Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 29

The headmaster, who was very thin and looked like a skeleton, frowned. He was confused by what the young student had just said. “Orders?” he asked, his voice a dry whisper.

The thin, skeleton-like headmaster felt something was wrong and asked.

Of course, it could be that he wanted to hear the pros and cons of several orders before choosing one.

But then, strangely, what the young Wodanaz boy said sounded like this (though it surely couldn’t be):

“I want to join several orders; please pick the best ones for me.”

The skeletal headmaster thought he must have misheard.

“Er… there’s nothing wrong with believing in multiple gods, is there?”

‘What a mad lad!’

The skeletal headmaster was impressed by a new student for the first time in ages.

Of course, there were people in the Empire who genuinely believed in multiple gods—believing in both the god of love and the god of wisdom, for example.

But the young Wodanaz boy clearly wasn’t trying to believe in any gods.

It was very clear he wanted to get as much as possible from joining many orders!

So brazen, in fact, that it was almost endearing.

Though the various orders probably wouldn’t see it that way…

That’s right. And a very good question. There’s nothing wrong with believing in multiple gods. But some orders can be awfully petty about such things.

“Indeed,”

Lee Han quickly agreed.

Lee Han’s purpose was as simple as the headmaster imagined.

‘Join every order possible.’

When he thought about it, if he could get various items just for joining, there was no reason not to.

It was good to join every order, unless they said you could only join them.

I recommend the Freisinga Order first. It’s the god who sacrifices himself to support the world. The people in the order are friendly and will welcome you.

“Freisinga… Order.”

Lee Han jotted it down.

Next would be the Kalaso Order, perhaps. A mischievous god who loves chaos and change. They won’t care what other gods you believe in and will treat you well.

“Kalaso… Order.”

Lastly, I recommend the Kaporeo Order. The god of swordsmanship and swordsmen, they’ll welcome an oddball like you.

“Kaporeo Order…”

Lee Han paused in his note-taking.

Did he know Lee Han was taking swordsmanship classes?

‘No. This is a bit scary.’

It was a minor thing, but it felt like too much attention.

He’d never had a good experience with professors, especially mad ones, paying him too much attention…

Learning swords is good, but don’t forget magic. Magic is the most important skill.

“I will keep that in mind.”

Lee Han bowed with great politeness at the skeletal headmaster’s words.

Of course, inwardly he was letting it go in one ear and out the other.

For Lee Han, magic was a means to an end, not the goal itself.

Hmm. Yes. Yes.

The skeletal headmaster nodded in satisfaction at the response.

At first, he’d been taken aback when someone from the Wodanaz family mentioned joining religious orders, but seeing it this way, he felt a renewed sense of anticipation.

‘He’s no ordinary fellow.’

His magic power wasn’t the main thing that impressed him.

The headmaster was impressed by how patient Lee Han was, and how he would do anything to get what he wanted.

The very fact that a new student from the great Wodanaz family showed such patience was fascinating.

‘The future looks promising.’

Well, I must go and check on those fellows I locked in the punishment room. Do your best, Wodanaz.

“Thank you. …Huh?”

Lee Han realized something was off.

Locked someone where?

But the skeletal headmaster was already flying far away.

Lee Han wondered how many students were in the punishment room. But he decided to go to the religious orders first.

“Where are you going?”

Yoneru, returning with a basket in her hand, asked curiously.

“The Freisinga Order…”

“Ah, the Freisinga Order. You’ve always been interested…”

“…and the Kalaso Order.”

“?”

“And the Kaporeo Order, maybe? Hmm. I might not be able to visit them all today. It’d be a bit much if I was too obvious, so should I switch it up and go to one each week?”

“……”

Yoneru decided to just accept it rather than ask what was going on.

Ah, Lee Han just wants to try believing in about three gods!

“Here. Take this.”

Yoneru took a sandwich out of the basket and offered it.

It was a big sandwich with ham, tomato, lettuce, egg, and other good things, all between slices of white bread.

A hungry new student would kill to snatch that food.

“Thanks. Um. How much is it?”

“…I’m just giving it to you…”

“What? Really? Why? What’s the catch?”

“It’s not really my place to say, but… do you know you’re really something? I’m just grateful for what you did yesterday. Here. Eat quickly.”

At Yoneru’s words, Lee Han nodded and accepted it. He was hungry anyway.

While he was busily munching on the sandwich, Yoneru poured him some cold apple juice and handed it over.

Glug-

“By the way, where did you get this?”

“Isn’t that what you usually ask first? I got it from the Flehming Order. Our family has been close to the Flehming Order for a long time.”

Flehming, the god of alchemy.

The priests of this order were all skilled alchemists.

Yoneru’s family, the Meikin family, had been generously supporting the Flehming Order for a long time.

Thanks to that, the priests of the Flehming Order recognized Yoneru and packed her basket with various things to eat.

‘Seriously, what has the Wodanaz family been doing, not sponsoring other orders?’

Lee Han thought the Meikin family was very smart to do this.

Giving support like this ensures that rewards come back.

“…Is it a bit much, after all?”

“What is?”

Lee Han was puzzled by Yoneru’s hesitation.

Was she talking about the combination of sandwich and apple juice?

“Um, sponsoring the Flehming Order. I believe in Flehming too, though…”

Just as Gainando had blurted out, ‘Is alchemy magic?’ and got hit, there were quite a few arrogant magicians who looked down on alchemists.

