Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 691

The Death Knight studied Ethan and his friends closely before sighing.

“I understand. I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything,” he said.

“Oh, really?” Guinan asked, surprised.

He hadn’t expected the Death Knight to actually ignore them.

“As an older student, I should be more careful not to get caught by younger ones. My mistake,” the Death Knight said flatly.

Ethan and his friends exchanged glances, speechless.

Relief washed over them, but they were still a little shocked by the Death Knight’s cold words.

“Well, now that we’re done talking, let’s go. Are you all ready?” the Death Knight asked, breaking the silence.

Eandurde nodded. The Death Knight looked at the students and said,

“Why don’t you say your last goodbyes? It’ll be hard to see each other for about a year.”

“Ethan will ignore that and wander around. He already has potions to help him sneak around… Cough.”

Ethan punched Guinan in the stomach and then answered,

“Thank you. I’ll say my goodbyes.”

The students gathered and looked at Eandurde.

Their eyes were filled with pity, compassion, sorrow, regret, and sympathy for the student who was about to enter the school.

“Eandurde, I don’t know what to say,” Yoner said.

“I’m okay!” Eandurde responded energetically.

“You’re not just excited because you don’t have to study anymore, are you?”

“…N-No, I’m not…” Eandurde avoided eye contact, having been caught reading his mind.

Yoner had been the one to make him study the hardest after Ethan in the mansion.

“Ahem. Eandurde… um… Ugh, I don’t know what to say! Just remember the edible grass and easy-to-make traps I told you about. With just those, you can get some food.”

“You better practice opening locks more. You’re still not good enough in Einrogard.”

“Oh, right. You need to memorize more potion recipes. They’re potions you’ll use often.”

“I know you have brute strength and special racial abilities, but don’t rely on them too much. You need skills to survive in Einrogard.”

Eandurde, who had been listening intently to his seniors’ advice, tilted his head.

“Isn’t this a magic school…?”

Listening to what his seniors were saying, it sounded like he was going to the worst arena in the underground.

“…Well, I’ll know when I get there!”

“That’s right. Don’t be too scared. Einrogard is a place where people live… well… maybe not… but you’ll get used to it after a while. …Maybe. Guinan, say something. You’re the only one who hasn’t said anything.”

“Huh?” Guinan was standing there blankly, but when his friends urged him, he quickly pondered.

“Um… um…”

“Hurry!”

“I-If you find a friend like Ethan and follow him around, it’ll be easy!”

“……”

“…I shouldn’t have asked.”

“You guys told me to!!” Guinan jumped up and down, but his friends ignored him and called the Death Knight.

“Is everything ready?”

“Yes. You can depart.”

Ethan whispered softly to Eandurde one last time before he left.

“If you’re really short on food, leave a mark in front of the Blue Dragon dormitory tower. I’ll secretly get you some.”

However, Eandurde shook his head firmly.

“I’m okay.”

“…That guy…!”

“I’ll take it from the other students!”

“…That guy…” Ethan slightly regretted not having done more character education.

Alde of the Marcan family was a student in the Blue Dragon Tower of Einrogard, going from his second to third year.

His grades were about average in the tower, his family was famous in the southern empire for their floristry, and he himself was interested in illusion magic, cold elements, and numerology.

What was unusual was that he was looking for a junior to use in the Einrogard new semester smuggling operation, but he ended up getting caught by the juniors.

‘Ugh. How humiliating.’

After talking, the juniors went into another family’s villa instead of his own, so he followed them out of curiosity and was ambushed by the juniors who came rushing out.

Even if they were juniors, it was difficult to gain an advantage against many opponents. Moreover, he was ambushed…

Unless one had received proper magic combat training, it was nearly impossible to cast magic quickly in an ambush situation.

“Senior, you said you’d stay still.”

“Would you stay still if you were me? More importantly, how did you know about the smuggling? Who told you? Was it the White Tiger Tower or the Black Tortoise Tower?” Alde thought that someone in the same year must have told the juniors the truth.

Otherwise, there was no way the juniors would know so much about the smuggling operation.

Someone must have been trying to sabotage him in order to keep Alde, who belonged to the Blue Dragon Tower, in check.

“We told you, we found out on our own. Every senior we met tried to use us as bait.”

“It’s a misunderstanding! I never intended to use you as bait,” Alde lied easily.

Of course, it didn’t work on the juniors. The juniors looked at their senior with indifferent eyes.

“So, you really wanted us to participate in the smuggling operation because you were thinking of us?”

“Of course! I felt sorry for you. Let me go now. If you participate in our operation, you can get enough food to eat for a year, you know? Think about it. Freshly baked mixed grain bread and buttermilk in Einrogard. And maple sap dessert with a little honey mixed in. A feast like meatloaf with more than 1/3 meat!”

“…I don’t really want it…”

“?!!”

Alde made the offer with confidence, but unfortunately, he had a limited imagination.

The students’ reaction to the feast menu, which was more modest than Ethan’s meals, was not very enthusiastic.

“W-Why? If you’re freshmen, you must have been thinking about those foods all year long?”

“We ate pretty well, though.”

“Don’t lie! What do you mean you ate well? You probably boiled leather boots or pots and ate them!”

“……”

The students shuddered at the seniors’ unexpectedly miserable freshman diet.

