Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 590

Oriphyllas leaned forward, his eyes wide with curiosity. “A wizard never tells their secrets, I know, but I *really* want to know this one.”

He had understood all the tricks the other students used. Simple illusions, clever spells – nothing he hadn’t seen in his 131 years as an Imperial Legal Officer. But this boy, from the Wodanaz family… his method was a complete mystery.

Oriphyllas had seen everything in his long career. So, *how* had this young student tricked him?

“Actually…”

“Actually?”

“So… if I reveal this, will it affect my grade?”

“No! Just tell me and stop teasing!” Oriphyllas exclaimed, completely consumed by curiosity.

Professor Rogaine pretended to be nonchalant, but her ears were perked up, listening intently.

“Well, actually, he’s a criminal I once fought and captured.”

“……”

“……”

Professor Rogaine and the kind Imperial citizen Ubaldo, who was standing next to her, were speechless.

Kilbedek hunched his shoulders, staring at his shoes. His face burned with shame, and he wished the floor would swallow him whole.

No one in the room said anything, but in his mind, Kilbedek could hear people whispering, “He couldn’t even catch a young wizard like that?”

And, in truth, that thought was mostly correct.

‘When did they even fight? There’s hardly any chance to meet a freshman like that, is there?’

‘Even if he’s a wizard, he’s still young to be captured like that. He must have been a rather unskilled adventurer.’

Kilbedek opened his mouth without realizing it and began to make excuses. “Actually, there were unavoidable circumstances…”

“Full marks… full marks!!” Oriphyllas, who had been trembling with emotion, finally came to his senses and applauded.

It was a truly amazing and touching method.

Later, outside the exam room…

“That was a unique exam, really.”

“The actor was good. He seemed like a real criminal.”

“……”

Lee Han wanted to say something but refrained from scaring his friends. There was no point in them knowing that he had kidnapped criminals from outside.

‘Right. The final exams aren’t far off anyway.’

As the numerous exams gradually came to an end and the weekend drew closer, the students’ faces brightened.

Even Lee Han could see that this final exam period was the most stable of all the exams they had taken this year.

Surprisingly, emotions like frustration, pain, despair, and regret were nowhere to be seen on the students’ faces.

Normally, during exam periods, those emotions should have been deeply etched like scars.

The Great Escape incident before the final exams had clearly made a big difference.

If you have warm meals, comfortable bedding, and plenty of learning materials, you can maintain some semblance of sanity while studying magic!

The students themselves were astonished to realize this secret.

‘And I was surprised too.’

He never imagined his friends would become so strong just from having full bellies and warm backs.

Lee Han considered mentioning it to Headmaster Skull later but gave up.

‘I probably wouldn’t get a good reaction.’

“Are you there?”

-Come in! Come in!

Lee Han, having passed through the dense poisonous fog and arrived at the underground warehouse where the giants resided, entered.

Even during the exams, Lee Han often visited the giants to check on them.

Since they had to stay there for nearly a week, he didn’t know what variables might arise.

However, the giants listened to Lee Han far better than he had expected. The friendship he had built with the giants did not waver even in this underground warehouse.

‘Nothing unusual.’

One giant snored like rumbling thunder, shaking the very ground. Another giant was carefully drawing on the wall with a piece of charcoal, creating a mural of stick-figure wizards battling a giant sheep. Two other giants were hunched over a giant chessboard, their massive fingers moving mountain-sized sheep pieces.

“Has anything happened?”

-It has!

“?!” Lee Han was startled.

“What happened… Did you run out of food?”

-No! More importantly, wizard, do you think we’re gluttons?

“How could I ever think that? You giants eat so little that I’m worried.”

Lee Han lied without batting an eye. The giants were overjoyed by Lee Han’s flattery.

-Really? Is that so?

“Yes. Do you know my friend Gainando, whom I mentioned before? The amount he eats is much…”

-Ah! The friend who wore a pot of stew on his head?

-Yes, and the one who tried to put out a fire with his cloak and burned his clothes!

