Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1141

A small voice whispered from inside Lee Han’s sleeve. “What’s wrong?”

“Isn’t that a really obvious lie?” the baby Basilisk hissed quietly.

Lee Han chuckled softly. Even though Jo-Urin was getting smarter, the Basilisk still thought Lee Han’s trick was too simple.

“You still don’t get it,” Lee Han said, a hint of pride in his voice.

“?” The Basilisk tilted its tiny head, confused.

“When you don’t have any proof, a bold lie can actually work well,” Lee Han explained.

“…” The baby Basilisk thought, *Why is Master so pleased with himself for lying?* It wiggled its tail quietly, deciding not to say anything. Lee Han had been in a bad mood lately. The Basilisk was afraid if it spoke up, Lee Han might get angry and yell, “Fine, go bother Jo-Urin then!” and throw it out of his warm sleeve.

Jo-Urin tilted his head, “That sounds like a lie, Master…” he mumbled quietly.

Lee Han blinked, “Sorry, what was that, Jo-Urin?” he asked, pretending not to hear.

“Oh, nothing, Master!” Jo-Urin said quickly, waving a claw dismissively.

Unfortunately, the young dragon couldn’t even imagine strongly suspecting Lee Han.

If other senior dragons saw this, they would complain, ‘Even if you cherish your contractor, you must have some suspicion!’

Lee Han had gotten the information he wanted. He hid his happy smile and changed the subject.

If he kept talking about it, even Jo-Urin might get suspicious.

Lee Han wanted to find and defeat the evil god worshippers first, but he could never tell Jo-Urin his plan.

It would probably lead to one of two outcomes, and he didn’t want either.

-Jo-Urin will come along!

-It’s too dangerous, absolutely not!

‘Hmm. I wonder how he would react to either of those.’

“So, what were you doing?”

“Ah… Uman… Uman is making Jo-Urin do work!” Jo-Urin grumbled, tattling.

He hoped Lee Han would punish his younger sibling.

He was being worked without rest—tearing up the forest, checking the oasis in the desert, checking the bedrock of the mountain range, and repairing the walls and main buildings!

“Excellent!” Lee Han exclaimed, impressed by what Jo-Urin had done.

He never imagined that Jo-Urin would be doing such admirable things while he was out on quests.

“…Huh?”

“Wow. Your Highness. You’re really amazing!”

“Excellent. I’m touched.”

Jo-Urin was even more confused when not only Lee Han but also the disciples showed genuine admiration.

Uh, uh oh?

“What’s going on, everyone?”

“Actually, Your Highness…”

Professors Garcia and Kirmin arrived late and were surprised to hear the story.

They never imagined that Jo-Urin would be doing such simple tasks himself.

“Your Highness. You’ve done really well!”

“I’m impressed!”

“…Hehe. This much is not difficult for Jo-Urin.”

Jo-Urin, feeling happy from the praise, quickly changed his attitude.

Jo-Urin had learned a lot from the students of Einroguard.

“I came out while purifying the forest, so I’ll go back and finish the work!”

“Your Highness. Why don’t you rest a bit before continuing?” Lee Han asked, thinking Jo-Urin was overdoing it.

He seemed to be enjoying repairing and managing Einroguard as if he were decorating a garden, but things weren’t good if he overdid it.

However, Jo-Urin, with great force in his shoulders, immediately returned to his Gold Dragon form and shouted heartily.

Jo-Urin would protect Einroguard for the students!

“I was going to make snacks with the hidden supplies… Ah. He’s gone.” Lee Han felt a bit lonely as he watched Jo-Urin’s quickly receding figure.

He knew he was growing, but to fly away like that, refusing even these snacks…

-I’ll eat them for you!

“…Thank you.” Lee Han looked at the Basilisk in his sleeve with warm eyes.

At least this fellow wouldn’t feel lonely about growth for a while.

“We can eat them for you too.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with the punishment room?” Lee Han was puzzled.

Lee Han was confident that he wouldn’t be caught even if he was inspected, but his disciple friends…

However, Siana nodded confidently. Seeing that, Lee Han thought his friend might have a way.

