Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 439

“I see… so it’s true,” Ihan said. He thought he knew what the Headmaster was thinking and nodded.

“No!” the Headmaster said quickly.

“Sorry?” Ihan asked, confused.

“Do you really think all the magical criminals in the Empire come from Einroguard?” the Headmaster asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh? Don’t they?” Ihan replied, surprised.

The Headmaster stopped talking for a moment. He was very surprised because he could tell Ihan was serious, not joking. *‘What is going on in this boy’s head?’* the Headmaster thought to himself.

“Is that so… Is it because the knights are here that it’s not true?” Ihan asked.

“I cast a spell and said no. Is that enough for you?” the Headmaster replied.

“Ah…” Ihan understood then.

The Headmaster wanted to smack him, but he remembered the donation Ihan had just secured for the school and held back.

“If it’s a magical criminal, then…” Ihan started to say.

“Yes,” the Headmaster confirmed.

There were enemies in the Empire who caused fear and anger just by their names.

“Anti-magic activists, evil god worshippers, separatists, dark magic… no, not dark magicians. He almost said the wrong thing,” the Headmaster muttered.

“……”

Not dark magicians, but magical criminals. He wanted to say magical criminals. Anyway, even if the four seniors from Einroguard were troublemakers, it was rare for them to be called magical criminals.

‘Not entirely absent, though,’ Ihan thought.

Ihan wasn’t surprised.

It would have been more surprising if there were none at all.

In any case, the Headmaster’s logic was sound.

Surprisingly, not just anyone could become a magical criminal.

A magician who failed a magical experiment, causing a valley to flood and destroying all the crops in a village?

Fascinating, but not a magical criminal. That just belonged to the category of crazy magicians.

A magician who went into another knight order’s cemetery and was caught trying to steal bodies?

Truly fascinating, but not a magical criminal. That also belonged to the category of crazy magicians, or rather, very crazy magicians.

To be called a magical criminal in the Empire, someone had to cause terrible incidents and escape from the Imperial bounty hunters and knight orders many times.

Only then would the order be given: ‘In the name of the Imperial Emperor, this magician can no longer be called a magician. Deal with him, dead or alive.’

That was the worst reputation an Imperial magician could get.

No matter how wild Einroguard was as a school for magicians, it couldn’t easily produce such top-tier criminals.

Also, seeing the seniors being dragged into the disciplinary chamber even after they graduated, it seemed the Headmaster cared about the school’s reputation and standing in the Empire and provided aftercare.

“I thought he was an exceptional magician, so I just thought he was from Einroguard,” Ihan explained.

A common mistake.

The Headmaster nodded as if he understood.

If exceptional magicians in the Empire caused trouble, people automatically thought they were from Einroguard?

What was even more annoying was that this was 95% correct.

Going back to the story of Antagondals, he wasn’t from Einroguard and was still a new magician who hadn’t even lived for five hundred years…

‘The word ‘new’ seems a bit strange for a magician over a hundred years old,’ Ihan thought.

He had been building a reputation for a long time, which was quite annoying.

With a voice filled with annoyance, the Headmaster held up the *Antagondals’ Piercing Eye* artifact and the black spirit wood bracelet with seven snakes wrapped around it.

When the Empire’s enemies showed up with different artifacts, about three out of ten times, they were made by him…

“Does a magician sell artifacts to anti-magic activists?” the Headmaster asked, his voice showing his anger. “Can you believe it? This magician actually *sells* these things to those awful anti-magic people!”

The enemy of my enemy is always an easy ally. And would those who have already fallen care about their partners? They would do anything if it helped them.

The Headmaster’s voice was filled with contempt.

Ihan understood why the Headmaster was so emotional.

Artifacts helped even those who didn’t know magic to cause problems relatively easily.

He couldn’t like a magical criminal who made and sold such artifacts to anti-magic activists and various enemies of the Empire.

“What’s even worse is that he’s making fun of me by using the name of an old royal family! How dare he!” The Headmaster’s face was getting red with anger.

“…Oh… I see,” Ihan said.

Ihan was a little surprised when important reasons were followed by a small one.

“You’re too young to know how important this is,” the Headmaster grumbled.

To the Headmaster, who was the heir to the old kingdom that no longer existed, the other noble families of the kingdom were honorable titles with special meanings.

