Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 663

“Pro… Professor Volaridi!”

Palga, still on the ground, shrieked, his voice cracking.

Palga looked terrible. Just a few minutes ago, he was acting like a serious senior, thinking about how to win his duel.

Even Leihan was surprised.

“Senior, I said Professor Volaridi, not Gonadaltez.”

Surely there was no need to be so scared of Volaridi’s name. He wasn’t the Skull Headmaster, after all.

“Leihan, I don’t think I’m being much help here.”

As Deorgyu said, Palga didn’t seem to notice anything. Palga glanced around, then curled into a ball.

He looked like an animal that had just heard a predator.

“You… you were walking around with Professor Volaridi? How did that happen?”

“Like I said, we met by chance.”

“Don’t tell me that. Professor Volaridi wouldn’t ask you to walk around with him just because you met. There must be another reason.”

Leihan thought, a small smile playing on his lips. ‘This senior is smarter than he looks.’

Leihan felt like he was talking to a real Einroguard senior.

After being at Einroguard for over a year, students naturally became very good at sensing danger.

“We helped the Professor with something, so he treated us to a meal.”

“Then… then why are you in the dueling club?”

“We talked about it during the meal, and the Professor offered to give us a tour.”

“!”

Palga was shocked.

He never thought Volaridi could be so friendly.

He always thought he was a monster created by the Skull Headmaster to hurt students…

“Amazing. I never thought Professor Volaridi would say something like that.

“Senior, did something happen between you and Professor Volaridi?”

Deorgyu asked, looking confused.

Deorgyu knew Volaridi didn’t have many students.

He didn’t teach many classes, and he didn’t enjoy hurting students like the Skull Headmaster, so there seemed to be no reason for such a big reaction.

“My other friends are a little afraid of Professor Volaridi. I don’t really understand why you’re acting like this.”

“…I guess so. Have you taken the Repetitive Learning of Basic Magical Combat course?”

“I tried to…”

“You’re both White Tiger Tower students, so of course you would have. We did too.”

Palga said with a sad smile.

Freshmen could choose their courses, but each tower usually had popular courses.

For example, White Tiger Tower had combat courses like swordsmanship.

The Repetitive Learning of Basic Magical Combat course had ‘magical combat’ in its name, so many freshmen would enter the lecture hall excited.

And they all ran screaming from the lecture hall, never to be seen again.

“I understand.”

“I think so. I asked my seniors, and they said the same thing happened to them. One person even died, but I don’t know if that’s true.”

“……”

Leihan was speechless, but Deorgyu answered.

“We all ran away too. Leihan is my cl… Ugh.”

Deorgyu groaned as his friend stepped on his foot. Leihan glared at him, telling him to be quiet.

He didn’t want to say that Leihan was Volaridi’s student in front of a senior who fainted at the mention of the professor’s name.

‘He might have a heart attack.’

“If it had ended there, Professor Volaridi might have remained a scary rumor at Einroguard. You know, like the Bulgasari living deep beneath Einroguard…”

‘It does.’

Leihan stopped himself from speaking.

The senior seemed weak. He might collapse if he knew the Bulgasari was real.

“But it didn’t.”

Palga looked like an old soldier thinking about an old war. Deorgyu asked, curious.

“What happened?”

“Like I said, I belong to the Einroguard Dueling Club. And the club has a professor in charge.”

“Oh dear. Professor Volaridi was in charge of the club, was he?”

Palga disagreed.

Volaridi wasn’t friendly enough to be in charge of a club.

“Professor Kirmin Ku is in charge.”

“??”

“This is a club matter, so I’m not sure if I should say… but I’ll tell you since we’re here. You’re both White Tiger Tower students, after all.”

Deorgyu looked at Leihan. Leihan ignored him, pretending not to notice.

“Our dueling club had a lot of losses. No rewards came in, so we were going crazy. It was hard to get research or food, so the club members…”

“Wait a minute, Senior.”

Leihan, who was listening, had to ask.

“You said you don’t gamble, right?”

“Oh, you misunderstood. The rewards are for dueling for someone else. Rewards as a proxy warrior.”

People who loved thrills would duel themselves, but not everyone in the Empire wanted to duel in person.

There were duelists who took their place and received rewards. The Einroguard Dueling Club students made money this way.

‘Does this make money?’ Leihan wondered.

“I’m sorry, but there aren’t many duels these days, and duel trials are even rarer. Does this make money?”

“Outside the school, everyone uses the Imperial Law for trials, but within Einroguard, they usually prefer duels.”

“……”

Leihan and Deorgyu were shocked to hear about their main customers.

