Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 302

“He keeps staring at me angrily. What am I supposed to do when he looks at me like that all the time?”

Gainando’s whining gave Ethan a great idea.

It was something he had already mentioned to Asan.

“Just go outside the mansion.”

“Huh?”

“What can he do if you’re just walking around outside?”

“Oh… are you going to play with me?”

“If you want me to.”

Gainando’s face lit up. Radford looked at him with pity.

‘It’s probably not what you think…’

Ethan, after suggesting the idea, called out to Asan, and together they left with their friends.

Gainando asked with excitement, “Are we going to buy wizard cards?”

“No.”

“Are we going to buy the new magazine?”

“Nope.”

“Then where are we going?”

“To see the Richmond family.”

“???”

Gainando and Asan tilted their heads, confused by Ethan’s words.

The family name wasn’t familiar, so they paused to think.

The Richmond family…

“Where was that again?”

“You don’t know the Richmond family?”

Ethan looked at his friends as if they were hopeless. His friends looked ashamed, like students who got a simple question wrong on a test.

“S-sorry. Which family was the Richmond family again?”

“They’re the family that runs one of the biggest carriage transport businesses in the Empire.”

“……”

“……”

‘How are we supposed to know that!’

While the two were very confused, Yoner nodded like he knew what Ethan meant.

“Ah, right. That’s right.”

“See? Yoner knows. It’s amazing you guys don’t know that.”

“……”

“……”

While Asan and Gainando were speechless, the group arrived at their destination.

The Richmond Transport Guild’s building, located on the edge of the city, looked like a giant warehouse. Carriages lined up like long snakes, workers ran around carrying heavy boxes, dust flew in the air, and sunlight glinted off metal parts of carriages. The loud shouts of coachmen, horses neighing, wheels rumbling on the ground, and crates being dropped with a thud filled the air. The smell of horses and leather, dust and wood, and a faint smell of spices or goods being transported hung in the air.

“Hey, you! Can’t you see the carriage is here!?”

“I should be saying that! If you don’t move that carriage right now, I’ll send you to the temple!”

The coachmen were trying hard to get the carriages into the warehouse quickly, and the guild’s employees were moving boxes without stopping.

“It’s like Yoner’s mansion.”

“?!”

Yoner was surprised by Ethan’s comment.

‘Does my house look that chaotic…?’

Yoner decided to tell the people at the mansion not to make so many people wait in front of the house when he returned.

“The carriage to Kvallgen City is full!”

“Departure! Departure!”

“Shiles?”

“?!”

Shiles of the Richmond family, who was shouting at the top of his lungs with the workers, was surprised when his friends came to find him.

“Thank you so much, Wodanaz.”

Shiles was very grateful and held out a pouch.

Ethan was happy that Shiles gave him money quickly and easily, without any problems.

‘The other friends should learn from this.’

“What’s wrong?”

Ethan’s friends were confused when he looked them over.

“It’s nothing. Oh, Shiles, I want to ask you something.”

“To me? Ask me anything.”

Shiles was a little surprised.

Wodanaz of the Wodanaz family was asking him for a favor. He couldn’t even guess what it could be.

‘Could it be something he needs to transport secretly?’

Something important that he needs to move without being caught by his family’s people…

“Do you know of any short-term, well-paying jobs in the city that a wizard could do?”

“…Uh… uhm??”

Shiles was flustered.

Ethan’s words were unexpected.

But Ethan was serious.

‘I need to find a good job in advance.’

Wizards were always highly skilled workers, but that didn’t mean there were many places to work.

To be precise, wizards were too expensive.

Even unloading and loading the packages packed in the carriages could be done quickly if they hired just one excellent wizard, but…

If they did that, the labor costs would be higher than the profits.

There were many places to work, but there were only a few places where wizards could work and get paid fairly.

Moreover, there were quite a few students from Einrogard in Granden City besides Ethan.

Considering the number of older students, good short-term jobs would disappear quickly.

‘I need to find one as soon as possible.’

“Are you perhaps joking…”

Shiles stopped when he saw Ethan’s serious eyes.

Those were definitely not the eyes of someone who was joking.

‘Why are the students from the Blue Dragon Tower trying to work…’

It wasn’t surprising that students from the Black Tortoise Tower, the Phoenix Tower, or the White Tiger Tower were looking for work.

Many of them were actually doing it.

The cost of living in Granden City was high, so there were few students who didn’t work at all during the holidays.

But the students from the Blue Dragon Tower…

Didn’t they not need to?

“Well, I don’t know much either. I’ve only heard stories from friends or guild employees.”

“Anything is fine. Tell me.”

“Uh, carriage escort or something like that, isn’t that a bit…”

The Empire’s land was vast, and traveling long distances was naturally dangerous, with monsters and bandits.

Of course, the carriage procession wasn’t just made up of coachmen, but also escorts.

Cheap cargo was fine, but when transporting expensive and important goods, they would sometimes bring in high-level personnel like wizards.

“That’s a bit… If I participate in that, I might not make it to the start of the next semester.”

“That’s… right. Well, I heard that there’s a job teaching people who have a knack for magic…”

Ethan nodded and took notes.

That was definitely a pretty good job.

Not everyone had the talent to enter the Empire Magic School. Some people lived their lives without even realizing they had a talent for magic.

