Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1068

The Prince wanted someone to mess up. But no one did.

Pop!

The spell was successfully completed.

Yukbeltire was angry. He wanted to attack the painting. But then, he felt something change in the air. He stopped.

Then, he turned and ran towards the panel.

“Senior!”

Startled, Lee Han used telekinesis to fling his senior away. It was as if a giant’s palm had struck him, sending Yukbeltire tumbling backwards.

The protective artifacts on Yukbeltire glowed with a sudden, bright blue light, shielding him from harm, but rolling across the cold stone basement floor was hardly a pleasant experience.

Saratan, who had been catching his breath, was taken aback.

‘What a ruthless fellow! Trying to eliminate his comrade as soon as the spell is done!’

In the old days, it was quite common.

Even if several wizards joined hands to complete a great spell, only one could ultimately become its master.

They might say they’d be considerate and share it, but would that really happen?

If wizards were capable of such things in the first place, their history wouldn’t be so bloody.

But… wait. Lee Han is my wizard now. I should help him.

Saratan decided to side with Lee Han.

Not just because he was the staff’s owner, but because he had developed a slight fondness for him after overcoming hardships together.

‘Wait. Is this good? Attacking our friend? Hmm, I don’t know.’

Saratan’s dilemma didn’t last even a second. It was too much to ask a spirit like Saratan to deeply ponder such a topic in the first place.

He was told to follow the wizard’s lead, so he would!

Alright! I’ll finish him off!

“You mad spirit!”

When the spirit suddenly revealed his murderous intent and tried to pounce on Yukbeltire, Lee Han was startled again and blasted Saratan in the back.

Even though Yukbeltire was a skilled wizard, he was physically frail, so he blocked it with telekinesis, but Saratan was not. A ball of water, spinning fast like a bullet, shot through the air and slammed into Saratan’s back.

“Ugh…! Wh-what are you doing…?”

Losing his balance and falling, Saratan looked at Lee Han with eyes full of resentment and betrayal.

Of course, those were the words Lee Han should have been saying.

“Those are my words, you mad spirit! What are you doing!”

Weren’t you going to kill the wizard and monopolize it?

“…The spell isn’t stable yet, so I stopped you because it’s dangerous!”

Lee Han shouted as if he couldn’t believe it. Saratan became very sheepish.

H-how am I supposed to know that…

“You don’t know, yet you immediately try to kill him? Help our senior up.”

Lee Han was worried about Yukbeltire, who still had his face buried in the corner of the wall, and urged Saratan.

If other upperclassmen of Einroguard were to get angry at this disrespect towards their senior…

‘Hmm. Now that I think about it, there’s no need to worry.’

If it were Dirette, he would have been worried, but Yukbeltire didn’t seem to have any juniors who would step up to avenge him.

Get up.

“……”

Yukbeltire brushed off Saratan’s hand and got up, dusting himself off.

Then, he said as if nothing had happened.

“Excellent. Descendant of the Wodanaz family.”

“Hey. Dust him off.”

When Saratan approached at Lee Han’s command, Yukbeltire pushed him away once more.

“Stay away.”

Why is he angry at me…

“Senior. Are you angry?”

“Not at all. Now that the spell is complete, I am expressing my gratitude.”

Yukbeltire quickly continued speaking before the spirit and junior could interrupt him.

“Junior. You have exceeded my expectations. Although you arbitrarily left with the Headmaster and wasted most of your vacation…”

“Let’s forget about that.”

“…this result is excellent enough to surpass all of that. I am very satisfied.”

It was rare for this fifth-year senior, who was mostly cold except when dealing with Dirette or Professor Verdus, to express such satisfaction.

He usually annoyed Professor Verdus by about 0.3 Verdus, but Lee Han still felt proud, considering him a senior.

“It’s alright. Just share the authority to ride Professor Verdus…”

-Stone Mirror.

“Yes?”

Lee Han tilted his head, puzzled by the Prince’s words.

-Giving the Stone Mirror as a reward would be good.

“Who to whom?”

-That wizard to my disciple. He made such a great contribution. In the old kingdom, senior wizards gave proper rewards to junior wizards.

“……”

Yukbeltire’s complexion turned pale.

