Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 415

Lee Han finished his tasks and came back. He quietly got ready to leave, wanting to avoid any trouble.

He made and served meals for the acolytes. He listened to the lecture by the winner of the latest challenge. Surprisingly, the acolytes had chosen polo as the competition. He studied and did his homework in advance.

It was past midnight, almost two in the morning.

Lee Han arrived in front of Amur’s stable.

“Good luck,” Amur said.

“Thank you, as always,” Lee Han replied.

Amur watched Lee Han quickly change into plain clothes and thought to himself:

‘He seems too experienced to be a first-year student.’

Who would guess that student was a freshman at Einroguard?

Objectively, Lee Han hadn’t gone out that many times.

However, Lee Han was so skilled that even the picky older students of Einroguard had to admit, ‘I couldn’t do better myself…’

He was a prepared freshman.

That was Lee Han.

As the first light of dawn touched the village, shops began to open their doors. Lee Han hurried down the new road, his basket swinging as he went. He needed to buy supplies quickly.

He picked out sacks of rice, barley, and rye, then added lentils, onions, potatoes, and peas to his growing pile. The air smelled of fresh garlic as he chose a large bunch. He also got creamy goat’s milk, olive oil, and rich palm oil. For a sweet treat, he selected ripe, juicy peaches, bunches of sweet grapes, refreshing melons, and fragrant bananas.

‘They deserve some treats,’ he thought, smiling to himself. He added several jars of tasty sauces, smooth peanut butter, and a slightly spicy tomato sauce. He didn’t forget coffee and tea leaves for warm drinks, and maple syrup for sweetness. Finally, he chose simple, flat cookies and a bar of dark chocolate.

Because of the large amount, he couldn’t take much meat, but he included pickled herring and sardines, gutted lamb and pork sausages, canned beef, and duck.

Before noon, Lee Han had finished preparing all the supplies.

The boxes were packed so full, not even a hair could fit.

Seeing them, Lee Han suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.

‘Hmm. Did I buy too much like a madman?’

Anyone seeing this would think he was a refugee fleeing a war, not a student returning to magic school.

“Were you still resting? If you haven’t started preparing yet, how about a cup of tea together…” Amur asked.

Amur, who had woken up late, found Lee Han standing outside and assumed he hadn’t started preparing yet. However, upon opening the door, he saw boxes piled up like a mountain.

“…Are you all done?” Amur asked.

“Yes,” Lee Han replied.

“…Then, let’s go have a cup of tea,” Amur said.

Amur opened the door to Jakseol, a teahouse in the village of Philone, ordered two cups of tea, and sat down.

Instead of sitting by the window with a good view, Lee Han went to the innermost part of the teahouse. It was a spot where the partitions prevented people from easily seeing their faces. From there, he could jump out the window or the back door. Lee Han carefully checked the escape routes, just in case.

“Su… Surely, you don’t think someone is chasing us…?” Amur asked.

“I’m just being cautious,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han said it casually, but Amur wondered if he should send a letter to the capital. Even if the school was strict, was it really necessary to send pursuers just because someone snuck out on the weekend?

‘Could Wodanaz be mistaken?’

While he was thinking that, the tea and snacks arrived. Lee Han wondered if he could somehow take some of the Dasik, made from rice and honey.

“U-um, excuse me…” a voice said.

Lee Han and Amur both flinched when a blatantly suspicious-looking customer entered the quiet teahouse.

In the big city of Granden, it was common to see people completely covered in cloaks like that, but it wasn’t so common here in Philone Village.

“What is it? Have any strange guests been visiting the village lately?” Lee Han asked.

“There haven’t been any… um… oh. There was a group of strange people who kept talking among themselves about ‘we need to fix the golems like that’ who came to the village,” the server replied.

“…I’m sorry. Those people are wizards invited for the festival,” Lee Han said.

“Is that so? Oh, there were dark wizards too?” the server asked.