If you sponsored or believed in the Flehming Order, there were sometimes people who would spout things like, ‘For a great family of the Empire to sponsor such an order is undignified.’

Of course, Lee Han didn’t care in the slightest.

“Why can’t you sponsor them?”

“…Right?”

Yoneru’s face brightened. She grinned and poured more apple juice.

“Drink more.”

“Huh? There’s still some left…”

Yoneru thought.

She had thought it might be difficult to adapt to the Blue Dragon Tower because of her peculiar personality, but with the boy in front of her, it didn’t seem as difficult as she had imagined.

“I came because I wanted to hear about Lord Freisinga.”

“!”

As Lee Han approached, the priests looked up and beamed.

“Welcome! Brother! You’ve come to hear about Lord Freisinga. We welcome you!”

“Yes. I’ve heard various stories about Lord Freisinga, and I’ve admired what a wonderful person he is.”

Lee Han spoke while hiding his true feelings.

Even if he was angry inside, he knew he had to look polite and respectful on the outside. That was just how he was.

Lee Han had an unparalleled ability to maintain his composure in this regard.

Of course, the priests really liked Lee Han’s attitude.

To think that a young nobleman who looked like he came from a great family would come looking for them.

“Come in! Tiziling, will you help?”

“I… I’m going now.”

“!”

Lee Han was surprised. The student who was called by the priests looked quite unfamiliar.

Skin tinged with a dark red aura, two forked horns protruding from her forehead. Sparks seemed to fly from her timid, averted eyes, only to disappear.

‘A demon hybrid!’

It was the rarest of the hybrid races. Lee Han had only heard of them; this was the first time he’d actually seen one.

If someone among your ancestors or forebears made a contract with a demon, sometimes that influence would skip generations and manifest in their descendants.

Naturally, most people regarded such races with unease. Perhaps because of that, the demon hybrid girl’s every movement seemed timid and cautious.

“Tiziling is also a new student. She belongs to the Tower of the Ever-Burning Phoenix.”

The priests said proudly.

The students of the Tower of the Phoenix rarely interacted with other tower students, but when the order’s priests came looking for help, she stepped forward.

“That’s truly touching. To think there’s a friend here who believes in Lord Freisinga too. Truly, he is Lord Freisinga.”

“Brother!”

The priests seemed very pleased even with Lee Han’s perfunctory praise.

‘But…’

Lee Han, having entered the tent, looked around.

The most important things when joining an order were two things:

What do you get when you join the order?

And what do you have to do when you join the order?

If you joined a strange order and had to whip yourself every time you attended a meeting, wouldn’t that be even more inconvenient?

‘It’s very plain inside, maybe because it’s just a tent for a religious order.’

The inside of the tent was bleak. There were a few long chairs, and a symbol that seemed to represent Freisinga was placed on the altar in front.

It could be considered ordinary, but Lee Han felt a sense of unease.

‘Aren’t there too many artifacts here?’

There were many things in the tent that seemed to glow with magic.

Even small magic items, artifacts, were rare and cost a lot.

But there were so many of those artifacts swarming inside the tent.

The priests didn’t seem particularly extravagant…

‘Surely Freisinga was said to be a god who sacrifices himself to support the world? Is he a god associated with artifact creation?’

Thud, thud, thud.

A short, thin priest approached Lee Han to give him an explanation.

“…?”

Surprisingly, every time the priest took a step, a very deep footprint was etched into the ground. Lee Han’s eyes widened.

“Ah. Are you surprised, brother?”

The priest smiled as he opened his mouth, realizing that Lee Han was startled.

“There’s no need to be surprised. It’s because of the artifact I’m wearing. It’s a cursed artifact, brother. It increases the amount of divine power you can use, but in exchange, it multiplies your weight.”

“Ah. Did you accidentally wear it when you were exploring a dungeon or going on an adventure?”

“Not at all. I’m wearing it to honor Lord Freisinga.”

“?”

“Lord Freisinga is the one who sacrifices himself to support the world. As such, shouldn’t we sacrifice ourselves as well, brother? Every time we wear the world’s cursed artifacts, the world’s curses diminish.”

The Freisinga Order.

To honor the god who was cursed to bear the world forever, the priests wore cursed artifacts themselves.

Their divine magic, unlike other divine magic, did not undo the curse contained in the artifacts.

Instead of removing the curse, their magic made the curse stronger, but also made the magic item work better.

The color began to drain from Lee Han’s face as he slowly realized the truth.

Lee Han regretted it.

‘I’ve lost my mind. Listening to the headmaster.’

He’d momentarily believed it because of the warm atmosphere of the conversation with the headmaster, but the madness emanating from the order was extraordinary.

An order that deliberately wore cursed artifacts in their daily lives.

“…It seems you don’t like it, brother.”

The priest was no ordinary person.

Even though Lee Han tried not to show it, the priest could see he was worried.

“No, I’m just overjoyed…”

“No, brother. The path of devotion to Lord Freisinga is, in fact, a difficult and arduous one. If you’ve changed your mind now, you don’t have to walk it. I understand.”

The priest said with a forlorn smile.

Lee Han felt sorry, but he glanced sideways to check the location of the exit, in case the other party suddenly changed and tried to grab him.

“This cursed belt was meant to be given to a new brother as a welcoming gift… but everyone leaves after hearing the detailed explanation. Well, it’s only natural. A belt with a curse that absorbs magical power. Which brother would like that?”

“…Wait. What does it do?”