Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1182

The hamster thought about it again, like it had many times before, even though it never seemed to help.

Lee Han carefully put the hamster into his sleeve. The baby basilisk inside seemed annoyed by this, and Lee Han headed towards Professor Thunderfoot’s alchemy tower.

He could have made it in his private room, but the Alchemy School’s tower, with its well-prepared facilities, was far more convenient.

And sometimes, when Professor Thunderfoot wasn’t watching, he planned to sneak some of the professor’s ingredients.

“Wait a minute!” the hamster squeaked. “Why are you bringing me?”

The baby basilisk wagged its tail as if agreeing with the hamster’s protest.

“This comfy sleeve is supposed to be *my* special place!”

“Oh. I was hoping you could watch me make the Scent of Perception and give me some advice.”

“-Why don’t you just ask that thought-form?”

The hamster was puzzled by Lee Han’s sudden request.

The thought-form was so kind as to correct students’ magical assignments; surely, it would be even more willing to offer advice on the making process.

The hamster thought it was odd that such powerful magical beings were so eager to help with simple tasks. It just seemed… wrong.

“Look,” Lee Han said, “I already feel bad making you write everything down. I can’t ask you about every tiny step too!”

“Hmph!” the hamster scoffed. “And you said you were never afraid…”

“And since what you wrote down is here, I can do it even if my magical skills are a bit lacking.”

The hamster, about to sneer, snapped its mouth shut. It couldn’t believe what it had just heard.

What??

“-What, what did you say?”

“I said that since what you wrote down is here, I can ask for your advice if I make a mistake, right?”

“-The… the part after that! What did you say after that?”

Lee Han turned around.

He saw only a messy pile of books on his private room desk and new snack recipes he had devised for his friends.

“-Magical skills are lacking?!”

“Aren’t they more lacking than yours, Master?”

The hamster blinked its eyes like a cow.

It was such an insulting thing to say, but unfortunately, the other party was too powerful to argue with right away.

“-You little…” The hamster started to yell, but Lee Han was already walking away. The hamster had no choice but to hold on tight to avoid being flung out of the sleeve.

“Is that really true?”

“I’m telling you, it is.”

“He can be even more absorbed in magic there?”

Nilia, simmering the prepared ingredients in the potion-making room within the Alchemy Tower’s third-floor maze, replied to her friends with disbelief.

Wodanaz was even *more* obsessed with magic than normal.

It was like saying the most magical person you knew had suddenly become even *more* magical.

“It’s true, I tell you!”

Bartrec, a dwarf student from the White Tiger Tower, stamped his feet in frustration.

“He’s even thinking of finishing all the exams first this time and leaving leisurely!”

‘Leisurely’? Did that even make sense?

“If you don’t believe me, ask the Blue Dragon Tower guys!”

“That’s right. It’s true.”

Yoner nodded.

All the students from the Blue Dragon Tower, including this red-haired friend, looked worried.

“I think Wodanaz has gone mad because he doesn’t have to be in charge of our meals anymore, so he has extra time.”

“We’re in the same tower, but that’s a really trashy statement. If anyone asks, say it was from the White Tiger Tower.”

“Isn’t it because he’s been eating the tasteless meals provided by His Highness?”

“But the older students say the food is good now, right?”

“Eh, older students will eat anything. They’re always hungry.”

The Alchemy School students put forward various hypotheses.

From ‘he went mad with magic because he had more free time’ to all sorts of novel theories emerged.

Yoner said with a reluctant face.

“…It’s probably because the professor disappeared.”

“What?! Which professor?”

“Professor Verdus, maybe? I thought if any professor was going to disappear, it would be Professor Verdus.”

“No… Professor Begreck…”

“Oh.”

The friends paused.

Some looked like they were trying to remember who that was.

“The professor who used to harass Wodanaz?”

“He didn’t bully him… or did he?”

Yoner looked confused, so Ratford and Bartrec quickly spoke up.

“He’s not a bad person.”

“That’s right. Wodanaz is really worried, you should have seen him when we went out this time.”

Bartrec recalled what had happened during the recent northern quest.

Thinking about it again, it was really…

“What a fuss.”

“That’s right. We’ve been out together too, you know.”

Bartrec bristled at his friends’ jeers.

“But it was really different this time! The whole bandit group was destroyed!”

“So? That’s not a big deal. Wodanaz has dealt with dangerous anti-magic groups before.”

“That’s… that’s…”

Bartrec was speechless.

As an Einrogard wizard, a quest like wiping out a bandit group was certainly doable.

But from the perspective of someone who had seen Wodanaz’s calm, mad eyes up close at the scene, he could never say, ‘So what?’

The level of pressure was different.

“It was different, I tell you!”

“Well… Wodanaz would worry even if Professor Verdus went missing. He cares about everyone in White Tiger Tower.”

“I don’t think he’d worry about Professor Verdus at all.”

