Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 331

Ethan held out the dark brown leather canteen. “How’s the canteen? Is it working well?”

Nilia turned it over in her hands, her eyes wide. “It looks good, Ethan! But seriously, how did you even make something like this? It’s amazing!” She ran her fingers over the soft leather. “It even smells nice! Like smoke and honey.”

It was even more amazing because she couldn’t see any jewels, special things, or magic ingredients on it.

“But it only lasts about two weeks.”

“Two weeks? That’s a shame, but… it’s not unusable.”

“If you were to buy this with silver coins, how much would you pay?”

“???”

Nilia was taken aback by her friend’s sudden, serious market research.

What was he planning?

The hunters selected some reasonably useful artifacts and expressed their gratitude.

“Thank you. I never thought we’d be able to find something like this.”

Baishada, who had found a ring of strength enhancement, was very pleased.

Of course, wearing it would inflict a curse of reduced mobility, but it was a curse he could handle well enough.

“It wasn’t me, but the priests of the Freisinger Order who gifted it to you.”

“True. But we wouldn’t have received it if it weren’t for you. Anyway, priests, I feel bad just receiving something like this…”

“Not at all. We would be glad if you consider it the mercy of Freisinger.”

The two hunters, who had been pondering, suddenly asked as if they had just remembered something.

“Speaking of which, I heard that a small dungeon was discovered in the forest outside the Bridge Gate. Is the Freisinger Order not interested?”

The Bridge Gate was the south gate of Granden City, meaning the dungeon was discovered in the forest about half a day’s journey south of the city.

It was not a big dungeon, and it wasn’t an old ruin either. So, people didn’t talk about it much. Dungeons were discovered quite frequently.

It was something that adventurers would casually poke around in, slowly exploring until it was over, but…

…it was a different story for the priests of nearby cities.

Merchants who want to sell things to adventurers always go to dungeons quickly. Priests also get ready when they hear about a dungeon.

Even a small dungeon could contain unknown curses. If a cursed person entered the city, it could potentially lead to an epidemic.

Therefore, the Order usually sent priests to the vicinity when a dungeon was discovered, in preparation for any possible situation.

“I was planning to go and check it out anyway. I was going to ask the City Council for an escort…”

“If you don’t mind, we will escort you.”

And, of course, priests didn’t go to such places alone.

Whether they assigned a paladin from the Order or hired a reliable escort, they prepared for any eventuality.

There were many dangers, from monsters to crazy adventurers, so it was a necessary precaution.

Hunters from the Shadow Patrol or Wasteland Starhunter groups were very strong and more than enough to protect them.

“I’m sorry to ask for such a favor, but…”

“Not at all. If we just passed by after receiving such a gift, the mountain spirits would laugh at me.”

“That’s right. Please allow us to help.”

As the two hunters earnestly requested, Priest Mehred realized that refusing any further would be impolite.

“Thank you. Then, let’s leave the remaining tasks to the others and go for a while.”

“I will help too.”

“Thank you.”

Priest Tiziling’s offer of assistance was met with gratitude from Priest Mehred.

Seeing this, Ethan saw this as an opportunity to leave.

“I will help too.”

“Yes? Ethan of the Wodanaz family. Uh… you came with the professor, didn’t you?”

“It’s alright. The professor will take care of the remaining tasks.”

Professor Verdus went to eat. Ethan saw this as his chance to leave.

What could they say if he said he was going out for a while to help with the Freisinger Order’s work?

“I’ll help too.”

Nilia placed her hand on Ethan’s shoulder and said.

Not only the hunters but even Ethan were trying to help the Order’s work in every way, so she couldn’t just stand by.

“But do that many monsters appear around there?”

“Hmm? I don’t know.”

“…???”

Nilia tilted her head.

“Weren’t you trying to help because monsters were appearing?”

“No. I’m trying to escape from the professor. And also check the demand for artifacts from the adventurers.”

“……”

Hey!

The group quickly exited the city gate. Ethan looked back. Fortunately, Professor Verdus, who was chasing after them, was nowhere to be seen.

‘It seems he hasn’t noticed yet.’

As they reached the forest, they saw brightly colored tents scattered among the trees like mushrooms. Lines of adventurers waited near small fires, the air filled with the smell of woodsmoke and cooking meat.

Quick-footed merchants had already brought their carriages and set up tents. Adventurers sat around them, sharing information.

“So, mud lizards came out from inside?”

“That’s right. You should bring a blunt weapon.”

“I don’t want to change weapons just for one mud lizard. Is there no other way?”

“Wait. I have a book. Mud lizard, mud lizard…”

“Besides monsters, did anything useful come out from inside? How much can we get even if we catch and sell monsters? Something useful is the real deal.”

“Give it up. It’s a naturally occurring dungeon. Even if guys like us see something useful, we wouldn’t recognize it.”

“Why? Just dig up everything you can find. Whether it’s minerals or plants, if you bring everything inside out, there must be something valuable among them, right?”

“Have you ever been inside a dungeon? There’s no way you could do that. Who knows what will come out in that dark place? And how are you going to check it after you bring it out? A magician will play with you in the palm of their hand.”

“Damn… you have a talent for making me feel terrible before I even start.”

Ethan listened to the conversation with interest. Nilia wasn’t very interested in such conversations, as she had heard enough of them during her time as a patrol member.

“Did you hear that? Nilia?”

