Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 484

Professor Thunderstep let out a long, heavy sigh. “Haa…” He scooped up a spoonful of steaming rice, the grains glistening white, and ate it slowly, another sigh escaping his lips.

“Hoo…” This time, he crunched loudly on a piece of salted radish, the sharp, salty taste doing little to improve his mood. Another sigh followed.

Professor Lightningstep put down his chopsticks with a click. “Must you sigh so much, Uncle? It’s making me lose my appetite!” He looked at Professor Thunderstep, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Shouldn’t you be enjoying this meal? The chefs made your favorite dishes!”

Professor Thunderstep groaned in response. “It’s because I have so much to do.”

The students were grumbling about how tough the day had been and how Professor Thunderstep, being close to the Headmaster, seemed to enjoy tormenting them. But Professor Thunderstep had his own worries.

The students only had to focus on their assigned tasks, but Professor Thunderstep had to manage the entire schedule and ensure the commission was completed on time.

What if they failed to complete the commission on time?

“Professor Thunderstep,” he imagined the Headmaster saying. “Did I overestimate you? If you fail to complete the commission on time, will you take responsibility for the students falling behind in their studies?”

Even a slight delay would be a problem.

What if they failed to execute the commission perfectly?

“Professor Thunderstep,” he imagined the Headmaster saying, his tone sharp. “Do you dislike students studying magic? They’ll be robbing my vault, claiming they lack research funds, even if they save every bit of money from now on. Why are you stopping them from getting what they deserve?”

The Headmaster generally treated the professors with great respect, but there were exceptions.

He thought of Professor Verdus in the detention room…

“Oh dear. Still, I thought today’s work went quite well,” Professor Lightningstep said.

“It did, but the schedule is quite tight, that’s the problem,” Professor Thunderstep replied.

Professor Thunderstep glared at the paper listing his tasks and stuffed a dumpling into his mouth.

Fortunately, the Shadow Patrol had been diligently hunting and casting spells, so identifying hazards and mapping them was almost done.

If all went as planned, it would be finished by tomorrow.

‘Ah. I unconsciously thought of Wodanaz as a member of the Shadow Patrol,’ he thought.

Professor Thunderstep imagined how Lee Han would react if he heard that.

They suited each other so well that he had unconsciously grouped them together.

As for inventory classification, creating standards, and gathering information, the students in the mansion workshop were working hard on it…

‘That should be finished tomorrow, or the day after at the latest,’ he thought.

He didn’t want to tell the students, fearing they might relax, but the first-year students were, on average, excellent.

Even without someone exceptional like Wodanaz, each tower had at least one student skilled in alchemy, allowing them to adapt to any situation.

He felt like he could give the students a break, and things would still progress…

‘No. That wouldn’t be good for the students,’ he thought.

Professor Thunderstep decided not to tell the students anything until everything was finished.

If they became complacent and the schedule was delayed, the students would only suffer more.

Being strict was part of a professor’s job.

‘The remaining problem is mediation,’ he thought.

The friction between the guilds in this area, and the conflicts between the guilds and the residents.

If they wanted to harvest flowers safely, they had to resolve these issues before leaving.

In some ways, it might be more troublesome than mapping hazards and eliminating monsters.

‘If possible, I need to resolve it by tomorrow to avoid disrupting the schedule,’ he thought.

If he could finish the monster extermination and hazard mapping by tomorrow, contact the relevant parties, listen to their demands, and consider solutions…

Professor Thunderstep looked up at the professors beside him.

After glancing at Professor Lightningstep and Professor Voladi, Professor Thunderstep let out the deepest sigh he had released all day.

“Hoo…”

“What? That sigh just now felt rather unpleasant. Were you perhaps badmouthing me in your head?” Professor Lightningstep asked.

“Ah, no, not at all,” Professor Thunderstep said, caught in the act.

It was clear that the two professors would be of no help in such mediation.

Professor Lightningstep would only be helpful if monsters appeared during the negotiation, and Professor Voladi would only be useful if assassins attacked…

Professor Thunderstep, pondering what demands the guilds and townspeople might make and what solutions they might accept, spotted Lee Han passing by and called out to him.

“Wodanaz.”

“Yes?” Lee Han responded.

“It’s a relief that you’re here, at least,” Professor Thunderstep said.

“…Are you trying to assign me something?” Lee Han asked, his gaze distrustful.

Professor Thunderstep felt a twinge of guilt.

The next morning, Lee Han left the mansion with the professors to finish mapping the hazards and exterminating the monsters.

The Shadow Patrol hunters, having been out since dawn, were swiftly moving across the sea in small boats, taking down monsters one by one.

“They say that if a Shadow Patrol hunter enters a mountain peak, the monsters on that peak become extinct. The rumors are indeed true,” Professor Lightningstep said in amazement.

Lee Han had other thoughts.

Judging by the slight embarrassment and the way the Shadow Patrol hunters looked away when they met Lee Han’s eyes, they were…

‘They came early to hunt because they thought we’d only let them take what we needed once we arrived,’ he realized.

Everyone else was being fooled by the atmosphere the Shadow Patrol hunters were creating, but Lee Han was not.

The Shadow Patrol hunters had a hidden side that resembled Gainando.

“I will continue to check this area, so Professor Lightningstep, please take the opposite side,” Professor Thunderstep said.

Professor Thunderstep headed towards the area where the hazard mapping was incomplete, with Professor Lightningstep.

Professor Voladi looked at Lee Han with a blank expression. Lee Han accepted it and said, “Let’s go exterminate the remaining monsters on the reefs.”

“Very well. But do not rush,” Professor Voladi replied.

Lee Han briefly considered pushing Professor Voladi off the rowboat, but decided against it, as there were too many hunters watching.

