Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 1088

Chapter 1088

“Were you really planning on breaking it?”

Direth asked in disbelief.

No matter how one looked at it, it seemed too extreme for a junior mage to be so violent...

“Yes? If I don’t break it, how would I listen in?”

...So he truly meant it!

‘Did his personality become rougher because he disguised himself as Setlad Anog?’ she wondered.

She worried that perhaps the disguise had influenced his original character.

‘No, there must be another, bigger reason than that.’

Direth glanced at the friend standing blankly beside her.

If her junior’s temperament had indeed grown harsher, it was probably more due to this friend or this friend’s school professor than the disguise identity.

“Hmm. If we don’t break it, there’s no suitable way…”

“You know, we don’t necessarily have to eavesdrop.”

“Ah. I just thought of a good method.”

Yi-Han immediately ran toward the stairs. Then he returned, bringing along Jourin, who had been playing chess with Eandurde. (It was a chess game where pieces could move in all directions—vertical, horizontal, diagonal—and even use dragon’s breath if a Gold Dragon piece was present.)

Jourin let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew. This is fortunate! Jourin was losing!”

“?”

Yi-Han wondered what one had to do to actually be losing in such a chess game, but he decided to get straight to the point.

“Your Highness, I wish to hear the conversation happening inside. Could you possibly help?”

“Sure!”

Jourin nodded readily.

Showing competence to her contractor was every dragon’s delight.

“They are likely discussing the matter of Uman visiting the academy,” she said.

“...What? What’s this about?” Yi-Han paused. He had intended to ask Jourin to bypass the soundproof magic, but now he had just heard something strange.

“Hehe. When the new semester begins, Jourin wants to visit the lake!”

“There’s a Kraken there, Your Highness. More importantly, do you mean ‘His Highness Uman?’”

“Yes.”

Currently in the form of a human girl with golden hair (a polymorphed appearance), Jourin explained the role her younger brother would play in the upcoming new semester. As the Emperor’s proxy, Uman would act as an inspector, monitoring the skull principal and the professors for an entire semester, and so forth…

“......”

“......”

The students, listening in, were so shocked that they could not react immediately.

They could not tell if this would be good news or bad news.

“...Is it really alright? What if it gets worse?”

“Can Einroguard get any worse than it already is? The more I think about it, the better it sounds. If a dragon is watching, even the principal might not dare to do anything too absurd.”

Since it was impossible to predict how Einroguard might change, the students’ debate grew intense.

Yi-Han also fell into serious thought.

‘I thought it was odd for him to donate imperial gold coins for no reason. So he had such a plan.’

While he pondered, one of the students cautiously spoke up.

“Your Highness, will the arrival of the new member of the imperial family interfere with our mage training?”

“Do not worry about that! Uman would never do such a thing!”

Jourin declared with absolute confidence.

One of Uman’s principles was, ‘Do not interfere with the students of Einroguard.’ Even if he came as an inspector, he would not hinder their studies. In fact, the students would scarcely have any contact with Uman at all, as he would avoid interacting with them.

“Is that so?”

Yi-Han, listening from the side, was surprised.

This differed somewhat from what he had expected.

“Then does that mean I won’t be able to meet Your Highness and will have to act separately...?”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Absolutely not.”

Jourin immediately answered in her original, informal tone.

Just imagining something so terrible was horrifying.

“Yi-Han is an exception. You’re my contractor!”

“......”

Yi-Han tilted his head in confusion.

Why did that make him an exception?

‘Is this some kind of draconic law? It’s too complicated.’

Bang!

The reception room door opened again, and the skull principal shouted from inside:

“Wardanaz, why are you not attempting to bypass the soundproof magic? I was waiting for you!”

He must have bragged to the other professors, ‘Watch, that Wardanaz fellow will try to circumvent the barrier soon,’ only to end up embarrassed. Now he took it out on his disciple.

Then he shut the door again.

“......”

“......”

“Sh-Should Jourin go and scold him on your behalf?”

“No, please don’t do that.”

***

The fact that His Highness Uman would be coming in the new semester did not significantly change what Yi-Han had to do.

“Greetings, Master.”

-Welcome, Disciple.-

From behind stacked wooden boxes, the young prince’s cheerful voice greeted him.

At the moment, the basement of the dimensional labyrinth was so cluttered with various piled-up goods that there was barely any room to stand.

As the owner of this basement, the young prince could have found this displeasing, but he paid it no mind. Rather, he was considerate of Yi-Han.

-There is some space on top of that box over there. Storing items there wouldn’t be a bad idea.-

“Oh. That’s a good suggestion, Master.”

-I’ll cast expansion magic. How about putting those crafting tools inside the bronze jar? The mage cards are well packed, so they won’t get damaged.-

“...There are mage cards inside the bronze jar? That Gainando fellow...”

Yi-Han seethed as he searched the jar.

Indeed, mage cards were cunningly hidden inside. They had been slipped into the packaging for dark magic reagents to evade detection by standard search magic!

‘That bastard. His useless skills are improving in all the wrong areas.’

-By the way, Disciple. Aren’t you going to pack anything for yourself?-

“Is there something you would recommend, Master?”

Yi-Han asked back, using telekinetic magic to move boxes into a corner.

Actually, it was not that he had not taken care of his own belongings. He had already stored essential supplies consumed during the first semester—food, seasonings, reagents, and magic tools.

