Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 613

As Lee Han stepped outside, Earendel followed closely behind.

“Junior, you need to stay here.”

“??”

Earendel looked at him, asking why he should.

Lee Han thought about how to explain it.

“Well, the place we’re going to now… the Headmaster might get a little violent…”

“Hey! Don’t say bad things about me so easily. I’m not going to be violent,” the Skull Headmaster interrupted, placing a bracelet on Earendel’s wrist.

It was a bracelet that stopped the petrification curse and the snake-transforming hair.

“Is it alright to bring him along?”

“To learn about Einroguard, he needs to study and learn how to walk around the city.”

When Lee Han saw Earendel growling, he felt worried.

‘He won’t attack someone, will he?’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han decided he must stop his junior from becoming a wanted criminal of the Empire.

“Let’s go.”

Following the Skull Headmaster, the two students started walking.

The junior sniffed, smelling the people passing by.

“That…”

“That’s an ice cream cone. They use a baked waffle as the cone and put ice cream on top.”

Earendel’s eyes sparkled at Lee Han’s explanation.

Suddenly, he lowered his body, ready to jump and grab it from a little girl walking by!

“No, Earendel, wait!” Lee Han shouted quietly. “Cloak, turn to steel!”

In a flash, Lee Han’s cloak flew out and wrapped around Earendel’s arms and legs, like strong metal ropes tying him up. Lee Han whispered quickly, his voice urgent, “What did I teach you? We don’t attack first, remember?”

“Ah… Don’t attack first,” he mumbled, looking down, a little sad.

“That’s right!”

Earendel became sullen. He had wanted to try that treat.

“…Headmaster, can I have some money to buy ice cream?”

“If I buy you everything you want to eat, you’ll develop bad habits.”

Even as the Skull Headmaster said that, he flicked over an Imperial silver coin. Lee Han went to the stall and bought an ice cream cone.

“Here. If you need something, you buy it with money. Understand?”

“Money is earned by working.”

“That’s right!”

Lee Han felt proud seeing his junior lick the ice cream and say something commendable, just as he had taught him.

He remembered three things for every one thing taught.

“But shouldn’t we take the money?”

“…Junior, let’s talk about this again. So, if you take the money first…”

Lee Han continued to teach Earendel as they headed to meet the new student from the Pengaerin family.

The junior understood everything perfectly, but whenever someone passing by had something interesting, he would forget the teachings and prepare for battle.

Seeing this, the Skull Headmaster said, “We need to get him enrolled in Einroguard quickly.”

“……”

Lee Han worried that his junior, after entering Einroguard, would be called something like ‘The Black Turtle Tower’s Wild Beast’ by his fellow tower mates.

He needed to have many friends like Nilia…

“That…”

“I said no!”

Lee Han quickly grabbed the back of his junior’s neck with one hand and waved his staff with the other, firmly securing the cloak.

The junior looked bewildered and said, “It seems like we’re almost there…”

“…Haha, you have a very good eye! Impressive, isn’t it?”

Lee Han quickly released his hand and staff and praised his junior.

Earendel forgot about the misunderstanding and nodded, beaming.

The Pengaerin family was well-known in the Empire, and its nobles were very proud.

Althild was one of the most prideful members.

Before he was ten, Althild had read the Imperial script and the scripts of the Three Kingdoms, the Ancient Kingdom, and the Seven Kingdoms eras. He also solved complex math problems.

He was outstanding in swordsmanship, music, literature, and art.

With such talent, the family had high expectations.

“So, we should send him to Einroguard. We decided to send him to Einroguard in the first place, and now you’re changing your mind? Are you trying to ruin the Pengaerin family’s reputation?”

“I can endure even if the Pengaerin family’s reputation is slightly tarnished for Althild’s future! I will persuade Gonadaldes! Althild doesn’t need to waste time with mediocre talents. We should hire tutors and have him study!”

“Why would other nobles hire tutors instead of sending them to Einroguard? Einroguard is the Empire’s most traditional and outstanding magic school. Few nobles who received magical teachings from tutors have achieved great things.”

“That’s because the magicians they called as tutors were terrible! It will be different if we call the best. I can’t have him wasting his precious time mixed in with other mediocre talents, whether it’s a magic school or a magic tower!”

Several family members shared their opinions about Althild.

The older ones argued that he should study on his own, while the younger ones argued that he should be sent to Einroguard.

Both valued Althild’s talent highly, so the conflict was intense.

“Althild, what do you think? Don’t you want to go to Einroguard? To improve your skills with the best talents at the Empire’s best magic school?”

“Don’t pressure him. Althild, even if you go, it will be hard to find people who are as good as you. You’ll waste your time!”

Althild hesitated and looked at the family elders.

He knew he was talented, but it was hard to decide which choice was right.

