Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 417

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 417

‘Could it be that he’s dissatisfied with Wardanaz’s magic? Even so, that’s going too far.’

Angrago thought to himself.

No matter what, even the Einroguard professors would have to acknowledge that Wardanaz did well if they saw him now.

But to be so dissatisfied like that.

Even if he was strict, he was too strict.

“Mage sir. Would you like to take a brief rest?”

“Pardon?”

Baldoron, who had been sighing, was flustered by the adventurers’ question.

Rest when he hadn’t done anything.

How could he rest when he was being watched?

“I’m, I’m fine.”

“Gasp… Is that so? Understood.”

The adventurers accepted this with surprised expressions. Baldoron wondered if he had made some mistake.

‘Oh no…!’

Come to think of it, the adventurers had suggested taking a rest not because of Baldoron, but because of Lee Han.

A mage’s mana wasn’t infinite, and if he kept using magic continuously like that, it was right to take a rest.

“No, that’s not it!”

“The mage sir is stricter than expected. Even so, that’s a bit much…”

“Shh. We mustn’t upset him. Be quiet.”

Baldoron, who realized this belatedly, hurriedly tried to salvage the situation, but the adventurers were already whispering ‘My word! He’s terrifyingly strict.’

Baldoron, who had suddenly become a strict and harsh person like the mages of old, made a tearful face.

“Let’s… let’s rest for a bit.”

“Pardon? I’m fine though.”

“I’m not fine.”

“Haha. Baldoron sir. If you’re saying that out of concern for me, I’m really fine. I have plenty of mana.”

“…”

* * *

The summoning mages and dark mages who had participated in the 【Boltzmann’s Call】 festival crossed their arms and glared at the black rock.

“Hmm.”

“Hmmmm.”

“Hmph.”

“Ahem.”

“…Why don’t we stop now and acknowledge each other? That we don’t really know…”

“Quiet! Be quiet!”

“Who said they don’t know! It’s not over yet!”

Mages who had finished their painstaking conferences or festivals were bound to be temporarily idle.

Few were as bored as these mages.

The mages who had gathered in a nearby village after the festival ended to chat were excitedly talking when they heard rumors circulating in the area and became interested.

-There are strange phenomena occurring due to mana in the Black Rockstone Forest?

-Then shall we compete to see who can solve it first?

Curiosity was a virtue that any mage should naturally possess.

The mages who heard the interesting rumor flocked to the Ururu Forest.

There were illusions blocking entry, but they were no match for experienced mages.

As a result of thoroughly searching the surroundings, what the mages discovered was that mana was concentrating toward one point in the forest.

-Mana is concentrating on this black rock here… How strange. I can’t figure out why it’s concentrating.

-That’s one thing, but isn’t it also strange that such an ordinary rock keeps withstanding this much mana? There must be something there.

-I heard from the village people that this rock has been here since before the forest got its name, it’s that old. If the forest’s mana has been accumulating continuously, that would explain why it’s so solid.

-Even if that’s explained, what’s the reason the forest’s mana flow is gathering here?

-Hmm.

-Hmmmm…

Even though a peculiar phenomenon had occurred, they had rushed here thinking the mages gathered here could surely solve it, but when it unexpectedly remained unsolved and they hit a wall, cold sweat began to flow on the mages’ faces.

Normally they should have put their heads together and exchanged opinions to solve it, but the mages gathered here weren’t from the same school or guild.

They were people who had been burning with competitive spirit against each other at the festival until just a few days ago.

Because of pride, it was hard to easily acknowledge defeat.

‘I can’t acknowledge it first. If those guys acknowledge it first…’

‘I absolutely won’t acknowledge it first! If those bastards acknowledge it first…’

While the mages were struggling with their thoughts surrounding the black rock, Lee Han’s group appeared in the distance, opening a path.

“!”

Lee Han was surprised to see the black rock located where the forest’s mana was thickest, and the mages surrounding that rock.

“There are people who came first.”

“Oh, no!”

The adventurers’ faces changed as they exclaimed.

They looked more surprised than when the forest fog had thickened.

“This is trouble. Mage sir.”

“It doesn’t seem like… that big of a deal?”

Lee Han was flustered because the adventurers seemed too surprised.

Of course, if the mages over there were ones who had sold their souls to evil magic, he could understand being surprised.

But the mages over there weren’t that type. Moreover, they looked familiar from a distance.

They were definitely mages who had participated in the Einroguard festival recently.

‘They must have come after hearing rumors.’

Since they were staying in nearby villages and strange rumors had reached them, it was natural for mages to gather like this.

“Are you saying that because there are dark mages? Contrary to rumors, dark mages don’t unconditionally raise undead to destroy the surroundings.”

“Pardon? No. It’s not because of that, it’s because of the commission.”

People commonly thought that the difficult things adventurers encountered while completing commissions were mostly obstacles related to the commission content.

But surprisingly, there were also many external obstacles unrelated to the commission.

The current situation was like that.

They needed to approach the black rock in the middle of the forest and investigate the surroundings, but there were mages who had already taken position.

Naturally, there was no need or reason for the mages to yield.

Moreover, in these kinds of mana-related anomalous phenomena, mages absolutely never yielded.

Gu Bon and his comrades already felt a headache coming on thinking about how to persuade the mages.

“Can’t we just ask them?”

“Sigh. That won’t be easy. Mage sirs don’t easily yield in situations like this. They won’t yield until they’re satisfied themselves.”

Baldoron, who was listening from the side, opened his mouth as if he agreed.

“That’s right. In situations where they’re that interested, never yielding is the nature of the mage tribe.”

“Indeed! Baldoron sir sees through everything.”

‘Stop it, you bastards.’

Baldoron cursed inwardly and turned his gaze away.

