Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

-Is the chair old?

The Death Knights looked at their junior in confusion.

For a junior with a decent amount of skill to suddenly fall backward like that.

"N-no... You heard that just now, right?? Other evil-god worshipers..."

-Yes. Those Frahgal bastards.

"???"

When the Death Knights reacted far too calmly, Amrek became even more confused.

'Am I the strange one?!'

Evil-god worshipers were not people who could be persuaded or ordered around.

Mercenaries who had joined for profit without any actual faith would have been one thing, but proper fanatics could not even be reasoned with.

And yet Wardanaz could issue them limited orders.

How?!

"M-may I ask how?"

"There is someone called the Devil Hag, and she has a way to deceive a bishop from another evil-god order. Using that, I can now give them indirect orders."

"As I said, it is a dangerous contract."

Professor Voladi spoke again.

As a professor of Einroguard, even without being a dark mage, Professor Voladi at least knew the Devil Hag's name.

Capricious multidimensional beings like that often led contracted mages to ruin.

"I made the contract carefully enough."

"That's true. And you weren't even there."

Professor Kirmin sided with Lee Han. The Death Knights joined in as well.

-He probably handled it well enough. It's not as though this is the first time he's contracted with some suspicious and dangerous being.

-You get along well with our master too. There is no need to worry.

"But that is..."

When Professor Voladi pointed out the differences between the Skull Principal and the Devil Hag, the room suddenly turned into a debate hall.

The subjects of discussion changed constantly.

'How dangerous is the Devil Hag?' 'Can someone who gets along well with the Skull Principal also get along well with the Devil Hag?' 'Why does Wardanaz always contract with dangerous beings?' 'Professor, you ran away, and now you're making an issue out of me making one little contract?' and so on.

Amrek could only watch the conversation in a daze.

No...

'Th-that's it for the part about commanding evil-god worshipers?'

Naturally, Amrek had expected them to talk about it and explain it in more detail, but the mages did not even pay attention to it, as though the matter was already finished.

Ibinta felt an unnecessary sense of satisfaction at the sight of the dumbfounded knight of the Crescentless Night Knight Order.

'Heh heh. Of course he's shocked. I understand.'

Every day, Ibinta had felt the sorrow of being the only normal person trapped among madmen, but now that one more person had been added, a sense of kinship arose.

"Ahem, ahem. Everyone? First... you did decide to capture this mage Enster, didn't you?"

When Amrek cleared the throat and spoke, the mages returned to reality.

-That we did. What will you do, Professor Bagreg? We will respect your choice.

"Let us postpone using the evil-god worshipers."

The moment Professor Voladi answered, jeers poured out.

-I knew it! Ignoring a method the disciple worked hard to prepare!

-You overprotective bastard. Think back to your own school days! Aren't you ashamed?!

"That bastard would've rejected whatever method Wardanaz suggested!"

"E-everyone. Calm down."

Since Professor Voladi was still his master, Lee Han stepped forward and stopped the others on the professor's behalf.

The Death Knights and Professor Kirmin, who had been enthusiastically jeering, finally quieted down a little.

"I'm sure Professor Voladi has a reason. Maybe there is another method of attack... Surely you're not postponing it because you think the Devil Hag is dangerous. Right?"

Lee Han turned and looked at Professor Voladi as he asked.

Professor Voladi answered calmly.

"No. That is also one of the reasons."

"May I move over there?"

Lee Han asked while looking at the group that had been jeering just moments ago.

Why had he defended someone like this instead of simply joining them from the beginning?

-I'm glad you've finally opened your eyes. Come quickly.

"To begin with, the magic you taught wasn't exactly safe either, Professor."

The more Lee Han thought about it, the more absurd it seemed.

Professor Voladi had filled the lectures with all sorts of dangerous things, and now the professor was acting like this because Lee Han had made one contract with the Devil Hag while Professor Voladi was gone.

"What do you mean?"

Professor Voladi looked puzzled.

The attitude was as though the professor genuinely could not understand what the disciple had said.

"...Nothing! Haha. Anyway, there is another method, right?"

Lee Han changed the subject.

It felt as though continuing the conversation would only make his own soul suffer.

***

Enster was a typical magical criminal. The only difference was that Enster had not yet become wanted.

A mage fascinated by the mysteries of magic, willing to use any means necessary to ascend to deeper and darker realms.

As was often the case with magical criminals who had not been caught, Enster had built the nest with considerable caution and subtlety.

The location of the workshop itself was the first example.

Hot-tempered criminals sometimes recklessly built their workshops in secluded places, but the orthodox method was to build them somewhere crowded.

The crowds coming and going became both a shield and a curtain. Research and experiments could be carried out underground as much as necessary.

Next came the workshop's defenses.

These human-sized combat dolls were rather expensive, and if Enster had wanted, they could easily have been exchanged for gold, jewels, and reagents, but Enster did not do so.

The more someone had taken from others, the more that person needed to prepare for the day when others tried to take from them.

It was not only the Empire's knight orders or mages Enster feared. Other magical criminals and remnants of evil-god worshipers were actually more dangerous to Enster.

To them, wouldn't Enster look like a convenient vault to rob, since Enster could not exactly report the theft anywhere?

The only thing that could be trusted was one's own ability.

That was why, instead of selling the golems outside, Enster had densely positioned them throughout the workshop to strengthen its defenses.

If an intruder entered, that intruder would face a net of overwhelming firepower.

