Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 607

The Headmaster said, “Not many students have ever done what you are suggesting.”

“So, there have been successful cases?” Lee Han asked.

The Headmaster’s eyes went back to normal.

The Headmaster sighed. “You just want me to say what you want to hear, don’t you? Are you really interested in the kinds of proposals students have made before?”

“It was merely curiosity. May I ask one more question?” Lee Han asked.

“What is it?”

“What if I accept the proposal, but then I realize I can’t finish it? What happens then?”

“…Don’t tell me you’re asking because you’re planning to take the sponsorship money and run away!?” The Headmaster was aghast.

The Headmaster thought, ‘This student never planned to take on a real challenge.’

The Headmaster realized that while other arrogant students rushed in without understanding their own abilities, Lee Han was calmly plotting to take the money and disappear!

The Headmaster was surprised by how calm Lee Han was.

“No… it’s just that I might not be able to do it midway. And the sponsorship money used would be unavoidable. I’m not deliberately trying to run away,” Lee Han explained.

The Headmaster frowned. “You are being foolish. Stop thinking like this. A wizard who only cares about quick money will not be successful. If you fail after taking the money, your reputation will be ruined.”

For an Imperial wizard, having a good reputation was as important as being skilled in magic.

No matter how skilled someone was, who would trust a large sum of money to a wizard like Verdus?

The reason Verdus was working under the Headmaster was because he had failed to manage his reputation.

“So, failing once or twice wouldn’t ruin my reputation completely, right?” Lee Han asked.

“…Do it. Do it! You better do it!” the Headmaster said.

“Why are you getting so angry? I’m just asking questions…” Lee Han said.

The Headmaster shuddered and changed the subject.

“The sponsor you are going to meet is very different from the others. You need to be careful,” the Headmaster warned.

Lee Han was surprised by the Headmaster’s words.

A different sponsor?

“Are they strange?” Lee Han asked.

“Strange… yes, you could say that. But not in the way you imagine. It’s the third of His Majesty the Emperor’s nine children,” the Headmaster revealed.

The current Emperor had more than a hundred children. Because of this, none of them had much power on their own.

Having actually met the Emperor, Lee Han could understand why the heads of the noble families were so nonchalant towards the Imperial family.

The heads of the noble families didn’t take the Emperor’s children seriously. They believed the Emperor would rule forever. So, they didn’t care about the young princes and princesses who said, ‘I want to be the next Emperor!’

Lee Han was more curious about the loyal nobles who had gathered under some of the Imperial family members.

Did they really think the prince or princess they supported could become the next ruler?

‘Perhaps they don’t know the true nature of the current Emperor?’ Lee Han wondered.

Most of the Emperor’s many children didn’t have much power. Smart people knew this. But the Emperor’s first nine children were different.

From the first to the ninth.

These nine were the Emperor’s real children, born directly to him.

Even without being the Emperor, they had great potential as dragons.

Most importantly, they were dragons, unlike the other Imperial family members.

In reality, these nine children were the ones the Emperor considered his true offspring.

So, the Headmaster and the noble families had to pay attention to these nine children.

“I understand. So, these nine are all rich because of these favors, and we’re going to get money from them,” Lee Han summarized.

“…Excellent!” The Headmaster was surprised by Lee Han’s perceptiveness.

When people talked about these nine children, they usually focused on the fact that they were dragons and the Emperor’s favorites. This made people nervous.

But Lee Han didn’t care about those things. He immediately understood what was really important.

“You’re truly remarkable. I’m delighted by your growth!” the Headmaster praised.

“Haha. It’s all thanks to the Headmaster’s teachings,” Lee Han replied.

Alsicle, who was walking beside them, shook his head.

Alsicle thought, ‘Being a great wizard is very, very different from what I imagined.’

Lee Han stopped in front of the tall, iron fence that surrounded the mansion. The metal was cold and black, twisted into sharp points that looked like dragon teeth. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the slight tremor in his hands. ‘This is it,’ he thought.

Lee Han thought, ‘Knowing I’m about to meet a dragon makes me even more nervous.’

