Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 10

“‘Is that so, Professor?'”

Lee Han didn’t show any emotion on his face.

Lee Han had seen strange professors before. He wouldn’t act like a beginner.

“‘Yes, it seems in alchemy class, you can get good marks just by liking it a lot,'”

‘Once this lecture is over, I must never attend it again.’

Professor Uregeoreum stroked his beard beneath his nose with a pleased expression, a habit he seemed to have when pleased.

“‘Then listen,'” he said.

“‘…I haven’t had a chance to attend other lectures yet…'”

“‘Ah, never mind. Just listen. It’s not as if other lectures will be better than this one.'”

“‘No, after listening to everything…'”

“‘No! You must listen!'”

Lee Han was beginning to feel he’d made a wrong turn.

The other students nearby were looking at Lee Han with expressions mixed with jealousy.

-As expected of the Wodanaz family…

-What remarkable talent…

‘This is making me even more annoyed.’

Professor Uregeoreum looked around and said,

“‘It seems we must end today’s lecture here. Unfortunately, the group that went elsewhere didn’t encounter a pig.'”

“‘……'”

“‘…Professor. Did you perhaps intentionally make us encounter the pig?'”

One of the students spoke with a voice mixed with astonishment.

It was called a pig, but it was huge and wild, with tusks like swords and eyes that glowed red. It was more like a monster than any pig they knew.

Uregeoreum answered as if it were obvious.

“‘Did you think I would just have you gather herbs? Of course, you must also face the situations that can occur while gathering herbs.'”

“‘Th… that…'”

“‘Indeed, that’s right. Look, do you think the professor would have sent us without any preparation? He probably kept following behind us.'”

“‘Ah…'”

When one of the students said that, everyone was convinced.

Certainly…

“‘Not really? Why would I follow you?'”

The dwarf professor looked at them as if they were talking nonsense.

“‘I came here because the pig collapsed.'”

“‘Wh… what if a big accident happens?!'”

“‘Then they simply don’t have the talent for alchemy.'”

“‘……'”

“‘……'”

Lee Han felt as if he could hear the students gathered here sending their mental voices.

‘That son of a…!’

“‘Catch it, dodge it, run, hide – dealing with surprises is what makes a good alchemist. Do you understand, you lot?'”

“‘Yes!'”

“‘Um… then is the Poisonous Black Grass unnecessary?'” Yoner asked quietly.

Uregeoreum stopped, his eyes widening in surprise. “‘The Poisonous Black Grass?'” he repeated, looking at Yoner as if seeing him for the first time.

“‘You found the Poisonous Black Grass?'”

“‘Yes.'”

“‘Goodness. I didn’t expect you to actually find it. You pass too! Come here. You absolutely must listen as well.'”

“‘……'”

Yoner was dragged over in a daze.

“‘Um, I didn’t find it alone. Nilia over there found it with me.'”

“‘Really? You pass too! Come here!'”

Uregeoreum pulled Nilia over this time. Nilia wore an expression that suggested she didn’t know whether to be happy or not.

“‘And here, Wodanaz also…'”

“‘You really, really must listen!'”

“‘……'”

Lee Han had half given up.

At this point, escaping was impossible.

‘I’m doomed.’

No matter how much one disliked attending lectures, it was never good to be targeted by a professor.

If he didn’t attend here, this dwarf professor might even come looking for him in other lecture halls.

Lee Han sighed dramatically. “‘Okay, okay, I’ll listen really hard. Alchemy… always been my dream,'” he said, his voice dripping with fake enthusiasm.

Uregeoreum grinned, clapping Lee Han on the shoulder a little too hard. “‘You rascal! I knew you were smart! I like you more and more already!'”

Uregeoreum had read Lee Han’s emotional change.

Among the freshmen in this place, Lee Han was the most mentally mature.

Even though he clearly didn’t want to attend the alchemy lecture, once he realized it was unavoidable, he quickly accepted it and changed his attitude.

Aristocratic families couldn’t hide their true feelings well.

