Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 473

“Ah, no,” I said.

“What are you looking at? Do I look like I’m going to buy it?” I asked, gesturing to the helmet.

Salco and Giselle immediately declined.

Salco and Giselle were brave leaders of their towers. But even they were scared to buy this strange thing. Ihan, a great wizard, also seemed worried about it.

And buying it would be idiotic.

“Hmm. That’s a shame. It’s quite a nice helmet,” I said with a shrug.

“……”

“……”

They were both very surprised.

Whether one liked Wodanaz or hated him, no one could deny he was responsible…

But this helmet was definitely a scam.

“Couldn’t we sell it to other seniors later?” I asked.

“That’s not the point, Wodanaz,” Salco replied.

“Ah. To a junior when one comes in?”

“…No! A sacrifice, I mean. A sacrifice,” Giselle clarified.

At their conversation, Giselle crossed her arms, looking thoughtful.

The idea of sacrificing someone to end this situation was tempting.

“Wodanaz, don’t misunderstand me when I say this,” Giselle began.

“Usually, when someone says that, you can’t help but misunderstand… well, go on,” I replied.

Giselle gestured slightly towards Gainando.

“Someone with that fellow’s bloodline might be a sacrifice that even a spirit would be satisfied with. What do you think?” she suggested.

“That’s a good idea,” I said.

Salco was also impressed.

Salco usually thought of noble families as thorns in his side. Gainando relied only on his lineage. Salco wouldn’t miss him if he disappeared.

“…Did you both perhaps drink the Headmaster’s liquor or something? What nonsense are you spouting?” I asked, astonished.

“Think about it carefully, Wodanaz. You’re also objectively a decent sacrifice, but this is a suggestion because you can’t be spared,” Giselle explained.

“Wodanaz, didn’t you honestly find that prince annoying when he wasn’t working and just playing around? If you don’t work, you don’t eat…” Salco added.

For a moment, I was almost swayed, but I held onto my reason.

No matter how much he wanted to end the flood, he couldn’t send a friend to an enraged spirit.

What if Gainando, having grown in the spirit realm, returned later and declared revenge on all the people of the Empire?

“No way. And there’s one thing I’m curious about. You two…” I started.

“?”

“Why are you only thinking of students as sacrifices? You could look for other perfectly good sacrifices, couldn’t you?” I asked.

“…Oh,” Salco said.

Giselle was the same.

‘Really?’

I clicked my tongue at the two of them.

‘They’ve become too focused on the rules of Einrogaard.’

My friends were originally kind… no, even if they weren’t originally kind, they weren’t this extreme…

It was a pity.

“Anyway, think about it some more. About things other than sacrificing students. It’s the weekend, so I should bring another cabin. Tanzuer! Please take me out of here!” I said.

It’s… break time…

“It’s break time now. You should have fully recovered your strength by now. Don’t be so weak. Tanzuer, you are a stronger being than you think,” I said.

I want to rest…

“Then, are you going to attack the Headmaster?” I challenged.

…I can just go, can’t I…

Tanzuer answered with tearful eyes, like a sad puppy being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

Salco and Giselle clicked their tongues at me.

‘It’s not that I would do it myself, but…’

‘…Wodanaz seems too focused on the rules of Einrogaard,’ Giselle thought.

Ihan came out with his friends and Tanzuer on the weekend for a simple reason.

He was planning to find another of Professor Thunderstride’s cabins and borrow it. These cabins were like small houses or rooms floating around Einrogaard.

“Listen up!” I announced. “The first one to find a cabin gets five bars of Maykin family chocolate, the first one to hook a cabin gets three bottles of honey mead and three salami sausages, and the first one to break down the door and enter gets the right to take anything from the cabin’s food supplies first!”

“Waaaaah! Hail Captain Wodanaz!” the students cheered.

“We are the pirates of Einrogaard!”

Crazy… bastards…

Tanzuer muttered, but the students, blinded by greed, paid no attention.

The search party consisted of students from the Blue Dragon Tower, the White Tiger Tower, and the Black Tortoise Tower. They roamed Einrogaard, checking the floating objects, which included broken furniture and books.

I noticed something strange and paused.

A glass bottle was floating towards them from afar.

‘What is it?’ I wondered.

The bottle itself wasn’t strange, but it was floating straight towards them without a single scratch among all the floating debris. It felt like some kind of magical phenomenon.

I carefully picked up the glass bottle. Inside was a rolled-up paper letter.

Help me!

Bible Verdus

“……”

I looked around once and put the paper letter back in the glass bottle.

Then I threw it far away.

What… did you throw…?

“It’s nothing,” I replied.

A glass bottle… or something…

“Tanzuer, would you like to try attacking the Headmaster’s office once?” I asked.

Tanzuer kept his mouth shut.

A moment later.

“……”

A glass bottle floated in from a different direction than before. This time, his friends also found it.

“Wodanaz, what’s that?” Salco asked.

“Could it, could it be a treasure map?” Giselle wondered.

I frowned and opened it.

Help me! Wodanaz!!

Bible Verdus

“……”

“……”

An awkward atmosphere settled among the students who were watching from the side.

With a steely expression, I put the paper back in the glass bottle and threw it away.

“It’s a letter that came to the wrong person,” I stated.

“Uh… uhm?”

“It was written as Wodanaz…?”

“You guys saw it wrong,” I insisted.

The students fell silent at my words.

There were many things they wanted to say, but this was a ship, no, on Tanzuer, and the captain’s authority was absolute.

“That’s right! I think we saw it wrong!” one student agreed.

“These days, those fake letters are becoming a big problem in Einrogaard!” another added.

I nodded in satisfaction at my friends’ strong support.

“Now, let’s find the cabin agai…”

*Dong-dong-*

This time, several glass bottles were rushing in.