Meeting the Emperor unknowingly was one thing, but knowing that he was about to meet the Emperor’s third child made him nervous.

What kind of dragon would it be?

‘They said strange,’ Lee Han thought.

There are many kinds of strange people. Some are strange like Verdus, some like the Headmaster, and some like Professor Volardi…

Lee Han imagined an old man with white hair, getting angry, but looking healthy.

‘How should I flatter them?’ Lee Han wondered.

“Ugh,” Alsicle groaned.

“Are you alright, Alsicle?” Lee Han asked.

“Yes…” Alsicle mumbled.

Alsicle’s complexion wasn’t good. His beak was drooping, and his shoulders were narrowed.

Lee Han asked, wondering if it was because of the pressure of meeting a dragon.

“Is it perhaps because of the meeting…?” Lee Han inquired.

Alsicle said quietly, “It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but yes. I have met them once before.”

Lee Han was surprised by Alsicle’s words.

“Is that so?” Lee Han asked.

“It was terrible back then,” Alsicle admitted.

“What were they like…?” Lee Han asked curiously.

“Come in!” The knight guarding the mansion entrance signaled.

Lee Han stopped talking and followed the Headmaster, passing through the main gate and walking through the mansion’s front yard. The grounds were so vast that just walking through the front yard took quite a bit of time.

“Are they awake yet?” the Headmaster asked the knight, his voice a low rumble.

“Yes, sir,” the knight replied, relief washing over his face. “They are awake now.”

The Headmaster clicked his tongue and patted the knight’s shoulder.

“It must be hard to deal with them,” the Headmaster said.

“Oh, no! It’s my duty!” the knight replied.

“Being spit on is not honorable. Don’t try to make it sound better than it is,” the Headmaster retorted.

Lee Han, who was behind them, couldn’t believe his ears.

Getting spit on?

‘Do they spit?’ Lee Han wondered.

The chaos in Ihan was getting worse. A very old man with wild white hair was stomping around, looking furious.

Even if he was a dragon and the Emperor’s son, spitting at people just because he was angry was not okay.

Ihan frowned. “Headmaster, isn’t this a bit much?”

The Headmaster sighed. “What can I do, Ihan? She’s the Emperor’s daughter.”

“No…”

Ihan was disappointed by the Headmaster’s reaction, which was different from his usual self.

He had expected the Headmaster to hang the Emperor’s child upside down and throw him into the punishment room if he acted arrogantly, even if he was the Emperor’s son.

“Can’t we just put him in the punishment room?”

The Headmaster opened the door, looking dumbfounded. “You know, I’m often surprised by you, even though you are my student.”

The inside of the mansion was similar to the Emperor’s residence.

Instead of being divided into several sections and rooms like the dwellings of ordinary imperial races, it was structured as one large, cavernous space.

It was hard to say if magic made it bigger, but the inside felt much larger than the outside, and a dark, humid air flowed out. If you closed your eyes, you wouldn’t be surprised to find yourself in a deep cave. The air inside the mansion was heavy and damp, smelling of old stone and something else, something ancient and a little bit like rain.

“Wow! Alsicle!!!”

“Please!”

Along with Alsicle’s scream from beside him, a large dragon’s forepaw snatched the penguin beastman.

The golden dragon tossed the penguin wizard into the air, catching him playfully each time, before hugging him tightly.

The Headmaster didn’t bat an eye and cast a powerful protection spell on Alsicle.

Even with the spell, they could clearly hear the barrier breaking.

“Your Highness, please maintain your dignity.”

“Wow! Headmaster too!”

“Your Highness.”

“Al, alright. Alsicle… why didn’t you come sooner? Didn’t you want to see Jo-Rin?”

“Guh… Guh-ack. I was busy… Wizards have… a magical calling… Please save me.”

“What magical nonsense! Magic is boring!”

She nonchalantly said something that was taboo in front of a wizard, but Alsicle couldn’t retort and only flapped his wings.