Their seniors preferred to settle things with a duel rather than arguing over rules like the Imperial Law.

‘Is this a magic school or a den of barbarians?’ Leihan was shocked.

“And there are customers outside Einroguard too. Other magic school students often look for our club members as mercenaries. Because they win duels a lot.”

“Ah… yes…”

Deorgyu closed his eyes, not wanting to know about his seniors’ money-making scheme.

‘This is just being a mercenary!’

“Anyway, our club had a lot of losses. When the club’s income goes down, things get tough.”

‘Isn’t a club usually for friendship…?’

“We were really worried. So we asked Professor Ku. We wanted to get stronger. Professor Ku calmly said it was just bad luck and we would be fine if we got better, but we didn’t give up.”

Palga’s voice was scared.

“In the end, Professor Ku stepped down. He asked us this. Do you really want to get stronger?”

“Don’t tell me…”

Leihan started to guess what was coming and felt worried.

“We said yes. And Professor Ku brought Professor Volaridi. And he blocked the door for three days.”

“Oh dear!” Leihan exclaimed. Deorgyu didn’t understand and asked.

“Why did you block the door…?”

“To keep us from running away.”

“It, it wasn’t that bad, was it?”

Palga slowly shook his head.

He could only laugh at these young juniors for saying that!

They wouldn’t say that if they had been there!

“That’s the end of my story. You guys be careful too. All the professors in Einroguard are dangerous, but some are really dangerous. If you take a class next semester just because they treated you to a meal and showed you around the club…”

Palga shivered, as if the thought was scary. Deorgyu calmed him down, saying there was nothing to worry about.

“I’m not taking it. Leihan is already Professor Volaridi’s student, so he’s fine.”

Thud!

Palga fell over again.

“Are you alright?!”

Palga’s eyes were filled with shock, fear, and worry, as if he were looking at a monster.

“You… you’re Professor Volaridi’s student. What’s your name?”

‘Oops.’

Leihan realized his mistake.

The senior’s eyes were like his friends looking at Gainando after he had fallen into a black magic pit.

A cold look that said, ‘Stay away!’

“…Gainan…”

“Leihan. You said your name was Leihan.”

“Yes.”

Leihan promised to use a fake name more carefully in the future.

Palga wanted to leave, but Leihan wanted to make a good impression, so he tried to keep him there.

“…Oh, I should get something to drink…”

“Deorgyu, the senior is thirsty. Go get him something to drink!”

“L, Leihan.”

Leihan looked at Deorgyu, saying, ‘You told him I’m Professor Volaridi’s student.’

Deorgyu closed his mouth and quietly went to get a drink.

‘Cough. I just said it without thinking.’

“I… I can get it myself.”

“No, please sit down, Senior. I think there’s been a misunderstanding, but I don’t just take Professor Volaridi’s classes.”

“It would be weird if someone only took Professor Volaridi’s classes.”

Ignoring Palga’s muttering, Leihan spoke again.

“Actually, I…”

Leihan paused.

Saying he was taking classes from every school didn’t seem like it would help.

“I ended up taking a few extra classes, and Professor Volaridi’s class was one of them, so I took it because I had to…”

“There you are.”

Professor Volaridi appeared with his other friends. Leihan closed his eyes.

‘You’re not helping!’

Palga’s face turned pale as he squeezed the desk.

“G, goo, goo, good afternoon, Professor.”

“Are you cold?”

“N, n, n, not at all, Professor.”

“That’s good.”

Leihan’s friends were confused by Palga’s shaking.

‘Why is that senior acting like that?’

“Everyone, this way. The duel will start soon.”

Professor Volaridi pointed to the seat where they could see the duel up close.

A distant seat would be good for showing off, but to learn, you had to see it up close.

The students were about to walk to the seats when…

“Wodanaz.”

Professor Volaridi asked Leihan to come next to him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Number 6.”

“?”

‘Is he talking about how many times the professor has ambushed me? It’s more than 6, isn’t it?’

“The duel order.”

Professor Volaridi showed his order. It was number 5.

“I thought you would sign up without asking. I found someone for you to fight.”

Even while showing the dueling club to the students, Professor Volaridi was still thinking about Leihan.

He was worried about his student, who would fight anyone, so he found a good opponent for him.

“Professor…”

Leihan clenched his teeth.

He just did it without thinking.

“I’m so lucky to have a teacher like you!”

“Hmm.”

Professor Volaridi patted Leihan on the shoulder and walked away.

Then he saw his senior looking at Leihan with wide eyes.

It was surprising that Professor Volaridi was making a freshman fight like that.

That was clearly his best student!

Leihan sighed.

‘I’ll have to forget about being friends with that senior.’