Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 609

The skull Headmaster spoke. “Your Majesty, there’s something you’ve missed.”

The Gold Dragon, who was pure gold in color, tilted his head. “Missed? What did I miss?”

The Headmaster continued, “You see, Your Majesty, wizards are like steel. To become strong, they must be tested by fire and hammered hard…”

Zo Ulin, the Gold Dragon, laughed loudly. “Haha! Headmaster, you’re funny!”

Lee Han quickly jumped in. He worried the dragon might misunderstand and think wizards were actually made of metal.

Zo Ulin continued, “Your Majesty, bad things happen in the Empire all the time. Accidents, problems… Can we really say it’s always the Emperor’s fault?” He paused, waiting for an answer.

Dragons are known to be honest, even to their leaders. While family members who wanted to be Emperor would be careful not to upset him, Zo Ulin didn’t care about the throne. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to the Emperor.

Suddenly, Alshicle spoke up. “Your Majesty, I almost tripped on a stone in the garden just now, on my way here.”

Zo Ulin’s eyes widened. “Really?! Are you okay?!”

Then, Alshicle pointed at Zo Ulin. “It’s Your Majesty’s fault!”

Zo Ulin was confused. “My fault? But why?”

The Gold Dragon got angry. He stomped his large front foot on the floor, making a loud *thump*. “No! It’s the knights’ fault! Always the knights!”

The skull Headmaster shook his head slowly. Wizards and knights had been enemies for a long time. The Headmaster didn’t like knights much either, but he thought the knights in this place were just weak.

“But,” the Headmaster said, “you just said that all the problems in the Empire are the Emperor’s fault.”

Zo Ulin thought for a moment. “Hmm, you’re right. It doesn’t really sound like the Emperor’s fault.”

The Headmaster continued, “Just like it’s not your fault if someone trips in the garden, it’s not your fault if there’s a flood in Einrogard, or a snowslide, or even if a Sea Serpent appears.”

Zo Ulin thought about all these big problems. “Still,” he mumbled to himself, “it does seem like a lot to blame on one person.”

The skull Headmaster bowed deeply. “Then, Your Majesty, I will see you next time.”

Meetings with Zo Ulin always went like this. The young dragon would play until he was happy, then give Einrogard some old treasures from his vault – things he didn’t really want, like a gold statue of a dragon that a duke had given him. After that, he would get sleepy and fall into a deep sleep. He was still young and needed lots of rest to grow big and strong.

But today was different. “Wait! Don’t go! Don’t go, Lee Han!” Zo Ulin suddenly said, his voice like a child demanding a toy. “That’s an order!”

The skull Headmaster looked at Zo Ulin’s eyes, which were half-closed. He couldn’t believe it. “Your Majesty,” he said slowly, “you seem very sleepy.”

He added firmly, “And please be polite. Call him Wodanaz, not Lee Han.”

But Zo Ulin just repeated, “Lee Han. Don’t go!”

Usually, the dragon listened when told to be polite, but not today. He ignored the Headmaster and said stubbornly, “I’ll make a space for you in my treasure vault! You can stay there!”

“That’s not a place for people to live,” the skull Headmaster said sharply. “Your treasure vault is more like a dark dungeon!” He thought to himself, *Zo Ulin gives away real treasures because he doesn’t like them, but keeps cursed things just because they’re interesting. Even brave knights are scared to go in there!*

“Don’t go!” Zo Ulin repeated, grabbing Lee Han’s arm tightly with his large front foot.

“Ugh!” Lee Han gasped. He suddenly understood what his sword fighting teacher, Professor Inguldel, meant about strength and weight. “I… I’m being crushed! Your Majesty… Ugh… I’m dying!”

Zo Ulin’s eyes widened again. “Oh no! Lee Han is dead! Gonadaltes! Save him! I order you to save him!”

The skull Headmaster just stared for a moment, then decided to play along. “Yes,” he said in a serious voice, “you died because His Majesty was being stubborn.”

Zo Ulin quickly said, “I won’t be stubborn! I promise I won’t!”

“Very well,” the Headmaster said. “Wodanaz, arise!”

Lee Han jumped up quickly. “I’m alive! Your Majesty, you saved me!”

Zo Ulin looked at Lee Han, then at his own front foot. You could see he really wanted to grab Lee Han again, but he had just promised not to be stubborn.

Before Zo Ulin changed his mind, the skull Headmaster quickly pulled Lee Han away and pushed him gently towards the door. “Your Majesty,” he said, “please take care until we meet again.”

Zo Ulin shouted happily, “I’m going to visit Einrogard!”

“You should ask the Emperor for permission first,” the Headmaster said, cleverly shifting the responsibility. He was sure Zo Ulin would forget all about it after his nap. *He always does*, the Headmaster thought.

“Just permission from the Emperor?” Zo Ulin asked.

“Yes, that’s right,” the Headmaster replied quickly.

Once they were outside, Lee Han asked, “What if he actually gets permission?”

The skull Headmaster chuckled. “Do you think this is the first time he’s said he wants to visit Einrogard? He’ll forget all about it after he wakes up.”

The Headmaster smiled, knowing he was right from past experience.

“Really? He seemed very serious about it…” Lee Han said.

“Young dragons are always serious,” the Headmaster said, “but their memories are short. He’ll forget.”

They both bowed towards the mansion and left.

“Oops, I forgot Peng Erin!” Lee Han said. They quickly went back inside and brought Peng Erin out. They could hear Zo Ulin snoring loudly already, fast asleep.

