Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 964

Chapter 964

-There's plenty of food prepared, so you don't need to hurry!-

-Is the soup ready? Bring more pork fat and salt!-

"Sigh."

The person responsible for spreading a massive rumor throughout Granden City was letting out a deep sigh.

"Wardanaz. If you're tired, go and rest. You've already done enough."

Falcrius gently suggested as he noticed his junior seemed to be struggling.

It wasn't just empty words; this junior had truly accomplished several times more work than others.

If the junior hadn't helped, they wouldn't have been able to prepare this much additional food.

The final amount of food gathered was enough to surprise even the priests from various temples and kitchen club students who had gathered to help.

"It's fine. I'll make some water."

Yi-Han waved his hand as if it was no problem and raised his staff.

The priests who were busy drying and preserving food to distribute were startled by the massive amount of water being created out of thin air.

'He's creating that much water? The mana consumption must be extreme.'

'Are they perhaps overworking the junior??'

"...Wardanaz! Let's do this in the back!"

"The priests are looking at us strangely!"

"Ah. Yes."

The seniors hurriedly hid Yi-Han behind them.

They wanted to explain to the priests, 'We're not overworking our junior, he just naturally has a lot of mana!', but in the current situation, such an explanation didn't seem very convincing.

Yi-Han, who had moved behind the temporary kitchen tent, sighed again as he filled the cauldrons with water.

'...I acted too emotionally.'

He had stepped up in anger when the other party not only picked a fight but also insulted his senior, but as time passed and his head cooled, he suddenly started to regret it.

No matter how lowly the other party had acted, hadn't he taken revenge too excessively?

Yi-Han swallowed his regret and reviewed what had happened.

Though it was painful just to think about it again, he had to seriously reflect for the sake of repentance.

  *

Yi-Han, with his anger rising, disguised himself as Setlad Anog and lightly broke through the fence wall.

The defensive and alarm magic in place was simply crushed by <Baldoorn's Mana Hammer>.

'Ha. They should have paid attention to magic instead of time to rebuild the mansion. Not even preparing for shock destruction?'

Though most mages would completely disagree, Yi-Han tended to think that magical barriers absolutely needed a design that thoroughly dispersed external shocks.

If a mage with infinite mana crudely swung mana like a hammer from the outside, wouldn't any intricate magic just be crushed?

No matter how much time and cost it took, such situations should have been considered.

'Thanks to that, it worked out well. I'll smash everything.'

  *

"Ugh!"

Yi-Han stomped his foot.

The seniors preparing nearby were startled and shouted.

"A-are we preparing too slowly?"

All the club students knew that the junior had come out early with Falcrius and prepared a large amount of additional food.

Usually, seniors didn't pay attention to juniors, but the Wardanaz family junior in front of them was a bit special.

Wasn't he the junior who usually secured massive amounts of ingredients and led the kitchen club students from the front?

Moreover, with what he had prepared this time on top of that, they couldn't help but be mindful even if they tried not to be.

"No. It's not because of you, seniors... It's because of a mistake I made."

"What? You make mistakes too, Wardanaz?"

"..."

"Ah, no. What kind of mistake?"

The seniors put down their kitchen knives and ladles and gathered for a moment to comfort Yi-Han.

They couldn't imagine this junior making mistakes, but if he really had made a mistake, they wanted to help together.

"I acted emotionally recently, and even muttered some overly self-conscious things to myself..."

"Come on. That's not a mistake."

"Wardanaz. Don't worry about it. I mutter to myself too when doing alchemy, saying I'll throw it at the principal's face when it's complete, even though he's not there."

"That's right. I mutter that I'll come to assassinate Professor Verduus after graduation."

The seniors' comfort was rough but sincere. That sincerity was conveyed to Yi-Han as well.

"Thank you all."

"That level of mistake isn't even a mistake. Unless you blew up a building, don't worry about it."

"..."

Yi-Han agonized deeply again.

  *

Yi-Han, who had infiltrated the mansion, immediately headed for the western annex.

As it had just been rebuilt, it seemed to have sloppy defenses and many gaps.

He hid his traces with invisibility magic, hindered the perception abilities of the patrolling guards with illusion magic, then leaped to the second floor with telekinesis magic (it was better not to use the main entrance when infiltrating), where he encountered a familiar spirit patrolling the corridor with gloomy movements.

"..."

-...-

He had met this water spirit before.

Though invisibility magic was cast, the water spirit trembled as it sensed the waves of the contract with a king-class spirit.

Seeing the water spirit about to turn around and flee, Yi-Han realized his invisibility magic wasn't working.

"Wait! Stop!"

In fact, no spirit would stop just because it was told to. Yi-Han immediately prepared magic.

He couldn't let the spirit out and make a commotion outside when he wasn't ready for battle yet...

Thud-

Surprisingly, the spirit stopped right there.

Yi-Han was flustered. To think there was a spirit that actually stopped when told to.

"...D-did you stop?"

The water spirit nodded.

"...Aren't you a spirit summoned to guard the mansion? Is it alright for you to listen to me?"

The spirit expressed denial to the question. It meant no.

"It doesn't seem to be a normal method. Then I'll have to check. I'm naturally friendly with spirits and have contracted with several spirits. I'll call spirits for conversation."

