Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 95

Lee Han said seriously, “I really don’t want to go out, but I’m willing to listen.”

Lee Han spoke seriously, his face like stone. Salco was confused because Lee Han seemed like he was really telling the truth.

‘Has he really never gone out at night?’ Salco glanced at his friend from the Black Tortoise Tower, who shook his head, warning him not to be fooled.

Salco frowned slightly. He thought, ‘Nobles like him are always hard to trust.’

“Follow me. I’ll explain,” Salco whispered to his friends.

Lee Han turned to the friend he had eaten vegetable stew with and asked, “What did Tutankha say?”

The friend looked apologetic. “…He told me not to talk to you alone when he’s not around…”

In fact, Lee Han wasn’t the only one sneaking around at night. Most students were starting to venture out of the tower.

They realized they couldn’t survive at this school if they only slept at night. Whether for food, assignments, or even escape, they needed to explore and search for resources.

Of course, Salco was doing the same.

“Sneaking around the school at night and criticizing me?”

Salco sounded surprised. “…I never criticized you.”

“I see. Continue.”

Salco continued his story.

The place Salco and his friends had been exploring was the third floor of the main building.

The main building was the largest in the magic school and held many mysteries. Rumor had it that even the headmaster didn’t know everything inside.

The third floor kept changing every time they visited. Sometimes there were five corridors, sometimes the stairs disappeared, and sometimes they were blocked by a wall after only a few steps.

Salco was stubborn, like someone from the Stonecutter Guild. He kept trying and had found a way to enter sometimes.

“How do you get in?”

“When the hour and minute are odd, when there are no clouds in the moon, and when you hold your wand in your left hand, the third-floor corridor will open,” Salco said very seriously.

For a moment, Lee Han thought Salco was joking. “That… I see. Well, it’s possible for a magic school.”

Lee Han was grateful that the conditions weren’t something ridiculous like riding a unicycle, roasting peanuts with lightning, spinning around, and jumping through a ring of fire.

“Thank you. That’s useful information.” Lee Han had to go to the stables on the upper floors of the main building anyway, so the information about the third floor was helpful.

“The information isn’t over yet. There’s someone on that third floor who could help you.”

“Not the Lightning Spirit, I hope?”

“No. I’m kidding. What kind of being is it?” Lee Han asked curiously.

Even for a magic school full of strange creatures—liches, troll hybrids, vampires, Lightning Spirits, and more—most of them probably weren’t friendly. Lee Han would bet gold coins on it.

“I can’t say, because I swore not to reveal the identity of that being.”

“I see. So you want me to go and check it out myself?”

“No. Finding that being is more complicated than entering the third-floor corridor. I have to go with you. I’ll guide you to that being,” Salco said firmly.

Lee Han was suspicious. ‘Is this a trap?’ He had been attacked unfairly so many times that he was always suspicious.

Besides, Salco disliked nobles and knights. Black Tortoise Tower students might be waiting in the third-floor corridor wearing masks, or maybe the being wanted to sacrifice a student, and Salco had chosen Lee Han.

“Why is that?”

Salco asked, not realizing Lee Han’s suspicions. “You swore an oath to that being; wouldn’t they mind if you guided me?”

“No. They said it’s okay to bring new students as long as I don’t reveal their identity. Just to be sure, I checked in my ‘Logic’ class.”

“Tsk.” Salco was a diligent student, not easily manipulated like Gainan.

“Do you really think it will help?”

“I promise you, I really think it will help. Of course, my judgment isn’t always right,” Salco said seriously, stroking his beard like a dwarf.

‘I need information no matter what,’ Lee Han thought and nodded. To find the stables on the upper floors, he couldn’t be too picky.

“Okay. When are you thinking of going?”

“Tonight.”

Saturday evening. While other students were probably warm by the fire, drinking tea, Lee Han followed Salco up the twisting stone stairs of the main building. Shadows danced in the corners of his eyes, and the air grew colder with each step.

‘Are they alone?’ Lee Han glanced back down the dimly lit staircase, his hand near his own wand. No sign of anyone following. Good.

Salco walked ahead, a simple wooden wand in one hand, but a heavy hammer hung at his belt. Lee Han couldn’t help but stare at it. That hammer looked much more dangerous than any practice sword.

Salco’s voice, low and steady like the rumble of rocks, broke the silence. “I told the others I was coming with Wodanaz.”

“What did you ask me?” Lee Han’s voice was careful, quiet.

Salco’s gaze was steady, like stone. “What kind of person you are.”

Lee Han blinked. He glanced around the dimly lit hallway. Dust motes danced in the faint light filtering from a high window. *Was this a trap?* He half-expected Salco to suddenly yell, ‘Die, Wodanaz! Your evil deeds end here!’ and for a bunch of students to leap out from behind the tapestries hanging on the walls.

But the hallway remained quiet. Only the echo of their own breathing filled the space. No one jumped out. Not yet.

