boy who looked like a statue.

Usually, people would say, ‘Who are you?’ or ‘Are you one of Headmaster Skull’s minions! Damn you!’

“You look like an Einroguard student, so you must be an upperclassman to me.”

“…Oh… amazing. That’s right.”

Dehumcha introduced himself. Lee Han also introduced himself.

“I’m Lee Han from the Wodanaz family.”

“What family?”

“The Wodanaz family.”

It was noisy, so he couldn’t hear well. The name of the family wasn’t important, so Dehumcha nodded.

‘He’s a Blue Dragon Tower student. It’ll be easier to trick him.’

“Follow me. I have something important to tell you.”

“What kind of story…”

“A secret hidden in Einroguard!”

Dehumcha took Lee Han to the Inn of Myriad Schemes.

It was in a quiet and shady place, and the windows were covered even during the day, so Einroguard students liked it.

“…So…smuggling…Einroguard’s tradition…”

“…Gasp…we…nothing…how could we…what do we do…”

“…It’s not too late…”

“…Thank…you…”

After talking for about an hour, Dehumcha was sure that the underclassman was completely fooled.

“Thank you, Dehumcha senior! Meeting you is the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to me!”

“It’s nothing. You’re lucky that you’re listening to my advice. Some guys don’t believe me even when I give them advice.”

Dehumcha answered, trying to sound like a serious craftsman, even though he was tricking them.

“Then, I’ll see you at the meeting place on the day the school gates open!”

Lee Han nodded and stared at the pile of luggage in the corner of the inn.

Dehumcha flinched at that look.

Some of that luggage was transformed from Bone-Snatching Parrots, and they would turn back into parrots and shout, ‘Skull Headmaster Moron!’ if someone told them to.

Of course, they couldn’t put it in Dehumcha’s group’s luggage, but they could put it in the underclassmen’s luggage.

The fact that the underclassman was staring at it made him flinch.

“…What’s wrong?”

“The seniors have already finished all the preparations. I’m impressed.”

“Y-yes. You guys will be even more prepared as time goes on.”

“I’m amazed, touched, and moved!”

“It’s nothing to make such a fuss about.”

Dehumcha proudly watched Lee Han leave.

‘…But is this guy really from the Blue Dragon Tower?’

He’s too polite for that…?

“What’s Lee Han doing now?”

“I heard he’s memorizing and analyzing the seniors’ magic.”

“I see.”

Guinan packed up the wizard cards and turned around. Siana looked surprised and asked, “Shouldn’t you be a little surprised?”

Siana was shocked that Lee Han was memorizing and analyzing the magic he had just seen.

How was that even possible?

But Guinan looked at Siana, confused. “Huh? Did it not work?”

“No, it did work… but…”

“Then why should I be surprised?”

From inside, Lee Han shouted, “All done!”