Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1043

“A dangerous place?”

“What? No!”

Lee Han felt silly because his junior misunderstood him.

Why was Alhidel talking about dangerous places?

“What do you mean, dangerous place?” Lee Han asked.

“I thought you said you left it there, Senior…”

Alhidel thought like a top student:

1. Senior Wodanaaz is very impressive.

2. His family member, Alsicl, is also impressive.

3. So, if Senior Wodanaaz was surprised enough to leave something behind…

4. It must be a very dangerous magical place!

Lee Han was surprised. ‘Is he really the top student?’ he wondered.

“If it’s not a dangerous place, is it the place of the Ice Spirits or Ice Giants?”

“No… I meant I left him in Petrograd. Another magic school.”

“…Is that really something to be so surprised about?”

Alhidel tilted his head.

Alsicl was not a small child, and it was just another magic school. Why be so surprised?

“That’s true, but… it’s still a bit sad, isn’t it?” Lee Han said.

“It’s alright. I’m sure he’ll understand,” Alhidel replied. He admired mages who were calm and logical, like himself.

Alhidel believed in the mages of his family.

Surely, like him, they would not let small feelings or anger stop them from the important path of magic!

“Voladi Beggrak!!!”

Alsicl shouted. At first, he was confused. Then, he realized. They left him! They really left him here!

“He really left!?” Alsicl roared again, now understanding the situation and getting angrier.

His loud roar impressed some Petrograd students. They almost wanted to ask him to stay and be a model for art class.

“I-I’m sorry,” Dalser, a Petrograd professor, apologized.

It wasn’t really Dalser’s fault that the Einroguard students had left. But Alsicl looked so angry that it didn’t matter.

“No, it’s alright,” Alsicl said, huffing and still furious. “Kraaah. It’s not your fault.”

Honestly, deep down, he understood the other Einroguard students.

Lee Han and Professor Garcia were probably very busy fighting the Skull Headmaster’s former student and forgot.

But Professor Voladi was different.

As a battle mage, he would have noticed Alsicl was missing.

He knew and didn’t tell him!

‘That annoying… mean Professor Voladi…’ Alsicl thought, feeling very wronged.

Was taking a student on a dangerous monster hunt really such a bad thing?

…Thinking about it now, it did seem a bit bad.

Alsicl sighed deeply.

“Haaah. Getting angry will only hurt me. I’ll be going now.”

“Are you leaving already?” The Petrograd students, who had become friends with him, were sad.

Even if he wasn’t a model, this mage from the Pengaerin family was a good mage with great skills.

Especially his knowledge of ice and frost magic, which was the best in Petrograd.

“I have to go. It was fun, everyone.”

“Um, maybe…”

“What? If you have magic questions, ask quickly.”

“Could you maybe pluck out a feather for me?”

“…No feathers!” Alsicl said firmly, giving them a stern look. “Step back five paces, or you’ll be sorry!”

“Hmm. Alsicl is nicer than he looks,” Lee Han said. He was not as surprised as Alhidel had been.

“I think you’re right. By the way, where’s Ean Durde?” Alhidel asked.

Lee Han was looking for his junior, not just because of the vacation.

He also remembered something Jo-Urin’s younger brother, Uman, had asked him a while ago.

-Oh! Do you know how to tie up a mage tightly? My sister asked me!

Uman had asked Lee Han how to tie up a mage. At first, Lee Han thought it was about the Skull Headmaster. But now, he wasn’t so sure.

‘Wait a minute…’ Lee Han thought. ‘Maybe he wasn’t talking about the Skull Headmaster. Maybe he was talking about Ean Durde.’

It seemed unlikely that Jo-Urin could capture the Skull Headmaster. But Ean Durde… Ean Durde was Jo-Urin’s friend. And Ean Durde was someone who *could* be tied up.

‘If that’s true, I need to find him and warn him!’ Lee Han thought, feeling worried for Ean Durde. Ean Durde might end up trapped in Jo-Urin’s cave for the whole vacation if he wasn’t careful.

“Are you talking about Ean Durde? He got off the carriage as soon as we arrived in the capital,” Alhidel said.

“Ah. I guess so,” Lee Han replied. Ean Durde had been forced to come, so he wouldn’t want to come to the auction house.

“He did ask me some questions before. He seemed to be looking for a gift for a friend,” Alhidel added.

“Of course! I knew you were smart from the start, Alhidel,” Lee Han said, flattering him.

Alhidel blushed a little at the praise.

Since Ean Durde had an invitation from a friend, he was probably going to buy a gift before visiting.

And to buy a gift, he would need gold coins. So, he was going to the underground arena…

“Ean Durde!!!” Lee Han shouted his junior’s name for the first time. Alhidel looked confused.

Alhidel looked confused.

“Forget it,” Lee Han said quickly. “Anyway, you said he was going to the underground arena? I need to go see Professor Beggrak.”

As a senior student, he had to find his junior with a professor. Lee Han ran towards where the two professors were waiting.

“Alhidel, come too. Take a gift with you.” Lee Han wanted to pick out some useful things from the gift bundle for Alhidel.

“But I have something I wanted to buy,” Alhidel said.

“What is it?” Lee Han asked, a little impatient to leave.

“It’s nothing important,” Alhidel said, realizing Lee Han was in a hurry.

“…Okay, let’s go! Come on!” Lee Han said, pulling Alhidel along.

