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Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 693
🕑 Added 2024-07-26 09:58:28 +0000 UTCChapter 693
When his senior kept his eyes closed and tried to escape from the illusion magic despite his words, Yi-Han slapped his senior's cheek.
Slap!
"Ouch!"
"Senior! Come to your senses! This is reality!"
In a situation where no special magic could be used, the best way to break illusion magic was to provide stimulation.
Strong concentration or stimulation slightly distorted the flow of mana, causing one to wake from the illusion.
Yi-Han slapped his cheek once more. This time on the opposite side.
Slap!
"Wait, wait! I think it's reality!"
"Thank goodness."
Alde rubbed both his cheeks. The stinging sensation was undoubtedly real.
'This guy is really scary...'
Of course, it was right to help as quickly as possible when someone fell into confusion related to illusion magic.
It might seem funny, but it was quite a serious problem.
Even if one wasn't under illusion magic, if they fell into the misconception that they were under illusion magic, the boundary between reality and illusion could collapse, potentially driving them mad.
But not many people could immediately slap both cheeks of their senior with full force, even so.
Indeed, he was worthy of gathering 1st years from four towers to attempt a smuggling operation.
Alde became curious anew about the junior before him.
He would be moving up to 2nd year now, and there was no way such a guy wouldn't become famous...
"You, which family did you say you were from?"
"Senior. I'll explain more about the plan."
"Oh, okay."
Yi-Han began explaining the plan he had prepared.
The passage Yi-Han was aiming for now was the underground passage he had gone out through with Professor Garcia in the 1st semester.
Among Einroguard's numerous underground passages, some were used as routes for outside merchant group workers to come and go.
Among those, Yi-Han knew the location of the passage connected to the hidden secret brick door of the underground warehouse.
"I see."
Alde nodded.
"What do you understand?"
"You, you must have found that book. <Secret Paths of Einroguard>. That's a trap set by the principal. If you stick your head in there, it's the punishment room."
"..."
Feeling exasperated at how many books the skull principal must have made and distributed, Yi-Han answered.
"It's a passage I've personally entered and confirmed."
Alde's mouth gaped open.
Alde was now directly experiencing that when a person is surprised too many times in one day, they can no longer speak well.
"There are three merchant group carriages, and the scheduled arrival time is dawn on the first day of March."
"W-wait."
"?"
"Sorry for interrupting again, but how do you know the number of merchant group carriages or the scheduled arrival time?"
"I went and asked."
"They wouldn't just tell you!"
"I forged the principal's and professor's signatures and pretended to be on an additional errand."
"..."
Yi-Han had visited the merchant group with forged signatures of the skull principal and Professor Beavle.
The merchant group, which would normally have gone through a verification process, was deceived by Yi-Han, who knew the location and process of the underground passage so well, and revealed the schedule.
"Wait a minute. If the carriages arrive at dawn on the first day of March..."
"That's right."
The first day of March was a day like a nightmare for Einroguard students.
It was the day when Einroguard's new semester started.
Everyone had to pass through the main gate in the morning, but if the carriage arrival time was dawn?
"We need to pass through underground at dawn, safely store the carriage goods, then get out again and arrive at the main gate."
"It'll be tough...!"
Alde fanned his collar as his body heated up.
He said that, but he was excited at the thought that this might really work.
"That's why we need you, senior. I know the underground passage route, but I haven't experienced the 2nd year inspection situation. If we feel time is running short while carrying out the operation, we need to delay the start of the inspection."
"How?"
"I don't know. We should use any means necessary. Summon a demon or..."
"Demons won't work. Einroguard is too well-prepared against demon-like beings, so the inspection side won't even glance at them."
As student-caused summoning incidents increased, Einroguard's magical defenses naturally increased as well.
Yi-Han said bitterly,
"We'll have to hope we can improvise."
"Let me ask one last thing."
Alde was now completely entranced by Yi-Han's plan.
His attitude of looking down on his junior had completely disappeared, and he was filled only with thoughts of participating in this plan and making it succeed.
Among the student smugglers in Granden City now, this method seemed like the most likely plan to succeed.
"Go ahead and ask."
"How do you know the warehouse keeper won't be underground?"
Alde knew the warehouse keeper well too.
In fact, Einroguard students who didn't know the warehouse keeper were rare.
After entering school, while wandering around the underground kitchen and warehouse clutching their hungry stomachs, they would hear terrifying footsteps from afar.
The warehouse keeper, the skull principal's tracker with mana detection ability!
There were more than a few who had been caught stuffing bread and cheese into their mouths.
"I confirmed with the Death Knight. He said he's participating in the inspection this time."
"The inspection side is in big trouble! ...Hey. Wait. Who did you say you confirmed with?"
***
During the remaining time, Yi-Han and his friends checked supplies and prepared the plan.
And finally, that day arrived.
The last evening of February.
It was especially dark with even the moon hidden by clouds.
"Good luck to everyone."
"May the skull be shattered!"
Alde made his wish confidently.
Until the juniors looked at Alde in bewilderment.
"...Isn't that too harsh, senior?"
"Uh... Don't you guys say things like this? We used to do this before doing anything..."
Alde shrank, feeling the generation gap.
'Isn't it cool...'
"Everyone drink."
Gulp!
