Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 147

Lee Han’s eyes narrowed. He’d heard whispers all week – warnings from the Headmaster about increased anti-magic activity during the Spring Festival. The shadowy figure in the stable… it all clicked into place. “Anti-magic activists!” he hissed, his voice tight. “Yoner, watch out! It’s one of them!”

Yoner, who had been nervously watching the dark stable door, blinked. “Huh?” *Anti-magic activist?* He glanced at the figure emerging from the shadows. This thief looked less like a dangerous fanatic and more like… well, just a thief.

“Get out of the way, you brats! Unless you want trouble!” the thief shouted.

Before the thief could fully draw his short sword, Lee Han’s spell was complete.

“Flash!” Lee Han shouted.

With a fierce shout, lightning struck.

It was faster than the thief had anticipated.

“Mu… Ack!!” the thief cried out.

In truth, not all intruders who entered the magic school were anti-magic activists. Rather, anti-magic activists were among the most difficult intruders to get into the magic school, because they were likely to cause major incidents if they got in. The magic school managed them as strictly as possible.

Surprisingly, the most common type of intruder into the magic school was wizards for hire or adventurers. The Empire’s magic school was not just a place of education, but also a place where the Empire’s most outstanding wizards gathered to research magic.

Even the most insignificant and failed research within it would increase in value dozens, even hundreds of times, if taken outside. Among the external wizards, there were many who would pay a fortune just to hear that something was being researched at the magic school.

The thief who came in today was just such a case.

“-I heard that Einroguard is accepting outsiders thanks to the Spring Festival.”

“-Really?”

“-Yeah. Let’s go in, grab something valuable, and get out.”

“-But… I’m scared of getting involved with high-level wizards…”

“-Of course, I know that there are many monster-like guys among the wizards. But there aren’t many of them. Do you think they’ll bother if we sneakily steal something among the guests? They won’t even care. There are so many people. Just don’t get caught. Just don’t get caught.”

“-Hmm! That’s true…”

“-No one can follow you when it comes to breaking into magically warded buildings. You even bypassed the magic that wizard for hire, what was his name again? That guy cast.”

“-That’s true.”

Having some experience dealing with wizards, and being greedy, too, the thief forged his identity and entered Einroguard. Entering the magic school wasn’t too difficult because of the Spring Festival. With a suitable excuse, one could pass through.

However…

“-Wasn’t this supposed to be the main building?”

“-The main building should be here, right?”

The thieves underestimated the magic school too much. The 1st and 2nd Circle wizards for hire they usually encountered outside were on a different level from the wizards of the magic school.

The unprepared thieves were caught by the magic school’s defensive and illusion magic, unable to find the correct location. After wandering around and around, the thieves barely managed to find a building.

“-Fo… Found it!”

“-It’s a stable…?”

“-It’s the magic school’s stable! There must be many rare creatures!”

“-Th, that’s right!”

The thieves, who found the stable located in a remote area, hurriedly opened the door and went inside. However, all they saw inside the stable were ordinary horses.

“-Damn it! There are only horses!”

“-Should we take a horse with us?”

“-What nonsense… Do you think we came here to take horses? And how are you going to take a horse out? Unless it’s a small one, it’s hard to carry out!”

There was a griffin in front of them, but unfortunately, the thieves didn’t notice it. Sadly, the thieves’ misfortune didn’t end there. They even ran into a freshman while coming out of the stable.

“……”

“…It’s not Retford… It’s Yoner! Thief!”

The thief was very embarrassed to see the student shouting, but soon regained his composure. There was no one around, and the opponent seemed to be a freshman. That was enough to subdue him and get away.

“Be careful, Yoner! It’s an anti-magic activist!”

“! ?”

The thief was flustered by the absurd misunderstanding. An anti-magic activist, really? It was a ridiculous misunderstanding. He just came in to get some money…

‘Damn it, this is not the time for this!’

The thief realized that he shouldn’t waste time. Someone else could come if they heard the noise.

“Get out of the way, you brats! Unless you want to get hurt!”

The thief tried to draw his sharply honed short sword. Of course, he didn’t really intend to hurt the students. Stealing one or two items from the magic school was on a different level from hurting a student.

He didn’t want to be chased by the magic school’s monsters for the rest of his life after coming in to make some money. …However, the thief didn’t know that the freshman in front of him was also one of the magic school’s formidable monsters.

“Flash!”

The pain of burning muscles along with the flashing lightning burned the thief’s brain.

‘Ack…?!’

Apart from the pain, the thief couldn’t understand the situation. Having faced wizards a few times outside, the thief knew how long it took for wizards to chant spells and cast magic.

In fact, magic was a surprisingly difficult skill to use in combat. One had to maintain concentration without shaking even a little while chanting long spells and waving a wand.

Not many people could do that on a battlefield where murderous shouts erupted and weapons flew around. Moreover, the opponent was a freshman.

It took quite a while for wizards for hire to chant spells without making mistakes, so it should definitely take longer for a magic school freshman who hadn’t learned magic for very long…?

“Kraaah!”

“Flash, flash, flash!”

‘Stop it!!’

The thief convulsed on the floor, shouting inwardly. His throat wouldn’t listen because of the electric shock. He would have fainted long ago if he hadn’t been wearing armor with magic resistance.

In the midst of the pain, the thief realized that he had underestimated the magic school too much.

‘This is no joke…!’

He didn’t know what kind of teachings they received, but the magic school’s freshmen were on a different level. The thief vowed that if he ever got out alive, he would avoid wizards from the magic school even if he only saw their shadows.

