Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 32

A sudden silence fell, broken only by the rustling leaves in the courtyard. Then, a choked cry:

“G-Gainan Do… he’s been taken!”

“Kyaaaah!” A scream ripped through the air, followed by a chorus of terrified shouts.

Panic exploded through the Blue Dragon Tower courtyard. It wasn’t every day a shadow fell from the sky, and a monstrous creature with razor claws snatched one of their friends in broad daylight. It would have been truly odd if they *hadn’t* lost their heads.

But Lee Han felt himself becoming strangely calm.

‘I must be getting used to this school,’ he thought.

He’d seen so many crazy things that a monster flying in to kidnap Gainan Do barely registered anymore.

“Everyone, get down!” Lee Han shouted.

The Blue Dragon Tower students beside him heard and quickly lowered themselves.

-Kroarahrahrahrah!

“I-It’s coming back!”

“No!”

Another student, confused and lost, was snatched away. This time, it was a White Tiger Tower student.

Watching it, an idea came to Lee Han.

‘Could it be!’

There had to be a reason it chose one student out of the many gathered here.

Gainan Do had bright blonde hair.

And the student who was just taken had bright silver hair.

“Everyone, cover your hair with your cloaks! It’s grabbing the shiny ones!”

“I-It’s grabbing the bald ones?”

“He means the hair color, you idiot!”

The Blue Dragon Tower students were flustered by the sudden order, but they didn’t doubt Lee Han’s words.

Because of that, they reacted faster than the other tower students.

As they crouched low and covered their heads with their cloaks, the monster lost interest in the Blue Dragon Tower students.

‘It worked!’

Lee Han knew his judgment had been correct.

He knew that many birds liked shiny things, but who knew that would work on monsters too.

He wouldn’t have figured it out if Gainan Do hadn’t been sacrificed.

Tap tap-

“?”

Lee Han, who was still crouching, realized that an elf he had never seen before was touching him.

She had long black hair and pointed elf ears. Her body looked strong, like someone trained in a special knightly style. Lee Han thought she must be from an Eastern Elf knight family.

Before Lee Han could answer, a fierce reaction burst out from the side.

“How dare you touch Wodanaz!”

“Honorable friends! A student from the White Tiger Tower dares to touch Wodanaz…”

As the Blue Dragon Tower students reacted quickly and fiercely, the White Tiger Tower girl panicked and said urgently.

“I have nothing to do with the Moradi family faction! Your Highness! Please explain.”

The princess, Adenart, came forward and stood as if to block her. Lee Han was puzzled.

“What is it? Did you know each other?”

Adenart nodded with her usual expressionless face. Taking advantage of the brief time she bought, the elf hurriedly explained.

“I am Rowena, a knight serving Her Highness.”

“Serving the princess? This school isn’t supposed to allow servants or guards… Ah. I see.”

Lee Han understood without even hearing the explanation. Rowena looked at him with surprised eyes at his understanding.

Originally, this school was forbidden from bringing servants or guards.

However, every rule has a loophole.

If an equal freshman who came in together voluntarily offered to serve, there was no way to stop that.

The princess had been famous in the Empire since she was young, so it was no surprise that there were people among the freshmen who came in together who had set out to serve her even before entering the school.

‘Besides, it was like that during alchemy class too,’ Lee Han thought.

At that time, Lee Han was scared, but all the students from the various towers gathered around the princess. It made sense if there were people who had come to see the princess and had a relationship with her even before entering the school.

‘I suddenly feel sorry for Gainan Do…’

Lee Han felt sorry for Gainan Do, who was probably flying in the sky right now.

Even if the princess stayed still, people from all over would flock to her to offer their loyalty, but Gainan Do…

The difference was too great even though they were both royalty.

“So, I understand that you’re a knight serving the princess, but why are you telling me this?” Lee Han asked.

“We’ve managed to hide from his eyes for now, but we don’t know when he’ll change his mind. Please, Lord Wodanaz, give the order to stop him.”

“…??”

Lee Han wondered if he had misheard.

‘Who am I supposed to command?’

For a moment, Lee Han wondered if there were undead soldiers under him that he didn’t know about.

But there really were subordinates that Lee Han didn’t know about.

Swish-

The Blue Dragon Tower students wiped their noses and stepped forward.

“Hmph. Wodanaz. I’m counting on you.”

“Wodanaz, we believe in you. We ask for your honorable command.”

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Without even knowing it, he had become the leader of the Blue Dragon Tower.

‘Traditionally, there’s no good that comes from being a leader anywhere…’

He was flustered, but he couldn’t do nothing in this situation.

Lee Han nodded and began to issue instructions as he thought of them.

Rowena watched Lee Han’s movements with curious eyes.

Rowena was not the only student among the freshmen who served Adenart. They existed in other towers as well.

The reason they served Adenart was not because she was one of over a hundred members of the Imperial Family. It wasn’t because of the wealth and power of the Imperial Family either.

The reason they gathered, despite their different races, statuses, and origins, was purely because of the ability Adenart had shown.

As such, Rowena naturally thought that Adenart would be the leader to lead the Blue Dragon Tower.

But surprisingly, the leader leading the Blue Dragon Tower was not Adenart.

It was a boy from the Wodanaz family.

-No way!

-How could this happen?

Of course, Adenart was not a sociable person.

She was so quiet and had so few words, and her cold face often caused a sense of intimidation.

But Adenart’s followers thought that was no problem at all.

Especially in the face of Adenart’s overwhelming ability.

If Adenart, who showed genius talent in any field, was there, they thought that even the picky and arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students would have no choice but to acknowledge her…

Besides, wasn’t the Wodanaz family not a particularly sociable family?