Thinking about the excellent teachers, it seemed right to go to Einroguard, but if he went to Einroguard, he wouldn’t have friends who were as good as him, and it seemed like a waste of time…

“Is anyone here?”

“G-Gonadaldes! I’m sorry. Please, come in.”

“No. I happened to overhear the story. You’re worried about enrollment because of Pengaerin’s talent.”

“Y-yes, Your Excellency. In my opinion, it seems more efficient for Althild to study on his own without enrolling…”

The Skull Headmaster controlled his expression.

‘I’m lucky that the work was finished early this winter,’ he thought.

“That’s possible. Everyone has such worries.”

“Your Excellency! I knew you would understand!”

While the Skull Headmaster was talking to the Pengaerin family, Lee Han whispered to his junior, “That guy over there is one of the students who will be enrolling with you.”

“Fight? Struggle? Surrender?”

“No, I’m not saying to fight… Since he’s from a different tower, you might fight. I’m just saying you might enter together. If you can look at him and become friends, become friends.”

“Looks weak.”

“Just because he’s weak doesn’t mean you can’t be friends, so…”

“Wodanaz, come here,” the Skull Headmaster called.

Lee Han paused. “What is it?”

“The Pengaerin family wants to know the average level of Einroguard students!”

“…?”

Lee Han wondered what the average level of Einroguard students had to do with him.

‘Am I supposed to tell a story?’ he thought.

“Should I talk about Gainando?”

“No. There’s no need.”

The Skull Headmaster put his hand on Lee Han’s shoulder and said, “This Wodanaz is reasonably average within Einroguard.”

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

He knew that he wasn’t average at Einroguard.

He was the top student!

“You can know the average level of Einroguard by looking at this guy. Come, Pengaerin.”

Althild walked out, looking nervous because he had met unfamiliar magicians.

He was confident that he wouldn’t be inferior in knowledge.

“What is Pengaerin good at?”

“Althild is flawless in handling numbers.”

“Will you show us?”

The Pengaerin family brought a thick math book and opened a page at random.

“Here, Althild, solve it.”

‘A magician wants to buy the following items with twenty-two silver coins…’

Althild lowered his head and began to move his quill quickly. Numbers and formulas filled the page.

Finally, Althild raised his head sharply. “I solved it!”

“……”

“……”

“?”

Althild was confused by the unusual reaction.

The family elders were looking back and forth between Althild and Lee Han with bewildered eyes.

“Well done, Pengaerin. But your senior wrote down the answer the moment you lowered your head.”

“…?!!”

Althild looked at Lee Han, finding it hard to believe.

The paper Lee Han held also had the same answer that Althild had given, neatly, without any formulas!

‘No way! This is a trick!’

The Skull Headmaster said, “Pengaerin is not bad. He might be slightly lacking in Einroguard… well… Einroguard is not such a harsh place that it prevents students from enrolling just because they are slightly lacking.”

‘You’re really going too far,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han felt a little sorry when Althild looked as if the sky was falling.

‘If it was Althild, he would probably be in the top five in the first grade. I’m just good at math, it’s not that Althild is lacking…’

“A-Althild is also very skilled in writing.”

“Will you show us?”

The Pengaerin family brought a thick history book from the Three Kingdoms era and opened a page at random.

“Here, Althild, read it.”

‘As the three kingdoms hated each other and burned the continent, the enraged retaliated…’

“Wait,” the Skull Headmaster said, pointing at Althild as he tried to skip over it, making him stop reading.

“Why are you skipping over it?”

“This is erased, so I can’t read it…”

“It’s not erased. Wodanaz? Explain it.”

“…That’s rewritten in the script of the Seoharin Kingdom. It reads ‘Gonadaldes’ in the Seoharin Kingdom script.”

“!!!!”

Althild was shocked by Lee Han’s words.

There could be no trickery this time!

‘There was someone more outstanding than me…!’

“What’s next? Swordsmanship?”

“Y-yes.”

“Bring the sword, Wodanaz.”

Lee Han whispered, “Headmaster, isn’t he a bit pitiful?”

“Am I the one who’s trying to enroll a guy with no talent? Thank you for comforting me.”

“…No, I mean Althild…”

“I should be receiving thanks for giving him a free grasp of the situation. It’s better to realize it now. If he realizes it when he’s older, he’ll become Alsicle, is that better?”

Lee Han quietly shut his mouth and went to get the sword.

After several duels, the Pengaerin family’s reception room became quiet.

One of the family elders muttered, “Perhaps Althild’s talent wasn’t that outstanding…”

“Were we too blinded because he’s a member of the same family?”

“…W-what are you saying! People outside the family also said that Althild’s talent was outstanding!”

“Maybe it was just a compliment.”

“…?!”

‘I… Is that so!?’