Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 163

The students of the White Tiger Tower and the Black Tortoise Tower had one thing in common: they all recognized Ethan’s magical skill, whether they disliked him or were cautious of him.

Giselle thought to herself, ‘If Wodanaaz says so, he must be a truly remarkable wizard.’

“It’s an honor to meet you,” the students from the White Tiger Tower said in a formal, knightly way.

Of course, Valdor Oren felt very nervous and uncomfortable, even with these polite greetings.

He felt even more stressed. ‘They’re knights!?’ he thought.

The freshmen, who seemed to come from knightly families, were so polite that it made him even more anxious. If they found out the truth later, they might draw their swords…

“Shall we go together?” Ethan asked.

The other tower students hesitated. The Black Tortoise Tower students thought for a moment and nodded, but the White Tiger Tower students couldn’t because they had no money!

“Ah. You have no money,” Ethan said knowingly.

The White Tiger Tower students looked a little annoyed, but Ethan continued, “I’ll lend it to you.”

“What?”

“I said I’ll lend it to you. With a small amount of interest, of course…”

“Wodanaaz…” Angalo stared at Ethan in disbelief.

Considering Vandreu of the Black Tortoise Tower had boasted about having a few silver coins earlier, this was a surprisingly generous offer. Why?

Ethan became very uncomfortable with Angalo’s sparkling eyes.

“Did I say I’d give it to you for free? I think I said I’d lend it to you with interest?”

“I heard you, Wodanaaz. Thank you.”

‘Is this guy crazy?’ Ethan thought, unaware of the conversation between the White Tiger Tower and Black Tortoise Tower students before arriving. He couldn’t understand why Angalo was so touched when he was just lending money with interest.

“W-well, I’m glad you’re pleased.”

Angalo reached out his hand to shake. Ethan stepped back, creating distance. Angalo lowered his hand with an awkward expression.

“Wodanaaz… Seeing you makes me ashamed of showing off with a few silver coins.”

‘Why is this man acting like this again?’ Ethan thought, even more dumbfounded when a Black Tortoise Tower student spoke to him with a self-satisfied expression.

What happened before they came here?

“I never understood what noble families meant by ‘honor,’ but I think I get it now.”

“What did you talk about before coming here?”

“I didn’t believe in such things, but to see it with my own eyes like this.”

“What did you talk about before…”

“I have no choice but to admit…”

“Do you want to get hit and then talk, or just talk?”

“Why, why are you doing this, Wodanaaz?”

A little later, Ethan kept asking, getting more and more impatient. He couldn’t understand why they were acting so strangely.

‘No. I should have charged more interest,’ Ethan thought, regretting his earlier offer now that he understood the situation. The White Tiger Tower guys would have accepted even more interest.

“Here it is.”

The shop with the sign “Night Goblin’s Tangled Treasure Trove” looked suspicious and gloomy. If it were just the students, they wouldn’t have entered, thinking, ‘Why go into a place like this?’

However, the assembled students didn’t suspect anything because it was the place Valdor Oren was going to go, and because it was a place introduced by a wizard that Wodanaaz said was so great. Of course, it must be trustworthy.

“Let’s go in!”

‘…I come here often because it’s cheap…’ Valdor Oren thought.

The owner of “Night Goblin’s Tangled Treasure Trove” had never seen so many freshmen venturing outside the magic school at once in his life. In fact, it was strange for magic school students to visit “Night Goblin’s Tangled Treasure Trove” at all.

‘Why here??’ he wondered.

Items with permanent magical enchantments, artifacts, were quite expensive even in the Empire. People didn’t buy artifacts just anywhere; they bought them after getting confirmation from a well-known wizard’s workshop.

However, not everyone looked for such safe and guaranteed artifacts. Damaged or half-broken artifacts, artifacts taken out during experiments or research, artifacts that failed to reach their original goal, and so on.

One might wonder why people looked for these artifacts, but the reason was simple: because they were cheap! There were more people who needed artifacts but didn’t have money than one might think, and the place those people visited was “Night Goblin’s Tangled Treasure Trove,” a place that specialized in buying and selling used, damaged, and incomplete artifacts.

Why would magic school students come here when only adventurers did?

“Wow. There’s all sorts of things here?”

“What kind of cloak is this? It seems to have magic on it.”

“It’s no ordinary place, since it’s a place Valdor Oren frequents.”

Valdor Oren’s face turned bright red.

“Everyone… please lower your voices…”

While the students were talking, Ethan strode through the shop and approached the counter. The shop owner became very nervous, worried this student from a noble family would cause trouble.

The adventurers who came here knew what kind of place this was, so they didn’t cause any trouble, but the magic school students were different. As they were from the Empire’s leading great families, they would be ignorant of the ways of the world, and as students learning at Einroguard, they could turn this place upside down if they wanted to.

The owner was very nervous. ‘Please don’t cause trouble. Please…’

“Hello.”

“H-hello.”

Ethan bowed his head and lowered his voice. The owner’s posture naturally lowered as well.

“By any chance…”

“?”

“I see here that you also buy incomplete artifacts. If you were to buy this, how much would you give me?”

The owner couldn’t help but raise his head to check Ethan’s face at the student’s words. ‘Is he really from a great noble family…?’