They had never had to hide their emotions their entire lives, so they had no practice in holding back like that.

From that point of view, Lee Han was truly interesting.

“‘There’s no need to be too disappointed. There are privileges in the alchemy lecture, you see,'” Uregeoreum decided to appease Lee Han.

It was a world where it was difficult to find disciples.

Just as students evaluated lectures, professors also evaluated students.

If there was a disciple they liked, they had to hold onto them tightly, like Uregeoreum was doing now.

But if they forcibly held on, it could backfire and they might run away.

The best thing was a carrot.

“‘What privilege are you talking about?'”

“‘I have a cabin near the forest. Normally, I don’t allow anyone to approach it, but since you caught the pig and even found the Poisonous Black Grass, I’ll give you the special privilege of freely approaching it during this semester.'”

“‘…?”‘

Lee Han wondered what nonsense he was spouting.

The privilege of coming to the professor’s house.

‘Is he telling me to enjoy the privilege of cleaning, the privilege of sorting garbage, the privilege of being a slave?’

“‘…Ah. My explanation was too brief,'” Seeing Lee Han’s expression, Uregeoreum realized what he was thinking.

The dwarf professor hurriedly added, “‘Do you know what you lot want the most?'”

“‘Isn’t it a lecture where it’s easy to get good grades?'”

“‘…Are you really from the Wodanaz family? That’s not bad either, but the correct answer is food. They may just look pale now, but in just one more week, they’ll be trying to eat each other.'”

“‘……'”

Uregeoreum’s words were persuasive.

More than 80% of the students gathered here had lived well and eaten well.

If they were given only hard black bread and cold rice balls, of course they would be miserable.

“‘But in my cabin, there’s fresh fish grilled over an open fire, juicy meat seasoned with rare spices, and crisp vegetables grown in secret gardens. Do you understand what this means?'”

“‘…!'”

Lee Han finally realized.

A kind of buffet ticket!

“‘Professor!'”

“‘You rascal…!'”

Uregeoreum grinned, his eyes twinkling. Lee Han, despite himself, felt a small smile touch his lips. Maybe this lecture wouldn’t be so bad after all.

As the lecture ended and the students moved to find their next class (some muttering, ‘I’ll never attend that again’), Lee Han remained in his seat.

Yoner and Nilia stopped chopping wood, their brows furrowed in confusion.

“Aren’t you going?” Yoner asked, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Lee Han looked at them as if they were asking a silly question. “I’m going to butcher the pig,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Silence hung in the air for a moment, broken only by the distant sounds of the forest. Nilia’s eyes widened. Yoner just blinked, then blinked again.

“Excellent!” Thunderfoot exclaimed, his voice booming through the clearing. He chuckled to himself, though loud enough for them to hear. “He had never seen a new student get used to things so fast.”

“Professor, can we eat this?”

“It’s become even stronger, but it’s still safe to eat.”

“I see. Could you perhaps lend me some equipment to butcher and smoke it…?”

“You clever boy! Are you starting to like alchemy already?”

“Yes. I really, really like alchemy.”

Lee Han was starting to understand the strange reality of this school. He decided he had to embrace alchemy.

‘If what the professor says is true, this isn’t something I can just wait around for.’

Thinking about it, he realised there had been clues all along.

Starting with the headmaster saying ‘the answer is in this school, so find it’ when we entered, to the rules that forbid going out and give us nothing.

The freshmen have to find their own food and survive!

‘What kind of school is this… but honestly, I’m not even surprised anymore.’

This was clearly a school where danger was real, where students could disappear without anyone noticing, so taking care of your own food isn’t surprising at all.

Lee Han carried the pigs one by one to the stream.

A place by the stream was perfect for cleaning the pig and preparing the meat.

“I’ll help.”

Yoner rolled up his sleeves and approached.

“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“We’ll have to handle even worse ingredients than this in the future. Besides, you’ll share some of the meat, right?”

Lee Han thought he heard a rumbling sound from Yoner’s stomach.

Nilia, who had been watching them, stepped forward, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“Are you two really going to butcher it!?”

