Chapter 87: The Terror of an Archmage’s Might!

Although the arrival of Ruby and Mayuna stirred some waves at Rhine Magic Academy, the disruption was not as severe as one might have imagined. The students continued their peaceful everyday lives. By noon, as the bell of the magical clock rang, students poured out of their classrooms and began making their way toward the cafeteria.

“Hey, have you heard?”
A tall boy asked his companion, a blue badge pinned to his collar—a symbol reserved for the upperclassmen. The academy had designed three badge colors—red, yellow, and blue from lowest to highest—so everyone could immediately recognize a student’s level.

“Heard what?”
The round-faced, adorable girl asked in confusion. Her boyfriend was fond of keeping her in suspense, and she was happy to play along.

“Business at the school cafeteria has been bad lately.”

“Now that you mention it, it does seem so. In the past, if you were late, all the good food would be gone. But lately, it feels like there’s hardly anyone there.”
The girl nodded. As the empire’s premier academy, the cafeteria naturally employed countless top-tier chefs. Each was robust and strong from their battle with ingredients, and their skills were formidable enough that, in a crisis, they could even serve as a fighting force.

Of course, the food was delicious. But the more exquisite the dish, the longer it took to prepare, and some foreign ingredients were not supplied in unlimited quantities every day. Students often found themselves dueling for a single plate of food, and the school authorities seemed to treat these brawls as practical training rather than a problem to be fixed.

“Actually, a new snack shop opened on Student Street and it’s packed every day, I hear.”

“Have you been there?”
The words “delicious food” had an irresistible pull for young people, and now the round-faced girl perked up, eager for more details.

“No, I’ve only heard about it. Apparently, the underclassmen found out first... Hey, you there—you’re an underclassman, aren’t you? Do you know where that shop is?”
As the tall boy spoke, he noticed someone with a red badge passing by and tried to stop him for some information.

The underclassman had been keeping his head down, silent, planning to walk away. But when called, he immediately quickened his pace—almost running.

“Stop! Why are you running away?”
Seeing his target flee, the tall boy instinctively gave chase. It was, after all, human nature to pursue someone who runs.

“Why are you chasing me?”

“Because you’re running!”
As an upperclassman, the tall boy easily caught up. The underclassman’s attempt to use lightening spells for speed was nothing to him; a single cast of Vine Wall blocked the path, and in a moment, the underclassman was securely bound.

“Just kill me,”
the younger student gritted his teeth and turned away, as if ready to meet his end.

“I’ll let you live long enough to endure some torture before you talk, hahahaha—ow!”
The tall boy, grinning wickedly like a villain, was interrupted by his girlfriend knocking him on the head.

“What are you doing?”

“Sorry, got carried away. Still, what makes you so determined to keep this secret?”
Chastised by his girlfriend, the tall boy remembered his real purpose and released his captive.

“It’s because the place is already packed. If more upperclassmen find out, there’ll be no food left for us.”
“Now that makes us want to go even more.”
Having gleaned enough information, there was no need for further interrogation. The shops on Student Street were well-known to senior students, and finding a new one would be simple.

Student Street was established by the Rhine Magic Academy as a shopping area for students’ convenience, located beside the classroom buildings, with neat rows of shops on both sides. Clothing, daily supplies, sundries, even toy stores could be found—but never a snack shop. No shopkeeper dared compete with the academy cafeteria.

“Is this the place? The crowd is outrageous.”
The snack shop was even easier to find than they’d expected. When they arrived, they were startled by the throng—while not as legendary as the rumors, there were at least a hundred people of all grades, hovering outside a shop barely fifty square meters in size. Some pressed their faces to the windows, drooling at the sight inside, resembling an otherworldly zombie siege.

“Aren’t you going in?”
The tall boy, using his height advantage, pulled his girlfriend to the front, only to find the door tightly shut, with no one making any move to enter. The less clever simply waited in the sun, while the smarter conjured clouds for cushions and parasols with magic. He even saw one student, too hungry to wait, take out a rice ball and start eating—a self-defeating solution he couldn’t help but question.

“New here, huh? See that magic circle on the door? You have to unlock it to get in,”
explained a plump student with a yellow badge, patting the tall boy’s shoulder.

“That magic circle...”
Following the gesture, the tall boy saw a ring of purple symbols on the door. It was similar yet subtly different from what he’d studied, clearly an improved version based on textbook knowledge. A crowd had gathered, racking their brains to solve it, but failing repeatedly.

Ruby’s shop had only been open for a week. The reason was simple: the Archmage girl couldn’t stomach the cafeteria fare. Without comparison, there’s no discontent; but for Mayuna, school meals were merely tolerable compared to Ruby’s cooking. To cater to the capricious girl, Ruby rented a small shop and turned it into a private kitchen. The tuition fees they’d saved for enrollment now found their purpose.

