Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 425

“What are you doing right now?”

Ethan carefully answered Professor Alcasis’s question.

“Professor Verdus asked for my help.”

“…With what?”

“Making an artifact? Maybe?”

“……”

Professor Alcasis looked utterly dumbfounded. He glanced outside, then at Ethan, and then back outside again.

Then, he opened the door.

Professor Verdus, who had been waiting with innocent eyes, tilted his head, looking up at the two as the door opened.

“Oh? Professor Lagrinde! Welcome!”

“Greetings. …So, what exactly are you doing right now?”

Professor Alcasis’s voice was as cold as ice. It wasn’t really a question, but more like he was saying, ‘Do you even know what you’re doing?’

“Making an artifact?”

“Is it… you know, a simple artifact?”

Professor Alcasis tried hard to stay calm and understand Professor Verdus. He was losing patience.

If it was just a practice artifact for the lower grades, then having Ethan practice would be fine.

“Nope? It’s my research project.”

“Your research project, you say?”

“Yep!”

Professor Verdus nodded. Professor Verdus was a beaver beastman. Beaver beastmen were known for being cute. But Professor Verdus could easily make people angry.

‘Is a fist about to fly?’

Ethan looked at Professor Alcasis’s hands. Usually, when other professors dealt with Professor Verdus, it was easy to see their feelings by watching their hands.

If his hands were fists, watch out! If his hand muscles just twitched a little, it was still okay.

Surprisingly, Professor Alcasis didn’t move at all.

“If it’s an artifact so hard that you, Professor, are researching it, do you know that there’s a good chance a first-year student could get hurt? And that they would get hurt for sure?”

“Just be careful! He might not be great at magic, but he’s careful, so it’ll be fine!”

Ethan looked a little hurt. Besides Professor Verdus, no one had said he was bad at magic.

“And if he gets hurt, we can just heal him.”

“What if the healing room can’t heal him?”

“We can just ask the school’s healing mages to heal him, right?”

“Is that so? …Hey. Step outside for a moment.”

Professor Alcasis pointed at the basilisk egg and told Ethan to take it. He wanted Ethan to take the egg and wait outside.

Professor Verdus tilted his head.

“If you’re done talking, you can just take him with you, can’t you?”

“Professor, please stay here for a moment.”

Ethan understood. He quickly grabbed the basilisk egg and closed the cabin door.

Ethan used magic to block the sound, but he thought he could still hear Professor Verdus yelling.

The basilisk egg trembled in Ethan’s arms, feeling warm and smooth against his hands. He gently patted its shell, trying to calm it.

“It’s just because it’s Professor Verdus. He doesn’t act like this with other people.”

Once the conversation ended, Professor Verdus said sadly.

“You don’t have to help.”

“Please talk like an adult.”

“I know now that asking a first-year student to help make a professor-level artifact is dangerous and puts too much pressure on the student.”

“Good.”

Professor Alcasis nodded, looking tired. Professor Alcasis felt like he had wasted his time with Professor Verdus. He felt it was pointless.

‘Even wasting time in Einroguard in the most rubbish way would have been better than this.’

“Professor. Have this, at least.”

Ethan politely offered raspberry juice. Ethan had picked the raspberries – or maybe taken them without asking – from near Professor Uregeol’s garden.

Professor Alcasis didn’t know why Ethan was suddenly so respectful, but he accepted the juice.

“Thank you. If Professor Verdus says anything strange, tell me.”

“You are the best professor in Einroguard.”

“Don’t flatter me. It’s not good for a wizard.”

After Professor Alcasis left, Professor Verdus grumbled. The basilisk egg wriggled as if it didn’t want to listen.

Ethan sighed quietly. Professor Verdus was impossible. He decided to ignore the professor’s grumbling and said, pretending he hadn’t heard anything…

“You can just do something else, can’t you?”

“Something else? A new research project? Gasp. Do you have something in mind?”

