Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 614

“No, no way… This can’t be happening…!”

Wizards rarely saw the sky fall.

But for young Alhi, a student from the Peng-Erin family, today felt like the sky was collapsing.

How could this be?

“This… this has to be a trick! It’s not real!”

The young wizard Alhi jumped up, their face red with shock.

Being still young, their attitude was strongly tinged with childishness.

“That senior is probably around fifth year, isn’t he!”

“He was a first-year until this year, Peng-Erin.”

“T-then… then that senior must be the top student of his year! There’s no way he could be ordinary!”

“!”

Headmaster Skull and Lee Han were surprised. ‘He’s smart,’ Headmaster Skull thought. ‘People say he’s very talented in his family.’

“Nope?”

Headmaster Skull’s boldness was unmatched.

Lee Han avoided eye contact, but Headmaster Skull continued without hesitation.

“Top student? Please. Students like this one are rolling around like pebbles on the street in Einrogard. Right, Wodanaz?”

“……”

“Enough! Alhi, you shame me!”

Fortunately, the old penguin beastman burst into anger on Lee Han’s behalf.

“To blame others for your own shortcomings! Since when has the blood of the Peng-Erin family become so shameful?”

“N-no, that’s not it… I just thought there’s no way he could be an ordinary senior…”

“Don’t you dare ignore Gonadal-tes! You can’t even compare to his fame!”

The old penguin beastman scolded Alhi, his beak trembling with anger.

Alhi lowered their head, ashamed.

Lee Han gave Headmaster Skull a look that said, ‘Try to stop him.’

However, Headmaster Skull was nodding as if his praise was perfectly reasonable.

‘Keep going!’

“……”

“I-I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

“It’s not just your fault. Everyone in our family is at fault. We overestimated your talent just because you are a relative. Gonadal-tes, I beg you. Please take this talentless fellow to Einrogard and train him! If you would do that, I would consider it an honor to our family.”

“Haha. Of course, that’s what I came here to do.”

Headmaster Skull spoke as if he were the most virtuous archmage in the world.

“Peng-Erin, even if you don’t have talent, there’s no need to worry too much. If you enter Einrogard and study hard, you might become like your ordinary senior here.”

“Headmaster, please stop it.”

Lee Han whispered to Headmaster Skull, who was gleefully teasing Alhi.

Even so, he felt a little sorry for them, as they were his juniors.

“S-Senior. I apologize for my rudeness earlier.”

Not knowing what the two were talking about, Alhi approached hesitantly.

Once they came to their senses, they realized how rude their earlier words had been.

“I was wrong.”

“…No. I don’t mind at all.”

Lee Han quickly soothed them.

His conscience pricked him too much to just leave them be.

“You were really good! Don’t be discouraged. If you enter Einrogard, you’ll achieve great things.”

“No! You don’t need to comfort us like that.”

Alhi shook their head strongly.

They had realized it for sure today.

They had been deceived within the Peng-Erin family!

“I am still very lacking. Until I enter, no, even after entering, I will study harder and definitely reach the level that Senior showed us today.”

“Uh… um… no…”

Lee Han hesitated, about to say, ‘Even among my friends, there’s no one like that.’

“Please remember me. Definitely! I will definitely come to see you again!”

“…Did I mention my family name?”

Lee Han wondered if saying ‘My name is Gainan Doran’ would still work.

However, it was already too late.

As Alhi returned, filled with motivation, Lee Han sighed.

“I wonder if they’ll come looking for me later.”

“If they study hard thanks to you, you should be grateful.”

“……”

‘I really want to hit him just once.’

…Lee Han, what did I do so wrong to deserve this? Of course, I didn’t study the black magic books! But it’s vacation! I’ll really study from now on, so please, please don’t do this! Okay? You really shouldn’t do this again! How could you do this! Is it such a big sin that I didn’t study a bit!?

“This guy. He didn’t study and he’s getting angry.”

” ?”

Eandurde, who was next to him, looked up from reading >The History of the Imperial Guild>.

Lee Han waved his hand as if it was nothing.

“Junior. It’s not about you, so don’t worry. I have a friend who doesn’t study. And he gets angry instead, can you believe it?”

“A great crime!”

“That’s right. A very serious crime. Smart, aren’t you? Have a cookie.”

The junior happily ate the cookie.

“Death penalty!”

“Not quite the death penalty. But have another cookie.”

The junior mumbled and started reading the book again.

Lee Han shook his head at the rude letter sent by Gainan.

Not studying the black magic books. What an rude fellow.

…Gainan. If you haven’t studied when we meet at school after the vacation, I’ll spoil all the events in the magazines you read… No negotiation or compromise is possible… If you don’t get at least nineteen out of the twenty questions I’ll give you…

After finishing the reply, Lee Han tore open the letter from Yoner.

…Lee Han. I received the letter well. I’m doing well. Oh, and Nilia also asked me to say hello. The signature you prepared was really helpful. Nilia is also preparing a letter now, but her handwriting is terrible, so she wants to practice a bit more. Yoanen is looking for you, so you should probably avoid the workshop for a while. When she looks for people like that, it’s usually when she’s trying to make them work like crazy. Don’t be fooled by the good pay…

‘Good pay?’