Although he had received some criticism this time, this mirror artifact was a beloved treasure to Yukbeltire.

He started making it in his second year, completed it in his third year, and in his fourth year, he took time out of his busy schedule to work on enhancements with Dirette (who, knowing the value of this artifact, followed along without complaint).

And now he had to give it to his junior?

“Th-th-th-that…”

Lee Han seemed to be seeing his senior stuttering with such a pale face for the first time.

It reminded him of Professor Verdus having his artifact taken away.

Are all Einroguard Enchantment Magic students like this?

‘Senior. It’s alright. I’ll just take gold coins.’

“Thank you. I really wanted that artifact.”

Lee Han was going to ask for gold coins.

No matter how much enchantment wizards whined about being broke, they could never truly be broke. If you searched their pockets, expensive reagents and artifacts would always come out.

But surprisingly, different words came out of his mouth!

“???!!”

Lee Han was shocked.

He checked to see if he had been enchanted, but that wasn’t it. No magic could invade Lee Han.

‘…Unique World?!?!!’

Only then did Lee Han realize how the young Prince had been so easily muting voices from the start.

There was no need to bother with casting spells on each individual.

By completely dominating this basement space, he could easily cut and change voices.

While shuddering at the absurd level of magic, Lee Han suddenly felt a sense of doubt.

‘Wait. But why didn’t he help earlier?’

If he had completely dominated this basement space like his own limbs, then it made sense that he didn’t stop him when he was casting those difficult spells in succession.

But if a problem arose in the middle, he could have handled it with a flick of his finger, so why bother teaching Lee Han magic?

Could it be…

‘Ah, no. It must have been such a minor problem that there was no need to step in directly.’

Lee Han shook his head.

The opponent wasn’t the Skeleton Headmaster. What kind of suspicion was he having against a pure and kind Prince?

“Th-that.”

‘Oops.’

While Lee Han was pondering the young Prince’s magic, Yukbeltire stared at his junior with trembling eyes.

Even his junior, whom he had never expected, was readily telling him to hand it over.

-Wizard. Think about it. This spell involves engraving Bakwantalla’s Dimensional Rod and Ahiman’s Refraction onto a single panel. Did you really think you could receive that spell without any compensation?

“B-but… the junior also did it last time…”

Yukbeltire hesitated, recalling the avatar of his desire for fame.

That avatar was arrogant, but it didn’t demand any compensation for imparting knowledge.

So he naturally assumed that this young Prince would be the same…

-Wizard! You were clearly angry at your teacher’s attitude. Are you going to become like your teacher?

“!!!”

Yukbeltire froze, struck by the finishing move.

In the Einroguard Enchantment Magic Department, no student could calmly brush off the words ‘You’re acting like Professor Verdus.’

“I understand. I will gladly gift the Stone Mirror to my junior.”

“?!”

Lee Han was surprised by his senior’s sudden answer.

Did he hate being compared to Professor Verdus that much?

But still, he never expected that this bloke would so readily give away his precious artifact…

“Mmph mph mph mph mph!”

“……”

Lee Han, making eye contact with Yukbeltire, could understand the truth.

His senior was waving his hands, indicating that he didn’t say those words.

“Master…”

-Here. Gift the Stone Mirror.

“Here you go. Take it. Junior. It’s a natural tribute for your hard work.”

Yukbeltire reluctantly handed over a small, silver mirror, its surface smooth and cool to the touch. Lee Han felt unnecessarily sorry and whispered.

“I’ll return it when we get out.”

“I’ll check every time you come to the basement, and if the Stone Mirror is gone, I’ll confiscate that panel too, so try reclaiming it if you want, Wizard.”

“…Master… you mistook the voice…”

The young Prince was supposed to say that, but he said it in Yukbeltire’s voice.

The Prince, now too lazy to go back and forth, continued.

“Wizard. I can lend you my wisdom in the future too. But you’ll have to bring the price. Bringing other wizards thirsty for wisdom would also be good. As long as you pay the price. Heh heh heh…”

“You must never sell out Senior Dirette.”

Lee Han glared at Yukbeltire with a serious face.

Yukbeltire felt a deep sense of injustice.

He hadn’t even thought about Dirette!