Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 101

The three sat down again on the sand. The beach was rough and grey, and the waves crashed loudly nearby. The air smelled salty and a little bit like seaweed.

They were there to figure out what to do next, now that they were shipwrecked on this terrible island – which they knew was called Headmaster Skull’s island, and that was never a good sign.

Lee Han spoke first.

“Think we can fix the ship?”

Angalo shook his head.

Making even a small boat is hard work and needs many things. Angalo had done it before, but only with help from other students. He couldn’t do it alone now.

“So, we can’t escape by ourselves…”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. But there’s another problem.”

Lee Han’s face was very serious. He looked at them with hard eyes, and Angalo and Duke Ma felt nervous.

This was Wodanaz, who had defeated the undead on the beach. What could make him so serious?

“What is it?”

“If we stay here, I’m going to miss tomorrow’s class.”

At first, they thought Lee Han was joking. But he looked utterly serious.

“You’re not joking?”

“Does it look like I’m joking?”

“Ah, no. Sorry.”

“I… In this situation, is it okay to miss class?” Duke Ma asked, confused. *Surely, being shipwrecked is a good reason to miss class?*

Lee Han said, his voice cold. “Under no circumstances should you ever miss class. Understand?”

Grades were more important than life itself.

The two students understood how serious Lee Han was, even if they didn’t quite get why.

It really must be important!

I don’t really know why it’s so important…!

“I… I understand.”

“I apologize as well. But Wodanaz, I don’t see how we can make it to class tomorrow…”

The sun was already starting to set. The weekend was ending.

Tomorrow morning would bring a new week and the start of classes.

Could they escape in time?

“Are there any people who would notice you are missing and come to rescue you?” Lee Han asked, looking at them both.

Waiting for rescue seemed more likely than building a boat and sailing away.

But they both shook their heads.

“Even if they notice, they won’t be able to come right away.”

“They don’t have a ship either…”

“Why don’t people in White Tiger Tower help each other, even though it’s full of knights?” Lee Han said, scolding them.

The two felt wronged.

That doesn’t seem to have anything to do with helping each other…!

“Fortunately, Monday morning’s lecture is >Basic Magical Character Education>…”

Lee Han thought about it.

Headmaster Skull’s lecture being tomorrow was, in a way, lucky.

They remembered Headmaster Skull had given them a task – a ‘trial’ to find an ‘outing pass,’ something that would let them leave school grounds for a short time. It seemed like a joke now, stuck on this island.

If Headmaster Skull were to say during the lecture, ‘Are there any people who went to the island to find an outing pass? No one? That won’t do. I’ll give you a chance, so go to the island and find an outing pass this time,’ Lee Han and his companions could be rescued without doing anything.

But…

‘Would Headmaster Skull really do that?’

Would Headmaster Skull, with his personality, say, ‘I’ll have to help you a little’ because everyone failed to do their homework?

It seemed more likely that he would say something like, ‘Can’t even do that? Try harder.’

While Lee Han was thinking, Angalo clapped his knee.

“That’s it! If we’re not there when the lecture starts, everyone will definitely notice we’re gone, and then the Headmaster will come to rescue us! If we just wait until then…”

“No. We should just explore the island right away. We’ll have to escape on our own.”

The two were surprised by Lee Han’s reaction.

“They might come to rescue us, right…?”

Lee Han thought, *Headmaster Skull doesn’t care about us. He set this up. Rescue? No chance.*

“That’s not going to happen.”

“But if students are missing during the lecture, they’ll be worried, right?”

“That’s not going to happen.”

Lee Han was even more sure about it.

The two felt sad.

‘Unfortunately, this is reality.’

Having entered magic school, it was time for Angalo and Duke Ma to accept reality.

Since no one was coming to rescue them, they had to find a way out of here.

Lee Han planned to search for other things Headmaster Skull had prepared.

‘He must have prepared other things, since he prepared an outing pass and a trial to get there.’

Or at least, they had to find the rowboat they had brought, which must be hidden somewhere.

Grumble-

Lee Han turned to look. Angalo lowered his head, looking a little embarrassed.

“You must be hungry. After all that moving around. We should eat something. Is there anything to eat?”

At Lee Han’s question, the two nodded confidently.

“Then shall we have a meal before we move?”

With those words, Lee Han took out bread and canned goods from his backpack.

Angalo took out tree bark from his backpack.

For a moment, Lee Han thought Angalo had taken it out to use as a dish.

But Angalo held the white tree bark and said to Duke Ma.

“Duke Ma. Let’s boil water. We’ll boil it and eat it.”

“Wait. Wait.”

” ? ”

Angalo and Duke Ma looked at Lee Han as if asking what was wrong.

Lee Han looked at the tree bark and asked.

“…Are you going to eat that?”

Angalo grinned. He seemed quite pleased that he knew something Lee Han didn’t.

“Wodanaz. The inner bark of this tree is edible. If you boil it well, it’s quite soft and sweet.”

I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know!

Lee Han sighed. Even if there was nothing to eat, peeling tree bark and boiling it…

“I heard that the White Tiger Tower hunts for meat. Did I hear wrong?”

“We do hunt for meat, but there’s never enough.”

“Wodanaz, you don’t seem to know. Just because you hunt doesn’t mean you catch everything. Besides, it’s quite difficult to keep it fresh. Most of the time, you have to eat it as soon as you catch it, so it’s not good for emergency food.”

The two White Tiger Tower students proudly explained, feeling happy that they knew something he didn’t, and Lee Han almost hit them.

Lee Han was human, so he felt a little sorry for them.

