Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 434

‘Oh dear,’ Jang Cliff said. ‘Did I say something wrong?’

Jang Cliff was surprisingly quick to understand, for a knight. He was unusual. He liked going to parties and meeting people, which was different for a knight.

He was good at noticing some things, but he didn’t realize people wanted him to be quiet sometimes. Still, he saw that the students looked uncomfortable when he talked about school subjects.

‘I should change the subject!’ he thought.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Jang Cliff said aloud. “Being good at books isn’t everything. The best student in class is probably just a strange person who doesn’t like people anyway.”

“……”

Lee Han’s shoulders slumped. He looked down, feeling sad.

Park Deugul was an evil man who hated magic in the Empire. He was so angry he ground his teeth together. He stared at his knife, his eyes full of hate.

“They say the knights are gathering,” he said, his voice low.

“Very good,” another man replied. “Very good indeed.”

Not just Park Deugul, but the other anti-magic zealots around him had angry, bright eyes.

“To think,” Park Deugul hissed, “our great plan ruined by those knights! They just show off at parties and pretend to be brave!”

Park Deugul was naturally polite. Even in cheap clothes, his movements and the way he spoke made people respect him. This helped him sneak into places easily.

But now, he was so angry, he didn’t even try to be polite anymore.

It was no surprise.

The knights had destroyed their whole plan.

‘I will never forgive them,’ he thought, his hand tightening on his knife.

San Hwan mushrooms. These mushrooms could weaken magic, and they were the reason for all their problems. They were usually used by evil magic users in curses. But one of Park Deugul’s group found a way to make them stronger and easier to use.

The anti-magic zealots were excited! They wanted to gather as many of these mushrooms as they could. If they had enough, they could use them like a weapon against magic users.

But San Hwan mushrooms were hard to find in large amounts. They were rare, because only evil magic users used them. And if they tried to collect too many openly, the magic users would become suspicious.

So, Park Deugul hired fighters and went to the Undead Realm. It was a dark and dangerous place, perfect for finding strange and rare things. He went there to get lots of San Hwan mushrooms.

Everyone thought it was an easy job. No one expected Park Deugul to fail.

But he did.

It was because of the local knights.

They made up some strange rules, arrested Park Deugul and his fighters, and before Park Deugul could even understand what was happening, they called the magic users from Einrogard to stop them from escaping.

Park Deugul was arrested quickly and taken to the capital prison.

Luckily, they didn’t find out he was an anti-magic zealot, and he managed to escape. But he had to leave his fighters behind.

Even worse, the knights took all the San Hwan mushrooms he had collected.

The anti-magic zealots had been waiting for those mushrooms. Now, their plan was ruined, and Park Deugul was embarrassed and angry.

Park Deugul was burning with revenge. He started to find out how this ridiculous thing had happened.

And he found out who was to blame.

It was the Beechwood Knights!

“Why would those idiots arrest our fighters for no reason?” Park Deugul growled. “And call the magic users from Einrogard!”

“It’s obvious,” one of his men said. “They looked down on them because they were just fighters for hire. Maybe there was a reward for catching them, so they called the magic users to take them away.”

“They will pay for this,” Park Deugul said, his voice low and dangerous. “Those pathetic knights will pay.”

The anti-magic zealots ground their teeth in the dark log cabin. They stared out the small window.

In the distance, on the dark hillside, bright lights shone. It was the Beechwood Knights’ party. The sound of music and laughter carried on the cold night air.

They had ruined the anti-magic zealots’ plan for a silly reason. Now, they would pay tonight!

“Another carriage is going past,” one man said, peering out.

“Look at those knights in their carriages,” another sneered. “So careless!”

“Don’t be too sure,” Park Deugul warned. “They are still knights. Even if they are not good fighters, they are still knights.”

“They are much stronger than normal people.”

“The signal will come soon. Wait for the signal,” Park Deugul said quietly. His hands were clenched tight, and his eyes were fixed on the lights on the hillside. He waited for the message from his spy inside.

“…Um, isn’t this a bit too fancy?”

Lee Han asked, looking at Giselle.

The carriages around them were decorated like royal carriages, with gold paint and bright colours. The camp on the hill was also very fancy, with bright flags and signs everywhere.

‘Wait a minute,’ Lee Han thought. ‘Those are merchant carriages too.’

There were many merchant carriages, not just knight carriages.

He looked around and saw workers sweating as they piled up chests as tall as mountains. He could hear bottles clinking in the chests. It was definitely alcohol for the knights.

There were even workers carrying large copper tanks with live fish swimming inside!

Lee Han was from a noble family, but even he had never seen anything so luxurious. He was amazed.

“……”

“……”

Giselle and her friends turned away and went quiet, looking embarrassed.

“Moradi? Moradi? Did you hear me? Isn’t this too fancy?” Lee Han asked again.

“…Shut up!” Giselle snapped.

“Hey! Why are you angry? I was just asking.”

The other students from White Tiger Tower felt it too.

The Beechwood Knights’ party was very different from normal knight gatherings!

Even the Moradi family, an important family from the North, would never have such a grand party. Angalo and Batrek felt the same.

“Are knight parties usually like this?” Lee Han asked.

“Uh… Wodanaz, stop teasing Moradi,” Angalo whispered, looking scared.

Giselle, who had been grinding her teeth, suddenly became completely silent, as if she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Angalo,” Giselle said quietly, “I’m just curious. Would I ever have gone to a knight party before?”

“I’ve only been to parties with my family and friends, so this is my first knight party too, but… um…” Angalo stammered.

“No wonder people say the Beechwood Knights are rich,” Lee Han said, looking around with admiration.

