Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 688

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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 688

“I know it’s difficult, but if you’re looking for an opportunity during the semester…”

Having suddenly become a pathetic junior, Lee Han desperately made excuses, but Diret and Ilendil coldly shook their heads.

No matter how they thought about it, bringing things in when the new semester started was a much more feasible method.

“I understand. But doesn’t the Principal inspect things when the new semester starts too?”

“That’s right.”

This was something even the new students had experienced.

After passing through Einroguard’s main gate, what followed was the Skeleton Principal’s inspection.

During this process, items, snacks, servants and such that new students had secretly brought in were all expelled outside.

Diret dragged over a blackboard and grabbed some chalk.

Since he had the opportunity, he planned to explain as much as possible for his junior.

“But there are always loopholes in rules.”

‘He’s particularly cool today.’

Lee Han sent a respectful gaze toward his senior who was using words that applied to magical theory when explaining smuggling.

He looked several times cooler than when teaching dark magic.

-Mixing with luggage

Risk of detection: ★★★★☆

Difficulty: ★☆☆☆☆

Volume limit: ★★★☆☆

“As you know, Einroguard’s rules don’t block legitimate items.”

Though the Skeleton Principal was a spiteful person, he didn’t prohibit the distribution of all items.

He didn’t forbid entry of items that students obtained at Einroguard or through Einroguard activities.

Lee Han’s Morning Star was exactly that kind of item.

And excluding special cases like Lee Han, students had more items they needed to bring out of Einroguard as their grade level increased.

Since they had to study even during vacation, they needed to bring out various research materials and magic books.

Students who studied hard made good use of this pile of luggage when returning to school.

“This pile of luggage is more jumbled than you’d think, so it’s surprisingly good for mixing things in. Even if coffee bean sacks and bread dough artifacts get mixed in, it’s not easy to notice.”

“But if they investigate thoroughly…”

“Right. There’s no method without weaknesses.”

Diret wrote down more text.

-Throwing in

Risk of detection: ★★★☆☆

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Volume limit: ★★★★☆

Einroguard was a territory protected by powerful magic, but it had the weakness of being excessively vast.

As could be seen from the steady occurrence of intruders every year, if one was determined, creating a hole to enter from outside wasn’t impossible.

“If you go around outside the school territory, there are occasionally places where the flow of magic weakens. You throw smuggled goods in through there.”

“That seems like a decent method, but why is the detection risk so high?”

“The Principal periodically releases dimensional hounds to recover smuggled goods first.”

“…”

At this cat-and-mouse relationship, Lee Han was at a loss for words.

Indeed, the Skeleton Principal wouldn’t just sit back and watch such smuggling attempts.

“And in remote areas, other monsters often damage or take items before the Principal’s minions arrive, so the recovery rate isn’t high.”

Diret spoke as if it was regrettable.

If not for Einroguard’s harsh environment, better methods would have been possible.

“Sometimes fearless people drill holes in the magic relatively close to the castle gate and throw smuggled goods in, but this is also a dangerous method.”

“It would certainly be dangerous since you’re temporarily disrupting the defensive magic protecting the school’s castle walls.”

“Huh? That’s not it – it’s because you’re easily caught if you drill holes in the magic near the castle gate. You’re also easily tracked.”

“…Disrupting the defensive magic…?”

“That’s something the Principal will handle himself.”

At Diret’s words, Ilendil nodded as if in agreement.

Seeing this, Lee Han felt slightly dizzy.

As expected of Einroguard upperclassmen, they were utterly cold-hearted.

If a student’s duty was to bring items in, then the Skeleton Principal’s duty was to handle the aftermath!

“Besides these classic and basic methods, various other methods have been attempted.”

-Using transformation magic

Risk of detection: ★★☆☆☆

Difficulty: ★★★★☆

Volume limit: ★★☆☆☆

-Using subspace

Risk of detection: ★☆☆☆☆

Difficulty: ★★★★★

Volume limit: ★★★☆☆

…

…

“Mainly transformation magic and subspace artifacts…”

“How do you smuggle with transformation magic?”

At Lee Han’s question, Ilendil kindly demonstrated. A potion bottle slipped and disappeared among Ilendil’s hair.

“Many students put things in their stomachs. It’s naturally a popular method among larger species. Using subspace means putting things in using artifacts with spatial magic.”

Diret continued his explanation while sipping his teacup, his throat slightly dry.

“Besides this, there are various smuggling methods. What I’ve explained now are just the most well-known methods. How you combine various methods determines victory or defeat.”

Einroguard’s experienced students never attempted smuggling with just one method.

Rather, they attempted smuggling with as many different methods as possible. This was to avoid putting all eggs in one basket.

Even if 99 out of 100 attempts were caught, it was profitable if just 1 succeeded!

This was Einroguard’s basic smuggling approach. If you could succeed just once, it was a profitable business even if all other methods failed.

“The Principal’s inspection methods change every year, so some luck is needed. Sometimes he inspects thoroughly, but sometimes he passes things over roughly. So junior, if you have something you want to bring in, you should start preparing now.”

Diret’s impromptu lecture had value worth its weight in gold.

Lee Han was deeply impressed and nodded.

“Thank you so much, senior. I’m truly impressed.”

“Is, is that so?”

“I think this was the most impressive lecture I’ve heard.”

“Really?”

Diret was about to feel pleased but hesitated.

‘…Wait, this was more impressive than the dark magic I taught last semester?’

That was somewhat disappointing in its own way…

Ilendil, who had been quietly listening, opened her mouth and asked.

