Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-431

Professor Garcia tried to defend Professor Verduus out of a sliver of conscience, but the skull principal paid no heed.

"Who else could it be if not him? Did students come in and take it? The culprit is definitely Beavle. I swear on my skull, I will definitely put this bastard in the punishment room!"

"..."

"That's all then! Suffer justly, Professor Garcia. Don't neglect your health as you did in your student days.”

As the skull principal swiftly flew out, Professor Garcia let out a deep sigh.

Although it was a short time, she was so tense that cold sweat flowed profusely down her back.

"Come out quickly. Everyone. Why did you come into the professors' lounge like that!"

Professor Garcia pulled out the students stuck in the closet one by one.

Priestess Tijiling asked worriedly.

"If Professor Verduus suffers because of us..."

Then Yi-Han answered instead.

"It's okay. Professor Verduus will understand."

"...??"

Priestess Tijiling was slightly flustered when Yi-Han answered instead of the professor she asked.

"Huh?"

"How do you know that?"

"Priestess Tijiling. It's embarrassing for me to say this, but I'm one of Professor Verduus's closest disciples. I can easily know what the professor would think. Professor Verduus will understand."

"...Is... is that so...?"

When Priestess Tijiling hesitated, not understanding, Professor Garcia hurriedly intervened.

"Student Yi-Han is right. The professor will understand."

In fact, Professor Garcia also didn't know whether Professor Verduus would understand or not, but now was not the time to fuss about such things.

She had to send the students out of the lounge as soon as possible.

"Everyone, go out quickly. And never come to the professors' lounge again!"

"Even if we don't get caught?"

"...Student Yi-Han, let's talk separately later. Oh, right."

Professor Garcia turned her gaze as if she almost forgot.

"Take the items you took earlier with you. You went through the trouble of taking them."

When she piled up and handed over waterproof cloths, sea crystals, and scrolls, Yi-Han was flustered.

"But Professor, from what I heard earlier, these aren't things I can use..."

"Learn and use them. When did anyone know from the beginning?"

"Professor, are you perhaps angry that I came into the lounge?"

The students, who had barely returned to their tower, finally caught their breath.

Priest Nigisor and Priestess Siana, still not over their excitement, whispered quickly.

"It was truly excellent!"

"Shall we go tomorrow too?!"

"...Ah, no. I have to study tomorrow."

"Then the day after tomorrow??"

"I have work to do the day after tomorrow."

Priestess Siana's face was filled with disappointment.

Yi-Han felt sorry for no reason and said.

"If you need a guide for night walks, there are other friends too. I'll introduce them to you."

"That's...! There was such a way."

Priestess Siana nodded her chin as if she had never thought of it.

Certainly, there was no rule that they had to go out only with Yi-Han.

"I should recommend it to other priests in the tower too."

"It wouldn't be bad to go together."

Since the death knights treated the priests kindly, there was no harm in going out with many people.

Priestess Tijiling, who was listening to the conversation, carefully tugged on Yi-Han's sleeve.

"What is it? Aha."

Yi-Han looked at Priestess Tijiling as if he understood.

"You want to go together but are shy."

"...No."

Priestess Tijiling almost lost her composure, which was really rare to see.

"Not that, I mean the box..."

"Ah. That."

Yi-Han took out a small bronze box from the pile of luggage.

It was the reagent box engraved with a small cauldron piece that the skull principal was looking for.

"I've been worrying about this box the whole time."

Priestess Tijiling said with a soft sigh.

Yi-Han looked at Priestess Tijiling again as if he understood.

"I was also worrying about how to use this box to gain an advantage during the flood."

"...That's not it, we should return it to the principal..."

"The problem is how to use it."

Yi-Han was lost in deep thought.

Judging from what the skull principal said, this reagent box was definitely an item that could harass students more during the flood.

Increasing the amount of floodwater or controlling its direction...

"Or it could be poison in the water."

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

Priestess Tijiling answered unintentionally.

No matter what, it didn't seem like poison in the water.

At that point, he should be considered a crazy mage, not the principal.

"Is that so? I thought it was a possibility."

Yi-Han said regretfully as he grabbed the lid of the bronze reagent box.

He had done as much inspection as he could, so he was going to open it and check directly.

Click!

Fortunately, the curse the skull principal had placed on the box didn't attack Yi-Han when he opened it.

Inside the box were ordinary reagents.

"Reagents... I see."

"It's a box for storing reagents after all."

"But they're ingredients I haven't seen before. Priestess Siana?"

Priestess Siana, who was making plans to go on a night walk with other priests tomorrow, turned her head at the call.

"What is it? I have to make plans now, so if you ask a little later..."

"I was wondering if you knew what these ingredients were. I thought Priestess Siana, who excels in alchemy, would know. If you're busy, it can't be helped..."

Priestess Siana threw her quill and paper and ran over.

And then she looked inside the reagent box and was amazed.

"This is a devouring-ship fish horn!"

"!"

Devouring-ship fish.

As the name 'devouring-ship' suggests, it was a huge sea monster reminiscent of a whale.

Of course, if it only had a size similar to a whale, it wouldn't have been given such a name.

The devouring-ship fish was a monster with abilities that, if only considering its abilities, had a strong lineage of other realms such as demons or spirits, freely controlling the storms of the sea and piercing through the waves and clouds.

And the horn of the devouring-ship fish...

"I've only seen it in books, this is the first time seeing it in real life. It's really rare..."

