Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 693

Even though Lee Han told him it was real, his senior, Eolde, kept his eyes shut tight, trying to escape the illusion magic. Lee Han had enough. He slapped Eolde hard on the cheek.

*Smack!*

“Ack!” Eolde yelped.

“Senior! Wake up! This is real!” Lee Han said firmly.

Without special magic, the best way to break illusion magic was a good shock. A strong shock could snap someone back to reality.

Lee Han slapped him again, on the other cheek this time.

*Smack!*

“Wait! Wait! Okay, okay! I think it’s real now!”

“Finally,” Lee Han sighed in relief.

Eolde rubbed his stinging cheeks. The sharp tingle told him it was definitely real.

‘This guy is seriously scary…’

Of course, if someone was caught in the confusion of illusion magic, it was right to help them as quickly as possible.

Slapping someone might seem funny, but illusion magic is a serious problem.

Even if one wasn’t under illusion magic, if they mistakenly believed they were, the boundary between reality and illusion could collapse, driving them mad.

However, not many people could immediately slap their senior across both cheeks with full force.

Indeed, he was bold enough to lead first-year students from all four towers in a smuggling plan.

Eolde became newly curious about the junior before him.

He would be moving up to the second year soon, and there was no way a guy like this wouldn’t become famous…

“Hey, which family did you say you were from?”

“Senior, let me explain the plan in more detail.”

“Oh, right.”

Lee Han began to explain the prepared plan.

The passage Lee Han was aiming for was the underground passage he had visited with Professor Garcia during the first semester.

Among the many underground passages of Einroguard, some were used as routes for external merchant workers.

Among them, Lee Han knew the location of the passage connected to the hidden brick door of the underground warehouse.

“I understand.”

Eolde nodded.

“What do you understand?”

“You found that book, didn’t you? >The Secret Paths of Einroguard>. That’s a trap set by the Headmaster. Stick your head in there, and it’s off to the punishment room.”

“……”

Wondering just how many books the skeletal Headmaster had created and scattered, Lee Han replied,

“It’s a passage I’ve personally entered and confirmed.”

Eolde gaped.

Eolde was now directly experiencing that when a person was too surprised in one day, they couldn’t even speak properly anymore.

“There are three merchant wagons, and the scheduled arrival time is dawn on the first day of March.”

“Wait, hold on.”

“?”

“Sorry for interrupting, but how do you know the number of merchant wagons and the scheduled arrival time?”

“I went and asked them.”

“There’s no way they would just tell you!”

“I forged the signatures of the Headmaster and the professor and pretended to be on an additional errand.”

“……”

Lee Han visited the merchants with the fake signature of the skeletal Headmaster and the fake signature of Professor Verdus.

The merchants, who would normally have gone through a verification process, were deceived by Lee Han, who knew the location and process of the underground passage so well, and revealed their schedule.

“Wait a minute. If the wagons arrive at dawn on the first day of March…”

“That’s right.”

The first day of March was a nightmarish day for the students of Einroguard.

It was the day the new semester of Einroguard began.

Everyone had to pass through the main gate in the morning, so if the wagon’s scheduled arrival time was at dawn?

“We have to pass through the underground at dawn, safely store the wagon’s goods, and then get out again and arrive at the main gate.”

“That’ll be tough…!”

A wave of heat rushed through Eolde, and he loosened his collar, suddenly excited.

He said that, but he was excited at the thought that this might actually work.

“That’s why I need you, Senior. I know the way through the underground passage, but I haven’t experienced the inspection situation in the second year. If it seems like there won’t be enough time during the operation, you have to delay the start of the inspection.”

“How?”

“I don’t know either. We have to use any means necessary. Summon a demon or something…”

“Demons are too much. Einroguard is too well-prepared against demon-like guys, so the inspection side won’t even pay attention.”

Einroguard’s magic defenses got stronger every time students caused summoning accidents.

Lee Han said bitterly.

“I guess we’ll have to hope we can improvise.”

“Just one more thing to ask.”

Eolde was now completely captivated by Lee Han’s plan.

The attitude of looking down on him as a junior had completely disappeared, and he was filled only with the thought of participating in this plan and making it a success.

Among the student smugglers in Granden City right now, this seemed like the most promising plan.

“Ask away.”

“How do you know the warehouse keeper isn’t underground?”

Eolde knew the warehouse keeper well too.

In fact, there were few Einroguard students who didn’t know the warehouse keeper.

After entering the school, clutching their hungry stomachs and wandering around looking for the underground kitchen and warehouse, they would hear terrifying footsteps from afar.

The warehouse keeper was like the skeletal Headmaster’s tracker, with magic detection abilities!

There were more than a few who were caught stuffing bread and cheese into their mouths.

“I confirmed with the Death Knight. He said he’s participating in the inspection this time.”

“The inspection side is in big trouble! …Hey. Wait. Who did you say you confirmed with?”

During the remaining period, Lee Han and his friends checked the supplies and prepared the plan.

And finally, that day arrived.

The last evening of February.

The moon was hidden by the clouds, making it especially dark.

“Everyone, good luck.”

“May the skeleton shatter!”

Eolde declared with a flourish. The juniors just stared at him.

“Don’t you say that? Uh… good luck then!”

Eolde suddenly felt old and out of touch. He stepped back, embarrassed.

‘Isn’t it cool…?’

