Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 573

They had much to say, but both knew that a single careless word could get them into real trouble.

Dirette was usually kind. But everyone knew he could be very strict, even putting students in coffins if needed.

“How about putting up a ‘Danger’ sign and spreading rumors?” Ogolodos spoke carefully.

Cohalti shook his head.

“Too weak. The Einrogard students won’t be stopped by that. It might stop younger students, but older students will just barge in.”

“But why would they enter if there’s a ‘Danger’ sign?”

“Because glory lies beyond danger.”

‘Is he mad?’ Ogolodos thought, shocked, but Cohalti was serious.

Being in Einrogard for too long changed how people saw words like ‘Danger’ and ‘No Entry.’

‘Danger’ meant ‘Good Rewards.’ ‘No Entry’ meant ‘Treasure Inside.’

“I think we should sneak into the kitchen and burn all the food.”

“What!? No, the students will starve!”

“Ogolodos, people don’t starve that easily. Remember our first year?”

“That’s… true, but…” Ogolodos remembered his first year.

They had boiled soft tree bark for food and eaten porridge filled with weeds.

“Right? They’re coming because of the kitchen. Burning the food is the best way to stop them. Fire is always the answer. I just got the Flames of Bakwantala from a friend…”

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Dirette interrupted, and Ogolodos felt relieved.

At least one of the senior Dark Arts students was thinking clearly.

“There’s no guarantee they won’t come just because we burn the food. They’ll keep checking. And the food can be replaced.”

“Blast, I forgot about that!” Cohalti slapped his knee, annoyed.

How could he make such a simple mistake when trying to solve the problem?

“Why are the Einrogard students so persistent? They’re like insects.”

“You sound like you’re from a different magic school,” Dirette replied, but Cohalti was deep in thought.

How could he keep the students out of the area?

“Hey, think too. What are you doing? If you can’t think of something, you’re going back to first year.”

“Ah, don’t say silly things. How can I go back to first year? You can’t do that.”

“I’ll spread rumors about you among the dark wizards. That you had to be carried out of the dimension by a junior.”

Ogolodos shuddered at the very real threat.

Cohalti would definitely do it! A graduating student using such low threats?!

“Umm… umm…”

“5, 4, 3.”

“Ah, wait!”

“2.46, 2.45, 2.44…” Under Cohalti’s pressure, Ogolodos blurted out something he normally wouldn’t say.

“What if we poison it? No. Never mind. Please forget I said that.”

“Poison?”

“I said forget it.”

“Quiet. Poison, you say…” Cohalti thought hard.

Ogolodos tried to change his mind, but Cohalti thought poison was a good idea.

“Not bad, eh?”

“Umm.”

“Dirette, sir! Poison is really not the way to go!”

“It seems possible, though.”

Ogolodos almost collapsed when even the senior he trusted agreed.

“No, sir. Poisoning the kitchen is too much, isn’t it? And, well, other people will just remove the poison and eat it.”

Ogolodos didn’t say, ‘If you poison the kitchen, the Dark Arts faction will get a bad reputation and be suspected.’ Because they wouldn’t listen anyway.

Instead, he used a practical reason: If they poisoned the kitchen, everyone would just remove the poison and eat it!

“That’s because you’re not poisoning it properly.”

“Cohalti’s right. Ogolodos, you need to study poison more.”

While Ogolodos was speechless, Cohalti drew a map of the corridor and pointed at it with his wand.

“Ogolodos, look. Poisoning the food in the kitchen is a bad idea. As you said, they’ll just remove the poison. Poisoning the kitchen itself? That’s a so-so idea. Because the space is small, they’ll try to break through. The best idea is to poison the whole area. So they won’t even dare to enter.”

Even when they were chatting happily, the senior Einrogard students had a deep, crazy side.

Ogolodos felt that madness and shuddered. Is this what a dark wizard is?

“Here, here, here, here. First, poison that makes you unable to breathe, then poison that makes you sleepy, then poison that stops you from breathing. Some will try to remove the poison, so let’s add a mixed poison. Make it explode when they try to remove it.”

“Let’s make a mix of poison that grabs your ankles and poison that ties your tongue. They’ll panic and try to run.”

“Great idea, Dirette. Let’s put curses on the floor. If they still try to remove the poison and enter, we’ll have to teach them a lesson.”

Cohalti quickly made his plan to turn the corridor near the underground warehouse into a maze of dark magic.

First, spread a thick fog of brightly colored poison throughout the area.

Anyone smart would run away, but if someone tried to remove the poison, a hidden poison would react.

If removed, the new poison would explode, sticking the wizard’s tongue to the roof of their mouth and making it hard to breathe.

And if they still didn’t run away, stubbornly trying to enter?

The curse magic on the floor would start, causing a chain of bad things to happen.

“That should do it, right?”

“Just in case, let’s hide some undead in the walls.”

