Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 389

Lee Han had a feeling. He looked at Professor Voladi, who was nervously adjusting his glasses. Professor Voladi didn’t seem to know much about raising Basilisks. And looking around the dusty, cold room, Lee Han saw no other students offering to help. It was very likely Lee Han would have to take care of the Basilisk egg all by himself! He felt a little sad about this. He’d hoped for something more exciting than babysitting a giant snake egg.

“Do your best. It’s a truly precious experience.”

“Ah, yes.”

Professor Thunderclap grumbled, sounding absurd. “Good experience, precious experience… Hmph! Why *him* for this ‘precious experience’?” Professor Lightning Bolt looked confused. He didn’t understand what Professor Thunderclap meant.

“Think about it. When and where else would you get the experience of caring for and raising a Basilisk egg? And how helpful would that experience be? Once you do that well, the other snake monsters in the Empire will feel like mere fledglings.”

‘Likely story.’

There were countless monsters in the Empire, so there was no need to specifically prepare for snake monsters in advance.

Wasn’t the solution just to avoid the places where they appeared?

“I think it’s better to just avoid dangerous places or leave it to snake experts…” Professor Thunderclap said, handing Lee Han a basket filled with food. It contained bread, rice cakes, a large chunk of meat wrapped in a bag, cheese, salt, sugar, a jar of fruit pickled in honey, and several cans.

“What’s this?”

“Take it and eat something. You’re already busy because you came late.”

Lee Han could catch up with the other students even if he was two weeks late, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be difficult.

He had a lot to do in the second semester, so he needed to eat well.

Lee Han was honestly touched.

Not many professors would do something like this.

“Professor…!”

“Hmph. Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m giving it to you because you’re doing a good job.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Han bowed his head and then took out the cans he had hidden in his pocket and put them back in the basket.

Professor Thunderclap glared at Lee Han when he saw that.

That evening, Lee Han used the food he had brought from the cabin and garden to prepare a simple dinner.

It was more plentiful than the meals provided by the school, but there were definitely some empty spots on the table since he hadn’t properly brought supplies from outside yet.

It wasn’t like the acolytes were actively hunting or gathering.

‘Hmm. It’s a bit lacking.’

Lee Han skewered rice cakes, meat, and asparagus on a skewer, roasted it over the fire, and handed it to the acolytes.

“It’s still a bit lacking, but everyone, please bear with it until the next outing. Once I go out, I’ll bring back plenty.”

“What… this is already enough!”

“Yes, this is plenty! We wouldn’t want to get in trouble for eating too much, would we?” The acolytes said, gobbling up the stew made with potatoes, vegetables, spices, and rice.

Lee Han felt happy seeing their good attitude.

‘The Blue Dragon Tower guys should see this and learn.’

Just a moment ago, while preparing, he was ‘worried about whether the Blue Dragon Tower guys were eating well,’ but after seeing the acolytes, his thoughts changed to ‘well, they’ll manage.’

“By the way, Lee Han. Would you like to go get our assignments together?”

“Has the time already come? Sure.”

Lee Han nodded at Sharukal’s words. Sharukal hurriedly dragged Lee Han down, worried that the other acolytes would notice.

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“If the other acolytes notice, it’ll be annoying… no, I was originally supposed to go and get the new assignments, but I’m a little late.”

“It doesn’t seem that late…”

-Where did Lee Han of the Wodanaz family go?

-Who knows? Maybe he went into the tower for a bit?

-Wait, Acolyte Sharukal went to get the assignments! I think they went together?

-Go after them!

Lee Han stared intently at Sharukal. Sharukal pretended not to see his gaze and ignored it.

“Let’s go quickly!”

“Don’t acolytes dislike lying…?”

When they arrived in front of the main building, an undead greeted Lee Han and Sharukal.

-You arrived quickly.

But why is the blood of the Wodanaz family among the acolytes?

“There are circumstances. You can ask the headmaster, and he’ll know.”

-Ah. Does the master want to torment the students of the Blue Dragon Tower?

“…it’s not for that reason… or is it?”

-Well, the first-year students of the Blue Dragon Tower had it too easy last semester. The master cursed them several times.

Lee Han decided to pretend he didn’t hear.

While they were talking, other tower students arrived one by one.

Unlike Lee Han and Sharukal, the faces of the other tower students were filled with tension.

Lee Han waved his hand and called out to his friends.

“Did you have a good dinner? Did Gainando bring the ingredients properly?”

When his friends found Lee Han, they started crying instead of waving back.

“Wo, Wodanaz…! Sniff! Please come back!”

“…Did Gainando cook?”

“No. I didn’t let Gainando cook…” A student from the Blue Dragon Tower said, sobbing.

Lee Han thought he was being careful, but there was a blind spot in his thinking.

Even if he didn’t let Gainando cook, it wasn’t like the other friends were good at cooking!

The Blue Dragon Tower students committed all the mistakes a beginner could make, such as burning things, misjudging the seasoning, and mixing ingredients that didn’t go well together.

Even Yoner, who was great at alchemy, couldn’t control the cooking chaos.

-Turn down the heat! Turn down the heat!

-Why? Isn’t it better if the food cooks faster if the heat is high?

-Measure the salt properly and put it in!! Don’t just sprinkle it!!

-Huh? Wodanaz just sprinkled it? Isn’t it supposed to be done by feel?

-What feel when you’re doing it for the first time!! You there! Don’t add more water! I told you there’s plenty of moisture in the vegetables!

“Why don’t you change the tower name to the Tower of the Hungry Blue Worms?”

