Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 94

Salco looked closely at the potatoes. His eyes were wide with surprise. “You really grew these yourself?” he asked.

Salco was a student from the Blue Dragon Tower, and everyone knew his family, the Wodanaz family, was very important in the Empire.

It was hard to believe that someone from such a family had grown these potatoes. They looked so fresh, shiny, and delicious.

“Yes, I grew them myself,” Leehan replied with a nod.

Some other Black Tortoise Tower students who were nearby came closer.

“Wodanaz really did grow them, Tutankha,” one of them said.

“We even got to try some last time! They were really delicious!” another added.

“I see,” Salco said. “What did you give him for the potatoes?” He looked at his friends. The Black Tortoise Tower students went quiet.

*Oh no… we just ate them…* they thought.

Salco’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t just eat them without giving anything back, did you?” His voice was sharp, and the Black Tortoise Tower students felt scared. It looked like he might explode any second!

The Tutankha family had a very important rule: “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

For Salco, eating for free, even with friends, was wrong. It was something only lazy nobles or bad knights would do!

“Um… well… no…” Leehan could see the Black Tortoise Tower students were getting nervous. He stepped forward quickly.

“Actually,” Leehan said, “I gave them the potatoes as a thank you for helping me in the garden.”

“!” The Black Tortoise Tower students looked at Leehan, their faces full of gratitude. *Wodanaz is amazing!* they thought.

“Yes! That’s right!” one of them said. “We were helping Wodanaz!”

Hearing this, Salco’s face relaxed. “Oh, that’s good,” he said, sounding relieved. “I was worried you were the kind of people who would take things without giving anything back.”

“Never, Salco!” one student replied quickly.

“We hate being lazy!” another added.

“Okay,” Salco said. “I understand now.”

Leehan called out to Salco as he turned to leave. “Hey, Salco, would you like a potato?”

Leehan asked because he knew everyone loved his potatoes. Even the Princess had said they were amazing! *Though,* Leehan thought to himself, *she probably just likes all food.* He had seen Salco looking at the potatoes in his basket with a very intense look. He must really like potatoes!

“…No, thank you,” Salco replied. “I don’t have anything to give you for it right now.”

“It’s okay, just take one,” Leehan said.

“Don’t insult me, Wodanaz,” Salco said quickly. “A Tutankha dwarf never takes charity without working for it.”

*But you’re an elf,* Leehan thought, surprised. Before Leehan could say anything, Salco walked away quickly, as if he was worried he might grab a potato if he stayed any longer.

“Things are tough for thieves like us these days,” Ratford said, nodding to Leehan. He started to explain what had been going on.

At first, the Black Tortoise Tower students, who came from all sorts of different backgrounds, mostly stayed in their own groups. But as time went by, some people naturally became leaders. Salco Tutankha was one of those people. Actually, he was an elf, not a dwarf, but everyone called him a dwarf.

Because he was very good at magic and always acted responsibly, more and more students started to follow him.

*Poor Nilia,* Leehan thought suddenly. He felt sorry for her. Nilia had also tried to help the Black Tortoise Tower students in her own way. They liked her, but they didn’t trust her to lead them like they trusted Salco. It was the opposite with Salco.

*Is it because she’s a dark elf and he’s an elf?* Leehan wondered. *No, I don’t think that’s it.*

In any case, Salco’s followers increased, and at the same time, the black market operated by the Black Tortoise Tower also grew in size.

Students from the Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower, hearing the rumors, also came to exchange various goods.

As a result, problems gradually increased.

-Why does this cost five loaves of bread!

-You can’t do this here!

-Hey, this coffee is fake! Give me back my bread!

-I told you, you can’t get a refund on something you’ve already bought! And I said from the start it was fake coffee made from dandelions!

As students from other towers came and went, problems were bound to increase.

Nevertheless, the Black Tortoise Tower students found it difficult to strongly counter when conflicts arose with students from other towers.

The opponents were either from great noble families or knightly families.

So, the Black Tortoise Tower students asked the most trustworthy person, Salco, not Nilia.

Salco, after much deliberation, decided to accept, but strongly demanded that they follow his rules.

-If you want the other tower guys to follow my rules, you have to abide by them first!

-Alright, Tutankha!

-Of course, we have to follow your rules!

-Remember, you don’t eat unless you work first.

-That’s a good rule!

-The other tower guys will never be able to keep it?

-Similarly, stolen goods are also prohibited.

-……

-……

-Why? Is there a problem?

-No! Nothing!

Of course, there were complaints, but it was also true that other problems had disappeared thanks to Salco’s growling.

Leehan, having heard the explanation, was indignant.

“Anyway, it’s always the same, the good people suffer because of a few troublemakers. The White Tiger Tower guys are going to starve thieves like you and me to death.”

“You’re telling me.” Ratford nodded strongly in agreement.

“It must be tough, Ratford. So, what are you doing?”

“Ah. I’m fine. I’m selling stolen goods secretly.”

Leehan was slightly impressed by Ratford’s nonchalant words. He was a professional thief for a reason.

Doing black market business inside the black market…

“Of course, I can’t do it openly, so the scale has been greatly reduced. Instead, I’m doing something else.”

“?”

Ratford pointed to one side of the black market. Some Black Tortoise Tower students were sitting and doing something other than trading.

