Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 480

“…I’m sorry. Everyone. It wasn’t intentional.”

Professor Thunderstride apologized sincerely.

Of course, the Einroguard students weren’t so easily convinced to accept his apology.

It was all thanks to faithfully following Einroguard’s teachings.

“Is an apology enough for this?!”

“That’s right! Professor, did you secretly take some money?!”

“You, you little…!”

Professor Thunderstride looked flustered, glancing nervously at the Meykin family members.

Inside the school, it wouldn’t have mattered, but outside, he couldn’t afford to ignore his reputation.

If a strange misunderstanding led to a rumor like, ‘They say Einroguard’s Professor Thunderstride is swindling students out of their silver coins,’ and it reached Headmaster Skull’s ears…

“Do you think I would do such a thing!? As you can see, I didn’t even enter the village. There was even less of an opportunity to take any silver coins!”

“Then why did you stay outside?!”

“Because that’s the rule!”

The Meykin family members, witnessing the bad argument between Professor Thunderstride and the students, were surprised.

“Um, Einroguard people. Please calm down.”

“That’s right. It’s our fault for not specifying clearly. We should have told you exactly which village to take a break in if you were to rest along the way.”

“…Let’s get back to business.”

Professor Thunderstride cleared his throat.

The Meykin family members nodded and quickly explained the situation.

“The hunters from the North arrived a week ago and are already hunting. They’re incredibly fast!”

“We thought they wouldn’t venture out of the North because of their name, Shadow Patrol, but we were surprised they agreed so readily. We are truly grateful.”

As the Meykin family member greeted Nilia, Professor Thunderstride tilted his head, puzzled.

“What are they grateful for?”

Leehan answered right away, without hesitation.

“Grateful that we flew here quickly, I suppose.”

“No, they were thanking…”

“So, what’s the remaining problem?”

“Ah. You must be from the Wodanaz family?”

“That’s right. Did we meet during the last vacation?”

“No. Yoanen Meykin mentioned you several times. He said you’re the kind of talent he desperately wants to recruit for the workshop.”

“Oh. Did he mention the conditions as well?”

The Meykin family members laughed at the funny joke from the Wodanaz family boy.

As everyone just laughed, Leehan subtly spoke again.

“So, the conditions are…”

Yoner tugged at Leehan’s sleeve and shook his head.

Professor Thunderstride took notes on what the Meykin family members were saying and asked.

“It’s fortunate that the hunting is progressing quickly. So, what tasks are required of us…?”

“First, please confirm the location of the Sangoria flowers. Harvesting has been interrupted for a long time, and due to the rampaging monsters and spirits, a new map needs to be created.”

Professor Thunderstride nodded, understanding.

“Currently, the alchemist guilds and fishermen’s guilds in the vicinity have stockpiles of Sangoria flowers, but due to the prolonged chaos, we cannot trust the quality of these stocks. We would like a skilled and reputable alchemist to create new standards and classify the inventory.”

The students behind him sighed softly.

Just listening made them feel like the amount of work was increasing. Who would do that classification?

“Understood. What else?”

“As friction has increased due to this incident, tensions are rising between the guilds, and between the guilds and the residents. We would like you to mediate this issue.”

Professor Thunderstride flipped over the paper filled with a long list.

“The hunters belonging to the Shadow Patrol are showing excellent performance, but since their numbers are limited, they cannot fight indiscriminately. After identifying the hazards and locations, please designate only the monsters that need to be defeated. We will drive out the remaining monsters in ways other than hunting.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, we would also like you to provide training on how to harvest Sangoria flowers. There are quite a few inexperienced people because the number of skilled fishermen has decreased.”

‘There’s a reason they’re giving so much gold.’

Leehan felt overwhelmed by the long list of tasks.

Indeed, gold is not easy to earn!

“Wait. Professor.”

Leehan, who was calculating, asked because there was something he didn’t understand.

“Can we accomplish all these tasks in the remaining days?”

“A foolish question.”

Professor Thunderstride lit his pipe and blew out smoke.

“We have to do it anyway.”

“……”

It was not a joke.

As soon as the conversation ended, Professor Thunderstride started pushing the students very hard, like he was crazy.

“Here is the West Gate, the pride of Isran City. It is made of lapis lazuli, and there is a romantic legend that it was made with mermaid tears…”

“Spare me the explanations and just show us the lodgings where the students will stay.”

“Ah. The Quadma family, one of the city’s noble houses, has lent us a mansion. This mansion is located on a hill, and if you leave the front gate of the mansion, you will find the Water Statue Street, one of the prides of Isran City…”

“You don’t need to explain. We won’t have time to go out anyway. Bring me the tools I mentioned earlier. We’re heading straight to the workshop.”

The servants were surprised by Professor Thunderstride’s words.

“But there is a meal prepared at the mansion…”

“Just pack a simple meal that we can eat comfortably and bring it to the workshop.”

“……”

“……”

The students looked around Isran City with gloomy faces.

The southern city, which had been so beautiful just a moment ago, suddenly looked boring and sad.

“Everyone, take your seats. From now on, I will teach you how to classify the quality of Sangoria flowers. First, the color of the leaves…”

A skilled alchemist was very careful and noticed every small thing.

Once Professor Thunderstride started working, he drove the students very hard, without any breaks.

“I said light red! That’s dark red!”

“How could you not notice the traces of insects on the stem!”

“Is this the time to be stuffing bread into your mouth? I told you I would give you time to eat later!”

‘You said that an hour ago.’

Leehan thought to himself as he moved his hands.

The students were becoming exhausted, but fortunately, progress was being made quickly.

Thanks to the harsh criticism, the students began to get the hang of the work and accurately classified the flowers.