The appearance of the students who drank the disguise potion made by Yonaire and Siana changed.
It wasn't a high-level potion that changed even race, but it was sufficient for smuggling work.
Yi-Han nodded at his appearance, which had grown a bushy beard and a thick, lumpy body.
"Let's depart. We'll meet at the main gate tomorrow!"
Yi-Han's group split into two.
One group would directly pass through Einroguard's underground passage and enter the warehouse.
Yi-Han and Alde participated in this.
The other group would stand by in the rear to prepare for any situation.
Dolgyu and Nillia led them.
Rattle rattle-
"Smuggled goods worth three carriages. If we succeed, Einroguard's black market will be abundant this year."
Alde, disguised as a coachman next to Yi-Han, muttered.
In 1st year, as students only interacted among themselves, Einroguard's internal market economy didn't function properly, but from 2nd year, things were different.
The size of the black market grew, and restaurants even appeared.
But even this market economy couldn't avoid being affected by the situation.
When the kitchen club or students with excellent talent for securing supplies entered the punishment room, prices would rise immediately.
Sometimes in Einroguard, you might not be able to buy what you needed even if you had silver coins.
But smuggled goods worth three carriages!
If the participating students shared generously and only released the leftover items to the black market, a warm breeze would blow through Einroguard for a while.
"Junior. Have you thought about what you'll do if you succeed?"
"You mean me?"
"Yes. Those many supplies. After storing enough for you to eat and use for a semester, what do you plan to do with the rest?"
"I was thinking of cooking and selling to friends."
"That's good too."
Alde nodded, thinking 'as expected'.
There was no way such an experienced guy wouldn't think of selling surplus goods.
"How much are you planning to sell for?"
"About one silver coin per meal?"
"...What?"
Alde doubted his ears at the unbelievable price.
"Oh, is it too expensive?"
"N-no. It's too cheap. Are you joking?"
"I'm not joking."
Alde thought his junior must be misunderstanding something.
Deceiving about the quantity, or using cheap ingredients (though even then, one silver coin was too cheap).
But that wasn't it.
Hearing more, this junior was just planning to feed people until they were full and then receive one silver coin.
"Are you crazy?! Why are you selling like that?! The kitchen club guys would have a heart attack if they heard this!"
"This is already expensive compared to the cost..."
"You're talking about cost. Where is there cost in Einroguard! There might be original sin. Entering the school is the original sin. And if you've sinned, you should buy one rye bread for five silver coins."
'Is it to that extent?'
Yi-Han felt perplexed at his senior's words.
He had thought he was making quite a profit, but apparently that wasn't the case.
"Wait. Have your friends ever eaten their fill for one silver coin?"
"When I cooked, that was usually the case."
"What kind of foods were they mainly?"
Grain dishes using rice, wheat, and rye.
Of course, onions, ginger, corn, mushrooms, peas, etc. from the vegetable garden or cabin, as well as goat's milk or cow's milk, eggs. Grapes, peaches, pumpkins, figs.
For sauces and spices, everything from maple syrup to honey, marmalade, chili, nutmeg, olive oil, whole peppercorns, tomato sauce, etc.
Various dried fish or pickled sardines, mackerel, herring. For meat, large chunks of raw ham and beef, pork, lamb. Sausages and bacon, etc...
"...were mainly used. I'm not a chef, so the menu was modest."
"..."
Alde felt an intense desire not to believe what his junior had just said, a crazy impulse to chase all the juniors who had eaten this and lived comfortably to Baldurguard, and finally, a violent hatred for himself who had entered a year early.
"I wish I hadn't heard that..."
"This way."
Yi-Han moved the carriage along the path he had come last year.
It was a path he had even pre-surveyed a few times just in case. As the carriage passed between two trees with no special features, suddenly a mana change occurred.
"!"
Alde belatedly sensed the magic and was shocked.
There really was a path here.
Rumble-
Suddenly the path in front bent downwards and began connecting underground. Alde swallowed, thinking it had begun.
It wasn't his first time stealing in Einroguard, but there had never been a time when he wasn't nervous.
Especially theft of this scale...
-You've come earlier than expected.-
Alde felt his heart almost stop at the familiar voice of the Death Knights.
'What are you going to do?'
'Stay still.'
Yi-Han remained silent and still. Alde felt anxious when the junior disguised as the person in charge remained still.
Should he do something?
-Don't talk to the workers. They're afraid.-
"!"
Yi-Han already knew from experience that all the workers who came here kept their mouths shut and remained silent.
If they stayed still as if scared of the Death Knights, they would interpret it themselves.
-I just said they came earlier than expected.-
-They can come early, can't they? We're already short-handed for this year's inspection, so it's good if it ends early.-
-It's probably because of that boy, right?-
-Probably.-
-The master seems to be tormenting the Wardanaz family's boy too much. If this continues, like the other disciples...-
-Hey. Don't say such disrespectful things.-
The Death Knights roughly let the carriages pass through.
As the sound of wheels slowly rolling again was heard, Alde wiped his chest.
They had successfully overcome the most dangerous crisis!
Now the plan was as good as half successful.
Alde whispered in an excited voice.
"You crazy bastard. You did it. You really did it!"
However, Yi-Han's face was contorted with pain and hatred instead of happiness.
"Wh-why? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing. Let's keep going."
