Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 707

Perse spoke softly, just one word: “Father.”

Perse’s words made Falcrius look down and see red drops falling from his ladle. He suddenly felt his face get warm.

“Oh! This is all treasure! Thank you, Perse.”

“It was nothing, Father.”

“Heh heh, just call me Father, okay? No need to be so formal.”

Falcrius carefully placed the ladle back into the steaming pot and turned to face Perse.

“Our Iactus Soup Club decided to explain the club to you first, in exchange for treating you to a meal. So, anyone know why we call ourselves the Iactus Soup Club?”

The second-year students from the Blue Dragon Tower looked at each other.

Some knew the legend of Saint Iactus, who defeated the evil dragon with a single stone, but they couldn’t guess what that had to do with soup.

“Is it like a soup that Saint Iactus used to enjoy?”

“Haha! That’s an interesting idea. It’s similar, but not quite. Everyone knows the miracle of Saint Iactus defeating the dragon, but they don’t know about the other miracles.”

The pot-bellied priest senior patted his stomach and continued the explanation.

“Let me tell you a story about Saint Iactus. He once visited a village split in two. One side, the west, had plenty of food. But the east side was starving, with no food at all. So, Saint Iactus asked the rich people in the west to share their food.”

“I bet they didn’t share.”

“That’s right! So, Saint Iactus came up with a clever idea. He said he would make delicious soup with just stones and water. The rich people from the west gathered to watch. Saint Iactus muttered as he cooked the soup, ‘Stone soup is good, but it would be even better with just a little bit of meat… maybe some of that delicious beef I smell cooking in the west village?'”

” ? ”

Lee Han, who had been nodding along to the typical fable, paused.

An excessively luxurious ingredient had appeared.

“Uh, isn’t it usually carrots, onions, or potatoes?”

“Heh, it’s an old story, isn’t it? Maybe they recently caught a Minotaur and had plenty of meat. Anyway, as Saint Iactus muttered that, someone brought Minotaur shoulder meat. Then, Saint Iactus muttered again! ‘It would be a more delicious soup if only I had some fairy cave rock salt.'”

“……”

“……”

At first, the Blue Dragon Tower students listened with admiration. But then, they felt uneasy. They tilted their heads.

Weren’t the ingredients too luxurious?

Gainan was admiring it all by himself.

“I use that trick too, hoping someone will give me a rare wizard card!”

“Really? Haha. You might become a hero like Saint Iactus. The villagers brought ingredients every time Saint Iactus muttered, and eventually, a delicious soup was made that filled the entire village! Our club’s name commemorates this miracle.”

Asan asked as if he didn’t understand.

“Did that really happen?”

Several other students seemed to have similar thoughts and expressed their doubts.

“How can one village have lots of food on one side and starvation on the other…”

“The ingredients seem too luxurious too.”

Falcrius didn’t care about his juniors’ questions.

“Haha. It’s an old story, so it might have changed a bit. But you’re acting like the headmaster right now! The headmaster always finds something to complain about whenever he hears this story!”

“What kind of complaint?”

“The headmaster says Saint Iactus really used the stones to scare the villagers into giving him food! He thinks Saint Iactus forced them to give him ingredients. Heh. That’s nonsense!”

“……”

Lee Han somehow thought that the Skull Headmaster might be right this time.

Falcrius chuckled and continued his explanation.

“Actually, what you’re curious about is something else, right? Rather than the origin of the club’s name… what the club does and what privileges it has?”

“Yes!”

When Gainan answered honestly, Falcrius roared with laughter.

“Haha, yes! Our club gathers ingredients from Einroguard. We cultivate and harvest. We raise livestock and slaughter them. You can think of it as scraping together anything that can be an ingredient. Because of our long history, we own many fields and ranches. Thanks to that, our club members never go hungry.”

“!”

The expressions of the students who hadn’t been very interested in the senior’s words changed.

No matter how well Lee Han prepared meals, they always got hungry quickly in Einroguard, and hunger came without rest.

If they joined the Kitchen Club, they could eat much more abundantly than now.

Lee Han was amazed and whispered to his friend next to him.

“That’s amazing? It seems like that’s possible because the club has a long history. Everyone must want to join.”

“…Why are you telling me that, Wodanaz?”

Adenart looked at Lee Han with a slightly displeased expression on his expressionless face.

“Ah. Sorry. I just said it because you were next to me.”

“……”

Adenart looked at Lee Han with a slightly suspicious look.

He had suspected for a while that Wodanaz thought of him as a glutton similar to his half-brother, but recently he was becoming more and more certain.

“Me! I’ll join!”

Gainan shouted, raising his hand. Some other students raised their hands, afraid of losing to Gainan.

“No! I will…!”

“I’m in the top 10 in alchemy!”

“I’ve even helped Wodanaz cook before!”

“Heh heh. Thank you all for applying! But not just anyone can join our club!”

Gainan quickly swung his wand to attack his friends.

The friends who had stood up were expecting it and swung their wands in retaliation.

“I’m going to join!”

“You bastard, you’re the one who gets the most from Wodanaz, so give way!”

Falcrius swung the kitchen knife he was holding.

The students who were casting magic at each other fell forward.

“How barbaric! This is Einroguard, but club membership shouldn’t be decided by fighting like in the streets!”

Thud!

Falcrius put down a huge pot. Water splashed and rippled inside.

“Grab the handle next to the pot!”

