Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 966

“Who… Who are you?”

Lee Han asked, pretending he didn’t know.

Yukbeltire answered quickly, sounding confused by his confusion. “You’re in Transfiguration, right? How can you not know?”

*Oops.* Lee Han realized his mistake.

Because there are lectures from all magic schools, lying is almost impossible.

Quickly giving up, Lee Han confessed.

“I just wanted to make sure I heard correctly. You mean Jarun, from the Iron Heel family, right?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you asking about him?”

“I plan to gather a party of students to apprehend him. It would be good if you, a junior from the Wodanaz family, joined us.”

Yukbeltire made the offer with rare kindness.

For Yukbeltire, who disliked working with incompetent students, inviting a mere second-year student to her party was astonishing.

It was impossible unless she thought highly of Lee Han.

So, she made this offer, which seemed kind for her. But other students would see it as her usual cold way of asking. Lee Han felt the same.

‘I really, really don’t want to.’

As he had already considered, Lee Han had no desire to explore the Einrogaard underground mine with Yukbeltire.

He sometimes felt like hitting her even in bright, open spaces; he couldn’t imagine what it would be like in a dark, confined area.

Lee Han decided to make an excuse and avoid it altogether.

If he went down separately and ran into Yukbeltire’s party, it would only become more troublesome.

“Actually, I’ve been very late to class because of this club outing week.”

“?”

Anpagon, who was beside him, looked at his junior as if asking what he was talking about.

He had already completed his wand and virtually finished his final exams, so what was he talking about?

‘Is he talking about another class?’

“So, I’m going to focus on classes for a while.”

Anpagon answered instead of Yukbeltire.

“Wodanaz, the classes will be postponed for a few more days anyway because of Jarun.”

“…?”

Lee Han didn’t understand what he was saying.

Classes would be postponed for a few more days because of Jarun.

Did Jarun have the ability to postpone classes?

‘If there’s such magic, I want to learn it too!’

“What do you mean?”

“The professors will also try to get their hands on the orichalcum vein that Jarun found.”

Anpagon explained as if it were nothing.

At Einrogaard, classes could be easily changed. They could be delayed or canceled depending on what the professor needed to do.

It was unavoidable, as professors were sometimes summoned to the capital, dragged to the disciplinary chamber, or went missing in the mountains.

But sometimes, even when that wasn’t the case, classes were postponed, and this was one of those times.

An orichalcum vein was worth stopping classes for a while and telling the students to go find it.

“…Don’t joke around.”

“I’m not joking. I don’t like jokes.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a paper bird flew in.

To the students taking >The Tragic History of Ancient Relics and Summoning Magic>:

Student Jarun of the Iron Heel family has discovered an orichalcum vein in the Einrogaard underground.

The lecture will be replaced by reporting on the vein search process, so we look forward to the students’ enthusiastic participation.

Professor Milrei

“……”

Other paper birds flew in as the rumor spread quickly. They were paper birds sent by different professors.

Each letter conveyed the professors’ determination to give their students orichalcum, even if it meant postponing their own lectures.

“Professor Verdus also wrote a letter. Look.”

“Yes?! Professor Verdus?!”

Lee Han couldn’t believe it.

That Professor Verdus would cancel his lecture and push his students for their sake?

‘Ah. Now that I think about it, he originally didn’t like lecturing. Didn’t he just take it off because he thought it was a good opportunity?’

To the students taking >Wand Materials and Magic Amplification>!

Student Jarun of the Iron Heel family found orichalcum!

You guys need to go quickly and take it!

And don’t forget to give me half!

Professor Verdus

“……”

Lee Han took his eyes off the letter with a face full of contempt. It was an even more trash-like reason than he had expected.

Anpagon calmly burned the letter after his junior finished reading it. It was trash that didn’t even need to be sent.

“So, you can postpone studying for class a bit. Getting even a small amount of orichalcum ore will be much more helpful to you, Wodanaz.”

“……”

Lee Han was slightly shaken when even Anpagon said that.

It was a rare ore that he didn’t need right now, but he didn’t know what would happen in the future.

There must be a reason why his seniors and professors were recommending him to get his hands on it first.

Lee Han hesitated and asked cautiously.

“Anpagon, are you… alright? Working with Yukbeltire?”

“No. Not really.”

As expected of the Enchantment School, there was no respect for seniors.

Even with Yukbeltire next to him, Anpagon clearly expressed his unwillingness to work with her.

And Yukbeltire didn’t care. Because Yukbeltire didn’t like working with Anpagon either.

“…No, then why are you trying to work together?”

“Because Yukbeltire has the highest chance of finding Jarun right now.”

“??”

Lee Han didn’t understand.

Why would Yukbeltire have the highest chance of finding Jarun when they weren’t even in the same Stonemason Club?

“Do you have some special means?”

“Yes.”

Yukbeltire explained to her junior, who was now showing interest, with a generous attitude.

Usually, Yukbeltire, like most excellent enchantment mages, had a lot of interest in those who mined and produced raw materials.

Students like Jarun of the Iron Heel family, who steadily mined gold and ore, fell into that category.

So, Yukbeltire had secretly inserted a means to track Jarun’s artifacts.

“Yes??????????”

