Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 966

Chapter 966

"Wh-who?"

Yi-Han pretended not to know well.

Yukbeltire then asked again, as if she didn't understand.

"You must be taking transformation magic lectures too, why don't you know?"

'Damn.'

Yi-Han realized his mistake upon being pointed out.

Come to think of it, since he was taking lectures from all schools, lies wouldn't work in most cases.

Quickly giving up, Yi-Han finally confessed.

"I asked because I wasn't sure if I heard correctly. Senior Jarun from the Steelshoe family, right?"

"That's right."

"Why did you ask about him?"

"I'm thinking of forming a party with other students to catch him. I'd like you, the junior from the Wardanaz family, to move with us too."

Yukbeltire proposed with an unusually kind attitude.

For Yukbeltire, who disliked moving with incompetent students, inviting a mere 2nd year student to the party was a very surprising thing.

It would have been impossible if she didn't highly evaluate Yi-Han.

That's why such a kind proposal could come out.

Of course, it was kind by her standards, but to other juniors in the school, it looked no different from her usual cold proposals. The same was true for Yi-Han.

'I really, really don't want to.'

As he had thought earlier, Yi-Han didn't want to form a party with Yukbeltire and explore Einroguard's underground mine.

He couldn't even imagine how it would be in a dark, enclosed space when he sometimes wanted to hit her even in bright, open places.

Yi-Han decided to make an excuse and opt out completely.

If he went down separately and happened to meet Yukbeltire's party, it would be even more troublesome.

"Actually, I've fallen behind in lectures due to this club outing week."

"?"

Anpagon, who was beside them, looked at the junior as if to say 'What are you talking about?'

He had already completed his staff and essentially finished the final exam, so what was this about?

'Is he talking about other lectures?'

"So I'm planning to focus on lectures for a while."

At those words, Anpagon answered instead of Yukbeltire.

"Wardanaz. The lectures will be postponed for a few more days anyway because of Senior Jarun."

"...?"

Yi-Han didn't understand what he meant.

The lectures would be postponed for a few more days because of Senior Jarun?

Could it be that Senior Jarun had some ability to postpone lectures?

'If such magic exists, I want to learn it too!'

"What do you mean by that?"

"The professors will also try to get their hands on the orichalcum vein Senior Jarun found."

Anpagon explained as if it were no big deal.

Einroguard's lectures could be flexibly postponed, delayed, or canceled depending on the professor's circumstances.

It was unavoidable given that professors could be suddenly called to the capital, dragged to the punishment room, or go missing in the mountains.

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

An orichalcum vein was worth stopping lectures for a while and telling students to go look for it.

"...Don't joke around."

"I'm not joking. I don't like jokes."

As soon as he finished speaking, a paper bird flew in.

To students taking <Tragic History of Ancient Artifacts and Summoning Magic>:

It is reported that Student Jarun of the Steelshoe family has discovered an orichalcum vein in Einroguard's underground.

The lecture will be replaced with reporting on the vein search process, so we ask for students' enthusiastic participation.

Professor Millei

"..."

As rumors seemed to be spreading quickly, other paper birds flew in too. They were paper birds sent by different professors.

Each letter conveyed the professor's will to give orichalcum to their disciples even if it meant postponing their own lectures.

"Professor Verduus wrote a letter too. Look."

"What?! Professor Verduus?!"

Yi-Han couldn't believe it.

That Professor Verduus was skipping lectures and pushing his disciples' backs for their sake?

'Ah. Come to think of it, he originally hated lecturing. Did he just skip it because it worked out well?'

To students taking <Staff Materials and Magic Amplification>!

Student Jarun from the Steelshoe family found orichalcum!

You need to go quickly and snatch it!

Then don't forget to share half with me!

Professor Verduus

"..."

Yi-Han took his eyes off the letter with a face full of contempt. It was for a much trashier reason than he had expected.

Anpagon calmly burned the letter after the junior finished reading it. Such trash didn't even need to be sent.

"So you can postpone studying lectures a bit. Securing even a small amount of orichalcum ore will be much more helpful for you, Wardanaz."

"..."

When even Anpagon said so, Yi-Han wavered slightly.

Certainly, it was a rare ore he had no use for right now, but who knew what might happen later?

If seniors and professors were all recommending to get it first, there must be a reason.

Yi-Han pondered and then cautiously asked.

"Senior Anpagon, are you... okay with it? Moving together with Senior Yukbeltire?"

"No. I don't like it."

As expected of the enchantment magic school, there was not a shred of respect for seniors.

Despite Yukbeltire being right beside him, Anpagon clearly expressed his unwillingness to move together.

And Yukbeltire didn't mind. Because Yukbeltire also didn't like moving with Anpagon.

"...No, then why are you trying to move together?"

"Because Senior Yukbeltire currently has the highest probability of finding Senior Jarun."

"??"

Yi-Han didn't understand.

Why would Yukbeltire have the highest probability of finding Jarun when she wasn't even in the same stonemason club?

"Do you have some special means?"

"Yes."

Yukbeltire explained to the junior who was finally showing interest, with a merciful attitude.

Originally, Yukbeltire, like most outstanding enchantment mages, had a lot of interest in those who collected and produced raw materials.

Students like Jarun from the Steelshoe family, who consistently mined gold and ore, fell into that category.