For someone so new, not even from Einroguard, to steal such a title and use it for himself…

“Understood. If I ever meet Antagondals, I will be sure to point out the arrogance you mentioned,” Ihan said jokingly.

“Yes. Remember that,” the Headmaster said seriously.

Seeing the Headmaster take his joke seriously, Ihan was surprised but suddenly remembered something and asked.

“But why did you tell me the story of Antagondals? Ah, are you going to teach me something about this artifact?”

“Ah, you wanted to learn about this artifact? Understood. I’ll keep that in mind,” the Headmaster replied.

Ihan cursed himself for speaking without thinking. He couldn’t stand himself.

“Wasn’t that the reason?” Ihan asked.

“The reason I told you the story of Antagondals is, as you said, because it seems like you might meet him in the future,” the Headmaster explained.

“……”

“He avoids me because he’s afraid of me, but he doesn’t know much about you yet, so he might approach you. More than anything, you defeated those anti-magic activists,” the Headmaster added.

“I didn’t defeat…” Ihan started to say.

“If you see a suspicious magician, don’t wait, call me with the ring I gave you last time. Do you understand?” the Headmaster said firmly.

Ihan almost called him right then but stopped himself.

With the help of the Headmaster and the Death Knights, the camp, which had been destroyed in the battle, was quickly rebuilt.

The knights who had been injured finished recovering, stood up, and thanked the Headmaster.

The Headmaster said to the students kindly, “You may stay a little longer if you wish.”

“Oh? Really!?” Angaro asked, surprised.

He hadn’t expected the Headmaster to be so kind.

Bartrec also couldn’t believe it and blinked, staring at his friend.

“Of course! How much have you earned here? Of course, you can stay!” the Headmaster said.

The knights smiled warmly and opened their arms as if welcoming them.

Angaro and Bartrec already seemed excited about the friendly atmosphere that they didn’t usually experience in Einroguard.

‘The Headmaster is human too!’ Angaro thought.

‘Right. Since we fought so hard, we can stay a little longer…’ Bartrec thought.

There was no good reason to return quickly.

They would only have to roam the mountains and forests with their friends to hunt for food if they returned.

Compared to Einrogard after the flood, this place was overflowing with food and drink.

“Headmaster,” Leihan called out.

The skeletal headmaster turned his head, his empty eye sockets seeming to focus on Leihan. He tilted his skull slightly, a silent question.

“Are the spirits causing trouble inside?” Leihan asked.

The headmaster’s jaw clicked open and shut, like he was speaking without a voice. Then, words seemed to form in Leihan’s mind, warm and inviting. “Stay longer. Why leave so soon?”

Leihan sighed deeply and called his friends. “Hey. Let’s go back.”

It was clear that the school had been flooded.

Instead of obediently returning to the tower, the White Tiger Tower friends collapsed onto the floor, struggling.

“Maybe there wasn’t a flood!” one groaned.

“There was, I’m telling you,” Leihan replied.

“Let’s concede a hundred times and say there was! But do we really have to go back! Wodanaz! You don’t honestly want to take care of those guys, do you!”

It wasn’t that they didn’t believe Leihan, but rather a desperate denial of the reality that they didn’t want to return to Einrogard. It was already tough enough, and now with the flood, they couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be if they went back. The thought of the muddy, cold, and damp Einrogard made them want to stay here forever.

Leihan looked at his friends rolling around. He felt a flash of anger. He could just punch them and make them listen. But… no. Even if no one was watching, hitting a knightly family member in the knight order’s camp felt wrong. He sighed. There had to be another way.

Instead, he called Giselle. “Moradi. It’s your tower, so persuade them and bring them back.”

Giselle glared at her friends with a gaze full of annoyance. “Seriously? You’re going to act like babies? Fine. Stay here. See if I care. Enjoy sleeping on the floor and eating dirt.”

The two of them, who had been rolling on the floor, stood up in awkward poses. They were afraid of the repercussions if they resisted Giselle, but they didn’t stand up completely. That’s how much they didn’t want to return to Einrogard.

Haha. It seems you’re misunderstanding something.

It was the skeletal headmaster who helped Leihan. “If Wodanaz returns, you all return together. That’s what friends are for.”

“Huh!? We’re from different towers though?!”

