Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 731

“…It’s not your fault. You did well.”

Lee Han sighed and praised Phone Ring.

He thought Phone Ring had understood the situation well and followed his orders perfectly, stopping at just the right moment.

“I’m counting on you, new striker,” Lee Han said.

“I’m a little burdened because you seem to have too many expectations,” Carnella replied seriously.

“I should say I don’t have expectations, but frankly, it’s true that I have some. I can’t help it,” Lee Han admitted.

The other Quaffle Club members were okay, but comparing their passion to Carnella’s was like comparing night and day. They didn’t seem worried about finding a new striker. They shrugged and said things like, ‘Someone will join eventually,’ showing they weren’t taking it seriously.

Lee Han thought, ‘If I didn’t have expectations for the Griffin Rider junior, I wouldn’t be a person, but an undead.’

“Ah, right. Junior. What was your name again?” Carnella asked.

“…Senior, did you even know my name? It’s Lee Han from the Wodanaz family,” Lee Han responded.

“Ah, right. I’ll keep it in mind. I forgot because my friends only referred to you as ‘that kid,’” Carnella explained.

Lee Han shook his head at his senior, who kindly explained why he didn’t know his name.

“But, Senior, I have one last question to ask,” Lee Han said.

“The next training schedule?” Carnella guessed.

“No. If I remember correctly, Phone Ring also couldn’t undo the curse and left because of the mass or size limit here, but is your Cerberus okay, Senior?” Lee Han asked.

“Ah. That’s coward’s Quaffle,” Carnella said.

“?” Lee Han was confused.

“Wodanaz, Wodanaz. You know so little about Quaffle… There are two types of Quaffle. One is Quaffle with mass or size limits on the mounts. It’s called coward’s Quaffle,” Carnella explained.

“Is that a term used in the Empire?” Lee Han asked.

“No. It’s just an expression I use,” Carnella replied.

“Anyway, it’s true. The other is true Quaffle, which doesn’t have minor restrictions on the mounts. The Quaffle I play is this one,” Carnella stated.

“…So, Griffins, Hippogriffs, and Cerberuses appear in their original forms?” Lee Han asked.

“That’s right!” Carnella said with a smile as his junior seemed to gradually grasp the charm of Quaffle.

‘He’s really intense about Quaffle,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han resolved to keep some distance from the Quaffle Club for a while.

Later that day, Lee Han checked his schedule for his next class.

Professor Willow is in the forest this week!

‘I’m so happy!’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han was happy because Professor Willow’s lecture was very hard, and he needed a break.

“Pwahahaha!” Gainan laughed.

“?” Lee Han wondered what was so funny.

Gainan was reading a magazine.

“Is there some interesting story?” Lee Han asked.

“Ah, Lee Han. Look at this. Someone wrote a joke about wizards!” Gainan said.

One day, a master had so much to teach his disciple that he said this:

-I need to teach you quickly, so I will teach you four in the morning and three in the evening.

Then the disciple got angry, saying it was absurd. Seeing that, the master changed his words as if he couldn’t help it.

-Then how about teaching you three in the morning and four in the evening?

The disciple was very satisfied with those words…

“Isn’t it so funny?” Gainan asked.

“…Are you doing your assignments properly?” Lee Han asked.

“Ah, they haven’t been assigned yet!?” Gainan looked surprised.

Of course, it made sense that Gainan was suspected because he usually didn’t do his assignments well, but it was only the beginning of the semester!

“If the assignments haven’t been assigned, you should at least study in advance. What are you taking? Bring your lecture list,” Lee Han said.

While Lee Han started to tell Gainan off in the corner of the student lounge, the other friends quickly cleared away the chess and wizard card sets and scurried away.

An hour later, feeling less happy, Lee Han walked to the basement for his ‘Poison, Bone, Blood’ lecture.

‘Who reported it?’ Lee Han wondered.

It was so coincidental that he even suspected that one of the Einrogard professors had sent it.

Lee Han shook his head.

‘Let’s get a grip. It must be a coincidence,’ Lee Han thought.

If he fell into suspicion like this, it wouldn’t be surprising for a wizard to go mad.

Since it was a profession vulnerable to madness, he had to be careful usually.

The ‘Poison, Bone, Blood’ lecture room, located on the 2nd basement floor, was dark and had a musty smell mixed with various ingredients.

It might have been difficult for students from other schools to adapt, but Lee Han, who had already received basic education in the Black Magic School throughout the previous year, sat down without being greatly surprised.

‘What is it? Did I mistake Professor Voladi’s lecture?’ Lee Han thought.

Rather, he thought he had mistaken the lecture room and entered the wrong one, so he checked, but it wasn’t.

Before long, a student entered for the first time. Lee Han felt a strange surge of emotion at the sight of a familiar senior.

“…Senior Dirette!” Lee Han exclaimed.

“Junior,” Dirette replied.

Dirette and Lee Han looked at each other with a fresh perspective.

As if looking in a mirror, their eyes were full of fatigue.

One had gone up to the 5th grade, and the other was doing the previous school and club, so in some ways, it was a natural thing.

‘He’s really a pitiful person,’ Lee Han thought.

‘He’s really pitiful too,’ Dirette thought.

Unaware that they were thinking each other was pitiful, they opened their mouths.

“Dirette-senior, how have you been?” Lee Han started.

Dirette sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Don’t even think about going to fifth grade, junior. Seriously. How are you holding up?”

Lee Han hesitated. “Yeah, okay, I guess.”

Dirette raised an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that. Really.”

Lee Han gave a small, tired smile. “It’s… manageable. For now. But…”

“Manageable now,” Dirette repeated, nodding slowly. “Yeah, that’s what they all say at the start.”