“I heard you’re providing food for other students. Not only all the students in the Blue Dragon Tower but also students from other towers.”

“Yes.”

“Good deeds are to be respected, but I want to discourage that. People who haven’t worked to earn what they eat and wear won’t know its value, no matter who provides for them.”

Lee Han nodded without realizing it.

It was too true.

“…?”

Salco was surprised when Lee Han nodded.

He hadn’t expected Lee Han, from the Wodanaz family, to agree so easily.

“You… understand?”

“What you said isn’t wrong. Those who don’t work themselves don’t know the value of things.”

“Exactly. Would nobles know how sacred labor is? Or knights? All they do is show off with their swords?”

“In my opinion, nobles and knights should basically be sent to farms to till the fields. They learn swordsmanship as a refinement, so there’s no reason they can’t learn farming.”

The two young laborers were in enthusiastic agreement.

As the conversation ended, Lee Han and Salco looked at each other, acknowledging each other’s worth. Salco’s stony face softened slightly.

“It seems I’ve mistaken you. I apologize, Wodanaz. Some White Tiger Tower students said you were a heartless and ruthless archmage…”

“……”

“…that was just the nonsense of arrogant knights.”

“Indeed. Such nonsense always blinds us, so we must always be careful. Wizards should always be careful of such nonsense.”

“That’s right.”

Salco nodded thoughtfully.

‘No matter what rumors spread, I can say they are nonsense,’ Lee Han thought.

Salco looked at Lee Han’s hands. They were hardened from tending the garden and various tasks. Nobles couldn’t have such hands.

Seeing Lee Han’s calloused hands, Salco felt a connection. Hands that worked hard told a story. Salco completely acknowledged Lee Han because of that.

Then, Salco became curious.

Why would a student like Lee Han take care of other lazy good-for-nothings?

“Wodanaz, I want to ask you something.”

“What is it?”

“Why do you take care of the students in your tower?”

“……”

Lee Han felt unsure.

Well…

‘It’s because of the money…’

He was doing it because he was getting paid. Would he prepare breakfast and go around feeding them if he wasn’t getting paid?

Of course, it was because of the money.

However, Lee Han thought it wouldn’t be good to say it was because of the money, given that Salco seemed to have a rather high opinion of him at the moment.

Lee Han decided to answer ambiguously.

“Because they’re my friends.”

“……”

Salco was deeply impressed by that answer.

He had thought the students followed Wodanaz because of his magical abilities, but it seemed that wasn’t the only reason.

“I would never be able to do that… but because of that, I think I understand a little bit about what you nobles call honor. It wasn’t completely nonexistent.”

“……”

Lee Han tucked the ledger in his pocket even deeper.

If he were found out, Salco would never trust nobles for the rest of his life.

Salco, who had been walking ahead in the main building’s third-floor hallway, suddenly stopped. Then, he pointed to a statue in the hallway. It was a statue of an unknown wizard.

It was an old, faded, and partially broken statue, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. So handsome that it felt like it wasn’t a human appearance.

‘Strange. Why does it feel familiar?’

“Do you see that this statue is broken, Wodanaz?”

Salco took out a hammer. Lee Han took a step back, put his hand on his waist, and nodded.

“I repaired this statue last time. I couldn’t just stand by and watch such a damaged stone statue.”

‘A workaholic.’

But Lee Han understood.

Just like Yoner wanted to water the plants when he saw them, Nilia wanted to catch prey when she saw it, and Lee Han wanted to bow when he saw a professor…

Salco just couldn’t help fixing things, it was like a strong urge.

“But it’s broken again like this?”

“Yes. This statue keeps breaking even after it’s fixed. And that’s the secret to opening this hidden door.”

Salco carefully repaired the broken statue.

Then, with the sound of stone rolling in the darkness, the statue rotated once. At the same time, a hidden passage opened.

“Go inside, Wodanaz. From here, you have to go alone.”

“Tutantha… I trust you.”

“I know. That’s why you came this far.”

“Why are you repeating yourself?”

Salco tilted his head, not even thinking that Lee Han was reading his reaction.

Has a new student come?

“!”

Inside the passage, there was a statue. It was a statue that seemed to be a mix of several beasts.

“Oh, hello there. Yeah, I’m the statue of the forgotten beast. Been here a while. Student who repaired the statue and entered, will you first swear that you will not tell anyone around you about my existence?”

“…I swear.”

As Lee Han answered, the dog’s tail on the statue wagged happily.

“Excuse me, but what are you doing here?”

“I’m just killing time. The room I was guarding was closed 187 years ago. Since then, I’ve been wandering around the cool places in this school.”

“I’m curious why I shouldn’t tell people around me…”

“Well, it’s because the professors might make me work again.”

“Haha, you’re right, you are wise!”

“Thank you for sympathizing.”

Lee Han was certain that this statue was truly wise.