“L, look closely at this. There’s an Emperor card among these three cards. I’m going to turn them over and shuffle them… if, if you find it, it’s double your money.”

Turn over three cards, shuffle them around intricately, and if you find the Emperor card, you get double your money.

…It’s gambling!

“Is gambling okay?”

“Tutankha doesn’t like gambling… but he allowed it. If he forbade even that, there would be too many complaints.”

The Black Tortoise Tower had the highest percentage of criminals.

Those from thieves’ guilds, gambling guilds, and so on usually entered the Black Tortoise Tower.

Salco knew that, so he turned a blind eye to such money-making activities, considering it labor.

Besides the card-matching gambling, there were various other contents such as chess betting, lock picking (which seemed to be Ratford’s job), and so on.

‘Is this some kind of adventurer’s guild?’

“Aargh! My bread!! My bread for three days!!”

“S, sorry. I shuffled them moderately slowly…”

A White Tiger Tower student tore at his hair and screamed. He seemed to have lost his fortune.

“Don’t give up, Dukema. You were just unlucky this time. Let’s try one more time!”

“It’s not that hard! You can do it this time!”

Leehan looked at the opponent. It was a face he had seen before.

It was the giant hybrid, Imirg, whom he had met in Professor Mortum’s black magic class.

Leehan was subtly impressed.

‘Certainly, being a giant would make the opponent lower their guard.’

To anyone, Imirg’s huge hands would seem clumsy and slow.

But Leehan could see it clearly.

Imirg was subtly performing tricks while shuffling the cards.

‘He’s good.’

In a world with magic, it was easy to think that there was no place for magic that competed with skill and technique.

However, there were people who learned such sleight of hand.

They were the gamblers of the gambling guild.

Using magic to cheat would increase the chances of getting caught, so they competed with pure sleight of hand.

Leehan guessed that Imirg might be from the gambling guild.

“Never compete with Imirg.” Ratford advised, misunderstanding Leehan’s gaze.

Even Ratford, who had some sleight of hand, had never won against Imirg.

He was such a master that he had no rivals within the Black Tortoise Tower.

“I’m not very interested in gambling, Ratford. I was just watching because it was fun.”

Leehan clenched and unclenched his fist. Then, a coin disappeared. Ratford said in amazement.

“As expected, Mr. Wodanaz! I thought you had the qualities of an excellent thief, and I wasn’t wrong!”

“Lower your voice, it’s embarrassing if other people hear you.”

Receiving such an enthusiastic reaction for a simple coin trick was even more embarrassing.

“No, Mr. Wodanaz. If you have such skills, you are qualified to take a seat next to us here.”

“……”

Leehan was momentarily tempted.

It sounded plausible.

‘Was the practice I’ve been doing in my spare time for this very moment?’

To snatch bread and meat from the pockets of the White Tiger Tower students…

“But I belong to another tower.”

“I’ll talk to them. Several friends owe Mr. Wodanaz a debt, so it’ll be fine.”

However, before Ratford could get up, Salco appeared from behind.

Behind Salco, the Black Tortoise Tower students he had been talking about earlier stood like criminals.

“Wodanaz. I asked again, and these friends said they ate without offering anything in return.”

‘Those blabbermouths.’ Leehan cursed the Black Tortoise Tower students.

If they were going to deny it, they should have denied it to the end. How could they fail at even that?

Leehan was different. He was confident that he could deny it until the end of the world.

“I couldn’t help it. Our family motto is ‘Share food with the hungry.’”

Leehan’s appearance had the power to make even nonsense sound serious.

The students who were listening unknowingly nodded in agreement.

Indeed!

No wonder Wodanaz fed his other friends so well…

“I’m not trying to blame you, Wodanaz. It’s not your fault. I’ve come to apologize for my friends’ mistakes. It was an irresponsible act that only lazy nobles or violent knights would do.”

Salco bowed and apologized. The Black Tortoise Tower friends also bowed, watching his expression.

Then, students from other towers who were waiting outside the black market protested.

“That’s too harsh!”

“Lazy nobles! You don’t know how difficult the life of a noble is!”

“Do you know how heavy the honor and responsibility we bear as knights are?!”

‘They’re friends from the same tower, but they’re really annoying.’ Leehan almost took Salco’s side for a moment.

Such shameless and conscienceless bastards…

Salco ignored them completely, pretending not to hear.

“I want them to pay for what they ate, but my friends don’t have that much right now.”

“There’s no need to worry about that.”

The Blue Dragon Tower friends wrote down every silver coin in a ledger, but they didn’t intend to do that to the Black Tortoise Tower students.

“No. I’ll pay instead.”

“!” Leehan was surprised.

He would pay instead.

‘The Tutankha family must have a lot of money.’ As a famous stonemason guild family in the Empire, they couldn’t possibly be short of money.

Leehan pondered how much to charge for the last tomato vegetable stew.

“I’ve heard rumors that you’re wandering around the school at night, Wodanaz. Is that true?”

“I don’t know what ridiculous rumors you’ve heard, but that’s a complete lie.”

“……”

“……”

The Blue Dragon Tower and White Tiger Tower students who were listening outside the black market were dumbfounded.

‘Is that guy’s face made of iron…?’

‘Does the Wodanaz family also teach emotional training?’

Despite Leehan’s denial, Salco stubbornly said what he had to say.

“I have information that might be helpful with that.”

“!”