And they reflected anew.

‘I shouldn’t complain about what I want to eat in the future…’

‘I was wondering, but we really did eat well!’

‘I should ask to eat chocolate cake when school starts.’

When all the students from the four towers fell silent with a sense of guilt and gratitude towards Ethan, Alde misunderstood the reaction and opened his mouth.

“You probably don’t know how great this is because you’ve never experienced it! But it’s really possible! If you succeed in smuggling at the beginning of the year, you can eat and live like a rich man all semester long!”

Creeeak-

Ethan, who had returned after seeing off the Death Knight, opened the door and came inside.

Then, holding the potion he had taken from Alde, he asked,

“But Senior, you told me to drink this when the inspection starts.”

“That’s a potion that helps with smuggling.”

“This is a mixture of a berserker potion and a blade bear transformation potion. Senior, if I drink this, I’ll turn into a blade bear and go crazy.”

“…Oh, who betrayed me!?” Alde was visibly flustered when his evil scheme to turn his juniors into monsters and make them run wild was exposed.

The juniors glared at their senior with contempt.

“…Someone just had to draw attention.”

“Sure, you did.”

Realizing he was trapped, Alde sighed and asked Ethan.

“Okay. Just untie these wrists for a moment.”

“Senior, you just tried to run away. I can’t.”

“This time it’s different. I promise in the name of my family. I won’t run away even if you let me go.”

As a noble, making a promise in the name of one’s family was a promise that was hard to break.

Even when a territory war broke out and they were taken as prisoners, they wouldn’t run away even if they had the chance if they made such a promise.

When Alde said that, the students’ mood softened a little. They judged that their senior had finally stopped thinking about running away and would stay still.

“Okay. I’ll let you go.”

“Haha, you fool! Senses, to the maze!” As soon as his wrists and ankles were untied, Alde quickly took out a spare wand from his sleeve and cast the magic he had been preparing.

He shouted a spell, ‘Senses, to the maze!’ Suddenly, the air turned cold, and the room seemed to twist. The students felt dizzy and confused, unsure which way was up.

It was enough magic to escape this predicament.

“You’ve learned one lesson today. In Einrogard, even honor takes second place to food!”

Thwack!

Ethan punched Alde, who was trying to escape the detached house, dragged him back, and sat him down.

And tied him up again.

From the start, he had been aware that Alde was trying to cast magic by looking at the flow of magical power around him.

He had only accepted him once because he thought he would continue to bother him if he didn’t.

Ethan waved his wand to dispel all the remaining illusion magic and bring his friends back to their senses.

Then Alde reacted belatedly.

“H-How?!”

“Senior, you just used your family name.”

“……”

Alde was a little embarrassed by this, so he avoided eye contact.

Then he muttered.

“Hmph. It’s normal in Einrogard.”

“We don’t do that…”

“You will too, you brat! In just one more year, you’ll be selling your ancestors’ names! And you, which tower are you from! Do you know more about noble honor than I do?!”

“I’m from the Blue Dragon Tower…” Guinan, who had been suddenly pointed out, answered with an awkward face.

Alde was startled by the answer.

Come to think of it, this was a villa area for noble families. There was no way there wouldn’t be a Blue Dragon Tower student.

But…

“Wait, who’s that guy?!” Alde asked, pointing at Dergyu.

No matter how he looked at it, he wasn’t a Blue Dragon Tower guy.

“I’m from the White Tiger Tower.”

“I’m from the Black Tortoise Tower.”

“I’m from the Phoenix Tower.”

“…Wait, wait, just wait a minute,” Alde was even more flustered.

He was even more surprised than when he was ambushed by the juniors.

No wonder there were so many of them and they lacked unity…

“How are you guys together?”

“Because we’re friends?”

“The Blue Dragon Tower can’t be friends with the White Tiger Tower!” Alde shouted firmly.

Guinan almost agreed without realizing it.

“Those guys are definitely unlucky…”

“Can’t you see Choi next to me?”

“Ah, no. Except for Dergyu!” After thinking for a while, Alde looked at Ethan and asked.

“Are you the one who’s using these guys? If that’s the case…” Sometimes, charismatic seniors within the magic school were respected regardless of the tower.

He wondered if the White Tiger Tower student in front of him was one of those cases.

“Why does the White Tiger Tower have a guy like this…”

“I’m from the Blue Dragon Tower.”

“?!!!!”

“Anyway, Senior, I tried to respect your honor as much as possible, but you kept deceiving us. I’ll take all your wands and potions.” Ethan searched Alde’s body and confiscated all the remaining items.

“No! Think about it. I’m your senior! Are you not going to see my face in the tower?”

Regardless, Ethan said what he had to say.

“I’ll release you when the semester starts. You’ll have to go to the front gate with us, though. Until then, you’ll have to stay inside the detached house. If there’s anything you want to eat, let me know.”

“Golden-brown, fluffy pancakes, melting with rich, salted butter, drizzled with thick, golden honey from the sunny south, and a steaming mug of strong, milky coffee.”

“Ah, I didn’t mean I’d just give it to you, but I’d give it to you if you gave me advice or information about smuggling.”

“…Are you really a freshman??” Alde looked at Ethan with trembling eyes.

He never thought a guy like this would enter the Blue Dragon Tower!