Creak-

Enster inspected the core of the workshop located in the deepest part of the underground area.

Lastly came the most important things: the magic circle supplying the mana necessary for the workshop and the means of escape.

The medium-range spatial-movement scroll obtained from ancient ruins was still intact.

Judging by the rate of weathering, the scroll would probably be ruined in about ten years...

'This is the problem with scrolls containing powerful magic.'

Even after paying an enormous price to obtain a scroll from ancient ruins, scrolls like this did not last long once brought outside.

Still, there was nothing to be done.

This was, in a sense, Enster's life.

After checking the scroll, Enster checked the basement wall as well.

This wall, the second escape route, had been connected to another dimension, and if spatial movement failed, Enster intended to escape through there.

<<...Master. A new invitation has arrived...>>

At that moment, Enster felt the sensation of the eyes and ears shifting.

The first floor of the workshop, which was open to the public.

A small golem disguised as Enster had been stationed on the first floor. The mage often enjoyed using substitutes like this.

Enster closed the eyes and shifted the field of vision.

A worker employed by the workshop was bowing politely.

"What invitation?"

"The summoning mages in the city are holding a small gathering, and they said they would like to receive guidance from you, Enster..."

"Ah! What an honor."

But contempt flashed through Enster's eyes.

There were countless gatherings throughout the Empire where low-skilled mages like those got together and exchanged worthless information among themselves.

A magical criminal like Enster could only despise gatherings like that.

People with poor skills getting drunk on nothing but the pride of being mages...

Unless Enster attended the gathering to kill the mages and loot their belongings, there was truly no point in participating.

"Unfortunately, though, the golems I'm currently working on have fallen a little behind schedule..."

"Oh! Then I'll tell them that."

"I'll leave it to you."

After the worker left, Enster came upstairs and switched places with the golem.

Then Enster unfolded the city newspaper.

Cities of a certain size in the Empire generally had at least one newspaper covering local affairs.

Enster expressionlessly skimmed through the information before the eyes suddenly widened.

'Langbern suddenly disappeared!?'

...Due to Sir Langbern's sudden disappearance, the knight order suspects wandering mercenaries... The mercenaries insist that Sir Langbern must have gone hunting or something...

Of course, it really could have been a surprise attack by mercenaries, or perhaps one of Langbern's capricious hunting trips or journeys.

But Enster somehow felt a chill.

They knew each other's former identities.

Of course, they were not close.

If anything, their relationship was closer to wary hostility.

There was no guarantee that one of them would not strike first in order to keep the secret.

And so Langbern had remained in Langbern's territory, and Enster in Enster's, with each keeping watch on the other...

...And now this disappearance.

'Something is wrong. Who the hell did this?'

There were too many suspects.

Starting with the wandering mercenaries, there were other magical criminals as well, but the ones Enster currently suspected most were the remnants of the old Order.

Even Enster had recently heard the news that the Sanguros Order had been revived.

What if those defeated bastards had become intoxicated with some ridiculous delusion and were now going around finding former believers and threatening them?

"Damned bastards. If you caused trouble without knowing your place and collapsed because of it, that should have been the end of it! What lingering attachment could possibly remain?!"

With a bang, Enster kicked the chair.

Back when the faith of the Sanguros Order had been spreading throughout the west, this mage too had bowed and scraped while begging for power, but that had only been because the Order had possessed great influence and the power of its faith had been strong.

How much time and resources would it take for those who had suffered such a massive collapse to rise again?

And during that process, would the Empire really leave them alone?

A mage like Enster had no intention whatsoever of participating in such an uncertain gamble.

That was the sort of thing only people who had reached the level of fanaticism would do.

'If they're looking for former believers and trying to force them to cooperate, I need to prepare. Should I report them?'

Lost in thought, Enster attempted to summon the demon contracted recently.

Since Enster had barely managed to form the contract after offering an expensive sacrifice, there was a high possibility the demon could be useful at a time like this.

Fsssh-

"???"

Enster stared in disbelief at the smoke rising above the magic circle.

As a powerful summoning mage, Enster had never experienced anything like this before.

It was not that the magic had failed.

The magic had succeeded, yet the contracted demon had not appeared?

"What the...!"

How could anyone be this unlucky?

It seemed that either the demon had fled despite the penalty for breaching the contract, or the demon had been attacked, and the latter was probably far more likely.

With everything in the surrounding area becoming so ominous lately, even this stroke of bad luck felt like some kind of sign.

"Master. I've brought the letters."

"...Ah! Bring them here."

Enster wanted to throw the chair and tell the worker to get lost, but remembered the reputation that had to be maintained and restrained the impulse.

Enster could not afford to do anything conspicuous.

'<Western Summoning Mages' Gathering>... This one is tempting, but I'll have to postpone it. Going outside right now somehow feels dangerous. <We Ask for Your Donation>? Trash! Do they think they've entrusted money to me? <Inquiry About Purchasing Golems>? ...No. I can't reduce the number of golems in the workshop right now. <Antagondals>. What kind of lunatic is this?'

Enster paused upon seeing the final letter.

A letter with nothing but 'Antagondals' written on it, without any explanation whatsoever.

What was Enster supposed to do with this?

What in the world was this...

"!!!!"

At that moment, Enster's memories came rushing back.

The magical criminal Antagondals!

Contact had suddenly disappeared recently, so Enster had assumed Antagondals had either left the continent or died...?!

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