Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 561

The Skull Headmaster’s voice boomed, echoing around the cold stone room. Lee Han and Giselle stood stiffly, waiting for the punishment they were sure was coming.

“Punishment room?” the Headmaster roared. “What nonsense are you talking about? I said I am *praising* you!”

Lee Han blinked, confused. “Um… yes. Thank you,” he mumbled, still expecting the worst.

“When… when do we go to the punishment room then?” Giselle asked quietly, her eyes wide with worry.

The Skull Headmaster was getting angrier. He couldn’t understand why these students seemed to *want* to be punished. He growled, barely holding back his temper.

“I said I’m not sending you! Not sending you! Of course, you two set a new record for freshman desertion that will go down in history, but I said I wasn’t sending you!” he shouted.

A tall, shadowy figure in black armor stood beside the Headmaster. It was a Death Knight. In a flat, emotionless voice, it said, “-My master means he is being sincere.”

Another Death Knight appeared beside the first, as if summoned from nowhere. “-Of course,” it added in the same monotone, “the two students made my master very angry by setting a new record for freshman desertion, a record that will be written in the school’s history books…”

The Skull Headmaster waved his hand impatiently. *Poof!* The second Death Knight vanished.

A third Death Knight instantly took its place, continuing as if nothing had happened. “-It seems an inspector from the Empire happened to see what happened.”

“The scene of us running away and getting lost?” Lee Han asked, still puzzled.

“-No. The scene of you helping the citizens of the Empire,” the Death Knight replied.

“Ah,” Lee Han said. Now it started to make a little more sense.

But there were still parts that didn’t make sense.

“So, we’re not getting punished just because we did something good?”

“Wodanaz is right. It doesn’t make sense. If that’s the case, why do the upperclassmen go to the punishment room?”

The Death Knight was dumbfounded by their reaction. “-Do you two really want to go to the punishment room that badly? If you’re lucky enough to avoid the punishment room, shouldn’t you be saying, ‘Wow! That’s great!’? Why are you saying, ‘Does that make sense? Are you tricking us?'”

“-First of all, the good deeds that impressed the inspector from the Empire are not ordinary good deeds…”

Giselle nodded absentmindedly. Certainly, thinking about it again, it wasn’t an ordinary good deed.

“-…Your upperclassmen haven’t really done any good deeds, have they?”

“There’s no way there aren’t any, is there?”

“-Aren’t there… not? It doesn’t seem like there are any. Are there any, perhaps?” The Death Knight pondered as if he really didn’t know, then asked the Skull Headmaster as well.

The Skull Headmaster shrugged, pretending he didn’t care, but his eyes still showed a hint of annoyance. “I don’t remember any. They cause a lot of trouble, though.”

‘Hmm. If I ask any more, I might get retaliated against.’ Lee Han quickly grasped the situation and changed his attitude.

“I sincerely thank you for your generous disposition, Headmaster. Such a lenient treatment of a transgression that would normally warrant punishment…”

“Just say ‘thank you’ quickly, before I change my mind.”

“…Thank you.”

“Alright.”

‘He doesn’t like flowery language.’ The Skull Headmaster grumbled, still sulking.

“When is he coming?”

“-He says he has arrived. He will be up shortly.”

“Who is coming?”

“The dog from the Empire…”

“-The inspector.”

“Right. The inspector.”

‘Ah.’ Lee Han understood a little better. If the inspector said he wanted to meet the good students who had done good deeds, it made sense that the Skull Headmaster wouldn’t send them to the punishment room.

“Huh? Headmaster.”

“What? Why? What? Why?”

Though afraid, Lee Han asked what he needed to ask.

“If the inspector from the Empire thinks highly of Einroguard because of us, and the grant increases, isn’t that our achievement?”

“…You…”

“You crazy bastard…!” Even when facing the Three-Headed Tiger in the blinding white blizzard of the North, he probably wasn’t as afraid as he was now.

