Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1054

Naturally, Guinan didn’t notice because he was too busy whining to pay attention.

“Sniff sniff.”

“Stop whining, Your Highness. You were happy to come, so why are you acting like this now?”

Giselle told off her friend Guinan from the Blue Dragon Tower, who was behind him.

Guinan was acting very shy now, but he was happy to come here earlier.

“…Who said I was happy to come…! Sniff. I was happy to come, alright.”

Guinan, who was trying to explain, closed his mouth again at Leehan’s silent glare.

“I know, so stop whining.”

“……”

Guinan thought to himself.

Was laughing with the Skull Headmaster a sin worthy of such punishment?

‘…No. It is a sin…’

Upon reflection, it was indeed a very unpleasant sin. Guinan reflected again.

Still, if there was an unfair point, it was that the Skull Headmaster himself was not being punished.

“I wish the Headmaster had come with us.”

‘Is he mad?’

Giselle stared at Guinan, who was muttering, with a look of astonishment.

What on earth was he thinking, saying such a thing?

“So, who are you trying to catch?” Leehan asked Professor Volardi.

Since he was following along, it was only natural to wonder who they were trying to catch.

And…

‘I need to check if they’re related to the Evil God Cult, too.’

The professor didn’t seem to have noticed yet, but there was no such thing as absolute certainty in the world.

He had to continue his surveillance discreetly and subtly.

“It’s a wizard.”

“!”

Leehan and Giselle exchanged glances with surprised eyes, and they said simultaneously:

“He’s from Einroguard, then.”

“No.”

“……”

“……”

Leehan and Giselle exchanged glances with ‘You tricked me!’ in their eyes. Guinan, who had not yet grasped the situation, asked, bewildered:

“You only said he was a wizard, so why did you assume he was from Einroguard?”

“…That’s what I’m saying.”

“Don’t ask, Your Highness.”

“???”

While Guinan blinked, Professor Volardi explained about the wanted criminal with a bounty on his head.

The dwarf wizard, Toman, was showing the typical path of a wizard from a non-magic school in the Empire: living as an adventurer, accidentally obtaining magic from a relic he picked up, becoming intoxicated with the power of that magic, trying this and that, and gradually becoming more and more corrupt…

‘Hmm. Doesn’t seem much different from a wizard from Einroguard?’ Leehan thought secretly to himself.

Wizards from the Empire’s magic schools often said, ‘Wizards who haven’t been educated and are self-taught are dangerous,’ but it didn’t seem like being educated made them any less dangerous.

Rather, it seemed like they were causing accidents more systematically and dangerously thanks to being educated.

In fact, that Toman wasn’t even called a magical criminal. That level of wizard was just treated as a petty criminal in the Empire.

“But among the many wanted criminals, is there a reason why you specifically chose this wizard?” Leehan asked slyly.

As he did so, he glanced at the wanted poster. He wondered if there was any record of worshiping an evil god.

‘It’s too ordinary for the professor to have chosen him?’

The reward was less than several dozen gold coins, and he wasn’t a particularly dangerous guy (the only crimes were stealing corpses from a family graveyard and stealing 14 horses from a western ranch), but Professor Volardi chose him.

Was there some inside story that Leehan hadn’t noticed?

“He’s currently in the capital.”

“?!!”

Not only Leehan but also Giselle was surprised.

Even though Professor Volardi was an excellent wizard, who knew he would know the location of a wanted criminal?

“What is it? Do bounty hunters have a method like that?”

“No, no. I’ve never heard of anything like that. Maybe Professor Begreck is exchanging information with other bounty hunters?” Giselle guessed at Leehan’s question.

All sorts of bounty hunters came and went in the North, but there was no one who could guess the location without even looking.

“No. Moradi. That’s impossible.”

“Why not?”

“There’s no way Professor Begreck has such a wide circle of friends.”

“……”

Giselle looked at Leehan, wondering if he was joking.

However, the boy from the Wodanaz family was very serious. There was no sign that he was joking at all.

“I think it’s divination magic.”

“That’s nonsense. Finding that with divination magic is…”

Divination magic was not a cure-all.

