Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 703

Chapter 703

If it had been another student, they would have asked what nonsense he was talking about, but Direth, befitting a 5th year student, quickly understood.

"Did the principal not cast it on you because you have too much mana?"

"Yes."

"..."

An awkward silence hung in the air.

Direth pondered deeply on how to comfort this already struggling junior, but nothing came to mind.

"I'm fine, senior."

"...Hey. You shouldn't be fine... How can this be fine?"

"I'll be able to avoid it. ...Probably. And you're doing 5th year too, senior. I can do it too."

"That's not the same..."

Direth was about to say 'The 5th year I chose of my own free will and the high difficulty forced on you by the skull principal's malice aren't the same,' but gave up.

Pointing it out in detail would only hurt the junior's feelings.

"Sigh. Alright. Let's stop talking about this. It won't change anything anyway. The reason I came here is because I'm worried about you."

"Hmm, which part exactly are you worried about?"

"..."

Seeing that there were so many things that came to mind that even the junior himself couldn't guess which one, Direth pressed her fingertips to her forehead.

"...Let's start with the lecture schedule. I'm not sure if we can finish it all today, but."

"Ah. But senior, I have something urgent I need to do today."

"From today? What is it? Research? A mission? Did some c... crazy professor call you?"

Direth felt ominous even as she asked.

With this junior in front of her, it wouldn't be strange if there was a professor calling him from the first day.

"No. I'm trying to move some smuggled items."

"...Are you serious?"

Direth looked at Yi-Han in disbelief.

To think he had brought in smuggled goods despite that absurdly difficult inspection this time.

It was hard to believe.

"How did you bring them in?"

"I was lucky."

"This inspection wasn't something you could get through with luck... Anyway, that's good. Yes. I'm glad you succeeded. I'll help you move them."

As it wasn't a particularly difficult task, Direth readily offered to help.

She planned to talk about what she needed to say while helping.

"There's quite a lot though?"

"It doesn't matter. I'll have summons do it anyway."

"Then I'll gratefully accept. Oh. You should take some too, senior."

"It's fine."

Direth waved her hand.

What was the point of coveting a 2nd year's petty smuggled goods?

From 5th year on, as one becomes closer to half professor than student, the need to scrounge for supplies greatly decreases.

Moreover, since the inspection difficulty was high this year, the amount they brought in wouldn't be much anyway...

***

"...Are you a mage?"

"You're a mage too, senior."

Direth was so surprised that she blurted out a question a mage wouldn't ask.

Direth felt bewildered at the amount of smuggled goods that seemed to have been brought in using several carts.

"How on earth did you..."

"I'll explain."

"No. Later. I'm curious, but if I hear about that now, it seems like it'll take all day."

Direth shook her head and wings to focus.

Honestly, she was curious, but she came today to help her worrisome junior, not to hear about Einroguard's smuggling legend.

Perhaps there would be time later.

'...Would there be?'

For a moment, Direth felt the sorrow of a 5th year unable to be certain of free time and her shoulders drooped.

It was 5th year where it wouldn't be strange at all to not be able to come out after today.

"Hide in the darkness, move the luggage."

"Watch the front."

"Sense hostility."

Direth summoned various undead summons to prepare for the work.

It was just a simple evening walk, but one could never let their guard down in Einroguard.

Hostility detection, vision expansion, concealment or disguise were basics.

"Is there anything I can help with?"

"It's fine. I have my pride as a senior. Did you prepare your lecture schedule?"

While the porter golems followed behind, Direth asked as she walked ahead in the corridor.

"Yes."

"As expected. You used the Calendarium, right? The giant clock artifact Yukbeltire made."

"You know about it too, senior?"

"Of course I do. It's such a convenient artifact. There were even people among my peers who tried to steal it."

"..."

It was a sordid history of seniors he didn't want to know about.

When Direth gestured for the lecture schedule, Yi-Han took out the schedule he had written down.

"I received it like this for now."

"Hmm... It's almost the same. I was worried, but as expected, the artifact Yukbeltire made is accurate."

"It malfunctioned a few times though."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm taking too many lectures..."

"..."

Direth pretended not to hear and turned the topic back to the original.

"But what's important is that it was completed accurately!"

"Yes. ...Wait, senior. What do you mean by almost the same?"

Yi-Han felt puzzled.

Saying it was the same meant there had to be something to compare it to.

But Yi-Han's lecture schedule was made while talking with Yukbeltire today, so what was it being compared to?

"Ah. The one the professors made."

"...?"

Yi-Han tilted his head.

He didn't understand what his senior meant.

"What do the professors... make?"

"Huh? You know, the professors discuss to make sure your lecture schedules and contents don't overlap?"

"What?!?!?!"

For the first time in a long while, Yi-Han felt shock.

Where was such an evil plot being secretly schemed?

"You, you didn't know?"

"Of course I didn't know!! Where on earth was such an evil plot being schemed?!"

As the junior's aura was so fierce, Direth answered in a slightly flustered voice.

"In the professors' lounge?"

"..."

Come to think of it, there was no way the professors would talk in some evil demon archduke's castle.

