Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Chapter 562

-I bought it for quite a high price…-

Despite deciding not to ask, the skull principal muttered to himself in a voice immersed in memories.

-Your seniors didn't like it very much.-

"..."

"..."

Yi-Han and Asan hurriedly started cleaning up the items.

They didn't want to hear any other stories by staying still for no reason.

-

"You're alive!"

The friends who discovered the two returning after roughly checking the state of the warehouse shouted in a happy voice.

Asan spoke as if dumbfounded.

"It hasn't even been an hour since we went and came back..."

"That's enough time to disappear from here to the punishment room."

"Well, that's true."

While his friend was convinced, Yi-Han explained the tasks the skull principal had ordered.

As soon as they heard it, the students reacted the same as Asan.

"Huh? We're struggling to survive, do we have to think about the freshmen?"

"We haven't received anything from the seniors, so the freshmen should figure it out on their own too!"

"That's right, that's right!"

'How heartwarming, really.'

Yi-Han thought Einroguard's future was very bright at his friends' heartwarming reaction.

"Ev-everyone. Please calm down. Still, we can't completely ignore the juniors who will come in next, can we?"

Tijiling, being a priestess, felt it was a bit wrong and tried to persuade her friends.

As the friends hesitated, Gainando stepped forward.

"No. We can not do it! Let's all focus and forget about the juniors!"

"Gainando, didn't you receive the most help from Wardanaz?"

Tijiling unconsciously swung the truth and struck Gainando. Gainando was startled and denied it, waving his hands.

"Ah, no? It's not to that extent!"

"It's true though."

"Honestly, you would have starved to death without Wardanaz."

"The guys from other towers don't even know!"

When the students from the Black Tortoise Tower and White Tiger Tower gave their input, Gainando jumped up and down.

How much bullying did he endure while studying in the lounge, and these guys who knew nothing!

"Hmm. In Gainando's case, it's true."

"!?"

However, even the friends from the Blue Dragon Tower didn't particularly take Gainando's side.

"Come to think of it, the freshmen won't have Wardanaz either, right?"

"It might be a bit tough for them..."

"Eh. Let's do it for them. We didn't receive anything from the seniors, but this much is nothing."

Except for Gainando, the students discussed among themselves and readily entered the warehouse.

Thanks to the large amount of supplies secured last weekend, the current 1st-year students were more generous than anyone else.

"Yi-Han. Isn't there anyone who received more help than me? There must be at least one person, right? There must be at least one person under me!"

Gainando grabbed the hem of Yi-Han's outer garment and whined. Yi-Han ignored him and entered the warehouse.

***

Broken potions or artifacts were put in separate wooden chests and taken out, and still usable notebooks, quills, and ink bottles were sorted separately…

"Should we leave this for the juniors to eat?"

"Hey... You're really kind. Okay. Then I'll leave this jar of candy too."

The 1st-year students hid items here and there for the juniors who would come in.

If they hid them between books or writing tools, the juniors could notice and receive them next year.

"..."

Adenart was deep in thought with a serious expression.

She was pondering whether the book among the books on the shelf would be a good book for the juniors.

'Should I take it out?'

"Princess. If you don't feel like it, you don't have to leave snacks. Gainando didn't leave any either."

Yi-Han was considerate of the princess who had been pondering for a long time.

In fact, Gainando had inserted a note saying 'True snacks are the food you find with your own strength' and was being hit by his friends one by one.

"..."

The princess immediately found her bag and took out a can. And she donated it for the juniors.

"But why?"

The princess donated two more chocolates and walked to another place. The followers spoke to Yi-Han in admiration.

"Isn't she wonderful?"

"Uh, she's wonderful, but there's no need to force herself to do something she doesn't want to..."

"What are you talking about? Of course, it's because she's thinking of the juniors."

"Is that so?"

Yi-Han nodded his head for now.

The followers weren't very trustworthy, but in this case, they would know better than Yi-Han.

'Well, unlike Gainando, she's a proper imperial family member, so she can care about her reputation.'

After finishing the conversation, Yi-Han focused on the work. Putting the blood-stained rusty knife in the chest, disarming the damaged scrolls and burning them…

"?"

Yi-Han discovered a letter tucked behind the shelf in a hidden space.

[The freshman who reads this letter, come to the Stargazer Barn on the 4th floor by midnight.]

-Written by a kind senior-

"What the hell is this?"

"Is it the principal's trap?"

"It's good to be suspicious, but I think it's a bit too much to suspect everything in the world as the principal's trap..."

Yi-Han and his friends put their heads together and pondered the identity of this letter.

"In the first place, it's not easy to enter the 4th floor. Isn't telling us to come to the 4th floor like telling us to die?"

"That's right. It seems mean-spirited."

"Gasp...! Okay. Then I'll also leave a note telling them to come to the 5th floor..."

Yi-Han hit Gainando once and pointed out the question.

"Isn't the letter quite old? If it's this old, the senior who left it might have already graduated."

"Ah. You're right. It's a pity. Why did the senior leave something like this? In the first place, we can't even make contact."

"No. There are ways to temporarily nullify the magic the principal has cast."

"...?"

The friends next to him were about to ask, 'How do you know that, Wardanaz?' but stopped.

'Well, since it's Wardanaz, he would know.'

Salko tapped the letter to see if there were any hidden letters. After confirming there were no special devices, Salko whispered so only Yi-Han could hear.

"But Wardanaz. It could be an item left behind, not by a senior."

"Well, that's true..."