Lee Han felt the urge to abandon Headmaster Skull’s work immediately and rush to the workshop.

What if other alchemists took his place while Lee Han was gone?

…Oh, and that business seems to need a bit more reinforcement. Some of the sponsors become violent if things fail…

Lee Han nodded at his friend’s reply.

‘He means I need to secure some force.’

…And this is a bit of a different story, but did you happen to just copy and paste the same content because you didn’t have anything to write in the letter? I saw some of the same content when I was talking to Nilia. If that’s the case, you don’t have to be so formal, so there’s no need to paste it…

“!!”

Lee Han was startled.

…Yoner. I received the reply well. Recommend magic to Nilia. If she masters the >Lower Manipulation> spell, she can write a large number of letters without arm fatigue, even with bad handwriting. Or, finding another scribe is also a good method. That’s how I do it when I have to write a lot of letters.

Thanks for the advice on the business method. It would be good to secure a bit more force so that the sponsors can’t act violently.

And the feeling that the content is the same is a complete coincidence. I guess it overlapped a bit because I was writing about what’s been happening lately in a formal way. Don’t misunderstand…

‘I shouldn’t send letters to Nilia in the future.’

Lee Han ruthlessly resolved and opened the next letter.

…As the weather gets colder and snow falls, this anecdote comes to mind. One hundred and twenty years ago, the wizard Olode said…

‘…Who sent this?’

Lee Han was startled by the letter’s content, which was written much more densely than the set format.

It was written so densely that it was hard to feel the spacing.

-The Imperial Bloodline, Adenarte

“……”

Lee Han was speechless at the unexpected person.

He didn’t know that the princess would be so talkative on letters.

…Thus, from the fact that all problems have been solved, we can probably learn many lessons. Come to think of it, I remember the meat pie you made last time. It was truly an excellent dish. Even if I ask the chef, the taste doesn’t come out. Ah, I received the letter first while writing the letter. I’ll read it and finish writing…

‘My eyes hurt.’

Lee Han frowned and put it down while reading.

Roughly, there seemed to be as much useless content in the back as there was in the front.

I should finish reading it next time!

…I received the letter well. Thank you for the letter, Wodanaz. But if there’s one thing I want to say, it’s that the reason I stole the bread from the White Tiger Tower students was to return my friends’ bread that they had stolen first. Do you understand? You must never misunderstand…

After finishing their work in the capital and taking a short break, Lee Han and his party set off again.

It was to meet those among the students throughout the empire, excluding the capital, who needed to be met in person.

Inside the flying carriage, Alsicle was trying to teach Lee Han’s junior about ‘The History of the Peng-Erin Family.’

“So, the Peng-Erin family stopped the beaver beastmen’s rebellion at this time and obtained the title of imperial nobles.”

“What did they do after that?”

“After that… um… they didn’t really do anything, but that’s the same for other families too…”

“Didn’t the head of the Wodanaz family move the entire seawater and remove the salt to create a reservoir when a great drought occurred in the western part of the empire due to the magic power reversal?”

“……”

Alsicle never expected to be caught off guard by such a greenhorn.

“Wo… the Wodanaz family is weird!”

“Mr. Alsicle…”

“Ah, no. It’s not that you’re weird, but…”

Headmaster Skull, who had been closing his eyes, spoke as if he was pathetic.

“How can you lose in words to a guy who hasn’t even entered yet?”

“I didn’t know he had learned so much…!”

“Tsk tsk. Your excuses are really pathetic.”

Lee Han, who had been watching the scenery passing quickly below, discovered the Northern Great Mountains far away and asked.

“Wait, is the freshman in the Northern Mountains?”

“No. It’s below the mountains.”

Lee Han breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn’t want to enter the mountains and meet the Shadow Patrol.

Aside from the fact that the Shadow Patrol members were a bit of a nuisance, there were lies he had told…

Thud-

As the carriage arrived at the basin and they got off, a group came up from the road below.

It was the Shadow Patrol.

“!!!”

“The servants of the shadows greet you, Your Excellency Gonadal-tes. Do you have business visiting the mountains?”

“No. I didn’t come to visit the mountains today.”

Headmaster Skull familiarly accepted the Shadow Patrol’s welcome.

From that sight, Lee Han realized that Headmaster Skull had been here more than once or twice.

After all, even hunters who were active in the mountains, which were among the most desolate in the empire, would need the power of magic.

And there weren’t many wizards in the empire who could help such places.

“Then we will step back now. Please call us if you need us.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Oh, and is our young hunter doing well?”

“He’s doing very well. I have high expectations for his future.”

“Thank you! It’s a cautious thing to boast about our hunter, but he’s really a remarkable fellow. He went to meet a friend to do the homework you specially gave him this time, and he didn’t bother at all.”

“Ah. Headmaster, those are knights over there! Wow! There are knights here too!”

Lee Han naturally changed the subject. Headmaster Skull didn’t notice and replied.

“Those are knights from near the Northern Mountains. It seems those fellows are also coveting the freshman.”

“Oh dear! Those shameful knights.”

“Knights are originally ungrateful and shameful fellows.”

“I agree!”

The Shadow Patrol members nodded repeatedly.

They didn’t know who that young boy was, but he was a boy who only said the right things.