Ethan smiled gently as Professor Verdus asked a first-year student for ideas for his new research project.

“I’m talking about preparing for lectures.”

“Ah… lectures…”

Professor Verdus clearly showed he didn’t want to. Ethan wanted to call Professor Alcasis back.

“I don’t want to.”

“Are you really a professor if you say that so openly?”

Ethan thought, ‘He says he doesn’t want to teach, but he doesn’t really mean it, right?’ Then Ethan realized he had thought the opposite of what he meant to think. He was surprised by his own thought.

However, Professor Verdus was too sad to notice.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s that Gonadaltes is making me. Why do I have to do it?”

“Is that so? …Wait. You got a gold coin from the headmaster, didn’t you?”

“Did I?”

Ethan looked at Professor Verdus with a look of contempt. Professor Verdus didn’t notice.

“Prepare for your lectures.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I’ll call the headmaster.”

“…!!!”

Professor Verdus looked at Ethan like a great mage betrayed by his student. He was so shocked that the beaver beastman’s whiskers were shaking.

“Hurry up and prepare.”

“Alright…”

Professor Verdus became completely sad and started to prepare. He looked pathetic.

‘That’s a relief. It’s just Professor Verdus.’

If it had been another professor, I would have felt sorry, but since it’s Professor Verdus, I didn’t feel sorry at all.

Lee Han gently pushed Professor Verdus towards the looming tower. Dark stone climbed into the sky – this was the Sanctum, Professor Verdus’s workshop, a place students whispered about, filled with strange smells and even stranger experiments.

When they got inside the workshop, which was cluttered with tools and half-finished projects, Professor Verdus seemed reluctant again. He sighed heavily and grumbled as he started to get ready for the lecture.

“Right then,” Professor Verdus muttered, picking up a heavy black rock. “Black Iron Ore Ingot… and… some coal, I suppose… also, the furnace and bellows are somewhere around here… We need proper charcoal… Ugh, bothersome stuff… maybe there’s something else we can use instead of charcoal…”

Lee Han watched him rummage through a messy pile of supplies. “Looking for charcoal, Professor?” he asked politely.

Professor Verdus grumbled even louder as he dug deeper into the pile, sending dust flying. “Yes, yes, charcoal. Where did I put it…?”

“So,” Lee Han continued, trying to keep the conversation going, “what will we be learning about in this lecture?”

“We’ll be changing iron ingots directly,” Professor Verdus said, still searching. “Making them better so they can be used to craft magical artifacts.”

A great magic user who imbues magic doesn’t just know spells. They also understand materials very well and can change their shape. One common way to imbue magic is to put spells on things using magic patterns. The shape of the object helps the magic work better.

Even if the armor is the same, a skilled craftsman can design it from the start to make the magic work as powerfully as possible.

Of course, this is not easy.

You need to know the magic pattern you will use, understand how it works, and plan the structure of the item before you start.

You couldn’t just make something and then calculate. You had to plan everything before you started.

Even after planning, you had to carefully shape the magical materials. This means you needed to be good at changing things with magic, as well as being skilled at smithing and crafting.

Lee Han had gotten the list of materials from Professor Verdus and was now searching for them, gathering what he needed.

“But Professor, I know you want to do something amazing, but isn’t this too hard? Can first-year students even do this?”

“This is a lecture for second-year students, you know?”

Lee Han almost dropped the materials he was holding but stopped himself.

Preparing lectures for second-year students should be given to a poor second-year student, not to Lee Han.

“Prepare the lecture for the first-year students.”

“Why do you like preparing things so much?”

“I’m just saying we should stick to the basics… No, never mind. Just hurry up and find them.”

The Skeleton Headmaster was not happy that the Death Knights’ search had found nothing.

‘What’s going on? Did someone help him from the outside? But there shouldn’t be anyone involved.’