“That should be enough. Alchemists ranked 5th to 10th, follow me.”

Professor Thunderstride got up from his seat, issuing the next instruction without stopping.

The students who were singled out by the professor stood up with confused faces.

“Where are we going?”

“Are we perhaps going to rest…?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You students will learn how to collect flowers. Once you learn, you can teach the collectors and adventurers.”

The students were silent, looking at each other nervously.

Professor Thunderstride, who had taken the students out, soon returned.

“Alchemy ranks 2nd to 4th, follow me. I’ll give you the old collection map and sea routes, so memorize them. We need to draw a new map.”

The students were silent, looking at each other nervously.

Watching Professor Thunderstride leave, Lee Han suddenly felt puzzled.

Wait. Why me?

Wasn’t he supposed to be excluded when they went to make the map?

The returning Professor Thunderstride immediately resolved Lee Han’s question.

“Wodanaz, you come with me to directly confirm the location of the Sangoria flowers.”

“…No…!”

Lee Han walked to the harbor with the professors, wearing a reluctant expression.

He had thought, ‘I want to get some fresh air’ while working earlier, but this wasn’t what he had in mind.

“To confirm the location of the Sangoria flowers… do we have to go out to sea?”

“Yes. We’ll be going out on a ship. Don’t worry too much. With this much power, there’s not much danger, really.”

“…Then shouldn’t I be allowed to stay inside?”

Professor Volardi shook his head as if to say otherwise to Lee Han’s words.

Professor Volardi smiled in a way that was not fully friendly when he said, “This is a good opportunity.”

Lee Han realized why Professor Thunderstride had specifically brought him along.

Could it be…’Did this person ask to bring me?’

Come to think of it, even though Professor Thunderstride made the students work very hard, he didn’t have a hobby of bringing a student who was good inside out to experience thrills.

Realizing the truth, Lee Han stared at Professor Volardi with a mixture of shock and horror.

‘There’s really no one to trust in this world!’ He was being tricked even inside Einroguard, and now even out here…

Lee Han walked to the harbor. The air smelled of salt and fish, and the cries of seagulls filled the air. Ships with tall masts swayed gently in the water.

“Oh. Are you wizards?”

At the harbor, there were people dressed differently from the sailors. They wore thick furs and sturdy boots, looking like they had come straight from the cold mountains. Some had scars on their faces, telling stories of hunts. It was the Shadow Patrol.

“That’s right. You must have suffered a lot.”

“Nah, it’s not bad. Mountains were boring anyway, eh? Good pay here, too.”

“Honestly, we can’t really use such expensive arrows in the mountains. When else would we get to use something like this?”

The hunters were very satisfied with the generous support from the Maykin family. Each arrow was not just an arrow. It glowed faintly with a blue light, magic swirling within it. Potions in small glass vials were also handed out, promising extra strength in battle. All of this was a luxury that couldn’t be seen in the cold northern mountains.

“Can we take these magic arrows with us if there are any left over?”

“Come on. We have our pride, don’t say things like that.”

“Pride? That doesn’t matter when these arrows are so good! I saw you picking up and using arrows last time.”

‘It’s a relief Nilia isn’t here.’ Lee Han thought it was fortunate that Nilia hadn’t come. If Nilia had come, he might have jumped into the sea out of embarrassment.

The hunters, who had been chattering about what they had caught on the ship, suddenly clapped their hands and asked.

“Ah, right. Professor. We have something to ask.”

Professor Thunderstride, looking a bit impatient and tapping his foot, asked, “Ask away.”

“Isn’t there a student among you who is from our Shadow Patrol? That, Nelia, was it?”

“Nolea. You’re dumber than a crow.”

“I could get confused. She’s not from our area, but from the eastern area, so I got confused!”

Lee Han quietly answered, not wanting to get involved.

“Yes, it’s Nilia.”

“Ah, right. Nilia! Yes, it was Nilia!”

“Is Nilia doing well?”

The Shadow Patrol hunters asked the question as if they were trying not to show any interest. However, their eyes flickered with a desire for praise.

Having entered Einroguard as a member of the Shadow Patrol, the hunters had high expectations, even if they didn’t show it.

Professor Thunderstride, noticing their eagerness, gave the hunters the answer they wanted.

“Oh… she’s a very excellent student. She’s among the top ten in the alchemy lectures.”

“Ooh…! Amazing!”

The hunters were impressed. To be honest, the hunters hadn’t had high expectations for Nilia’s grades. The others had been holding books in the city before coming, but how advantageous would Nilia, who had been holding a bow in the mountains, be? But now they were hearing such an answer.

“How are her relationships with her friends?”

“Oh… it would be better for Wodanaz here to tell you about that. Wodanaz, tell them.”

‘You’re cowardly passing it on to me.’ Lee Han cursed the professor inwardly and opened his mouth.

“Nilia is very popular in the tower.”

“Ooh…! I told you. She’s a bit more sociable than us. I knew she’d get along well.”

“I should ask her how to make outside friends when she comes back later. The guys run away whenever I go down to the village.”

“That’s because you go down covered in blood.”

Seeing the hunters’ good reaction, Lee Han continued to speak a little more.

“Not only the students from the Black Tortoise Tower but also the students from the Blue Dragon Tower like Nilia very much. During the last vacation, she received an invitation from the Maykin family and stayed there, and the Maykin family was so touched that they asked her to stay longer…”

The hunters listened blankly and then chuckled.

“This wizard must be saying such things to make us feel good! Thank you for that. Still, such ridiculous jokes! Haha! Haha! Haha!”

Lee Han suddenly felt sorry for Nilia, whose accomplishments had been turned into lies.