“We’re not *that* bad. We can actually cook, unlike some towers I know… heh.” The White Tiger Tower students who were listening next to them suddenly became arrogant.

Of course, Lee Han thought it was ridiculous.

‘What are those guys who can only grill saying…’

They were better than the Blue Dragon Tower students, but that was only natural for any human being, and the White Tiger Tower students weren’t particularly good at cooking either.

He knew it well from Moradina Derkyu.

-I caught a rabbit!

-Oh… let’s grill it!

-I got some bread!

-Oh… let’s grill it!

-I bought some fish!

-Oh… let’s grill it!

-I brought some spices and sugar. Can’t we make something with this? Like the dish that Wodanaz guy made. That was delicious.

-I have a good idea. Let’s grill it and then sprinkle it on top.

Those guys only know how to grill!

‘Well, it’s better to grill than nothing.’

“You guys should just eat it raw. Don’t bother cooking.”

The undead opened its mouth after confirming that all the students had gathered.

-Attention. Everyone’s here. Now, I’ll explain what needs to be done this week. First… the 3rd-year students tried to raid the 4th-floor kitchen but failed, and a fire broke out inside, so you have to clean it all up.

One of the students raised his hand and asked.

“Um… but why aren’t the 3rd-year seniors cleaning it up?”

-Good question. The 3rd-year seniors are cleaning up the accident caused by the 4th-year students.

-And next… has anyone been to the stream forest south of the main building?

“I have.”

A White Tiger Tower student answered. Lee Han felt an ominous feeling when he saw that.

-I see… I haven’t told you to go there yet, so you snuck in, huh? I’ll remember your name.

“Ah, no…!”

‘As expected.’

You could never let your guard down when answering.

-Anyway, it’s infested with pests. They’re not that strong, so you can go and take care of them. Next is… cleaning the 2nd-floor storage room. It seems to take a long time because there’s so much junk.

Lee Han was puzzled when his friends paused.

“Why are you surprised?”

“Ah. That came up last week too. The White Tiger Tower people were in charge of it.”

“I see.”

Lee Han looked at the White Tiger Tower students and asked.

“How was it?”

“Hmm. It wasn’t that difficult, Wodanaz.”

“But we couldn’t finish it because there was so much…”

Lee Han immediately noticed the shaking in their eyes.

‘It must have been hard.’

Judging from the reaction of the White Tiger Tower guys, the workload was definitely large and difficult.

Otherwise, those guys would have tried to do it again.

-Alright. I’ll divide it up now.

The undead rummaged around and made lots, then threw them one by one. Sharukal grabbed Lee Han’s wrist and said seriously.

“Lee Han. How about praying to Aglataqua?”

“Uh… wasn’t he the god of the sea and storms?” Lee Han had never heard that Aglataqua also presided over lotteries.

“Yes. But Aglataqua’s power is great, so if you believe and pray…”

Lee Han unfolded his lot.

Cleaning the 2nd-floor storage room.

“…I guess he doesn’t preside over lotteries after all.”

“I feel sorry for nothing. It seems like you picked something difficult.”

“No. How can there be anything difficult or easy in this kind of work.”

“That’s right. It’s more rewarding if it’s difficult.”

‘I can’t get used to it.’

Lee Han was troubled by the acolytes’ words.

The Blue Dragon Tower students were at least openly shameless, but the acolytes here were so kind that it was sometimes a bit distressing.

Creak-

When they opened the door, a huge garbage dump greeted the students.

He didn’t know who had piled it up, but it was a storage room crammed full of all sorts of junk.

Einroguard was a strange place. The land changed often. Because of this, hidden rooms used for storage would suddenly appear.

And if they continued to leave it here, this space could suddenly explode and scatter garbage in all directions.

Once discovered, it had to be cleaned up as soon as possible.

“…Wait.”

Lee Han, who was looking around the mountain of junk, found a cloth covering a corner next to him.

When he removed the cloth, there was a new pile of garbage inside.

That in itself wasn’t that surprising, but…

‘This pile of garbage doesn’t seem to have been here for long.’

Lee Han felt suspicious and checked the top of the garbage pile.

Then, he found broken wooden swords that the White Tiger Tower students often used.

“…It looks like the White Tiger Tower guys hid the garbage here because they were too lazy to clean it up.”

“Oh dear…”

“I guess we have no choice but to work harder.”

The acolytes said with a look of pity.

Lee Han stared intently at the acolytes, thought for a moment, and then said.

“Can I go back to the tower for a bit?”

“Of course. Feel free to go.”

“You don’t have to worry about the stream forest. There are no dangerous guys there. I’ve been hunting there several times.”

“Really?”

The White Tiger Tower student who had been in the forest said confidently.

“Yeah. There are absolutely no dangerous monsters here Ack!”

Thud!

Lee Han subdued one White Tiger Tower student from behind with magic and then pointed his wand at another student.

“Hands up. The moment your finger moves, something will break.”

“Wo… Wodanaz!! You bastard! Did you do this because I made fun of you for being the Tower of the Hungry Worms…”

“What are you talking about?”

“…Never mind?”

“The guys who cleaned the storage room last week. Did you do it properly or not?”

The White Tiger Tower student flinched at Lee Han’s question.

His face clearly showed that he was guilty.

“W-we worked hard.”

“I see. Move two steps to the right.”

“Why, why?”

“If you faint there, you might fall into the stream. You wouldn’t want your clothes to get wet.”

“…Actually, I used a little… trickery…”

“I see. Two steps to the right…”

“J-just a little… it was really just a little!”