Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1079

“Why would you say that?” Even though he looked like a tough battle wizard, with strong shoulders and a stern face, Ihan’s words seemed to hit him hard. A flicker of hurt crossed his eyes, like a shadow passing over a stone statue.

It’s true, Ihan helped business. People were buying more poisons and curses than before. But that’s just how shops work, right? If people don’t buy these things here, they’ll buy something else somewhere else.

“By the way,” Ihan asked, “who is Dirimpa?” The older student replied, “Dirimpa? Oh, you haven’t met him yet. He’s usually underground.”

“Underground?” Ihan thought for a moment. *Ah, I understand.* He nodded slowly.

“Some dwarves like being outside,” the senior continued. “They enjoy drinking, music, and exploring. Professor Lightningfoot is like that, an Eastern dwarf. But other dwarves are different. They love being underground, mining and collecting minerals. Like Zarun from the Ironshoe family, a Western dwarf. Dirimpa must be like Zarun, from the West.”

“But the Black Magic Department doesn’t need minerals or jewels,” Ihan said, confused. “So why live underground? What do you study?”

Dirette looked puzzled. “What are *you* talking about?” she asked, head slightly to the side. *Minerals or jewels?* she thought.

Ihan hesitated. “Well… living underground… isn’t it to find minerals and jewels faster?”

“No,” Dirette said. “I look for buried bones.”

Ihan – or Steddle Nago, as he was really called – blinked. His face changed slightly. Dirette quickly tried to explain.

Dirette didn’t want Ihan to think badly of her. “Listen,” she said quickly, “finding bones under Einroguard and using them for black magic is allowed. It’s not against the rules.”

Ihan frowned. “I didn’t think it was about the rules…”

“People think it’s okay if a wizard finds jewels underground. That sounds good, right? But someone looking for bones underground… that sounds a bit strange.” Ihan wondered, *Is that why people don’t like the Black Magic Department?*

Dirette kept talking, trying to explain. She was worried Ihan might think she was a bad person, like a scary bone-collecting wizard. “Dirimpa studies bones for learning,” she said. “There are so many old bones under Einroguard! They are from ancient creatures. It’s a waste of magic to just leave them there.”

Ihan wasn’t sure he really understood, and bones still sounded a bit creepy. But Dirette seemed so worried. He decided to pretend he understood. He felt a little bad for her, trying so hard to explain.

“Okay,” Ihan said. “I understand. Really. I was wrong to judge.”

“Good,” Dirette smiled, relieved. “You should talk to Dirimpa sometime. He often gives away good jewels.”

Ihan’s eyes widened. “!” *Gives them away?* Could Dirimpa actually be a nice person? He couldn’t believe it.

“But… why?” he asked.

Dirette hesitated. She knew Ihan wouldn’t like the real reason. “Well,” she started, “Dirimpa loves bones. He doesn’t care about jewels. So, if he finds jewels underground, and he doesn’t have space for them… he just throws them away. If you’re lucky, you can find them before he does…”

Ihan’s face changed. *He’s crazy!* he thought. *I should stay away from him.* He decided right then. *Why is someone like that in the Black Magic Department? He should be in Enchantment Magic!*

The Black Magic Department students checked the amount they had been paid and teared up.

“Sniff. I can buy a new chimera corpse in the second semester.”

“Shouldn’t we repair the leak on the second floor of the Black Darkness Hall first?”

Dirette’s heart ached at the sight.

‘I’m sorry…!’

Her juniors were living like that, while the senior was just researching her own magic. Even Professor Verdus wouldn’t do that.

“Senior, everyone in Einroguard takes care of their own business. You’re not thinking something weird like, ‘I’m below Professor Verdus,’ are you?”

“…Are you using mind reading?” Dirette was slightly surprised by her junior’s sharp remark.

Come to think of it, wasn’t this junior also the top student in the Illusion Magic Department?

“Not at that level yet.”

‘Not yet?’

“And I heard earlier that Senior Dirimpa spits on jewels and throws them on the ground when he finds them, so strictly speaking, it’s his fault. Hmph.”

“…I never said he spits…!” Dirette shuddered at the malicious description.

‘Should I have told him?’

Given her junior’s personality, a wizard who throws away jewels because he doesn’t have space would probably feel more heinous than a magical criminal.

She was going to find out someday, so she told him in advance…

“Ah, Senior, what were you talking about?” Dirimpa came at the worst possible moment. Dirette sent her junior a look that said, ‘Don’t say unnecessary things,’ and explained.

“We were talking about the request.”

“I was asking about a curse to defeat an evil magical criminal.”

Dirette looked at him again with eyes that said, ‘I just told you not to say unnecessary things.’ Ihan felt a little wronged. Wasn’t this useful information?

“Indeed. But isn’t it difficult to subdue a magical criminal with a curse? No, if it’s you, Senior, you’ll have a way.”

Curses were originally difficult to use as the main means of attack when dealing with other wizards. They were easily blocked by magic resistance, so there were many countermeasures. But Dirimpa trusted Dirette.

Surely this genius of the Black Magic Department would have found a way to circumvent such common knowledge.