-Wait, wasn’t he also the one who tried to fly from the tower and got carried off by a wyvern?

Lee Han frowned. “The wyvern part didn’t happen. I never told you that.”

The giants scratched their heads.

-Huh? Didn’t it?

-That’s strange? Then who was it?

-I already said it was Gainando. I told the other giants too.

-Then let’s just say it’s Gainando!

While the giants were compromising on their own, Lee Han steered the conversation back to the original topic.

“What happened? If it wasn’t food, did any other upperclassmen come by…?”

-Ah. Wizards came here.

“!” Lee Han tensed up.

Other upperclassmen approaching this underground warehouse was the most likely and dangerous scenario.

Any of them could spread rumors about the giants or even tell Professor Volady directly.

‘Hmm. No.’

Lee Han ruled out the possibility of an upperclassman directly telling Professor Volady from the dangers he had just considered.

No matter how many possibilities he considered, he didn’t think there would be an upperclassman who would directly tell Professor Volady.

“Did they come inside?”

-No. They approached and then collapsed on the floor.

-The other friends took them and ran away.

“……”

Lee Han was a little worried as he recalled the highly concentrated poison and dark magic traps.

If the image of the upperclassmen from the Dark Arts Department was unfairly tarnished because of Lee Han…

‘It can’t be helped. I’ll just have to explain later.’

Lee Han vowed to defend the upperclassmen of the Dark Arts Department when he became a second-year student next year.

“If it wasn’t food or wizards, then what was it?”

-A monster came here.

“There are so many monsters in Einroguard…” Lee Han wasn’t too surprised to hear about a monster.

Frankly, if you only looked at the numbers, there were more monsters than students in Einroguard.

“It’s not a flying skeleton, is it? Those are really dangerous.”

-Not that!

-It’s the vampire monster the wizard told us about last time.

“…!!!”

Lee Han’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. A monster that drinks blood had escaped! This creature woke up deep under Einrogard and fought its way past the Death Knights.

He thought the monster ran to the mountains. Finding it in the school basement was unbelievable.

“Is that really true?” Lee Han asked, his voice shaky.

“I saw it,” a giant rumbled. He was huge, his skin like rough tree bark. “The beast pushed open the door, came right in, and then… and then it ran when it saw us.”

“Completely terrified!” another giant boomed, roaring with laughter. The other giants joined in, their deep laughs echoing in the dusty basement.

‘Hmm,’ Lee Han thought, his mind racing.

It made sense that the monster would run from giants. Giants were powerful. Fighting them would be foolish.

But to run so quickly…

This monster was smarter than he first thought. It learned quickly after fighting the Death Knights.

“A smart monster was the worst kind of problem,” he muttered to himself. ‘If only I don’t meet it before my final exams are over.’

“Oh, wait,” one of the giants said, suddenly serious. “That’s not the important thing.”

“?” Lee Han looked up, confused.

“That thing… it’s looking for a wizard,” the giant said, his voice low.

“Yeah,” another giant added, nodding his massive head. “It was sniffing the air, trying to smell a wizard.”

“…?!?!!!!” Lee Han’s jaw dropped. This was even more shocking than the escape itself.

“It’s… looking for *me*? Are you sure? Maybe you made a mistake?”

“No mistake,” the first giant said firmly. “We know monsters can smell wizards.”

“Wild beasts do it all the time,” the second giant explained. “Even sheep, when they are angry enough, can smell the person who made them angry and attack.”

The giants lived in the Einrogard Mountains and knew a lot about monsters. They were good at understanding what monsters wanted just by watching them move. If they said the monster was hunting a wizard, it was likely true.

“Why is it chasing me?” Lee Han wondered aloud. “I didn’t do anything *that* bad… well, not really. The Death Knights did more to it.”

If it wanted revenge, why not go after the Death Knights first?

“What are you talking about, Wizard?” one giant chuckled.

