Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 781

Gynan sighed. “Never mind. Let’s set up camp.”

He looked sad, not noticing Raphaelle’s surprise. He was still upset because his familiar had disappeared.

“Hey! Are you pretending you don’t care? That’s just weak!”

“What are you talking about? I said let’s set up camp. Do you want to see Ethan get angry?”

Gynan frowned. He didn’t understand what Raphaelle meant.

He was already troubled by the reversed summoning of one of his familiars, so what nonsense was this?

“Kuh, kukh. Don’t think this is over.”

‘Did he eat something bad?’

Gynan wondered if Raphaelle had breathed in some strange dust in the forest. Why was he talking nonsense…

“Summon your familiar and have it dig around here.”

After two years at Ainroguard magic school, everyone knew how to make a campsite, no matter where they came from.

Gynan pointed and asked, “Wouldn’t your familiar be more convenient? It’s bigger, after all…” It was convenient in many ways to have a small moat dug near the campsite.

“Was there such a thing?”

Gynan pretended not to know. But Raphaelle wasn’t fooled. Gynan had bragged about it constantly since he got it. Raphaelle remembered it very well.

“Use your big familiar! The one with the thorns!”

“What familiar?” Gynan played dumb.

“You know! Thorn Revenant! The spiky monster!”

“…It was reversed summoned! Okay!” Gynan, frustrated, threw a bone. Raphaelle, despite being hit in the face with the bone, was more bewildered than angry.

An undead familiar being completely destroyed and reversed summoned was quite important for a black magician.

It would take quite a while to recover, and even if it did, it was hard to know if the contract would be maintained. Undead familiars were often mean and wild. They didn’t care about a magician’s problems.

“W-was it that intense? I’m sorry.”

“…Never mind. Just do the work for me.”

“I, I can’t either.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Gynan was puzzled by Raphaelle’s hesitation.

Raphaelle, being from the Black Magic School, also had a contracted familiar.

“Was yours reversed summoned too?”

“No… it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“…W-well, it looks tired today, so I want to let it rest.”

“……” Gynan stared. An undead familiar… tired? And Raphaelle wanted it to rest? This was too strange.

“What… what are you talking about? Is it in the contract?”

“No… I didn’t make such a contract.”

“Then make it work.”

“B-but, it looks pitiful…”

‘…How much does he cherish his undead familiar??’

Gynan was shocked. Raphaelle was acting like his undead familiar was a pet kitten! He’d never seen a black magician care so much!

“You said black magic was just a means! You said you were hiring the undead familiar just to understand the enemy!”

“That’s what I intended to do!”

“Then summon it! What do you mean, let it rest!”

“T-this is… yes. It’s to lower their guard and deceive them. You have to treat them well to make them lower their guard…”

“…You’re lying!! You expect me to believe that!”

Gynan and Raphaelle argued for nearly ten minutes over ‘Admit you like undead’ and ‘No, I hate undead.’ Finally, they realized they weren’t even talking about the same thing.

“Huff, huff… Fine. Let’s both not use our familiars…”

“T-that’s right. I’m glad you understand. …Then how are we going to dig around?”

“Are you good at earth magic?”

“No… are you?”

“I’m not good at earth magic either…” The two stared blankly at each other. There was only one way left.

“?”

“Why are you guys doing that with shovels?” Their friends on the other side watched them, looking confused. Why were the magicians holding shovels and acting like that?

“I-it’s a secret of black magic.”

“O-oh, really?” The friends thought that black magic involved familiars, but they let it go for now. They still had their own work to do, and they didn’t know much about black magic.

“…Why are you guys doing that with shovels?” Of course, they couldn’t fool Ethan. Ethan looked at Raphaelle, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Gynan didn’t have a familiar, so it was understandable, but why him?

“…My familiar was actually reversed summoned…”

“Ethan! This guy says his familiar looks tired, so he’s not making it work today!”

“Hey!” Raphaelle was horrified, but Ethan had already heard everything. Ethan looked at Raphaelle with a shocked expression.

“I-I see. Raphaelle. I understand you. Well, it’s good to cherish your familiar.”

—Wow! What a kind black magician!

“No! That’s not it!” Raphaelle was even more humiliated by the warm words, rather than being ridiculed. A descendant of the Grall family being misunderstood as an undead lover!

“I’m really going to use it later!”

“Okay… well, I understand…” Ethan left Raphaelle, who was wailing from behind, and continued to check the campsite.

‘By the way, the quality seems to be improving every time.’

Unlike older students who worked alone, the second years had learned to work together, mostly because they’d faced so many problems together. Maybe that’s why their campsites were getting better each time.

In the past, they would dig a pit in front, sprinkle powder to ward off poisonous insects or snakes, and huddle together near the bonfire using a large rock as a windbreak…

Now, their campsite was impressive. They had dug a neat ditch filled with water and bug-repelling potion. The walls were strong and enchanted to keep things out. A tall watchtower stood inside, ready to signal anyone still coming.