“…I have something I brought, so let’s eat together.”

“!”

“R-really?”

“That tomato vegetable stew?”

The tomato vegetable stew that Wodanaz made had already become famous. Even the White Tiger Tower students had heard of it.

“No… I wouldn’t carry tomato cans when going to the lake. Nor vegetables. I only brought enough for myself, so there’s not enough. We’ll have to look for more nearby.”

The two were slightly disappointed at Lee Han’s words.

Come to think of it, Lee Han couldn’t have known this would happen.

Who would have thought that they would be stranded on an island after scouting the lake?

Lee Han took out a pot, a glass bottle of olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, eggs, slightly hardened white bread, and pickled bacon from his leather backpack.

Angalo and Duke Ma stared. They had never seen anyone bring such things on a school trip! ‘Is that… butter?’ Duke Ma whispered, amazed.

The two were dumbfounded when they saw it.

‘He said he only brought enough for himself…!’

‘How well do those Blue Dragon Tower people live?’

They had never been ashamed or regretful of being assigned to the White Tiger Tower, but they were honestly a little envious now.

How did he get all that?

“Still not enough.”

“Isn’t that enough…?”

“I saw some edible mushrooms earlier, so we should gather some.”

As Lee Han stood up, the two also stood up.

“Why are you getting up?”

“Didn’t we say we’d be your arms?”

“We can’t send you alone.”

The two spoke with considerable determination, but Lee Han asked with a cold expression.

“Do you know how to identify mushrooms?”

“…I think I’ve gotten it right one out of three times… last time.”

“Two of us will die. Never mind. Just dig up what I tell you to.”

The key to mushroom picking was to only pick what you knew.

Even if it seemed like a familiar mushroom, it was important not to pick it if it seemed a little strange or ominous.

Knowing this, Lee Han told them to only pick very safe mushrooms that they definitely knew.

“Pick that brown mushroom.”

“Don’t pick that one.”

“Throw that one away. It’s strange.”

The two White Tiger Tower students, who were diligently picking mushrooms in place of the injured Lee Han, gradually gained confidence as they worked.

Maybe we can identify mushrooms by now?

“Isn’t a mushroom with a dull and rough color a safe mushroom?”

“Throw it away before I shove it in your mouth.”

Angalo quietly threw the mushroom to the side.

However, Duke Ma seemed quite disappointed. He kept trying his own creative attempts.

“What about this mushroom…”

“This one looks like it’s okay to eat. It looks like something that came out on the table when I was young.”

“It looks similar to the one we picked earlier, so isn’t this one edible?”

Seeing Duke Ma diligently taking his first steps to become a mushroom-picking expert, Lee Han spoke to encourage him.

“Yes. That mushroom is edible. But it’s a mushroom you can only eat once.”

“Oh… Wait, why can you only eat it once?”

“Because you’ll die if you eat it.”

Duke Ma also quietly threw the mushroom to the side.

And he quietly picked only the mushrooms that Lee Han told him to pick.

Having finished their preparations, the three made a campfire.

Angalo was puzzled when Lee Han made a fire with a flint instead of magic.

“Why with a flint?”

“Wodanaz is thinking about the taste of the food. I heard from my grandmother that fire made by hand is better for cooking than fire made by magic.”

‘Was it?’

The reason Lee Han made a fire with a flint was simple.

He might accidentally burn these two students if he summoned the wrong fire.

Instead of explaining, Lee Han put butter and oil in a pan and heated it up.

The secret to cooking mushrooms deliciously was to cook them hot with plenty of patience. If you rashly threw the mushrooms in…

‘…But I really think my cooking skills have improved too much since entering school.’

It wasn’t a joke; he felt like his cooking skills had improved more than his magic skills.

He had no choice but to improve as he worried every day about how to make a variety of delicious dishes with limited ingredients.

With enough money and support, a chef might be a better choice than a wizard…

Sssssss!

The mushrooms on the pan absorbed the oil and butter.

Lee Han skillfully rolled the mushrooms to the side and placed small pieces of hardened bread in the remaining oil.

The two White Tiger Tower students couldn’t help but admire the sight of him cracking an egg and adding it after all the processes were finished.

‘These people seem more impressed than when they heard I defeated the undead summon.’

“Let’s eat.”

Lee Han sprinkled salt on the mushrooms, bread, and fried egg to season them.

The three didn’t say a word and hurriedly stuffed the food into their stomachs. The grilled mushrooms were crispy, and the hardened bread was moist from the oil.

Angalo suddenly felt his eyes getting hot.

“I… I didn’t think I’d ever have a meal like this again…”

“…Me too. Angalo. I thought I’d never eat like this again…”

‘You’ve only been here for a month.’

Lee Han silently swallowed his food, watching the two White Tiger Tower students become a little too sentimental.

Whether they were crying or not, the White Tiger Tower students ate diligently, as if they were quite hungry.

As they ate, they felt like they were being watched. The forest around them was quiet, but it felt like something was moving in the shadows.

Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from behind.

Lee Han immediately threw the bowl he was holding to the side and picked up his staff. Angalo instinctively threw himself to catch the thrown bowl.

“Who’s there?”

What appeared through the bushes was a water spirit.

The water spirit seemed angry at the new students who were making a campfire instead of doing the trial. It approached, irregularly swelling its body.

It was a sign that it was about to attack.

Lee Han also stood up from his seat, holding his staff.

It was also a sign that he was about to attack.

And Lee Han was one step faster.

“Overwhelm…”

Before Lee Han could finish the spell, the water spirit was startled and began to run away.