Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1056

Despite Professor Garcia’s protests, Headmaster Skull replied shamelessly. “If he puts his mind to it, he can easily persuade Professor Voladi to return. The fact that he doesn’t means he’s enjoying wandering around with her.”

Professor Garcia couldn’t immediately refute it. Indeed, with his disciple’s eloquence, he could have persuaded her easily enough. Professor Voladi was strict and taciturn but lenient with her disciple. If Lee Han had whined, she would have likely listened.

Headmaster Skull’s words sounded too simple. Professor Garcia paused. ‘…No, wait. Am I being deceived by the Headmaster?’

Meanwhile, Jo-Urin and Ehandurde were watching from the second-floor balcony of the villa. Licking her ice cream, Jo-Urin asked Ehandurde, “Is Headmaster Skull always like that with Lee Han?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“That’s really too much!” Jo-Urin tapped the tile floor with her heel, getting angry as if it were her own business. Who knew that things outside the mansion were really like this?

“I’ve made up my mind. When Jo-Urin goes to Einroguard, I’ll stop things like that from happening!”

“…Uh… really…?” Ehandurde suddenly felt uneasy. If Jo-Urin had been a reliable adult dragon, Ehandurde might have been tempted, thinking, ‘Oh, is the Dragon going to turn Einroguard upside down?’ But Jo-Urin still had many clumsy aspects. Even if she said she would change Einroguard, it seemed like she would be deceived by Headmaster Skull and get tricked in return…

“What are you two talking about?” Other second-year students heard Jo-Urin’s voice and approached.

Jo-Urin saw familiar students and, thinking it was a good opportunity, called out to them. “Ah, everyone’s here! Listen up! To Jo-Urin’s resolution!”

“Yes? What resolution?”

“When *I*, Jo-Urin, go to Einroguard… we’re going to make it amazing!”

In her human form, Jo-Urin was not scary at all. She looked like a cute doll. But her words were full of passion, and they touched the second-year students. By the time the speech was over, the number of students listening had multiplied several times.

Clap clap clap clap clap clap-!

“Long live the Princess! Long live the Princess!!”

“The future of the Empire is here!”

Ehandurde frantically looked around. It seemed like his senior needed to return quickly to prevent this dragon from causing more trouble.

Meanwhile, far away from the excited students, Lee Han was having his own problems.

“Wodanaz.”

“Huh?”

“Tell me honestly,” Giselle said in a cold voice. Lee Han, who was gagging the third wanted criminal, flinched slightly.

“…I, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“What are you hiding!”

What happened when they caught the second wanted criminal was as follows:

-Is it here?

-In the underground tavern, judging by the sound, it’s an illegal gambling den. A place where mercenaries often gather. Okay. Listen carefully, both of you. When we cause a commotion at the entrance with magic, Professor Begreck will be waiting on the other side to round them all up. Got it, Wodanaz?

-Indeed. I understand, Moradi. …Everyone, throw your weapons aside and lie down!

-Hey! Wodanaz! Why are you charging in on your own! Are you crazy?!

-You bastard. Are you a worshiper of an evil god? Tell me now! If it turns out later that you were hiding it, a powerful family will come after you!

-Plea, please save me! No! I have nothing to do with evil gods!

Wodanaz had disregarded the well-laid plan and had acted on his own. From Giselle’s perspective, it was incomprehensible. Someone like Wodanaz wouldn’t get a rush of blood to the head and charge in like that, unless it was Anglomen.

The third wanted criminal was similar:

-…They say he’s hiding in the basement of this workshop. Wodanaz. If you move on your own again this time… Wait. Where did Wodanaz go?

-Lee Han? He used an invisibility spell and went in a little while ago?

-…Seriously!

Giselle, who had been completely taken in by her friend’s words about buying snacks from a stall (she was craving a freshly baked waffle), felt ashamed and quickly rushed into the workshop. And what Giselle witnessed inside was Lee Han having beaten up all of the wanted criminal’s accomplices and then interrogating the wanted criminal, saying, ‘Are you a worshiper of an evil god! If you’re a worshiper of an evil god, tell me now!’

No matter how she thought about it, this was definitely strange.

“…Hoo. It can’t be helped. I thought Gainando wouldn’t be suspicious, so it would be okay, but it was too much.”

Giselle felt her anger rise. Her fingers tightened on her sword hilt. ‘Who does this guy think he is?’ she thought.

If it were any other friend, it would be one thing! Giselle closed her eyes and quickly meditated. The experience she had gained in Einroguard was not limited to magic. It was also applied to swordsmanship like this. If it weren’t for those experiences, it would have been impossible to calm her mind this quickly.

“That’s right. You acted carelessly. Shall I guess? You must have heard some story. You probably obtained information about the wanted criminals with bounties that even the professor doesn’t know about. And you’re trying to monopolize it.”

Lee Han readily admitted to the guess. “It’s roughly similar.”

“Right. You’re originally crazy about danger…”

“Professor Begreck mustn’t find out.”

Lee Han told Giselle the story he had heard from Headmaster Skull. It was better for Gainando not to know, but there was no point in deceiving Giselle, who was already suspicious. The face of the elven friend, who heard about the newly revived cult of evil god worshipers and Professor Begreck’s connection, hardened. This was too different from what she had expected.

“But what were you about to say just now? That I risked what in danger?”