Come to think of it, it was likely that he wouldn’t be doing club activities properly since it was still the beginning of the semester.

There weren’t many clubs that entrusted important roles to newly joined members.

Considering that, it wasn’t entirely wrong for his junior to say that he was still bearable.

Since the lectures hadn’t started in earnest yet, it would be a bearable level for his junior, who had gone through that harsh schedule last year.

“But why isn’t anyone else coming?” Lee Han asked.

“We’re the only two? Our school doesn’t have many students in the first place, so there are often only one or two people in the lecture room,” Dirette explained.

“…I, I see,” Lee Han said.

Dirette smiled bitterly as his junior looked nervous.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it. Speak comfortably. You’re also a member of the Black Magic School now,” Dirette said.

Unlike the first year when you could easily give up after listening to basic lectures, taking Black Magic School courses even after moving up to the second year was practically the same as being officially affiliated.

From here, it was quite rare to change schools.

“Then, Senior. If our school has a small number of students, shouldn’t we increase it? Is the professor perhaps not interested?” Lee Han asked.

“…That was too comfortable of a way to speak…” Dirette was taken aback by his junior’s words, which were like a direct hit to Professor Mortoom’s biggest problem.

If he had said those words in front of Professor Mortoom, the professor might have collapsed from the shock.

“Ah. I’m sorry. You said I could speak comfortably,” Lee Han apologized.

“No. You can be comfortable in front of me. Be careful in front of the professor,” Dirette warned.

After finishing speaking, Dirette stood up from his seat and walked forward to stand next to the teacher’s desk.

Lee Han, who saw that, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you standing there?”

“I’m teaching this lecture?” Dirette replied.

Only then did Lee Han realize that Dirette had come not as a student taking the lecture together, but as a professor teaching the students.

A chill ran down Lee Han’s spine at that moment.

‘5th graders have to take on lectures too!’ Lee Han thought.

“If you go up to the 5th grade, do you have to teach students too!?” Lee Han asked, shocked.

“Huh? That’s how it is. You don’t even have to go to the 5th grade, sometimes even in the 4th grade…” Dirette, who was speaking, flinched because his junior’s eyes were so dull and dark.

It was as if he had realized the truth of the world that he shouldn’t have known yet.

“…Forget what I just said,” Dirette said quickly.

“I have a feeling I’ll be taking on that role…” Lee Han muttered.

“So. What kind of lecture is ‘Poison, Bone, Blood’?” Dirette asked, awkwardly changing the subject.

Lee Han shook his head at his senior.

Well, it wasn’t his senior’s fault.

It was all Einrogard’s fault for making things so difficult!

“I learned a few spells using poison and bone elements last year too. And blood elements too,” Lee Han said.

“Right. You learned it last year… Huh?” Dirette wiggled the black wings on his back.

“You shouldn’t have learned blood element magic?” Dirette asked.

“Ah. To be exact, I did learn basic blood magic,” Lee Han clarified.

“…Was there a crazy professor at our school?” Dirette asked, taken aback.

Just who taught blood magic to a first-year student?

Lee Han quickly explained before Professor Voladi was dragged to the disciplinary room.

“It’s not that I learned how to use blood magic. It’s because of this reason…”

The principle of amplifying magic power by using blood itself was neat and efficient, but blood magic was not often used because of its danger.

There weren’t many reckless people who would learn and teach a technique that would devour the wizard himself with just a slight mistake.

However, Professor Voladi presented Lee Han with a basic blood magic book, focusing on the fact that Lee Han had a large amount of magic power.

Even if he didn’t amplify his magic power with blood magic, he judged that it would suit him well since he could cast spells using his innate large amount of magic power.

“…He told me to learn spells that apply it, even if I don’t use blood magic,” Lee Han finished.

‘Don’t curse. Don’t curse,’ Dirette thought.

Dirette closed his eyes tightly after listening to his junior’s explanation.

A 5th grade student couldn’t curse the professors in front of his junior.

“…I see. Indeed. I see. That’s possible. Indeed. Right,” Dirette said.

‘Is he broken?’ Lee Han wondered.

While Lee Han was slightly worried, Dirette recovered from the shock and opened his mouth.

“Actually, what you’ll learn in this lecture isn’t that much different from what you just said. Poison, bone, blood. All of them are powerful reagents, like ingredients in magic, and some are efficient elements too, types of magic power,” Dirette explained.

Dirette summoned chalk and continued to explain, drawing pictures on the blackboard.

Poison and bone were elements with powerful combat power in themselves, and blood was a little inefficient and not often used, but it was certainly a powerful and old reagent.

The goal of this lecture was to learn how to use these three as reagents and as elements, and to skillfully link them together.

“Even if it’s the Black Magic School, the inside is divided into various paths from golems to curses. As such, students often fail at surprisingly simple black magic, and I think it’s because they lack the basics,” Dirette said in a serious voice, like a black magician walking ahead.

Often, if you only learn the convenient and easy-looking magic that you see in front of you, you will fall into a frustrating state where you don’t know where to start practicing again even if you try to learn difficult magic later.

The lecture prepared to avoid that was this ‘Poison, Bone, Blood’.

It was a little annoying that other Black Magic School students weren’t listening, but Dirette couldn’t grab them by the collar and drag them in.

Dirette was satisfied enough just that his most anticipated junior was listening.

“I see. I understand. Then I should practice the basics of each magic sufficiently during this semester,” Lee Han said.

“No. Junior, let’s just start with difficult magic,” Dirette said.

Lee Han felt tricked when his senior said the opposite of what he said before.