Of course they would talk in the professors' lounge.

Yi-Han regained some composure and asked.

"Please tell me in detail, senior. About the conspiracy those most evil demons of hell are plotting."

"Umm... It's closer to a conversation the professors had..."

Among the privileges Direth gained upon advancing to 5th year was the right to visit the professors' lounge.

In fact, it was closer to an obligation than a privilege. It was even more so as she had to visit professors to report on research and lecture-related matters.

And this time when Direth visited the professors' lounge, she discovered an unusual room.

Actually, rather than the room itself being unusual, what was inside it was unusual.

It was just a single bulletin board carved from wood, sitting alone in the room.

Monday

9:00~11:00

11:00~1:00

1:00~3:00

-Everyone, it seems nothing has changed from last year?-

-Is that so? The order of my lectures changed though?-

-...I meant the break times, Professor Verduus.-

-It was fine without them last year, wasn't it?-

-I don't usually want to take Beavle's side, but this year I really have no choice. It's like this even with only the absolutely necessary lectures included. Didn't Professor Garcia remove a few easy lectures?-

-I removed them so Yi-Han could rest!-

-I'm sure you did. But you could have removed difficult lectures, yet you removed easy ones, didn't you, Professor Garcia. Admit it. You're essentially similar to the other professors.-

Below that was a huge smashed mark as if someone had punched it.

And below that...

-...Everyone, don't provoke Professor Garcia.-

"There was a bulletin board like this."

'...Strange? Why does it feel like I've seen this somewhere?'

Yi-Han felt a strange familiarity, but he didn't have time to figure out its identity now.

"So? What happened?"

"I asked the professor. Apparently, because the professors kept fighting to steal each other's time, it changed to agreeing like this from the start."

It was quite a reasonable method.

Instead of professors viciously extending their lecture times arbitrarily and interfering with the next professor's time, they could prepare appropriate lectures within the pre-agreed time.

...Except for the fact that Yi-Han's free will was completely absent!

"Why are they agreeing among themselves?!"

"Well... That's true."

Direth was at a loss for words at her junior's all too valid point.

Come to think of it, she should have felt something was strange in the professors' lounge then, but because her junior was such a unique existence, she had left thinking 'Well, they'd have to do that to match his schools.'

"But for you, junior, isn't your lecture schedule almost set if you're trying to match it? Removing easy lectures and focusing on difficult ones..."

"I could remove difficult lectures too."

"What nonsense are you talking about? You should take lectures that help you as much as possible."

Direth dismissed it as if telling him not to say such ridiculous things.

Yi-Han felt anew that the senior before him was also a 5th year student.

"So the schedule I received from the artifact matches the one the professors made, right?"

"Yes..."

"..."

Yi-Han became unusually dejected.

Of course, as he pursued efficiency, Yi-Han wouldn't have arbitrarily changed the lecture schedule, but to think his fate had already been decided.

Direth flapped her wings in panic as the junior who was always cheerful and confident became dejected.

"But, but still. Here... There's no empty corner here. These lectures here aren't ones the professors chose, so you can change them with other lectures you want!"

"...Thank you, senior."

Yi-Han smiled bitterly and pulled himself together.

His chest ached with a sense of defeat, but he couldn't keep being like this.

'Right. I can't keep being frustrated.'

It might have been a bit better if he hadn't known, but in the end, almost nothing changed.

He would just take all the lectures he had to take and get the best grades possible.

"Are you feeling a bit better?"

"Yes, senior. This way."

Yi-Han summoned a water orb in the air, then grabbed it and walked upside down on the ceiling for a few steps.

While Direth watched at a loss for words, Yi-Han continued walking. Then he chanted a spell.

"As an honorable Einroguard student, I swear, I will never trust, be bribed by, or inform on professors. Especially the principal, I will doubt even more..."

"..."

At her junior's resentful spell, Direth blinked and then came to her senses and looked around.

'Was there a hidden room here?'

It wasn't surprising that Direth didn't know. The hidden rooms in Einroguard were probably more numerous than the skull principal's age.

"How did you find out about this room?"

"I met a graduated senior in the punishment room before, and he told me because he felt sorry for me."

"Umm..."

Direth averted her gaze at the unexpectedly tragic reason.

Well, if Direth had met this junior in the punishment room, she probably would have given him something too.

It was a pitifulness that couldn't be matched by the stories of ordinary prisoners.

Rumble!

'This is quite nice?'

Direth marveled as she looked at the neatly organized interior of the secret base.

As it had been used by graduates from long ago, it was quite a nice place. Traces of complex magic remained here and there.

"Could you put the smuggled goods we brought in this warehouse here?"

"Sure."

Direth had her summons organize the luggage. The smuggled goods were stacked neatly inside the warehouse in the corner of the base.

'It seems even more abundant than the kitchen club's warehouse.'

"This is...?"

As she looked around at the traces of magic, Direth discovered an empty notebook fixed to the table.

It was a notebook that looked very familiar.

"What's this? I feel like I've seen it somewhere."

"Ah. That senior told me it was a communication artifact to check if I was taking dark magic."

"..."

Direth inwardly regretted bringing it up.