After emptying the gift bag, Lee Han told Professor Voladi about the situation.

Professor Voladi was not surprised by the mountain of gifts and answered right away. “Follow me.”

“What about Professor Garcia?” Lee Han asked.

Professor Voladi shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

The slums were a maze of narrow alleys. The air smelled of old fish and dirt. Broken wood and cracked stone buildings leaned close together, blocking out the sun. Every shadow seemed to hide danger. It was not a good place for a mage who wasn’t trained for fighting.

“Professor could get hurt…” Lee Han started to say.

“Professor Garcia’s magic is very powerful. If she gets surprised, she might accidentally blow up the whole street!” Professor Voladi said.

‘Ah. It was the opposite problem,’ Lee Han realized, understanding it wrong before. He knew they could be attacked, but the danger was different than he thought.

A mage like Professor Garcia could still use magic even if attacked. The problem was controlling it.

Unless they wanted to destroy the whole slum, it was better for Professor Garcia to stay behind.

“…Oh? So, am I…” Lee Han started to ask.

” ?” Professor Voladi looked at him.

“It’s nothing,” Lee Han said quickly. He was about to ask, ‘Am I not in danger then?’ but stopped himself.

Professor Voladi probably thought the most senior student was strong enough to come along!

‘And if it’s like last year, it might be okay,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han used magic to make himself stronger and saved up magic power. He took out potions from his pouch and put them where he could reach them easily.

He was ready to use six or seven spells at once if a fight started.

Last year, Lee Han had come to this slum with the Skull Headmaster to find Ean Durde for Einroguard.

In these dark alleys where no one would notice if someone died, bad people with knives and clubs would jump out after just a few steps.

‘I’m sure some people recognized the Headmaster and ran away last time. But this time…?’

Lee Han stepped onto the dirty streets and looked at Professor Voladi’s back, wondering.

Would the bad people here recognize Professor Voladi like they recognized the Skull Headmaster?

-We have a guest.

-You idiot! Do you know who that is!

Someone tried to jump out from an alley between buildings, but someone else pulled him back.

Lee Han nodded. ‘They recognize him.’

-It’s the guy who was with the Spirit Master last year! Are you trying to get us all killed?!

……” Lee Han was shocked.

They recognized *him*, not Professor Voladi?

“No way!” Lee Han whispered.

” ?” Professor Voladi, walking ahead, looked at Lee Han, wondering what was wrong.

“…It’s nothing. More importantly, do the people here recognize you, Professor?” Lee Han asked.

“I don’t know,” Professor Voladi said.

People in this slum changed quickly. It was called a guild, but it was mostly just a group of runaway fighters and criminals, not like real guilds with permission from the Empire.

So, it was possible no one knew Professor Voladi.

‘I see. I was just unlucky,’ Lee Han thought, sighing quietly.

Maybe the person who recognized him just now…

-Aaaargh! It’s the crazy hunter!!!

-The Butcher is here! The Butcher has come! You idiots! Run!

-Everyone with a bounty on their head, get out now!

Shouts echoed through the alley, followed by the sound of running feet.

The old wooden building on the left side of the street suddenly crashed down.

It was a hidden bar where criminals with bounties hid. They were all trying to run out the back door when they heard the rumors, and the old building couldn’t handle it.

Lee Han quickly used magic to hold back the falling wood and stone, making a way out. The criminal fighters rushing out thanked him quickly.

“Th-Thank…”

*Thud!*

Before they could finish thanking him, they fell to the ground. Professor Voladi had acted fast.

The professor took out a piece of paper and wrote on it, saying the bounty money should be sent to Einroguard. He threw the paper on top of the fallen men.

Then the paper split in two. One part turned into a paper bird and flew towards the guards in the capital.

“Well done, you lured them out,” Professor Voladi said, praising his student. Lee Han felt a little unfairly blamed.

He hadn’t meant to lure them!

He felt a bit bad thinking about the captured fighters shouting, ‘Kraaah, that mage was working with Professor Beggrak all along.’

‘I really was trying to help them…’ Lee Han thought, feeling a bit annoyed.

As Lee Han grumbled to himself, he saw people hiding behind a round wooden tub full of fish in a nearby smelly alley, watching them.

-Isn’t that the mage who was with the Spirit Master last time?

-That’s right! And this time he’s with the Hunter!

……” Lee Han sighed quietly. ‘The Butcher… that’s what they call me now?’

“This way,” Professor Voladi said, already walking ahead. He had found the entrance to the underground arena.

Every city in the Empire had these secret places. You needed special ways to get in – knowing the entrance, being invited by the guild, and so on.

The entrance Professor Voladi was going to was a small, dirty leather shop.

But inside, a secret passage to the underground arena would appear by magic.

“Aaaack!”

As Professor Voladi walked into the shop, the leather seller, who was working on a monster skin, screamed.

“Why!! Why did you come!! Why are you here again!!” The merchant sounded scared and angry.

“Because of the passage,” Professor Voladi said simply.

“What? The passage? Ah, the arena? …You crazy mage! You came here last time and caused so much trouble, do you think it’s still open! It closed a long time ago!” The leather seller was confused for a moment, then realized who it was and burst out angrily.

Professor Voladi turned to Lee Han. “Let’s go to the next arena.”

……” Lee Han just nodded, feeling a bit tired already.

Oh