If you wanted to find someone, you had to have clues and leads that matched, and if you didn’t, the difficulty would increase like crazy.

What if you gathered as many clues and leads as you needed?

In that case, it was easier to just chase after them with that. There was no need to rely on high-level magic like divination magic.

Even Einroguard used large-scale magic on a territory-wide scale to foresee suitable students.

It wasn’t for nothing that the more excellent a divination wizard was, the less they relied on magic.

“The professor must have found a way to bypass those restrictions. Isn’t that right, Professor? You found him with divination magic, didn’t you?”

Professor Volardi answered briefly to his disciple’s question full of trust.

“No. I got the information from other hunters.”

“……”

“Hey.”

Toman, a dwarf wizard and wanted criminal with a bounty on his head, was staying at a shabby inn near the south gate of the capital.

The south gate was a place where wandering adventurers and mercenaries came and went so much that it wasn’t very noticeable even if a wanted criminal was hiding there.

Knock knock-

“Who is it?”

“I’ve brought your meal.”

“Leave it in front of the door and get lost!” Toman shouted in a prickly voice.

It was a reaction that might seem suspicious, but the employee didn’t care much.

There were more than one or two guests who reacted like that at this inn.

As long as they paid for the room and meals in advance, they didn’t care whether they died in the corner or not.

“Damn it. Stingy and miserly bastards. Sending a pursuit team just for stealing some corpses…” Toman recited the same words that many senior black magic criminal predecessors had said before.

The practice of undead black magic required corpses, or more precisely, high-quality corpses.

The power that the corpse had in life also affected the undead.

But such corpses were naturally expensive, and most of them were difficult to obtain even if you paid money. What crazy knight family would sell their family’s corpses for gold coins?

For the development of black magic, Toman had no choice but to choose.

…That was to break into the knight family’s graveyard in the middle of the night and steal the corpses.

Sadly, the knight family did not understand Toman, and not only reported him, but even organized their own pursuit team and sent it.

Being caught by the Empire soldiers would be lucky. But the pursuit squad? That meant they would probably cut off your head and leave your body in the mountains. Toman grumbled, yanking open the wooden window. He leaned out, peering down at the dusty road.

“Please, no knight-types today,” he muttered to himself.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Toman jumped. “Right now? Who is it?!” he snapped, his voice louder than he intended.

The knock on the door right after his food arrived made Toman jumpy.

Toman held a staff in one hand and a crossbow in the other, ready to cast a spell.

If a fight broke out, Toman planned to cast the most wicked and powerful dark magic he currently had access to: [Bone Arrow Barrage]. He had put a special poison on these bones to make them even more dangerous.

‘Just try to come in, whoever you are.’

“It’s the person staying in the next room.”

“…So? What do you want?”

“Toman,” the voice outside said, calm but firm. “Open up. Just want to talk. You know, if I went to the Empire… things could get tricky for you, right?”

“!!!”

The dwarf magician’s eyes widened in astonishment.

He hadn’t done anything noticeable since entering this inn, so how did they know his name so accurately?

‘This guy…!’

The person outside now seemed in charge and spoke in a calm voice.

“Toman, I’m not trying to report you. As a fellow wanted criminal of the Empire, I have a proposal to make.”

Toman hesitated. “A… a proposal? What kind of proposal?”

“Open the door, and you’ll find out. And maybe put down the pointy things, yeah? Accidents happen.”

“……”

After hesitating, Toman cautiously opened the door.

Surprisingly, standing before him was the old, grizzled employee who managed the stables at the inn. The fellow who usually fussed over the guests’ mounts, a face he barely remembered, was now making such threats.

Toman asked, bewildered.

“You… you. I saw you when I came to this inn. What was your name? Weren’t you an employee?”

“Names are not important. Nor are professions. What matters is true faith.”

‘An evil god worshiper!’

A single word flashed through Toman’s mind. The only ones who would go around doing such strange things in the Empire were evil god worshipers.

“…What is it? Which cult are you from?”

“That, I cannot tell you, Toman. You are not yet worthy.”

The old employee said with a glint in his eyes.

“Worthy, you say. Who said I wanted to join?”