“Yeah.”

“No… why at school…”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“…Fine! I’ll help!”

Lee Han knew how to hunt and butcher animals because of his training with Alarong. Nilia was already very skilled at this kind of work.

On top of that, Yoner had practiced handling ingredients countless times, so he wasn’t exactly an amateur.

“The equipment is here. This should be enough.”

Thunderfoot arrived with the tools they needed, his eyes shining with curiosity. He clearly wanted to see what Lee Han would do.

Lee Han pulled out a dagger and began to skin the pig.

The sharp dagger sliced through the pig’s skin smoothly.

‘He’s really good at this,’ Nilia thought, surprised.

She didn’t expect Lee Han, who came from a noble family, to be as good as she was.

The three worked hard together to skin the pig, then sorted the meat and hung it on tree branches.

The pig was huge, providing a lot of meat. Lee Han carefully kept all the organs too, not wanting to waste anything.

‘I should make sausages out of the organs.’

Since he didn’t know how long this hellish freshman year would last, the more food he made, the better.

“Are you going to smoke it?”

“Yes.”

“Impressive…!”

Thunderfoot was impressed.

He couldn’t just leave all that meat as it was. No matter how cool the weather was, it would spoil after a while.

But if he smoked the meat, it would last much longer. It was a very good method for the freshmen.

“Professor, I’ll use these logs.”

“W-wait a minute.”

Thunderfoot was flustered when Lee Han reached for the wood piled up near the cabin.

You couldn’t just use any wood for smoking. Since it was being done with smoke, the wood with the best aroma was the best.

‘I carefully collected that special applewood for smoking…’

As if he had a knack for recognizing good things, Lee Han snatched it up. Thunderfoot smacked his lips in regret.

“Nilia, is this enough?”

“It’s more than enough. It’s overflowing.”

Thick, grey smoke curled upwards, carrying the rich scent of roasting meat. Tiny beads of sweat glistened on their foreheads in the heat of the fire.

Ba-dump-

Lee Han turned his head. It wasn’t Yoner, and it wasn’t Nilia either.

It was the dwarf professor.

“…Are you hungry?”

“Yes. I am feeling a bit peckish.”

Lee Han stood up. A graduate student moves automatically when the professor is hungry.

‘There’s a lot of meat, so I should grill some.’

“Professor, some bread and butter…”

“…Just take a little bit, mind you…”

Thunderfoot grumbled, but since he was going to eat too, he didn’t say anything more.

Lee Han put the meat on the cast iron frying pan. He didn’t just put the meat on. He seasoned it properly with salt and pepper.

Lee Han rubbed salt and pepper into the meat.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m preparing it.”

“?”

Thunderfoot asked, confused. He thought Lee Han was doing something strange.

He could have just grilled it…

And Lee Han didn’t stop there. He made cuts in the meat, put oil in the frying pan, and then put the meat on.

The sizzling sound and the smell of the meat filled the air. Lee Han also put the vegetables he brought from next to the cabin on the frying pan.

“Why are you stopping??”

The dwarf professor was flustered when Lee Han stopped grilling. It wasn’t cooked enough yet.

“It’s even better if you add butter like this.”

“You’re not trying to distract me from your alchemy lessons by cooking, are you?”

Thunderfoot gave him a suspicious look. He had no intention of letting him off the hook.

“Try it and then say that.”

When the meat turned a beautiful golden brown, a delicious meal was ready.

Pork steak and grilled vegetables. And thick bread and butter from the cabin.

The bread wasn’t freshly baked, but it was a feast compared to the plain black bread the freshmen had been eating.

They started eating.

Soon, the only sound was the happy chewing of four hungry people.

The one who ate the most was Thunderfoot.

The dwarf professor ripped off a chunk of bread, piled it high with grilled pork, and took a big, happy bite.

Then he walked to the cabin alone and brought out a jar of jam.

“…Okay, okay, I’ll share a little, but stop staring at me like that! You lot are like machines when it comes to food.”