Giselle wanted to sew up the mouth of the Blue Dragon Tower’s nemesis next to her. The Death Knight seemed to think similarly, staring at Lee Han with an astonished look.

‘He must have left his fear in his mother’s womb!’ The Skull Headmaster glared at Lee Han for a moment, then said with a grinding sound.

“…That’s why I asked if there’s anything you want to eat. Huh?”

“We secured plenty of food on our outing, so some reagents needed for the exam…”

“-Master. The inspector is coming up soon.”

“I know.”

“-Yes. Just in case you explode…”

The Skull Headmaster reverse-summoned one more Death Knight and then walked to the door. Then, looking at the two, he earnestly instructed.

“I understand. I understand, so make sure you speak properly in front of the inspector! Got it?”

“Yes. I will definitely enhance the school’s reputation!” Lee Han braced himself and nodded.

When Giselle kept staring silently, Lee Han asked, puzzled.

“What’s wrong?”

“I think you’re the right successor.”

The Skull Headmaster’s successor glared at Giselle, enraged. “How dare you?!”

Hodrong spoke very highly of Lee Han and Giselle, praising them a lot. “Einroguard students always cause trouble and harass the good citizens of the Empire, but to see students who are only first-years being so dedicated is truly…”

“I believe it is thanks to Einroguard’s excellent educational policy and the Headmaster’s dedication to us.”

“Hmm. Hmm. Perhaps I may have been a little mistaken. Because of prejudice…”

Iwunrade, standing beside Hodrong, wanted to say, ‘You are wrong,’ but he stopped himself. He bit his lip, holding back his words.

“I will be sure to tell everyone what I have seen when I return. If students like this continue to increase, other officials will change their minds as well.”

“Ugh.”

“Hodrong looked at his subordinate strangely when Iwunrade pinched his other thigh and made a noise.”

“Then, Lord Gonadaltes. I will write to you when I return. Thank you for your hard work this year.”

“What a pity. Shouldn’t we look at the other students?”

“It would only be troublesome for each other if we looked. Let’s just consider what we’ve seen this year.”

The Skull Headmaster smiled for the first time today. The inspector’s honest words seemed to soften the Skull Headmaster’s angry mood.

There were few things as terrible as the inspector coming into the school and inspecting the magical research status of the upperclassmen. Students would boast as if they could figure out all the truths and principles of the world when receiving grants from the Empire, but when it came time to be inspected, they would whine and make excuses like clueless freshmen.

“Return safely! Inspector Hodrong. Come visit again next time!”

“That will not happen. It changes every year.”

Hodrong bowed politely and walked out with Iwunrade. The subordinate breathed a sigh of relief and spoke to his superior.

“Still, I’m glad it ended well.”

“Yes. I’m a little uneasy not seeing the upperclassmen directly, but it wouldn’t do any good to look at them.”

If they talked about the touching good deeds and requested support, but also included the research status of the upperclassmen, the officials who were about to be moved could become angry again. For the sake of Einroguard’s young talents, Hodrong was willing to concede this year.

“But Lord Hodrong. There’s something I’d like to ask. Why didn’t you ask about what they did during the vacation?” Iwunrade asked, slightly curious.

Hodrong had confirmed the good deeds they had done this time directly from the students, but he hadn’t asked about anything that had happened during the summer vacation or before. To just skip over it after asking the townspeople and confirming it. It was unlike the meticulous Hodrong.

“It looked like just a rumor at a glance.”

“…Oh, well, that is…” Iwunrade wondered where to start and how to explain it. How should he start the story to make it sound plausible to his superior?

The students were especially nervous this morning because the first class was ‘Basic Magic Personality Education Advanced’. A strange tension lingered in the school, with final exams just a week away.

“Hey. How’s my outfit?”

“Um… I think it would be better to put away the scarf and hat you bought outside.”

“Hey. Everyone breathe through your nose. Don’t breathe through your mouth.”

“Put away all magazines, toys, and snacks. Put away everything you bought outside!” The students, feeling guilty about many things, were being as careful as possible even before the Skull Headmaster entered.