‘I don’t have anything like that…’

Dirette was flustered. She wasn’t a battle wizard in the first place, so how could she have come up with such a method?

A dwarf wizard with shoulder-length red hair looked around slightly. She seemed to have something to say.

“Dirimpa, you can say whatever you want. Steddle here is a man of few words.”

“Yes, I understand. Actually, I heard a story about a demon. There’s a demon summoned to the surface without a contract.”

Not only Dirette but also Ihan’s eyes lit up.

A demon?

It was easy to forget because they often appeared as unsightly slaves in Einroguard or the Mo family’s territory, but demons were basically one of the empire’s greatest dangers.

Beings who crossed over from other dimensions to corrupt and torment the souls of mortals. No matter how plausible they used their shells, they were ultimately beings close to natural disasters.

But apart from that, it was hard for a wizard to deny the usefulness of demons. The secrets of other dimensions that had been going on for a very long time. Demons possessed knowledge of numerous ancient magic and mysteries.

And apart from that, demons were excellent summons even just as labor. Few races were as capable as demons among the summons that could be contracted from the dimension.

“If it’s a demon…”

“It’s an opportunity that the Einroguard Black Magic Department can’t miss. We have to catch the demon and use it.”

“?” Dirimpa was taken aback by the other person’s rough words.

Looking only at the content of what he was saying, apart from his fierce attitude, he just seemed like someone who knew a lot about the Black Magic Department.

“Are you a friend of the professor?”

“No. No. Don’t worry about it.” Dirette kicked her junior’s heel slightly with an invisible motion.

‘Stop it!’

“It’s true, as Nago said. It would be nice to have a useful demon. The demon I summoned last time went back because the contract was over.”

There were two main ways to use demons. One was to summon them directly from the dimension through a strict magic contract.

Experienced and evil wizards easily tricked and used demons in this process, but not just anyone could do it. The other was to subdue and subjugate the demons that had descended on the continent.

Unlike the former, there were far fewer restrictions and it was easier to use them.

“But if it’s a low- or mid-level demon, I don’t need it that much. There’s not much they can do…”

“I heard it’s higher than that.”

“What?” Dirette’s eyes widened slightly.

The demon her junior was talking about was more powerful than she thought.

“If such a demon is wandering around, shouldn’t we report it to the Knights?”

“To be exact, it’s not wandering around.”

Dirimpa explained the story she had heard from a nobleman in the hall.

-Black Magic Department, everyone. Can I have a consultation about demons for a moment…?

-?? -That is, I… bought an expensive old relic… at a secret auction…

It was common for demons to be hidden in ancient relics. Few prey were as favored by demons as those blinded by quick riches.

But there was one thing the demon didn’t expect: people’s level of response had also increased over time. The mansions of the empire’s nobles were lined with protective magic and barrier magic cast by wizards.

In particular, nobles who often bought old relics were sure to have anti-demon magic in place. That response saved the nobleman. Instead of escaping out of the mansion, the demon released from the relic was trapped in the mirrors inside the mansion.

Although he had been hit once, the demon did not give up and continued to appear from mirror to mirror, trying to persuade his opponent.

-Don’t you want power? Huh?

-I don’t want it! What power does someone working as an imperial administrator need!

-Don’t you want authority? Huh?

-I’m retiring next year!

-Wealth? Don’t you want to grow this mansion dozens of times? Youth? Revenge? Release me and make a formal contract!

“Wow. He’s responding better than I thought…” Dirette was slightly surprised.

Perhaps because he was working as an administrator, he was more thorough than she thought. Of course, the best thing would have been not to buy things like ancient relics from suspicious places like secret auctions…

Ignoring the demon completely without saying a word after that was definitely a good response.

Ihan opened his mouth as if he understood. Since the demon was summoned because of a relic bought from a suspicious place, he wouldn’t want to make it public.

If the trustworthy Einroguard black magicians could take care of it and take the demon away, wouldn’t everyone be happy? The nobleman would be happy because his worries would disappear, the Einroguard Black Magic Department students would be happy because a demon would appear, and the demon would be happy because he would have an owner…

“Hmm. It would be nice to get a demon. Should we go and check it out? Whether it’s a demon we can subdue or not.”

“That would be good, right?” Dirimpa nodded at her senior’s response.

Such a demon might be more useful than she thought. In particular, the fact that it came from an ancient relic stimulated her curiosity. If she was really lucky, she might catch a powerful high-ranking demon!

“I don’t think so. If it was such a demon, it would have escaped before being restricted.”

“That’s true.”

“…?” Dirimpa stared at the large battle wizard.

Huh?

“…Are you coming with us?” This was a request received by the Einroguard Black Magic Department.

Even if he came along, there was no money to give him or a demon to share… Steddle nodded.

It wasn’t because of money or demons. A much purer reason made Steddle move.

“Yes. A fight with a demon. I can’t give that up. I already feel my blood boiling.”

Dirimpa was flustered by the other person’s attitude, which revealed a belligerence befitting the rumors, and whispered to Dirette.

“Is he okay, Senior? I know it’s more dangerous if you just rely on strength and cause an accident when subduing a demon.”

“…He’s not someone who will act on his own…”