“Everyone, drink up.”

Gulp!

The students who drank the disguise potion made by Yoner and Siana began to change.

It wasn’t a high-level potion that changed even their race, but it was enough for a smuggling operation.

Lee Han nodded at his appearance, his beard thick and his body bulging and thick.

“Let’s go. We’ll meet at the main gate tomorrow!”

Lee Han’s group split into two.

One group would directly pass through Einroguard’s underground passage and enter the warehouse.

Lee Han and Eolde participated in this.

The other group would wait in the rear in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

Deorgyu and Nilia led them.

Rattle rattle-

“Smuggling goods worth three wagons. If we succeed, the Einroguard black market will be abundant this year.”

Eolde, disguised as a coachman next to Lee Han, muttered.

In the first year, the market economy within Einroguard didn’t function properly because only first-year students interacted with each other, but from the second year onwards, things changed.

The scale of the black market immediately grew, and restaurants also began to appear.

However, even this market economy couldn’t avoid being affected by the situation.

If the kitchen club or some students with excellent talent in securing supplies went into the punishment room, prices immediately rose.

Sometimes, even with silver coins, you couldn’t buy what you needed in Einroguard.

But smuggling goods worth three wagons!

Even if the students participating here generously divided it among themselves and released only the remaining items into the black market, a warm breeze would blow through Einroguard for a while.

“Junior, have you thought about what you’ll do if you succeed?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. All those supplies. How much are you going to keep for yourself to eat and use for a semester, and what are you going to do with the rest?”

“I was thinking of cooking and selling it to my friends.”

“That’s good too.”

Eolde nodded, as he expected.

There was no way such a skilled guy wouldn’t think of selling surplus goods.

“How much are you going to sell it for?”

“About one silver coin per meal?”

“…What?”

Eolde couldn’t believe the price and doubted his ears.

“Oh, is it too expensive?”

“No, no. It’s too cheap. Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not kidding.”

Eolde wondered if his junior was mistaken about something.

Maybe he was using small portions or cheap ingredients. But even then, one silver coin was too cheap.

But that wasn’t it.

From what he heard, this junior was just trying to let them eat their fill and then receive one silver coin.

“Are you crazy?! Why are you selling it like that!? The kitchen club guys will have a heart attack if they hear that!”

“This is still expensive compared to the cost…”

“Cost, my foot. Where’s the cost in Einroguard! There’s original sin, though. Entering the school is the original sin. And if you’ve committed a sin, you have to buy a loaf of rye bread for five silver coins.”

‘Is it that bad?’

Lee Han felt bewildered by his senior’s words.

He thought he was taking advantage, but it wasn’t true.

“Wait a minute. Have your friends ever eaten their fill for one silver coin?”

“That’s usually the case when I make the food.”

“What kind of food was it mainly?”

Grain dishes using rice, wheat, and rye.

As well as onions, ginger, corn, mushrooms, and peas from the garden or cabin, as well as goat’s milk or cow’s milk, and eggs. Grapes, peaches, pumpkins, and even figs.

For sauces and spices, there was everything from maple syrup to honey, marmalade, chili peppers, nutmeg, olive oil, peppercorns, and tomato sauce.

Various dried fish or pickled sardines, mackerel, and herring. For meat, there were large chunks of raw ham, beef, pork, and lamb. Sausages and bacon, and so on…

“…I mainly used those. I’m not a chef, so the menu was simple.”

“……”

Eolde couldn’t believe what he heard. He felt a crazy urge to find all the juniors who had eaten Lee Han’s food and send them to Valdrogard! He even felt angry at himself for being a year older and missing out.

“I wish I hadn’t heard that…”

“This way.”

Lee Han guided the wagon carefully along the hidden path he had taken last year.

It was a path he had scouted several times just in case. When the wagon passed between two unremarkable trees, a sudden change in magic power occurred.

“!”

Eolde belatedly felt the magic and was shocked.

There really was a path here.

Rumble-

Suddenly, the path ahead curved downwards and began to connect to the underground. Eolde swallowed, thinking it had begun.

It wasn’t the first time he had stolen in Einroguard, but he had never not been nervous.

Especially a theft of this scale…

-You’ve come earlier than expected.

Eolde felt a heart-stopping shock at the familiar voices of the Death Knights.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Just stay still.’

Lee Han didn’t say anything and remained still. Eolde felt anxious as the junior, disguised as the person in charge, remained still.

Should he do something?

-Don’t talk to the workers. They’re afraid.

“!”

Lee Han already knew from experience that the workers who came here all kept their mouths shut and remained silent.

If they remained still as if they were scared of the Death Knights, they would interpret it on their own.

-I was just saying you came earlier than expected.

-Isn’t it possible to come early? There’s a lot of work going into the inspection this year anyway, so it’s a good thing if it ends early.

-It’s probably because of that boy?

-Probably.

-The Headmaster is really pushing that Wodanaz boy hard. He might break, like some students do…

-Hush. Don’t say such disrespectful things.

The Death Knights roughly let the wagon pass.

Eolde stroked his chest at the sound of the wheels slowly rolling again.

They had successfully overcome the most dangerous crisis!

The plan was now half successful.

Eolde whispered in an excited voice.

“You crazy bastard. You did it. You did it!”

However, Lee Han’s face was distorted with pain and hatred instead of happiness.

“Why, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s keep going.”