Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1052

“No,” Ihan said. “What Woorin says makes sense.”

The Skull Headmaster stared, surprised. His own student was agreeing with Woorin, even though Woorin was a dragon contractor.

“Sense?” the Headmaster asked, his voice rising. “There are many safe places in the Empire. Why choose Einroguard?”

“Because,” Ihan explained, “Einroguard has many wizards. And Master Maryeonggwan is there. Plus, it starts with the letter ‘E’.”

“Then we should send him to Erindalbell’s manor.”

“But you’re not there, Headmaster.”

The Skull Headmaster swung his staff to hit his annoying student, but Ihan had already predicted it and created some distance.

Usually, a master is happy to have a smart student. But sometimes, being *too* smart can make a master angry.

The Skull Headmaster composed himself and said,

“Fine. It doesn’t matter if you insist anyway.”

” ? ”

“His Majesty won’t allow it.”

At first, the Emperor didn’t want to send Jo Woorin to Einroguard. He worried Woorin would cause trouble for the students there.

“It doesn’t seem like that’s the case…”

“Quiet.”

Certainly, Jo Woorin, being both a dragon and royalty, could disrupt the diligent atmosphere of Einroguard.

Besides, last semester, Jo Woorin had already caused a very famous incident at Einroguard.

“If His Majesty refuses, we’ll have to move him somewhere else. The Imperial Palace would be good. You go and persuade him.”

“But… why wouldn’t he want to go to the Imperial Palace?” Ihan asked, scratching his head. “If Einroguard is out, the Palace seems perfect.”

The Imperial Palace was in the capital city, so it was close. There, Woorin would have powerful allies, guards, and most importantly, his family.

“Perfect for *studying*,” the Headmaster said, rolling his skeletal eyes. “That’s exactly why he *doesn’t* want to go. He’d be stuck with books all day!”

The Emperor never tolerated his children acting arbitrarily or tyrannically.

Currently, the Imperial Palace in the capital was like the heart of the Empire’s administration, where countless officials came and went.

In such a place, barging into any room and saying, ‘Let’s play with Jo Woorin!’ would only result in a severe scolding.

He would only be allowed to read old books and boring reports. His days would be spent looking at documents with serious officials.

‘I wouldn’t want to go there either,’ Ihan thought.

“If you send him to such a place, I think he’ll resent me later. Isn’t there a more enjoyable place?”

“You’re talking nonsense. It’s not good to expose His Highness to the Empire’s ambitious figures.”

The Skull Headmaster said seriously.

Even the Emperor’s other children, who were less important, attracted people who wanted to use them. So, for Jo Woorin, it was definitely going to happen.

“And this is also advice for you. If His Highness becomes widely known, who do you think people will target?”

“You, Headmaster?”

“…Did you make a contract, or did I?”

The Skull Headmaster almost hit his student but stopped himself. He explained everything. Then, Ihan understood.

‘Ah, that’s right.’

In terms of fame alone, the Skull Headmaster was so famous that he thought they would flock to him, but when he thought about it, Ihan was the contractor.

If they wanted to bring Jo Woorin into their faction, they were more likely to contact Ihan himself than the Skull Headmaster.

“Hmm. But still, forcing him to go to a boring place is a bit…”

As he spoke, a paper bird flew in. It was a reply to the message sent to the Emperor.

The Skull Headmaster opened the letter and showed it to Jo Woorin.

“Look, Your Highness. His Majesty says no…”

?

” ? ”

-?

Everyone next to him was puzzled. Jo Woorin blinked and asked.

“It says yes?”

Surprisingly, the letter was written in elegant handwriting, indicating permission. The Skull Headmaster’s handsome face fell, like a piece of paper being crushed.

“…His Majesty must have lost his mind.”

“Headmaster, your inner thoughts are leaking out.”

“Those aren’t inner thoughts.”

“……”

The Skull Headmaster usually respected the Emperor greatly, but this time he was different.

Why on earth would he allow him to be sent to Einroguard?

“Could it be because of Ihan?”

Professor Garcia cautiously offered his opinion.

Recently, Jo Woorin had been growing rapidly mentally.

With Ihan as his contractor, wouldn’t Jo Woorin cause less trouble for the Einroguard students?

“No. His Majesty would have certainly considered Wodanaz as well.”

The Skull Headmaster denied it.

Of course, the Headmaster himself agreed that Jo Woorin was getting smarter.

With a contractor, he wouldn’t cause any major accidents.

But it put a lot of burden on the contractor who had to take care of Jo Woorin.

The Emperor wouldn’t risk a student’s well-being just to make his child happy. Not even for one student.

“What if he thought that Ihan wouldn’t be too burdened by that level of responsibility?”

“…Professor…”

Ihan was dumbfounded.

“That’s a crazy thought!”

“It sounds plausible, but I don’t think His Majesty would do that. It’s strange. There’s something I don’t know…”

The Skull Headmaster pondered with a serious expression. He seemed several times more serious than when he talked about the appearance of the Evil God cult earlier.

‘No. Is Jo Woorin going to Einroguard something to worry about so seriously?’

Regardless, Jo Woorin was excited and flapped his wings.

“I’m excited! I’m going to Einroguard!”

“It’s not over yet, Your Highness. I’ll go and check with His Majesty myself.”

The Skull Headmaster didn’t give up easily.

He wondered if there was any trickery in the letter, like last time.

Of course, Jo Woorin didn’t care at all.

“Einroguard!! You’re excited too, Ihan?!”

“Yes, yes.”

“Wow! Einroguard!”

“Your Highness. Please don’t pull the chain. Your Highness?”