So Yukbeltire had secretly inserted a means to track location into Jarun's artifacts.

"What????????"

Yi-Han shouted in shock.

Yukbeltire lightly frowned as if to ask why the junior suddenly yelled.

"What's wrong?"

"N-no. Is it okay to... put location tracking magic on someone else's artifact?"

"Senior Steelshoe sometimes steals our artifacts too."

Anpagon answered without any change in expression. Yi-Han was even more at a loss for words.

Was this self-defense?

Yi-Han thought he knew quite a bit about the relationships between Einroguard's schools, but new shocks kept popping up.

"I-I see. So the location tracking magic..."

"No. That's separate from that. That was just to check mineral locations..."

Yi-Han pretended not to hear and ignored it.

Certainly, if Yukbeltire had done such a thing, it was understandable why Anpagon, who preferred to wander alone, would want to go together.

'Is that person really the most likely?'

Yi-Han, who had been agonizing, finally had to admit it.

That grabbing Yukbeltire's hand was the most likely choice if he wanted to find orichalcum ore now.

"...Alright. Then I'll go together too."

"Good. You thought well."

"You've finally made the right decision."

At the two seniors' words, Yi-Han already felt tired.

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

"Take this. You'll need it when we go underground."

"I see. ...Did you make this yourself, Senior?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"I thought so because the artifact is made so perfectly and neatly."

Though Yukbeltire wasn't interested in flattery, it was different for relatively close people like Direth or Yi-Han.

Yukbeltire hid a faint smile of pride as she spoke.

"You have a good eye."

'I'll get rid of it and check for magic as soon as the search is over.'

Yi-Han decided to keep a close eye on that earring artifact. If she had put tracking magic on Jarun, she could certainly put it on Yi-Han too.

"By the way, Senior Yukbeltire. Isn't Senior Direth joining?"

"Direth won't participate."

"Ah. Is she busy?"

"No. Direth's not participating due to an irrational judgment. She said she wants to avoid going underground with me."

Yukbeltire shook her head slightly as if it was still absurd no matter how she thought about it.

What kind of illogical and nonsensical reason was that?

"..."

Yi-Han's face turned slightly pale.

'Damn. I should have asked first...!'

  *

4th year Anpagon.

5th year Yukbeltire.

3rd year Sigunting (joined after working on the lower floor).

2nd year Yi-Han.

The four enchantment magic school students quickly finished preparations and headed for the nearest underground entrance.

"From what I know, I heard they use the underground passages near the Stream Forest or Dark Forest."

Yi-Han threw out a question, trying to learn something from this opportunity.

However, no answer came back. All three were thinking 'Someone else will answer'.

"...Senior Yukbeltire. From what I know, I heard they use the underground passages near the Stream Forest or Dark Forest."

"Normally those would be good for going underground. But it's dangerous when rumors have spread like now."

Yukbeltire, who was gauging Jarun's location with a bronze compass artifact, answered gruffly.

Usually, the passages that were good to enter normally became prey for cunning and vulgar students when incidents like this occurred.

They could wait and follow from behind.

At times like this, it was better to take a detour even if it was a bit harder to enter.

"This way."

Yukbeltire tapped the ground and chanted a spell. Then stone slabs rose from the ground where there had only been dirt, revealing a door leading down.

Yi-Han was amazed at the passage neatly pierced through to the underground mining area.

"Did you seniors make this?"

"..."

"...Senior Anpagon. Did you seniors make this?"

"No. It's an underground passage made by Professor Verduus. We stole it, moved it, and are using it."

Yi-Han was curious how on earth they stole and moved an underground passage, but now wasn't the atmosphere to ask about that in detail.

Giving up, Yi-Han obediently grabbed the ladder and headed down.

  *

There were numerous rumors about Einroguard's underground.

There were rumors that some crazy mage had brought in and was raising an immortal eater, that there was an ancient grand mage imprisoned by the skull principal, and that monsters from another realm that had flowed in from somewhere were wandering around.

And the scariest point was that these rumors were often true more often than expected.

The mining area was now known as a place with quite high danger even among such underground areas.

Of course, Yi-Han was tens...

...not tense at all.

'...I visited the underground too early because of Professor Bagrak.'

Even Yi-Han himself was surprised at how untense he was.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed he had seen too many harsh sights since his first year.

"Rest."

"Yes."

The students who had been illuminating their surroundings with artifacts and maintaining vigilance and defense all stopped at once and sat on rocks.

Yi-Han was about to take out some simple snacks from his Backpack of Six Directions to recover his energy.

However, the three seniors, as if they were puppets tied to the same string, all took out potion bottles and drank at the same time.

"What are you drinking?"

"..."

"Senior Sigunting!!! What are you drinking!"

"Hmm? Nutritional supplement potion."

The dwarf senior with geometrically braided beard shook the empty bottle as he spoke.

It tasted terrible but was a potion that could easily and quickly fill about one meal's worth of nutrition.

"But if you invest a little time, you could eat something much more delicious and warm, couldn't you?"

"Why waste time like that?"

"Hmm. I see."

Yi-Han quickly gave up on the idea of preparing snacks for the seniors.

'I'll just let those people eat like that.'

Unlike his friends, trying to feed these seniors here seemed like it would burst Yi-Han's insides first.