“Is that so? Be honest, Toman. Aren’t you tired of running? Don’t you find it exhausting to search for potions alone, without a guild, workshop, or magic tower to protect you?”

“……”

Toman wavered slightly. It was certainly true. A magician who was a fugitive in the Empire had no time to devote himself to magic. Evil god worshipers were unsettling, but on the other hand, they weren’t beyond being used. Couldn’t he just receive their help and run away appropriately?

“What do you want to say?”

“Here, Toman. Take this.”

The old employee tossed a small wooden statue. It was carved from dark wood and felt heavy in Toman’s hand. Instead of a god, it looked like a twisted monster, with sharp teeth and bulging eyes carved into its crude form. Just looking at it made Toman feel uneasy, like a cold finger tracing down his spine.

“Offer sacrifices to this and pray. Then you will get what you desire.”

“Ha. So that’s what you were getting at…”

Toman scoffed. Among the people of the Empire, few had never gone to a temple to pray as children. And even fewer had seen any effect from such prayers. He was penny-pinching to escape, so why would he offer sacrifices to an evil god?

“I don’t have time to waste on prayers. If you’re going to say such things, get out!”

“Toman, the god I serve is called the Fair Regent. Do you know what that means? He never ignores sacrifices. Try it once. You won’t regret it. And if you change your mind, come find me.”

The employee said no more and quietly closed the door.

Normally, Toman would have ignored him. But the man’s confident way of speaking made Toman think twice.

“……”

Toman rummaged through his potion pouch and took out a large monster liver. Then, holding the wooden statue, he prayed earnestly.

“!!!”

Instantly, Toman felt a surge of magic and was startled. When he opened his eyes, the wooden statue seemed to be smiling ominously. Toman stared at the statue, as if possessed. It seemed to whisper, ‘Bring more.’

More. And more blood-soaked…

*Knock, knock, knock—*

“What is it?!”

Toman’s nerves exploded when the door was knocked on for the third time today. Why did they keep knocking?

“Sir! A fire has broken out in the kitchen stove downstairs!”

Normally, Toman would have been suspicious upon hearing this and fled out the window immediately. But now, because of his prayer to the evil god, he wasn’t thinking clearly.

Toman carelessly opened the door.

“What could you be cooking that’s so great it’s causing a fire… Ack!”

“!”

Just as Toman was surprised, so were Lee Han and his friends. Professor Voladi had predicted that the opponent would escape through the window.

‘Not so?’

Wham!

Attacks landed on Toman’s head and solar plexus. Lee Han attacked with his staff, and Giselle with the scabbard. The frail dwarf magician, caught by surprise, collapsed forward without even a scream.

“G-Goodness, that was a surprise…!”

Lee Han exclaimed in a startled voice only after the opponent had fallen. Gainando thought to himself.

‘He beat him down too calmly for someone who’s supposed to be surprised.’

If that was him surprised, he wondered how he would beat someone down when he wasn’t.

“W-Wait… L-Let’s negotiate.”

“Tell us if you’ve hidden any more potions. If you try to cast magic later, a magician more terrifying and powerful than us will beat you up painfully.”

Lee Han ignored him and tied Toman up. When subduing a magician, the standard procedure was to first take away their staff and potions, then gag them.

“T-There’s an evil god worshiper! Isn’t an evil god worshiper a more tempting prey?”

“Don’t be fooled, Wodanaz. He’s trying to get out of the situation by any means.”

Giselle didn’t believe it. Originally, wanted criminals would throw out all sorts of lies when cornered.

“I know. Don’t worry.”

“It’s true! Look at this statue! It’s an evil god called the Fair Regent…!”

“…You little…! Trying to trick us!”

Lee Han was horrified and quickly suppressed the opponent. In the process, he exuded an overwhelming aura as if magic was exploding. Not only the frightened dwarf magician, but even Giselle and Gainando were startled.

“W-Why, what’s wrong, Lee Han? Are you angry?”

“That shameless criminal who broke the laws of this Empire is mocking people!”

“I-Isn’t that a bit much to get angry about…? No, it’s nothing!”

Gainando quickly shut his mouth, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.

Oh