Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1085

“…Let’s take a look.”

Dirette stopped trying to explain Yukbeltire’s lateness and changed the subject.

Now that the matter was resolved, it was time to deliver the good news to Bulseck, the owner of the mansion.

As the servant ran off to deliver the news, Bulseck burst out immediately.

“Really! The demon has been dealt with!”

“Yes. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“I’m so gratef…”

Thud!

Bulseck, forgetting his dignity in his joy and about to express his gratitude, was startled by the sudden opening of the mansion door.

‘Could there be a demon we missed?!’

But it wasn’t a demon that entered. It was Yukbeltire, panting for breath.

“……”

“……”

Dirette and Stedal Nago subtly looked away.

The tips of Yukbeltire’s fingers trembled.

“Wh-what’s going on?”

Koholt, confused by Yukbeltire’s sudden arrival, asked, bewildered.

‘Why did Yukbeltire come separately?’

“Why did this wizard come alone now?”

“He must have gotten lost. Don’t worry about it,” Dirette said.

At Dirette’s words, the trembling of Yukbeltire’s fingertips intensified. Stedal Nago added, “The capital is so chaotic, it’s easy to get lost.”

“I should have… I should have assigned him a guide. I’m sorry.”

The students of the Dark Magic faction whispered at the unexpected conversation.

“Senior Yukbeltire can’t find his way around?”

“I never knew that.”

Seeing Yukbeltire frozen with anger, Dirette acted quickly.

If he didn’t distribute the reward now, he couldn’t imagine how much trouble they would cause later.

“Thank you for the reward. Here. I’ll distribute it now.”

“Huh? You can put it all in the faction treasury. Senior did almost everything anyway.”

“What are you talking about, Dirimpa? You can’t do anything in the capital without money.”

“I don’t really have anything to spend money on. I just do magic in my room…”

“……”

“……”

Koholt and the other students gave him pitiful looks.

Unlike Dirimpa, they needed gold coins, their eyes seemed to say.

“…Alright, alright, everyone just take it quickly.”

“Th-thank you!”

“No need to be so grateful. Here.”

Bulseck watched the wizards’ conversation with a pleased expression.

Although it was an incident caused by his mistake, he felt proud to see the Einroguard wizards sharing the rewards so warmly.

“I was worried because of the rumors about dark wizards… The Einroguard dark wizards are very polite and diligent people!”

“…Wh-what are those people doing over there?”

At the voice coming from behind, Bulseck turned his head.

Lapadiel, a distant relative of the family and a young prodigy, was staring into the mansion with a shocked expression.

“Ah, Lapadiel! You’ve arrived! It’s nothing. Everything’s been resolved.”

“No… Th-that’s… Why… are those people…?” Lapadiel stammered.

In fact, the fact that Lapadiel belonged to the Dark Magic faction was not widely known within the family.

Only close family members knew, and since Lapadiel hadn’t explicitly revealed that he was in the Dark Magic faction, other relatives didn’t know which faction he belonged to.

“Right. Since you’re also part of Einroguard, you might have met these people. Even if you’re in different factions, you’re still in the same school!”

‘That rascal…’

‘He didn’t say anything.’

The seniors of the Dark Magic faction looked at their junior with understanding.

If he belonged to a family that cared about appearances, it might be a little embarrassing to reveal that he was in the Dark Magic faction. The seniors understood that feeling very well.

“Let’s help him. He’s still our junior.”

“We need to coordinate our stories. By the way, what faction did he say he was in?”

While the seniors were whispering, Bulseck suddenly asked as if he had just remembered.

“Come to think of it, Lapadiel. Which faction did you say you were in?”

“That’s…”

Lapadiel blinked repeatedly at the flustered question.

It was such an unexpected situation that his mind felt blank.

‘Should I hide that I’m in the Dark Magic faction? Would the seniors be upset? What will happen if I reveal it? More importantly, why is Wodanaz in that disguise?’

Koholt, unable to watch any longer, opened his mouth.

“Our junior is in the Enchantment Magic faction.”

…The problem was that Koholt wasn’t the only one who spoke up.

“He’s in the Divination Magic faction.”

“The Transformation Magic faction…”

Other seniors also offered names of decent factions they thought of to help their junior.

Thanks to that, the surroundings suddenly became quiet. It was a very awkward silence.

“……”

“……”

“N-no. Is it even possible to be in so many factions? Lapadiel? What if you go crazy??”

‘That’s too harsh.’

Lee Han thought, *That’s too harsh.*

Lapadiel looked at his seniors. And he looked at his friend in disguise.

A light of determination sparkled in Lapadiel’s eyes.

“…I’m actually in the Dark Magic faction!”

“What? You’re taking all those factions!?”

“N-no… Just the Dark Magic faction…”

Fortunately, Bulseck wasn’t ashamed that the family’s prodigy was learning magic in the Dark Magic faction.

Rather, he was surprised that he was a direct senior and insisted on treating him properly.

“Wow. He’s a good person.”

“Yeah, Gral.”

“……”

Lapadiel was embarrassed for no reason and sat with his head bowed. Lee Han spoke to comfort him.

“Raise your head, Lapadiel. He’s a good relative.”

“Why are you in that state, though…”

“It’s a long story.”

“……”

Koholt asked as if he didn’t understand.

“We were trying to package you as a good faction, so why did you insist on revealing that you’re in the Dark Magic faction?”

“No, but why the Enchantment Magic faction? If it was the Divination Magic faction, Gral would have accepted it.”

“The Transformation Magic faction is more…”

“The Enchantment Magic faction is better. Look at the income.”

