Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 781

Chapter 781

"Sigh. Forget it. Let's just set up camp."

Unaware that Raphael was inwardly shocked, Gainando spoke with a gloomy expression.

Right now, everything seemed gray because of the unsummoned summon.

"Y-you bastard. Are you suddenly trying to act dignified by yourself...! How cowardly!"

"What are you talking about? I said let's set up camp. Do you want to see Yi-Han get angry?"

Gainando was dumbfounded when Raphael spoke nonsense.

He was already upset because one summon had been unsummoned, so what was this nonsense?

"Y-you. Don't think this is over."

'Did he drink something wrong?'

Gainando wondered if his friend had inhaled some hallucinogenic powder while passing through the forest area.

Why did he keep talking nonsense...

"Summon something to dig around here."

By the time they reached 2nd year at Einroguard, whether noble or slave-born, everyone had the skills to camp anywhere.

Gainando checked the surrounding terrain and pointed, making his request. It was convenient in many ways to dig a small moat near the campsite.

"Your summon would be better, right? Since it's bigger..."

"Did I have such a thing?"

Gainando played dumb. Of course, it didn't work on Raphael.

It wasn't easy to forget since Gainando had boasted about it 131 times a day after contracting.

"The big one with thorn armor. That one would be suitable for this kind of work."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Right! Thorn revenant. That was its name, wasn't it?"

"...It was unsummoned! Okay?!"

Gainando got upset and threw a bone.

Despite being hit in the face with a bone, Raphael was bewildered instead of getting angry.

For an undead summon to be completely destroyed and unsummoned.

This was quite important for a dark mage.

Not only would it take quite a while to recover, but even after recovery, it was hard to know if the contract would be maintained well.

Undead summons were vile and violent, so they didn't understand mages' circumstances well.

"W-was it that intense? I'm sorry."

"...Forget it. Just do the work instead."

"I-I can't either."

"What? What do you mean?"

Gainando was puzzled when Raphael hesitated.

As Raphael was also from the dark magic school, he had contracted summons.

"Were you unsummoned too?"

"No... that's not it."

"Then what is it?"

"...I-I want to let it rest today because it looks tired."

"..."

Gainando doubted his ears.

Wanting to let an undead summon rest because it looked tired.

...What on earth was this...?

"Wh-what are you saying. Is that in the contract terms?"

"No... I didn't make such a contract."

"Then order it."

"B-but it's pitiful..."

'...How much do you care for an undead summon??'

Gainando was appalled.

Raphael was the most doting and protective of his summon among all the dark mages he had seen so far!

"You said dark magic was just a means! Even when contracting undead summons, you said you were just hiring them to know the enemy!"

"That's what I intended!"

"Then summon it! Why let it rest!"

"Th-this is... Right. It's to make it let its guard down and deceive it. I have to treat it well to make it let its guard down..."

"...You're lying!! Do you expect me to believe that!"

Gainando and Raphael fought for nearly 10 minutes with 'Admit you like undead' and 'No, I hate undead'.

Then they acknowledged they were at an impasse.

"Huff, huff... Okay. Let's both not use summons..."

"A-alright. I'm glad you understand. ...Then how are we going to dig around?"

"Are you good at earth magic?"

"No... Are you?"

"I'm not good at earth magic either..."

The two stared at each other blankly.

There was only one option left.

  *

"??"

"Why are you two using shovels?"

Friends working in other areas were puzzled seeing Gainando and Raphael.

Why were mages holding shovels like that?

"It-it's a secret of dark magic."

"I... I see?"

The friends thought dark magic had summons, but they let it go for now.

They had their own work left to do, and they didn't know much about dark magic anyway.

"...Why are you two using shovels?"

Of course, they couldn't fool Yi-Han. Yi-Han looked at Raphael with a perplexed gaze.

Gainando might be understandable since he had no summon, but why that guy too?

"...My summon was actually unsummon..."

"Yi-Han! This bastard says he's not making his summon work today because it looks tired!"

"Hey!"

Raphael was appalled, but Yi-Han had already heard everything.

Yi-Han looked at Raphael with a shocked gaze.

"I-I see. Raphael. I understand you. Well, it's good to care for your summon."

-Wow! What a kind dark mage!-

"No! That's not it!"

Rather than being mocked, being spoken to so warmly made Raphael even more ashamed.

To think a descendant of the Gral family would be misunderstood as an undead lover!

"I'm really doing it to use it later!"

"Right... Well, I understand..."

Yi-Han left Raphael wailing behind and finished checking the campsite.

'By the way, it seems the quality improves every time we do this.'

Unlike other years where each tower kept to themselves, the current Einroguard 2nd years had many experiences of working together (forcibly) in crisis situations.

Perhaps because of that, the level seemed to rise more and more even when making such campsites together.

In the past, they would dig a pit in front, sprinkle powder to block poisonous insects or snakes, and huddle around a campfire using a large rock as a windbreak...

Now the campsite had a moat dug at a clean angle with water mixed with repellent potion flowing through it, barrier magic cast on the flawlessly erected campsite walls, and a high watchtower inside sending signals for students who hadn't arrived yet to see...

"Isn't the campsite wall too crude?"

"Should we change the color with magic?"