The aroma soon drew regulars from Student Street. Each begged Ruby to cook for them; as a teacher, she couldn’t refuse her students’ requests. Soon, students flocked daily, hungry as zombies, demanding to be fed. Inevitably, word got out, and the situation escalated.

Initially, there was no magic circle. But as their lunch was repeatedly interrupted, Mayuna grew annoyed. The final straw was when Ruby, too busy cooking, skipped her own meal and her stomach rumbled audibly. Mayuna couldn’t stand it—she slapped a magic lock on the door. The meaning was clear: you can eat after we finish, or unlock the door yourself.

“My knowledge isn’t enough...”
The tall boy watched as a fellow upperclassman from the Intelligence and Reconnaissance Department left in despair. Unlocking magic circles was a required subject for his department, yet he couldn’t solve one made by an underclassman. He seemed utterly defeated.

“I can’t take it anymore! O water element that nurtures all things, lend me your strength! Water Magic: ‘Ode to the Spring!’”
At last, one student, driven mad by hunger, drew his wand and incanted a fifth-level water spell. A thin stream of water emerged, swelling into a torrent that crashed against the shop’s wall.

Boom!
The violent impact echoed, but the wall remained intact. Instead, several blue magic circles lit up, targeting the attacker.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat—
A dozen water arrows shot forth, pelting the hapless student before he could cast a defensive spell, much like a hail of bullets from a submachine gun.

The arrows did no lasting harm, but the pain made him scream and collapse. The magic array showed no mercy, firing again until at last, silence fell.

“Medic! Medic! Someone’s hurt!”
His classmates dragged him off for treatment, leaving chaos in their wake.

“What the hell!”
The crowd erupted. This was just a snack shop! Why did it have a fortress-grade defense system, and why did it so ruthlessly finish off a downed classmate? That white-haired girl really was a demon.

Through the window, the instigator could be seen—the very girl, calmly eating a delicious meal across from the magicless teacher. The students deeply resented her monopolizing the teacher, but she was both immensely powerful and the principal’s disciple.

“Professor, this is the place.”
The greatest difference between humans and animals is the use of tools, and sure enough, someone thought to seek a teacher’s help. Swart Terry, the third-year Intelligence and Reconnaissance instructor, was brought in. Surely this was nothing he couldn’t handle.

“My students can’t be stumped by such paltry tricks. Watch and learn—do this, and then this.”
Swart loved nothing more than basking in his students’ admiration. Spotting the magic circle, he seized the chance to show off. If only Professor Whitefeather were here, he would have performed a more elaborate unsealing.

Mayuna’s magic circle wasn’t particularly cruel; it was based on textbook principles, and a clever student could solve it with a bit of lateral thinking. Teachers approached such puzzles differently, and Swart explained the process as he dismantled the lock—in under ten minutes.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!
The students applauded his success, and Swart relished the praise. As the applause faded, he reached for the door—when suddenly, another change occurred. The magic circle flared to life again, this time multiplying—ninety-nine in all.

A collective gasp went up from Swart and the students. The door was now covered in so many arrays that anyone with trypophobia would faint. Swart wanted nothing more than to curse out loud, reputation be damned.

No one had realized the lock was a nested array, and the outer seal was so prolific that it spawned ninety-nine children. To put it in perspective, the imperial treasury had a master seal and forty-nine sub-arrays; only the Mage Guild’s vaults, holding treasures worth tens of millions, would boast a hundred. But this was just a snack shop! Could they not show some professional restraint? Swart wondered how long it would take his great-grandfather to solve this, and whether his new pupil was truly so formidable.

Under the students’ expectant gazes, Swart had no choice but to make an attempt. Those who had waited this long realized Mayuna had no intention of letting them in; they could only hope she would eventually unlock the door from inside.

Fortunately, Swart’s embarrassment didn’t last too long. At last, the two inside finished their meal and conversation. At Ruby’s urging, the Archmage girl relented and opened the door. In a flash, Swart was shoved aside as students surged in like unleashed hounds, crowding the open kitchen to shout their orders at Ruby.

“This room... Is this spatial architecture? No, spatial expansion?”
While the students were busy ordering, Swart was the last to enter and was stunned. The interior was nothing like the modest shopfront outside—at least a thousand square meters, spacious and bright. Such feats were usually the domain of the Xingye family.

While the others clamored for food, a petite girl climbed onto a chair—not to make a speech, but to leap over the crowd and land on Ruby’s cutting board.

“We don’t accept live ingredients,”
Ruby said, shaking her head at the would-be sacrifice. With ingredients always in short supply, clever students had begun bringing their own for Ruby to cook.

“You there! Be mine!”
The pink-haired girl ignored Ruby’s remark, straightened herself on the board, and loudly pointed at Ruby.

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PS: Please bookmark and recommend! (Two chapters in one, so I won’t split them.)
PS: Magic Overlord: What is humility? Can you eat it?
PS: Thanks to tonight’s supporter “Dream Pusher” for the 500 tip, and to “Pentakill God” and “Hey0Don’tStealMyName” for the 100 tips.