“Like this?”

“Yes.”

Gainan tilted his head and grabbed the side of the pot.

However, the water inside remained still without any change.

Falcrius, who had been laughing heartily until just now, changed his expression completely and gave him a look of disgust.

“You’re hopeless!”

“Yes? S-Senior. Why are you doing this? What did I do wrong?”

“Get out of here! Don’t even talk to me. My ears are getting dirty!”

Falcrius cast a spell and pushed Gainan away.

“Next! Grab it!”

“G-Got it.”

When the next student grabbed it, a very small bubble rose from the water in the pot and disappeared.

Falcrius gave him a look of dislike as well.

“You clearly have never cooked for anyone! Hopeless! Get out of here!”

“……”

“……”

The warm atmosphere immediately turned cold. None of those who had volunteered first passed and were kicked out.

The Kitchen Club students behind them nodded with satisfied faces.

“As expected of Senior Falcrius.”

“He’s merciless to those who aren’t qualified.”

The admission process for the Iactus Soup Club was simple.

If you grabbed the Iactus pot and made the water inside boil, you succeeded.

Of course, making the water boil wasn’t easy.

Once you were inside that pot, no magic or external means worked.

It was said that only a wizard who had truly cared for others, who had cooked with love and generosity, could make the water boil.

Whether you had experience cooking for others or not?

Wizards who had lived comfortably without getting their hands dirty could never pass this test.

“Failed, failed, failed, failed… Oh. Not bad?”

Falcrius stopped looking disgusted and gave Yoner a friendly look when it was his turn.

The water in the pot was bubbling moderately.

It wasn’t easy to show this kind of result as a graduate of the Blue Dragon Tower.

“Are you interested in our club?”

“Can I look into other clubs a bit more before deciding?”

“Heh heh, of course. Feel free to look around and decide!”

Priest Falcrius was a very generous person to qualified juniors.

He readily acknowledged Yoner’s request to look into other clubs before deciding.

Lee Han was slightly relieved at that sight.

‘He’s a sensible person like Senior Diret.’

It seemed like he had the invitation authority but didn’t wield it unfairly.

“Failed, failed! Failed!! Failed!!! You lazy pig bastards!”

Falcrius failed a bunch of students again.

Then it was Lee Han’s turn.

“Grab it!”

“Yes.”

As the water in the pot began to bubble, Falcrius looked at Lee Han as if he was quite impressed.

At that moment, the water turned into steam and soared above the pot.

Whoosh!

“……”

“……”

Falcrius and Lee Han, as well as the Kitchen Club students behind them, watched with blinking eyes.

What…

What on earth just happened?

“…Passed! It’s a pass! To think I’d meet a junior like you in my life. This is the miracle of Saint Iactus!”

Falcrius grabbed Lee Han’s shoulders tightly and shook him back and forth, shouting heartily.

Lee Han said while being shaken back and forth.

“S-Senior. I-I also w-want to l-look at o-other c-clubs b-before d-deciding.”

“Huh?”

When the shaking stopped, Lee Han was able to speak normally.

“I also want to look at other clubs…”

“What are you talking about? No way. You’re joining right away.”

As he watched Falcrius shout for someone to bring the paper right away, Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Hmm. I was wrong.’

He was just a crazy person.

As Falcrius and the Kitchen Club students went back, happily chatting about having found a treasure-like junior, the other club seniors who were left behind cleared their throats.

“We saw something rare. It’s rare for Priest Falcrius to like someone that much.”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect anyone from the Blue Dragon Tower to join the Kitchen Club this year.”

Perse also nodded.

Even thinking about it again, it was hard to believe that he had passed the test like that.

Just how much cooking had he done for others?

“It’ll be a good thing for the Kitchen Club and that junior.”

“You shouldn’t let him join so unfairly! You’ll regret not stopping him!”

Gainan grumbled.

The seniors clicked their tongues at that sight.

“He’s just jealous because he couldn’t join.”

“Calling a guy like that a friend.”

“Alright. I’ll explain the Quidditch Club.”

After the Kitchen Club’s turn was over, Perse opened his mouth.

The clubs gathered here today were planning to explain in their respective turns.

“Before I explain, is there anyone here who drove a horse past the monsters and went all the way to the desert during the first semester last year? It would have been during Professor Lightning Foot’s test.”

All the second-year students looked at Lee Han.

Lee Han, his mind still stuck on the soup club and thinking, *How do I get out of this?* belatedly realized something was wrong and raised his head.

“What’s going on?”

“The senior is looking for you. Lee Han.”

“Senior Falcrius?”

“No. Senior Perse over there.”

“!”

As Lee Han seemed likely to be nominated for the Quidditch Club after the Kitchen Club, the other club seniors felt an instinctive unease.

A senior belonging to the Library Club opened his mouth without keeping to his turn.

“Wait. Let me ask one thing. Is there any junior here who caught a Roc Drake in the library last year?”

“We caught it together.”

Unlike Lee Han’s words, all his friends looked at Lee Han. The senior ignored Lee Han’s words and got his answer from the students’ actions.

“Then, is there any junior here who built a fortress and held out in the library last year?”

“We did that together too…”

“I see. Tell Falcrius to come out.”

The senior belonging to the Library Club took out his wand and hid it behind his back as he shouted.

At that sight, the other club seniors also subtly took out their wands.

How dare they unfairly take away another club’s junior?