As the friends’ debate shifted from ‘Would Wodanaz worry about Professor Verdus the same way?’ to ‘Who in the White Tiger Tower would he worry about?’, Nilia couldn’t help but interject.

“Everyone! Weren’t we worried about Wodanaz right now!?”

“Ah. That’s right.”

“I introduced the knights I know to help Wodanaz, though.”

The White Tiger Tower students explained what they had done in the north.

The knight families of the Empire often knew each other to some extent, making it easy to ask for help in such situations.

“Who did you introduce?”

“I introduced the Crescent Night Knights. And Moradi introduced the Veig Knights.”

The two knight orders were so famous that even students who weren’t from knight families knew their names.

In particular, the two knight orders had made remarkable achievements in patrol and reconnaissance.

The Crescent Night Knights were composed of energetic individuals who could run non-stop from the edge of the western coast to the Nightmare Swamps, and the Veig Knights were so thorough that rumors circulated that they had eyes and ears even in the last inn of the northern snowfields.

These were not people you could simply order around with money and power.

“How did you introduce them?!”

“Oh? My brother is in the Crescent Night Knights, so I asked him.”

The students were slightly deflated by the unexpectedly simple reason.

Well, there was no reason as strong as blood.

“But even if it’s family, it’s amazing that they agreed to the request. The Crescent Night Knights are so busy with their duties that it’s hard to even meet them.”

“I told my brother that I didn’t fail thanks to Wodanaz, and he said he would definitely repay the favor.”

The friends changed the subject.

“Moradi introduced the Veig Knights? Was it possible because they’re from the same northern region?”

“Aren’t the Veig Knights very mysterious? How did you introduce them?”

“I asked Moradi, and he said the head of the family stepped in and contacted them directly.”

“Moradi, really? That’s obviously not true.”

The White Tiger Tower students didn’t believe him for a second.

The head of the Moradi family wasn’t a leisurely person, and there was no way he would pass on such a request for a wizard who had only done one favor.

“You could just reveal the reason like Bartrec.”

“Haha. Wouldn’t it have been better for Bartrec to hide the reason a bit?”

“I asked some people I used to work with,” Ratford said, joining the conversation.

Ratford’s old group, called the ‘Shadow Hand Guild’, were experts at moving things around secretly.

Yoner, knowing Ratford’s background, asked with a slight expectation.

“Did you find anything?”

“Only that Wodanaz is going after every thief he can find. They’re all terrified…”

The rumors of the back alleys of several cities in the west and north being devastated had already spread quickly.

The imperial criminals in other places were seriously wondering, ‘What’s the reason?’ ‘Did someone steal something from Einrogard?’ ‘Has Gonadalte finally gone mad?’, but the answer was in a completely unexpected place.

“Professor Begreck wouldn’t leave clues easily… I asked my family’s alchemists to look around too, but nothing.”

“Gaynando and I wrote to the royal family,” Adenarte said sadly.

Like Yoner, he hadn’t found anything either.

“Don’t worry. Just trying to help is what matters.”

“Yeah, and even Gaynando got turned down.”

There weren’t many imperial royals who were on good terms with each other.

The heads of the great noble families weren’t thinking about it, but they were the ones dividing the imperial succession, in their own way.

They wouldn’t grant a competitor’s request for no reason.

“I was also rejected…”

Adenarte was still sad, even though Gaynando had also failed.

He felt like he should have been able to help more than Gaynando, or at least as much.

‘Huh?’

Nilia, carefully listening to each of her friends’ stories, realized something was wrong.

Could it be that the only person who hasn’t done anything among them is…

‘…Me?!?!’

Everyone was secretly doing something for their friend without saying a word!

Nilia’s fingertips trembled. This was not a normal problem.

Nilia thought quickly. ‘The Shadow Patrol, the mountain guards… they wouldn’t be able to find Professor Volardy if he was missing.’

Professor Volardy could be anywhere in the Empire, but Nilia was sure he wouldn’t be in the cold, empty northern mountains.

Why would he go to such a place with only monsters?

But she couldn’t do nothing. Nilia quickly started writing a letter, while her friends were looking away.

” ?”

Lee Han was puzzled when he didn’t see his friends in the tower.

Usually, he would see one or two Alchemy School students strolling around the first or second floor greenhouse, tending to plants and checking reagents.

‘Maybe they’re busy,’ Lee Han thought. He had set up the cauldron and now took the hamster out of his sleeve, holding it up so he could talk to it easily.

The hamster just stared at Lee Han, feeling annoyed. ‘Why does he always need my help?’ it grumbled to itself. ‘I’m not his assistant!’

“Let’s start making the Scent of Ascension,” Lee Han said. “Oh, Professor! Good morning!”

The hamster squeezed its eyes shut when it saw Professor Thunderfoot approaching. ‘Oh no,’ it thought, ‘this professor is going to be so surprised when he sees what Lee Han can do!’