Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1188

Lee Han noticed the air was getting strange. He hadn’t meant to make things awkward.

He collected gold for simple reasons: a comfortable life and to invest in something big, something that would make him famous in the Empire’s business world.

Making his senior feel poor? That was definitely not his goal.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. Senior Zarun spends as much as he earns, doesn’t he? Last time I saw you do magic, it used up a lot of gold, right?”

“Hey Junior. Saying that will just make me feel worse. If you try to make yourself feel better by making excuses, everyone has a sad story! A real miner doesn’t make excuses; they show you the gold they find.”

“…Get lost!!”

Zarun trembled, shouting. It seemed rare that he’d felt his pride so wounded while talking with his juniors.

“Senior, if you force me out of here, you’ll truly become a loser, you know.”

“Do you really want to die!”

“Both of you, please calm down. If you don’t, I’ll reveal this location to Professor Verdus, and all the animals I care for will be entrusted to Professor Venduzol.”

“……”

The two seniors, who had been heating up for a fight, froze as if doused with cold water.

They stared at Lee Han with gazes full of astonishment and shock.

‘Does, does that bloke have no heart?’

‘How could he come up with such a threat so quickly?’

The threat was so devastating and sharp that it sent shivers down their spines.

If the location Zarun was mining were to be known by a greedy and unscrupulous wizard like Professor Verdus, he would immediately interfere.

Other professors might think, ‘Well, the student found it, so it’s not quite right for me to take it,’ but Professor Verdus would think, ‘It’s more beneficial overall if I mine it rather than an inexperienced student.’

And what if all the rare animals currently cared for by Lee Han, nominally belonging to the Quidditch club, were to go to Professor Venduzol?

There was a high possibility they wouldn’t be able to participate in the Quidditch tournament at all. Given Professor Venduzol’s personality, would he send animals under his care to such a dangerous event?

“Al-alright. I’ve calmed down. You calm down too. Please, don’t tell Professor Verdus. Especially not to someone like Senior Yookveltyre under him.”

“What did Senior Yookveltyre do… No, never mind. Hearing it won’t help anyway.”

“I’ve calmed down too, Junior. Please don’t call Professor Venduzol. Unicorns, griffins, and basilisks will all be sad if Professor Venduzol manages them.”

-…W-was I included too!?

The baby basilisk was startled.

He wasn’t just taking care of unicorns and griffins?!

Once the two seniors had calmed down, Lee Han nodded. He hadn’t intended to call the professors in the first place.

“If you two don’t fight, I won’t think about doing unnecessary things either. After all, seniors, isn’t gold something that’s easily earned and easily lost for wizards?”

A large sum coming in with one request, and a large sum disappearing with one experiment.

Isn’t that the nature of a wizard’s wealth?

‘Not really.’

‘Only you. It’s hard to earn and easy to lose for us, probably.’

The two seniors thought to themselves.

There was something a bit off about what their junior had said.

It was true that it disappeared easily, but it wasn’t easy to earn…

…To be precise, only the junior earned it easily.

If requests came from all over the place like they do for you, it would be easy to earn!

“Haha. I think you’re right.”

“Yes, yes. Junior.”

The two seniors were quite resentful but offered insincere answers with smiling faces.

The earlier threat still lingered in their minds.

“It seems a bit insincere, but… anyway, thank you for understanding. Oh, I met a Garco, a transformation wizard from the Arjo family, on this outing. Do you happen to know him?”

“I know him.”

“An elf, right? With a nasty personality.”

As they were from the same magic school, Carnella and Zarun quickly understood.

Lee Han was puzzled by their not very interested reaction.

Garco was very enthusiastic and believed in odd ideas, like saying Bakwantallana was a transformation wizard, but he didn’t seem to have such a nasty personality.

“Nasty personality? He didn’t seem like that kind of person to me.”

“If they keep sending letters to bother you, that’s a nasty personality.”

“……”

Lee Han wore a dubious expression.

Seeing that someone who wasn’t an Einroguard graduate was sending letters to Zarun, who never even left Einroguard, two thoughts came to mind.

One was that Zarun had exceptional talent…

…the other was that the Einroguard transformation magic school people had no manners at all.

“Were there any insults written in the letters, perhaps?”

“No. It would have been more interesting if there were.”

Zarun continued to grumble, oblivious to his junior’s cold gaze.

“Just sending me boring daily news, stories about magic, and greetings – it’s so annoying!”

“To be honest, it was a bit annoying, Junior.”

Carnella also agreed.

Among the transformation magic school, she was relatively active externally, but that didn’t mean she liked it.

She only did it for Quidditch; originally, she preferred to play separately with the animals she raised.

Lee Han couldn’t help but speak.

“Even so, how can you say they have a nasty personality just because of that? The reason I asked you two for help was because you’re the most sociable in the school.”

“……”

“…????”

The two seniors widened their eyes.

It was the most shocking and surprising thing they had heard today. Even seeing their junior transform into a dragon hadn’t been this surprising.

“Who… what? Are you perhaps talking about an evil cult? Junior, I’ll concede a hundred times that I might be, but this senior here is definitely not…”

“What? You little rascal. Why only you?”

