Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 884

Lee Han felt much clearer after talking to the best senior student at Einroguard. He went back to the lounge.

Diret is right. In certain situations, deception is self-defense.

Lee Han put a big blanket, made from student cloaks sewn together, over Jo Ulin. She was curled up near the fireplace and almost asleep.

Jo Ulin usually lived a quiet, peaceful life in a big house. For her, the magic school was like a fun festival with many exciting things. Even when she got sleepy, she didn’t want to go back to the lounge. She stayed with Lee Han.

Because of this, every time they returned to the lounge, she would curl up and fall asleep right away.

It wasn’t so bad for Lee Han. Taking care of Jo Ulin wasn’t too hard, but he also needed time for himself.

Lee Han wrote down what he had to do on Friday, what he had to do on the weekend, and what he should be careful about during the midterm exams next week. He organized everything on a piece of paper.

‘Hmm…’

Looking at the darkness outside the window, Lee Han felt he needed to clear his head.

One of the best things about being a wizard was how easy it was to do simple things. You didn’t need to fill a kettle and put it on the stove to boil water.

Lee Han waved his wand, making water appear in the air and boiling it.

‘This is what it means to be a wizard.’

Ordinary wizards didn’t usually waste their magic on small things like this, but Lee Han found magic most useful at times like these.

Holding the hot coffee, Lee Han went to the window.

Einroguard was in a wild, rocky place. Sharp stones and tough bushes covered the hills around the school. But at night, it was beautiful in a strange way.

If you leaned out of the window, you could see thousands of bright stars racing across the dark sky. You could hear the deep, quiet breathing of the ancient forest below, a sound like a sleeping giant.

—Snore!

Lee Han looked very surprised and confused. Below the window, Professor Bendozol was sleeping outside… without many clothes on.

His peace was ruined. He probably wouldn’t be able to look out the window for a while.

‘Deception? No, I should use self-defense.’

Lee Han took out the Whispers of Einroguard artifact and opened it. Then, he started writing on the Watchers Club page.

StarGazer: Did you all hear the rumor?

ForestWhisper: What rumor?

StarGazer: I’m talking about the rumor about the intruder. It’s so shocking that my hands are still shaking.

ForestWhisper: If your hands are shaking, your writing looks fine… So? What’s the rumor?

StarGazer: That intruder stole the headmaster’s treasure! Isn’t that amazing?

ForestWhisper: What?! That’s really amazing… Wait. How do you know that?

‘Oops.’

Lee Han realized his mistake.

He was so focused on getting the Watchers Club members excited that he didn’t think about how he would look.

‘I have to keep going.’

ForestWhisper: You seem to know the headmaster very well…

StarGazer: Oh, come on. I’m just sharing rumors, and I have to deal with this? Let’s stop talking.

ForestWhisper: No. I was wrong! I’m sorry!

ForestWhisper was suspicious but apologized anyway.

It wasn’t helpful to be mean to someone who shared information in the club.

Bookworm: That’s possible. The boy from the Wodanaaz family is trying to catch the intruder. He’s the headmaster’s student. If the intruder took the headmaster’s treasure, it makes sense.

ForestWhisper: …Do you know what the treasure is? Is it the Light of the Forest?

‘What is that?’

Lee Han didn’t know what the other person was talking about, but he agreed for now.

StarGazer: I can’t say for sure. But maybe.

ForestWhisper: I can’t stand it. I’m going to catch the intruder. I’m going to take the treasure. Sorry in advance.

‘Sometimes this person is reliable.’

Lee Han was pretty sure that ForestWhisper was Ilendil.

He was surprised by how active Ilendil was in the Watchers Club.

Ilendil, the dryad hybrid senior, was usually slow and didn’t care much.

‘No. He was active when it came to the forest…’

He seemed to get angry when the forest was harmed.

Maybe he was slow because he just wasn’t interested in other things.

StarGazer: Bookworm, aren’t you interested? ForestWhisper might get it all.

Bookworm: I have my own plan.

StarGazer: Did you know that one of the headmaster’s treasures is a portal to the outside? The rumor is that the intruder took it…

He said this to make the other person angry, but Bookworm seemed to have closed the book and didn’t reply.

Lee Han waited, then made a ‘tsk’ sound with his tongue because he was disappointed.

‘Don’t be impatient. This is just the start.’

It was good that he got one person interested. Other club members might also become interested later.

Lee Han thought about how to lie next time.

‘I don’t know what Iaktus likes. The Bulgasari… seems old. This Klzenberg person is just creepy.’

Tap-

“?”

How much time had passed?