‘Impressive?’

“We’ll just go for a bit and come back.”

“…” Lee Han looked at Nigisor and Tijilling with a dumbfounded expression. The two disciples subtly avoided his gaze.

-Professor Verdus. You’re released.

“Ugh.”

-But why on all fours…?

The Death Knight questioned the sight of Professor Verdus crawling out of the punishment room.

Professor Verdus replied with an annoyed voice, “I told you, I lost the bet!”

-I know. I just like hearing it, so I asked again.

In fact, Professor Verdus wasn’t originally dragged to the punishment room.

No matter how much Lee Han advised, Uman was basically a kind dragon and couldn’t be so ruthless as to imprison Einroguard’s professor in the punishment room right away.

So, Uman locked Professor Verdus in a small room for the time being.

And he proposed, entrusting him with Professor Garcia’s work (which Professor Verdus was originally supposed to do).

-Professor Verdus. If you faithfully complete all of this work, I will definitely release you. There will be no other punishment. Do you accept?

-Okay! I’ll work hard!

-Is that so? Thank you for understanding. There are many bad rumors about Professor Verdus, but Uman believes in the professor. People can change at any time, can’t they?

-That’s right. That’s right. Don’t believe the rumors.

-Thank you. Then I will trust you and entrust it to you.

5 minutes after Uman left the small room, Professor Verdus tried to escape but was caught by the Death Knights and dragged back.

-……

“I couldn’t help it; it was just too boring,” Professor Verdus mumbled, slumping in his chair.

Uman stared at him, shocked. “Professor Verdus! How can you say that so casually? Work isn’t about fun, it’s about doing what we must!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll do it, won’t I?” Verdus replied.

“I’m really going to trust you with this,” Uman said, his eyes narrowed.

It wasn’t long before Professor Verdus tried again. Just three minutes after being put back in his cell, he attempted another escape, only to be immediately caught.

The knights grinned as they dragged the professor back.

Uman’s eyes widened in disbelief. What kind of wizard was this?

“Professor Verdus, shouldn’t you be working instead of doing that?!” Uman demanded.

“I am doing it…” Verdus insisted.

“I don’t believe you!” Uman exclaimed.

“No, believe me. I’ll really do it this time!” Verdus pleaded.

Uman pretended to leave the solitary cell but slyly hid in the hallway.

Immediately, Professor Verdus turned the door of his cell into liquid and attempted to escape.

Uman had vowed never to become like the Skull Headmaster.

But Uman, in the end, roared in fury.

“Take away all his belongings and lock him in the punishment room!!!”

The knights chuckled and took Professor Verdus to the punishment room.

The knights exchanged knowing glances. They had all expected Professor Verdus to try something like this.

Placed under far stricter and more severe surveillance than in his cell, Professor Verdus finally understood that working was more efficient than escaping.

He started with Professor Garcia’s work (which was originally Professor Verdus’s job) and moved on to other miscellaneous tasks.

Of course, escape attempts weren’t entirely absent. Whenever he felt suffocated by the sheer boredom of the work, Professor Verdus would casually strike up a conversation.

“If you help me escape, I can make you an item that will help you evade Gonadaltez’s pursuit… Ack! Aack! Why are you hitting me!”

“Haha. When else would we get a chance to retaliate against the professor?” one of the knights laughed.

“Damn it. Let me hit him too! Are you the only ones who get to hit him!” another added.

“Too bad for you, you got stuck with him,” a knight said.

Of course, it wasn’t very effective.

Few harbored as much resentment towards Professor Verdus as the Death Knights.

And now, Professor Verdus finished his primary tasks and was released. He looked very glum, having been unable to do his own work and only doing other people’s for a while.

“I feel like my soul has hardened from doing only boring things…” he complained.

“But Professor, processing the Enchantment Magic School’s ledgers and accounting is originally your job,” a knight pointed out.

“Isn’t Professor Garcia a professor too?” Verdus retorted.

The enraged knight tried to kick him, but his colleagues stopped him.

It would be one thing to attempt an escape in the punishment room, but outside, he had to restrain himself.