The Skeleton Headmaster knew what he was doing. He had already checked all the people from outside who had contact with the students.

If anyone was helping with the escape—or, more accurately, leaving without permission—they would all be in the punishment room together.

“-Wasn’t it a misunderstanding?”

The Skeleton Headmaster didn’t answer and silenced the Death Knight.

The Death Knight, who was only trying to be helpful, felt unfairly treated.

Maybe he paid someone to help him.

“-What crazy person would help someone sneak in and out of Einroguard? No matter how much money you offered, if they got caught…”

You never know. Besides, that guy is good at talking. He could easily persuade someone.

The Skeleton Headmaster thought that Lee Han could easily trick some of the suppliers if he tried.

With the Wodanaz family’s money and his persuasive words, it wouldn’t be hard for him to trick a few employees into lending him a carriage.

Good, good. Keep searching, even if you don’t find anything right away. Students always make mistakes when they’re under pressure. Oh, did the wizards leave safely?

“-Yes, the last of the wizards have left the village.”

I hope they weren’t complaining?

“-No, everyone was happy.”

The Skeleton Headmaster nodded.

No matter what else happened, it was important to get good reviews from the wizards who visited the school.

If bad rumors spread among the Imperial wizards, there would be problems with invitations, events, requests for support, and research funding.

Being called in by the Emperor for a scolding would be another problem.

Such strange people. Showing them Einroguard’s perfect education just made them complain, but giving them a student to watch made them happy!

“-They are strange people indeed.”

Alright. Anyway, they’re gone… and the knights are still here, right?

“-Yes, as allowed, at the knights’ meeting on the weekend…”

A meeting of people without brains, I’m sure. Since I allowed it, there’s nothing I can do. Send Death Knights to watch them. Make sure none of them sneak away to a city or village.

The Death Knights nodded.

Watching the students for possible bad behavior was their job.

After getting a quick report, the Skeleton Headmaster floated away.

The students were always surprised by this, but the Skeleton Headmaster regularly checked the professors’ teaching plans.

He didn’t just check them; he checked them to make sure things were at least okay.

Whose turn is it?

“-Professor Milrei’s.”

Milrei is fine. He’s someone who will do well on his own.

“-Then it’s Professor Garcia’s.”

Garcia is even better. He’s too enthusiastic, which is the problem. Even if he teaches carelessly, the students still do well.

“-Next is Professor Verdus.”

…Let’s go check. I need to see that guy with my own eyes.

Even the Skeleton Headmaster, who usually didn’t worry too much, couldn’t ignore Professor Verdus.

There were still professors he had to check on himself, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it.

Professor Verdus was a perfect example.

He was the kind of person who would grab a handful of Carnelian, a box of Hawthorn wood, two pouches of Ice Tendrils, and one Ogre’s Sinew, throw them at the students, and say, ‘Make an artifact with these during this class.’ You could never relax around him.

The Skeleton Headmaster believed that smart students would do well even if you left them alone, but Professor Verdus always went too far, which was the problem.

…What is it?

“-It’s the lecture hall.”

I know it’s the lecture hall… I’m asking what that is.

“-Didn’t you prepare it?”

That guy??

The Skeleton Headmaster couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw measured materials and example magic patterns placed at each seat in the lecture hall.

Had Professor Verdus been kidnapped, and had enemies of Einroguard secretly disguised themselves and sneaked in?

“-…Well, yes. It is a bit strange.”

A bit?

“-Very strange.”

Before he could finish speaking, Lee Han opened the door and walked into the lecture hall.

After looking around and making sure everything was right, he went back outside.

The Skeleton Headmaster realized what had happened and was shocked.

That guy is now preparing with his first-year student?!

No matter how smart the student is, how can you let a first-year student prepare the lecture content?

What if it’s wrong?

“-Master.”

What? What is it now?

“-That… this seems to be preparation for a second-year lecture…”

…I can’t allow this. Summon Bibble.