“Wizard, you don’t know beasts well enough,” another said, shaking his head. “You need to spend more time with sheep!”

The giants roared with laughter at Lee Han’s confused face. He really didn’t understand monsters very well.

“A beast chases tasty food, not the one who poked it,” a giant explained, wiping a tear from his eye from laughing.

“That’s right, that’s right,” another agreed. “It’s definitely after the wizard. You!”

“!” Suddenly, it clicked in Lee Han’s mind.

‘Was *that* it?’

The blood-sucking monster came to the basement to find Lee Han’s smell.

Then it bumped into the giants and ran away…

‘Is it because of my magic? Blast it.’

The only reason a monster he had never met would want to eat him was his magical power.

“So, Wizard,” one of the giants said, his voice becoming serious again. “We have something to say.”

“That’s right. That’s right,” the others echoed.

The giants who were sleeping stood up, those painting murals walked over, and the chess game stopped. The giant who was losing looked relieved.

The gathered giants crossed their massive arms and announced their decision.

“We will protect you.”

“…Excuse me?” Lee Han blinked, completely surprised.

“That beast will cause trouble, no matter what,” a giant explained. “Especially for a wizard like you.”

“…Ah, no.”

Lee Han, who had been momentarily tempted, quickly regained his senses.

No matter how reassuring the giants were, he couldn’t take them around as bodyguards.

Leaving aside Professor Voladi’s exam, he would immediately become known throughout the entire school as a crazy student.

“Imagine,” he muttered, “‘Lee Han is walking around with giants as bodyguards!’”

“Is he really that crazy…” he imagined people whispering.

“That’s impossible. You mustn’t be discovered.”

“Ah. That’s right.”

“That’s what it was.”

The giants then understood and looked sad.

They were worried about Lee Han, but they couldn’t go outside.

“I’m fine. I can protect myself.”

“Is that so?” a giant asked, raising a huge eyebrow.

“Weren’t you just hiding from that strong wizard?” another pointed out.

The giants weren’t stupid, just not very good at speaking the school language perfectly.

Lee Han winced. The giants’ words were honest and made him feel embarrassed.

“…Professor Beggrec is a bit… different, though,” he mumbled.

“You can’t even beat a flying skeleton, can you?” a giant teased.

“The headmaster is also… special,” Lee Han admitted.

“What about that smart person-troll?”

“Professor Garcia is… No, really, I’m pretty good at protecting myself!” Lee Han’s voice got louder.

The giants looked at Lee Han with pity in their eyes.

“Wizard,” one giant said gently, “it’s okay. Wizards are naturally weak.”

“Yes,” another agreed, “A strong warrior protects them. Wizards are protected. That’s just how it is.”

‘This is unfair!’ Lee Han thought, frustrated. It wasn’t his fault the people they were comparing him to were incredibly strong! He was good at protecting himself against wizards his own level!

“Wizard,” a giant said kindly, “Call us if you need help.”

“We will come help you,” another promised.

“Yes… thank you,” Lee Han replied, his voice tired.

“Wait. Weren’t we tricked by the headmaster?”

Professor Pasellet asked this question right before the final exam.

“Is that so?”

“Doesn’t seem like it.”

“Even so, I don’t think he would ask for a difficult exam…”

The skeleton headmaster had said, ‘Lee Han wanted to take a more difficult exam,’ so he had prepared it that way, but on second thought, it didn’t seem like a student would do that.

Wasn’t something strange…

“You’ll know by his reaction! If it’s a lie, he’ll say it himself!”

Professor Pasellet thought the other professor was right.

Indeed, if the headmaster’s words were a lie, the student himself would say, ‘Professor, my exam is strange.’

There was no way he wouldn’t notice that he was receiving materials completely different from the materials his other friends were receiving.

A little later.

The students entered.

The students, each arriving at their own seat, checked the materials and the exam contents.

Lee Han also checked and started the exam without any objections.

‘Oh… was it real?’

Professor Pasellet felt a little sorry for doubting the skeleton headmaster.