“What do you want me to do? Stamp ‘different towers but friends’ on your foreheads?”

The skeletal headmaster was in a very bad mood after hearing that Leihan was returning to Einrogard. His skull seemed to tilt more, and his empty eye sockets seemed to glare.

The two White Tiger Tower students, realizing the spite in his voice, gave up and jumped to their feet. “Let’s go… we have to go.”

“Wodanaz… if other friends ask later, could you say that we took the lead in saying we should go back?”

Giselle, unable to bear it any longer, exploded and started beating her friends with the scabbard. The two students screamed and ran away.

Leihan, regardless, gathered the boxes he would carry back. “Moradi. Stop hitting them and help me out, will you?”

“…Wait. There’s too much.”

Giselle, taking a deep breath and recovering, frowned slightly and counted the number of wooden boxes. No matter how she thought about it, it was too much for the four of them to carry back. Even though they brought a horse…

“Ah. I’ll carry from here to here.”

“What? How?”

“I’ll carry this on my back, load this on Ponryg, and float the rest with magic.”

Giselle was speechless at the unexpectedly crude method.

“Hmm. I received this box too… Southern-produced Whirlpool Clams are too much of a luxury, aren’t they? And they spoil quickly.”

Leihan, seeing the high-end shellfish filling the crate, which had been harvested from the southern coast of the empire, fell into contemplation. The Whirlpool Clams shimmered with pearly colors and smelled faintly of the sea.

Giselle agreed, saying, “It might be better to leave that behind.”

“That’s a waste… Headmaster. Would you like to barter, by any chance?”

“Get lost.”

Giselle was so surprised by Leihan calling out to the skeletal headmaster that her heart dropped. Giselle, who rarely got scared, made an exception for the skeletal headmaster. Although quite some time had passed since she enrolled, the skeletal headmaster was still a difficult opponent. And yet he calls out to him like that…

‘Is he crazy, for real?’

“Wait a moment. People from the merchant guild. Do you happen to have any food you brought separately? You do? Would you like to trade, by any chance?”

Leihan went to the workers from the merchant guild who remained in the camp and exchanged the perishable high-end ingredients for the preserved food they had brought. Since there were many workers who came to work, the amount of food was more than expected. Moreover, they were foods that were small in size and did not spoil easily, making them easy to move.

“Wow, are you just giving this to us?” one of the workers asked.

“We value frugality as a virtue, so we don’t eat these luxurious foods often,” Leihan said without batting an eye. The workers happily accepted, thinking they would have a feast since they had worked so hard.

“Is that the remaining food? It still seems quite plentiful?”

“Yes. We brought enough to eat in case the work gets prolonged.”

Leihan fell into deep thought as he looked at the remaining boxes of canned goods. How can I take that?

“Hey. Bring the alcohol.”

“Ah… no! Wodanaz!!”

“Now is not the time for you to be indulging in expensive alcohol.”

“There might not be another chance to drink >Knight’s Delight<, which has been aged for over 20 years!!" Leihan snatched the lavishly decorated bottle from his friends’ grasp and exchanged it with the workers. The workers were happy, and the friends shed tears of blood. Once the trade was roughly finished, Leihan looked over the luggage with satisfaction. Aside from being a bit of a mountain, the composition was quite solid. 'At this rate, even considering what was lost in the flood, I could easily last a month,' he thought. "Excuse me. Mr. Wodanaz?" The knights came and called out to Leihan. Thanks to his performance in this raid, the knights’ eyes and attitudes were full of respect. "Yes?" "This is a gift that is traditionally given to the knight who most gloriously shines at the gathering." Leihan’s eyes widened. 'Could it be? A gold coin? A golden statue? Or perhaps a weapon made of gold.' "This gathering was canceled midway, but there will never be anyone who shines as gloriously as Mr. Wodanaz. We are pleased to give this to you unanimously." "I am truly honored!" Leihan gratefully accepted the gift. It was a bottle of alcohol decorated several times more lavishly than the bottle his friends had been deprived of earlier. The bottle was gold-plated and encrusted with fake jewels, making it look ridiculously fancy. Leihan stared at the bottle, a mix of disappointment and amusement on his face. Was alcohol all he was good for? He sighed, wondering what awaited them back at the flooded Einrogard.