Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 485

“You trash!” Pasher roared, his voice shaking. His face flushed red, and he slammed his fist on the wooden railing of the boat.

Pasher’s people exchanged worried glances. They thought their leader was furious at the other guilds again. But Pasher’s anger was turned inwards, a burning shame in his chest.

He had been so obsessed with beating the other guilds in the flower collection that he had stood and watched while a young student, barely more than a boy, risked his life against dangerous monsters.

Pasher trembled and shouted,

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, sir? Where are we going?”

“I said, follow me!”

Pasher’s people wondered, “Why is he acting like this?”

The old fisherman’s outburst worried his people.

Picking fights with outsiders wouldn’t do them any good.

Even though their conflicts with other guilds were severe, outsiders wouldn’t understand.

They should be trying to persuade them as politely and respectfully as possible…

Lee Han, who was coming off the reef with Professor Voladi, was puzzled to see the fishermen rushing towards them with angry faces in the distance.

“What’s going on?”

“Fishermen.”

Professor Voladi replied as if it was nothing.

Lee Han asked with a questioning look,

“They look very angry… Did something happen?”

There were too many things to consider.

As he had heard from Professor Uregeoreum, the guilds around here were sensitive due to long-standing conflicts, and they naturally viewed outsiders with complicated feelings.

Besides, the Shadow Patrol hunters weren’t exactly kind and gentle gentlemen.

Lee Han thought, “Maybe they stole the fishermen’s fish.”

Since they were so obsessed with hunting, he suspected they might have secretly crossed into an allowed area and hunted something else.

“Maybe.”

“What should we do?”

“Prepare yourself.”

Professor Voladi said to Lee Han as he had when they went up on the reef to hunt monsters.

Lee Han didn’t understand what he meant for a moment, but then he realized.

Lee Han’s eyes widened. “No, he can’t mean fight the fishermen!” he thought.

“…Professor, we can’t fight the fishermen! What will the city people think?”

“They’ll think it’s self-defense.”

“……”

That was true, but that wasn’t the point right now.

They needed to resolve the situation quickly and return, so how could they increase unnecessary conflict?

In a situation where they had to avoid even existing conflicts…

“Be careful of the fishermen’s nets. Once you’re caught, it can be dangerous.”

“Have you ever fought fishermen before?”

Lee Han asked the question casually, but Professor Voladi affirmed it.

“Yes. They are especially threatening on boats.”

“……”

‘At this rate, wouldn’t you attack someone just for making eye contact while traveling?’

While Lee Han was worrying, the fishermen arrived.

Lee Han saw the fishermen getting closer. Their faces were red and angry, like storm clouds gathering.

The old fisherman, who seemed to be the leader, suddenly bowed his head and shouted in a booming voice.

“As the leader of the Fishermen’s Guild, and as a member of the City Council, I am truly sorry! We have failed to help those who came to aid our city. And a young student, risking everything, had to fight monsters in our place!”

Lee Han and the hunters looked at each other, their eyebrows raised in confusion.

“Why are they doing that?”

“Are they perhaps trying to stop the hunt from today? If they do such a foolish thing, they’ll face the curse of the mountains…”

“This is the sea.”

“They’ll be cursed by the sea!”

While the hunters were panicking, Pasher continued.

“As the guild’s chairman, I have failed to provide any assistance to those who came from outside to resolve the city’s difficulties. Meanwhile, a young Einroguard student risked their life to hunt monsters!”

Lee Han didn’t understand what he was saying until he realized it later.

‘Ah, so now…’

Professor Voladi threatening to hunt monsters with his staff looked like a student stepping up due to a manpower shortage?

Of course, it was a misunderstanding.

The people of the Maykin family weren’t fools, nor were they poor, so they wouldn’t have failed to secure manpower.

“Therefore, I will duly reflect on my actions and ask for your generous disposition.”

The old fisherman said what he had to say in a booming voice, bowed his head once more, and then returned to his boat.

The Shadow Patrol hunters didn’t understand and asked,

“What is he talking about, wizard?”

“So, he’s going to punish himself?”

Usually, hunters who committed crimes in the Northern Mountains were punished by trials.

They would grab just one arrow and go deep into the snowy mountain peaks with their bare bodies to catch a designated monster…

Is it like that here too?

“It’s not that, he’s just saying he’s going to reflect.”

“Reflection should be more painful…”

Ignoring the hunters’ words, Lee Han turned his gaze.

There was some official-sounding words in what he just said, making it difficult to understand, but he could roughly grasp what he meant.

He was admitting fault, reflecting, and would unconditionally respect the Einroguard group’s wishes in future negotiations.

From Lee Han’s perspective, it was a good thing, but…

‘Did he eat something wrong? Why all of a sudden?’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand.

One of the hunters next to him said,

“Isn’t it because they felt sorry for seeing the wizard hunting alone?”

“…No…”

Lee Han was doubtful.

But when he thought about it, it was quite a believable story.

He couldn’t think of anything else.

He glanced at Professor Voladi, who looked back as if asking why.

“It’s nothing.”

One of Professor Voladi’s strengths was that he didn’t talk unnecessarily.

If Headmaster Skull were here, he would have turned Lee Han inside out, saying, ‘You were able to persuade them thanks to me, be grateful!’

Rumors that Pasher and the fishermen’s guild had contacted the Einroguard group from outside spread quickly.

The arrival of the Adventurers’ Guild was a bit quick. A sentence or two was added to show a little time passing after the fishermen’s apology before they arrived, to make the flow smoother.

The Adventurers’ Guild felt embarrassed upon hearing the rumors.

