Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 494

Valpatan from the 3rd Grade wasn’t extravagant, nor did he have a spending problem.

Magic costs a lot of money.

Even though the Emperor gave a lot of money, and Headmaster Skull gave even more (sometimes his own!), there was still not enough. The problem was too big to fix easily.

It wasn’t possible to ask for more from the Empire’s budget. Even now, the officials under the Imperial Treasurer clutched their chests and complained of breathing difficulties at the mere mention of Einroguard.

“More money for Einroguard?” one official choked, clutching his chest. “Over my dead body! We have poorhouses to build, real needs!”

Another slammed his fist on the table. “Those wizards burn gold pillars for fun! Gold pillars, donated by the Emperor!”

Anyway, no matter how much budget they received and distributed to each school, there would always be a time when they ran out of money during research.

To prepare for such times, the students of Einroguard diligently saved up a considerable amount of money in their own way…

…But that amount of money would disappear like snow in a few magical experiments.

In the end, students like Valpatan had no choice but to mortgage their family swords and borrow the necessary reagents.

Professor Swiftfoot, knowing this, felt ashamed and heartbroken.

“It’s not like Valpatan is particularly lazy or has a spending problem.”

“We know. Don’t worry,” the people from the Maykin family said with kind smiles.

“What magic really needs isn’t intelligence or sensibility, but gold, wouldn’t you agree?”

“…Haha.”

It was a self-deprecating joke among wizards. Professor Swiftfoot could only smile bitterly.

“Indeed…”

Lee Han, who was listening from the side, said with a face of genuine admiration. Professor Swiftfoot became serious.

“What do you mean, ‘indeed’? What do you mean?”

For some reason, the boy from the Wodanaz family seemed to be understanding it in a different way.

“Wodanaz, calm down the wyverns.”

Professor Lightningfoot, who was inspecting the safety equipment for departure, instructed Lee Han.

The wyverns were supposed to be waiting quietly, but they were a tangle of scales and claws, rolling in the grass. Dust flew up as they playfully snapped at each other, their roars sounding like rumbling thunder.

“Understood.”

Lee Han nodded and stood up from his seat.

As he was studying monsters separately with Professor Lightningfoot, he knew a certain amount about wyverns.

When they’re playing like that, be strict and unyielding…

“?”

“?”

The friends sitting next to Lee Han looked at Professor Lightningfoot with question marks on their faces.

“Professor,” Bartrec started, looking worried, “even for Lee Han, wyverns are…”

Professor Lightningfoot just waved a hand. “Yes, yes, good boy.”

“!?”

Before they could even speak, Lee Han separated the playing wyverns and stroked their heads.

The creatures that had been tearing up the grass until just now lowered their heads like docile sheep.

“…How did you do that?”

“I told you to read a book, Bartrec. A wyvern, first of all, doesn’t avoid eye contact…”

“If you could handle them with that method, why are people getting bitten by wyverns!?”

“Well, I became friends with them during this trip.”

Lee Han said as if it were obvious.

Of course, as Bartrec said, you couldn’t handle a wyvern just by following the methods in the book. Wyverns weren’t that easy of a monster.

But Lee Han had built up a friendship with the wyverns during the trip.

He took care of the wyverns’ food, cleaned their scales, covered them with blankets so they could sleep well, and stood guard next to their heads while listening to Professor Voladi’s nagging…

‘Cancel the last one.’

Come to think of it, the last one probably felt more like annoyance than friendship.

Anyway, because of these things, the wyverns clearly regarded Lee Han as friendly, though not as much as Professor Lightningfoot.

Isn’t that why they listen so well!

Nilia thought to herself.

‘No matter how I look at it, they seem scared…’

Every time Lee Han turned his head, the wyvern glanced at him and sized him up, looking like a typical monster that was scared and obedient.

“Really? How did you become friends so quickly?”

“It’s affection, Bartrec. You should join me when I’m taking care of their meals this time.”

“Ah, no… Why… I’m scared.”

“It’s not scary. Right? You’re not scared, are you?”

When Lee Han turned his head to the wyvern and asked the question, the wyvern, which had been lying down until just now, perked up its head and nodded with a very artificial, docile expression.

“See? There’s a reason why people say wyverns are easier to tame than griffins. They’re all kind.”

Nilia decided not to say anything.

-Request successful, arrived within the estimated time.

Hmm.

Headmaster Skull nodded in satisfaction at the message that had flown in from the port city.

‘I was worried, but they handled it well.’

He didn’t doubt the abilities of the participating professors or students, but the situation was a bit complicated.

He thought that if things went wrong, it could take quite a while, as the conflicts had been building up for so long…

It seemed to have been handled well.

Some students spread ridiculous slander, saying, ‘The Headmaster seems to be addicted to excitement; if there’s no accident in a day, he gets bored and goes crazy,’ but Headmaster Skull was one of the most risk-averse people around.

He was someone who always desperately hoped that everything would be resolved without any problems.

He occasionally liked to see the students suffer, but that was just an exception.