“Wodanaz, I said that you always take risks. It’s the Blue Dragon Tower, but I respect that point,” Giselle quickly changed her words. She never imagined that he was following Professor Voladi for this reason. She naturally thought he was following her to catch wanted criminals with bounties…!

“I don’t think that’s what you were going to say?” Lee Han was slightly suspicious, but since the situation was what it was, he didn’t press further.

“Anyway, Moradi. Now that one has already appeared, we need to be more careful in the future. It mustn’t get into Professor Begreck’s ears.”

“Were there any evil god worshipers after that?”

“No. There weren’t.”

Giselle inwardly expressed her condolences to the criminals caught second and third. Even though they were ordinary petty criminals who would have been caught normally, they had to endure all sorts of magic and threats because of their misfortune. ‘There will be more terrifying rumors about the Wodanaz family… Well. Wodanaz doesn’t care much.’

The Wodanaz family already had several ominous rumors following them, and Wodanaz himself wasn’t the type to care much about such things. Giselle just brushed aside what she had thought inwardly. It was a very regrettable thing for Lee Han, who was subtly very concerned about such rumors.

“Then, what should we do when catching the remaining wanted criminals in the future? Do we have to catch them unconditionally before Professor Begreck?”

“Yes. After catching them first, we need to check whether they are evil god worshipers or not, and if they are, we need to threaten them to keep their mouths shut.”

“What if they’re not worshipers?”

“We still have to threaten them to keep their mouths shut. We can’t have them saying strange things to Professor Begreck and making him suspicious.”

‘You already look suspicious enough…’ Giselle had that thought, but she finished by shaking her head. Still, she felt a little sorry that Wodanaz was going through so much trouble for Professor Begreck. ‘…Wait. But why is Wodanaz, a second-year student, doing this… Ah. Professor Begreck doesn’t have any disciples.’

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing. More importantly, what’s the retribution of a great noble family? You kept saying that earlier too.”

“I don’t know either. I just blurted it out as it came to me.”

Giselle was dumbfounded. What kind of guy is this? But the effect was powerful. Even she had flinched when she heard it.

“Aren’t you going to tell the Prince? He must be getting suspicious by now.”

“Ah. That’s right.”

When Lee Han reacted as if he had just remembered, Giselle nodded with a look that said she knew it. “I should bring him some waffles here. Then he’ll forget what he was suspicious about.”

“…I shouldn’t be the one to say this, but aren’t you looking down on the Prince too much?”

The magical criminal Kitarenanum poured the sticky black liquid over the upper part of his empty left half of his body. With a sizzling sound, the destroyed flesh was slowly regenerated and destroyed repeatedly.

“Ugh. Damn spider bastards!” The notoriety that they came from the void outside of the dimension was indeed not a false rumor. The poison they spewed was on a different level from the poison of the spider-type monsters on the continent. It dug into the very existence and left a terrible aftereffect.

Kitarenanum barely managed to escape with his life, but he lost a significant number of stored spells and part of his flesh. It was truly a painful blow.

Creak-

“Magician! Boss wants the rent.”

“…Here it is.” Kitarenanum opened the door and threw a handful of jewels to the mercenary. The only place a magical criminal who barely escaped with his life could entrust himself to was other criminals.

The place where Kitarenanum was now was a place called [Capital Underground Fortress] among the mercenaries. Of course, it wasn’t really a fortress. This was originally an abandoned village a little away from the capital’s walls. The mercenaries who discovered the ruined village, with only traces remaining, had remodeled its underground like a fortress.

As time, history, and rumors accumulated, the underground of this village came to have a defensive power comparable to a decent fortress. The land of the Empire was vast, and there were many places where the knights’ hands could not reach, so there were countless disguised bandit hideouts like this…

…Kitarenanum rated this underground village quite highly. It was because of the leader who led the village.

‘Iron Mantle Ibinta. Just you wait. Once my injuries are healed, I’ll get everything back.’ He was the leader of these bandits, and Kitarenanum planned to get revenge on him.

Iron Mantle Ibinta was from the somewhat infamous adventurer organization [Khangla’s Sculptors], and now he was the leader of the bandit group that had settled in the underground of this village. His special quality was his prudence. Commonly, when setting up such hideouts, the bandits would slowly become greedy and emboldened, trying to rob nearby peddlers or carriages.

However, Ibinta showed a prudence that was hard to believe for a bandit. Even if he went far away to work, he didn’t cause any accidents in this hideout. Thanks to this, this underground village had not yet been discovered. That was why Kitarenanum was barely able to arrive and entrust himself to it.

“Oh, right. Magician. Don’t go outside for a while. There are guys loitering around the village.”

“Did you confirm who they are?”

“I don’t know. What do I care? Maybe they’re looking for escaped slaves.” The bandit wasn’t afraid at all. It was because he was convinced that they would never discover this underground, and even if they did, he believed it didn’t matter.

Even if a subjugation force was organized and came in from above, considering the defensive power of this fortress, they could easily escape through the tunnels.

Kitarenanum somewhat agreed with the bandit’s words. Certainly, this underground fortress was sturdy. But strangely, his heart was restless and ominous. Why?

‘Let’s check.’ Kitarenanum activated the vision magic he had installed outside. It was magic he had set up on the ground in case of an emergency.

“…!!!!” Kitarenanum, after confirming the magician loitering around the village, jumped up and packed his bags. He had to get away from here as quickly as possible!