“Those stubborn guild people already…”

“Shouldn’t we make a move too? Prepare a bribe or something.”

“Shhh. If you rashly offer a bribe to the Einroguard wizards, you might turn into a grub.”

In fact, the Adventurers’ Guild was the most distant from the infighting within the city.

The Fishermen’s Guild and the Alchemists’ Guild were actively trying to obtain the rights to collect Sangoria flowers due to their respective contributions, but the Adventurers’ Guild wasn’t to that extent.

First of all, the guild’s solidarity was not very united, and since they started as employees, their perspectives were bound to be different.

The Adventurers’ Guild didn’t care who won as long as they were guaranteed that the adventurers could collect a reasonable amount. That alone was enough.

The problem was that the other two guilds were so fiercely competitive that this kind of negotiation wouldn’t work.

The only ones who could communicate were the outsiders…

‘But the Einroguard wizards are scary.’

‘Wouldn’t it be a bad idea to contact them carelessly?’

The Adventurers’ Guild feared the Einroguard wizards far more than the other guilds.

Unlike those who lived as artisans in the city their whole lives, adventurers who traveled around often felt deeply how dangerous wizards could be.

And that was even more true for Einroguard.

“We should at least say hello. We need to leave a good impression at the very least.”

The Adventurers’ Guild’s chairman took his staff and moved towards the harbor.

He saw the wizards and hunters returning after finishing their hunt.

“H-hello?”

His voice cracked from how nervous he was.

Lee Han quickly recognized where they were from based on the guild members’ attire and emblems.

‘The Adventurers’ Guild came too?’

Since the Adventurers’ Guild was also involved in this conflict, it wouldn’t hurt to gain their favor to resolve it.

Lee Han smiled brightly and greeted them.

“Hello! It’s good to meet you. You must be from the Adventurers’ Guild?” Lee Han said with a friendly smile.

The Shadow Patrol hunters grumbled inwardly.

Even if it was a saying, wasn’t it too much?

What adventurers traveled through the far away and hidden valleys of the Empire?

They didn’t even come to the Northern Mountains often…

“That’s right!”

The faces of the Adventurers’ Guild members brightened, and their tension eased slightly after hearing the compliment.

“As expected of wizards from Einroguard, your eyes are full of magic.”

‘More like murderous intent.’

Lee Han glanced at Professor Voladi and himself once. There was still some blood on his coat.

“May I ask which family you are from…”

“Ah. I am from the Wodanaz family…”

“Gasp!”

Someone gasped.

He tried his best to maintain his expression, but Lee Han could feel fear flashing across the guild members’ eyes and expressions.

He had forgotten about it because he had been meeting people from prestigious families or people who didn’t care about the Wodanaz family, but the name of the Wodanaz family was more intimidating than he thought.

‘Did I make a mistake? Should I have left it to Yoner or someone else?’

He was supposed to be a friendly and kind wizard to persuade the guild, but he scared them from the start.

If Professor Uregeoreum found out about this, he might shed tears of sorrow.

‘But this isn’t my fault.’

No matter how he thought about it, it was the Wodanaz family’s reputation, not Lee Han’s.

“…I am Lee Han from the Wodanaz family.”

Lee Han finished his sentence for now.

Then, one of the staff members asked in a surprised voice.

“Were you perhaps the one who subjugated the King of Ghouls with the adventurers in Granden City last time?”

“…The story is a bit different, but it’s similar.”

“I heard you also helped investigate the strange event in the Black Rock Forest…”

“That’s also true.”

“You were still a student back then!?”

The staff member was genuinely surprised.

Even though it was far away, interesting events tended to spread as rumors.

When they heard rumors such as a wizard named Lee Han from the Wodanaz family helped adventurers solve quests, he was still young, and he took good care of the adventurers even though he was a wizard, they naturally thought it was nonsense.

But seeing him like this, the rumors felt surprisingly believable.

“Yes.”

“You’re a student at Einroguard… Why are you working with adventurers…?”

“……”

Lee Han thought to himself. ‘Money, of course. What else would make me do this?’

Still, it was difficult to say in front of them that he was trying to make money, so Lee Han answered as vaguely as possible.

“I thought it was something I had to do.”

“Wow…!”

“Unbelievable…!”

The people from the Adventurers’ Guild were so surprised that they couldn’t even whisper.

Still, it was a different kind of surprise than when they heard the name of the Wodanaz family earlier.

Lee Han let out a sigh of relief as he felt the guild members’ gazes soften and the fear disappear.

‘At least it won’t be a hindrance when we talk.’

“Lee Han from the Wodanaz family. We have something to discuss with you regarding this matter.”

“I’m listening.”

“Ah, I was so nervous that I didn’t even ask about this professor. I apologize. May I know your name?”

The people from the Adventurers’ Guild looked at Professor Voladi and asked.

Professor Voladi answered calmly.

“Voladi from the Begreck family.”

A sound like a choked gasp escaped from the Adventurers’ Guild members. Their eyes widened in terror.

Lee Han glared at Professor Voladi with an annoyed look.

What on earth had he been doing…

Professor Uregeoreum, who had returned to the mansion earlier, tilted his head as he looked at Lee Han.

“Did something happen?”

He originally had a tired face, but he looked several times more exhausted than usual.

“Well…”

Lee Han struggled to figure out where to start explaining.

Then, Professor Uregeoreum asked with a hopeful look.

“Did Professor Begreck perhaps ask you to go catch a Sea Serpent?”

“Yes? Are there Sea Serpents around here?”

“I found traces of one earlier.”

“…Please keep it a secret.”

Lee Han said with sincerity.