‘He, help me, you bastard…’

The thief thought inwardly, looking at his companion still inside the stable. The companion who had come in with him was frozen by the one-sided violence taking place outside the stable, unable to dare to come out.

He understood his feelings, but he cursed in his mind while being electrocuted.

‘Help… me…! If I get subdued… it’s your turn next…!’

Meanwhile, Lee Han floated a water orb while casting lightning. He had gained the upper hand by luck, but Lee Han was never careless.

If he was an anti-magic activist, that could also be a trick.

“Yoner, step back,” Lee Han said.

“Uh… uh? He seems subdued?” Yoner asked.

Yoner wasn’t a combat expert, but he could tell that the opponent was foaming at the mouth.

“No. It could be a trick by the anti-magic activists,” Lee Han replied.

“I… Is that so?”

Yoner stepped back as Lee Han said. The opponent seemed to be foaming at the mouth, but Lee Han wasn’t one to say the wrong thing in these situations…

Whoosh!

The water orb flew and struck the fallen thief. It was fortunate that the thief had lost consciousness.

“…Seems like we knocked him down,” Yoner said.

‘Actually, he seemed to have fallen earlier,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han didn’t let his guard down even though the opponent had fallen. He cast various spells and floated more water orbs.

Anti-magic activists never traveled alone. It wouldn’t be strange if there was a companion nearby.

“Light, come forth!” Lee Han shouted.

Lee Han shot a giant sphere of light into the sky. With a sphere of light this bright, other professors would come running.

“The professors will be here soon. We just have to hold out until then,” Lee Han said.

“Okay…”

Yoner glanced at the fallen thief. Looking at the level of the fallen thief, he was slightly unsure who needed to hold out until the professors came…

Creak-

“!”

Lee Han turned his gaze. The door slowly opened with a creaking sound from inside the stable. Lee Han pointed his wand.

He was ready to unleash all the prepared spells the moment the enemy came out.

“Pl… Please save me!”

However, what came out was a thief covered in tears and snot. The thief, who had seen his companion being battered by magic inside the stable, was completely terrified. He raised both arms and shouted desperately.

“I’m not an anti-magic activist! I’m not an anti-magic activist!! Please, just spare my life…”

“Flash!” Lee Han shouted.

“Kraaah!”

Lee Han swung his wand without mercy. The thief who was struck by lightning fell forward.

Lee Han muttered to himself as he watched.

“Hmm… maybe he really isn’t an anti-magic activist.”

“……”

‘I’m so glad we’re in the same tower, really,’ Yoner thought.

The first to arrive was the skeletal Headmaster. One of the advantages of being a lich was that he didn’t need sleep. The skeletal Headmaster, having been informed of the commotion, excitedly rushed over, thinking someone was trying to escape.

“A thief? *Just* a thief? After all that commotion, I rushed over for *this*?” the Headmaster said with a disappointed look as soon as he arrived.

Lee Han asked in a surprised voice.

“Aren’t they anti-magic activists?”

“Did you think it was them? Those guys can’t get in that easily. And they’re not this weak either,” the skeletal Headmaster said.

The skeletal Headmaster scanned the thieves as he spoke. Although he said they were weak, the thieves’ equipment was quite high-end. There were traces of them preparing for anti-magic measures.

They must have had experience entering other wizards’ workshops or bases. That experience and arrogance had brought about this misfortune…

Even the skeletal Headmaster could see that Lee Han had really subdued the thieves harshly. He must have kept attacking, thinking they were anti-magic activists in disguise.

‘They got beaten up more because of those anti-magic activists,’ the Headmaster thought.

“So, they just came in to steal something?” Lee Han asked.

“There are more of those guys anyway. How could there not be thieves when there are so many valuable things in this school,” the Headmaster replied.

“But is it okay to hold a festival like this?” Lee Han asked.

The skeletal Headmaster scoffed at Lee Han’s question.

“It would be a blow to a wizard’s pride to not hold a festival because they were afraid of thieves,” the Headmaster said.

“Indeed…”

It made sense.

It would be ridiculous if the Empire’s best magic school was cautious because they were afraid of mere thieves. And if they made excuses that thieves broke in sometimes, they could get more budget…

“……”

“……”

Lee Han and Yoner pretended not to hear. To think they would hear about the magic school’s operating secrets here like this…

“Anyway, good job catching the thieves like this. I’ll take care of these thieves,” the Headmaster said.

“So,” Lee Han started, a hopeful tone in his voice, “about a reward… maybe an outing pass?”

The Headmaster scoffed, his skeletal jaw clicking. “An outing pass? For these… *scrawny* thieves? They’re not even anti-magic activists! Honestly, Lee Han, have you no shame asking for so much for so little?”

“……”

“I’ll think about it if you catch someone more valuable,” the Headmaster said.

“Still, you should give us some reward for catching the thieves like this,” Yoner protested as if it didn’t make sense.

Unlike Lee Han, Yoner still had a little bit of faith and expectation in the skeletal Headmaster.

“That’s also true. Alright! I’ll think of something appropriate,” the Headmaster said.

Lee Han felt uneasy as the skeletal Headmaster spoke willingly.

Why did he feel so uneasy when he was getting a deserved reward?

“Ah, right. Since it’s unlikely that only those thieves came in, we should have the students stand guard too,” the skeletal Headmaster said as if a good idea had come to mind.

Lee Han didn’t understand.

“Don’t you have your summons, Headmaster?” Lee Han asked.

“Oh dear. But even the undead need to rest,” the Headmaster replied.