As the boat moved, Lee Han recalled his conversation with Professor Thunderstep yesterday.

Are you trying to assign me something?

…No! That’s not what I meant…!

“No. I trust that’s not what you meant.”

“I swear by my beard, that’s not what I meant! Listen to me!”

Professor Thunderstride looked very upset. He started to tell a story, even though no one asked him to.

He said everything had to be fixed in two days. This was to keep Einrogard School famous, make sure students got paid fairly, and keep Professor Thunderstride happy. It was a lot to do!

The students had some freedom with their tasks. Leehan immediately told his friends this news after the conversation. Professor Thunderstride admitted that trying to solve the problem was giving him a headache.

At first, Leehan wondered, ‘Why does that have to do with him being happy to see me?’ But when he saw Professors Lightningstride and Voladi, he understood right away.

‘Hmm. Well, yes. Compared to those two, I am better.’

Leehan wasn’t super confident, but he felt sure he was better at talking to people than those two professors.

Still, he worried about Professor Thunderstride’s ability to solve the problem well.

The other two professors wouldn’t help. This meant Professor Thunderstride had to deal with the Meikin family and their worries all by himself. If things went wrong…

‘The pay will go down. If the pay goes down, the students’ research money will also go down. Then, the angry students will start a fight, and Einrogard will be destroyed.’

“What are you thinking about?”

Professor Voladi asked, noticing Leehan was thinking hard.

“Ah, I was thinking about the plan to solve the problem.”

“That’s nothing for you to worry about. Professor Thunderstride will take care of it.”

“……”

Normally, saying ‘Students should focus on school, and professors should focus on professor stuff’ would sound nice. But it felt like he was saying, ‘Is that my problem?’

‘Must be my imagination.’

“Let’s land.”

“Yes.”

“This time, try using ice magic.”

“Yes…”

The Shadow Patrol hunters next to him asked.

“Are you sure you don’t need help? Without someone to protect you at the front…”

Professor Voladi nodded.

“It’s not needed. I’ll handle it with magic.”

“With magic! Really…!”

The hunters’ eyes shined. They always thought that without someone to protect them, a mage would have trouble moving around. Seeing this, they knew they were wrong.

Fisher, the boss of the Fishermen’s Guild, stared angrily at the sea. His face was red, and his eyes were like hard stones.

“We will not give up anything!” he shouted. “Remember that!”

“Yes, Boss!” the fishermen replied quickly.

“And if any of you young ones are thinking about talking nicely or giving in,” Fisher growled, “forget about it! Keep those silly ideas to yourselves!”

Fisher was old and thin, with hair as white as snow. But when he spoke, everyone listened. He still had the voice of a leader.

The young fishermen nearby didn’t dare to answer and looked down.

“The alchemists, the adventurers, the city council—they’re all thieves. Where did we get the fishing rights from the Emperor? Our guild did!”

The question of ‘Who should pick the Sangoria Flowers?’ was an old problem.

A long time ago, the Emperor gave the Fishermen’s Guild the right to fish. This allowed them to catch many kinds of seafood.

At that time, everything was fine. The city people respected the Fishermen’s Guild’s rights and bought the seafood they caught.

But as time went on, Sangoria Flowers started to grow nearby, and things got tricky.

The alchemists knew the flowers were valuable. They said that they should be the ones to pick them. The Fishermen’s Guild got help from the alchemists to learn about the new flowers.

Of course, they started arguing about who had the right to pick the flowers.

Then, the city’s Adventurers’ Guild, who the alchemists had hired to pick the flowers, got involved too.

They argued about who was more greedy and who was less fair. Finally, they agreed that they would pay each other some money each time they picked the flowers…

But recently, there was trouble on the coast. This almost stopped the Sangoria Flowers from being picked. This changed everything.

The Emperor’s people were tired of the guilds. They should have been working together to fix the problem, but they were just watching each other and wasting time.

—In the end, trying to solve it quickly made things even bigger. Fix this problem now!

The guilds were getting ready because they had received orders from the Emperor.

They would never give up. They would make sure the outsiders agreed that their guild was right!

The Fishermen’s Guild felt the same way.

“This all happened because people who don’t know our history rudely interfered.”

‘I think we need to talk nicely or give in a little…’

Some of the young fishermen looked worried. The Emperor’s people were stricter than they thought.

They must have handled the situation badly for the Meikin family, who were outsiders, to step in and offer a solution.

They were doing it without getting anything out of it. It was no wonder the Emperor’s people were angry.

The city’s guilds needed to make up and show that they wouldn’t do it again. But they were all thinking, ‘If we suggest talking nicely or giving in, we’ll look weak. We can’t do anything that will give them a reason to criticize us.’

“There’s a Shadow Patrol hunter coming from outside.”

Fisher nodded at the fisherman’s words.

He was angry and upset, but he didn’t want to show it to the outsiders.

Fisher planned to greet them and state his case clearly and strongly.

“…Why aren’t they coming up here? Why are they staying down there?”

“I don’t know? Oh, mages are coming down. It looks like the mages hunted them. Now that I think about it, the fishermen said that ‘they’re hunting mages too,’ so maybe that’s it…”

“…Aren’t they just students?!”

Fisher was shocked to see Leehan coming out, shaking off the monster’s blood.

There were many monsters and the sea was huge, so they needed all the help they could get. But still, for a student to be fighting like that…

Was there really such a shortage of workers?

“Th-that’s… true.”

“Why?? Why is this happening?”

“Well, I think it’s because the other guilds in the city refused to help…”

“……”

Fisher suddenly felt his face getting hot.

He felt ashamed. An outsider student was trying his best to solve the problem, even though the city wasn’t helping him…

What was he, who had lived in this city his whole life, even doing right now?