Ethan sold artifacts that weren’t very useful, like the Cloak of Protection (since it only blocked blades with a 50% chance, Ethan decided to just block them with magic) and the Boots of Lesser Stealth, turning them into money.

He couldn’t help but admire Valdor Oren again. ‘To know a place that gives such good prices. He’s indeed an excellent wizard,’ Ethan thought, his heart growing fuller as his pockets grew fuller.

Like the other students who were already looking around, Ethan also began searching for useful artifacts.

“You seem to know a lot, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”

”
…Go ahead.”

‘What?!’ Valdor Oren was surprised. The owner of “Night Goblin’s Tangled Treasure Trove” was famous for being prickly and grumpy. The man who would scold Valdor Oren, saying, ‘If you’re going to keep asking, go somewhere else,’ was actually answering Ethan’s questions one by one.

‘Does he discriminate against people!?’ Valdor Oren wondered. Of course, it wasn’t that he didn’t understand. Even if Valdor Oren were the owner, he would have answered Ethan’s questions. Ethan’s aura was different from the other students, and he brought such useful artifacts.

“Is there no way to avoid the Headmaster’s… no, the Archmage’s eyes or to know his movements in advance?”

“There’s no way such an artifact would be here.”

“I suppose… Then, an artifact that detects intruders in advance? Or an artifact that subdues intruders…”

The owner was starting to get confused as to whether Ethan was a student from a great noble family or a thug from the streets. Was he planning to rob a mansion or something?

“What kind of magic is on this pocket watch?” Ethan asked, puzzled by the silver pocket watch with a slight crack in the glass. He couldn’t feel any magic at all. Could it be magic so advanced that Ethan couldn’t sense it?

“There’s no magic on it. It’s just a pocket watch.”

“Ah.”

Ethan was slightly embarrassed. Well, even just a pocket watch was a valuable item. Being able to measure time accurately was as good as an artifact.

Valdor Oren said cautiously, “You seem to have some silver coins thanks to selling the artifacts earlier… Why don’t you buy it? It’ll be quite difficult to find a pocket watch in such good condition if you miss it now.”

“Indeed. If Valdor Oren says so…”

“No, no. I didn’t mean it that deeply!” Valdor Oren quickly changed his words, but Ethan had already understood it in his own way.

‘Certainly… there will be many times in the future when I need to measure time accurately,’ Ethan thought. The magic school wouldn’t give him a pocket watch, so it wouldn’t be bad to prepare one in advance.

“Thank you. Valdor Oren’s advice was helpful.”

“Now that I think about it again, it might not be that necessary…” Despite the pitiful voice, Ethan bought the pocket watch.

The owner tilted his head at the sight. ‘Why is he listening to Valdor Oren so attentively?’ The magic school students should be more skilled than Valdor Oren…?

Ethan, who put the pocket watch in his coat, looked around at the other artifacts. A blunt, iron dagger hung on the wall. Rust flecked its blade, but a faint, unsettling energy pulsed from it, making the air around it shimmer slightly.

“Don’t go near that!”

“What’s the reason?”

“It’s a monster that absorbs magic. If you touch it wrong, it can absorb your magic and you could collapse or become a cripple…”

“I see.”

“?!?”

Despite the warning, the owner was horrified when Ethan simply grabbed the dagger. Even for a magic school student, it was too much.

‘Why?!’ he thought.

But the more surprising thing happened after Ethan grabbed the dagger. Even though he had grabbed the dagger that had already knocked out several adventurers and made them bleed, the magic school student was fine.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry.”

‘Good heavens!’ The owner was once again shocked. He had heard a lot that Einroguard was the best magic school in the Empire, but seeing it like this was a new shock. Even if he was a freshman, to be this good…

It was definitely a school where only monsters gathered.

“How much is this?”

“I only take one silver coin for cursed items. Otherwise, no one buys them.”

“No. Are there… by any chance, are there more cursed items?”

Valdor Oren, who was watching, suddenly felt something was strange. ‘Shouldn’t he ask about the effects first?’ Surely he wasn’t just buying them because they were cheap?

“You’ve been a great help,” the freshmen from the four towers said, surrounding Valdor Oren and thanking him.

Valdor Oren hid his tired expression and nodded quickly. “It was nothing, everyone! Really, it was nice meeting you all. Just… please don’t tell anyone you learned from me, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Of course!”

“I’ll be sure to visit you on the next outing…”

Valdor Oren ran away in a hurry without looking back. The students were impressed by the cool appearance of the wizard without any regrets. That’s a wizard!

“Ethan. What did you buy?”

“A watch and a dagger. The other cursed items had rather poor curses.”

”
…Aren’t curses supposed to be poor anyway??” Gainando asked, puzzled.

Ethan prepared to head to Amur’s stable. Yoner asked worriedly, “Is it really okay to tell the truth as it is?”

“It’s okay. He’s a reasonable person.”

“Really?” Yoner was still doubtful as he followed. Even if he was reasonable, he would be surprised if they said they had saved a griffin…

“Welcome! Did you get a mount?”

“Yes!”

“Good job! What kind of bloke did you get?”

“It’s a griffin.”

Amur literally fell backward. Ethan shouted in panic, “Are you alright?!”