It was confusing because it said until midnight, but in fact, it could have been left this way because the room closed after midnight.

And even the senior would have known that such a letter was not a good means to directly meet someone.

In the first place, since it was a warehouse used for freshman lectures, there was no way to know when the other person would discover it.

"Then is it really an item?"

"I think there's a high possibility."

"Hmm. It's a dilemma. We have plenty of supplies and next week is the exam, so I don't want to do anything dangerous. Wait. Salko. Why have you been speaking in that voice?"

"To prevent the White Tiger Tower guys from hearing."

"...But we should go together."

As Yi-Han thought, his friends' reactions weren't that enthusiastic.

Half of the friends reacted by saying there was no need to enter the dangerous 4th floor when they already had plenty of things to eat, drink, and wear, while the other half said they should secure Einroguard's items as quickly as possible when they could, since they never knew when they would disappear.

"That's why I'm saying we should go now! You know that even a day's difference can be fatal in Einroguard!"

"If it's been fine until now, even a few days' difference will be fine. You just don't want to study for the exam right now!"

"Ho-how dare you insult me like that?!"

While the friends were bickering, Yonaire asked Yi-Han.

"Yi-Han. What do you think?"

"I think this week will be a bit tough for me anyway. I have something to do."

"Other than preparing for the final exam?"

"I accepted a mission to design the Pocket Knife Fortress, so I have to complete that."

"..."

Yonaire looked at his friend with pity.

'Will there ever come a day when he's happy?'

***

Unlike Yonaire's worry, Yi-Han was unexpectedly not dissatisfied with the Pocket Knife Fortress design mission.

Wasn't silver coins the reward, unlike other assignments?

'Hmm. It would be really nice if Einroguard's assignments also gave silver coins as rewards.'

Thinking thoughts that would make the skull principal curse if he heard, Yi-Han played with his quill.

"Wardanaz."

"Professor Alpen Knighton."

When Professor Alpen Knighton called, Yi-Han put down his quill and stood up.

Today was the day to initially meet face-to-face with those who had accepted the Pocket Knife Fortress mission.

"Is your preparation going well? I'm worried you might be overworking yourself since you also have to prepare for the final exam."

"Thank you for your concern. I'm preparing with my best effort."

Yi-Han, who had answered hypocritically, hesitated.

Come to think of it, it was this professor who had forced that work on him.

No?

"Yes. In fact, I believe Wardanaz is fully capable of doing it. That's why I proposed it."

"...Ah. Yes."

They say you can't spit on a smiling face, but Yi-Han was confident he could spit on the smiling faces of professors.

Following behind the smiling Professor Alpen, Yi-Han entered the room. An artifact that looked like a mirror was already in operation.

-Professor Knighton. Hello.-

"Yes. Hello, everyone. If you're ready, you can send the design."

-Yes. We're waiting.-

Yi-Han waited for the other party's reaction with a nervous face.

He thought he had done a good job, but that was only by Yi-Han's standards, and he didn't know if the other party would think the same.

What kind of reaction would there be?

***

The Stonemason Guild and the Carpentry Guild were the ones who had received the order for the construction of this Pocket Knife Fortress from the empire.

The goal of the builders was always one.

To efficiently achieve the goals required by the client within the given budget.

The overall construction and modeling were the job of these experts, and what this 1st-year Einroguard student had to do this time was to calculate the amount of mana of the artifacts installed in the fortress, secure the available mana sources, and arrange the artifacts in appropriate locations so they wouldn't malfunction with each other.

"Oh. Better than I thought..."

"As expected of an Einroguard graduate?"

The guild members were impressed by the well-organized and easy-to-understand explanation.

Thanks to that, the Einroguard students' external administrative evaluation rose very high without them knowing.

Those who had been worried at first felt relieved seeing this. It was much more trustworthy than a suspicious mage who boasted about building a tower or a rampart.

"It's excellent. The location settings of the artifacts are very good."

"Thank you."

Yi-Han relaxed a bit.

How many times did he repeat the calculations to make the artifacts not malfunction with each other in the appropriate locations?

This much reward was necessary for the work.

"But..."

"!"

Suddenly, the guild members' faces turned serious.

Yi-Han tensed up again, not knowing what mistake he had made.

'Damn it. Was there really a mistake? The time... No. Excuses are meaningless. We're getting paid to do this job.'

There was no point in making excuses about taking various classes to someone who was neither a professor nor a student.

Yi-Han resolved to identify and fix it as quickly as possible.

"What..."

"Let me take a look too."

Professor Alpen frowned and checked the report.

The professor, who had been reading quickly, seemed to have found the problem soon as his expression became just as serious as the guild members'.

"This is a bit strange."

"You noticed it too, Professor. There seems to be a mistake here."

"Just in case, let's check. Wardanaz, didn't you notice anything strange here? The amount of mana consumed by the artifacts."

Yi-Han heard Professor Alpen's question and rotated his brain as fast as possible.

In order to pursue efficiency, the artifacts currently installed in the fortress had their mana consumption minimized.

By saving like that, the mana source that supplied mana could be installed relatively less and still work.

So Yi-Han had reduced it as much as he could using all the methods he knew, but…

'Should I have reduced it even more here?'

Thinking that the skills of real professional mages were amazing, Yi-Han honestly asked.

"I'm sorry. Is the consumption really too high?"

"No... I meant it's too low. The artifacts wouldn't consume this little."

"Pardon?"

Yi-Han checked in puzzlement. There didn't seem to be any particular mistakes.

"Simple artifacts can be reduced to this extent."

"???"

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