Jo Woorin excitedly grabbed the chain connected to Ihan’s still-unreleased handcuffs and walked forward.

Professor Garcia saw this and thought, ‘I must take those handcuffs away as soon as possible!’

The villa, still a little strange-looking, stood in the capital. Dusty and silent just weeks ago, it now buzzed with life. The sounds of hammering and magical crackling spilled from its windows as wizards hurried in and out, carrying tools and glowing potions. The air, once heavy with the scent of damp stone and decay, now smelled faintly of sawdust and ozone.

“Is the repair of the end room on the second floor finished?”

“The water’s not coming out. There seems to be a mistake in the connection.”

“Can’t we just summon water with magic whenever we need it?”

“Are you crazy? You’ve gone mad after hanging out with Wodanaz. Do you want to pass out while making water?”

“…Just connect it! Connect it!”

As the White Tiger Tower student grumbled and went down, Salco looked at the villa building from the outside with a satisfied expression.

The building, which was so bizarre at first, was gradually regaining its normal appearance.

‘Finish repairing the end room on the second floor, and repaint the area next to the chimney. That looks like a magical contamination mark. Should I make a new potion?’

“Tutanta, have you heard about the metalworking workshop here? Would it be okay to take on a request?”

“The pay isn’t very good there. The nearby woodworking guild would be better.”

“Oh, dear. I was going to take care of the requests here in the second semester if it was okay…”

“Granden City would be better. It’s closer, so it’ll be more advantageous.”

Requests coming into Einroguard were largely divided into two categories.

One was requests where people visited directly, entrusted the work to the students, and picked it up. These were mainly in the production or analysis fields.

The other was requests where Einroguard students had to go out and find the work themselves. These were usually in the search or subjugation fields.

Of course, there were far more of the former. Cunning students were already trying to secure these requests in advance.

“That’s true. The guilds in Granden City are close, so they might entrust more often?”

“That’s right.”

“But if it’s the Granden City guild, wouldn’t they entrust it to Wodanaz?”

“……”

Salco flinched at the unexpected remark.

And it felt subtly plausible.

‘…Is that so?!’

Granden City, which was close to Einroguard, was already full of rumours about Ihan.

“What nonsense. Does Wodanaz have a hundred bodies? To receive all of that.”

Asan said dismissively as he passed by.

Hearing that, Salco came to his senses. Certainly, when he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.

‘I can’t believe I fell for the words of a stupid White Tiger Tower guy!’

“But Wodanaz takes all the schools, right? Then he can take all the requests…”

“……”

“……”

Salco and Asan couldn’t admit that they were speechless by a mere White Tiger Tower student.

How could this be?

“I’m here.”

Fortunately, Ihan saved them.

Ihan, who had returned from his outing, opened the front gate and entered.

“Wodanaz!”

“Wow. You’ve fixed all of this? Amazing.”

Ihan was greatly surprised by the appearance of the villa, which had changed again in the meantime.

He didn’t expect it to be repaired so quickly.

‘…Wait. Do I have to pay for the repairs?’

He wondered if he could just skip it since his friends were working so hard.

‘How much should I pay? Surely, the standard rate is…’

“…Ack!!!”

Ihan flinched at Asan’s scream.

Had his shabby inner thoughts of trying to save on the repairs been exposed?

“Th-there…! There! Wodanaz!”

“Ah.”

Ihan understood why his friend was screaming.

Jo Woorin, in human form, who had followed with Professor Garcia, had appeared.

“I understand you’re surprised. He wanted to come and play at the mansion.”

“Not that! Behind him!”

Asan shouted, frustrated.

It wasn’t that he was screaming because he was surprised by Jo Woorin.

Of course, he was surprised, but he wasn’t that surprised since he had met him last semester.

The reason Asan was surprised was right behind him.

The Headmaster of Einroguard, who had returned as a skeleton, was floating in.

“Ah. Headmaster? I met him at the mansion and we came together.”

“…There are other people you could have come with…!”

Asan shuddered.

Seeing his friend speaking so casually, as if he had picked up a stone on the street, he wanted to grab him by the collar.

‘Even if it’s Wodanaz, isn’t he crazy?!’

“Ack!”

“Kraaah!”

“Kyaaah!”

Friends who belatedly discovered the skeleton burst into screams from all over the mansion.

It was the worst opponent they could see in this villa.

‘I didn’t think there would be anything enjoyable today, but I was wrong. All the idiots of the Empire are gathered here.’

The Skull Headmaster sneered, thinking that there were so many gathered. Einroguard students were like grains of sand, so it was very rare to see them gathered like this.

‘Where is Professor Voladi?’

“He’s out for a while.”

“Where to?”

“Um… I think he said he was going to get some new wanted posters because he ran out.”

……

The Skull Headmaster sighed inwardly at the sight of his disciple, who had left his seat in the meantime.

‘What an annoyingly diligent disciple.’

“Follow him, Wodanaz.”

“Yes? Are you talking to me?”

“…Have you already forgotten what I said earlier? Then who should follow him? Should that iron-headed guy follow him?”

Gaynando grumbled as the Skull Headmaster pointed at him.

“I’m not iron anymore.”

“If I suddenly follow him now, even Professor Begreck would find it suspicious…”

?

” ? ”

The Skull Headmaster and Gaynando expressed their doubts at the same time.

‘What would he find suspicious?’

“What would he find suspicious, Ihan?”

“…Um, if I suddenly show interest in bounty hunting, he might find it suspicious…”

The Skull Headmaster and Gaynando burst into laughter at the same time. Ihan glared at Gaynando with a betrayed look.

Oh