“Isn’t the campsite wall too rough?”

“Shall we change the color with magic?” Everyone seemed to have some spare time, and now there were students trying to paint and decorate the campsite walls, and even students trying to put up monuments at the entrance.

‘…I don’t know if we really need to draw a picture of Headmaster Skull.’

Ethan shook his head, watching his friends paint scary skull pictures all over the campsite walls. It was a waste of energy and magic, but he couldn’t stop them because they liked it so much.

“Wodanaz. Over here! Over here!” The friends who had finished working on their area were brewing tea inside the campsite and called out to Ethan. The pot on the small bonfire was bubbling.

“We were talking about tents. It would be convenient to have a tent with space magic on it.”

The current campsite was much better than before, but the friends still had high goals. Imagine how great it would be to have tents with space magic inside!

At that point, they wouldn’t have to do such a big job. It would be enough to simply block the surroundings and stay inside the tent.

Ethan was actually amazed. ‘I hadn’t thought about it much,’ he thought, ‘but everyone is really getting into this!’

“That would be nice. But space magic items are very hard to make. Do you have a plan? Even for students at Ainroguard, making something like that is almost impossible.”

“Hehe. I do! Wodanaz!”

“Oh. What is it? Are you working with the seniors to make it together?” Ethan felt the reward of taking various school magic classes for once.

Ethan wanted to participate in such a project and felt he could play an active role. ‘I definitely want to have a tent with space expansion magic.’

“If we make one, let’s use the best workshop – Professor Verdus’s room. It has the best tools, and we can sneak in when he’s not there. Which school are the seniors from?” His friends looked a little awkward.

“Actually, we were talking about stealing it from the seniors…”

“……” Making one ourselves would take forever. Stealing one from a senior seemed much faster.

“…O-oh, I see.”

“We were going to ask you, Wodanaz, to lead us…” Ethan and his group were silent for a while and sipped their black tea.

Asan, seeing the quiet mood, spoke up to change the subject.

“Actually, I heard about an artifact with space expansion magic.”

“Oh, really?!”

“What is it, Dalcard??”

“It’s an old magic tent. It looks like a sleeping bag, but inside, it’s as big as half the campsite!”

“!!”

“Where did you read that!? Which dungeon is it in?!” The students yelled, sounding ready to run to a dungeon right now!

“…A s-senior has it.”

“……”

“……” The friends were silent again. Ethan finished his tea and said.

“Well… there’s no law that says we can’t steal a senior’s things.”

“Wodanaz!!”

“That’s right!? I knew I could count on you!!”

Ethan thought, ‘Maybe these guys should join the thieves’ club!’

While they were setting up camp and waiting, the Summoning School students arrived one by one. When everyone arrived, Asan unfolded a large map.

“Okay. Everyone. While we were waiting, I measured the height and length here, and roughly…”

Swish, swish, swish—

“……”

“……” Looking at the map, with so much empty space, the students groaned.

To complete this map, they would have to explore this whole dimension all semester.

“Let’s start by climbing to the highest point,” Asan said. “Come on, everyone, let’s go!'”

“Professor Milley is disappointing too. How can she tell us to do this in one semester?”

“Maybe all the professors are like that. We just didn’t realize it.”

Ethan thought, ‘That’s true.’

Professors were just mean, Ethan thought. Sometimes they seemed nice, but that was probably just students imagining things.

“Huff, huff. Wodanaz.”

Ethan was at the front. It was safer to have strong magicians leading and at the back, in case of trouble. Asan, who was walking ahead, spoke to Ethan, panting.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s not that. Um.” Asan hesitated, looking embarrassed.

“Your family is famous for exploring other worlds, right?”

“I suppose you could say that?”

“Um… there was a story I heard a long time ago, that the Wodanaz family leaves marks in various places while exploring dimensions…”

Leaving marks containing information about the surroundings for other magicians who might arrive later was something that magicians who explored dimensions often did. Asan’s family had worked for the Empire for a long time, so he knew a lot of stories like this.

“That’s right. They probably do.”

“…Is there any chance we could find such a mark here?”

“…Asan…”

“I, I know too! I know, but!” Asan’s face turned red as he made excuses. Even Asan knew it was a long shot.

Finding a Wodanaz family mark in this huge dimension was almost impossible.

“Even so, how could we find such a mark? Wouldn’t you rather expect to meet a member of the family?”

“There are far more marks left behind, so the probability is higher…” Asan said, still hoping. That was how terrible the map that had to be filled felt.

“Give up, Asan. I used to calculate the probability of a meteorite falling on Ainroguard, but it didn’t mean anything. …Oh, Brother?”

Ethan stopped. In the distance, at the top of the hill, he saw someone. It was his brother, Arsil Wodanaz! Arsil was writing in a book, and strange, glowing spirits floated around him, helping him turn the pages.