“Dark wizards can be invited too…” Lee Han corrected Amur’s prejudice.

Amur was surprised that dark wizards were also invited.

“Anyway, there haven’t been any other guests besides the wizards, right?” Lee Han asked.

“As far as I know, that’s right,” the server replied.

Lee Han and Amur stared at the newly arrived guest with wariness. From their attire to their behavior, they looked blatantly suspicious to anyone.

However, the misunderstanding was quickly cleared up.

“P-please, don’t tell anyone I came here. Could I leave this wooden sword with you in exchange for some food and drink?” the cloaked figure asked.

“…What are you doing there, Anglago?” Lee Han asked in astonishment at the sight of the White Tiger Tower student.

At Lee Han’s call, Anglago let out a shrill scream and almost fell over.

“Wo… Wodanaz!” Anglago exclaimed.

“Yes,” Lee Han replied.

“Did the professor order you to catch me! You bastard!” Anglago accused.

“…No. I came out first,” Lee Han said.

“!?!” Anglago exclaimed.

Lee Han and Salco thought their escape plan was bad (from a previous time), but surprisingly, the escape route found by the White Tiger Tower students this time was real.

Even by accident, you can sometimes succeed.

‘Amazing!’ Lee Han was honestly surprised.

That these guys really found it.

“What method did you use?” Lee Han asked.

“There was a summoning magic festival this time, right? Because of the festival, quite a few merchant carts came in…” Anglago explained.

The carts that came in through the opened main gate.

The White Tiger Tower students targeted those carts.

Since there were people coming and going, the surveillance would be less strict, so they could sneak into the cart and escape!

It wasn’t a method that could be used regularly, but it was a great way to exploit the situation.

‘I got attacked by anti-magic activists when I did that, but these guys are lucky,’ Lee Han grumbled inwardly.

“Wait. Did only one or two of you escape? You guys are moving as a group,” Lee Han asked.

“Yeah. We moved as a group,” Anglago replied.

“But how did you hide in the cart?” Lee Han asked.

Lee Han had moved alone, so he didn’t have much difficulty catching a ride on a cart. In addition to invisibility magic, adding one more person didn’t make much of a difference.

“…We didn’t hide,” Anglago said.

“What?” Lee Han asked.

At Lee Han’s question, Anglago’s face turned red with embarrassment as he answered.

“We didn’t hide,” Anglago repeated.

“Then…?” Lee Han asked.

“…We caught the merchants, locked them in the cart, and rode along with them,” Anglago confessed.

Lee Han and Amur stared at Anglago in shock.

That’s… Cart robbery!

“You…” Lee Han started.

“Don’t say it! Wodanaz, I know it too, damn it!” Anglago interrupted.

“You’re not a knight, you’re a robber…” Lee Han muttered.

“Kuh…” Anglago bit his lip, embarrassed even by his own thoughts.

“But there was no other way! How do you persuade the merchants! Anyone would have…” Anglago said.

Anglago, who was talking, suddenly looked at Lee Han and changed his words.

“…At least we had no way!” Anglago said.

‘Did that guy just look at me?’ Lee Han wondered.

“Y-yeah. It’s not like I’m in a position to say anything. I might have done the same,” Lee Han said.

Anglago’s face brightened a little at Lee Han’s words. He didn’t expect Wodanaz to say that.

“It’s hard to catch a chance once you miss it… Anyway, I understand that you guys grabbed a cart each and squeezed in. So, you succeeded, but why do you look like beggars?” Lee Han asked.

“That’s… well, you see,” Anglago said.

“After passing through the gate and getting out a bit… um… we… released the merchants,” Anglago explained.

“…Don’t tell me…” Lee Han said, shocked again.

“Don’t tell me you just released them near Einroguard? Not after getting far away from the school, apologizing for what happened today, stimulating sympathy for how difficult the harsh rules of Einroguard are, promising to compensate in the name of your family, and then releasing them?” Lee Han asked.