The fear was even greater as they had made a great escape last weekend and scraped up all sorts of things. Lee Han and Giselle had returned safely, but the Headmaster’s personality was unpredictable, so the fuse could be lit after some time had passed. Even that Gainando was pretending to read a book and study.

“Greetings, everyone.”

“Good morning, Headmaster!”

“Yes. Good morning.” The Skull Headmaster looked around at the students once. The students were frozen stiff, unable to even breathe, their eyes darting around.

“Do you know what the name of this lecture is?”

“Uh…”

“‘Uh’ is not the name of the lecture.”

“It’s ‘Basic Magic Personality Education Advanced’.”

“Yes. It’s personality education. But what’s the point of learning it for a year? You all hold hands and break the rules, don’t you?”

The students avoided eye contact at the burst of nagging.

“It’s not your fault. It’s your upperclassmen’s fault. How can you follow the example if your upperclassmen don’t set a good example?”

Lee Han nodded as if in agreement.

“Wodanaz, don’t nod.”

“No…”

‘But don’t we not even meet the upperclassmen in the first place?’ Yoner was slightly confused. The things the freshmen had done didn’t seem to have much to do with the upperclassmen.

“So, there are a few announcements. There will be no final exam for this ‘Basic Magic Personality Education Advanced’. The Skull Headmaster said, ‘The books for this class are gone. So, there’s no final exam.'”

One of the students kicked his chair and climbed onto the desk, and the other students followed suit. Some students waved their wands and shot out flames, and Gainando even tore up his notebook and threw it into the air.

The Skull Headmaster blinked once. Then, all the students who had just gotten up and made a fuss were hanging upside down from the ceiling. The surroundings became quiet in an instant.

“Instead of a final exam, you will write ‘I will not leave school with my friends’ one hundred times.”

That was practically free. The students nodded happily. However, Lee Han looked at the Headmaster with suspicious eyes.

“Aren’t you setting a trap to lower our guard?”

“Gasp. Is that so?” Gainando, who was hanging upside down next to him, was tempted by the plausible words.

“And Wodanaz. Dalcard. You two come with me.”

“Is it really a trap??”

“No. He called Asan too. If he were setting a trap, he would have only called Lee Han.”

“Shut up, Gainando.”

Surprisingly, the Skull Headmaster didn’t take the two to Einroguard’s dangerous training room. The place the Skull Headmaster took the two was an ordinary warehouse.

Personality Education Lecture Warehouse -No Unauthorized Entry- The Skull Headmaster muttered a low incantation, and the wall opened, the statue was removed, and the door to the warehouse was revealed.

“Since there’s no final exam, there are some things you need to do instead.”

“Do the two of us have to clean out the entire warehouse?”

“No. I need to make the other guys do it too. Are they just playing around?”

“Ah. I thought the two of us had to do it.” Lee Han was slightly embarrassed. He had thought it was one of the Skull Headmaster’s spiteful punishments.

Come to think of it, the Skull Headmaster wasn’t a narrow-minded person who only hated one student. The Skull Headmaster was someone who would hate everyone equally since they had all deserted together.

“I want you to watch and direct the other guys to clean it up neatly by next week. Throw away what’s broken, get rid of what’s expired… for the sake of next year’s freshmen.”

Asan thought to himself for a moment, ‘Do we have to think about the freshmen when it’s hard enough for us to live?’

“Your upperclassmen had similar thoughts to you, Dalcard.”

“Gasp… How…!”

“I don’t mean for you to do it perfectly with a sincere heart. Just do it roughly, enough to take things out when preparing for lectures.” The Skull Headmaster looked around the dusty warehouse and said.

Clang! The shelf that had been piled up next to him collapsed, and a rusty guillotine rolled out.

The Skull Headmaster clicked his tongue as he looked at it and said. “It’s broken. I should throw that away.”

They wondered why that was there, but the two decided not to ask.