Ihan, who had been blankly watching the young dragon tormenting the penguin beastman wizard, belatedly realized.

So that dragon is…

“How young is she!?”

“What are you talking about? Ah. Did you perhaps think Her Highness the Princess would be as grown-up as other races?”

Only then did the Headmaster understand why this student of his had suggested throwing the young dragon into the punishment room.

Before that, he had just thought he was crazy.

“It will take several hundred more years for Jo-Rin to grow up a bit.”

Even if a dragon was only a few decades old, they could quickly surpass the knowledge accumulated by most races and wield the strength to tear down castle walls with their bodies, but their mental age was a different matter.

Even a dragon who had lived for hundreds of years was only a teenager in terms of thinking.

The Emperor’s third daughter, Jo-Rin, who was very excited, lifted the penguin beastman with her forepaw.

“Alsicle, fly! Fly!”

“I can’t fly… these aren’t wings for flying!”

“Fly!”

Ihan shuddered, seeing her potential to use even a short bit of language magic.

Indeed, the bloodline of a true dragon was on a different level.

Jo-Rin released Alsicle only after playing with him to her heart’s content. Alsicle, completely exhausted, collapsed, sobbing.

“…You’ve worked hard. Go and rest.”

“Sniff… sniff…”

Alsicle trudged away, saddened that his pride as a wizard had vanished and he had become a penguin acrobat.

Jo-Rin, who was very excited, flapped her small wings and belatedly discovered Ihan.

He was an amazing guest with an enormous amount of magical power.

“Is Jo-Rin’s new brother??”

“No, Your Highness. He’s just a human.”

“Did the Headmaster change him?”

“Your Highness, if you don’t maintain your dignity, we’ll return as we are and never visit again.”

Jo-Rin let out a scream that echoed through the cavern, making the torches flicker and dust fall from the ceiling.

The Headmaster inadvertently glanced at Ihan, worried that he might have been affected by the powerful scream.

However, Ihan stood calmly. The Headmaster nodded as if to say, ‘Well done.’

“?”

“J-Jo-Rin was wrong. Don’t leave!”

“Yes. Please maintain your dignity.”

“Human with so much magic. What’s your name?”

“Your Highness, that expression is incorrect.”

“W-wrong? Magic is damned…?”

“Don’t use words you don’t understand, especially bad ones.”

The royal family member nodded, crestfallen.

“I am Ihan of the Vodanaz family.”

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a wizard with so much magic. A wizard like that might be able to play with Jo-Rin.”

The gold dragon stared at Ihan with sparkling eyes.

Ihan, remembering the cave penguin show that Alsicle had just put on, called out to the Headmaster with an ominous feeling.

“Are you going to make me do something like what Alsicle-nim just did?”

“No. You’re not a penguin beastman, and all you have is your good looks. Don’t assume you can do something like penguin acrobat.”

“…That’s not very comforting.”

Jo-Rin excitedly brought a silk handkerchief.

Then she threw it to Ihan.

“Infuse it with magic!”

“It’ll tear, won’t it?”

“It won’t tear! Infuse it with all your might!”

Ihan, puzzled, infused the silk handkerchief with magic.

Surprisingly, instead of tearing even with the massive influx of magic, the handkerchief held firm.

‘Amazing!’

It was probably possible because the magic structure inside was focused solely on dispersing magic.

But even considering that, it was amazing.

To be able to disperse magic to this extent.

Compared to this, dispersing the impact so that an egg wouldn’t break even if dropped from an altitude of thousands of kilometers seemed easier.

“Right? Headmaster made it for me! He went to the trouble of making it, but I didn’t have anyone to play with it, so I’ve been using it alone. Here!”

The dragon firmly fixed the handkerchief between the claws of her forepaws and made Ihan grab the other side.

“Magic tug-of-war! It’s a magic tug-of-war!”

“…Uh, Headmaster?”

Ihan called out to the Headmaster, but the Headmaster had already spread out a table and chairs in the corner of the cave and was sipping coffee.

“Entertain her diligently.”

“…!”

So that’s why you brought me here!