Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1099

Ignoring the angry person behind him, Yukbeltire spoke to Ethan.

“By the way, Ethan, I got a letter offering me a job.”

Yukbeltire held out the letter.

The offer was very generous. A magic workshop sent it, asking for both Yukbeltire and Ethan to work together.

Yukbeltire would lead the project, and Ethan would help.

Looking at the list of spells, the work seemed easy and wouldn’t take long.

‘Why is the reward so high for such simple work?’

Ethan realized the real reason.

‘Ah, they’re more interested in making connections than the job itself.’

He had received many similar offers before, even before starting at Einrogard, so he knew what it meant.

The offers Ethan received were mostly for two reasons.

First, some people truly wanted his magical skills.

Giselle’s father and Yoner’s sister were examples of this.

Second, some people wanted to be associated with his reputation.

While his skills mattered, they mainly wanted to meet Ethan, who came from the well-known Wodanaz family that was becoming more famous, and make connections.

Ethan liked getting things for free, but he couldn’t accept these offers easily. If he wasn’t careful, it would cause more trouble than it was worth.

‘Instead of going to parties and networking events, maybe it’s better to just work…’

This offer clearly aimed to connect with both Ethan and Yukbeltire, choosing them specifically.

Yukbeltire had some personality issues, but he was still the next best student in the Einrogard Enchantment Magic School when it came to magical skill.

“The person who sent this is smart. Sending it to both of us makes it more likely we’ll accept.”

The senior would probably help the junior, and the junior would help the senior to save face, even if they didn’t want to.

However, the sender didn’t understand one thing: there was no friendship at all among the students in the Enchantment Magic School.

“I’ll have to say no for now, Senior,”

“Why?!”

Yukbeltire sounded genuinely surprised.

Dirette might be emotional sometimes, but surely Ethan could see the value of this offer?

“It’s because I’ve received so many offers like this…”

Ethan unrolled a scroll, looking truly sorry. Even with just the titles of the offers, the list filled the entire scroll.

If it was a bad offer, he would have told them to go away, but this one was good, so he felt a little bad.

“…”

Yukbeltire stared at the scroll Ethan held out. His eyes scanned the long list of commission titles, going wider and wider. He felt a strange mix of shock and disbelief. ‘How… how is this possible?’ he thought, his mind reeling. He took a step back, feeling almost dizzy from the sheer number of offers.

Yukbeltire nodded weakly and stumbled back. Adenart looked worriedly at him as he walked away.

“He seems shocked. I’m worried about him.”

“He’s probably just hungry.”

“…”

Adenart stared at his friend, confused.

Ethan, who was usually so gentle with students his age, was treating Yukbeltire badly, as if he were a student from a very strict school.

‘What did you do?’

“Wodanaz, is there no way to stop him?”

As soon as the senior left, his friends looked serious and asked for advice.

If the dragon had such a powerful scale, no lie would work.

“There is a way,”

“!!!”

His friends’ eyes widened at Ethan’s answer.

He truly deserved to be called Wodanaz, finding a solution in this situation.

“Tell the seniors to pressure Prince Uman. If we can stop him from using that scale…”

“Yes! I’ll go!”

Gainan and some other students hurried off to talk to older students.

Ten minutes later, Gainan dragged his feet back, his shoulders drooping like wilted flowers.

“…They told me to get lost…”

“What? Just like that?”

Ethan was surprised.

It was strange for older students to treat younger students from the same group so coldly, no matter what the other groups were like.

“The seniors knew everything…”

As soon as Gainan arrived, the seniors had said:

-Wait, junior! Did you come to argue against the rule that says we can’t make meals for other students or help with homework?

-How did you know!?

-Haha! Then get lost!

-……

The seniors coldly sent Gainan away.

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut and muttered.

“The Headmaster told everyone.”

“!?”

In fact, not many people knew that Ethan was feeding his friends.

Starting with the kitchen club, Ethan hadn’t told anyone because it wasn’t good for others to know.

Even now, most of the seniors hadn’t understood the hidden meaning of the rule, but this sudden reaction meant…

“Even so, the seniors are being too unfair. They are letting their personal feelings ruin the work of our tower!”

“That’s right! It’s disappointing that the seniors are acting so emotionally!”

“If you’re upset, you should have started school a year later. They started a year earlier!”

‘Hmm, it’s a good thing there are no seniors around now.’

Yoner thought, watching his friends act embarrassingly.

If there were seniors present, they would have attacked, even if they were younger students from the same group.

At the same time, similar things were happening in other groups.

-Senior! Let’s work together to ease that rule somehow…

-Were you getting free meals last semester too?

-That’s not important!

-Get lost!

No matter how much the second-year students complained, time passed.

The next day, at dawn, Ethan saw Professor Bendozol’s face as he came out for the lecture.

‘Is there anyone in Einrogard as happy as he is right now?’

Even the Headmaster, enjoying being mean, probably wasn’t very happy.

After all, the inspectors were coming to interfere.

Perhaps he was even angrier because he was annoyed by that.

Professor Benjodoll looked very happy. His face showed pure joy.

“Good morning, Professor,” Lee Han said.

Professor Benjodoll looked up, a wide smile stretched across his face. “Ah, good morning to you, Wodanaz!” His voice was cheerful. “Did you sleep well?”