Half expecting it, I went down below Tanzuer and leaped across the water to create distance.

Then the glass bottles turned towards the direction I was in and slowly floated over.

Come quickly! It’s hard to make artifacts because I’m being watched by the guards!

Is it because there’s no reward? Okay! I’ll lend you my tools! This is a real privilege!

I’ll concede a little more! You can use my workshop when you make artifacts! I won’t tell you to get out even if you stay up all night!

Seeing them follow like this, it was clear that Professor Verdus had designated Ihan and was sending letters.

‘Magic can become this terrible!’ I thought.

I felt like I understood the feelings of the anti-magic activists in the Empire. The Empire was a place where anti-magic activists protested against the abuse of magic.

To think that such a good skill could be abused like this.

‘More than that, he really has a talent for killing motivation,’ I thought.

In fact, I was a little worried about Professor Verdus.

The situation of the professor being in the disciplinary chamber was certainly a pleasant situation, but…

…if that professor was taking the blame for a student’s crime, then the story was a little different.

About half of the reason Professor Verdus was in the disciplinary chamber was my responsibility.

‘The other half is his own karma, though,’ I thought.

So I was planning to visit the disciplinary chamber once on the weekend to check if he was okay, to see if he had noticed the truth, and to meet the senior he had met during the last lecture and give him some treats.

Professor Verdus’s presence was a little small, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t thought about it at all.

But seeing these letters, even the desire to go disappeared completely.

To say that he would make me work if I saved him, what kind of crazy negotiation condition is that?

“Guys, I’m sorry. I’m going to go save Professor Verdus,” I announced.

My friends weren’t surprised at all at my words.

“Okay. Have a good trip,” Salco said.

“Negotiate well when you save the professor. You have to squeeze him as much as possible,” Giselle advised.

“If you think it’s going to be hard to save him, just tell him to stay there! He’ll be able to get out on his own!” another student added.

No one was curious about Ihan going to save the professor instead of the other seniors.

Tanzuer muttered lowly.

Crazy… wizard bastards… like them…

The air in the disciplinary chamber was dark and gloomy. The disciplinary chamber was dimly lit by torches, casting long shadows that danced on the damp walls. It felt like the screams of students could be heard from somewhere far away.

Moreover, the water that had risen to his knees, though not completely submerged, made the atmosphere even more eerie. The water dripped and echoed through the chamber.

The darkest and most painful place in the dark and painful Einrogaard, the disciplinary chamber!

Even a moderately crazy student wouldn’t voluntarily come here.

It wasn’t just because the air was bad, but because the labyrinth located in this underground was that dangerous.

If you entered wrong, you could lose your way in the complex path that changed every moment and become a new prisoner…

“Perkuntra! Perkuntra! Perkuntra!!” I shouted, knocking on the wall.

I poured magic into my throat, using the remaining magic to strengthen my voice.

“Perkuntra! Perkuntra! Perkuntra!!”

“He’s a first-year?! How are you walking around the hallway?!” a voice called out.

“Awesome, Ironhead! Set Einrogaard on fire!” another cheered.

As I shouted and walked down the hallway, the prisoners inside cheered.

“Shout louder! To bring the guards!”

“No! Lower your voice! If the guards come, they’ll catch you!”

“Give me something to eat before I get caught!”

“Idiot, where would Ironhead get something to eat! He’s probably chewing on his shoe leather!”

Quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet!

Thunder and lightning were heard from far down the hallway, and avatars in warrior form came running.

The avatars emitted lightning from all directions and cast spells on the students trapped inside.

-I told you to be quiet!

“My desire for freedom cannot be silenced by the spirit’s whip, Kraaah!” one student yelled.

-Shut up, you who cheated during the exam!

“In Einrogaard, it was just protecting myself!” another protested.

“……”

I watched the seniors’ ugly resistance. Then the warriors grabbed me and dragged me to the other side.

The seniors who were trapped inside whistled, stomped their feet, and shouted.

“Rookie, welcome!”

“Everyone comes to the disciplinary chamber once or twice! Don’t be too scared! You’ll get out quickly in your first year!”

I felt a little sorry and answered.

“I’m not trapped!”

“Yeah! That’s what you want to think!” one of them said.

“We’re not really trapped either, we’re just thinking here… Kraaah!! Stop zapping me, you lightning bastard!”

Perkuntra was resting in the closed disciplinary chamber while having other spirits do the work. He looked at me with an unhappy face.

The disciplinary chamber was already crowded because it was exam season, so why was I coming to make a fuss?

“I have a request,” I said.

I can’t stop this flood. Even if I could, I wouldn’t.

Perkuntra refused arrogantly.

I understood Perkuntra’s feelings.

Since I had contracted with a powerful spirit like Perkuntra at a young age, it was natural that I would want to receive help when faced with such difficulties.

However, a contract with a spirit was not all-powerful.

It was only possible within reasonable limits, so Perkuntra had no intention of listening to such a huge task as stopping this spirit flood…

“Huh? It’s not that, I came to visit someone who’s trapped in the disciplinary chamber,” I clarified.

……

Perkuntra was very surprised.

He was embarrassed, but more than that, a first-year student was coming to the disciplinary chamber for a visit.

‘Is this guy fearless??’ Perkuntra wondered.

Well, of course, he probably came believing that he had contracted with Perkuntra, but…

…Okay. Who are you here to visit? What’s their name?

“Bible Verdus,” I replied.

Bible… Bible Verdus…

Perkuntra checked the names of the trapped students.

But something was strange.

Did he say it right? Something’s wrong? Among the students…

“Ah. He’s not a student, he’s a professor,” I corrected.

…What are the other disciples doing and why did you come!?

In the end, Perkuntra couldn’t hold back and shouted.