Episode 114

The group skillfully opened the door behind the central entrance on the first floor of the main building and went inside.

Spaces not usually open to students began to appear alongside the corridor.

At the sight of empty banquet halls and grand halls, the Black Tortoise Tower students caught themselves staring in fascination.

They were probably wondering why, with spaces like those, students still had to eat hard bread in the lounges.

Ihan and Ratford exchanged glances.

-Never let your guard down.

-Of course.

Ratford recalled a thief’s credo.

‘You have to be several times more careful when returning to a place you’ve already hit.’

Ihan thought of the Skull Principal.

‘Since the underground passage was breached last time, they must have changed and reinforced the defense system.’

There was no expecting that same luck of slipping underground with no sign of detection as last time.

Clank.

And as expected.

In the distance down the corridor, a suit of plate armor could be seen walking their way.

• * *

-But still, isn’t mistaking me for a freshman going too far?

-……

When it was discovered that Ihan and Ratford had managed to escape outside through the underground storage room passage, the storekeeper was summoned by the principal and scolded.

But the storekeeper remained unshaken.

-Even so, it’s impossible to distinguish based on mana alone.

-You stubborn thing… Fine. I get it. You can’t just switch everything with one word from me.

The Skull Principal stopped pressing the storekeeper.

The storekeeper was too competent to be scolded more for missing Wardanaz this time.

He was not only in charge of managing the underground storage, but also all sorts of chores like maintenance, facilities, and repairs.

He even patrolled from time to time, sometimes catching unlucky students wandering at night. Missing them once didn’t warrant a heavier scolding.

And honestly, even the Skull Principal could see that this mistake was unavoidable.

Who could have expected a Wardanaz boy, an oddball like that, to show up in front of a storekeeper who detects intruders by mana?

-I’ll lend you one of my summons. Don’t rely only on mana, but use other means to detect intruders.

-Understood. I’ll do my best.

-If you spot the Wardanaz boy, don’t let him escape. He must be sent to the punishment room.

-Why is that necessary?

-Just do it when I tell you, will you?

In any case, after this conversation with the Skull Principal, the storekeeper significantly raised the security level in the back of the main building and the basement.

Students were like rats or ants.

Once they realize one way works, they’ll keep coming back that way.

That was all the more reason to give these students a sharp lesson.

Don’t even dream of coming this way!

The summons lent by the principal would make sure to catch any students foolish enough to break in.

The storekeeper once again began checking and patrolling the set route today.

• * *

“It’s a walking suit of armor!”

The Black Tortoise Tower students whispered in fear.

“You know it?”

“I’ve encountered it before.”

The Black Tortoise Tower students’ expressions twisted in horror.

How many students had been caught because of those walking suits of armor?

Since there was no one inside them, even when you attacked hard, they would just pull themselves together again, and even if you barely managed to bind its legs, it would immediately call for backup.

Ihan pondered.

‘Is there a way to take it down?’

From what he heard, it reminded him of the summoned creature, Lord Zorvan II, from the last sandpit incident.

An inanimate, non-living type summon.

But being not alive didn’t make it invincible.

If it took enough damage, the summon would eventually break down and be forcibly dismissed.

The issue was…

‘The most effective thing is lightning elemental magic, but using that right now is…’

It wasn’t about winning or losing the fight. The moment they fought, it would only be a loss for the students.

If he used something loud and flashy like lightning elemental magic, it would be like shouting out, ‘We’re here!’

‘Better to avoid it.’

“It doesn’t seem to have noticed us yet, so it’s best to avoid it. Is it good at tracking?”

“I’m not sure. It depends…”

Ihan turned to withdraw with the group.

Clank.

But another suit of plate armor had appeared in the distance behind them.

The Black Tortoise Tower students turned pale.

“I’ll draw them away—”

“To the side!”

Without hesitation, Ihan opened a door. It was a door he’d kept an eye on since they entered, just in case.

It revealed an old room that must once have been used as a lecture hall. Behind the desks and chairs, piles of all sorts of junk were stacked.

Without thinking, the Black Tortoise Tower students looked to see if any of the junk was useful. It was a kind of occupational hazard.

“If the armor comes in here…”

“We know, Wardanaz. Scatter and escape, right? No matter who gets caught?”

When faced with an overwhelming crisis, the only way to minimize damage was to split up and run.

The Black Tortoise Tower students had already mastered this principle.

“No. I’ll knock it down with magic, so don’t be surprised—just escape. It’ll probably get really loud.”

“……”

Seeing Ihan so confidently talk about defeating plate armor, the Black Tortoise Tower students thought,

‘We really brought the right guy!’

How many people would say they’d just knock down some plate armor like that first?

The students felt really glad they’d brought him along.

Clunk!

“?”

There was a clanking from among the junk in the back. The tense students turned in surprise.

“Did you touch it?”

“No… did you?”

Paper and a quill floated up. Then letters appeared.

-Can’t you brats be quiet, freshmen?