Sometimes, among those people, there were cases where they decided to learn magic even later in life.

The types were diverse: adventurers, mercenaries, merchants, sailors, explorers, and so on.

Teaching magic to these people was quite a popular job for Einrogard students.

“Wait. We’re first-years, can we even teach?”

“Well, they say that being a first-year at Einrogard is enough.”

“I see. What’s next?”

“Ah, no. More than that?”

Shiles tried very hard to think again at Ethan’s gaze.

“Ah, this isn’t always available, but material gathering requests are said to be good.”

“Material gathering requests?”

Ethan paused.

Usually, those were jobs that inexperienced adventurers or errand runners did.

Of course, high-difficulty materials had huge rewards and veteran adventurers would step up, but…

There was no way those requests would be popular among students.

“Isn’t that something other people can do?”

“Ah. There are materials that only wizards can gather.”

‘Ah.’

Ethan understood.

Among the materials, there were some that could only be fully extracted by using magic.

“Shiles, if such a request comes up, be sure to tell me.”

“No… why… Well, okay. I owe you a lot, so that much I can do.”

“But is there anything else?”

“……”

Shiles thought as hard as he could again.

Not that he was a crazy workaholic, but…

“That’s right! There’s also assisting wizards with their experiments!”

“That’s a bit…”

“?!”

Shiles was flustered when Ethan immediately refused.

“Why? I heard that’s a pretty good job too.”

“Shiles, you should always be careful of strange wizards. Who knows what kind of experiments they’ll do.”

Ethan said very seriously.

Ethan was worried because he had bad experiences with strange wizards before. He thought Shiles was too relaxed about it.

Even if it’s an experiment with a normal-sounding name, if you actually participate, it could turn into a bizarre experiment where they throw all sorts of attacks at the test subject.

“Ah… no. Wodanaz. Of course, they’re strange wizards, but they’ve built up trust and a good reputation in this city. They’re not criminals with bounties on their heads. There’s no way they’d do strange experiments, right…?”

“No.”

Ethan answered firmly.

“They can. Remember that. Got it?”

“Y-yes…”

Shiles was overwhelmed by Ethan’s forcefulness and nodded.

He still didn’t understand the logic, but Ethan’s voice contained a sincerity that went beyond logic.

“But assisting wizards with their experiments is a really good job, Wodanaz. It’s not something you can get right away just because you want it… You can listen to the experiment details and choose something good, right?”

Not all wizard experiments were necessarily dangerous.

Observing or recording unusual magical phenomena occurring near the city also fell under experiment assistance.

“I understand. If you say so, I’ll consider it.”

“No, really, it’s a good…”

Ethan, having finished organizing, raised his head and asked.

“So, Shiles, which of these jobs are you doing?”

“Me? I can’t because I’m busy. I have to help with the guild’s work.”

Ethan was tempted.

Maybe the bluebird was closer than he thought.

“Does working at the transport guild pay?”

“No. I don’t get paid, but I’m doing it because it’s my family’s business.”

“Oh dear, Shiles. Even if they’re family, working without pay is not a good idea. You’re undervaluing yourself.”

“…Ah, no… it’s my family’s business…?”

Just as Ethan was about to get up from his seat after giving that advice, a guild member ran up to Shiles and said.

“Young master, the trading company next door is urgently looking for a wizard to sort out their reagent inventory. Why don’t you go take a look, young master? It’s quite lucrative.”

“No way. Look at our warehouse. We have to finish sorting it out today. Can’t you see the coachmen are about to riot?”

“That’s perfect. We’ll take that request.”

“?!”

“??!”

Shiles was also flustered at Ethan’s words, as were the guild member and Ethan’s friends behind him.

“Wodanaz, you?”

“If it’s a job that requires a wizard, the pay should be good, right?”

“Ah, no. The pay is good, but it’ll be boring and annoying.”

“The pay is what’s important. Then it’s okay to take it, right?”

“Uh… uh.”

Ethan got up from his seat, took the paper, and left. His friends followed him out.

The guild member, who was still gaping, finally came to his senses and asked.

“Ah… no. Young master, are those friends of yours nobles? But why?”

Shiles deeply sympathized with the guild member’s words.

‘I know, right!’

“A wizard, and an Einrogard student at that? You’re absolutely welcome!”

The trading company employee, who had been shouting excitedly, looked up and was surprised.

‘They’re nobles!?’

“…D-do you know what you’ll be doing at our trading company?”

“Isn’t it checking the reagents and sorting the inventory in the warehouse?”

“T-that’s right… It’ll be boring, though. It won’t be fun…”

“But the pay is good, isn’t it.”

“That’s true… P-please take care of us.”

Ethan and his group headed to the warehouse.

Nilia, Radford, and Yoner didn’t think much of it, but Gainando and Asan were still confused.

“But why are we doing this?”

“M-maybe it’s because it’ll help with our magic studies. If it’s Wodanaz, it must be.”

While the two were whispering, familiar faces appeared in front of the warehouse.

It was Salco’s gang.

“!!”

Salco and his friends were surprised to see Ethan and his group.

“Wodanaz! What brings you here?”

“I came to work.”

“You…”

Salco couldn’t speak for a moment, then shouted in an admiring voice.

“…are really amazing!”

“Are we really working?”

Gainando’s whisper disappeared.