“You did well today,” the Headmaster said to Lee Han. “Pretending to be dead was childish, but it worked.”

Lee Han grinned. “I figured it would work on Zo Ulin, just like it works on Gainando.”

The skull Headmaster stopped walking and stared at Lee Han, speechless. *Was that an insult to me or to Gainando?* he wondered.

Later, Lee Han was back at the mansion with Alshicle, trying to write letters. *Gainando, you better be studying those black magic books! And don’t just read the first two chapters!* he wrote in one letter. He sighed. “Hmm, these letters are boring.”

He had spent the day meeting important people and now had to write polite thank you notes. It was harder than he thought! *Maybe taking an exam would be easier than this,* he thought.

Then he remembered something. “Ah, right!” He added to one letter, *By the way, I saw the new magazine you like at the printing shop. The bad guy in the latest Toveriz detective story is…*

“Perfect!” Lee Han thought, nodding to himself. But there were still so many letters to write. He frowned. “Alshicle,” he asked, “could you help me with these?”

“Sure,” Alshicle said, his beak full of sardines. “What do you need?”

“Could you just copy this part here, exactly?” Lee Han pointed to a section about the weather. He planned to copy the same weather report into all the letters. *They won’t know the difference,* he thought.

“Okay, easy enough… Wait, is this a letter?” Alshicle asked, surprised.

“Yes?”

Alshicle stared at Lee Han. He couldn’t believe Lee Han was writing so many letters, and that he was doing it like *this*! *Is this really okay?* Alshicle wondered.

Lee Han was already thinking about the next letter. *What should I write to Adenart?* He looked around the table. “Ah, food!” he thought. He wrote, *The food here is amazing! Today we had sardine salad, sardine rice, sardine wraps, grilled sardines, sardine stew, and sardine sandwiches. I hope you’re eating well too!*

“Um, Alshicle,” Lee Han asked, “what did we eat yesterday?”

Alshicle hesitated. “Well… maybe it’s not my place to say, but… are you just going to write about food in every letter?”

“Shouldn’t letters be personal?” Lee Han asked, then realized, “Oh, right!” He added to Adenart’s letter, *I also want to tell you about a new baker in the capital. People say he’s very good. I heard he even stole bread from the White Tiger Tower students once, but his bread is much better than that tasteless stuff!*

“Great!” Lee Han thought. *The princess will love this! A nice greeting and a food recommendation!* *Now, for Yoner,* he thought. *I should tell him about my new business idea.*

He wrote, *Yoner, I’ve found a new way to make money! There are so many rich people in the Empire who want to waste gold. We can get money from them to fund our ‘experiments.’ After a few years, we’ll just say the experiments failed! I’m so excited about this plan!*

‘Still writing letters?’ The skull Headmaster walked in and clicked his tongue, looking at the huge pile of paper. ‘You’re wasting your time on unimportant things.’

“Like Gonadaltes bothering students?” Alshicle mumbled. The Headmaster just waved his hand. Suddenly, the sardines on the table flew towards Alshicle like angry bees!

“Ack! Ack! You… you were nice to Wodanaz!” Alshicle cried as he ran away.

Lee Han realized he had accidentally used the same trick on the Headmaster as he had on Zo Ulin.

After Alshicle was gone, the Headmaster turned to Lee Han. “Peng Erin,” he said sternly, “are you a student of Einrogard or not?”

“I just finished meeting the last important person,” Lee Han replied.

“Good work,” the Headmaster said. “Thanks to you, it was much easier. Now, we need to find new students. Will you help?”

Lee Han nodded quickly. The Headmaster cleared the table with a wave of his hand and then slammed his staff onto the floor. Suddenly, a bright magic circle spread across the room. It was incredibly complex, lines of light twisting and turning in patterns Lee Han had never seen before. *This is real magic,* Lee Han thought, amazed. He had seen magic before, but this was different. He couldn’t even begin to understand how it worked.

‘*Einrogard, tell us… your new students!*’ the Headmaster commanded, gesturing for Lee Han to join him.

Lee Han put his hand on the staff with the Headmaster. A huge wave of magic flowed through him, much stronger than anything he had ever felt. It felt like all his energy was being pulled away, like a tide going out. Lee Han was surprised, but he stayed calm. He noticed his own magic wasn’t really going down.

The Headmaster looked at him, impressed. *He knew Lee Han was strong, but this was amazing. Not just the amount of magic, but his calm mind too! It’s a shame Peng Erin didn’t see this. He would be so jealous!* *Pop!* The magic circle disappeared.

The Headmaster nodded, satisfied. “Thank you. It will be easy to find them now.”

“How did you usually find them?” Lee Han asked.

“It took a lot more searching,” the Headmaster said. “If I use less magic, it’s not as accurate. Especially in a big city like this, with so many people…” He waved his hand again. Suddenly, paper birds appeared in the air and flew out the window. They were heading towards the homes of students in the city who were good enough to be invited to Einrogard.

“That’s it,” the Headmaster said. “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Lee Han asked, confused.

“Ah, we have to visit the stubborn ones,” the Headmaster said with a grin. “There are always some who don’t want to come to Einrogard. We need to convince them.” The Headmaster summoned a sword and strapped it to his waist, along with his staff. He looked ready for a fight, which was unusual for him. Lee Han quietly said a prayer for the poor students they were about to visit. *Please don’t resist too much,* he thought.