A paper bird flew in through the window. Lee Han checked it and was surprised to see who sent it.

Come to the common room as soon as you can.

– Yukbeltire

‘Ah. The senior must have heard the rumor.’

Lee Han knew what was happening.

The rumor about the intruder having the treasure must have reached Yukbeltire.

“Senior.”

“Hmm.”

Yukbeltire was in the common room, sitting on a chair. In this school, you had to bring your own chair or make one with magic. If you left a chair, someone would steal it! Yukbeltire nodded when he saw Lee Han.

“What’s going on? Is it about the intruder?”

“Yes. You’re very clever.”

“I’ll be glad if you help me, Senior. Thank you.”

Lee Han said this to impress him.

Yukbeltire probably came because of the rumor about the Skull Headmaster’s treasure. But Lee Han didn’t care too much.

In this school, you had to trick people sometimes to protect yourself. Especially with seniors from the Enchantment Magic School.

“I want information about the intruder. And about the other students involved.”

“I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Lee Han started to explain.

He didn’t know much about the intruder, but he knew a lot about the students who were involved.

Yukbeltire wrote down what Lee Han said and thought about how to handle it.

‘Going from below the mountain might not work. I should go further in and set a trap…’

“Senior, what treasure are you trying to get?”

Lee Han asked to find out what treasures the Skull Headmaster had.

If Yukbeltire was after a treasure, it must be valuable.

“?”

But Yukbeltire looked surprised.

He stared blankly as if he didn’t know what Lee Han was talking about.

“Aren’t you trying to get the intruder’s treasure?”

“Not really. Even if he stole the headmaster’s treasure, it’s probably not that important.”

Yukbeltire didn’t care much about it.

He thought the treasure wasn’t very valuable. If it was really important, the Death Knights wouldn’t be walking around so calmly.

Yukbeltire wasn’t going to act on rumors.

‘Then why did he come?’

“If not that… then why?”

“You’re helping my research, so I’m helping you.”

“…!!!”

Lee Han was surprised.

‘No way!’

Yukbeltire was helping him out of kindness.

Lee Han had promised to help with the research, but this was still very kind.

‘If anyone calls Senior Little Verdus again, I’ll get angry.’

Lee Han was touched.

People can change.

Would Professor Verdus ever help someone out of kindness?

‘…I can’t imagine it…’

“Thank you, Senior. I didn’t know you would help me like this. Why did you decide to help?”

“Diret told me to.”

“……”

Lee Han’s good feeling went away.

I knew it!

“Did Diret say that you would help as much as I help you?”

“Yes.”

“…Did Diret say you could tell me this?”

Lee Han was confused.

Diret liked secrets. If he wanted Yukbeltire to help Lee Han, he wouldn’t want Lee Han to know about it. He would keep it secret.

Yukbeltire frowned and thought about it.

Then he said.

“I don’t think he did. Please keep it a secret.”

“Okay… Thank you…”

“Tell Diret that you’re grateful to me.”

“Yes, yes.”

Jo Ulin woke up and went to the common room because she couldn’t find Lee Han.

Lee Han was saying goodbye to Yukbeltire and was surprised to see Jo Ulin.

“Did you wake up?”

…Jo Ulin didn’t sleep!

‘Why do Jo Ulin and the baby basilisk say they didn’t sleep?’

It didn’t matter, but he didn’t understand why they said that.

Lee Han explained what he was talking about.

“Senior Yukbeltire is going to help catch the intruder with other seniors from the Enchantment Magic School.”

Yukbeltire is so kind!

“Um… that’s… well… yes. He’s kind.”

Lee Han didn’t want to say bad things about his senior in front of Jo Ulin.

‘I’m sure he tried to hang Professor Verdus upside down in front of Her Highness.’

Jo Ulin nodded.

Jo Ulin thought Yukbeltire came because of the exam.

“Exam?”

Lee Han is taking the exam early! So, he’s taking the exam first…

“…That’s not right, Your Highness.”

Lee Han explained again.

He wasn’t taking the exam early on purpose. It was a coincidence. And Senior Yukbeltire is teaching Magical Algebra and Non-Euclidean Geometry, which is a hard class, so it’s silly to take it early…

“You need to study more. You should study all day today and tomorrow, and all weekend.”

I think Lee Han can just take it.

“No way…”

The door opened, and Yukbeltire came back.

Yukbeltire sat down in front of Lee Han and said.

“I forgot something. Junior from the Wodanaaz family.”

“I’m listening.”

Tap!

A stack of papers appeared on the table.

“It’s the Magical Algebra and Non-Euclidean Geometry exam. Let’s start when you’re ready.”

“……”