-Sea Serpent appearance, request for cooperation, defeated with students, contact with magical criminal, arrested

…?!?”

However, Headmaster Skull was startled when he saw the next message.

He was surprised that the magical criminal had made contact, but he was even more surprised that they had been arrested.

‘What is this? Did a headless guy make contact?’

Usually, if someone was called a magical criminal, they had built up a reputation for quite some time and didn’t do clumsy things.

Even if they made contact, they would do it subtly, creating multiple escape routes for themselves before taking action.

To arrest such a magical criminal…

Honestly, it was hard not to be amazed.

‘I hope Professor Begreck didn’t just stab anyone…’

Headmaster Skull was slightly suspicious.

He suspected that Professor Voladi, suffering from paranoia, had stabbed a suspicious person passing by, and that everyone else had agreed to cover it up by saying, ‘There’s no choice, let’s just say he’s a magical criminal!’

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

“Don’t you… have any curiosity?”

Headmaster Skull, having finished his meeting with Professor Swiftfoot, immediately called for Lee Han.

The story about the magical criminal Ianop was so astonishing.

His proactiveness was surprising, his capture was surprising, but the most surprising thing was…

“Why would you believe that?”

…Is he even a wizard?

…It was the boy from the Wodanaz family who didn’t hesitate to call the professor right away.

Of course, thanks to him, the matter was resolved cleanly, but for a wizard not to be interested in such a situation…

“It’s strange for a wizard to receive such an offer. In my opinion, we should add a case study to the character education lecture about ignoring these suspicious contacts.”

You think I haven’t tried that? It’s a meaningless act.

Headmaster Skull was indifferent.

Don’t touch forbidden magic, don’t associate with suspicious wizards from outside…

Of course, they were correct words, and there was nothing wrong with saying them.

However, the students didn’t listen as much as he thought.

If you tell them not to touch forbidden magic, there are always those who hear that and think, ‘Oh, there was forbidden magic? I’m curious,’ and go looking for it.

“Should we lock him in the disciplinary room for the entire vacation?”

The Death Knights next to him gasped in shock.

It was a plan that was too cruel for a first-year student to come up with.

I’ll think about it. Anyway, you performed quite well…

Headmaster Skull said, recalling the report.

He thought Wodanaz would be helpful, but he didn’t think he would be this helpful.

To immediately resolve the conflicts between the various guilds and reconcile them…

‘Certainly, this guy is unusually sociable for a Wodanaz.’

As he had felt before, the easily overlooked advantage of Wodanaz was this sociability.

Just living with Professor Begreck was enough to show how great his sociability was.

Considering that there were plenty of upperclassmen whose personalities were ruined by their lack of sociability, this advantage shone even more.

‘When the second-year students go out, I should send him along with the ones whose personalities are ruined.’

Without Lee Han knowing, Headmaster Skull added more tasks to his list in his mind.

“What did you feel about magic?”

More important than the story about the request was the story about magic.

Headmaster Skull’s voice became serious.

As he considered Wodanaz to be his successor, he couldn’t help but be serious when talking about magic.

“I learned the points to be careful about while collecting flowers directly. Originally, you could just give silver coins and buy them, but after collecting them myself, I think I know for sure which ones are high-quality and which ones are low-quality.”

You understood well. There are some wizards who ignore such meticulous tasks, and they are the ones who will not become great.

Headmaster Skull was satisfied.

A wizard should be able to obsessively check every detail of magic.

Wizards who arrogantly order servants or attendants to prepare will never achieve greatness.

“Thanks to that, I think I’ll be able to haggle better when I have to buy things in the future.”

…I wasn’t curious about that… Okay. What else?

Headmaster Skull moved on to the next topic, completely uninterested in his petty ambitions.

“I was more surprised than I thought by the magic of the magical criminal. I can’t even begin to guess how skilled the veteran combat wizards are.”

That’s right.

Headmaster Skull was satisfied again.

It was a similar context to before, but wizards who overestimated their own strength did not have good endings.

In particular, magical combat was not a contest of who could use stronger magic with greater difficulty.

Magical combat was a contest of who could cut off the opponent’s breath first with optimal efficiency.

Even a very minor carelessness or coincidence could allow a back-alley wizard to take the life of a renowned wizard, so an excellent combat wizard had to prepare in multiple layers.

“The Ianop you caught was a henchman of Antagondals.”

“That archmage criminal you mean?”

Archmage, my foot!

Headmaster Skull immediately grumbled.

The very fact that a young, arrogant magical criminal was being called an archmage was unpleasant.

“He received teachings from Antagondals, and he’s been through a lot, so it may have been surprising to you.”

“That’s right.”

Lee Han agreed.

The moment the wall flew away, he activated the artifact to block the front, greatly enhanced his physical abilities, and even prepared separate means of attack.

It was a familiarity that made you wonder if you would need to train over thousands of times to reach that level of proficiency.

“Then what were you thinking there?”

“I thought I should take Professor Begreck with me when I go to suspicious places in the future.”

Headmaster Skull glared at Lee Han at the unambitious answer.