But from the young prince’s perspective, his disciple seemed to have too little personal desire. All these were items that other mages could also use.

While sacrifice and dedication were admirable, enjoying life while young was also important. The prince did not want his disciple to live a life of pure self-sacrifice.

-Disciple, aren’t you interested in mage cards?-

“No.”

-I see…-

Given Yi-Han’s immediate answer, the young prince felt slightly disappointed.

They looked fun!

-Disciple, what do you do with your spare time?-

“I usually catch up on missed magic studies.”

Yi-Han almost added, ‘which the skull principal forces me to do,’ but he held back.

He was tempted to snitch, but doing it right in front of the principal’s younger self felt off.

-Disciple, I meant spare time excluding magic studies as well.-

“What? Really?” Yi-Han was astonished.

Was that how one normally calculated spare time?

“If that’s also excluded... hmm... I count the imperial gold coins I’ve accumulated.”

-And what do you do after counting them?-

“After counting? I figure out which workshop in the imperial capital or major cities I could rent with that amount.”

When he only had a few dozen imperial gold coins, Yi-Han’s imagination had been quite modest. But once his savings surpassed four digits, his ideas became more daring.

If he rented a wand workshop in the capital, hired a shop manager, and used any spare time to produce items for delivery, he could profit on the side...

‘Heh. I don’t have to personally participate. A brilliant entrepreneur can dominate the wand workshop industry of the capital even while confined to Einroguard.’

He could not leave Einroguard yet, having inherited the will of the Doppelganger of Honor. But that did not mean he had given up on his dreams entirely.

A wise mage always had a backup plan.

-......-

Tears welled up in the corners of the young prince’s eyes. He felt a piercing sorrow at the disciple’s plight.

-Disciple, it might already be too late for you…-

“Pardon?”

-It’s nothing. In any case, I understand now that you are only interested in magic.-

“That’s not really true, though.”

Yi-Han tried to refute, but the prince continued, ignoring him.

-Then before you enter, take at least one artifact. It’s an outer garment I used to wear in my younger days, and it offers quite good defense.-

“!”

Yi-Han was taken aback to hear about such a treasure.

An artifact the young prince once used!

In current times, that would be considered an ancient relic. Who wouldn’t be surprised?

“Would it still exist now?”

-It’s not something easily taken away, so there’s a fair chance it still remains. Ah, could you take out that note artifact?-

“??”

For a moment, Yi-Han was puzzled, but then he realized the prince meant <Whispers of Einroguard>.

It was a communication artifact used for contacting the Sentinel club, Direth, and other second-year friends.

“Here it is. But why...?”

Flap!

Suddenly, the notebook flipped open and fixed itself on the page for the Sentinels of Einroguard.

Then, writing in an unfamiliar script began to appear.

[Hello, everyone. Pleased to meet you.]

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Who are you?

Ipeldrem: Wow! A new member?

Baqwantallana: Wait. How did you get in here? There’s no artifact connected to that side right now.

The members of the Sentinels of Einroguard all reacted differently. Among them, Baqwantallana, who acted as an administrator, was greatly alarmed.

If someone joined as a new member, there should be traces showing what artifact they were using to connect. Yet this newcomer seemed to have fallen out of the sky.

Could it be a mage so skilled that they could completely fool Baqwantallana’s eyes?

‘Impossible! That can’t be!’

By the time Yi-Han came to his senses, he panicked and called out to the prince.

“M-Master! This is a secret club!”

-Ah, sorry, Disciple. I needed to talk outside this basement as well to find the artifact, and I didn’t have many ways to communicate.-

<Whispers of Einroguard> was well-made, and the Sentinels of Einroguard page, in particular, was very convenient.

Since it was constructed from the mana of various participants, it was perfect for the young prince, who could not use external mana on his own, to borrow that power.

“You could have just used my mana...”

-I can’t do that. I’ll only borrow it until this matter is settled.-

Baqwantallana: Everyone, be cautious. We don’t know what method this new member used to enter, but they are certainly not friendly...

Baqwantallana’s writing stopped mid-sentence. Yi-Han realized that the young prince had just blocked the administrator’s speaking rights.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What? What’s going on?

Immortal: What on earth is happening?? Who just joined?

The prince, annoyed that others kept interrupting, also blocked their right to speak. Not satisfied with that, he even stripped their right to read.

Now no one would see what was written here. They could talk freely.

This was perfect for a conversation with the disciple.

“This is definitely something I can’t be caught doing,” Yi-Han said worriedly.

If they found out, wouldn’t he be kicked out of the club?

“Wait. Come to think of it, Master, since you’ve seized the authority, can you also gain information about the other members?”

The Sentinels of Einroguard was a secretive society passed down within Einroguard. Baqwantallana had inherited the administrator role, but even if he were the founder, he probably couldn’t just view members’ identities at will. After all, the place was structurally enchanted so that no one’s identity would be revealed.

But as an administrator, one could presumably obtain limited information: what artifact each participant used and how they connected.

Without such minimal data, managing a club would be impossible.

What are you curious about?

“So, could you tell me which artifacts the current members are using? And then...”

Understood, Disciple. You want to impersonate another member by using that data, right?

“...I never thought of that, but now I am in awe of your deep and broad wisdom, Master.”

Yi-Han trembled at his Master’s profound insight.