Everyone seemed to have spare energy now, from students trying to paint and decorate the campsite barrier to those wanting to place a monument at the entrance.

'...I'm not sure if we really need to draw a picture of the skull principal though.'

Yi-Han shook his head watching friends drawing a mural of subjugating an evil skull on the wall surrounding the campsite.

It was a waste of physical strength and mana, but he couldn't stop them since they were enjoying it so much.

"Wardanaz. Over here! Over here!"

Friends who had finished working on their areas called Yi-Han while brewing tea inside the campsite. A small pot on top of a campfire was bubbling and boiling.

"We were talking about tents. It would be convenient if we had a tent with space magic on it."

Although the current campsite was much better than before, the friends were still aiming high.

How comfortable would it be if they could place tents with space expansion magic inside the campsite?

At that point, they wouldn't need to do such large-scale work anymore. It would be enough to simply block the surroundings and stay inside the tents.

Yi-Han was slightly impressed by that sight.

'I hadn't thought much about it. Everyone is so proactive.'

"That's true. But space magic artifacts are really tricky to make. Do you have a plan?"

Making a large artifact itself was already high difficulty, and space magic on top of that was also high difficulty, so it was hard to obtain even for Einroguard students.

"Huhu. We do! Wardanaz!"

"Oh. What is it? Are you going to collaborate with seniors to make it together?"

Yi-Han felt the rewards of taking various school magics for once.

If it was this kind of work, Yi-Han wanted to participate too, and he felt he could contribute.

'I really want to have a tent with space expansion magic.'

"If we work on it, I'd like to use the Spirit Festival Hall workshop. The facilities there are good. Among them, Professor Verduus's workshop area is the best, we can use it secretly when the professor isn't there. Which school are the seniors from?"

The friends made embarrassed expressions seeing Yi-Han speak enthusiastically.

"Actually, we were talking about stealing one from the seniors..."

"..."

Since making one seemed impossible even until graduation, stealing from a senior who had one seemed somewhat possible.

"...I-I see. Right."

"We were going to ask you to lead us, Wardanaz..."

Yi-Han's group sipped black tea in silence for a while.

Asan, who had been reading the atmosphere, opened his mouth to change the mood.

"Actually, I've heard of one artifact with space expansion magic."

"Oh, really?!"

"What is it, Dargard??"

"It's an ancient artifact, about the size of a sleeping bag, but when you go inside it's about half the size of this campsite..."

"!!"

"Where did you read about it!? Which dungeon is it in?!"

The students all shouted, ready to enter that dungeon immediately and find the ancient artifact.

"...A senior has it."

"..."

"..."

The friends fell silent again. Yi-Han finished his tea and spoke.

"Well... There's no law saying we absolutely can't steal from seniors."

"Wardanaz!!"

"Right!? I knew we could count on you!!"

'Shouldn't people like this join the Change Location club?'

Yi-Han pondered slightly inwardly.

  *

While setting up camp and waiting, summoning school students arrived one by one.

When everyone gathered, Asan cleared his throat and took out a map.

"Now, everyone. While waiting, I measured the height and length here, roughly..."

Scribble scribble-

"..."

"..."

Seeing the newly drawn map and the large blank spaces on it, the students sighed deeply.

It seemed they would have to explore this realm all semester long to check and fill in a map of this size.

"Let's start by climbing to the top of the central area here. Everyone cheer up."

"Professor Millei is disappointing too. How could she tell us to do this in one semester?"

"Maybe all professors are like that. We just hadn't noticed."

'What an admirable thing to say.'

Yi-Han strongly agreed with what someone had just said.

Professors were racially evil. There were occasionally professors who seemed kind, but that was usually a student's misconception...

"Huff, huff. Wardanaz."

Among the group that had set out to check the top of the central area, Yi-Han was at the very front.

In such explorations, it was easier to deal with emergencies if mages with outstanding skills were at the very front and back.

As Yi-Han was walking in the lead like that, Asan approached him, breathing heavily.

"Did something happen?"

"No, it's not that. Well."

Asan hesitated slightly as if a bit embarrassed while trying to speak.

"The Wardanaz family is a famous realm expert of the empire, right?"

"I suppose... so?"

"Well... Among stories I've heard before, there was one about the Wardanaz family leaving markers here and there while exploring realms..."

Leaving markers with information about the surroundings for other mages who might arrive later was one of the things realm-exploring mages often did.

Befitting someone from a family that had served as imperial financial officers for generations, Asan was quite knowledgeable about such rumors.

"Right. That's probably true."

"...Is there no possibility of finding such markers here?"

"...Asan..."

"I-I know! I do know!"

Asan's face reddened as he made excuses.

Even he thought it was too unrealistic an expectation.

Finding markers left by the Wardanaz family in one of infinite realms would have a lower probability than finding a needle in a haystack...

"Even so, how could we find such markers? Why not hope to meet family members instead?"

"There are many more markers left behind, so statistically the probability is higher..."

Asan spoke, unable to let go of his lingering hope.

That's how terribly daunting the map they had to fill in felt.

"Give up, Asan. I used to calculate the probability of a meteor falling on Einroguard sometimes, but it was meaningless. ...Huh, brother?"

Yi-Han was startled to see his second older brother, Arsil Wardanaz, writing a book with the help of spirits at the top of the central area in the distance.