“What smuggling method do you think… will be popular this year?”

“Well. From what I hear, they’re planning to create fake students and hide things inside them, but I’m not sure exactly what method that would be.”

“…”

Lee Han, who had been pondering what method would be good, flinched at his upperclassmen’s ideas.

Indeed, Einroguard’s upperclassmen were extraordinary.

* * *

“Guys! This is terrible!!”

“???”

“Wh-what’s wrong?”

His friends, who were still deep in sleep due to their hardships in the mountain range, were startled awake when Lee Han visited the annex and knocked on the door.

“We’re late!”

“…Huh? Huh?! Is, is school starting?”

Gainando hurriedly checked the calendar.

Fortunately, the new semester start date, which he had marked as ‘End of the World,’ still had time remaining.

“There’s still time left!”

“Gainando. This isn’t the time to be complacent just because there’s over a week left. Everyone else is already preparing.”

‘I feel like I’ve heard this somewhere before?’

Gainando tilted his head.

It sounded similar to what Lee Han often said when preparing for exams.

-Huff… huff huff. I’ve done everything up to here, so I can rest a bit, right? Maybe a round of mage cards…

-Gainando. This isn’t the time to be complacent just because you’ve done everything up to here. Everyone else is preparing! You need to do more!

-That, that’s impossible! Are you saying the other guys are ahead of me?!

-Of course. I saw the White Tiger Tower guys’ progress and they’re way ahead of you.

-Grr…!

What he found out later was that the White Tiger Tower students’ progress was actually slower than Gainando’s.

Even now, remembering that truth made Gainando feel a bitter sense of betrayal.

“You’re not tricking me again, are you?!”

“Gainando. Again? Are you saying I’ve ever tricked you?”

“Well… it’s not like there weren’t any…”

“How can you say that? When did I ever trick you? What month, what day?”

“Well, if you put it that way, I can’t immediately recall…”

“So you’re suspecting your friend based on something you can’t even remember right now?”

“…I was wrong… What do I need to do?”

Gainando gave up and shut his mouth.

Lee Han like this wouldn’t listen to anything he said.

“Everyone get up! We need to prepare quickly and head to Granden City.”

“What’s going on? Why do we need to leave so quickly?”

Alsicle looked at Lee Han and the students in surprise.

“Mr. Penguerin. There was something I overlooked.”

“Wh-what is it? Don’t tell me the school start date was different? That would be just like Principal Gonadaltes to do.”

Alsicle wondered if the Skeleton Principal had given them a different school start date.

A cunning trick of casting magic that changes numbers over time to catch off-guard students.

The Skeleton Principal was more than capable of such a thing.

“That’s not it. We need to go to Granden City right now to prepare for smuggling.”

“Right. …What? Prepare for what?”

“Smuggling. Smuggling.”

“…Ah! Into Einroguard!”

Alsicle momentarily wondered if he should report this to the Empire somewhere, then belatedly realized.

Come to think of it, it was natural for Einroguard’s students to think about smuggling.

“Do you need to go prepare for that starting now?”

“Yes. The other upperclassmen said they’re arriving earlier to prepare.”

“I see…”

Alsicle, who had been nodding, suddenly thought.

Was it really right for the future pillars of the Empire to devote such passion and time to smuggling?

However, Lee Han and his friends’ expressions were too serious and passionate to voice such concerns.

“Indeed… I didn’t think of that. You caught me off guard.”

“I didn’t think of it either. Ratford. We became lazy because it’s vacation. The Principal was targeting that weakness. The later we arrive, the happier he would have been.”

“First, I think we need to organize the items we’ll smuggle in. How much food supplies do we have left…”

“Blue Dragon Tower has five sacks of flour, six sacks of rice, one box of cheese, and dried meat…”

Lee Han and his friends pondered deeply while organizing the supply list they had prepared just before winter break.

What exactly should they bring in to survive for a whole year?

Alsicle felt a presence behind him and turned his head. Brilliant light flowing from behind a veil.

It was Mrs. Kraha.

“Mr. Penguerin. What are you doing right now?”

“Oh, well, that is, we’re studying in advance for the new semester…”

-No, we don’t need chocolate right now!

-Chocolate is honestly a necessity! Can you guys survive studying without chocolate? Can you survive without hot chocolate?!

-That’s… a sharp point…!

Without giving Alsicle a chance to make excuses, the students chattered about smuggling.

Seeing this, Alsicle thought he was doomed and hung his head low.

What had he been doing as a senior mage if he couldn’t even stop this!

‘But it’s unfair. Wardanaz is the unusual one…’

“It looks really good.”

“…?!”

Alsicle was confused by Mrs. Kraha’s words.

Surprisingly, the lady didn’t seem particularly angry.

“Is it… okay?”

“Look. They’re having a serious discussion about magic with their friends, aren’t they?”

-You bastard! I’m absolutely not lending you the magazine crossword puzzles!

-Let go of this! And we don’t need crossword puzzles!

Even though they were grabbing each other by the collar instead of discussing magic, Mrs. Kraha was very satisfied.

“Everyone. Your enthusiasm is truly touching. If you need any supplies, the Kraha family will prepare anything for you.”

“!”

“Oh… ohh.”

Ratford unconsciously let go of Gainando’s collar that he had been grabbing. Seeing this, Mrs. Kraha gestured and said.

“Feel free to grab it.”

“Th-thank you.”

Ratford grabbed Gainando’s collar again. Gainando wheezed but still insisted that magazines should be included.

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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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