The spirit nodded with an attitude mixed with awe.

In fact, fear was felt more than friendliness from the other party.

But it didn't dare to nitpick or doubt a mage who had contracted with a being on the level of a spirit king.

If the other party said so, it must be right.

Surely such a mage wouldn't tell a petty lie...

A sparrow spirit and a squirrel spirit contracted with Yi-Han appeared immediately in mid-air.

The two were puzzled about the situation at first but soon realized and focused on communication.

"It's not a formal contract?"

Though words didn't communicate, Yi-Han was barely able to grasp the inside story through the communication between spirits and the power of the contract.

Surprisingly, the spirit currently guarding the mansion was not under a formal contract.

Originally, when borrowing a spirit's power, a mage would promise compensation (though sometimes they ran away even after promising compensation) and make a contract.

But Bardan had not made such a contract.

He had captured the spirit, sealed it, and was forcibly borrowing its power.

'What?!'

Yi-Han was shocked.

Even if it was difficult to contract with spirits, how could he do such a thing?

"What trash!"

At the mage's anger, the water spirit nodded.

Seeing that righteous reaction, he really did seem to be a mage loved by spirits. The spirit must have misunderstood due to the pressure and contract waves.

"Wait. Then perhaps when you went berserk last time...?"

Yi-Han had a suspicion.

Last time, Yi-Han had clearly only taken the relic.

Of course, he had encountered the mansion owner and knocked him out in the process, but he hadn't destroyed the mansion.

But when he heard rumors later, most said the mansion was half-destroyed.

Could it be?

The spirit nodded in agreement.

'I was right!'

Because Bardan had fainted, the power of the seal weakened, and the spirit tried to escape in that gap but went berserk.

Yi-Han was angry at the fact that he had been falsely accused.

"How can this be?!"

The water spirit showed even more favor at this display.

Yi-Han, who had calmed down and suppressed his anger, asked the spirit.

"Alright. Then where is the sealing item that Bardan fellow has?"

For Bardan, who wasn't even a mage, to seal a spirit and forcibly use its power, an artifact was essential.

Probably this spirit wasn't directly captured by Bardan either, but bought after being captured by someone else.

If he found the artifact and destroyed it, the spirit could be liberated.

Shrug-

The sparrow spirit and squirrel spirit shrugged as if they didn't know either.

It seemed that after the last rampage incident, Bardan carried it around instead of hiding it tightly in the mansion.

"...Hmph. I was planning to smash things up a bit anyway. It should come out as I destroy things."

-!

The water spirit looked at Yi-Han with great emotion.

To think there was a mage who would step up like this for a spirit without any benefit.

The resolved spirit declared it would help.

"You'll help? But aren't you bound by the sealing item?"

When Yi-Han asked curiously, the water spirit expressed that it was fine.

It wouldn't be able to endure for long, but if it used all its power, it could disobey its master's orders for a while.

At the spirit's determination to boldly step up despite the risk of greatly damaging its own existence, Yi-Han's will burned.

"...Alright. Then I'll do my best to smash everything too!"

  *

Yi-Han, returning to reality, felt a bit better again.

'Right. Thanks to that, the spirit was liberated.'

Though he still had a thought in one corner of his mind that he might have destroyed too severely, there was a valid reason after all.

As he smashed things excitedly, the sealing item must have been destroyed too, as the spirit thanked him and left after being liberated.

In the middle, Bardan had pleaded with a declaration of surrender, asking what he wanted, but at that time Yi-Han had nothing particular to say.

The undead summons had already smuggled out food taking advantage of the commotion.

-Nothing.-

-...What?-

-I said I don't want anything.-

-...-

Moreover, it didn't end with just that excuse.

Befitting the future ace of the Change Location club, Yi-Han threw other treasures over the fence to make his intentions impossible to guess.

From Yi-Han's perspective, it was an action for the perfect crime, but from Bardan's perspective, it was a terrifying incident where the damage increased dozens of times.

'...Should I have not thrown the treasures? There were no witnesses anyway, so I wouldn't have been caught...'

"Wardanaz. Look over there."

Falcrius, who had approached without notice, stretched out his arm and pointed ahead.

The hungry and poor people of Granden City were receiving food with joyful faces.

"This was possible thanks to you. Thank you."

"...It's nothing."

The sight Falcrius pointed out now made Yi-Han's heart much more comfortable than dozens of excuses.

Whatever the case, hadn't it borne good fruit?

Come to think of it, the young skull principal used to destroy cities saying he would do good deeds, so just a villain's mansion was...

'No. Who am I comparing myself to?!'

Yi-Han hurriedly grasped his sanity again and reflected.

If he kept compromising like this and lost his grip, he would really become the evil youngest disciple of the skull principal.

"Oh right. Wardanaz. Did you hear that news?"

"What news?"

"I heard the stonemason club's request was canceled this time. They say all the nobles who requested it canceled, perhaps feeling self-conscious about being extravagant."

"Ah. You mean that righteous thief? He's really an amazing mage. I hope he's from Einroguard."

"If he were an Einroguard senior, he wouldn't do such good deeds. If it were our senior, he'd be the one getting attacked by the righteous thief."

"That's true. ...Wardanaz?!"

The seniors were startled to see their junior collapse on the ground in frustration.