“…Why weren’t you with us?” Anglago pouted and grumbled.

How convenient it would have been if Wodanaz had been in the same cart!

“No, didn’t any of the White Tiger Tower guys think of this?” Lee Han asked.

“That’s… we only released them from our cart,” Anglago replied.

Amur, who had been listening quietly, smacked his forehead.

This is why it was difficult to act as a group. There was always one troublemaker who messed up the situation.

“This is a secret?? The other friends still don’t know which cart released the employees first…” Anglago said.

“That’s something to be proud of, you bastard,” Lee Han sighed.

It would be nothing short of a disaster for the other White Tiger Tower students who didn’t know the situation.

“What did the released employee say?” Lee Han asked.

“He said thank you for releasing him, so I thought it was okay. We said we were sorry too,” Anglago replied.

“Weren’t his eyes burning with anger?” Lee Han asked.

“Yeah… he ran straight to the main gate and reported us…” Anglago admitted.

The rest could be guessed without hearing it.

The Einroguard summons waiting at the main gate would have popped out and started chasing the cart, leaving the White Tiger Tower students with no choice but to flee in all directions in terror. Most of them would have just been caught…

“How did you get out?” Lee Han asked.

“…I, I hid in a box,” Anglago confessed.

“In a box? In the cart’s box?” Lee Han asked.

“Yeah…” Anglago said, his face even redder.

No wonder Anglago smelled so strongly of myrrh; he must have been in a reagent box.

“Yeah. Good job… What can you do? Wait. I understand you’re worried about getting caught, but why are you trading with a wooden sword?” Lee Han asked.

“Because I don’t have any silver coins!” Anglago said as if he was truly wronged.

The students who had suffered in the first semester prepared for the second semester. Entering the magic school made it easy to have trouble when going out, as silver and gold coins were confiscated.

So, some clever students went to the merchants in Philone Village and deposited money with certificates. And the even cleverer Skull Headmaster disguised himself as a student as soon as the semester started and took all the deposited money.

“…Did you think you wouldn’t get caught if you deposited it with the merchants? You should have deposited it in a place that didn’t seem to have anything to do with you. Or exchanged it for a highly convertible artifact and carried it around,” Lee Han advised.

“…Kuh…” Anglago was distressed by Lee Han’s criticism.

If only he had done a little better…!

“That’s it. You’ve had a hard time too. I’ll buy this, so have a drink,” Lee Han offered.

“Re-really???” Anglago asked.

“…Yeah,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han ordered Dasik because Anglago’s face looked so pitiful. Anglago stuffed the refreshments into his mouth until his cheeks burst.

Amur whispered from the side.

“It seems that not all Einroguard students are the same.”

“…Haha. Students are all different,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han was lost in thought while Anglago was eating.

‘These guys have made things unnecessarily uneasy,’ Lee Han thought.

He couldn’t wander around comfortably as he didn’t know how far the pursuers would chase them. It would be unfair to be caught with them.

It was fortunate that he had finished all the necessary preparations in the morning…

‘I need to secure more silver coins,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han had secured a certain amount of gold and silver coins, but seeing Einroguard, the more funds, the better. He was going to go around the shops and exchange things for the rest of the day, but the situation had become uneasy.

What if the Skull Headmaster’s Death Knights were waiting…

“Are you perhaps a wizard?” a voice asked.

Lee Han belatedly realized that he had been careless in his conversation with Anglago.

He immediately grabbed Anglago by the scruff of his neck, pushed him forward, and prepared to escape through the back exit.

However, there was no need to do so. The other party was a familiar face.

The adventurers Gu Bon and Bizidek, whom he had worked with on a request during the last vacation.

The two greeted Lee Han with very welcoming faces.

“You’re the wizard! But… who’s the person in front… why…?” Gu Bon asked.

“My hand slipped,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han released Anglago’s neck and dusted off his hands. Anglago glared at Lee Han.