It was one of the most famous magical families in the Empire, but there were many bizarre and terrifying rumors about them.

The followers couldn’t believe that a boy from such a family was leading the Blue Dragon Tower.

How on earth?

‘Maybe I can find out the secret this time,’ Rowena thought.

Rowena protected Adenart and stared intently at Lee Han.

Asking Lee Han was unavoidable.

If Rowena or Adenart spoke, the arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students would never follow their instructions.

Frankly, she was frustrated.

If she could only find out how Lee Han led the Blue Dragon Tower students, Adenart might be able to do it too.

‘I’m going to find out and give you advice!’

Rowena couldn’t have imagined that Lee Han had made those arrogant students his allies with food.

‘Even if I try to give instructions, there’s not much I can do,’ Lee Han thought.

He didn’t have a bow or crossbow, and there was no way he could deal with a monster flying so high.

Then?

‘I have no choice but to scare it like I would an animal and chase it away.’

Fortunately, Lee Han had some plans.

“Everyone, stand in a line and make a wall!”

At Lee Han’s words, the students stood in a line and made a temporary wall.

Lee Han crouched behind it to make the surprise attack as strong as possible.

‘It’s coming!’

As the monster came down from above once again, Lee Han immediately used magic.

“Let there be light!”

It was the simplest 1-circle magic, light creation, but the effect varied greatly depending on how it was used.

As a light sphere shining like the sun rose into the air, the monster that was rushing in screamed and quickly changed direction.

-Kroarahrahrahrah!

The monster was caught completely off guard and surprised because Lee Han was hiding and suddenly used magic.

“Turn! Turn!”

‘What?’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han thought it was over when the monster was surprised and ran away, but then he heard a person’s voice from above the monster.

Lee Han somehow felt like he knew.

‘Could it be a professor? No. It must be a professor. There’s no way there’s a normal professor at this school!’

He had no evidence other than intuition, but Lee Han realized that it was a professor who had appeared driving that monster.

Seriously, this damn school…!

The monster, which had been frightened, calmed down again thanks to the professor and changed direction.

-Kroarahrahrahrah!

The monster seemed embarrassed that it had been scared by a harmless ball of light. It made a noise as if it was angry and snapped its beak.

Then, this time, it rushed towards Lee Han openly. It was clear that it had realized who was leading the students here.

“No! Wodanaz. Please, evade!” Rowena, who was watching, shouted urgently.

Lee Han’s plan had clearly been successful.

He had exploited the monster’s weakness and made it run away.

But as things stood, he had to avoid it.

‘What is she talking about?’

‘Does that girl even know who she’s talking to?’

The other White Tiger Tower students looked at Rowena with dumbfounded expressions.

Rowena didn’t come to swordsmanship class, so she was making a very big mistake.

The boy from the Wodanaz family had plenty of ability to take care of himself even if he was left alone.

But Lee Han didn’t avoid it. He stiffened his face and swung his staff.

“Move!”

A stone rising with the spell.

It was only a 1-circle magic, but Lee Han looked like a powerful archmage to the students in the area.

‘Please don’t shoot only allies. Please don’t shoot only allies,’ Lee Han thought.

Since he didn’t know many spells, Lee Han was naturally going to use lower-level manipulation magic if the light creation magic failed.

The problem was…

The moment Lee Han floated the stone, he shot it away like an arrow, let alone maintaining it properly.

Aiming was naturally impossible. He just had to leave it to luck.

If he could aim, he would have used this magic from the start.

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

Not knowing Lee Han’s inner thoughts, the Blue Dragon Tower students shouted Lee Han’s name enthusiastically.

Even the students from other towers were calling Lee Han’s name.

Ping!

The floated stone was shot out sharply.

“!!”

And surprisingly, the stone accurately grazed the front of the monster’s beak.

‘Did I screw up!’ Lee Han sighed inwardly.

Frankly, he couldn’t blame his bad luck because he was grateful that it had flown that far.

-Kroarahrahrah!

But surprisingly, it worked.

The monster, startled by the stone that grazed the front of its beak, stopped and changed direction again.

“Waaaaaah!”

“Wodanaz! Wodanaz!”

Some of the White Tiger Tower students looked at him with bitter expressions mixed with fear and anger.

Frankly, they had no choice but to admit it.

The boy from the Wodanaz family was on a different level.

They couldn’t even make a ball of light yet, but he had already mastered rock manipulation magic and was using it in battle…

Originally, even if you learned magic, it was several times more difficult to use it in battle.

When a bloody and chaotic situation with weapons flying around occurred, even well-practiced magic would fail due to a loss of concentration.

But to succeed like that…

‘What a monster!’

‘Hmm? Did it work?’ Lee Han thought.

Everyone was impressed, but Lee Han was actually dumbfounded.

Was it scared by the miss?

‘I got lucky,’ he thought.

“Turn! Turn! Good job!”

The professor’s voice from above the monster was heard again, and he landed with dust.

Thud!

Before getting off, the professor threw down the students who had been caught earlier one by one. Gainan Do was foaming at the mouth and passed out.

Thump!

The professor landed stylishly.

Leather pants and a leather jacket, with pilot goggles on his head (it was an artifact that felt like magic). Just by looking at him, you could feel that he was an explorer. He was a dwarf.

But Lee Han felt something else.

For some reason, the dwarf looked familiar.

Could he be related to Thunderfoot?

‘No way. Just because dwarves all look similar to me doesn’t mean I should just assume they’re related. That’s prejudice,’ Lee Han thought.

Thump-

The dwarf walked over and grabbed Lee Han’s collar. Then, he said in a pleasant voice.

“You have potential!”

“……”

‘I think he really is related to Thunderfoot…’