Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 760

“It’s just a small argument about who owns it!” But who *does* own things in Einroguard?

This was a question the wizards there always thought about, but never solved.

One wizard said, ‘It belongs to the headmaster, the lord of this place!’ Another professor argued, ‘Shouldn’t it belong to whoever looks after it?’ And some students who wanted big changes said, ‘It belongs to whoever needs it most!’ But no one had found a clear answer yet.

And often, the rules changed depending on the situation.

“Wait! I said this alleyway is mine first. Pay me if you want to go through.”

“You crazy person! Are the White Tiger Tower students bandits now, not knights? Attack them!”

“Wait! I said this alleyway is mine first. I’m fixing the broken path and getting rid of the traps that keep appearing. Pay me if you want to go through.”

“Honorable student from the White Tiger Tower. I see you are working hard. Here, I will pay you.”

Depending on what the other student was doing or why, ownership was sometimes accepted.

But this mushroom patch was a place where who owned what was very messy.

More than ten years ago, an older student found this place where mushrooms grew naturally by accident…

–Friends, I found a mushroom patch!

–Are there mist-cloud mushrooms too? (Are there those special mushrooms?)

–Yes! Now we don’t have to go all the way to the Mist Mountains!

–Wait. If it’s this good, someone else might try to take it.

–Let’s work together to protect it. This mushroom patch is ours!

After a few years, when the older students finished school, they gave it to the younger students and divided it up…

–I helped the older student the most. I should get the biggest part!

–What silly things are you saying? Who looked after the mushrooms the most?

–They grow even if you don’t do anything! What is there to look after! Stop talking nonsense and divide it equally!

Even the parts they got became messy, and arguments started.

–From here to here is my area!

–What are you talking about? It says here it’s not there.

–Fake! You made a fake document!

–Excuse me, can I ask something? I bought the right to use this mushroom patch for twelve gold coins, but…

After making fake documents, stealing, robbing, arguing, and so on, one after another, the mushroom patch had become a strange place with many owners.

“What kind of place is that?”

“I heard there are many places like that in Einroguard?”

“……”

Lee Han, who came back to the slope where his friends were waiting, was surprised by Yoner’s words.

“I have no choice. I’ll have to raid it.”

“I knew you’d say that, Wodanaz.”

Lee Han was a little worried that he might need to have a serious talk with Priestess Siana later.

‘I hope she doesn’t think I’m like those older students in the Location Transfer Club.’ He was only moving things to make a living when he had to, not because he liked doing it.

…Maybe.

“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until night?”

“There’s a problem with that.”

“?”

“The alchemy class started, right? Everyone is busy getting materials for the semester.”

“That’s right.”

“The older students know that too, so they’ll probably stay there for a while.”

“……”

Lee Han peeked over the slope and looked again.

Sleeping bags and signs of camping were all around the older students. It looked like they would be there for a few more days.

“I didn’t want to attack the older students… I need to think about how to not get caught.”

“Don’t you usually worry about if you can win first?”

Yoner was speechless at his friend, who was already sure he would win and was making plans.

Professor Mortum coughed and waved his hand. “You can open the door.”

*Creak-* The door of the bone carriage, which had just landed in the tall stable, opened. A wizard who was coughing stepped out.

He looked as sick and tired as Professor Mortum.

The only difference was that Professor Mortum was short, and this wizard was tall.

“You still don’t look well, Professor Taswhan. I worry that the research on the Abstinence Curse is too hard on wizards.”

“Cough. I’m fine. The Abstinence Curse research is almost done. My bad condition is because of a curse given to me by Lord Gonadaltes. At a meeting, I said that Kalarogard, along with Einroguard, were the empire’s two most important magic schools, and I got this for saying that…”

“……”

Professor Taswhan was a professor at Kalarogard, a magic school where the empire’s black magic users studied.

He was also a very good black magic user himself.

And it was rare for black magic users in the empire to not be connected to the Skull Headmaster.

The Skull Headmaster was the only wizard who had learned black magic directly from very old times.

He had helped create the empire’s current magic system, so he influenced everyone in black magic a lot.

Professor Taswhan was cursed by the Skull Headmaster seven years ago at a meeting of black magic users in the Violet Mountains.

It was a fun meeting called >Night of the Black Magic Users>, a happy event for the best black magic users and liches in the empire.

People would even ask the liches, ‘Are you still alive?’ The meeting place, the Imperial Spirit Hall, which he hadn’t visited in a long time, made the festival even better with secret stories and mysteries of black magic, and everyone saying whatever they wanted about younger wizards’ magic.

Professor Taswhan, even though he was weak from doing black magic research for a long time, was so happy that he drank many glasses of strong alcohol (jimju).

And then, when he was drunk, he said something silly in front of the Skull Headmaster.

-Lord Gonadaltes! I am very happy. As a black magic user from Kalarogard, one of the two most important magic schools in the empire, along with Einroguard…

-What did you just say?