Lee Han blinked, surprised. He just stared.

Had he come to the wrong room? Was this Professor Garcia’s class by mistake?

No, he thought, looking at the familiar shelves of bubbling potions and strange bones. It’s definitely Professor Benjodoll.

Usually, Professor Benjodoll would just grunt at students. Sometimes he’d snap, “Why did you come?” like they were annoying him. Other times, it was just a rude, “Get lost,” even before class started.

But this? This kind, happy greeting? It was strange, almost scary. Even if Professor Benjodoll was in a good mood, he was never this nice.

Lee Han was very confused. Then, he saw Professor Benjodoll’s eyes twitch a little.

He was smiling, but he looked like he was trying hard to hide his real feelings.

“…Professor, are you trying to be cheerful?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Wodanaz. Come in quickly. You must attend the lecture, mustn’t you?”

“If Uman ordered you to do this, you don’t have to force yourself…”

Professor Benjodoll stopped pretending. His smile disappeared, and he growled, “Can’t you shut your mouth? Get inside, quickly.”

He had been forcing himself to be nice to please the dragon, and now this annoying kid was bothering him.

“I’m saying this because I’m worried about you, Professor. If someone keeps forcing themselves to do something that doesn’t suit them, they might get hurt.”

“I can’t hear you! Get inside!”

Lee Han looked at Professor Benjodoll with pity.

He thought he was happy, but Professor Benjodoll also had hidden pain.

‘Just how good is this dragon that he’s sucking up to him like this…?’

Professor Benjodoll’s second semester lecture was called . The lecture title showed how it was different from the first semester lecture, .

Lee Han checked his clothes and his magic. Not only Lee Han but also the other second-year students were preparing their defenses.

“Damn it. Who knew that bark skin magic would be useful?”

“Hey, could you cast a spell on me?”

“No way. What if the inspector finds out? If I could, I would have already asked Wodanaz. What do you think is going to come out?”

“I just hope it’s not a huge monster.”

It had only been one day since the new semester started, but his friends looked tired.

Gainando said sadly.

“It’ll be that demon-chimera mush again, won’t it? Smells like burnt socks and tastes like despair.”

“…I’m curious where you learned that, but cheer up, Gainando. There will be a way.”

“What way?!”

Lee Han was surprised when his friend reacted so strongly to his comment.

I haven’t really thought about it…

“For example… um. You could go out and get supplies yourself.”

“You could also wander around the school and loot the headmaster’s storage.”

His depressed friend looked like he was about to sink into the floor, Lee Han said quickly.

“Requests! There are also requests. If you take on a request and go out, you can take a break.”

Gainando’s eyes lit up.

“That’s right. There were requests, weren’t there?”

“Yes, Gainando. It’s too early to despair.”

“…But I don’t think I’ll get any requests. I’m in the black magic group.”

Oops.

Lee Han realized his mistake.

This was not a helpful thing to say to Gainando, because Gainando was in the black magic group.

“And we have to avoid being watched, but if that lizard watches us more, we won’t be able to avoid it…”

“Look over there, Gainando! The professor is bringing a new animal!”

It was an obvious attempt to change the subject, but Gainando agreed.

Considering the name of the lecture, , it was hard not to look.

“Good heavens! It’s a Barghest!”

Barghest.

It looked like a large black dog or wolf, but wizards recognized the dark magic on its fur.

It was known as a monster that brought death.

Touching it could drain your magic or life force, and he was bringing such a monster.

As expected of Professor Benjodoll…

“…It’s a pup?”

“A pup… a Barghest pup.”

The students, who had been scared by the name Barghest, realized its size and were surprised.

It was adorable and cute. Because it was a pup, the ominous magic around its fur was weak.

‘If it’s that weak, wouldn’t it be okay to touch it?’

Lee Han was puzzled.

To learn how to handle a Barghest, you should bring an adult Barghest, but he brought a pup that you could hug.

He couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

“Could there be some dangerous part of the Barghest pup that I don’t know about?”

“I haven’t heard of anything like that either…”

“Professor. Why did you choose a Barghest pup?”

Professor Benjodoll’s eyebrows twitched at Lee Han’s question.

“What’s wrong with a Barghest pup?”

“Well… isn’t this the lecture?”

“This is vicious enough. Are you defining the vicious creatures of the Empire!”

“???”

While Lee Han was puzzled, Uman appeared from behind.

“Ah. The lecture was in progress! Professor Benjodoll. It is an honor to audit your class.”

“The the the the the honor is all mine, D-D-D-Dragon Sir!”

Professor Benjodoll answered, flustered. Uman asked curiously.

“It seemed like you were angry at Wodanaz just now, is that correct?”

“…No! Absolutely not! We are very close. That Wodanaz… no, Wodanaz respects and cherishes me the most among his teachers!”

“??”

Lee Han stared at him as if to say, ‘What nonsense are you spouting?’, Professor Benjodoll gave him a desperate look.

Please!

Please!!!

Faced with eyes like those of a desperate animal, Lee Han opened his mouth.

“…Yes… well… in some ways, there might be such an aspect, and there might not be…”

“This is the first time I’ve heard this story!”

Uman was interested and remembered it.

To think that he would like Professor Benjodoll the most among his many teachers…