Considering that he hadn’t been able to do anything until now, he wanted to somehow persuade those mages well…

But he couldn’t think of any method.

‘If I try to talk to them, they’ll probably tell me to get lost immediately.’

The Empire’s mages weren’t generous enough to listen just because some insignificant mage they’d never seen asked them.

‘Reagents… what reagents do I have? Sulfur crystal powder is too cheap… would they get angry if I offered this as a bribe?’

Baldoron, who had been pondering, raised his head at the movement he felt in front.

Lee Han was walking toward the mages.

“!”

Baldoron was startled.

No matter how much he’s an Einroguard student, there’s no telling whether those mages will let it slide…

“I got permission. You should be able to investigate.”

“…”

“…”

Baldoron and the adventurers looked at each other with blank stares.

* * *

“Wow, there was a lot of talk about how hard it would be for you to come out, so I didn’t have high expectations!”

One of the summoning mages pushed a dark mage aside with his shoulder and approached Lee Han.

“Ha. Of course he could come out! No matter how strict Einroguard’s rules are, they wouldn’t be that unreasonable. Students are people too.”

The dark mage replied like that while trying to step on the summoning mage’s foot.

As the mages approached Lee Han and clumsily tried to push each other away, the pressure fell on Lee Han who was caught between them.

“…Everyone. Did I do something wrong?”

“Ah, no. It’s just that those dark mages over there are pushing so rudely!”

“You’d better not listen to the summoning mages! Such cunning fellows!”

Lee Han slowly pushed the mages to both sides. Lee Han’s strength, trained through swordsmanship at Einroguard, was not something the mages could handle.

“I’m also happy to meet you all. But if we waste the short outing time we have on useless things, it would be too regrettable.”

‘It’s not an outing though.’

Angrago thought to himself.

To think he’s so confident after escaping together!

Right now Angrago was dying of anxiety not knowing when they might get caught…

“…You’re absolutely right.”

“We showed too ugly a side of ourselves.”

When the mages reflected on themselves and reconciled with each other, Lee Han showed a pleased expression.

“Now then. Could you please tell me about the investigation of that black rock over there?”

‘Lucky.’

Since he came this far, he intended to take advantage through connections, but unfortunately the situation was different from Lee Han’s expectations.

“Still…”

“Excuse me?”

“We were still investigating.”

“…All of you gathered here??”

The mages suddenly coughed awkwardly and avoided eye contact.

They were now embarrassed that they hadn’t even properly exchanged opinions due to competing with each other.

“Well, that can happen. The investigation might be very difficult…”

Lee Han’s consolation was even more painful. The mages hurriedly began sharing information.

-All the mana flowing through the forest right now is gathering this way, but the flowing mana isn’t all at the same level. I summoned a sound spirit earlier to find the path, remember? There are paths where illusions are relatively weak and paths where they’re strong. The eastern path over there has such powerful illusions that it’s impossible to pass through, but the southern path we took was much easier.

-…Wait. But Wardanaz came from the east?

-I had Baldoron’s help.

-Oh. Is that so? How did you break through? I’m curious…

-Please. Please, couldn’t we just proceed with the analysis? Let’s talk about that later…

-Huh? Understood. Anyway, seeing this asymmetry, I thought that the black rock might not be the cause of the situation.

-What? You mean the cause is outside, and the black rock just happened to be where the flow was most concentrated?

-That’s right.

-It sounds ridiculous but… for now it sounds the most plausible! Let’s try calculating it.

The mages calculated with scratching sounds and showed surprised expressions.

The calculation really showed that there might be a separate cause outside the forest.

“Let’s go check it out!”

“With Wardanaz here, the difficult problem that was stuck gets solved so easily. Truly worthy of being a talent who will bring glory to the dark magic school.”

“Why are you mentioning dark magic here?”

“If you have complaints, why don’t you mention summoning magic too.”

When the mages solved everything among themselves and then praised him, Lee Han spoke to Baldoron as if dumbfounded.

“To think they’d praise me after solving everything themselves… I appreciate the sentiment, but isn’t it too absurd? I’m embarrassed.”

“…Exactly!!!!!!!”

Baldoron answered with a voice full of sincerity.

Few people understood that feeling as well as Baldoron did.

* * *

“Knights?”

The mages who came out of Ururu Forest frowned at the campsite visible in the distance.

Even with the same campsite, you could guess the identity based on its appearance.

Simple meant travelers, traps and wooden stakes around meant mercenaries, somewhere shabby with a murderous aura meant bandits…

And places that set up wooden walls and finished them like fortresses despite being simple campsites like that could only be knight orders with strict discipline and resources.

Just as the adventurers earlier made sour faces because they didn’t want to approach the mages, the mages also grimaced because they didn’t want to approach the knights.

“Of all things, it had to be those guys who use heads as helmet decorations.”

“We need to ask them to let us check inside the campsite briefly, but it’s troubling. They probably won’t even understand what we’re trying to say.”

“…”

At the mages’ harsh words, Angrago felt inexplicably upset.

That’s too much!

‘They’re not that stupid!’

“Is there a reason for knights to be around here?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if there’s a reason for knights to be around here. There wasn’t even word of monsters appearing.”

“…Huh? That’s right. Just… hunting?”

Lee Han looked at Angrago as if he was pathetic. Angrago felt like he had become one of those guys who use heads as helmet decorations.

“As you could see from the forest earlier, there was nothing to hunt.”

“Right, right. What could it be?”

The answer came immediately.

As they got closer, they could see the knight order’s flag hanging above the campsite.

It was the Chestnut Knights.

“…”

Lee Han stared at the flag in shock.

Could it be that they really came all the way to Einroguard to invite Lee Han to the knights’ gathering?!

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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