Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 789

Chapter 789

Nillia ran at full speed, befitting a hunter from the northern mountains. She was so urgent that she even took out a potion from her bosom and drank it.

She would absolutely not let the magic criminal spread false rumors!

"Wardanaz! Hurry!!"

"Umm..."

'If we just stay still, I don't think anyone will care?'

Yi-Han spread mana throughout his body to temporarily enhance his physical abilities, then chased after his friend.

He could have used a few more enhancement magics here, but he didn't because it didn't seem necessary to that extent.

Honestly, if they just stayed still, even Einroguard students would probably just wonder 'Who's the young hunter?' and move on...

"To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!"

"Hey, stop right there!"

Nillia gritted her teeth and chased the bat.

As they turned the corner, they saw 3rd year seniors playing a magic stone throwing game at the end of the corridor.

"Should I throw from here, or there..."

"Can't you do it quickly?"

"Tut-tut. Be quiet. When to throw is my right that even the skull principal can't touch..."

"To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!"

"Excuse us!"

"Coming through!"

"???"

The seniors who were about to throw stones with magic circles drawn on them looked up in confusion.

"What was that just now?"

"Wait. Didn't it just say Antagondal? That magic criminal?"

The seniors admired the two juniors running past.

These days' juniors were something else!

Meanwhile, the bat turned another corner.

This time, they saw seniors playing mage hopscotch. Nillia cried out in a voice full of resentment.

"Why are there so many seniors in the corridor today of all days?!"

"There's a toxic swamp that burst on the 6th floor, so maybe the seniors who were there..."

"To think this Antagondal would be defeated by a mere young hunter...!"

"?!"

A senior who had stepped on square 4 and was staggering under a rotation curse was startled.

"Did it say Antagondal? What's going on?"

"From the looks of that ugly form transformed into a bat, I think it sent a doppelganger that got destroyed."

"Even if it's just a doppelganger, these juniors are really amazing!"

"..."

"..."

The two fell silent hearing the seniors' exclamations of admiration.

Yi-Han thought inwardly.

'Should I drop out now?'

Come to think of it, Antagondal was only mentioning Nillia.

If Yi-Han just quietly stopped...

"Wardanaz...!"

"I wasn't thinking anything."

"What are you talking about? You stopped!"

"!"

When Nillia pointed ahead, the weakened bat just fell and collapsed.

Nillia, who had been panting heavily, said in a relieved voice.

"At least no strange rumors should have spread. Right?"

"Huh? Uh... Well. I guess so."

Yi-Han told a white lie, not wanting to hurt his innocently expectant friend's feelings.

  *

"...So that's the situation."

"Isn't that too dangerous?!"

"Well, yeah. We need to be careful."

"..."

Nillia was shocked to see her friend speaking as if saying 'It might rain tomorrow, so I should bring an umbrella'.

'Has his sense of danger been numbed...!?'

Maybe his sense of danger had been numbed after going through many particularly difficult experiences at Einroguard.

'No, other friends didn't become like this even after going through difficult experiences. Maybe Wardanaz was always like this...'

Nillia proceeded with a very rude speculation inwardly.

"By the way, Nillia. Are you taking the <Mage's Life with Plants> lecture?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

Yi-Han inwardly rejoiced.

'So it is a 2nd year lecture!'

When he saw just the lecture name, it seemed like a botany lecture, but he had been worried whether it was a 2nd or 3rd year lecture.

He was overjoyed that it was a 2nd year lecture.

"That's really fortunate. A 2nd year lecture."

"..."

Nillia stared blankly at her friend with eyes mixed with pity, sorrow, shock, and fear.

"What was the content of the last lecture?"

"We didn't do much. It was the first lecture, so the professor explained what kind of lecture it was and showed us some rare and interesting plants. Oh right. The professor was a willow tree spirit."

"I see."

"That's right. Wardanaz, you're taking Professor Verduus's lecture, right? How was the lecture?"

Nillia asked as if curious.

Although they were in the same enchantment magic school, she was curious about what differences there were since Yi-Han was taking 3rd year lectures.

"Uh... That's right. <Staff Materials and Magic Amplification>. Was yours <Introduction to Enchantment Magic>, Nillia?"

"That's right. Senior Yukbeltire teaches it."

"How is it? Is she as eccentric as Professor Verduus?"

"No? She teaches well?"

"...?"

Yi-Han doubted his ears.

Teaches well?

Had the meaning of teaching well changed at Einroguard?

"She teaches well?"

"Yeah. She teaches well."

Nillia briefly explained about Yukbeltire's lectures.

Basically, she was someone who didn't have much interest in juniors, but Yukbeltire wasn't someone who abandoned her work and only did her own thing like Professor Verduus.

She accurately and systematically organized the content to be taught in each lecture in detail and distributed it to juniors, so the 2nd year enchantment magic school students didn't have many complaints.

And compared to Professor Verduus's lectures from last year, it felt unconditionally better anyway!

"..."

After hearing the explanation, Yi-Han felt unfairly wronged for no reason.

Of course, he didn't want Senior Yukbeltire to torment his 2nd year friends, but this was a bit...

'Why do crazy people become normal when I'm not looking?'

"What about you, Wardanaz?"

"We're... studying by stealing the professor's work."