“A g-ghost!”

-Not a ghost, a senior, you dumb freshmen.

The students stopped shivering at the writing on the paper. But they weren’t entirely reassured.

“If you’re a senior, then why… are you like this?”

“Yeah, show your face.”

-Don’t be mad. I don’t want to go to the punishment room. Even this is really dangerous!

“…?”

Ihan was briefly confused.

‘Ah. The principal sends you to the punishment room for contacting first-years.’

It was just the sort of thing the Skull Principal would do.

Otherwise, several students would have made contact with upperclassmen.

-Anyway, keep your voices down and use the notepad—to avoid being discovered by that armor. And don’t talk nonsense about knocking it down with magic!

At the unknown senior’s words, Ihan reflected a little.

Was he being unrealistic?

“I thought I could take it down with lightning magic… Sorry.”

-…You can use lightning elemental magic?

The other’s writing trembled slightly, as if surprised.

-Still, don’t do it—it’ll get so noisy and I’ll get caught too.

Now Ihan and the Black Tortoise Tower students realized that meeting this senior was a rare opportunity.

When else would they get a chance to talk to someone who had entered the school before them?

“Senior, how can we avoid the armor?”

“Senior, which path is best to the kitchen…”

“Senior, what’s on the Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic exam?”

The bombardment of questions seemed to overwhelm the senior.

-Am I just here to answer all your questions? Can’t you sit still for a minute? You don’t even know what kind of armor that is…

Ihan calmed his friends.

If they annoyed the senior and couldn’t get any answers, it’d be a loss.

“Everyone calm down. Let’s listen to what our senior is saying. Senior, what kind of thing is that?”

The walking armor was a summon the Skull Principal used often.

Since it wasn’t alive, it could patrol the school all day and even had the ability to sense heat, nabbing any unlucky students it found!

But as the school became harsher, the students evolved to match.

The students, too, had a few tricks up their sleeves.

-You can distract it with fire magic, trick it with an illusion that gives off heat, or hide with heavy covers to block out heat… I put an illusion over this classroom. Even if they open the door, the armors won’t notice. But if you make loud noises, none of that matters, so keep your mouths shut!

‘Ah. So that’s why I felt a sense of incongruity.’

Ihan was convinced.

When they entered the classroom earlier, something had subtly felt off.

At first, he’d thought he was imagining it because nothing seemed different, but the illusion had been set up to give off just the right amount of heat.

‘So it can be used this way.’

Ihan thought he’d learned something good and stored it in his memory. He’d have to sneak around school a lot in the future—it’d come in handy.

“I didn’t notice at all.”

“Me neither.”

-If you could notice, it wouldn’t be illusion magic, would it?

The quill moved quickly, leaving writing behind. There seemed to be some pride in the strokes.

“So why were you in here, senior?”

-……

“???”

-…I was heading to the kitchen.

“That’s great! We’re headed to the kitchen too.”

“But why were you going there, senior?”

The senior fell silent again. Ihan asked,

“Was it because you were hungry?”

“Come on now, Wardanaz. That can’t be it.”

“Yeah, he’s a senior, not a freshman…”

-…That’s right. There’s a reagent I hid in the kitchen. I needed it.

The senior hurried to leave an excuse. The other students admired him with ‘of course,’ but Ihan gave him a suspicious look.

‘I doubt it.’

-All the armors passed. Let’s move now.

“Is there any way we can learn the illusion magic you used to fool the armor?”

Ihan asked.

Of course, if he waited, he’d eventually learn such spells in illusion magic class—but Ihan needed it right now.

He couldn’t exactly ask the walking armor to wait until he learned the spell.

The senior snorted and wrote a reply.

-Even if I taught it to you, there’s no way a freshman can use it yet.

“Still, at least the method…”

As Ihan persisted, the senior grumpily wrote out an explanation.

Lower Illusion of Pahite.

This was the spell used to fool the walking armors.

As shown in the incantation, ‘Heat, distort the air,’ it was a spell that summoned an illusion holding heat.

Rather than changing the classroom’s appearance with this spell, the senior had just spread a suitable curtain of heat.

That alone was enough to divert the walking armor, and summoning a full illusion would have used up a lot more mana.

There was no reason to waste mana unnecessarily.

‘A freshman can’t pull it off.’

The senior revealed it easily, certain that no freshman could possibly use it.

With not enough skill in handling mana or capacity to use it, how could they cast this magic?

Rather than refusing outright, it was quicker to explain and let them give up.

-Freshmen, get to the kitchen…

“Heat, distort the air!”

With the incantation, the illusion enveloped Ihan’s group.

From the senior’s perspective outside, Ihan’s group had disappeared.

Since it was his first time casting, Ihan wasn’t sure if he’d done it right.

“Did it work correctly?”

-…The illusion feels a little lacking… maybe the color’s too pale or something…

The senior, unconsciously finding fault, suddenly realized what he was doing and blushed.

What a disgraceful thing he was doing!