Lee Han shouted in horror.

Yukbeltire frowned slightly, as if asking why her junior was suddenly shouting.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no. Is it… alright to put a location tracking spell on someone else’s artifact?”

“The Iron Heel seniors sometimes steal our artifacts too.”

Anpagon answered without any change in expression. Lee Han was even more speechless.

Was this self-defense?

Lee Han thought he knew about the relationships between the schools of Einrogaard, but a new shock came out every time.

“I, I see. So, the location tracking magic…”

“No. That’s separate from that. That’s just to check the location of the minerals…”

Lee Han ignored it as if he hadn’t heard it.

If Yukbeltire had done such a thing, it made sense that Anpagon, who preferred to wander alone, would want to go with her.

‘Is that person really the most likely?’

Lee Han, who had been suffering, had no choice but to admit it.

If he wanted to find orichalcum ore now, the most likely choice was to join hands with Yukbeltire.

“…Alright. Then I’ll go with you.”

“Good. You thought well.”

“Finally making the right decision.”

Lee Han already felt tired at the words of the two seniors.

Yukbeltire held out a small earring artifact that was on the workshop table.

“Take this. You’ll need it when you go underground.”

“Indeed. …Did you make this yourself, by any chance?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“The artifact is so perfectly and neatly made that I was just wondering.”

Yukbeltire wasn’t interested in flattery, but it was different for relatively close people like Dirette and Lee Han.

Yukbeltire hid a faint smile of pride and said.

“You have an eye for it.”

‘I need to get rid of it as soon as the search is over and check it for magic.’

Lee Han decided to keep a close eye on the earring artifact. If she could put a tracking spell on Jarun, she could put it on Lee Han too.

“But Yukbeltire, isn’t Dirette coming with us?”

“Dirette won’t participate.”

“Ah. Is she busy?”

“No. Dirette doesn’t participate because of irrational judgment. She said she wants to avoid going underground with me.”

Yukbeltire shook her head slightly, as if she still couldn’t believe it.

What kind of illogical and absurd reason was that?

“……”

Lee Han’s face turned slightly pale.

‘Blast. I should have asked first…!’

Anpagon, a fourth-year student.

Yukbeltire, a fifth-year student.

Sigunting, a third-year student (who joined after working on the lower floor).

Lee Han, a second-year student.

The four Enchantment School students quickly finished their preparations and headed to the nearest underground entrance.

“As far as I know, I heard that you use the underground passage in the Stream Forest or the Dark Forest.”

Lee Han asked a question to learn something from this opportunity.

But there was no answer. All three of them were thinking, ‘Someone else will answer.’

“…Yukbeltire, as far as I know, I heard that you use the underground passage in the Stream Forest or the Dark Forest.”

“Usually, that would be a good place to go underground. But it’s dangerous when rumors like this spread.”

Yukbeltire, who was holding a bronze compass artifact and estimating Jarun’s location, answered bluntly.

Usually, easy entrances are traps for sneaky and rude students when something like this happens.

They could be waiting and following behind.

Even if it’s a little difficult to enter, you have to go around it at times like this.

“This way.”

Yukbeltire tapped the floor and chanted a spell. Then, a stone slab rose from the floor where there was only dirt, revealing a door leading down.

Lee Han was amazed at the passage that had been neatly drilled to the underground mine area.

“Did you seniors make it?”

“……”

“…Anpagon, did you seniors make it?”

“No. Professor Verdus made the underground passage. We stole it, moved it, and are using it.”

Lee Han was curious about how they stole and moved the underground passage, but it wasn’t the atmosphere to ask about it in detail right now.

Lee Han, who had given up, quietly grabbed the ladder and headed down.

There were many rumors in the Einrogaard underground.

There was a rumor that a crazy wizard brought in and raised Bulgasari, a rumor that the skeleton headmaster had imprisoned an ancient archmage, and a rumor that a monster from another dimension that had flowed in from somewhere was wandering around.

And the scariest thing was that these rumors were often true.

The mine area was now known to be a very dangerous place even among these underground areas.

Lee Han was naturally nervous…

…He wasn’t.

‘…I visited the underground too early because of Professor Beggerek.’

Lee Han himself was surprised at himself for not being nervous.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like he had seen too much hardship since he was a freshman.

“Rest.”

“Yes.”

The students, who were illuminating the field of vision from side to side with artifacts and guarding and defending, stopped all at once and sat on the rocks.

Lee Han was about to take out a simple snack from his hexagonal backpack to restore his energy.

However, the three seniors all took out potion bottles and drank them, as if puppets tied with strings were acting the same way.

“…What are you drinking?”

“……”

“Sigunting!!! What are you drinking!”

“Huh? Nutritional supplement potion.”

The dwarf senior, who had geometrically braided his beard, said, shaking the empty bottle.

The taste was terribly bad, but it was a potion that could easily and quickly fill the nutrition of one meal.

“But if you invest a little time, you can eat something much more delicious and warm, right?”

“Why waste such time?”

“Hmm. I see.”

Lee Han quickly gave up on the idea of preparing snacks for his seniors.

‘I should just let those people eat like that.’

Unlike his friends, Lee Han’s insides would burst out first if he tried to feed these seniors.