The more he saw, the more he liked it.

‘How much money could I get if I became friends with them?’ he thought.

‘Wizards also need to be good at getting money and support.’

Some wizards had taken money and not paid it back, but usually, getting money and support was a good thing.

The wizard could do research they couldn’t afford, and the person giving the money would get fair rewards and respect.

Lee Han was more interested in business than research.

‘Maybe I can do business that looks like research?’ he thought, a sly smile forming on his face.

Jang Cliff, who had led them here, had gone inside already to meet the knights.

Lee Han looked around quickly, then called his friends.

“Shall we go in now?”

“U-uh,” Angalo and Batrek mumbled.

The White Tiger Tower students looked a bit scared by how fancy the party was.

Lee Han didn’t care much. He stopped at the big main gate and dusted off his shoes.

A knight next to him saw Lee Han and quickly dusted off his own shoes, looking like he just remembered he should do that.

*Creak-* The heavy gate opened.

The inside was as beautiful as the outside. There was a thick red carpet on the floor and fancy wooden furniture. It looked like you could live here, with all the money they had spent on the party.

Angalo and Batrek were about to throw their coats on some chairs when Lee Han stopped them.

“Wait. Don’t put them there. This isn’t Einrogard.”

“Oh… where then?” Angalo asked.

“There must be a coat room somewhere. You have to put them there.”

Two knights sitting nearby jumped. They quickly got up, looked around nervously, picked up their coats from the floor, and dusted them off.

“…?” Lee Han started to think something was strange.

“Wodanaz,” Angalo asked, “Can I just sit down?”

“Just don’t sit in the best seat by the fire.”

A knight in very fancy clothes jumped up from a large, comfortable chair by the fireplace.

“Can I take off my gloves?” Batrek asked.

“No. Keep them on,” Lee Han said.

A knight with lots of shiny rings quickly put his gloves back on.

“…Sirs,” one of the knights said, sounding nervous. “I’m sorry. You can just relax and sit anywhere.”

“No!” another knight said quickly.

“Yes, we were just… taking a break!” a third knight added, waving his hands, trying to look like ‘I’m not usually rude, I just made a small mistake.’

“It’s a knight party,” Lee Han said, “Knights can be a little more relaxed.”

“Hey! We’re knights too…” Angalo and Batrek whispered, sounding upset.

*Why are you pointing us out?* they seemed to say.

“Are you going to act like this when you go to noble parties later?” Lee Han said. “You need to learn now.”

“Ah, no… but…” Angalo stammered, unable to argue.

While Lee Han lectured his friends, the Beechwood Knights quickly straightened their clothes and started checking each other.

“Do I look okay?” one knight whispered. “Wait, is my vest on right?”

“You said you knew all about manners!” another hissed.

“I, I do, but I’m just checking!” the first knight replied, blushing.

The Beechwood Knights, who had been proud of acting like nobles before Lee Han arrived, started to doubt themselves when someone who really seemed to know about manners appeared.

“Can I wear my sword in here…?” one knight worried.

“W-wait a minute. Am I wearing too much jewelry? I don’t think I should be,” another panicked.

“What’s all the fuss?” a knight asked, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s the Wodanaz family boy…” someone whispered.

“Ah! He said he was coming! But why?” another knight exclaimed.

“I left my coat on the floor!” one knight cried.

“You’re not supposed to leave it there??”

“No! Nobles will laugh at you if you do that!”

“Then why did you leave it on the floor? You said it was okay!”

“Shut up and clean it up! Stop arguing!”

Even the knight who was usually calm and knew a lot about manners turned red with embarrassment.

Jang Cliff came back in, surprised to see the hall was now very formal and not relaxed like it usually was.

‘What in the world is going on?!’ he thought, looking around in confusion.

“Ah, I see. That’s what happened,” Jang Cliff said, nodding.

Jang Cliff was impressed.

He thought the Beechwood Knights were already very good at manners.

But like with swords, there’s always someone better.

“It must have been a good lesson for them, learning from someone who really knows manners,” Jang Cliff said, smiling. “They will learn even more now! Haha!”

“…Learn what?” Giselle blurted out, unable to stay quiet any longer.

*If you’re a knight, you should be good with a sword! What are they even doing…* she thought angrily.

“Shhh, Moradi,” Lee Han said quietly. “It’s a party for knights.”

“……”

Giselle felt very embarrassed when Lee Han said the right thing.

She almost lost her temper, but…

*Why did it have to be that Wodanaz idiot who corrected me!*

“Alcohol!” Angalo suddenly said, changing the subject.

“Can we take some with us?!” Batrek added, his eyes wide.

Giselle felt dizzy listening to Angalo and Batrek’s serious talk about alcohol.

‘I miss Einrogard,’ she thought sadly.

“Wow, that’s really expensive alcohol,” Angalo said, looking at the bottles being carried past.

“Right? Wodanaz?” Batrek asked.

“Let’s take a few bottles later,” Lee Han said casually.

“Haha! Just kidding… …Wait, you’re not kidding,” Angalo realized.

“Yeah,” Lee Han said, nodding.

“……” Angalo and Batrek went silent, thinking about it.

“Wodanaz… please…” Angalo pleaded quietly. “I’m from a knight family, unlike you. If word gets out…”

Angalo was worried. Lee Han might be okay, but Angalo would be known as a ‘liquor thief’ among the knights.

“No… I mean we should ask to take some, not steal it,” Lee Han said, looking confused. “They would give us some, right?”

“Ah. Is that what you meant?” Angalo’s face brightened. Batrek swallowed hard, still wanting the alcohol.

Giselle closed her eyes, feeling disgusted with all of them.