Zarun flared up.

Of course, he didn’t particularly want to be considered sociable.

But he didn’t want to hear this crazy junior say, ‘I’m better than you, Senior.’

He had always thought that there was no difference between Carnella and himself.

“I live above ground, and you live underground, Senior. Isn’t the story already over?”

“You bring monsters with you, so other blokes are scared and listen to you; otherwise, they wouldn’t listen at all!”

“Ha! Spouting nonsense so brazenly. You, Senior, wouldn’t have juniors coming to you like this if you didn’t have magical skills! Instead of arguing like this, let’s have the junior decide.”

“Good! Junior, who is more sociable between the two of us…”

Only then did they realise that Lee Han had disappeared.

The junior had also realised.

Now that he had learned magic, there was no reason to stay beside the two inept seniors!

“……”

The two seniors reflected a little.

“Oh, and this is a secret from Joorin.”

-Why would I tell him? It’s not like I can transform into a basilisk.

The baby basilisk said in a gloomy voice.

Lee Han felt sorry for no reason and said,

“Once I get used to transformation magic, I’ll definitely practice with the basilisk first.”

-Really?

“Of course. …But this is a secret from Ponryg, okay?”

It was like juggling promises, but it couldn’t be helped. Lee Han thought he would have to tell Ponryg when he transformed into a griffin later.

Lee Han climbed up the ladder that stretched across the Einroguard underground to the surface.

Just then, Professor Thunderstride could be seen walking from afar.

“Ah. Professor.”

“Yes.”

“Have you gotten a little better from what happened last time?”

“Would you be okay if you were me??”

Professor Thunderstride said with a look that suggested he wanted to push his student back down the ladder.

How could he be okay right away after being badly bothered by the young skeleton headmaster?

He felt like he wanted to go to the headmaster’s office and spray nasty potions everywhere.

“But, Professor.”

“What, why, again?”

“You clearly said that the talent of an alchemist is to move forward without being discouraged by failures or criticisms…”

“……”

Professor Thunderstride was speechless as the words he had thrown at his students came back like a boomerang.

He seemed to have said such things while boasting when pointing out the students’ terrible potions…

“Why did you come up instead of staying with the evil things in that dark hole forever?”

‘Is he talking about the seniors?’

Lee Han tilted his head, puzzled, and dusted off the dirt. He couldn’t figure out how Professor Thunderstride had recognised Senior Zarun and Senior Carnella.

“I told you, I have to take the exam in advance.”

“Tsk tsk. Don’t bother the other professors too much.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han answered promptly without changing his expression.

Professor Thunderstride gave him a distrustful look. He wasn’t sure if this bloke had really understood properly.

…If Professor Thunderstride knew what Lee Han had transformed into just now, he might have charged at him in anger.

No unscrupulous wizard could be so brazen.

“You can bother Professor Verdus, though.”

“……”

“What, why? Is it because my exam can be torn to shreds with the headmaster’s wisdom, but you’re going to forgive Professor Verdus because he’s a cute beaver beastman?”

“I’ve never thought of that… No, more than that, Professor Verdus’s exam is a bit different.”

Lee Han began to explain.

If there was one misunderstanding that Einroguard enchantment magic school students hated the most, it was, ‘Even if they seem like that on the outside, they actually respect their teachers on the inside.’

The moment they heard such words, even the calm and cold enchantment magic school students would immediately turn serious and draw their weapons.

Lee Han wasn’t much different.

The cuteness of the beaver beastman was no longer effective.

“It’s the exam, and I’ve already prepared for it.”

As Lee Han had a conscience, he didn’t ask the ancient, noble archmage about every single exam question.

The reason he asked the young prince about Professor Thunderstride’s exam was one thing.

The professor made the exam so difficult that there was little chance of breaking through it within the given time.

In comparison, this transformation magic exam and enchantment magic exam were different. He had already prepared for them, so he was confident he could pass without asking.

In the case of the transformation magic exam, he had been practicing steadily, and in the case of the enchantment magic exam…

“I’m thinking of submitting a request I received and carried out from outside.”

“……”

Professor Thunderstride almost almost lost his balance for a moment.

Could it be that the reason he suffered was because he made the exam too difficult?

Does the sky only love evil students and not love good professors?

“Could that be insufficient?”

“If this is insufficient, I’m seriously thinking of reporting Professor Verdus to His Highness Uman…”

Lee Han wore a dubious expression.

If they were to find fault with the results of a request that all the northern knights and wizards had agreed on, it wouldn’t be a matter of persuading Professor Verdus but of calling an official inspector from the school.

‘I guess so.’

Professor Thunderstride had no choice but to admit it.

This student was so thorough that he wouldn’t casually finish a request he had taken on from outside.

If he had finished it casually, he would never have submitted it to Professor Verdus’s exam.

“Can I take a look?”

“Just a moment… here it is.”

“Why are there two books?”

“Ah. Ignore the one below. Crazy wizards forced it on me.”

Lee Han coldly spat out words that would make the black wizards gathered in the north be very sad.

Professor Thunderstride, who had received it without much thought, scanned the book below and his eyes lit up.

“With this… we can finish off Professor Verdus!”

“Yes?”