He really wanted to punch him…

“Prepare for your lectures. If you half-ass your lectures, you’ll be caught again,” Uman warned.

“It was nice not having to do lectures when I was in the punishment room,” Professor Verdus muttered, taking out a wad of papers from his pocket.

Professor Verdus had an amazing memory for details about his magical inventions. He could remember the smallest screw. But when it came to his lectures, he needed to read from notes. He couldn’t remember them otherwise.

What kind of lecture was this?

“…Isn’t that the magical architecture lecture that students who joined the stonemason club or are interested in architecture take?” a knight asked.

One of the fields in which the Empire’s wizards were active was architecture.

As magic was deeply involved in everything from clothing, food, and shelter, it was only natural to inscribe magic into buildings as well.

This magical architecture did not use only one school of magic. Various schools of magic were used evenly, including alchemy and transformation magic in materials, and precognitive magic to check durability and earthquake resistance.

The Enchantment Magic School connected all of these things to the buildings.

So, it made sense for Professor Verdus, a professor of the Enchantment Magic School, to take on this lecture.

However, Professor Verdus was horrified and shouted. He jumped up on all fours.

“This is Professor Knighton’s lecture?!”

Professor Alpen Knighton, an imperial official and a senior administrator, was teaching students not only various arithmetic-related lectures but also these architecture lectures.

In some ways, it was a natural thing.

Magical architecture wasn’t something that a wizard could do well alone just because they were good at magic.

They had to be able to talk to the people from the stonemason guilds or carpentry guilds who came to work and understand their needs, and they also had to be able to negotiate with the local nobles or officials.

If a newly built magical structure absorbed the region’s magic and ruined existing structures, the dispute would take decades to resolve.

As such, it was not strange that Professor Alpen, who was an excellent wizard himself and had connections with various stonemason guilds, carpentry guilds, and even officials, had been taking on and conducting the lecture.

“Yes. While you were in the punishment room, Professor Knighton filed a petition with His Excellency the Inspector,” a knight confirmed.

Of course, Professor Alpen himself did not find the situation very pleasant.

There was a more outstanding expert like Professor Verdus, but he refused to take it on because he didn’t want to teach it himself.

It was because the Skull Headmaster begged and pleaded, saying, ‘I absolutely cannot entrust it to that guy,’ that he got away with it; he was never convinced.

When Uman said he would listen to complaints about Professor Verdus, Professor Knighton quickly brought up the architecture lecture. It was no surprise.

“Cowardly! I didn’t know he was such a cowardly person!” Professor Verdus yelled, letting out his anger.

That anger was also directed at himself at the same time.

He could have filed a petition with the inspector before any other professor to have all the lectures taken away!

‘Where does he get the confidence that they’ll even listen to that?’

‘Let it be.’

“Professor Verdus. If I may offer some advice, please don’t be rude to people from the outside,” one of the knights said.

The knights, who were surrounding and taking the professor away to prevent him from escaping (it looked a bit strange because Professor Verdus was walking on all fours), advised him.

Because the magical architecture lecture involved people from outside the school, like builders and officials, and as everyone knew, Professor Verdus’s specialty was making outsiders angry.

“Alright. Don’t worry,” Verdus replied.

The knights, having arrived at the lecture room, sighed and opened the door.

Honestly, it was because they thought Professor Verdus would 100% cause an accident.

“…I would use and . It’s this kind of magic…”

“Oh! That’s a really good method. Wow. The atmosphere is so good even without Professor Verdus, maybe it would be better if he didn’t show up in the future!” a student exclaimed.

“Haha! What a joke!” another student replied.

“Hahaha! I’m not joking!” the first student insisted.

The knights were shocked by the friendly atmosphere inside the lecture room.

The stonemason guild members who had come from outside upon invitation were laughing happily.

Lee Han was helping Yukbertire with the lecture as an assistant, and all the students, including the two of them, looked happy.

“It seems to be going well without me; can’t you just let me go?” Verdus asked hopefully.

“…No, you can’t. Get inside!” a knight said, resolutely pushing Professor Verdus into the lecture room.