"Hey. Stop joking."

"..."

"...It's not a joke?"

Nillia suddenly felt very sorry.

"S-sorry. I didn't know it was real."

"Studying by stealing the professor's work is kind of fun too. It's also beneficial."

"Really?"

"No. I just lied."

"..."

"..."

An awkward silence lingered between the two.

Nillia suggested to change the atmosphere.

"Th-then let's go to the <Mage's Life with Plants> lecture hall first! I'll show you around before today's lecture starts!"

The lecture hall where this botany lecture was held was a greenhouse full of all kinds of plants.

It was so fun just to take care of and look at them that several students came to study in the lecture hall even when it wasn't lecture time.

Of course, she knew Yi-Han was taking so many lectures that he had almost no spare time, but since it was almost mealtime now...

"I promised to help with work at the kitchen club."

"Then let's go together after that's done. I'll help too."

"After that, I need to go to the ballgame club to take care of the animals for a bit."

"...Then let's do that together too."

"After that, I need to go to the stonemason club..."

"Hey, that's enough!"

Nillia couldn't hold back and ended up getting angry at her friend.

  *

After hearing his friend's sincere anger, Yi-Han reflected and canceled his club schedules.

And he left just one.

"It's a bit hard to cancel this kitchen club work. I heard the seniors are about to riot."

"...The food is bad."

Nillia had to admit.

The meals of the kitchen club, responsible for the hungry stomachs of countless Einroguard students, were always precarious.

As they had to somehow make quantity with limited ingredients, the taste inevitably suffered relatively.

But such circumstances couldn't persuade Einroguard students who paid one gold coin for each meal.

-Hey, you crazy bastards! Stop serving bread made from ground beans! At least mix in more than half flour!-

-Get rid of this corn porridge!-

-If you're going to keep serving this salted meat, just serve rocks instead. Rocks would be easier to break!-

"I'm curious, where do they get that salted meat from anyway?"

Nillia wondered.

Since mages 2nd year and above could use various magics, preserving meat wasn't difficult.

So why did the kitchen club consistently serve salted meat harder than rocks?

"I asked too, and they said the principal usually buys it in bulk from outside."

"..."

Nillia was shocked at Yi-Han's explanation.

What in the...?

"Now if you go around the school, there are relatively easy-to-enter kitchens, but many of those kitchens are fake. They say the principal deliberately buys bad ingredients and fills them."

'He really focuses on unnecessary things!'

Nillia shuddered once again at the skull principal's dedication.

He could just not place ingredients, but to go to such lengths just to see students suffer...

"Still, it's better than nothing. If you cook it well, you can eat it."

No matter how hardened the meat was, if you pounded it, tore it, cut it finely, threw it in water, and boiled it well with bread, it at least became a salty meal.

Of course, whether the students who ate it would be satisfied was unknown...

"Seniors. I'm here."

"Wardanaz! We've been waiting!"

The kitchen club members welcomed Yi-Han with cheers.

To be precise, they welcomed the ingredients Yi-Han would bring. To the members always suffering from limited ingredients, this junior was a miraculous big hand.

"What about flour?"

"We used it all yesterday. We tried to secure wheat, but poison spread on the 6th floor..."

"Rice?"

"We have a little left."

"Meat..."

Yi-Han took out the ingredients he brought and carefully discussed with the seniors.

Seeing that, Nillia felt ashamed for complaining about the kitchen club's meals.

-This is one gold coin? If Wardanaz saw this, he'd faint from shock, hmph!-

'To criticize without considering others' circumstances.'

"Let's boil oat porridge for now."

"Oat porridge doesn't get a good reaction. Bowls might fly."

"Let's deceive the eyes with other ingredients. Onions, carrots... Ah well. Let's use cheese too."

"Even cheese!? Isn't that too luxurious?"

"We'll slice it thinly. Let's cut the salted meat and put it in the porridge, and how about cutting the ham I brought and putting it on top?"

"That sounds good. We can deceive the eyes!"

"..."

Nillia glared at the seniors, forgetting her shame from just now.

As expected, the kitchen club members were all half con artists.

To lead her honest friend down such a path of deception...

  *

"Nillia. Thanks for helping."

"This wasn't the kind of help I had in mind."

Nillia muttered as she moved her feet.

She had thought of skinning animals and preparing meat, not pounding meat to make it look like there was more.

"Three, two, one... Here it is. Yggdrasil Greenhouse. Right?"

"That's right. Just open the door and go in."

Nillia hurriedly opened the door to show her friend the lecture hall before the lecture started.

It had taken longer than expected to help with the kitchen club work (the students gathered for the meal debated whether to throw their plates but eventually put them down).

Whoosh-

The humid, hot air characteristic of greenhouses rushed out. The willow tree professor inside looked at them curiously.

"It's not lecture time yet?"

"Hello, Professor. We came early to introduce the lecture hall."

"I see... Excellent mages. Look around as much as you like."

The willow tree professor, who had been pruning branches, smiled kindly.

Then they paused when they saw Yi-Han.

"It's been a long time, Professor."

"Wardanaz. ...It's truly been a long time since we met last year! I've heard many rumors, but... More importantly, why aren't you using your staff? It looks full of discontent."

"..."

Yi-Han glared at his staff with a wronged feeling.