"What? How expensive is it?"

Priestess Siana ignored Yi-Han's question, thinking it was a joke, and continued.

"The power of the devouring-ship fish is fully contained in this. With just this horn, you can summon a devouring-ship fish. Although it's in spirit form..."

Even if it wasn't a body of flesh and bone like when it was alive, if it was a monster of the level of a devouring-ship fish, it could wield tremendous authority.

Yi-Han seemed to know what the skull principal was thinking.

"The rest of the ingredients are also ingredients that assist summoning. Summoning a devouring-ship fish..."

Priestess Siana and Priestess Tijiling nodded their heads at the same time.

Given the principal's personality, it was obvious that he would harass students by controlling storms.

"...He was probably trying to attack the towers where the students are."

"???"

"...Huh? To that extent?"

"Isn't it a possibility?"

Yi-Han said as he closed the box.

The priests were too kind and underestimated the skull principal's malice, but Yi-Han did not.

When heavy rain pours, the field of vision naturally narrows.

The death knights sent by the skull principal might ride the devouring-ship fish and attack the towers.

"Anyway, that's not what's important."

"You're right. What's important is that the box is in our hands."

"Ah. That's important too... What I was trying to say was that after we notify the other towers to prepare for the flood, let's prepare these cloths."

"..."

"..."

"We can do it together, right? Oh. Priestess Siana. Can I ask a little more about summoning the devouring-ship fish?"

"The summoning itself isn't difficult. All the ingredients are gathered here, and if you just follow the process accurately, it should work?"

"No, I was going to ask how expensive it is... Thanks."

Come to think of it, it seemed quite difficult to sell.

Even if he took it outside and sold it, would they keep the secret in front of the skull principal?

"Ah. Mr. Wardanaz. There's one more problem."

"What is it?"

"It will require quite a lot of mana, is that okay?"

"..."

Yi-Han felt a little sad that his friends thought of him so naturally as a walking mana container.

The skull principal, who had entered to conduct the <Basic Magic Character Education in Depth> lecture, frowned his skull when the students whispered.

"So there's really a flood coming."

"In this weather? It doesn't seem like weather for a flood."

"But that Wardanaz guy wouldn't lie about such a thing."

"Then what do we do?"

"For now, let's make a raft first. Can you get more wood?"

"The Black Tortoise Tower guys keep calling it expensive. We might have to give some of the stored meat."

"Those despicable bastards! Trying to take advantage of a friend's misfortune!"

"You're swayed by fake rumors of a flood breaking out. Can you still call yourselves Einroguard students?"

"!"

"!!!"

The 1st year students widened their eyes at the skull principal's rebuke.

And then they whispered again.

"I guess a real flood is coming!"

"This is crazy...! Honestly, I thought it wouldn't come!"

“…”

The skull principal realized his mistake and clicked his tongue inwardly.

Unlike other years, the boy from the Wardanaz family had a strong influence on all four towers.

Whether they liked it or not, there weren't many people who would ignore the boy's words in the end.

Moreover, in a situation where he was in opposition with the skull principal like this!

'As expected of Verduus's disciple, his actions are truly despicable.'

The skull principal thought very rudely and insultingly as he floated in.

"Do as you please. Even if you suffer, it's only your loss."

"Hey. It's really a flood."

"I can bet my family on this."

"Shut up."

A silence spell was cast on the clueless students.

The skull principal looked around at the students and asked.

"Where did we leave off last time? Did we finish 'I will not attack and rob guests from outside'?"

"Yes! Principal!"

"Did we also do 'If I inevitably had to attack and rob a guest, I will disguise myself well so as not to get caught'?"

"Yes! Principal!"

"Is that so? We made quick progress. Then today, we need to bring the teaching materials."

With a clicking sound, the sound of death knights hurrying down the corridor was heard.

At that sound, the students became extremely tense.

Some students hid their bodies under the long table, and some students gathered next to Yi-Han.

"Wa, Wardanaz. What monster is coming? What monster is coming?"

"Be quiet. You're being frantic."

The door opened and the death knights entered.

However, contrary to the students' worries, there was no monster attack.

Among the death knights was an ordinary mage.

"???"

"What..."

"Begin."

The mage cleared his throat and opened his mouth.

"Dear juniors, I am sure you are all thinking this right now:..."

"!!"

Yi-Han was shocked by that title.

Surprisingly, the other party was an Einroguard graduate!

'What the...!?'

The students, who were seeing a senior for the first time, looked at the mage with great curiosity.

"I am learning at Einroguard, the best magic school in the empire. So I am the best in the empire. I can do whatever I want. I can steal livestock from the village and use them for transformation magic experiments, and I can borrow the property of city guilds and use it for alchemy."

"..."

All the 1st years turned serious.

No one had thought that way.

"That thought is a very big misconception. Dear juniors. If you have such a misconception, you will unknowingly fall into the swamp of evil crimes and have an imperial bounty placed on you."

"Then why did you take other people's property as you pleased and use it for experiments?"

"Principal, please... It's in front of the juniors..."

"If you're caught, what face do you have? I got it. I won't say more."

The skull principal grumbled but didn't open his mouth anymore.

While the senior mage in front of him was rambling on about 'Why did I forget the glorious opportunity of Einroguard and fall into crime,' Yi-Han thought inwardly.

'I wonder if that senior left something behind at the academy after graduating?'