“Huh? What? What did you say?”

“Don’t you feel the need in that conversation? I smell a business opportunity.”

“I don’t know… things like that…”

Nilia couldn’t understand her friend, who was suspiciously obsessed with business.

Does he really have to do business?

It seemed like Ethan would earn enough on his own even without doing business…

“Huh?”

“Aren’t those priests?”

The adventurers were delighted to see the priests of the Freisinger Order.

Merchants charged silver coins even for a simple wound ointment, but the priests were different.

The priests were the only ones in this place who genuinely worried about and cared for the adventurers.

“Thank you. Priests. Thank you for coming!”

“Ah, move over a bit. The priests need to sit down.”

“No, we came here first…”

The adventurers pushed the merchants away and tried to secure good seats for the priests. They yelled at the grumbling merchants.

“Don’t you guys have a god you believe in? Don’t you go to the temple when you get hurt?”

‘Dirty and mean bastards.’

The merchants vowed to sell to the adventurers at a higher price as they moved their spots.

“Priests, we will help you set up the tent.”

“Ah. It’s alright.”

Ethan stopped the adventurers from coming and raised his staff.

“Dig.”

Holes were created for the tent poles to be inserted, and the surrounding soil was neatly trimmed.

As soon as the tent work was finished, Ethan immediately lit a fire, brought water into the pot, and sat down comfortably.

The adventurers watched with awe-filled eyes as he finished in a few minutes what would take others several hours.

“That’s magic…!”

“Such a thing was possible?”

“Of course, it’s magic, so it must be possible.”

“That’s strange? I used to be in a party with a magician. I was so thirsty that I asked him to bring some water, but the magician refused, saying he had to conserve his mana.”

“That guy lied.”

“That bastard…! So that’s what it was!”

While the adventurers were misunderstanding, Ethan looked around at the surrounding merchants.

‘Potions, tools, sundries. Hmm. The competition is quite fierce.’

The merchants wanted to buy things for low prices and sell them for high prices. So, there was a lot of competition.

But there was always a niche market.

‘There are no artifacts.’

Of course.

What crazy merchant would bring those expensive artifacts and sell them here? They would be lucky if they weren’t robbed on the way.

‘If I were to make artifacts…’

As Ethan was pondering with a serious expression, Priest Tiziling asked Nilia with a puzzled look.

“Are you perhaps worried that a curse will come out?”

“Well… I don’t know…”

Nilia couldn’t bring herself to tell Priest Tiziling the truth.

“Priest!! My leg!! Is it a curse!?!”

“No. It’s muscle pain.”

“Ah.”

As expected, nothing major happened.

The adventurers who went inside often came out with tired faces, or with a broken bone somewhere, that was all.

Occasionally, some adventurers would grunt and drag out a huge monster.

Plop!

“That friend has guts.”

“But the disassembly is what’s important.”

“That’s right. It’s not enough just to bring it out.”

Catching a monster was only the first step. To sell it for a good price, you needed to know how to cut it up and prepare it.

Finding a magic stone inside a monster would be lucky and easy money. But even if there was no magic stone, you could still get money by skinning the monster and taking its meat. But skinning and butchering monsters well was very hard.

“Tsk tsk.”

“The knife work was lacking, just now.”

“I agree.”

The two hunters gave advice while watching the adventurer cut the monster with a dull hatchet and a small utility knife. Grisly pieces of flesh fell onto the ground, and the air grew thick with the smell of blood and raw meat.

Ethan nodded and said.

“You should cut sideways first and then pull to peel it off easily.”

“What…?!”

Baishada was surprised.

Baishada thought it was very strange that Ethan knew so much about butchering monsters, just like a real hunter.

Nilia stared intently at Ethan. Ethan lowered his head slightly.

“Thank you for teaching me.”

“No… it’s okay…”

Nilia instinctively knew that telling those two hunters ‘I actually taught him’ would only make things more troublesome.

Rumble!

The ground shook as the underground rumbled.

Everyone in the area was taken aback by the sudden change.

“What on earth is this…?”

“Priest, this way!”

The hunters immediately protected the priests. They didn’t know what was happening, but it was clear that something had been activated in the dungeon.

‘What is it?’

Plop!

Fortunately, they soon found out what was happening inside the dungeon.

An adventurer who had rushed out in a completely disheveled state began to ramble incoherently.

“P, people have been teleported…! People from other places, along with monsters…!”

“What? What are you talking about??”

“Get out of the way!”

Another person with the ability to explain properly rushed out.

“I am Verhirg, a knight of the Kerel family! While the subjugation force and I were conducting a subjugation of the Crimson Forest, we were teleported here! Many are severely injured, so I request support! In the name of my family and the families participating in the subjugation force, those who help will be duly rewarded… Cough.”

The knight coughed and knelt down, seemingly severely injured.

However, that alone was enough for people to understand what had happened.

“It seems that a space-time magic spell was cast during the subjugation, and they were teleported into the dungeon along with the monsters. Let’s contact the city and ask them to send healers as soon as possible.”

The merchants prepared to lay down the injured, and the priests contacted the city for additional support.

Ethan approached Verhirg and used magic to heal the large cuts and gave him a potion.

If he were to heal everything with potions, neither his body nor the potions would be left.

“…???”

Priest Mehred was startled to see Ethan casting healing magic so naturally.

What are you doing now???