“But the fact that you’re related to Professor Verdus is a tag that will stick with you.”

As the seniors started arguing over something really useless, Lapadiel said urgently.

“I’ve worked hard to learn what I have, and I didn’t want to hide it.”

“…!”

“That rascal…”

The seniors gave him slightly touched looks.

To think that the guy who came in yelling about trying to thwart Dark Magic would show such affection for the faction.

Koholt didn’t understand and thought to himself.

‘Why is our faction so close-knit compared to other factions, even though we don’t have any money?’

Stedal Nago was also touched and put his hand on Lapadiel’s shoulder.

“Excellent, wizard.”

“…Stop it…”

Lapadiel brushed off his hand as if he was very displeased and asked.

“More importantly, what brings you here?”

“We came to deal with the demon summoned in the mansion. And got caught here like this.”

?!!

Lapadiel was shocked at the unexpected words.

But the surprise was just the beginning.

“But that demon brought an angel with him, so Senior Yukbeltire even had to negotiate with the angel…”

?!!!

“Nago also helped.”

“Hmm.”

“……”

Lapadiel stared with his mouth wide open at his classmate in disguise.

‘What the hell is this guy doing?’

“You negotiated with an angel?!”

“Right. Come to think of it, the Gral family has angel blood mixed in.”

Lee Han belatedly recalled his friend’s lineage.

‘I think they said there was angel blood mixed in during their ancestors’ time?’

“Nago knows everything!”

Koholt flattered him, rubbing his palms together. Lapadiel turned his head from side to side at the ugly sight, looking at both of them once.

‘What the heck is going on?’

‘Wodanaz…! What are you doing, really…!’

But there was no change in Lee Han, or rather, Stedal Nago’s expression. Lapadiel was even thrilled by that cold expression.

‘Do you have to be this calm to be the top student in the grade!?’

“Do you have any advice about angels?”

“Advice is… well…”

Lapadiel suppressed the urge to shout ‘Stop disguising yourself, you jerk!’ and focused on thinking.

‘What kind of stories related to angels have been passed down in the family?’

“…First of all, angels are mostly stubborn.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Although there’s hardly any contact with them, there are very rare cases of contracts. Our family’s ancestors are such cases…”

Contracts with spirits, angels, or demons left traces, large and small, on the soul.

Depending on the depth of those traces, characteristics are manifested in the descendants.

“In that respect, the most important thing is the first impression.”

“First impression?”

“As I said, angels are stubborn. If you want to make a contract, you have to persuade them properly in the first meeting. Otherwise, it will be difficult…”

“…What about the opposite?”

Lapadiel hesitated at Stedal Nago’s question.

He didn’t understand what he meant.

“The opposite?”

“I mean, what if you don’t want to make a contract?”

“You have to make them understand clearly that you have nothing to do with the angel’s purpose when you first meet them…?”

“If that fails, what should you do when you meet them next time?”

“…If that fails, isn’t it just over? I think the angel will keep chasing you until you make a contract.”

“……”

Lee Han frowned, not getting the answer he wanted.

‘This guy. He doesn’t know anything.’

That inner thought seemed to have been conveyed to Lapadiel. Lapadiel shouted in a resentful voice.

“No, it’s virtually impossible to make a contract with the same spirit again if you fail once, so why are you expecting that only from angels…”

“Hey! Lapadiel! What kind of rudeness is that!”

Koholt pretended to scold him, and Lapadiel almost went crazy.

‘Seriously, this graduate!’

Dirette, unable to watch any longer, stepped in to mediate.

“Everyone, stop it. More importantly, what brings you here?”

“Ah. I came to prepare the items I’m going to bring in for the new semester. They said they’d give me some unused magic items…”

“Items to bring in? How are you going to bring them in?”

The seniors were puzzled.

Unless they were around 5th grade, they couldn’t confidently say that they were bringing items in for the new semester.

They could get caught smuggling at any time and have everything taken away.

“Wodanaz said he’d bring them in for me.”

The seniors were silent at Lapadiel’s answer.

And they thought.

‘Those 2nd graders are so lucky!’

Even if he was a junior in the same faction that they cherished, seeing him living so happily thanks to one friend made an unknown jealousy surge in their hearts.

‘Why didn’t we have a friend like that back then???’

As the end of the vacation slowly came into view, the 2nd grade students slowly prepared their luggage.

As always, no matter how much supplies they prepared to bring into Einroguard, it was never enough. Items they wished they had brought kept appearing.

“??”

Eandurde and Alhi couldn’t understand the seniors’ actions.

External supplies were clearly prohibited, so why were the seniors preparing so nonchalantly?

“Excuse me, I have a question.”

Alhi opened his mouth, spotting Gainando passing by.

Gainando was startled and gave him a wary look. He was worried that this brilliant 1st grade junior would ask a difficult magic question.

“Wh-what is it? I’m busy, by the way.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll ask briefly. Do you have a way to bring these items in, seniors?”

“Huh? Yeah. Lee Han said he’d bring them in for us. I heard there’s a new smuggling method? He has plenty of space.”

“Th-that’s… amazing. Is it a favor given because we’re in the same tower?”

“No? He does it for the guys in other towers too?”

“…I-I’m really surprised. Indeed… Is he only doing it this time? For a high price?” Alhi asked, trying to understand something that confused him.

But Gainando, unaware of his desperate junior’s heart, answered honestly.

“He did it last time too? He just smuggled it for us. He charges for cooking, but smuggling is…”

“……”

“……”

Gainando didn’t realize that the two juniors’ eyes were changing with jealousy and hatred.