The Skull Headmaster gave him a curse as punishment for insulting Einroguard and for being foolish (because a wizard should not believe rumors but decide for themselves).

Professor Taswhan was still groaning because the curse had not been completely removed.

“Professor Taswhan. I don’t know if this will help, but the Headmaster is busy right now. He probably can’t meet you.”

“That’s really good news! Thank you, Professor Mortum. I feel a little better already.”

The spring night wind, still cold, blew through the tall stable, and Professor Taswhan shivered.

Even though he was wearing a coat with magic to keep him warm, he felt cold.

“Here, have a cup of warm honey tea. My student made it.”

“Oh…”

Professor Taswhan carefully took the cup and drank the honey tea.

The hot, golden drink went down his throat and warmed him up.

Not only that, but it also made him feel better, like magic similar to alchemy had been used.

Professor Taswhan asked, confused. “Did Student Dirett make this honey tea? I didn’t know he was also good at alchemy.”

“No. It’s a new student.”

“I’m jealous, Professor Mortum. It seems another great student has joined. Since Einroguard is where the best talents of the empire gather, talented people who are also good at black magic must be joining… It’s always hard for Kalarogard to get students. My students are hardworking and good, but very few new people join.”

Professor Taswhan shook his head, sad about the difficult situation for black magic users.

Einroguard was the best magic school in the empire, so it seemed many talented people were joining the black magic school.

But for Kalarogard, it was really hard to find students.

It was rare to find someone who was talented in magic and also loved black magic.

“……”

Professor Mortum hesitated, not wanting to say the truth directly.

He couldn’t bring himself to say that Einroguard also had less than five new students joining the black magic school.

“I congratulate you on having many students join, Professor Mortum. Other black magic users will be happy to hear this.”

Professor Taswhan was truly happy.

Professor Mortum closed his eyes tightly.

It was like he had missed his chance to speak.

“…Where are the students?”

Professor Mortum changed the subject.

Professor Taswhan pointed to the bone carriage.

“They’re inside. They are still recovering from the poison, so it will take some time before they can move.”

“I think it would be better for you to go inside and wait…”

“I can’t go in first when my students are here.”

Professor Taswhan smiled kindly at Professor Mortum.

Even though it was cold and painful, he couldn’t leave his students and go inside first.

Professor Mortum grumbled to himself.

‘He’s making all professors look too good.’ If he makes the average character of imperial professors too high, wouldn’t that hurt the other professors in the end?

In some ways, it was selfish.

“…I see. The reason for this visit is…”

“First, the Wizard Card Club exchange match.”

“That club again? I don’t understand why wizards like it so much.”

Professor Mortum grumbled, sounding annoyed.

He couldn’t understand why students from other magic schools would travel so far just to play wizard cards.

Professor Taswhan smiled as if he understood.

“I don’t really understand it either, but it’s my students’ hobby, so I’m just going along with it. Even the strongest horse won’t break easily if you only use the whip sometimes.”

“The Headmaster says we should whip the running horse… Never mind. What’s the next reason?”

“Buying reagents.”

Einroguard bought a lot of reagents, and also sold them.

With its large land and strange main building, reagents were bound to be found there.

Of course, they didn’t easily sell them to people outside because they used so much themselves, but it was allowed if they traded what they needed with other magic schools in the empire.

“Buying reagents… What do you need?”

“I need the wooden barrels for curses and the poisonous insects I mentioned last time, and also mushrooms.”

“You can take the wooden barrels right away. The poisonous insects and mushrooms… I don’t think we have much right now.”

“There’s a place where I found them 11 years ago! I plan to collect them myself.”

“Really? Then I’ll assign a student to be your guide, so you can collect them.”

Professor Mortum said, moving his pen to write down the reasons for the visit.

Then Professor Taswhan seemed unwilling.

“Can’t it be a different student than Student Dirett? Even asking a fifth-year student to do this is…”

“……”

This time, Professor Mortum also thought about it.

Professor Taswhan was right.

‘Then who should I give this job to… It’s a shame Cohalti finished school. No, even if he hadn’t, I wouldn’t have given it to him because I didn’t trust him. Ogoldos is a bit not skilled enough…’

Dealing with wizards from outside was even harder than dealing with normal guests.

Normal guests usually just saw the safe parts of the school and left, but wizard guests went deep inside.

To deal with these wizards, you had to be good at thinking quickly and acting, and also be able to control the other students of Einroguard who are not well-behaved.

“Hmm. I should give the job to Wodanaz.”

“There’s a student like that? What year is he in?”

“Um… Wait, let me explain.”

“Explain what!” Professor Taswhan smiled at Professor Mortum’s words.

“He’s probably a third-year student? That’s fine. A third-year student from Einroguard should be able to handle it.”

If he was a good student even in the best magic school in the empire, he could be a guide even if he was a third-year student.

That’s what Professor Taswhan thought.

“Actually, a second-year…”

“????”