“We should. If they still come in after all that…”

Listening to the conversation, Ogolodos wondered.

Maybe there was a good reason why people from other groups were careful around the Dark Arts group?

Not just because they were prejudiced, but because there was a real reason…

“Dirette, sir. Please, just one last time, think about this. If the others find out we did this, won’t we be in trouble?”

“Ogolodos.” Dirette looked at his junior calmly.

People often thought this junior was sharp, but he was actually kind.

He still thought that way even as his second year was ending.

“You fell on the seventh-floor stairs last week, right?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“Why do you think you fell?”

“Didn’t I just slip?”

“That’s because the Enchantment group was experimenting on the stairs and left it like that. The stairs were changing every minute.”

Ogolodos blinked.

“Also, the fire crystals you collected disappeared two days ago, right?”

“Yes…”

“The students preparing for advanced fire studies were using them.”

Flames appeared in Ogolodos’s eyes. They were flames of anger.

“Understand?”

“Ogolodos, you might think we’re being harsh. But the other groups made us this way.” Cohalti put a hand on Ogolodos’s shoulder and spoke seriously.

Why did Cohalti feel no guilt about poisoning the underground warehouse area?

Because the other groups had started fires, caused explosions, and brought monsters to cause trouble many times.

Compared to that, poisoning the area to stop people from entering was kind.

“Just think about you and your juniors. Got it? The other groups don’t think about us at all.”

“…I’ll spread the poison.”

“Good.” Cohalti was happy to see the strong look on Ogolodos’s face.

He had seemed unsure, but now he looked like a true dark wizard.

‘Heh. I can graduate without worry.’

Scritch scritch-

Cohalti turned his head. With the plan made, Dirette was writing a reply to his junior.

-We’ve prepared a way to keep the other students out. But we might use a little poison, so be careful.

Poison?! Isn’t that too dangerous?!

-Of course, we’ll try to talk to them first. But if that doesn’t work, we might use a little poison. We’re not spreading the poison to hurt anyone. If rumors of poison spread, other people will stop entering. Understand? We’re absolutely not spreading poison to harm anyone.

Cohalti shook his head. ‘Hang in there, Dirette.’

He felt guilty, thinking that he was leaving while his friend had to suffer.

“I feel bad about graduating…”

“Then why don’t you stay?”

Whack!

Cohalti glared at Ogolodos with a deadly look.

“Don’t even joke about that.”

“…So, sorry.”

“Sorry. You’ll understand when you’re a fourth-year.”

‘Is this really okay?’ Lee Han wondered after the conversation.

He was worried about Dirette using poison to block the area.

Of course, Lee Han and the giants were very resistant to poison, so that was fine.

But… ‘Wouldn’t it be a problem if other people got poisoned while passing by?’

Lee Han stood up, troubled. He didn’t have time to worry now.

‘No. Let’s trust the seniors.’ They seemed so sure, saying that hiding giants was normal.

The seniors had been through much more than Lee Han.

He felt confident, thinking that the seniors had done similar things. ‘I can do it too.’

Surely Dirette would have made sure that others wouldn’t be harmed. He didn’t know how, but anyway…

“Preparations are complete.”

-Really?

“Yes. The seniors said they would help.”

Ikurusha was surprised to see Lee Han return. He had actually done it!

‘Is he really not a first-year?’

-Alright. Let’s leave right away then. No point in waiting.

Ikurusha took Lee Han to the cave. The giants were already inside, waiting.

-I gave the giants a week’s worth of food. I don’t think they’ll need more than that.

“That should be enough. If things go wrong, I’ll bring more food.”

-Food for the giants? You won’t have enough for yourself.

“I have a little saved.”

-Hmm. How much… No. That’s not important now. We’ll worry about that if it happens.

Ikurusha stood in front of the cliff and suddenly grabbed the rock. Lee Han wondered what he was doing.

Rumble-

The rock rolled to the side, showing the cave entrance.

“What kind of magic is that?”

-I just used my strength.

Ikurusha, who had pushed aside a rock that would be hard to move even with magic, entered the cave.

Inside, the giants were sitting and whispering.

-It’s good not to watch the sheep.

-Shhh. Ikurusha will make us work if he hears.

-I’m going to read a book during this vacation.

“Hello, everyone.”

-Wizard!

-The wizard’s here!

The giants rushed over excitedly. They bumped into each other in the cave, but their welcome was still felt.

“I’m… sorry for this.”

-No. We’re glad to rest… no.

-Actually, we wanted to play… no.

Ikurusha looked at the giants with a sad expression and said, -You can be honest. I was going to let you rest for a week anyway.

-Lies! Lies!

Ignoring the giants, Ikurusha said to Lee Han, -Oh, right. I checked the passage quickly, and there’s a troublesome race around.

“What race is it?”

-Sirens.

“Sirens? I’m friends with them!”

-Really? Ikurusha was confused. How could they be friends?